mcgill email marketing 2012

EMail MarketingIain Davenport 2008

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

92%of all marketers

employ email marketing


What most influenced your decision to visit this

retailer’s website?


Influencer %

Familiarity with brand 30%

Internet advertising 14%

TV, radio, print 12%

Promotional email from the company 12%

Search engine results 10%

Friend recommendation – in person 8%


Influencer %

Familiarity with brand 30%

Internet advertising 14%

TV, radio, print 12%

Promotional email from the company 12%

Search engine results 10%

Recommendation from someone I know 8%


Acquisition Source %

Shopping comparison sites 2%

Advertising on a social network 2%

Product review site 2%

Blogs or discussion forums 1%

Friend recommendation on social network 1%

Mobile phone advertising 0%


Satisfaction

Familiarity with brand 80

Promotional email from the company 79

Friend recommendation on social network 79

Friend recommendation – in person 78

Internet advertising 77

TV, radio, print advertising 77


Likelihood to buy online in the future

Familiarity with brand 78

Promotional email from the company 76

Had a gift card 76

Friend recommendation on social network 76

Internet advertising 75

Product review website 75


5 ways email

changed marketing


Direct Mail Overload


Very Expensive


1. Massive individualized distribution…


…for very low cost


pro:great sales driver


con:sometimes made us lazy


126average number of emails received per day by corporate users in 2007


20% of all emails are ‘Junked’ by spam filters


4. Send too many emails. Frequency is a key component of a healthy email marke9ng strategy. The key is the find the right frequency for your business. Every industry is different. You can do this by crea9ng different cohorts and following them through 9me. By measuring the key metrics (such as Open rates, CTR, Conv rates, sales, GM and unsubscribers to name a few), you will be able to determine the right frequency for you company. Our test show a 43% increase is open rates by reducing the frequency, a 25% increase in CTR and a 47% reduc9on in unsubscribers.Over Loading


Overlapping offers

Overlapping offersOverlapping


43% Open Rate 25% increase in CTR


25% increase in CTR


25% increase in CTR

47% reduction in unsubscribes.


2. Much easier way to build

customer lists


Growing your list


Online


pro:many more people potentially getting our messages


con:reduced quality of our customer listsTuesday, October 25, 2011

3. Significant reduction in lead time


Show how we can product to market quicker


pro:enabled more flexibility in offers and features


con:reduced discipline in creating thoughtful promotion plans


4. Dynamic

personalization capabilities like never

before


pro:individualized messaging greatly improved relevanceTuesday, October 25, 2011

Un-targeted broadcast emails

Open rate: 20%Avg. CTR: 9.5%Avg. conversion rate: 1.1%

User-triggered campaigns


Life cycle messaging campaigns


Clickstream-based campaigns

Open rate: 33%Avg. CTR: 14%Avg. conversion rate: 3.9%


Segmentation


15% increase in conversion rates vs mass mailings.

30%


15% increase in conversion rates


con:raised expectations for delivering relevant messagesTuesday, October 25, 2011

5. Far more measureable than anything previously


pro:we can really know how our customers are interacting with our messaging and our sites


5. Not paying aSen9on to the data. The data holds so much valuable informa9on. Take the 9me to analyze it, understand it and then implement it. No need to make a quick decision on preliminary results. Pa9ence is a virtue

Analyze


con:all that data breeds overconfidence in what we actually “know”Tuesday, October 25, 2011

1. Massive individualized distribution for very low costs

2. Much easier way to build customer lists

3. Significant reduction in lead time

4. Dynamic personalization capabilities like never before

5. Far more measureable than anything previously


Marketers face tough competition


Maintaining lists:

•Keep it clean – bounce the bounces

•Opt in vs. double opt in

•Let them unsubscribe

•Don’t become spam


Email Reputation ScoreDefinition:The general opinion of the ISPs, the anti-spam community, and your own subscribers towards a sender’s IP address, sending domain, or both.

If the sender’s score falls within the ISP’s thresholds, a sender’s messages will be delivered to the inbox; if not, the sender’s emails may arrive in the bulk folder, be quarantined, or be bounced back to the sender.


Email Reputation score

Control your score

•ISPs offer various sender authentication standards such as SPF (sender policy framework) and DomainKeys.

•Keep the list clean by removing hard bounces after 3 deliveries (ISPs don’t like e-mail broadcasters who have a high bounce rate)

•Respond to complaints and unsubscribe requests

•Educate users about whitelists


These could be affecting your reputation score


Email users savvier than you think


83%: Used the Report Spam button

80%: Use it without opening the message73%: Base decision on the "from" line

69%: Base decision on subject line20%: Use the spam button to unsubscribe


So what makes a campaign successful?


Planning


Who are your target audience?


grow a targeted database

Genuine opt-in Explicit permission granted Information can be gathered over

time


What are your objectives?


2 types of commercial emails

• Promotional– Entice immediate action

• Retention based emails– Newsletters– Build long term relationships


Promotional emails

Immediate goal for user

Action taken by user Purchase Download Request information


Promotional emails: entice the user to take action through purchase or sign up


Retention emails

Longer term goalsKPIs important

Open Rate Click-through rate ROI


Your database

Only one entry required: prospect's email address

but

more information can lead to improved customization


Retention based emails: information of value to create a long term relationship with the

reader


Increase customer value


relevance


• Identify communications you make with customers in a batch fashion.

• Ask what events could trigger these communications to make them timely.

• Prepare a distinct message for each customer situation

• Increase involvement by adding a call to action to each message

• Prepare a message for each possible response to your previous message.


•! Anatomy of an email: fields (to, from, subject), body copy, landing page

•! Set a single objective: one message presented in a strong, clear and direct manner

•! Write to target: develop a thorough understanding of the needs and sensibilities of your target market before you write.

•! Get to the point: sluggish fulfillment leads to dissatisfied customers.

•! Build the relationship: email marketing is not hit and run medium. It works best when you build sustainable relationships.

How your email marketingmessage is structured willdetermine 50% of its success


Avoiding the ‘Pitfalls’


Assuming images

will work!


Not designing forpreview panes


Over selling and cheap tricks = SPAM


SHOUTDON’T


DON’T OVER ‘EMPHASIZE !!! ’


AVOID HARD SELL


Too many imagesnot enough textCertain spam filters place the "image vs. text ratio" criteria even higher than the "spam keywords" criteria


Subject lines


Creating subject lines• It’s not rocket science, remember K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid)

• The best subject lines are not ‘Flashy’ or ‘Pushy’.

• Your subject line should simply, clearly and concisely describe the purpose/content of your email - its that simple!

• Its a process, and it starts with the opt-in always set your subscribers’ expectations during the opt-in process regarding the type and frequency of the emails they will recieve.


In just one-twentieth of a second, less time than it takes to blink, people make aesthetic judgments that will influence their experience of your landing page.


BEST PRACTICES


Customer Centric

•! Customer-based approach:

Measurement of individual customer response

rather than overall campaign performance

•! Event triggered emails

e.g. first purchase, abandoned cart

•! Focus on frequency/contact strategy:

monitoring the impact of frequency

to maximize results

•! Data capture is a process:

It’s a value exchange between you and your

prospects. As you serve up value they’ll

reciprocate by sharing information.

•! Rich preference capabilities:

frequency, channel, format, opt-in,

opt-out preferences

•! Proactive communication:

specific, relevant and timely.


3.Creative execution


Two types of email

Plain text emails

HTML emails


Plain text email

Text only No hyperlinks or

images Smaller file size Looks the same

across all platforms


HTML email

Contains images, different fonts and hyperlinks

File size is much larger

Can render differently


Parts of an email

• Header• Subject line• Personalized greeting• Body• Footer• Unsubscribe link


Platform testing


Video in email?

Increase click-through rates up to 25%.

Florist’s conversions jumped from 1.35% to 2.8%.

Remember:• include a link, host outside message• Remember that many viewers watch videos for the “entertainment” value. Keep videos short, light and relevant.

Sources: https://www.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.html?ident=30200http://inspireaction.mindandmedia.com/index.php/2007/11/15/hey-its-got-video-it-must-be-cool/


https://www.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.html?ident=30200








4. Integrate campaign with other channels


Integrate•! Cross channel integration:

integrated marketing strategy, combines

online and offline channels to maximize

marketing impact

•! Co-ordinate and unify

mailing lists:

centralized customer data

•! Integrate and centralize

customer data:

in order to leverage customer knowledge


• Reinforce brand’s message

• Increase responses


5. Personalization


Mass customization

• One to one marketing on a macro scale

• Simple personalization can improve results

• Segment database


• Give consumers what they want

• Send different content to different

people

• Insert ‘dear first name’ greeting, where

appropriate

• Personalize forms within email/landing

page – only ask a question once


6. Deployment


When should I send?

Try and be action based.

Common sense and testing.

Regularly…like the milk man


7. Interaction handling


Show you’re on top of everything.

Utilize all touch points for calls to action / up-sell

Generate emails in response to actions


http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo

Next week

Chapter 1-5




mcgill email marketing 2012

Education

social network

company79friend recommendation

brand78promotional email

brand80promotional email

internet advertising77tv

open rates

right frequency

overlapping oers