What is An Email Marketing Audit?

Let Us Explain

Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways for businesses to reach, engage, and convert their audience. To maximize the impact of your email campaigns, regular reviews and optimizations are essential. This is where an email marketing audit comes into play. An email audit involves a comprehensive evaluation of your email marketing strategies, identifying strengths and weaknesses within your campaigns. In this guide, we’ll dive deep into how to conduct an email marketing audit, providing valuable insights, practical tips, and a checklist to help you elevate your email marketing efforts. Additionally, we’ll explore the importance of an email deliverability audit to ensure your emails reach subscribers effectively by evaluating factors such as email authentication protocols, domain reputation, and list hygiene.

What is an Email Marketing Audit?

An email marketing audit is a thorough review of your email marketing strategy. It’s akin to a health check-up for your campaigns, workflows, and overall performance, helping you diagnose issues and implement solutions for better results. An email audit can be broad or focused on specific areas, including:

• Technical Performance: Deliverability, inbox placement, email authentication.
• Content Effectiveness: Subject lines, email copy, design.
• Audience Engagement: Open rates, click-through rates, subscriber interaction.
• Automation and Workflows: Performance of email sequences and triggered campaigns.
• List Health: Cleanliness and validity of your subscriber list.

Regular audits ensure that your email marketing campaigns align with your business goals and deliver value to your subscribers.

Why Conduct an Email Marketing Audit?

Conducting an email marketing audit offers several benefits:

• Improved Performance Metrics: Identifying areas for improvement can increase open rates, click-through rates, and ultimately conversions and sales.
• Enhanced Deliverability: Audits help uncover and fix issues that may hinder your emails from reaching subscribers' inboxes.
• Better Audience Engagement: Understanding what resonates with your audience allows you to tailor your content for higher engagement.
• Strategic Alignment: Provides a comprehensive view of your email marketing, helping you refocus on your goals and ensure alignment with overall marketing objectives.
• Optimized Resource Allocation: Helps you allocate time, budget, and effort more effectively based on what works and what doesn’t.
• Compliance: Ensures your email marketing adheres to regulations like GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and CCPA.
• Competitive Advantage: Staying on top of your email marketing through regular audits gives you an edge over competitors who may neglect this important aspect.

Before You Audit

Define Your Goals and Scope

Clearly define your objectives before starting the audit process. Consider the following questions:

• What areas of our email marketing strategy need improvement?
• What metrics are we struggling with?
• How does our email performance compare to industry benchmarks?
• What new opportunities or technologies should we explore?

Based on your answers, decide whether you need a full review of your email marketing strategy or a focused look at specific areas, such as deliverability or automation workflows. Set specific goals for your audit, such as:

• Increase overall open rates by 10% in the next quarter.
• Improve click-through rates on promotional emails by 15%.
• Reduce bounce rates below 2%.
• Launch a re-engagement campaign for inactive subscribers.
• Optimize email templates for mobile.

Setting clear goals will guide your audit and ensure you focus on the most crucial areas.

Choose Your Audit Tools

To conduct a comprehensive email marketing audit, you’ll need various tools to collect and analyze data. Here are the key categories:

• Email Service Provider (ESP) Analytics: Most ESPs offer built-in analytics. Examples include Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and SendGrid.
• Email Testing Tools: Tools like Litmus and Email on Acid help you preview how emails will look on different devices and email clients.
• Domain Reputation Testing: Tools such as MxToolbox and Google Postmaster Tools monitor your domain’s reputation and identify deliverability issues.
• Website Analytics: Google Analytics tracks how email traffic converts on your website.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software: CRMs like Salesforce or HubSpot provide data on how email marketing contributes to overall customer engagement and sales.
• Heat Map Tools: Services like Crazy Egg or Hotjar show how subscribers interact with your emails, allowing for design optimization.
• A/B Testing Tools: Tools like Optimizely offer advanced A/B testing capabilities beyond those provided by ESPs.

Conducting an Email Marketing Audit

Gather and Consolidate Data

Start by collecting all relevant data, including:

• Email Performance Metrics: Open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, etc.
• Subscriber Data: Growth rates, engagement levels, demographics.
• Campaign-Specific Data: Performance of promotional emails, newsletters, and automated sequences.
• Technical Data: Bounce rates, spam complaints, authentication records.

Consolidate this data in a spreadsheet or dashboard for easy analysis. Include historical data to identify trends and segment data by campaign type or subscriber group for a detailed analysis. Consider comparing your data against industry benchmarks.

Examine Your Emails and Record Findings

Analyze the collected data using the following structured approach:

• Overall Performance: Review key performance indicators (KPIs) over time. Look for trends or sudden changes.
• Campaign Comparison: Compare different types of campaigns (e.g., promotional vs. newsletters) to identify which perform best.
• Subscriber Segmentation: Evaluate how different subscriber groups engage with your emails. Identify segments that consistently perform well.
• Content Analysis: Assess top-performing emails for common elements in subject lines, content, design, or calls-to-action.
• Technical Performance: Review deliverability rates, bounce rates, and spam complaints for any issues.
• Automation Workflows: Evaluate the performance of automated email sequences and their effectiveness.

Record your findings and make recommendations for improvement, prioritizing based on impact and ease of implementation.

Email Marketing Audit Checklist

Use this checklist to ensure you cover all aspects of your email marketing strategy:

Email Marketing Infrastructure

• Email Authentication: Verify SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are correctly set up.
• IP Reputation: Check the reputation of your sending IP using tools like SenderScore.
• List Hygiene: Ensure your email list is clean and remove inactive or invalid addresses.
• Subscription Process: Review opt-in forms and ensure double opt-in is used where applicable.
• Unsubscribe Process: Ensure the unsubscribe process is easy and requests are processed quickly.

Emails

• Subject Lines: Test different styles and lengths of subject lines.
• Preheader Text: Use preheader text to support your subject lines.
• Email Copy: Assess the clarity, relevance, and persuasiveness of your content.
• Email Design: Ensure your emails are visually appealing and on-brand.
• Call-to-Actions (CTAs): Test the placement, design, and effectiveness of CTAs.
• Personalization: Evaluate how subscriber data is used to personalize emails.
• Mobile Responsiveness: Ensure emails look good on various mobile devices.
• Landing Pages: Verify email links lead to optimized, relevant landing pages.
• Frequency and Timing: Analyze when emails perform best and adjust your send schedule accordingly.

Email Marketing Performance

• Performance Metrics: Assess what drives higher open rates and click-through rates.
• Conversion Rates: Evaluate how well emails drive desired actions.
• Bounce Rates: Investigate issues with hard and soft bounces.
• Spam Complaints: Monitor and address spam complaints to protect your sender's reputation.

List Health Analysis

• Growth Rate: Analyze the growth rate of your list and identify growth channels.
• Engagement Levels: Segment your list by engagement (e.g., highly engaged, occasionally engaged, inactive).
• Churn Rate: Monitor unsubscribe rates and develop strategies to reduce them.
• Reactivation: Explore ways to re-engage inactive subscribers.

Action Plan

Prioritize and Implement

Based on your audit results, create a prioritized action plan. Include both quick wins and long-term strategic improvements, such as:

• Refining email template design for mobile responsiveness.
• Running a re-engagement campaign for inactive subscribers.
• A/B testing subject lines to improve open rates.
• Segmenting your list more effectively for targeted content.
• Optimizing your automated welcome sequence.

Implement these changes systematically and track progress. Remember, improvement is an ongoing process, not a one-time fix.

Refine Your Email Marketing Strategy

Use insights from the audit to refine your overall email marketing strategy. Consider:

• Adjusting your content mix to focus on what resonates with your audience.
• Enhancing subscriber segmentation for more targeted communication.
• Integrating email audit findings with other marketing channels.
• Updating your email marketing goals based on new benchmarks and insights.

Email Campaigns Best Practices

As you implement changes, keep these best practices in mind:

• Personalization: Go beyond using the subscriber’s name; use behavioral data and preferences to tailor content.
• Value-First Approach: Ensure every email provides value, whether through informative content, exclusive offers, or entertainment.
• Clear CTAs: Make desired actions obvious and compelling.
• Testing Culture: Continuously test different elements of your emails to refine your approach.
• Compliance: Stay updated with email marketing regulations and ensure your practices comply.

Email Marketing Tools and Resources

To support ongoing optimization, consider these tools and resources:

• Email Design Tools: Stripo.email or BEE Free for responsive email templates.
• Copywriting Resources: Hemingway Editor for email copy readability.
• Subject Line Testers: CoSchedule’s Email Subject Line Tester for open rates.
• Deliverability Monitoring: 250ok or Return Path for advanced deliverability insights.
• Automation Platforms: ActiveCampaign or Drip for email automation.

Conclusion

Conducting an email marketing audit is an effective way to enhance your email strategy and achieve better results. By systematically reviewing performance, identifying areas for improvement, and implementing data-driven changes, you can create more engaging, effective emails that resonate with your audience and drive business growth.

Remember, the audit is just the beginning. Use the insights gained to continuously refine and optimize your email marketing practices. Make auditing a regular part of your strategy, and you’ll stay ahead in the competitive digital marketing landscape.

Now, go forth and audit! 🙂👍