Often ecommerce stores grow from 6-figure to 7-figure & 8-figure companies before they wish they had invested more into email earlier on. Often this means ecommerce stores are easily leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table.
Email marketing is a powerful tool for any business, and it's essential to have the right team in place to maximize its potential.
But what does an effective email marketing team look like?
From the strategic planner to the creative designer, each role plays a vital part in building a team that can strategize, create and execute effective email campaigns that drive engagement and revenue.
By understanding these roles and how they work together, you'll be able to build a team that can take your email marketing efforts to the next level.
Here we'll explore the 6 key roles that make up a dream email marketing team, and how each role contributes to the success of your email marketing efforts:
1. The Email Marketing Manager
A successful Email Marketing Manager also known as an Email Strategist, is able to develop and implement a comprehensive email marketing strategy that aligns with the overall business goals, and consistently delivers results in terms of email engagement, conversions and revenue.
They lead and manage the email marketing team and are able to adapt their strategy based on changing business needs and email performance.
Responsibilities
The Email Marketing Manager is responsible for developing and implementing the overall email marketing strategy for the company. This includes setting email marketing goals, building monthly email marketing high-level strategy, campaign calendars, building & optimizing email flows, and overseeing the effectiveness of email content. This often includes developing email strategy briefs to align copywriters & designers, as well as reviewing email layouts to ensure they are optimized for conversion.
They also lead and manage the email marketing team, and are responsible for ensuring that emails are sent on time, are effective and execute properly on the strategy brief, emails are tested and analytics applied ensuring that the email marketing channel is generating revenue for the business. They work closely with other departments & executive teams to ensure that email marketing efforts are aligned with the overall business goals.
Skills
The Email Marketing Manager should have a deep understanding of email marketing best practices, optimization and technology. They should have skills in email marketing, marketing strategy, project management, and team management. They should also have strong analytical skills, as they need to be able to track and analyze the performance of campaigns and make data-driven decisions to improve them. Additionally they should be able to ensure that the creative team delivered effectively on the scope of the strategy brief. Strong communication and leadership skills are also essential, as they will be working closely with other departments and managing a team. They should also be familiar with email service platforms (ESPs) such as Klaviyo.
2. Project Manager
A successful Project Manager in an email marketing team is the glue that holds the email marketing team together & ensures that the team as a whole is able to plan and execute an effective email marketing strategy.
An email marketing team is often working on a significant number of email marketing projects at any given time, so the Project Manager is critical in ensuring that email marketing projects are completed on time with high quality and that projects are being reprioritized as new ones continuously arise.
They are able to plan ahead, manage an email marketing production workflow, and communicate progress and project status effectively to both team members & external teams.
Responsibilities
The Project Manager is responsible for ensuring that email marketing projects are completed on time to the satisfaction of the Email Marketing Manager & other executive stakeholders.
They work closely with the Email Marketing Manager to plan ahead on each month's email marketing campaign calendar and email flow projects. They also work collaboratively with the other members of the email marketing team to define the scope and deliverables of each email marketing project and ensure it gets properly force-ranked and added to the project list.
They are responsible for creating detailed project plans, setting deadlines, and managing the allocation of resources to ensure the project is completed and implemented as per the email marketing calendar schedule.
Skills
The Project Manager should have; strong project management skills, experience managing an online planning platform, able to triage well, able to lead and manage cross-functional teams, strong communication and negotiation skills, strong problem-solving and decision-making skills, strong time management and organizational skills.
They should also have experience with project management software and tools, and email software and systems, familiarity with email marketing best practices and technologies is a plus.
3. Copywriter
A successful Copywriter in an email marketing team is able to craft compelling and effective copy that resonates with the target audience and drives engagement, conversion and revenue.
A great email copywriter is able to write emails that both nurture & educate customers, and understand how to write sales copy that helps to drive engagement and conversions.
They create high-quality content that aligns with the overall email marketing strategy and business goals, and are able to adapt their writing style to the tone and voice of the brand of the company they are writing for.
Since email marketing teams are often juggling multiple email projects at a time, effective email copywriters have to be able to work efficiently and effectively within tight deadlines, and are able to collaborate with other team members to create cohesive and on-brand campaigns.
Responsibilities
The Copywriter is responsible for creating the written content for email campaigns, including subject lines, headlines, body copy, and calls-to-action. They work closely with the Email Marketing Manager and other team members to ensure that the copy aligns with the overall email marketing strategy and business goals.
They are responsible for researching and staying informed about the industry and target audience, and for tailoring their writing style to the tone and voice of the brand. They are also responsible for proofreading and editing their own work, and for ensuring that the content is error-free.
Skills
The Copywriter should have strong writing, editing, and proofreading skills. They should have the ability to craft compelling, persuasive & engaging copy that converts, engages and builds community.
Ideally they would poses research and analytical skills to stay informed about the brands industry and target audience. They should have the ability to adapt their writing style to the tone and voice of the brand. Strong communication and collaboration skills are also essential, as they will be working closely with other team members to create cohesive and on-brand campaigns that answer the strategic brief and goals.
4. Designer
A successful Designer in an email marketing team is able to create visually appealing and on-brand designs that effectively communicate the message of the campaign.
They are able to create layouts, images, and graphics that are optimized for conversion & align with the overall email marketing strategy, while also being on-brand.
Similar to an effective copywriter, they need to be able to work within tight deadlines, and are able to collaborate with other team members to create cohesive and on-brand campaigns. They are able to adapt their designs to the ever-changing market and customer needs and are able to create responsive designs that adapt to different screen sizes. It is also important that they are able to take creative feedback from customers and the email marketing strategist or creative director to quickly pivot when necessary to appropriately answer the strategy brief or client needs.
Responsibilities
The Designer is responsible for creating the visual elements of email campaigns, including layouts, images, and graphics. They work closely with the Email Marketing Manager and other team members to ensure that the designs align with the overall email marketing strategy, the email layout is optimized for conversion.
They are responsible for researching and staying informed about design trends and industry standards, and for tailoring their designs to the tone and voice of the brand. They are also responsible for ensuring that the designs are optimized for different screen sizes and devices.
Skills
The Designer should have strong skills in graphic design, typography, and layout. They should have the ability to create visually appealing and on-brand designs that effectively communicate the message of the campaign. They should also have the ability to pivot when necessary to deliver on a client request or strategy.
They should also have research and analytical skills to stay informed about design trends and industry standards, and the ability to adapt their designs to the ever-changing market and customer needs. Strong communication and collaboration skills are also essential, as they will be working closely with other team members to create cohesive and on-brand campaigns. Familiarity with responsive design and conversion-rate optimization best practices is a plus.
5. The Implementor
The Implementor in an email marketing team sets up and implement campaigns and automations into your email service provider (ESP), like Klaviyo. They build and test emails, schedule sends, and manage email lists in a way that aligns with the overall email marketing strategy and business goals.
They also troubleshoot technical issues and ensures the email displays properly on all devices. They are the ones to stay up-to-date with the latest features and best practices in Klaviyo, and are able to help the team to get the most out of the platform.
Responsibilities
The Implementor is responsible for implementing and executing email campaigns using Klaviyo, or other ESPs. This includes tasks such as building and testing emails, scheduling sends, setting up A/B tests, managing email lists.
They work closely with the Email Marketing Manager and other team members to ensure that finished email that subscribers receive in their inbox is aligned with the email marketing strategy & design that was produced. This includes quality assurance testing & display testing on multiple devices. As well as testing the email links and always are doing additional Quality Assurance checks.
Skills
The Implementor should have strong skills in Klaviyo (or your chosen email service platform), HTML, and CSS. They should be familiar with email marketing best practices, and have the ability to troubleshoot basic technical issues.
Strong attention to detail and the ability to work well under pressure are essential, as they need to deliver campaigns on time and within budget. Strong communication and collaboration skills are also important, as they will be working closely with other team members to ensure that campaigns align with the overall email marketing strategy and business goals. Familiarity with other email marketing platforms is a plus.
6. The Analyst/Reporter
The Email Marketing Analyst measures and analyzes the email marketing performance and provide insights and recommendations for improving the performance of future campaigns.
They work closely with the Email Marketing Manager to monitor & evaluate metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates, and use data to inform decisions on future campaign strategy. They also stay up-to-date with industry standards and best practices, and are able to use this knowledge to improve overall email marketing performance.
Responsibilities
The Email Marketing Analyst is responsible for building email performance dashboards to track, measure & analyze your email marketing performance. This includes providing insights on month-over-month (MOM) and year-over-year data (YOY), as well as trends.
They are responsible for collaborating with the Email Marketing Manager to identify underperforming email campaigns and flows & find areas of opportunity for improvement and work to update account norms and thresholds.
They are also responsible for creating and maintaining reports, and for communicating findings, and flagging issues to other members of the email marketing team & executive team.
Skills
The Email Marketing Analyst should have strong skills in data analysis, statistics, and Excel. They should have the ability to interpret & analyze data, identify insights, create reports, and provide recommendations for improving email performance.
They should have the ability to work well with large data sets, and have a good understanding of email marketing metrics and KPIs.
Strong communication and collaboration skills are also essential, as they will be working closely to communicate insights & recommendations to other team members. Familiarity with other email marketing platforms and marketing automation software is a plus.
Teamwork makes the dream work
Building an effective email marketing team is crucial for the success of your email marketing efforts. Each role plays a vital role in creating and executing campaigns that align with the overall email marketing strategy and business goals.
A well-rounded team will include an Email Marketing Manager, Copywriter, Designer, Implementor, and Analyst. Each of these roles brings a unique set of skills and responsibilities to the table, and together they work to create high-quality, on-brand, and effective email campaigns that drive engagement, conversions, and revenue. The most ideal marketing teams will have a Creative Director, and a Project Manager.
But building an effective email marketing team is not an easy (or cheap) task. From hiring & onboarding costs, to expensive payrolls, it can be difficult for smaller ecommerce stores to build an in-house email marketing team.
Using a tool like Backbone can help 6 & 7-figure e-commerce brands build & an effective email marketing strategy... even without a full email marketing team!
In just 15 minutes, Backbone can build a customized email marketing calendar for your ecommerce store, along with optimized email layouts to help copywriters & designers produce more effective emails. With Backbone, you can streamline your email marketing process, improve your email performance and grow your business.