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Pigeons are such underrated birds.
Beyond spotting them on terraces and parks and clicking pictures of them for an aesthetic Instagram post or gazing upon the green and lilac feathers around the neck of the rock dove, we need to understand that they have amazing skills.
Back in ancient times, pigeons were not just admired for their beauty but also were treated as smart creatures.
Why?
Pigeons possess great mastery when it comes to navigation.
They have the ability to detect Earth’s magnetic field and traveling to an intended destination by orienting themselves based on the spatial distribution of atmospheric odor.
Back in the day, only if pigeons had such skills they could have been used for communication.
Now fast forward to the present day - the volume of the sender and the receiver along with the frequency of messages across a multitude of purposes has increased multifold.
This has also increased the number of channels of communication with emails leading the way.
So, it would only be fair to evaluate the effectiveness of a communication tool like an email marketing software based on certain criteria.
So, let’s now dive right into the skills of the modern-day rock dove!
5 Must-Haves For The Modern-Day Rock Dove
1. Should be a code-free setup
Setting up an email campaign takes a lot of preparation.
It needs the sender to check off multiple boxes like segmenting the list, automating, the workflow, iterating and reiterating the subject line at least a hundred times, and more!
The last thing an email marketer would want to do is design the layout from scratch - by this, I mean design, code, and test for responsiveness (like there’s not enough on their plate already).
So, a good email marketing tool is one that has pre-designed templates covering the length and breadth of multiple use cases.
It should enable the user to simply drag and drop the assets they need in their emails, swap out the content, and make it their own.
In no more than 5 minutes, the user must be able to design anything they want!
Here’s what a code-free setup should look like
- Hundreds of well-designed email templates
- Responsive across devices
- In-built library of emojis, stock images, font styles, and more
- Pre-compliance to CAN-SPAM laws
2. Should have automation capabilities
What’s an email marketing tool if you can’t automate your emails?
This feature is an absolute must-have because you need that kind of technology to run your campaigns on autopilot.
Now, almost all the email marketing tools out there would have this feature. But, here’s what you should look for in specific:
Ability to automate repetitive tasks like sending email newsletters
Cover a variety of use cases like order confirmation, welcome emails, shopping cart abandonment, discount campaigns, and more
- Create complicated workflows at ease
- Add on perks like the creation of pop-ups, surveys, and more
3. Should enable personalization
Personalization is of course the ability to address your recipients by their first name, last name, company name, and various other data points.
But, personalization is not just about making the subject line intriguing.
You must personalize your campaigns by understanding the customer behavior and their interaction with your website/online store.
The behavioral or transactional data gives you deeper insights that can help you further personalize your emails.
This will make your campaigns more engaging and helps drive conversions.
The process of segmentation creates a ripple effect and personalization is the by-product of it.
4. Should have robust analytics
The success of an email campaign depends on how well you understand the metrics and tweak your strategies based on them from time to time.
So, an ideal email marketing tool must have the ability to track critical metrics like opens, clicks, unsubscribes, and more.
It should also facilitate you with reports so that you can garner solid takeaways from it and make things more actionable.
5. Should not break the bank
If one of the major criteria of choosing an email marketing tool is the budget for you, then, you must read this without batting an eye!
An email marketing tool should definitely have a free trial, to begin with.
This will help you try and test the product before investing in it. If the tool has a free plan, there’s nothing better than that!
Pick tools that offer a lot of value in the free plan - particularly to do with the volume of contacts, emails, accessibility to key features required for email marketing.
The important thing is, the paid plans can be on the expensive side, but the value you get out of it must be reasonably substantial.
Wrapping Up
The email marketing tools market is a mature market with a lot of players. For a high-intent user who’s just starting out, this could be overwhelming.
For one fact that all these tools out there claim to be the best.
But, the reality is that every user is unique in terms of their needs, goals, budget, and the kind of time that they can spare.
So, it is easy to fall prey to the big players in the market.
For instance, if you are a beginner with generic email marketing needs, then, big players like Mailchimp or Hubspot could be your sweet spot.
But, let’s say you are a marketer of an eCommerce store, then, you may want to look for Mailchimp alternatives that can meet your specific needs - templates, workflows, segmentation, and more.
So, here’s one takeaway I want you to have from this post - all the email marketing tools out there are skilled rock doves. But, there should always be a match between what you need and what the tool offers.
If you have any thoughts or questions, feel free to drop them in the comments and I’d be happy to answer them!