Targets in email marketing are the industry standard when you want to know whether what you are doing is worthwhile or not. The premise is simple enough. You work out what you want, making sure it is achievable, measurable and looks good on the quarterly report, and at the end of the exercise you can prove how clever you are. The only thing is: how do you know if your targets are worthwhile?
Given the value of email lists, a target to increase them by 10% year on year has a nice ring to it. After all, hit the target and in a bit over seven years you will double the number. That would be a dream fulfilled for anyone engaged in email marketing. But how do you know it was a valid target?
Everyone should beware of any round figure as a target and this goes especially for email marketing. The software will provide statistics with decimal points so 10% is unlikely. So work out specifics by seeing what others are doing.
You might discover what the industry norm for similar email marketing companies is and use that as a benchmark. Many have predicted that post VAT increase, online sales will also increase as purchasers seek cheaper prices. High street shops will struggle to maintain stocks for choice whereas a website will have a whole catalogue to peruse in comfort.
If the average increase over the last year has been 7.4% then you might feel that the figure of 10% increase in the email list is justifiable. After all, it is a third more, more or less, and a target of 9.86% will mean you are summoned to the boss’s office.
For a target to be worthwhile you need to find out what the best in the business are doing. The industry norm figure is of no relevance as it would have been dragged down by failing companies. To judge what is possible you need the results of the high achievers, not the stragglers. This will show what you could be achieving.
The next thing you need to work out is what you can cope with. A sudden increase in sales can cause difficulties. You might not want to recruit extra staff because of, for instance, limited accommodation. Your supplier might only be able to up production slightly. The time to find this out is not when you have orders flooding in.
Targets in email marketing should be set using evidence of what is attainable by showing what others have managed. Then you have to work out what will be good for you. If the latter figure is lower than the former you are in clover. If not then you will need to work out reasons why you should not go for parity with the industry leaders.