Nothing in Email Marketing Is ‘Set It and Forget It’

If ever there was a channel where “set it and forget it” thinking doesn’t work, email marketing is that channel. Things are always changing and marketers have to keep up. My favorite indicator that marketers are falling behind is old copyright dates.

While some brands now automatically update these dates, you may consider manually updating them as a way to force yourself to go in and actually look at your promotional email template, triggered emails, preference centers, and other landing pages at least once a year. Reviewing these more frequently—like every 3-6 months—is best, but once a year is better than having them slip through and go unchecked for two or more years.

For instance, CNN requires that people register with their site in order to receive emails and participate in the CNN community and part of that process includes an opt-in confirmation request email. That email carries a copyright of 2007—which means that it hasn’t been updated in five or so years. That’s a lifetime in the world of email marketing and it shows in this email, which doesn’t have the current CNN logo and could benefit from sharper copy.

Carrying a 2009 copyright, Crutchfield’s welcome email has also been forgotten for too long. Its logo and navigation bar are both out of date. And while the copy was really good for 2009, it could be doing more, especially considering all the excellent new content and social efforts Crutchfield now has at their disposal.

LifeWay’s email signup confirmation page carries a 2011 copyright and could also benefit from some updating. The page squanders the opportunity to further engage new subscribers by not offering even a single call-to-action or doing any additional expectation setting for their email program. Suffering from a bad case of Back Alley Syndrome, this lonely page doesn’t even have Lifeway’s standard website navigation bar or footer.

Make sure you’re reviewing your email templates, triggered emails, and landing pages on a regular basis by first taking an inventory of all your different assets and then creating a schedule for regular reviews of each one.