email marketing 101
DESCRIPTION
From Email Marketing 101 course taught at Parisoma, San Francisco. Almost every online business utilizes Email Marketing in some capacity to reach their audience, from F500s to small shops. The problem is that very few organizations do it right. Engaging and retaining customers is important, and your customers will love you if you're able to share the content and offers they're looking for. This class will run through best practices, wide-ranging aspects that make a successful program, examples, and personal experiences from being behind some of the largest Email Marketing programs out there. TOPICS COVERED: * Best Practices * Goal-setting * What kind of tools you need * Deliverability * Performance Metrics * Segmenting * Specific programs around target segments * Email-specific Testing plans * Examples and case studies of how the pros are doing it INSTRUCTOR: Anish Shah is a sought-after Strategist that has spent the better half of the last decade growing Email Marketing programs for brands and startups. He currently runs Bring Ruckus Marketing, where he has consulted for brands like Shutterfly, Zazzle, University of Phoenix, and Planet Fitness. In a previous existence, he helped grow Snapfish's Email Marketing program over 100% YoY. And a couple lifetimes ago, he worked with brands like Old Navy, Sephora, Microsoft, Intel, Sidestep, and more at the largest Email Marketing Agency of the time. He also helps companies recruit the right Marketing talent. Because, well...why the hell not? And if you've got a social good project, he will love listening to you about it.TRANSCRIPT
EMAIL MARKETING 101
Anish shah Class @ parisoma
1/27/2014
WHO AM I?
Anish Shah Principal Consultant Purveyor of Growth
bringruckus.com @anish_shah [email protected]
WHO AM I?
DOZEN TOPICS COVERED TODAY ü Definitions ü Other Channels
ü Best Practices ü Myths
ü Deliverability
ü Tools ü Performance Metrics
ü Segmentation ü Goals
ü Testing Plans ü Creative Testing
ü Mobile
DISCLAIMER
Lots of my personal opinions inside these walls. So…
Why do companies send emails? Why do companies over-abuse the email channel? Why is your inbox so overflowed? Why do Junk Mail boxes exist? Why are you interested in learning more about Email Marketing right now?
EMAIL MARKETING IS THE CHANNEL WITH THE HIGHEST ROI.
WHY ARE WE HERE?
BASIC DEFINITIONS CAMPAIGN
Data (list)
Data (analysis)
Outreach designed to bring about a result § A campaign can be 1 email or 1 year’s worth of work depending on how it is
defined internally
All available information on your users & customers
The performance of your users & customers
database
The physical entity that stores all information on your users & customers
BASIC DEFINITIONS CREATIVE
copy
design
HTML
BASIC DEFINITIONS
DELIVERABILITY
ESP
ISP
FEEDBACK LOOP
BASIC DEFINITIONS Subject Line
From Name
Reply-to address
Sub-domain
OTHER DIGITAL CHANNELS
OTHER DIGITAL MARKETING CHANNELS
PAID SEARCH
ADS
AFFILIATES
MEDIA OUTLETS
SOCIAL MEDIA
SPONSORSHIPS
BLOGS
BASIC DIFFERENCES VS. OTHER MARKETING CHANNELS
These other marketing channels:
BASIC DIFFERENCES VS. OTHER MARKETING CHANNELS OTHER MARKETING CHANNELS thrive and have their livelihoods depend on the generosity of Marketers.
BASIC DIFFERENCES VS. OTHER MARKETING CHANNELS OTHER MARKETING CHANNELS thrive and have their livelihoods depend on the generosity of Marketers.
BASIC DIFFERENCES VS. OTHER MARKETING CHANNELS These other marketing channels are quick to execute and able to iterate with many versions
BASIC DIFFERENCES VS. OTHER MARKETING CHANNELS THESE OTHER MARKETING CHANNELS ARE mistake-proof
Pause -‐> Fix -‐> Re-‐launch with liDle damage done
Almost impossible to reverse or fix.
BEST PRACTICES & MYTHS
BEST PRACTICES
= The Safest Route
Note: Best Practices were made to be broken.
I’ve personally broken each of these rules multiple times.
BEST PRACTICES (AND WHY TO BREAK THEM)
§ Don’t mail anybody with no activity for 6 months
§ Include an equal ratio of text:images
§ Email width should be 600px
§ Always include a plain-text version
§ Don’t blast the same email to everyone
§ Send emails when your users are most likely to read them
§ Keep subject line under 55 characters
MYTHS: CONTENT BLOCKING
§ Unless the content of your emails include the word porn, Viagra, or something else equally offensive, do not pay attention to content SPAM checkers. *
§ 85% of blocked emails are due to reputation, not content.
§ The rest are due to content are from outdated, dying corporate security firewalls.
* Many disagree with me here.
MYTHS: CLICK, CLICKS, CLICKS!!
Clicks are everything.
They matter, but look deeper.
MYTHS: TECH OWNERSHIP
Building in-house offers more stability, technological control, and ability to be nimble.
DELIVERABILITY
Repeat it!
WHAT IS DELIVERABILITY?
Success: INBOX
Setback: JUNK MAIL
Failure: BLOCKED
The art and science of delivering emails to the inbox
WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT DELIVERABILITY?
1 in 5 legitimate commercial emails do not make it to the inbox. And this number gets worse every year.
DELIVERABILITY: WHY EMAILS DON’T GET THROUGH
§ High SPAM Complaints Rate q (SPAM Complaints/Total Emails Sent)
§ Spamtraps/Blacklists
§ Too many emails sent too quickly (no warmup)
§ ISPs are overloaded (Graylisting) q More prevalent in holiday season
DELIVERABILITY: PREVENTING PROBLEMS § Warm up IP Address and get Whitelisted
§ Keep the quantity of “low value” email recipients a low % of total emails sent
§ Make it very easy to unsubscribe
§ Mail only people on your list (NEVER BUY LISTS!)
Repeat it!
DELIVERABILITY: SCOLDING AND PUNISHMENT honeypot
Email address posted on forums, websites, and random online destinations. If emailed, anti-SPAM activists know you’re stealing
Recycled spam trap
ISP de-activates an email address that has been inactive for a long time. Any activity with that email address is punished. blacklist
Activist anti-spam organizations maintain “blacklists” of bad email marketers. ISPs use these lists to block emails
spamhaus
The most well-known, unapologetic anti-spam organization and blacklist maintainer
DELIVERABILITY: I’M IN TROUBLE. NOW WHAT?
§ Send emails only to the most responsive subscribers
§ Keep send volumes low and frequent
§ Watch the offending domains closely for improvement
§ Over time and very slowly, grow your send volumes back to normal
§ If in a blacklist, send an email pleading
CAN-SPAM ACT OF 2003
§ Focused on content, not on permissions
§ UK laws are stricter and require permission
Rules:
o Functioning Unsubscribe link.
o All unsubscribe requests must be processed within 10 days.
o Official company name and address must be visible
Rules
TOOLS
TOOLS – EMAIL SERVICE PROVIDER
High-end
Rankings: hDp://assets.exacDarget.com/pdf/wave_email_markeIng_vendors_q1_2012.pdf
§ Advanced reporting and campaign customizations w/o engineering
§ Better feature set for triggered campaigns and advanced targeting
§ Query full database with any combination of data
§ Can handle larger sets of data
High end
TOOLS – EMAIL SERVICE PROVIDER
Mid-tier § Most features of high-end, with ~25% less cost.
§ Advanced campaigns, with fewer options for targeting.
§ Reports allow for less customizability. More focus on standard reports.
§ More errors when working with larger datasets
§ Fewer dedicated account and support staff
mid-tier
TOOLS – EMAIL SERVICE PROVIDER
SMB § Very low price under $1K per month normally
§ Able to launch ad-hoc campaigns with easy-to-use tools
§ Little ability for deep targeting, reporting, or triggered messages
§ Canned reporting with basic metrics
smb
TOOLS – EMAIL SERVICE PROVIDER B2B § Usually cheaper than B2C tools
§ Focused on simple tools for Sales team to use personalized templates
§ Focused on automated messaging instead of ad-hoc campaigns
§ Better for for connecting to a CRM like Salesforce and tracking lead funnel
§ Less exciting creative and segmentation tools for campaigns
b2b
Sales automation
ESP OR IN-HOUSE? § Will your emails provide ROI?
§ Would you like any complexity to your emails beyond 1-off launches?
§ Are your development resources very busy?
§ Developers too busy to resolve every issue within 48 hours?
§ Developers focused on building your company’s products?
YES to all of the above? Go ESP!
TOOLS – DELIVERABILITY § The last man standing
§ 2 useful services: q Uses seed lists and sample inboxes to give
insight into inbox placement
q Offers whitelisting to major domains like Hotmail, Yahoo!, Comcast, etc.
Inbox placement
TOOLS – CREATIVE Inbox Shows what your email looks like in various:
q ISPs (Gmail, etc.)
q Browsers (Firefox, etc.) q Platforms (iPad, Desktop, etc.)
Inbox rendering
GOALS
GOAL-SETTING The specific goals of your email marketing program will vary depending on:
§ The type of business you operate
§ What your business model is
§ How far along your business is
EXAMPLE OF GOALS Well-funded startup
Matured user base
Popular b2b company
Most companies
Every company thinks they fall into that last bucket, but there are normally deeper business goals
§ Before building or optimizing your email marketing program, lay out very specific goals and business problems
§ Make sure that every campaign is aligned with those goals.
…BUT BUT BUT …..
LOOK FOR PATTERNS
BUSINESS PROBLEM 1 Both slump right after the 60 day mark
# of Days between 1st and 2nd purchase (value of 1=20 days)
# of Days after registration (value of 1=20 days)
Average lifetime orders
Dollar amount spent
LTV= lifetime revenue LTR = lifetime margins
BUSINESS PROBLEM 2
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
0 38
76
114
152
190
228
266
304
342
380
418
456
494
532
570
608
646
684
722
760
798
836
874
912
950
988
Popula'on Count – Days between First Purchase Date and Registra'on Date
Total
§ Drop-offs in first purchasers 15, 30, 60, and 180 days after registrations
§ Big jump in first purchases after 365 days
Population count – Days between first purchase date and registration date
PERFORMANCE METRICS
PERFORMANCE METRICS
Basic email response metrics
PERFORMANCE METRICS advanced email response metrics
PERFORMANCE METRICS Basic Email Profitability Metrics
Basic email profitability metrics
PERFORMANCE METRICS
User activity/health metrics
SEGMENTATION
SEGMENTING
splitting up users based on available data
Most people segment based on RFM.
I like RFMA – recency, frequency, monetization, activity.
What is segmenting?
SEGMENTING Build Specific programs around specific target segments
SEGMENTING
Somebody bought something! Hooray!
Now what?
SEGMENTING: CROSS-SELL/UPSELL
Catering and Chef 2nd requests 2nd requests Total Grand Total xxx DJ 214 xxx 74 Photography 71 Catering and Chef 35 Wedding Photography 35 Entertainment 23 House Cleaning 23
SEGMENTING: CROSS-SELL/UPSELL
SEGMENTING
If somebody orders a birth announcement, what do you know about them?
SEGMENTING: LIFESTAGE
SEGMENTING
How do you get customers to buy more than they normally would?
SEGMENTING: VIP/LOYALTY
SEGMENTING
Our customers have bailed on us. Now what?
SEGMENTING: RE-ENGAGEMENT
SEGMENTING: RE-ENGAGEMENT
SEGMENTING: WELCOME
Breadth
DifferenIators
Targeted recommendaIons
Brand and Excitement
Real-‐life examples
Conversion Goal: xxx CommunicaIon Goal: EducaIon, Excitement, etc.
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
SEGMENTING: WELCOME
SEGMENTING: WELCOME
SEGMENTING: WELCOME
SEGMENTING: WELCOME
THE 4-HOUR STARTUP
TESTING PLAN
EMAIL TESTING PLAN
1) Make it actionable!
2) Testing over multiple days can muddy results
3) Record all results.
4) Re-do major tests
Actionable = Leads to planned implementations moving forward.
EMAIL TESTING PLAN
COPY AND SUBJECT LINE TESTING
§ Switch one word or phrase in the SL
§ Add an extra element to the SL
§ Order of call-to-action placement
CREATIVE TESTING
§ CTAs
CREATIVE TESTING
§ CTAs
• 16% more clicks • 11% more conversions
CREATIVE TESTING § Length
• V1: Normal Template • V2: Normal Template with 3 extra tiles
CREATIVE TESTING
• Longer template got 15% more clicks. • Shorter template had the best conversion rate • Shorter template made the featured tile perform
better
§ Length
• V1: Normal Template • V2: Normal Template with 3 extra tiles
CREATIVE TESTING § Style
• V1: Short tiles • V1: Long tiles
CREATIVE TESTING § Style
V1: Short tiles V1: Long tiles
• 8% more clicks • Slightly higher conversion
CREATIVE TESTING § Related vs. Un-related content
V1: Related V2: Unrelated
CREATIVE TESTING § Related vs. Un-related content
19% more clicks
V1: Related V2: Unrelated
MOBILE DESIGN
MOBILE DESIGN: TIMES CHANGE
MOBILE DESIGN: DOMINANCE May 2013 december 2013
+3%
-6%
+5%
+3%
0%
+1%
-3%
+1%
0%
N/A
MOBILE DESIGN: REMEMBER
§ Every platform, browser, and ISP has their own individual quirks to account for with design+HTML
§ Keep design simple and scalable. What looks great in web, may look terrible is certain email ISPs.
§ Assume mobile clicks and make sure your landing pages are mobile friendly.
MOBILE DESIGN: TABLETS TOO.
RECAP § Definitions
§ Other Channels
§ Deliverability
§ Tools
§ Performance Metrics
§ Segmentation
§ Best Practices
§ Myths
§ Goals
§ Testing Plans
§ Creative Testing
§ Mobile
Questions?
THANK YOU.