Effective Email Marketing

Source: CPA Trendlines

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from an article in CPA Trendlines.

A new study by an email marketing agency for accounting firms finds that “bi-weekly newsletter launches are the most common sending frequency.”

Some 44 percent of accounting firms launch email marketing blasts to clients, prospects and referral sources about every two weeks. That's followed closely by weekly newsletter launches, at 35 percent, according to the agency BizActions, a Thomson Reuters company.

BizActions says clients report “bi-weekly newsletters provide excellent top-of-mind awareness and the ability to share timely information without cluttering their contacts' inboxes.” It also reports that accounting firms prefer Wednesdays and Thursdays for launching their newsletters:

In 2011, the trend shifted to Wednesday for the smallest firms, with over 40 percent launching their marketing messages mid-week. Large firms continued to show a preference for Tuesdays, with Thursdays a close second, with over 30 percent. It should be noted that historically, B2B email marketing has been less effective on Mondays and Fridays, a trend that may be changing but continues to be followed by the majority of our accounting firm clients, regardless of size.

The time of day that a B2B email is sent may also impact readership. BizActions says:

Traditionally, email messages that are scheduled for delivery first thing in the morning generate the highest open and click rates, presumably because recipients are just getting settled in the office, reviewing emails and voice mails received overnight, and have not yet begun to concentrate on the tasks for the day. While the majority of our accounting firm clients schedule delivery around 10:00 am (just in time to hit the inbox during the mid-morning break), the new trend is to launch as early as possible.

For the complete article, read “RX for Marketing Success: E-Blast Twice Monthly.”

From CPA Trendlines, http://cpatrendlines.com, May 1, 2012.