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Frequently Asked Questions
Campaign management
A campaign is the same as a newsletter that gets sent out one time. It consists of one template design based around a specific campaign type.
Once the design for that campaign is approved we set the template up in your native ESP (Klaviyo, Mailchimp etc.) and schedule to send on your behalf.
If you’re unsure how many campaigns to send each month get in touch with one of our email strategists and they can guide you.
There are many different types of email campaigns. Each month we prepare a content calendar which outlines all the email campaigns we would suggest running for that given month.
In order to maintain strong engagement metrics with your audience, we create and send different types of campaigns each month so not all the content they receive is the same.
Each month your account manager will also ask you if there are any particular campaigns that you know you’d like to send for that given month so the process of selecting campaigns for your content calendar each month can also be collaborative.
Some popular email campaign types include:
- New arrivals
- Back in stock
- Seasonal
- Sales and promotions
- Category specific
- Single product showcase
- Educational
- Pre-order
- Refer a friend
- Loyalty
- Rating and Reviews
- Gift Guides
- Early bird promotions
Determining what the right sending volume is for your online business is not a one size fits all approach. It depends on a variety of variables from list size, sending frequency, revenue volumes and the types of products you are selling.
Companies with thousands of products and plenty of stock are more likely to promote more of their products than a company selling highly specialized farming equipment.
There is also a balance between over sending campaigns and annoying your customers, and not sending enough and missing out on more sales.
The best starting point would be to get in touch with one of our emails strategists and we can help you dig into it all little more.
There are 3 main steps in the campaign management process:
We create your content calendar:
Each month your dedicated email strategist will create your content calendar outlining all the suggested campaigns for that month. This is created and sent for your approval the month before the campaigns are scheduled for.
We design your campaigns:
After approving the content calendar we proceed with designing all your campaigns. Once they are designed, we then provide you with access to the templates for comments and feedback.
We setup and send:
After approving the designs we then set the campaigns up in your native ESP. We also test and schedule the send time based on the content calendar.
Absolutely. We have a fully dedicated team of email designers, copywriters and strategists ready to manage whatever volume of campaigns you need done in a given month.
We are able to onboard and scale up our campaign production cycle within a matter of days.
Yes. That is definitely an option. From our experience the best approach here would be for us to continue doing what we do and deliver you a complete design with all the copy and someone on your side can take it and edit the copy as you see fit.
We have tried in the past to just to do the design and the client does the copy but it was always too disjointed so we found this approach to be the best.
Yes. We do all the design work. All you need to do is approve or request changes and we take care of everything else.
Yes. SmartMail is a service offering so whatever email marketing software you are using we are able to setup and implement your campaigns and automations.
To date, we have worked in over 40 different ESP’s and CRM’s so whatever tool you are using, we are confident we can still help you get the most value out of that tool.
At SmartMail we average a 22% open rate and 4-10% click through rate. But the main metric we really measure our own success around for our clients is revenue generation. Everything we do and every decision we make is focused around how can we help our clients drive more revenue out of their email list.
However, results will always vary from one company to the next when it comes to email marketing. Many ESP’s like Klaviyo and Mailchimp claim that email campaigns from their platforms deliver a 41X ROI, but in all honestly that doesn’t always happen and can be somewhat misleading.
After working with over 150 different eCommerce companies, our experience is that the results will always depend not just on how good we are at our job, but also the many other factors at play that are not in our control. For example, your website’s conversion rate, the quality of your products and their price points and also the range of products you have.
Another thing to consider when thinking about ROI from your email campaigns is the quality of your email list. Results from a list you bought without people opting in will always be different to a hyper engaged list that you spent years building yourself.
These are just some of the variables that go into trying to figure out what your specific ROI can look like.
AutomatIon Setup
Automations are emails that are triggered based on a subscribers user behavior or purchase behavior.
Unlike campaigns that are scheduled and sent one time, automations are setup to run on autopilot so at any point in time, when one of your customers or subscribers does something to trigger the automation, the sequence of emails are sent automatically to that person.
Considering the nature of how automations are setup, they are highly profitable as they run in your business forever and only require our one time setup fee.
There are many different types of email automations. Here is a PDF guide that outlines how we identify the different stages of the customer lifecycle and all the different types of automations you could create in each stage.
Because there are so many automation types and options, it’s best to schedule a call with one of our email strategists and we can put an automation setup plan for you that makes sense for your business.
There are many automations you could start with, but knowing which ones will deliver the highest ROI and bang for your buck is important otherwise you may end up paying for automations that deliver very little ROI.
At SmartMail, we have identified the main automations that any eCommerce business should have running as a starting point includes:
- Welcome series
- Browse abandonment
- Cart Abandonment
- Checkout abandonment
- Post purchase bounce back (0-7 days)
- Post purchase cross sell (7-14 days)
- Retention campaign (120+ days)
After implementing hundreds of automations for eCommerce companies, we found the above seven to be the most profitable.
There are many other types of automations you could setup but these are the foundational seven you absolutely must have to ensure you are not missing out on lost sales opportunities.
As part of our pricing for automation setup, we include 3 fully styled on brand templates that are part of the automation sequence.
For example if we are setting up a Welcome series, it might consist of 3 emails over 5 days.
Every organization’s requirements are different and if more emails are required for an automation we can certainly work with those requirements.
No. Automation setup is a one time fee. There are no additional costs. Once we setup and implement the automation our work is complete. If you need help or assistance in the future we would certainly help you however we can but strictly speaking the automation setup fee’s are one time.
We are able to setup automations in any Email Service Provider (ESP). Provided that the application allows for automations that provides the functionality to do what is required.
We are not able to control the functionality of an ESP, however we’ve had great experience setting up automations in over 20 different ESPs.
We typically require 7 working days to create and implement a single automation.
Our designs
Our first step is a meeting with your dedicated email strategist. They’ll get to know your business, and gather everything they need to customize your messaging and strategy.
Additionally we make sure to keep our clients in the loop with our transparent approval process, and our designers and copywritters keep a ‘branding file’ ccontaining branding guidlines and any relevant past feedback for each account. This file is refferenced as part of each campaign created.
It can depend on how complex the design is, but the longest it takes for a campaign to be completed is 4 days for single campaigns, and 7 days for automations.
Many ESPs (Klaviyo and Mailchimp) may already be connected to your product listing.
Should that not be the case, we may request access to a dynamic product feed, or you can provide us with specific direction for which products to use.
We’re more than happy to make revisions in copy or creative elements, and update according to your specific instructions. Once we’ve updated, we’lll request your approval again before going forward.
Absolutely. If you have a style guide, we’ll certainly use that as the basis for our campaigns as well.
Of course. Should our designs not meet your standards, we’re happy to tweak, or go back to the drawing board – however you direct us.
We’re usually on the ball and don’t need much in this regard, but we assume a possibility of two revision cycles for any given campaign, and try to schedule approval requests with enough time to accomodate.
Pricing
It’s not possible to trial our service completely for free as there is quite a bit of physical labor that goes into the design and production of the emails.
However we are pretty good at putting together risk free trials that allow you try us out with as little risk on your side as possible.
Book a call with an email expert and they’ll be able to guide you from there.
Absolutely. If you’re looking to test the waters and trial our service, you are welcome to buy campaigns and automations “on-demand.”
Yes. The pricing listed on our website is our standard rate card. If you start to require more than 5 campaigns a month, we can start to adjust some of the pricing.
Additionally if we are setting up automations and running campaigns we might also be able to help you with the pricing as well.
It’s always best to book a call with us and we can discuss these points on a call.
No. There are no hidden fee’s or any setup costs outside of our per campaign and per automation fee.
We do have extra add ons that you may wish to buy as well but they would be clearly outlined for you to buy or not.
For example, If your site requires a custom integration we charge a one time fee to do that integration work if it’s requested and required. But outside of extra add-ons there are no extra fee’s.
If you want us to create a certain amount of campaigns each month, then we bill you monthly for that body of work.
The automation setup fee is a one time fee. Once we setup the automation and turn it live, there are no ongoing costs after that.
The good news for you is that the automation will run forever in your business on autopilot and you only pay us one time to set it up.
That’s one of the reasons why the ROI on automations are so high!
Cancelling is easy. You just need to provide your account manager 30 days written notice if we are creating a monthly content calendar for you.
The main reason why we require 30 days is because we allocate production and design resources ahead of time.