winning strategies session jennings czl chicago 2014 10-28

November 3–6, 2014

#CZLCHI | @ClickZLive

The Global Conference Series Designed by Digital Marketers, for Digital Marketers

Winning Email Marketing Strategies: Improving Opens, Clicks, Conversions and Return-on-Investment

Jeanne S. JenningsOne of the World’s Top Email Marketing Influencers (Vocus, 2014)@JeaJen

@JeaJen

November 3–6, 2014 | #CZLCHI | @ClickZLive

Jeanne Jennings20+ Years of Experience

– Online and email– Marketing and product

development

Email Marketing Strategy and Tactics

– Consultant– Published Book Author– ClickZ Columnist– Speaker– Trainer

Blog and Email Newsletter Sign-up:www.JeanneJennings.com

@JeaJen


What I Promised We’d Cover…Learn how organizations are optimizing their email marketing efforts to improve opens, clicks, conversions and ROI.

• Subject line tips and other tactics to help you generate and maintain above average open rates

• Content strategies and other ways to motivate more of your subscribers to click

• Landing page optimization and other cost-effective ways to boost your conversion rates

• Simple but often overlooked ways to increase the ROI on every email you send

You'll leave with at least a half dozen ideas for things you can test and implement to improve the performance of your own email program.

@JeaJen


Overview• Why Email• Subject Lines• Content Strategies• Landing Page Optimization• Boosting ROI• Additional Resources

@JeaJen


WHY EMAILWinning Email Marketing Strategies

@JeaJen


Performance:Ecommerce Websitesand Email Marketingare theBigWinners

Source: 2014 Digital Marketer Benchmark and Trend Report, Experian, March 2014

@JeaJen


74% of marketers doing email testing report “excellent” or “good” ROI, compared

to just 37% of those that don’t testSource: Email Marketing Industry Census 2013,

eConsultancy | Adestra

79% of businesses doing email marketing don’t track ROI

Source: 2014 Global Email Marketing Survey, Lionbridge

$44.25?

@JeaJen


EconsultancyFigures

68%Cited email as the best

channel in terms of

Return on Investment

28%Average

year-over-year

Increase in Revenue

Source: 2014 Email Marketing Industry Census,Econsultancy

@JeaJen


SUBJECT LINESWinning Email Marketing Strategies

@JeaJen


Source: Email Marketing Benchmark Report, MarketingSherpa, 2013

@JeaJen


Subject Line Trends• Special Characters• Very Long• Very Short• Personalization

@JeaJen


Source: Email Marketing Trends for February 2014, Jim Davidson for the Bronto Blog, March 11, 2014

Subject Lines: Special Characters

@JeaJen


Longest to Date: 200 Characters, Gilt, November 2013


Subject Lines: Very Long

@JeaJen


Subject Lines: Very Short


@JeaJen


More Likely to Purchase More Items More Willing to Receive Promotional Emails

More Willing to Share Personal Preferences

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Extremely Likely Very Likely Somewhat Likely Not at All Likely

Personalized Email MessagesMake People…

Source: December 2013 survey of US digital shoppers conducted by Harris Interactive as reported by eMarketer, January 28, 2014

81% 82% 69%

@JeaJen


First Name Personalization: Industry Data Points

Best Open Rate: • Personalize only the body of the

message

Best Click-through Rate:• Personalize BOTH the subject line

AND the body of the message

Source: Email Marketing Metrics Report, MailerMailer, July 2013

Source: Email Marketing Metrics Report, MailerMailer,October 2014

@JeaJen


Personalization: Think Beyond First Name

• Think in terms of adding relevance and customizing the email; types of content to use to customize:– Reported: what they told you– Observed: what you’ve seen– Appended: what others tell you they might like– Extrapolated: what they might like, based on their

reported, observed or appended behaviors

@JeaJen


Done Well, Personalized Triggered Messages can…Turn cost centers into profit centersGenerate much higher ROI than traditional marketing messages

Source: Zulily Abandoned Cart Message, Bronto Software;Verizon Bill Online Message, Client Case Study, Jeanne Jennings.com, Inc.

@JeaJen


Goal: Boost Revenue per Email Sent (RPE)Client: Zeeto Media

Tactic tested: First name personalization Control: No personalization Test 1: Personalized Subject

Line Test 2: Personalized Salutation

in Body of Email Test 3: Personalized Subject

Line and Salutation

21

Test

Source: Client Case Study, Alchemy Worx, 2014

RPE Increased by 160%

@JeaJen


Best Practice: Ask for or Actively Observe the Data you Use to Personalize

• If people are going to wonder or worry about how you got the information, it loses its positive impact

• Why wouldn’t you just ask?

Source: The Creepy Side of Email and Big Data, Jeanne Jennings for the Only Influencers Blog, January 30, 2014

@JeaJen


Personalization: Test and Track Performance

• Test– Treated (personalization) vs. Untreated

(no personalization)– Heavy vs. light

personalization/customization• Quantify what level of personalization

and/or customization optimizes your own results

@JeaJen


15 Types of Email Marketing Tests

1. Lists / Segmentation

2. Landing page elements (which could spur another list of 15 or more)

3. Completely new creative (multiple elements)

4. Preview pane view

5. Customization (targeted content)

6. Offer/offer copy/placement

7. Call-to-action copy/placement

8. General wireframe/layout9. General copy10. Personalization (data

merge)11. Subject line12. From line13. Design

(fonts/colors/images)14. Time of the send15. Day of the send

Source: 15 Types of Email Marketing Tests You Should be Doing, Jeanne Jennings for ClickZ.com, April 15, 2013

My Challenge to You: Do One Strategic Test a Month!

@JeaJen


CONTENT STRATEGIESWinning Email Marketing Strategies

@JeaJen


Who’s DoingContent Marketing?

Sources: B2B/B2C Content Marketing Reports, Content Marketing Institute | MarketingProfs, January 2014

Just About Everyone…

@JeaJen


Content Marketing

Sources: B2B/B2C Content Marketing Reports, Content Marketing Institute | MarketingProfs, January 2014

@JeaJen


Third Party ContentAddresses many of the challenges

Make it your own by adding value

Source: Email Newsletters: Work Smarter, Not Harder, www.JeanneJennings.com, October 20, 2014

http://www.jeannejennings.com/

@JeaJen


Video

Source: Embedded Video: Exploring Its Viability as a Marketing Tactic, The Relevancy Group, June 2013

@JeaJen


Video

Source: Alchemy Worx, December 2013

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152062951387381&set=vb.36694412380&type=2&theater

@JeaJen


Content Marketing: Exercise# Type of Content Title / Headline Description SourcePassive

1 Article 242 Interview3 Book Excerpt4 Quote5 Statistic6 Image7 Video8 Event Coverage9 Case Study

101112Interactive

1 Quiz2 Poll3 Question4 Giveaway5 Social6789

101112

@JeaJen


Case Study: 170% Lift in RPEClient: ScholasticGoal: Boost the Revenue per Email Sent (RPE)• Revenue is generated when subscribers click-

through and orderTactic tested: Letter versus flyer format• Control: Flyer format• Test: Letter format

Control

Test Lifted RPE by 170% Revenue per Email Sent

Nearly Tripled

• 50% more orders• 308% lift in revenue per order• 170% lift in units per order

Source: Client Case Study, JeanneJennings.com, Inc.

Test

@JeaJen


LANDING PAGE OPTIMIZATION

Winning Email Marketing Strategies

@JeaJen


The Basics• Define Your Goal(s)

for the Page– Qualitative– Quantitative

• Have a Clear and Concise Headline

• Focus on Your Key Selling Propositions

• Address Questions and Objections

• Make it Skimmable– White Space– Bullet Points– Paragraphs 5 lines or

less• Remove Clutter

– Navigation– Exits from the flow

• Be Able to Justify Every Element on the Page

• Test, Test, Test

@JeaJen


Case Study: 350% Lift in List GrowthClient: Scholastic

Control


Test

@JeaJen


Case Study: 450% Lift in Leads GeneratedClient: Long Fence and Home

Control


Test

@JeaJen


BOOSTING ROIWinning Email Marketing Strategies

@JeaJen


Track Revenue

Don't Track ROI from

Email; 79.1%

Track ROI from Email;

20.9%

Source: 2014 Global Email Marketing Survey, Lionbridge, August 2014.

@JeaJen


RevenueWays to Measure It• Return-on-investment

– Net revenue divided by cost

• Revenue per impressions or emails sent– Net revenue divided by the

number of impressions or email messages sent

• Conversion rate is good but it doesn’t tie back to revenue

• Impressions, Opens and Clicks don’t tie back to revenue at all!

Excuses Not to• “Our Web analytics software

doesn’t provide this information”– Most do – you just have to set it up

• “We can’t track online sales back to the channel they came from”– Not difficult to set up – do it!

• “We don’t have an exact figure for costs”– Don’t worry about perfect; as long as

you use the same cost model for all your calculations you can get data to compare

@JeaJen


Use Automation: Triggered Emails HaveHigher Response Rates than Business as Usual Messages

Source: 1Q’2014 Email Trends and Benchmark Reports;Epsilon/Email Institute, July 2014

@JeaJen


Case Study: Increase in Revenue from a Welcome MessageRevenue per non-bounce email went from $0.00 to $0.97Conversion rate went from 0.0% to 1.5%

ControlTest


@JeaJen


Boost Your Open and Click ReachReach measures what percentage of your list has acted on an email over a given period of time.

The higher your reach, the more effective your email program is.

It is typically measured by week, month or quarter, depending on frequency.

Click reach should be at least half of open reach.

Reach is also related to inactives – the higher your open reach the lower your inactives will be.

Source: Client Case Study, Alchemy Worx, April 2014

@JeaJen


Increase Reach with Multi-Effort CampaignsCase Study: U.S. General Services AdministrationVery successful at driving procurement officers to contact GSA

• Series of 6 different email messages sent roughly 2 weeks apart• Average lift in cumulative unique open rate send-over-send: 10.6%• Average lift in cumulative unique click-through rate send-over-send: 25.2%


@JeaJen


• The average send frequency tends to have a direct impact on your click reach

• Send more often and your click reach increases as you are generating more unique clicks

Boost Your Frequency


@JeaJen


Nudge EffectCross-channel impact of your emails Quantify The Nudge

Effect (Influence)• Treated v. Untreated

– Treated: People who received the email but did not open or click

– Untreated: People who are on the email list but mailing suppressed


@JeaJen


What is Email?A Direct Response ChannelA Broadcast ChannelAll of the Above

Source: Playing the long-game: Are retailers using email to its full potential? Dela Quist for My Retail Media In Sight, May 2014

Marketers that realize it’s both are adjusting their strategies – and their attribution models -- accordingly

@JeaJen


ADDITIONAL RESOURCESWinning Email Marketing Strategies

@JeaJen


Additional Email Marketing Resources | Free

Look for Jeanne’s column on email marketing every other Mondaywww.ClickZ.com

Jeanne’s Blog and Email Newsletter Sign-upwww.JeanneJennings.com

@JeaJen to follow Jeanne

http://www.clickz.com/


@JeaJen


The Premier Email Marketing Association, part of the DMA; Resources and Annual Conferencewww.EmailExperience.org

A Private Community for Email Marketers; Discussion Lists and Meetups (Feel free to say I referred you); Look for Jeanne’s monthly post on the blogwww.OnlyInfluencers.com

Additional Email Marketing Resources | Paid

http://www.clickz.com/

http://www.onlyinfluencers.com/

@JeaJen


And Then There’s This…• I’m looking for my next opportunity

• In the near term I’ll be doing some independent consulting. If you have work that I might help with, I’d love to hear from you.

• In the longer term, the possibilities are endless and I am very excited. If you have ideas on my next career move or if you are with an organization that could benefit from my experience and expertise, I’d love to speak with you.

November 3–6, 2014

#CZLCHI | @ClickZLive

The Global Conference Series Designed by Digital Marketers, for Digital Marketers

Winning Email Marketing Strategies:Improving Opens, Clicks, Conversions and Return-on-Investment

Thanks for Joining Us – Questions? Jeanne S. JenningsOne of the World’s Top Email Marketing Influencers (Vocus, 2014)@JeaJen | [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]
