{"id":3780,"date":"2020-01-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/how-to-make-collecting-campaign-feedback-less-painful\/"},"modified":"2024-12-18T15:07:59","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T20:07:59","slug":"how-to-make-collecting-campaign-feedback-less-painful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.litmus.com\/blog\/how-to-make-collecting-campaign-feedback-less-painful","title":{"rendered":"How to Make Collecting Campaign Feedback Less Painful"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cCan you review this email for me? Sending you a quick test!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHey, could you review the email I sent you the other day? Thanks!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWait, where are Tom\u2019s comments?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve used any of these phrases in the past month, you probably have the email review blues. Symptoms include scattered feedback, conflicting comments, hours of bouncing between comments and editing, and an increase in headaches.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, it\u2019s a trend our community is experiencing more and more. Over the past few years, our <\/span>State of Email Workflows report<\/span><\/a> has uncovered a shrinking percentage of marketers who feel their email review process and email marketing campaign<\/a> is just right.<\/span><\/p>\n

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For some, the email approvals process is too burdensome. On average, marketers spend 4.2 hours gathering reviews and approvals for a single email, which is usually longer than it took to code it. Others may be struggling with an email review workflow that\u2019s too lax, leading to errors slipping through the cracks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Does it really have to be this way? Let\u2019s explore.<\/span><\/p>\n

What can ruin email reviews and approvals<\/span><\/h2>\n

In theory, you should be able to welcome the email review process with open arms. Anyone who has ever had a team member point out an obvious flaw that you totally overlooked understands how nice it is to get a fresh pair of eyes on your work.<\/span><\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the cause of this terrible review epidemic? There are three main culprits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Issue #1: Scattered Feedback<\/span><\/h3>\n

Imagine you want to make yourself a sandwich for lunch, but the bread is in the bathroom, the veggies are in the garage, and the cheese is in your coat closet. Walking around to gather the ingredients and meet back in the kitchen would be time consuming and annoying.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It sounds like a ridiculous scenario, but it\u2019s what email marketers have to deal with when they need to get feedback from different shareholders. We asked our community how they receive email feedback, and many marketers indicated that they use multiple channels to collect feedback on a <\/span>single email<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The most common way to receive feedback was via email, with 75% of people saying they use this method. Oh, great. More stuff in your inbox! Understandably, this feels like a natural place to send comments as a reply to test emails, but important info can get lost in the thread. 25% of people who use Slack for feedback may face similar issues of hunting through conversations to find a particular comment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another popular method for gathering email reviews is verbally, with 28% managing reviews this way. While talking face-to-face with someone minimizes the chance you\u2019ll have a misunderstanding of intent, it also doesn\u2019t leave a \u201cpaper trail.\u201d With everything else on your plate, you can easily forget the details of a conversation.<\/span><\/p>\n

21% of marketers collaborate via Google Docs or other shared documents. The good news is this method consolidates notes a bit better than a conversation thread in email. There\u2019s the added step of translating comments on one document to the actual email in another program, though.<\/span><\/p>\n

The list of methods used to collect email approvals goes on and on. The problem isn\u2019t as much about which channel you use, though. The headaches really start to pop up when different team members are sending comments through various methods. Then the project lead is left to reconcile all the information and translate it into actual edits.<\/span><\/p>\n

Issue #2: No Established Workflow<\/span><\/h3>\n

Another issue that leads to email reviews dragging on is the lack of an established workflow. Simply put, if there are no expectations, nobody can meet them. It\u2019s helpful to work out details such as:<\/span><\/p>\n