[October 12, 2022]
You’re interesting people who provide valuable products or services that everyone wants and needs. So, it only makes sense that your customers want to hear from you as frequently as possible, right?
Alas, as any enthusiast of spicy foods can attest, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Bombard your clients’ inboxes with offer after offer, promotion after promotion, and you might start to wear out your welcome, no matter how good your intentions.
Not sure if you have audience fatigue? Some platforms will provide saturation numbers so you know, on average, how many times an individual has seen a specific ad. For the rest, check out these three metrics to look for waning interest:
- Decreased Engagement
- Declining Impressions
- Lagging Click-Through Rates
Fortunately, a little restraint and a detailed game plan can help make your outreach efforts more strategic and more effective.
“It’s important not to burn yourselves or your customers out if you want to develop a sustainable marketing strategy,” said Ann Marie Edwards, public relations manager for AKC Marketing. “Customers should be excited – or at least, not annoyed – every time you show up in their inboxes. Put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself one unbiased question, ‘Would I want to receive this?’”
Edwards shared a few tips to help marketers strike that balance of outreach versus strategic silence.
1. Develop a game plan
The first and most important tip is perhaps the most obvious: Have a plan in place.
Most successful companies are constantly planning, timing the rollout of services, products or offers to meet periods of high demand and high customer interest. Your marketing strategy should be similarly ahead of the curve.
“If you’re launching an email campaign, you should have the entire campaign mapped out,” said Ann Marie. “You should know when you’re sending a follow-up, when you’re going to send a final reminder, when you’re going to send updates, etc., before that first email is sent.”
Your plan doesn’t have to be unflinchingly rigid, as few things in this world are, but being deliberate in your approach from the start will keep you from having to put out fires later.
2. Have resources available
Odds are a tight 100-word email doesn’t offer enough space to cram in every single detail about your product or service. When possible, look for opportunities to create permanent resources customer can visit at their leisure.
For example, AKC Marketing has extensive experience creating landing pages for clients who are offering new products or services. These landing pages are connected to company websites, but effectively serve as standalone resources dedicated to providing information about a specific aspect of the business.
“If a company is unveiling a new product or holding some sort of sweepstakes, it can be easier, not to mention better for tracking, to direct customers to a landing page that has the information they need, or allows them to enter information to participate,” Ann Marie said. “Emails can get lost in the ether due to spam folders or overzealous deleters. But that landing page is a constant.”
3. Avoid Ad Fatigue
Sometimes avoiding audience burnout is as simple as tweaking your ad campaign.
“Just a small change in the texture of an ad campaign can give it a fresh coat of paint,” Ann Marie says.
She recommends rotating ads to keep potential customers from tuning you out. Update the look and feel of the ad, including your CTAs and links, to keep your message from fading into the background. Capping the frequency with which users will experience ads also can help things from getting stale.
Ann Marie also suggests using A/B testing to find and focus on the most valuable audiences for your ad.
“The more you learn about your audience, the more you can target your ads to address their specific wants and needs,” says Ann Marie.
4. Don’t overdo it
Being excited about what your business has to offer is a good thing. Your enthusiasm will not go unnoticed by your customers.
However, the law of diminishing returns is real and it’s unforgiving. Push something too hard and too far and your customer base will eventually tune out.
“Think of it like a blockbuster movie that spawns sequel after sequel,” said Ann Marie. “By the time they get to the third or fourth entry, it’s basically become a motion picture assembly line. Lather, rinse, repeat. It’s boring and all but the most loyal fans tune out.”
Similarly, constant reminders and updates can eventually become a nuisance to your customers, making the spam folder your likely destination.
“It all goes back to having a plan. And part of that plan is a schedule that very deliberately does not overwhelm your audiences,” said Ann Marie.
Learn how we can help your brand by contacting us today.