10 October 2012

The secret behind an efficient email

marketing campaign

210 October 2012 |

5 key factors driving the email revolution1 Rapid Deployment

email dramatically decreases the amount of time it takes marketers to develop and

deploy a direct marketing campaign.

2 Lower Cost of Delivery

email marketing campaigns eliminate postage, paper and printing that, according to

Forrester Research, account for 60% of the cost of a direct mail marketing campaign.

3 Increased Response Rates

The targeted and personalized nature of permission based email marketing

campaigns generates significantly higher response rates than traditional direct

marketing campaigns.

4 Improved Tracking and Analysis, Flexibility, Manageability

email marketers can easily retrieve and analyze campaign results and frequently

change their marketing campaigns in response to market factors and consumer

feedback.

5 Greater Return on Investment

The cost-effectiveness, speed of delivery and increased response rates associated

with email marketing campaigns result in a greater return on investment than

traditional direct marketing campaigns.

310 October 2012 |

How to use email marketing?

E-MAIL MARKETING

Promo‟s E-newsletters

Sales Generation Traffic Building Relationship mkt

ACTIVATE THE CLIENT MARKET ACTIVATE PROSPECT MARKET

Belgian Email Marketing Benchmarks

Absolute metrics and figures delivered by:

WDM/Permesso.be

Neckermann

Mobistar

Concentra

EmailGarage

Rabobank

De Persgroep

Addemar

410 October 2012 |

Belgian Email Marketing Benchmarks

510 October 2012 |

Belgian Email Marketing Benchmarks

610 October 2012 |

710 October 2012 |

Belgian Email Marketing Benchmarks

810 October 2012 |

Belgian Email Marketing Benchmarks

910 October 2012 |

Belgian Email Marketing Benchmarks

Belgian Email Marketing Benchmarks

1010 October 2012 |

1110 October 2012 |

Belgian Email Marketing Benchmarks

1210 October 2012 |

The anatomy of an email

The constitution of an email is determined by

3 main parts:

• The address fold

• The Johnson Box

• The body of the email

Every one of these 3 items will have a major

impact on the success of your email campaign.

1310 October 2012 |

The address foldThe address fold holds 4 main components:

• The from address

• The from name

• The reply address

• The subject line

Each of these 4 components have a particular impact on the success of your email

marketing campaign.

1410 October 2012 |

The from address & from nameThe from Address

• The from address is a brand builder

• Using the same from address in every campaign will have an impact on the

reputation of your IP. People will have the ability to white list you according to

the from address.

• Using a personalized from address can have a positive impact on how people

perceive your brand. This is mainly true for B2C campaigns.

The from Name

• The from name is even more a brand builder. It mostly caries the name of the

company.

• If possible, personalize the from name as if it is coming from a real person. This

will have a positive impact on the brand perception.

1510 October 2012 |

The reply address & subject lineThe reply address

• It is important to use a valid reply address instead of the well-known no-reply.

People can react via a reply (and you certainly do not want to lose that).

• In the case of a malfunctioning of, e.g. the unsubscribe mechanism, not having a

no-reply is crucial. It is a common practice to ask for an unsubscribe via a simple

reply. A no-reply function will only motivate the receiver to hit the spam button.

This spam function is an important factor on measuring the reputation of your IP.

The subject line

• The subject line is the most important component of your address fold.

• Include a clear call to action in your subject line.

• Using values, discounts, urgency or exclusive deals will increase the effectiveness

of your subject line.

• Consider the subject line as a Twitter post. It has to be short, effective and

teasing.

• The subject line is what makes you open the email and start reading it.

1610 October 2012 |

Measuring the effectiveness of the

address fold.

• To measure the effectiveness of your address fold you will have to look at the

unique opened ratio of your email marketing campaign.

• The easiest way is to take the number of sent emails, subtract the bounces, and

finally measure the number of opens on the remaining number of emails.

1710 October 2012 |

The Johnson boxThe Johnson box is the aria that is exposed when opening your email and looking at

the preview pane. This space will therefore determine if people will keep on reading

your email message.

• Be aware of the 5-30 rule. You only have 5 seconds to convince your reader to

keep reading your email 30 seconds longer. All this takes place in the Johnson

box.

• The Johnson box must therefore include a clear call-to-action.

Do I have to read, click, fill in a survey, buy or register for an event?

• Be sure to include several links in your Johnson box.

• If possible, start your message with a name personalization.

• Be sure not to use an image only banner, or people will only see a red cross of

images disabled in it.

• Therefore, always include text links in your Johnson box.

• In newsletters, it is also advised to include bookmarks in the Johnson box. These

bookmarks are text links referring to the actual content of the email. They are

also considered to give you an instant impression of the exact content of the

email.

1810 October 2012 |

Measuring the effectiveness of the

Johnson box.

• The Johnson box is typically one of the most difficult areas to measure.

Measuring the effectiveness of your Johnson box will require some analytical

insights on your data.

• To closest you can get in measuring the effectiveness of the Johnson box is to

look to the opened ratio and to look to the actual click-through ratio of the

email. Also the click-through within this area is to be taken into account.

• If your opened ratio is significantly higher than your click-through ratio, this

could indicate that your Johnson box wasn’t clear enough and people weren’t

motivated to go through the actual body of the email, or that the actual content

of the email wasn’t relevant enough.

1910 October 2012 |

The body of the emailThe email body is certainly the most important element of your email campaign. It is

this space that will determine the final effectives of your email marketing campaign.

The email body is all about relevance - bringing the right message to the right person

at the right moment and in the right tone of voice.

• The only purpose of the email body is to generate a click; the actual message has

to be written on a landing page.

• Make your body copy scanable by using white spaces and using bold and italic to

emphasis relevant items.

• The body message should fulfill the promise you made in your Johnson box.

• Include several links in your email body.

• When using links, try not to use the “read more” principle, but include a real call

to action in that link.

• Images should only be used with moderation and only if they give added value to

the content

• Your email body content should be readable and make sense even with disabled

images.

2010 October 2012 |

Measuring the effectiveness of email

body.

• The effectiveness of the email body is measured by the actual unique click-

through.

• Take the number of unique opens on your message and compare this with the

unique click-through of the message. If the gap between unique opened and

unique click-through is too high, your message was not relevant enough or the

structure/programming went wrong.

2110 October 2012 |

Email Design Tips

• Keep HTML emails to 500-600 pixels in width

• Design your emails with a minimum of images

• The use of flash and JavaScript in emails is not advised

• Beware of special characters in your emails

• It is not advised to use attachments

• Always use a valid & consistent reply address

• If possible use sniffing

• Do not design and send your email as one big image !!

• Make first URL & CTA visible without scrolling

• Don’t forget the preview pane

2210 October 2012 |

Email Design Tips

Subject line: tell, don‟t sell!

• Is your from name recognizable?

• Is the key message clear in the first 50-60 characters?

• Does it describe what the email is about?

• Does it describe how the reader will benefit when he opens the email?

• Does it entice readers to open the email?

Creative Designs :

Creative ways to construct winning emails

2410 October 2012 |

Creative ways to construct winning emails

There must be a difference

Between high & low click through

Between high & low sales conversion

Between high & low customer brand experience

Between high & low audience email acceptance

What are the tricks?

What makes the difference between “huge success” and “not

bad”

2510 October 2012 |

There must be a difference

Step #1

Look at & learn from magazine

covers

2610 October 2012 |

Learn from magazine covers

Overkill of messages

Attract audience attention

Instant interaction

+ 50 years experience

2710 October 2012 |

Learn from magazine covers

2 key message + a few supporting 6 equal visual messages

Design supporting the message One-size-fits-all design

“What‟s in it for me”? = anwer at a glance “What‟s in it for me”? = not appealing enough

2810 October 2012 |

Learn from magazine covers

Good balance between image and copy

Multiple anchors & scanable design

Only relevant words: facts, figures & benefits

Less clearer link between image & title

Low text accessibility

Title is not clear enough, not tangible

2910 October 2012 |

There must be a difference

Step #2

Treat your email like a magazine

cover

3010 October 2012 |

Construct winning emails

4,4% CTR

2,8% UNIQUE CTR

ROMI = 4,7

9,9% CTR

6,5% UNIQUE CTR

ROMI = 10,8

3110 October 2012 |

Construct winning emails

Navigation

including links to high valued sections & CIC

3210 October 2012 |

Construct winning emails

Image + copy + key benefits

- only relevant, differentiating facts &

figures

- use of short headlines

Black & white lifestyle images

of moving people

to support the product

pictures, not distract from them

Support the product offer by

value added messages

3310 October 2012 |

Construct winning emails

Clear functional information structure

3410 October 2012 |

Construct winning emails

Additional text snippets

enabling localisation and functional targeting

3510 October 2012 |

Construct winning emails

„Fix‟ bottom interaction elements

3610 October 2012 |

Construct winning emails

> ATTENTION

> DESIRE

> ACTION

> INTEREST

3710 October 2012 |E

Lessons learned

- Your email = like a magazine cover

Limit copy to the essence

Focus on the key proposition

Invite reader to discover & to participate

Balance between copy & design

- Know who you are talking to

- Create a persona

- Talk to thém

- Define your campaign objective

Sales promo, informational news, emotional product launch,…

Create multiple formats, supporting 1 brand

3810 October 2012 |

Always keep in mind…

Step #3

Email your audience.

Not yourself.

Not your boss.

3910 October 2012 |

Legal aspects

In spamming issues, the European legislator has chosen for the

opt-in system. This means that commercial prospection is only

allowed when the recipient has given his explicit permission to

receive such communication.

Email addresses collected before the opt-in law became effective

in March 2003, can be contacted once more to obtain the

permission of the consumer. The preconditions are that the email

addresses were collected in a bona fide way, that the message

itself is non-commercial and that the consumer has the

opportunity to give his prior permission to receive commercial emails until

December 31st, 2003

4010 October 2012 |

Legal aspects

Three obligations in Opt-in

• Prior consent

• Mandatory information

• Possibility to be removed from the commercial mailing list

ATTENTION!

The opt-in laws of the recipient's country apply

4110 October 2012 |

Legal aspects

Two exceptions in Opt-in:

1. Own clients provided

• The information was collected directly from the addressee as

part of the sale of a product or service

• The contact information is only used for similar products and

services provided by the company itself

• At the moment of collection of the information, the client needs

to be able to object easily and at no cost to any further use of

its information

2. Communication to legal entities provided:

• The contact details are unpersonal (info@emailgarage.com)

• The products or services promoted are intended for the legal

entity and not for any other person

4210 October 2012 |

Legal aspects

Mandatory information in Opt-in

• Each commercial mailing needs to be clearly identified as being

« publicity » and identify who send the mailing (you may not hide this

information, nor use the identity of a third party)

• Each addressee needs to be informed that at all times it can object

easily and at no cost to any further mailings; of the electronic means to

object (e.g. via e-mail, via a hyperlink, website)

Example : Text at the end of each e-mail:

“EmailGarage respects your privacy. You can ask not to receive the

EmailGarage communication at any time. You can do this by clicking

here,"Unsubscribe". Thereafter, you will no longer receive any

unsolicited communication from EmailGarage.”

4310 October 2012 |

Legal aspects

Possible sanctions for spam

• Not mentioning the mandatory information: fine of 250 – 10.000 EUR

• No prior authorisation: fine of 250 – 250.000 EUR

(in case of bad faith the fine may be doubled)

• Possible emotional or commercial damages

4410 October 2012 |

Thank you

eTale BVBA

Kenny Van Beeck

kenny@etale.be

tel + 32 476 29 95 49

http://www.etale.be

http://www.linkedin.com/in/kennyvanbeeck

http://twitter.com/Kvanbeeck