Defining Your Email Marketing Goals and Expectations for an Agency

Before partnering with an email marketing company, take some time to think through your objectives, priorities and ideal outcomes. This will allow the agency to map a strategy tailored to your business, as well as measure performance against benchmarks that matter to you.

Getting ultra clear on the why and what will provide essential direction for the agency. Ensure you document both quantitative and qualitative goals across a timeline, balancing urgency with sustainability.

Who exactly are you trying to reach via email campaigns? Don't just say “customers” or “subscribers” - dig deeper. Effective segmentation is the foundation of any solid email marketing strategy.

Share all your rich insight into current customer and subscriber segments with your chosen agency. This will empower them to develop tailored creative, content and calls-to-action fine-tuned to what your best audiences are likely to respond to.

Deliverability refers to your emails actually landing in subscriber inboxes rather than blocked or relegated to spam folders. This is a science in itself, impacted by factors like sender reputation, email authentication protocols, and more.

While best practice deliverability is built into any email marketing program, be realistic about limitations here. No agency can promise 100% inbox placement 100% of the time. Discuss:

Agreeing on a fair deliverability goal will help prevent unrealistic expectations down the track. Be open to slight initial dips as new strategies are established before climbing towards an agreed target.

Email marketing pushes out campaigns on an ongoing basis, not one-off projects. One of the agency's tasks will be keeping your brand top-of-mind by delivering remarketing emails tailored to customer lifecycle stage.

Clearly signalling your preferences here will help the agency sync into cadences that suit your management style and information needs.

Any successful partnership relies on clearly defined roles to prevent key activities falling through cracks between teams. Who is responsible for what?

Agency - Campaign strategy, creative direction and copywriting, graphic design, programming and testing, customer data integration, reporting.

Client - Sign-off on campaign direction, provide updated contacts as your subscriber list grows, share customer insight to inform messaging, report any campaign issues.

Discuss exactly where accountabilities will sit across both teams for essential functions like list management, content generation and quality control. Having an RACI matrix as a reference can help ensure no confusion further down the track.

Drafting a detailed brief covering all the elements above requires some dedicated time and strategic thought at the start. But it's an investment that pays off exponentially in better campaign execution and results. Performing this prep work sets your agency partner up for success by giving them everything they need to activate effective email programs tailored to your unique business needs.

Rather than rushing into an agency relationship with vague directives or assumptions, take the time required to clarify and document what success looks like for your brand when it comes to email marketing. Implementing these best practice tips will have you well on the way to email marketing success.

Want to see how we approach email marketing strategy? Explore our content marketing services or check out our case studies for real results. Ready to get started? Book a free strategy session today.