Email basics first, then play the days

This week must be the week to talk about email marketing. Just like a lot of people I receive email newsletters to help me keep up on what's going on (more and more I'm using my RSS feeds but that's a different story). Today, one of eMarketer's focus was on a recent report from eROI on the best day to deliver an email. Without even reading the article I knew that the day had changed. In the last years it seems everyone has been trying to guess the magic day. I sometimes wonder that, if the magic day exists, once it gets publicize it automatically becomes the worst day as everyone begins sending on that day cluttering in-boxes.

It seems to me a better approach is to get the basics right before worrying about the magic day. The Email Insider today written by David Baker lays out some pretty good plan for how to start the relationship once someone has signed up for your program. Among other things he recommends:

quickly identify those who show interest by opening and/or clicking;

test offers and response;

identify potential laggards (defined as those who do not respond at all);

systematically increase a subscriber’s knowledge about us and our products;

use consistent layout, copy, look, and calls to action;

build a relationship with subscribers while they are still in the “honeymoon” period; and

set the stage for future interaction

These activities require a little more work than picking days. In the long run, however, they'll create a much stronger competitive advantage than picking the right day. - Paul Herring