Table of Contents

Unveiling the Secrets: How to Check Your Competitors’ Email Marketing Strategies

Want to know what your rivals are up to in the email marketing realm? Peeking behind the curtain is not only fair game but also crucial for staying ahead. By monitoring your competitors’ email campaigns, you can gain valuable insights into their strategies, identify emerging trends, and ultimately refine your own approach for maximum impact. Here’s a breakdown of how to do it, from the basics to advanced tactics.

The most straightforward way to check your competitors’ email marketing is by subscribing to their email lists. This grants you direct access to the content they’re sending to their audience, allowing you to analyze their messaging, offers, frequency, and design. Furthermore, leveraging tools like email tracking software, social media monitoring, and publicly available email archives can provide a broader view of their email marketing efforts and the results they’re achieving.

Decoding the Competitive Landscape: Essential Techniques

1. The Trojan Horse: Directly Subscribing to Their Lists

This is ground zero. Identify your key competitors (direct and indirect) and manually subscribe to their email lists. Use a dedicated email address for this purpose to avoid cluttering your primary inbox.

Analyze Signup Processes: How easy is it to subscribe? Do they offer an incentive (like a discount code or free ebook)? This reflects their acquisition strategy.
Monitor Email Frequency: How often do they send emails? Are they daily, weekly, or sporadic? This indicates their engagement strategy.
Examine Email Content: What kind of content are they sending? Product updates, promotions, blog posts, newsletters? This reveals their content marketing approach.
Evaluate Design & Branding: How visually appealing are their emails? Is their branding consistent? This reflects their brand identity and design capabilities.
Observe Segmentation: Can you identify different subscriber segments based on the emails you receive? This signifies their personalization efforts.

2. The Spyglass: Email Tracking Tools

These tools offer more sophisticated insights than manual monitoring.

Mailchimp’s Competitor Monitoring: If you’re a Mailchimp user, you can track the performance of your competitors’ email marketing efforts directly within the platform (features vary based on your plan).
Third-Party Email Tracking Software: Explore platforms like Owletter, Mailcharts, and Similarweb for detailed email tracking, including ad tracking, competitive analysis, and market intelligence.
Benefits: These tools can automate data collection, visualize trends, and provide deeper analysis of email performance.

3. The Eavesdropper: Social Media Monitoring

Email and social media are often intertwined.

Track Mentions: Use social listening tools like Mention, Brandwatch, or Hootsuite to monitor mentions of your competitors, including mentions related to their email campaigns.
Analyze Shared Content: See what emails and promotions from your competitors are being shared on social media. This indicates content that resonates with their audience.
Observe Feedback: Monitor comments and reviews related to your competitors’ email marketing. This provides valuable insights into customer sentiment.

4. The Archivist: Publicly Available Email Archives

While less common, publicly available email archives can offer a historical perspective.

Email Spam Databases: Some email spam databases archive marketing emails. While these aren’t specifically designed for competitor analysis, you might stumble upon interesting insights.
Industry-Specific Archives: Some industries maintain archives of marketing materials, including emails. Check if any exist for your niche.

5. The Imitator (Ethically!): A/B Testing Inspired by Competitors

Don’t directly copy, but use competitor insights to inform your own A/B testing.

Subject Line Analysis: If you notice a competitor consistently using subject lines with a particular structure, test a similar approach for your own emails.
Offer Testing: If a competitor is running a successful promotion, test a slightly modified version for your audience.
Call to Action Experimentation: Observe the calls to action used in competitor emails and experiment with similar phrasing and design in your own campaigns.

6. The Insider: Job Postings

Looking at your competitors’ job postings, especially in marketing departments, can give you insight into which technologies and skill sets they are looking to acquire. This can be a good indicator on the direction they are heading.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Is it legal to subscribe to my competitors’ email lists?

Yes, subscribing to a competitor’s email list is perfectly legal as long as you don’t use the information gained for malicious purposes like spamming or hacking.

2. What metrics should I track when monitoring competitor emails?

Focus on frequency, subject lines, open rates (estimated), click-through rates (estimated), offers, design, calls to action, and segmentation strategies.

3. How can I estimate a competitor’s email open rates and click-through rates?

While you can’t directly see their metrics, you can use tools like Mailcharts to estimate these based on industry averages and publicly available data. Also, analyze engagement on shared content on social media for clues.

4. What if my competitor is using personalized email marketing? Will I still get valuable insights?

Yes, even personalized emails can provide insights into their segmentation strategy, messaging framework, and overall customer journey. The specific personalization might not apply to you, but the underlying approach is valuable.

5. How often should I check my competitors’ email marketing?

Ideally, you should monitor your competitors’ email marketing regularly, perhaps weekly or bi-weekly. Set aside specific time each month for a deep-dive analysis.

6. How can I use competitor analysis to improve my own email marketing?

Use the insights to identify gaps in your own strategy, test new approaches, refine your messaging, improve your design, and ultimately increase engagement and conversions.

7. Are there any free tools for checking competitors’ email marketing?

While paid tools offer more features, you can leverage free trials of email tracking software, social media monitoring tools with limited functionality, and manual monitoring of competitor websites and social media accounts.

8. How do I avoid my competitor knowing I’m subscribed to their list?

Use a separate email address and avoid engaging with their emails excessively (e.g., clicking on every link).

9. Should I also check my competitors’ landing pages?

Absolutely! Their landing pages are an integral part of their email marketing funnel. Analyze the copy, design, and calls to action on these pages to understand their conversion strategies.

10. What should I do if I discover my competitor is using unethical email marketing tactics (e.g., spamming)?

Report them to the relevant authorities (e.g., the FTC) and alert your customers to be wary of their emails. Focus on building trust and transparency in your own email marketing.

11. How can I prevent my competitors from spying on my email marketing?

While you can’t completely prevent it, segment your lists carefully, personalize your content, and avoid sharing sensitive information in your emails. Implement strong data privacy practices to protect your subscribers’ information.

12. Beyond email, what other digital marketing channels should I monitor for competitor activity?

Pay attention to their social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), paid advertising (PPC), content marketing, and website performance. A holistic view provides a comprehensive understanding of their overall marketing strategy.

By implementing these strategies and regularly monitoring your competitors, you can gain a significant advantage in the ever-evolving world of email marketing. Remember, the goal is not to copy, but to learn, adapt, and innovate to create a winning email strategy that resonates with your audience.