Resolve to Learn From the Past

The beginning of the new year is classic time to take stock of the past year and plan for the year to come.  New Year’s resolutions are part empowering recognition that each person is in control of their destiny…and part joke because not many resolutions make it past the first few weeks of the new year.  The reason?  It’s hard to effect big changes based purely on an idea.  To make a lasting change you need to know not just what you don’t want, but what you do want. Once you know what you want, it helps to have specific behaviors to get you from Point A to Point B.


Take Stock of the Past Year
There are lots of easy ways to see what you were up to last year:

    AJ gave some great tips on how to look through and learn from your stats - like clicks and how to reach your readers.

      Look over your subject lines to see if you can spot any patterns in open rates.  What do people respond to best?

        Did you use any flash sales?  Were they holiday related or just spur-of-the-moment?  How’d that work out?

          Totally lost on what has worked well?  You could always just ask. The Power of Polling is a great way to find out what really worked for your email newsletter.  Ask questions that will help you to understand what readers value and what they would like to see in the coming wave of emails.  Marketing is much easier when you can simply provide what you know is a valued offering.

          What can you do with all this information?  Stay tuned for next week when we talk about goal setting based on your past year’s experiences.