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How to conduct proper competitor research for email marketing

How to conduct proper competitor research for email marketing
Ashley I.
Partner - Platinum
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Email marketing is an effective tool for businesses. While social media and influencer marketing are growing in popularity, email still provides a great return on investment (ROI).

To optimize your email marketing strategy, you first need to understand how your competitors are engaging with your shared audience. Competitor analysis helps you uncover opportunities to improve your own approach.

Here's a quick guide on how to conduct effective competitor research for email marketing.

Identify top competitors

Know exactly who your main competitors are. These are typically businesses that offer similar products or services and target the same audience as you.

Direct competitors should be your focus, here. Their strategies may offer relevant insights to support your email marketing efforts.

Look at:

  • Competitors with a similar target audience
  • Competitors that have a strong presence in your industry
  • Those who might not be direct competitors, but are known for their exceptional email marketing efforts

Pro tip: Creating a list of 3–5 competitors will give you enough variety to analyze and compare without overwhelming you with data.

Subscribe to competitors’ newsletters

The easiest way to get a firsthand look at your competitors’ email marketing tactics is to sign up for their emails. When subscribing, make sure you sign up for multiple types of emails they may offer, such as product updates, promotions, or newsletters.

You can also try to trigger flows, such as welcome series, abandoned carts, and browse abandonment, through activity on their site. This will give you a comprehensive view of their overall email marketing strategy.

Pro tip: To keep things organized and separate from your regular inbox, you may choose to create a new email account specifically for this purpose. This allows you to neatly collect emails over time without cluttering your personal or work email.

Analyze key email elements

Once you’ve collected enough emails (typically over a few weeks), it’s time to start analyzing. Focus on the following key elements:

  • Subject lines: Are they catchy, informative, or more personalized? Pay attention to the length and tone of their subject lines, and how often they use urgency or curiosity to drive opens.
  • Email design: Look at the overall layout, branding, and use of images. Are they consistent with their website design? Is the email mobile-friendly?
  • Content: Examine the body of the email for messaging, tone, and length. What kinds of content are they sending—blog posts, product updates, or promotions?
  • Calls to action (CTAs): Evaluate the effectiveness of their CTAs. Are they clear and direct? Where are they placed within the email? Do they use buttons or hyperlinks?

 

Pro tip: To organize this analysis, you can use a simple spreadsheet to track subject lines, design elements, and content over time.

Evaluate their timing and consistency

Beyond content, timing plays an important role in email marketing success. You can observe patterns by analyzing the frequency and timing of your competitors’ emails. Plot out the days and times their emails hit your inbox on a calendar and see if there are trends.

Ask yourself:

  • Do they send emails weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly?
  • Are they emailing too often, risking email fatigue, or too infrequently, losing engagement opportunities?
  • Do they send emails at specific times of the day?
  • Is there any connection between the timing and their promotions or product launches?

This information can help you identify gaps where you can schedule your emails to avoid overlapping with theirs, or capitalize on times when they aren’t sending.

Create a competitor SWOT analysis

To make the most of your research, use a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. This will help you draw actionable conclusions from your data.

  • Strengths: What are your competitors doing well in their email marketing? Are they using visually compelling designs, persuasive CTAs, or highly engaging subject lines?
  • Weaknesses: Where do their emails fall short? Are the designs cluttered? Do their emails lack personalization?
  • Opportunities: What gaps have you identified in their strategy that you can take advantage of? Are they missing out on sending triggered emails? Are they underutilizing A/B testing?
  • Threats: Is there anything in their strategy that poses a direct challenge to your efforts? Are they promoting a strong value proposition, or dominating certain content categories?

Monitor their social media for email promotions

Email marketing often works in tandem with social media. Pay attention to how your competitors promote their email content on their social platforms.

Track:

  • How often they promote their email sign-up links
  • If and how they promote specific email campaigns (e.g., “Don’t miss our latest newsletter!”)
  • The engagement these posts receive (likes, comments, shares), which can indicate the success of their email promotions

By following these steps, you’ll gain a well-rounded view of your competitors' email marketing strategies and valuable insights to boost your own. Remember that ongoing analysis and testing are key to staying relevant in your email marketing efforts.

 

What information have you found most helpful in your own competitor research?

How have you used competitor insights to improve your marketing strategies in other channels?

 

@Ashley I (Ashley Ismailovski)

Learn more about me on my Champion profile page

 

Did this topic or the replies in the thread help you find an answer to your question?

2 replies

talhahussain
Problem Solver IV
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  • Problem Solver IV
  • 71 replies
  • January 13, 2025

Great insights on competitor research for email marketing! It's essential to stay ahead by analyzing strategies that work in the industry. For those looking to dive deeper into effective email marketing techniques and innovative solutions, check out The Quantum Solutions for more expertise. Thanks for sharing!


  • Contributor I
  • 2 replies
  • January 14, 2025
Ashley I. wrote:

Email marketing is an effective tool for businesses. While social media and influencer marketing are growing in popularity, email still provides a great return on investment (ROI).

To optimize your email marketing strategy, you first need to understand how your competitors are engaging with your shared audience. Competitor analysis helps you uncover opportunities to improve your own approach.

Here's a quick guide on how to conduct effective competitor research for email marketing.

Identify top competitors

Know exactly who your main competitors are. These are typically businesses that offer similar products or services and target the same audience as you.

Direct competitors should be your focus, here. Their strategies may offer relevant insights to support your email marketing efforts.

Look at:

  • Competitors with a similar target audience
  • Competitors that have a strong presence in your industry
  • Those who might not be direct competitors, but are known for their exceptional email marketing efforts

Pro tip: Creating a list of 3–5 competitors will give you enough variety to analyze and compare without overwhelming you with data.

Subscribe to competitors’ newsletters

The easiest way to get a firsthand look at your competitors’ email marketing tactics is to sign up for their emails. When subscribing, make sure you sign up for multiple types of emails they may offer, such as product updates, promotions, or newsletters.

You can also try to trigger flows, such as welcome series, abandoned carts, and browse abandonment, through activity on their site. This will give you a comprehensive view of their overall email marketing strategy.

Pro tip: To keep things organized and separate from your regular inbox, you may choose to create a new email account specifically for this purpose. This allows you to neatly collect emails over time without cluttering your personal or work email.

Analyze key email elements

Once you’ve collected enough emails (typically over a few weeks), it’s time to start analyzing. Focus on the following key elements:

  • Subject lines: Are they catchy, informative, or more personalized? Pay attention to the length and tone of their subject lines, and how often they use urgency or curiosity to drive opens.
  • Email design: Look at the overall layout, branding, and use of images. Are they consistent with their website design? Is the email mobile-friendly?
  • Content: Examine the body of the email for messaging, tone, and length. What kinds of content are they sending—blog posts, product updates, or promotions?
  • Calls to action (CTAs): Evaluate the effectiveness of their CTAs. Are they clear and direct? Where are they placed within the email? Do they use buttons or hyperlinks?

 

Pro tip: To organize this analysis, you can use a simple spreadsheet to track subject lines, design elements, and content over time.

Evaluate their timing and consistency

Beyond content, timing plays an important role in email marketing success. You can observe patterns by analyzing the frequency and timing of your competitors’ emails. Plot out the days and times their emails hit your inbox on a calendar and see if there are trends.

Ask yourself:

  • Do they send emails weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly?
  • Are they emailing too often, risking email fatigue, or too infrequently, losing engagement opportunities?
  • Do they send emails at specific times of the day?
  • Is there any connection between the timing and their promotions or product launches?

This information can help you identify gaps where you can schedule your emails to avoid overlapping with theirs, police clearance or capitalize on times when they aren’t sending.

Create a competitor SWOT analysis

To make the most of your research, use a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. This will help you draw actionable conclusions from your data.

  • Strengths: What are your competitors doing well in their email marketing? Are they using visually compelling designs, persuasive CTAs, or highly engaging subject lines?
  • Weaknesses: Where do their emails fall short? Are the designs cluttered? Do their emails lack personalization?
  • Opportunities: What gaps have you identified in their strategy that you can take advantage of? Are they missing out on sending triggered emails? Are they underutilizing A/B testing?
  • Threats: Is there anything in their strategy that poses a direct challenge to your efforts? Are they promoting a strong value proposition, or dominating certain content categories?

Monitor their social media for email promotions

Email marketing often works in tandem with social media. Pay attention to how your competitors promote their email content on their social platforms.

Track:

  • How often they promote their email sign-up links
  • If and how they promote specific email campaigns (e.g., “Don’t miss our latest newsletter!”)
  • The engagement these posts receive (likes, comments, shares), which can indicate the success of their email promotions

By following these steps, you’ll gain a well-rounded view of your competitors' email marketing strategies and valuable insights to boost your own. Remember that ongoing analysis and testing are key to staying relevant in your email marketing efforts.

 

What information have you found most helpful in your own competitor research?

How have you used competitor insights to improve your marketing strategies in other channels?

 

@Ashley I (Ashley Ismailovski)

Learn more about me on my Champion profile page

 

Great tips! Analyzing competitors’ email strategies can provide valuable insights for improving your own efforts. Key takeaways like tracking subject lines, timing, and CTAs help refine messaging, while a SWOT analysis can highlight both opportunities and potential threats. Monitoring social media promotions adds another layer, helping you see how email marketing ties into broader strategies. Overall, it's an ongoing process that sharpens your approach over time!