Email subscribers want only one thing from us. Help.  They want marketers and publishers to help them be more informed, to make better business decisions, to be more beautiful, to get a raise, be a hero to their kids and be celebrated among peers.  Given the amount of poorly targeted messages in my inbox, it seems many of us have forgotten this central tenet.  Generic is boring.  Custom is compelling.  Response goes up when messages engage and nurture subscribers.

In my kickoff column, I outlined eight strategies for earning higher revenue from the email channel.  This month, we take a deep dive into the sixth of these: Nurturing relationships.

The opposite of nurture is numb – sending the same message to everyone.  This has the opposite effect of what we want as marketers – it drives disengagement and dissatisfaction. Too much email in short time periods will not only depress response, it will increase complaints (counted by the ISPs like Yahoo! and Gmail every time someone clicks the Report Spam button).  Even a small number of complaints will prevent your messages from reaching subscriber inboxes – all your subscribers, not just those who complained.

It's painful enough imaging the slow death of our email response rates when subscribers are bored week after week.  Worse, imagine the drop in revenue if you could not actually reach any Yahoo! or AOL subscribers for a month.  Ouch! 

It's worth taking the time to nurture instead.  What does that mean, exactly?  The ideal is where the interactive marketer or publisher can offer subscribers what they need before they realize they need it.  To achieve that, we need to be a kind of digital anthropologist, deeply immersed in how customers do business and run their lives.

Luckily, you can get pretty far even without deep resources.  Test a few of the following "baby step" ideas now, and then integrate the hardest working into your ongoing calendar.  Since not all subscribers have the same value to you, focus on those with the highest potential. 
 
Educate prospects.  Many of us have both prospects and customers on the house list, each receiving the same promotions. Neither are inspired.  Never assume prospects know anything about your content, editorial personalities, products or benefits.  Consider a series of messages or offers that move prospects through the sales pipeline.

Treat customers better.  Email is a great way to treat your best customers special.  Certainly VIPs are easy to find and celebrate, but also take that same approach down the line. Identify your cusp customers and invite them to participate at higher levels while showing them the benefit of doing so.  Every once in a while, just thank your customers.  You'll be surprised at the response you get.

Listen.  Let subscribers tell you what they need through their actions.  Even if you can't overlay behavior and demographic data, use data you have.  Customize transactional emails based on purchase.  After a click, trigger a context-specific email with content recommendations (which could be sponsored advertorial) or premium services.  Replace static landing pages with deeper micro-sites focused around a particular topic to capture more page views or present more detailed offers when prospects are "in market."

Test subject lines.  Many campaigns go out without any optimization testing.  Yet, even simple A/B testing of subject lines can improve response by 5% or more.  

Engage via age. Watch response by vintage (the length of time the subscriber has been on the file) and determine when subscribers go "inactive" – defined as no open, click or conversion/response activity in the past three months.  Quickly send out a win-back campaign to those who may be on the verge of going inactive.  Don't wait for two years to send a win-back. Once subscribers start ignoring your emails, it's difficult to re-engage on email. 

Get more data.  Survey some long-time prospects to learn why they didn't engage or buy.  Is your advertising attracting an audience with needs your products can't solve?  Is your product benefit statement on target but your product experience off?  Perhaps your website is just too hard to navigate.   Survey women to find out if your products meet their need for flexibility.  Survey customers stuck in the product lifecycle to uncover latent needs, and highlight how your products solve them.  This learning will help you up sell and cross-sell, as well

Even easier:  Talk to the circulation and sales teams - they likely know the optimal cadence and frequency for helping without being annoying. Pace emails to the same lifecycle.

Audit your past 90 days for a "nuture appeal."  Are you blasting or engaging?  Broadcasting or customizing?  Talking or listening?  You'll likely find a number of points of vulnerability where you are not optimizing your nuture potential.  The payoff is real:  Satisfied customers click more, buy more, and engage frequently with advertising and offers.

Let me know what you think and please share any ideas or comments below.

Stephanie is a customer advocate, and an expert in creating amazing email subscriber experiences that reach the inbox, drive revenue and build brands.  Using her 20+ years of direct marketing and publishing experience, she helps online publishers and marketers optimize their email channel experience and revenue, starting with inbox deliverability. Email Stephanie at: stephanie.miller@returnpath.net