If you want help on your email program, you need to determine what kind of counsel you are seeking and why. A broad audit of your entire email program is very different in scope than seeking outside assistance in analyzing your metrics, improving your response rates or evaluating email templates. With that in mind, be sure to address and define your specific needs internally first.

Dig internally and know what you want
At BrightWave Marketing, we provide all prospective strategy clients with a questionnaire to get the ball rolling on their side. This usually includes asking the client to identify strengths and weaknesses of their program. We also ask the client to define their email goals (not just X open rate but to generate Y in revenue or increase website traffic by Z percent). Some previous engagements have found breakdowns in the clarification of email goals. We have uncovered a few email managers who could not tell us what the end goal was for the email campaigns they managed. If your key day-to-day personnel cannot speak to the big picture goals of your email program, this is a sign that you need help.

The early stages of an email strategy project are probably the most important part of the engagement and will set the tone with the firm you choose. If you don’t know what to ask for, be prepared to be disappointed. The more specific areas you can identify as the ones you want deeply investigated (e.g., your newsletter layout, frequency rules, internal policies and procedures), the more you will receive in return. This will help you develop a request for proposal as well.