Angela Hursh, Library Marketing Expert

Looking for Guaranteed Email Marketing Success at Your Library? Here Are Four Essential Metrics To Track.

Image courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

Use the feedback button to share your most pressing email marketing question. I’ll answer these in a future blog post!

I love opening the “reports” tab on an email platform. There is a second or two of anticipation as the page loads that brings me a thrill.

What will the numbers say? Will they be better or worse than last month? Will they reveal a new trend that I can use to better serve my target audience?

I realize I sound a little nuts. But honestly, I love metrics.

They are clear and concise. They show you what’s working and what’s not working. They give you permission to stop doing promotions that don’t help your library at all. If you try something new, they’ll tell you whether your idea worked or not.

Tracked over time, email metrics will help you to take the 30,000-foot view of your library marketing. You can see if your emails are doing what they are supposed to do… moving your library toward its overall strategic goals.

There is a lot we could measure in terms of email marketing. It would be easy to get lost in the quagmire of numbers and analysis.

So, I want you to focus on four data points that really matter to library email marketing. Use these metrics to determine whether your messages are connecting with your audience and promoting your library’s overall strategic goals. And don’t miss the bonus tip at the end of this list!

“Email is the only place where people, not algorithms, are in control.”
Ann Handley, writer, digital marketing pioneer, and Wall Street Journal best-selling author

1. Increase of raw circulation numbers.

Record the number of checkouts and holds before you send the message and then again after the message is sent. You can generally wait about three days to check those numbers. Cardholders who want to act on an email will do so within a three-day period of receiving it.

What this metric will tell you: Raw circulation numbers will likely be of interest to anyone in collection development at your library. They are also the basis for the next two metrics, which will help you compare the effectiveness of your emails.

2. Percentage increase in circulation.

Once you start collecting data on raw holds and checkout increases, you will want to calculate the percentage increase in circulation.

Let’s say on Monday, you send an email promoting one specific eBook. Before you send the email, you note that there are currently three holds or checkouts of this eBook. When you check on Tuesday, there are four new holds or checkouts placed on the eBook. In total, there are now seven holds or checkouts on this item.

Use percentagecalculator.net to calculate the percentage increase in circulation. For this example, we use the third calculation tool on the page:

That’s a 133 percent increase in circulation.

Now, the next week, you decide to send another email promoting a different eBook. But this time, the eBook you choose to promote has 15 holds or copies before the email is sent. When you check 24 hours after sending the email, there are 10 new holds or checkouts. In total, there are now 25 holds or checkouts on the eBook.

The raw numbers for the second email are bigger (an increase of 4 holds/checkouts vs. an increase of 10 holds/checkouts). But the percentage increase for the second email is actually smaller, at 66%! That means email #1 was more effective.

What this metric will tell you: Percentage increase in circulation lets you compare your promotions more accurately. If you are short on time, this kind of comparison will help you determine which promotions will give you the most success with your limited resources.

3. Conversion rate.

This is the percentage of people who took an action after receiving your email.

Let’s pretend that you’ve sent an email to 1000 people. The email promotes a streaming video on your library website that hasn’t had any views in the past couple of weeks.

When you check the streaming statistics for that video, you see that 25 people watched the video in the days immediately after you sent the email.

Using the second tool on our percentage calculator website, you can calculate the percentage of people who “converted” or took an action after your email.

What this metric will tell you: If you start tracking conversion rates on your emails, over time you’ll have a clear picture of the types of emails your audience responds to. You’ll be able to establish a good base percentage for your audience. This number will be different for every library.

If you are short on time, this metric will help you determine which promotions will give you the most success with your limited resources. When you find a certain type of email promotion works based on conversion rate, you should do it more often.

4. Amount of traffic driven to your website.

Track how much traffic is funneled to your public website by your emails. You can use Google Analytics to analyze how efforts on those platform translates into action by your cardholders. If you’ve never worked with Google Analytics, h ere is an easy guide to get you started.

What this metric will tell you: This is an important metric to share with administration, because it clearly demonstrates the value of the time and energy you have invested in email marketing.

Special bonus tip!

If you promote the same collection item or booklist on social media, email, and your website, put some space between those three promotions. A week is a good amount of time. That allows you to really pinpoint whether your increase in circulation is coming from email, your placement of the item on your website, or social media.

In fact, that’s a fun experiment to run. Can you drive higher circulation numbers by promoting your collection on your website, email, or social media?

You can even get more granular: which social media platform is best for collection promotion? Which page on your website is best for placing collection promotions? Which email list responds best? See, this is fun!

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Angela’s latest book review

Beautiful Things by Hunter Biden

July 12, 2021 9

It’s the 100th Episode of The Library Marketing Show! Here are 5 Reasons to Love Library Marketing

Watch Now

This is the 100th episode of the Library Marketing Show. It’s a celebration of YOU… the person who does marketing and promotions at your library.

I think you are amazing and awesome, and I’m sharing the five reasons why library marketing is the best job at the library.

And Kudos in this episode go to… you! Thank you for your comments, feedback, ideas, and support. The library marketing community is gracious and warm and wonderful, and I’m proud to be a part of it.

Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know in the comments. And subscribe to this series to get a new video tip for libraries each week.

Thanks for watching!

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on the “Follow” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the page.

Angela’s latest book reviews

Beach Read by Emily Henry

July 7, 2021 2

Social Media News About Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook That Your Library Needs To Know!

Watch Now

The Library Marketing Show, Episode 99

In this episode we cover three top social media stories that affect library marketing.

The stories includes a Twitter function allows you to un-tag your library from a thread, a story about how Instagram is testing “fanclub” stories, and news about a new Facebook features that tests public comments on Facebook stories.

Kudos goes to Karen Jensen of Teen Librarian Toolbox for speaking out against the narrative of “the library is more than just books!”

Thanks for watching!

Angela’s latest book reviews

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on the “Follow” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the page.

June 30, 2021 1

Two Key Areas of Marketing Focus That Will Deepen Your Community’s Loyalty to Your Library and Create the Truly Engaged Library User

*Photo courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Click on the image to visit their digital library.*

For most libraries, the end of the fiscal year is here. I think this is the perfect time to implement two new areas of focus for library promotions.

As discussed last week, libraries are at a critical moment. As we emerge into the post-pandemic world, we should not go back to doing things the way we were doing them before the crisis. That includes the way we do marketing and promotions.

Libraries need to start thinking beyond simply churning out flyers, posters, emails, and social media posts. We must devote time and energy to two primary areas of marketing focus: customer service and content marketing.

Here’s why.

Excellent customer service as marketing

We can create the truly engaged library cardholder by offering consistent, personal support.

Customer service is an extension of marketing because nothing compares to the first-hand experience of a real person having a great experience with your library, and then sharing that experience with their friends and family.

Customers are comparing you to every other customer experience they have. Expectations are high.

A library with frontline staff who are friendly, courteous, and dedicated to personalized assistance will hold the key to customer retention. You want to retain cardholders because it’s less expensive and takes less resources to retain engaged and active patrons than it takes to get new cardholders.

The good news is that most libraries excel at customer service. There are two ways to take those excellent, basic skills to the next level so you can create those loyal customers.

Respond as quickly as possible to patrons, wherever they interact with your library

Customer service consultant STELLAService released a report a few months ago that found that 62 percent of companies ignore customer service emails. The average wait time for a customer service email is 12 hours! And only 20 percent of companies follow up to see if their original answer was satisfactory for the customer.

This is an area where libraries can do better than for-profit brands.

Make it a priority at your library to answer every email, phone call, and chat request in a timely manner.
Institute a policy to send a follow-up email or make a follow-up phone call to ensure that the original answers you gave to the patron are satisfactory.

For instance, if a parent requests a book bundle for their child, be sure to send them an email or call them a few days after they’ve picked up their hold to see if their child is enjoying the books you provided. Keep a spreadsheet where you can make notes about what the patron liked and disliked.

The next time that person calls the library for help, your front-line staff can consult that database and provide more valuable help to that patron.

That kind of deeply personal customer service is the best kind of marketing you can do because it builds a relationship with the patron that is meaningful and shows that you are deeply committed to creating the best library customer experience possible.

Listen to your community

To provide the most meaningful services, collection, and programs, we need to know exactly who is using the library and how they are using it. We must also anticipate our community needs.

You can do this by enlisting front line staff to ask three simple questions during every patron interaction for a three-week period.

How could the library better help you this year?
What services do you love?
What services do you need?

The answers will give you valuable insight into the services your library can provide that will truly create an engaged community.

If you notice a service that isn’t mentioned by patrons in these interactions, consider dropping that service, even if it’s been something you’ve been doing for a long while. You want to provide what your community wants and needs.

You can also survey patrons by email. If you’ve never created a survey before, this post will help you.

Content marketing deepens community relations

Content marketing is promoting your library, not through advertisements or push promotions, but through education.

By providing answers to your community’s main questions, your library builds trust and loyalty. People will come to see your institution as a valuable resource with services that can’t be replicated by other institutions.

Content marketing breaks through the noise and the clutter by providing compelling, useful information for your cardholder. It addresses whatever pain points your cardholders have. It positions your library as the go-to place for information. It builds trust.

And through content marketing, your library gets a better and deeper understanding of your cardholders. You can use that understanding to do an even better job of addressing your cardholders needs. It’s a constant circle of giving. It carries more weight for a longer period than a flier or a poster.

You don’t have to be a trained marketer to understand how content marketing works. In fact, my contention is this: since more library marketing departments are run by trained librarians, you’ll do better at implementing a content marketing strategy at your library than most people with a marketing degree.

You tell stories. You read stories. You review stories. You love stories. You’re the perfect person to tell stories about your library, its staff, and its users.

Stories stick. A good story will stay in your brain longer than a good ad. And once you’ve told a great story, your cardholders will remember your brand. Stories build a connection which leads to customer loyalty, which leads to customer action.

Next week: Content marketing basics for libraries: easy ideas about how and where to tell stories about your library to deepen community loyalty.

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on the “Follow” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the page.

Angela’s latest book reviews

Beach Read by Emily Henry

June 28, 2021 3

How To Put Together a Promotional Email Drip Campaign for Your Library

Watch Now

The Library Marketing Show, Episode 98

In this episode, I’ll explain what an email drip campaign is, why you might want to use a drip campaign for library promotions, and then HOW to actually put the campaign together!

Kudos goes to Barbara Swinn of York Libraries for her British Empire Medal!

Thanks for watching!

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on the “Follow” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Connect with me on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and LinkedIn.

Did you miss Monday’s blog post?

The Truly Engaged Library User: Why It’s Critical That Libraries Focus Less on Transactions and More on Relationships

Angela’s latest book reviews

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June 23, 2021 1

The Truly Engaged Library User: Why It’s Critical That Libraries Focus Less on Transactions and More on Relationships

Photo courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Acquisitions Department, Main Library, 1982-1983.

I was asked a deep question this week.

What is engagement?

I mean, you might as well ask me to explain the meaning of life. (I’m kidding. Please don’t ask me that question.)

There are two ways to define engagement in your library promotional efforts.

Transactional Engagement

One way to talk about engagement in library marketing is solely centered on numbers.

How many likes, shares, comments, and direct messages do your social media posts get? What is the open and click through rate of your emails? How many people signed up to attend your program based on the flyer you slipped into their checkout? How many people used a database after you mentioned it at your last program?

These hard numbers are measurable and easy to explain. They demonstrate that your community sees your marketing. They take an action.

Transactional engagement is data that proves people are interacting with your library marketing.

Relationship Engagement

But engagement cannot, and should not, be solely defined by the hard numbers. It must also be the ongoing relationship building that your library does with patrons.

People may be opening your emails and clicking on your social media posts. They’re checking out books and using your services.

But more importantly, how do they feel about your library long term?

Engagement must involve building a deeper relationship with your patrons over time. When that happens, the relationship will manifest itself in ways that go beyond hard numbers.

This is the real value of your library. Your cardholders will not only use the library more, but they’ll also donate more, volunteer more, speak out to support you more often, and influence others to use the library.

If this relationship building has not been in your list of priorities, you’re not alone. A study by Chief Marketing Officer found that most marketers fail to nurture long-term relationships. Instead, they focus more on the transactional nature of engagement.

That’s because transactional engagement is easy to measure. You can take those metrics to your supervisor and to the board. You can prove what you’re doing is effective. And you can feel good about your work.

It’s far more difficult to explain to your library administrators and stakeholders that you are building a lifelong emotional connection and loyalty with your community. It is hard to convince them that this is important. It’s also difficult to measure this work.

And building relationships doesn’t happen overnight. Libraries may feel they don’t have the luxury of devoting time to this work.

But we must. And we must do that right now.

Why this is the moment to focus on relationship building

Libraries are at a crossroads. I cannot stress this strongly enough: as we emerge into the post-pandemic world, we should not go back to doing things the way we were doing them before the crisis.

Libraries were already facing budget cuts, apathy, and accusations of irrelevancy. And that was before the pandemic forced us into lockdown and severed tenuous ties with our community by physically separating us from our customers.

The pandemic forced us to take our service models in a whole new direction. We proved that we can pivot.

We should use this opportunity to move our marketing in a new direction too. We cannot let the fear of doing something different keep us from making the bold changes needed to move into a real position of success.

Libraries should use this time to turn their sights on building loyalty. We’re going to need it to survive in the post-pandemic world.

Relationship engagement is the key. When we focus on building loyalty, we’ll learn more about our communities. We can put those discoveries to use to create services that actually solve problems. We can provide the services our community needs, not the services we *think* they need.

Yes, I know this sounds a little aspirational and far-fetched

Now, when I gave this answers to the folks who asked me do define engagement, I could see the look of skepticism on the faces of some of my peers. And I understand why.

We are just coming out a major life changing event. Most libraries think they must be solely focused on trying to get their circulation and usage numbers back up to pre-pandemic levels.

But I think this is a chance to do something bigger. This moment is an opportunity that comes once in a lifetime.

Library staffers often seek to find the deeper meaning of the work they are doing. They want to know that their jobs are having an impact on the community. If we focus on building sustainable relationships of loyalty and trust with our community, staff will feel like they are contributing to the library’s overall goals in a meaningful way.

How does relationship building work in a real library?

Let’s say your library does personalized reading suggestions. Staff members may view their work as transactional. A reader asks for a suggestion and answers a few questions. The library staffer sends them a list of suggested books based on their reading preferences. Interaction complete.

To turn this from solely a transactional interaction to a relationship building interaction, the library staff member could write a personal email or note to the reader, to explain why they chose these particular books. A few weeks later, the staff member could reach out to the reader to ask for their thoughts about the selections. Did they like them? Which books did they check out? Did they learn anything new about what they like to read?

This interaction takes longer but it’s more meaningful. It shows that the library cares about the person and strives to provide the best customer service possible. And that’s how you build loyalty in your community.

Here are more ideas that will help you take transactional library interactions and turn them into relationship building engagement.

By the way, this weekend, I heard someone say they believe the meaning of life is for us to help each other get to wherever we are going next.

That view has a connection to the work you do at your library, don’t you agree?

Angela’s latest book reviews

A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet

Dark Tides by Philippa Gregory

June 21, 2021 7

How Do We Get People To Come Back to the Library? Four Ideas That Can Help You Rebuild Use of Your Library

Here is something I’ve noticed in my conversations with library staff over the past six months.

Staff share a profound feeling of separation from their communities. They’ve been working for more than a year without the normal interactions with the public. And that has led to increased anxiety about whether things will ever return to normal.

The big questions I’m getting are: How long will it take before circulation returns to normal? How long will it take before program attendance is back to where it was before the pandemic?

I can’t answer those questions. I’m not sure anyone credibly can.

But what I can do is help you to rebuild use of your library through marketing and promotions.

Here are four ideas that libraries can strategically use to bring people back to the library, re-engage cardholders, and get new community members to use the library.

Renew everyone’s library cards automatically and incentivize people to use them. Then, use that interaction to re-connect.

If you have a system where cards need to be renewed, a blanket automatic renewal is a great promotional tactic. Automatic renewal of library cards is a customer service best practice. And doing so right now, when we are coming off more than a year of service limitations, is strategically smart.

If your senior leaders have concerns about a blanket renewal, ask them to read Cordelia Anderson’s book. It explains the advantages of this action.

The next step is to gather prizes from partners, like you would for summer reading. Let people know they’ll be entered into a drawing to win a prize if they use their card. If they check out a book or use an online resource, they can fill out an entry. If your priorities are to drive attendance at in-person programs or to get people to physically come into a branch, you can tell people they get two entries in the drawing!

Once they come back, make sure you do everything you can to re-connect with these cardholders. Have your staff do three things with every person they interact with.

Get their email address.
Get them to self-identify their interests. Are they looking for help solving a particular problem, like finding a job? Are they looking for books for entertainment and relaxation? Ask your public to name at least one topic they would want more information about.
Give them a print piece of marketing material to encourage further use of the library. Don’t let them leave this interaction without something in their hands. Remind them that the library is open and actively providing service to your community again.

Rebuild a sense of community.

One of the things that library users said they missed most during the pandemic was social interaction. This is another opportunity for libraries to rebuild.

Rather than re-starting our one-off programs, let’s spend our energy putting together programs that everyone can participate in. Wider-ranging programs, which focus on getting large groups people to do an activity together, help to build a sense of community.

One idea: everyone reads the same book, or watches the same movie, or listens to the same piece of music. Then, your library creates ways for your community to share their thoughts and experiences around that group activity.

Another idea: ask your patrons to share their pandemic stories. Encourage them to share how they survived their time in lockdown, what they learned, and how the experience changed them.

Let the public know you’ll be posting their contribution on a special landing page of your website, and sharing them through social media and in email. You can even print short versions of the stories on a bookmark, which you’ll slip into holds and checkouts to encourage other library users to share their stories.

Finally, hold an event where people can have the chance to read their stories to an audience.

A shared experience builds community. And a community that feels connected to your library, and to each other, will keep coming back to use your services.

Use your virtual programs and videos to encourage your community to expand their library use.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, libraries have embraced livestream and video programming. Now we can use the platforms and audiences we have built for promotions.

Do a livestream from inside your building. Show your audience one thing they can do in your library that they haven’t been able to use since the building was closed or operating under limited services. Save the video and repost it later for on-demand viewing.

Do a livestream where the community can ask questions about the library… an “ask me anything” type event. During your livestream, be sure to mention programs or services that may be interesting to those asking questions.

It’s like working the front desk: people ask questions and you provide the answers. You’ll be demonstrating your staff’s expertise and reminding people that the library is there to help.

Buy two kinds of social media ads.

We know social media algorithms do not work in favor of organic posts. Use some of your budget to circumvent the system by purchasing ads.

Your ad approach can have two methods. One ad should focus on followers. They don’t necessarily see your posts because of the algorithm. But a purchased ad will make sure you are in their feeds. Use the ad to alert them to your expanded changes in service.

The other ad should be focused on people who aren’t library users or followers. You can even split this audience into people you think might be interested in coming into a branch versus people who might want to use digital resources. Social media platforms do a great job of helping you to target specific audiences with your ads.

Spend $25 and see what kind of results you get. If you have more money, use the data you’ve received from this smaller test to run larger, longer ads.

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June 14, 2021 3

Twitter Changes Their Image Policy, New Instagram Trends, and the Best Times to Post on Each Platform!

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The Library Marketing Show, Episode 96

In this episode, we’ll go through the latest updates for social media platforms and what they mean for libraries.

This month’s headlines include a change in Twitter’s image cropping policy, a new report on Instagram use, and another new report that lays out the “alleged” best times to post on each social media platform. Watch the video to find out why I believe libraries should take this third report with a grain of salt!

Kudos go to the Coralville Public Library. Watch the video to find out why a fellow viewer nominated them for mention in this episode.

Thanks for watching!

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