James Duval: 5 Signs your Email Marketing database may need Debugging

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We are all aware of the potential benefits that an intelligently run Email Marketing campaign can yield, but relying on technology to store and organize such a large amount of information can have its downsides as well.

We have all been in the situation where the technology we depend on seems to inexplicably throw a wobbly and refuse to work in the way that it has done before on a thousand different occasions.

At home this can cause much grinding of teeth and howls of despair, but when it occurs in a commercial environment it can lead to much more serious consequences, such as the loss of potential sales and clients.

Like most things that relate to mans love/hate, dependence/resentment relationship with technology, the key to maintaining a healthy marketing database is being able to spot a few tell-tale signs that a few creepy-crawlies may have wriggled their way inside your system.

So, here is a quick run through of the 5 most common signs that you may need to debug your Email Marketing database:

1. Multiple unsubscribe requests from the same user

Any marketers who utilise email databases know that not dealing with unsubscribe requests quickly are likely to result in a customer complaint and more time being eaten up then was necessary.

If you are getting multiple requests from one user then it is likely that there is a bug in your system which is causing the unsubscribe request to fail to register properly.

2. Leads are coming in from strange places

If you are noticing that a specific project is not generating as many leads as it should, and that the ones that are coming through are coming from unexpected places, it could mean that various projects within your database have been conflated together for some reason.

3. You’re getting a lot of ‘failure to deliver’ error messages

I think this one is fairly self explanatory really. The whole point of email database marketing is that you reach potential customers and bring back old ones, so if you are receiving a lot of ‘failure to deliver’ type error messages you need to get the problem sorted out quickly.

4. You are getting no leads or responses at all

Now, it is a possibility that this might have something to do with the quality of your content or other aspects of the actual marketing side of things. If, however, you are sure that it has nothing to do with anything you are doing, then most likely something has gone pretty disastrously wrong with your database.

5. You are getting no unsubscribe requests at all

If this is happening you may be tempted to succumb to a fit of hubris and begin declaring that you have single-handedly created the most perfect email marketing campaign the world has ever seen. The reality, however, is that you have probably picked up some bugs in your database.

It is really important that you pickup on these signs and move to deal with them quickly, as time really could equal money in this circumstance.

The world of technology is constantly evolving though, so don’t hesitate to let me know if I have missed something vital!

About The Author:

James Duval is an expert in all things technology. When not battling on his Xbox, James can be found battling database bugs, fiddling with Tibco software  and writing blogs for a variety of different companies.