Intelligent CXO Issue 19 | Page 26

BUSINESS STRATEGY the upside potential of possible remedies and other actions .
4 . How targeted their email campaigns are
EMAIL MARKETING IS FERTILE GROUND FOR DEMONSTRATING THE NEED FOR COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE .
Email marketing is fertile ground for demonstrating the need for competitive intelligence – and providing the means for its delivery .
However , common methods of garnering information about competitors ’ emails , such as signing up for their newsletters or using industry average benchmark reporting , don ’ t offer full visibility .
There are several insights you should expect to glean from a robust competitive intelligence strategy .
1 . How large your competitors ’ overall email audiences are
This matters because it reveals their number of potential customer impressions . It can also expose underperformance in relation to your competitors of comparable size and market footprint .
Act on it by performing a subscriber acquisition and list health audit . Focus on audience retention and development opportunities .
2 . How many campaigns each competitor mails , what kind and when
Intel like this feeds critical knowledge about the extent , nature and timing of competitive email programming and provides visibility into strategic customer journeys . It also identifies programme gaps and opportunities for you .
Leverage these insights in your own event and campaign planning . This should also inform your send-time testing and optimisation strategies .
3 . How large their audiences are for each campaign
This feeds critical knowledge on competitors ’ campaign reach and segmentation and supports targeting estimates .
Again , this should inform your own event and campaign planning . Are you segmenting your audience enough ? Are you running enough campaigns per segment or too many ?
This suggests the degree of sophistication in their audience selection and is especially meaningful in relation to relatively large numbers of deployed campaigns , versus relatively small send volumes .
Having this kind of information supports enhanced sophistication in your segmentation , targeting , and personalisation .
Leveraging competitive intelligence that proves their email campaigns are more sophisticated than yours can not only provide inspiration but may also create a compelling argument for more resources for your email team .
5 . How frequently their email campaigns touch each of their subscribers
This reflects competitive contact strategies . Too large a number creates retention risk , but too small a number suggests opportunities to enhance contact .
You can act on this with contact frequency testing and optimisation . Segment your database and try different send times and frequencies for each group . For example , do you get more engagement with emails once a day or three times per week ?
6 . Find out whether any of your competitors ’ deliverability and engagement rates are better than yours
Inboxing is strongly driven by message relevance and improved subscriber engagement . It also helps document the business / financial upside to inbox , audience and message optimisation .
This intel can lead to important diagnostic / best practices audits on your own campaigns and help with programme and audience planning to ensure you ’ re engaging the right people with the right message .
7 . How competitors ’ subject lines are structured
Subject lines can affect deliverability and they ’ re the most critical tactic in driving opens ( even if opens can ’ t always be accurately measured ). This kind of information also reveals details of subject line deployment and practice ( e . g .,
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