Finding a new email marketing service provider that meets your needs (and wants) is a big job.
But, regardless of whether you want to work with an agency or you want to hire in-house, there’s one thing you should always be on the lookout for… and that’s “proof!” Any good email marketer should have samples, statistics, and results at the ready, showing you what they’ve achieved for others and what they can achieve for you.
We’ll highlight what kind of information any new service provider should be able to show you, using our own samples, stats, and case studies as examples.
Email Design Samples
Any prospective email marketing service provider should be able to show you various email samples that highlight their design skills.
When looking at design samples, check for variations in color, style, and mood to evaluate their creative range. They should deliver bright, fun, and youthful designs just as well as they deliver neutral, simple, and professional designs. You’ll also want to check if they demonstrate any other design skills like Photoshop or animations as those are all helpful tools for email design.
Remember to ask for samples from different industries to see how your prospective service provider can adapt to unique audiences and client requirements.
Check out DIDO Agency’s design samples to see what a strong sample includes.
Email Copy Samples
You should also be shown various email samples that highlight your prospective service provider’s capabilities for strong and engaging copy.
Evaluating copy samples is similar to evaluating design samples; range and adaptability are key. Their copy samples should demonstrate a strong capability to adapt to different voices and audiences, easily shifting from a casual, friendly tone to a serious, professional one.
Remember to look at (or ask for) Subject Line and Preview Text samples, too. Subject Line and Preview Text copy should be engaging, clear, and free of spammy language or punctuation.
Check out DIDO Agency’s copy samples to see what a strong sample includes.
Transparent Statistics and Results
There’s no doubt that your prospective email marketing provider should have strong design and copy skills.
But, even more important than that are the results they’ve generated for clients by using those skills. The professional you’re considering working with should share transparent, clear statistics and results from previous client campaigns.
Statistics you’ll want to consider include:
■ Open rate (ideally between 46-50%)
■ Click-through rate (ideally ~3%)
■ Click rate (ideally ~9%)
Results you’ll want to consider include:
■ Subscriber growth
■ Revenue generated
■ Return on investment
Remember to ask for details about the email marketing strategy behind the statistics and results. For example, they should be transparent about the length of time it took to generate the revenue numbers they shared with you, and how many campaigns were sent to achieve that result in that time frame.
Check out DIDO Agency’s statistics and results to see what a strong sample includes.
Case Studies
The last thing to look for when choosing an email marketing provider is case studies. Email marketing case studies are typically composed of everything we’ve already talked about — design, copy, statistics, and results.
However, case studies are distinct in the way they package these results. They focus more on telling a story, sharing information about the client, where they started, and where they ended up after the email marketer stepped in to help.
When looking at a prospective service provider’s case studies, make sure they include everything we’ve already talked about in this blog:
■ High-quality email design.
■ Strong, engaging email copy.
■ Transparent statistics and results.
If your prospective email marketing provider doesn’t have case studies available, don’t panic — case studies take a lot of time to write, design, and develop, and they may not be published yet. As long as they can provide you with each individual component of a case study — design samples, copy samples, statistics, and results — you should have enough to evaluate whether or not they’re aligned with your needs and wants for email marketing.
Check out DIDO Agency’s case studies to see what a strong sample includes.
Wrap Up
Next time you meet with a potential email marketing service professional, keep this blog in your back pocket as a checklist to ensure any potential partners have the “proof” you need to see. Asking for a potential service provider’s case studies, statistics, and samples saves you the time, money, stress, and disappointment of working with someone who doesn’t know their stuff, and can’t offer the results you need (and deserve).
If you’d like to learn more about working with DIDO Agency, you can book a free 30-minute email & SMS consultation with our CEO, Roman Hotsiak.