#cnx14 - the strategic formula for email conversion success

Track: Email Marketing

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The Strategic Formula for Email Conversion Success

Jon Powell,

Sr. Manager, Executive Research and Development

MECLABS

@JonPowell31


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Three ExperimentsThe Strategic Formula for Email Conversion Success


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Experiment 1Version A Vs. Version B

42%

In Click Rate


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Experiment 2

Vs.Version A Version B

46%

In Purchase Rate20%

In Click Rate


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Experiment 3

Vs.Version A Version B

621%

In Purchase Rate


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What went wrong?


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Isn’t it good to provide more options for the customer?

What if they’re not interested in the main product/service that I’m

featuring?

What if they don’t have enough information about the offer?


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• The human sensory system sends the brain about 11,000,000 bits of information each second.

• The actual amount of information our conscious mind can handle has been estimated to be somewhere between 16 and 50 bits per second.

Consumer Behavior

Source: Mlodinow, Leonard. (2012) Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior. Pantheon Books.


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• The human sensory system sends the brain about 11,000,000 bits of information each second.

• The actual amount of information our conscious mind can handle has been estimated to be somewhere between 16 and 50 bits per second.

Consumer Behavior

The mind will make itself up without our consent; helping

us in some instances, confusing us in others.



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• Since the early 1800s, scientists have been uncovering laws of mental processing through classic experimentation, from E. H. Weber’s discovery (1834) on sense to William Carpenter’s thesis on unconscious thought (1874).

Consumer Behavior



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• Since the early 1800s, scientists have been uncovering laws of mental processing through classic experimentation, from E. H. Weber’s discovery (1834) on sense to William Carpenter’s thesis on unconscious thought (1874).

Consumer Behavior

There are hundreds of documented studies that

demonstrate the influence of the unconscious mind on

human behavior. Source: Mlodinow, Leonard. (2012) Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior. Pantheon Books.


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Science-based Optimization InstituteConducts both primary and secondary media and messaging research and strategy from actual behavioral tests with real customer data.

20 years of active research, including over: • 20,000 sale path experiments• 1 billion tested emails• 500,000 executive interviews• 2,200 brand-side case studies


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Science-based Optimization InstituteConducts both primary and secondary media and messaging research and strategy from actual behavioral tests with real customer data.

20 years of active research, including over: • 20,000 sale path experiments• 1 billion tested emails• 500,000 executive interviews• 2,200 brand-side case studies

People make the same type of judgments in the digital

experience as they do in the physical experience.


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The Digital Dating Experience

For ladies, the type of profile photo displayed has been tightly correlated with the likelihood that an initial message will result in an actual conversation.

Source: Rudder, Christian. (2009-2014) The 4 Big Myths of Profile Pictures. http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-4-big-myths-of-profile-pictures/

Did You know?


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How can I ensure that my emails aren’t prematurely

dismissed by customers while simultaneously maximizing

response?


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The Strategic Formula for Email Success

eme = rv(of + i) – (f + a) ©

eme = email messaging effectiveness index rv = Relevance to the consumer of = Immediate offer force i = Incentive to take action f = Friction elements in the email a = Anxiety elements in the email


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The Strategic Formula for Email Success


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eme = rv(of + i) – (f + a) ©

Today we are going to focus on the 4 elements that don’t cost you anything to conduct.

Today’s Focus


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Relevance (rv)


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eme = rv(of + i) – (f + a) ©

Definition – The immediate compatibility of the email message to the recipient’s motivations.

Relevance


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Relevance eme = rv(of+i) – (f+a)


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• Customers aren’t trying to open and click your emails, they are trying to eliminate them.

• To prevent elimination, the most effective strategy a marketer can take is to ensure an immediate personal connection with the customer. This can be established on two levels:• A customer’s internal biases• A customer’s external events

Relevance

Key Observations

eme = rv(of+i) – (f+a)


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Case StudiesFrom This

PadiAct Takes Your Targeted Subscriptions to a New Level

Don't Kill the Romance: 7 Email Marketing Buzzkills to Avoid

Effective Marketing: It's All About Your Subscribers



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Case StudiesTo This

PadiAct Takes Your Targeted Subscriptions

Don't Kill the Romance: 7 Email Marketing

Effective Marketing: It's All About Your

to a New Level

Buzzkills to Avoid

Subscribers

Jon,

Jon,

Jon,

25%In Click-rate

7%In Open-rate

19%In Click-rate

7%In Open-rate

In 2nd Orders rate 25%In Click-rate

3%In Open-rate



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Case Studies

288%In Sales-rate

85%In Click-rate



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Case StudiesTo This

15%In Click-rate



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Case StudiesTo This

100%In Click-rate

90%In 2nd Orders Rate



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Case Studies From This eme = rv(of+i) – (f+a)


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Case Studies To This

410%In Click-rate

13%In Daily Total Rev.



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Personalization

To gain a greater understanding of relevance and personalization in email, we conducted a meta-analysis of all MarketingSherpa and MECLABS case studies that explicitly used terms such as “personalize,” “personalization,” and even “customization.”

300+ pages of data

100+ creative samples Brand-side studies

Controlled experiments

Meta-analysis eme = rv(of+i) – (f+a)


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ROI

Low

Hig

h

Installation ComplexityComplexSimple

Results revealed an area of personalization that offers the most potential gain for the least potential energy investment.

PersonalizationMeta-analysis eme = rv(of+i) – (f+a)


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Furthermore, we also observed that one could double, even triple their ROI by simply combining these tactics into a single campaign.

Deeper analysis of that opportunity uncovered three consistent categories of tactics present in all campaigns achieving a significant ROI.

PersonalizationMeta-analysis

www.meclabs.com/CNX2014



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Offer (of)


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eme = rv(of + i) – (f + a) ©

Definition – The value you promise in exchange for an action (i.e. a click)

Offer


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Offer eme = rv(of+i) – (f+a)


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• You may think that the offer is the product that you want to sell.

• In reality, however, the offer is the additional information a customer receives in exchange for a “click.”

• What is the most effective way to get a click? • Is it to give them an entire product pitch? Or just part?• Is it to draw them through clever statements? Or just clarity?

Offer

Key Observations



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Case Studies

Barack ObamaStand with me today

The New York TimesGet Unlimited Access to NewYorkTimes.com with Home Delivery

[Known Audio Company]NEW Wave SoundTouch System | Free Shipping

Subject Lines

From This



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Wave SoundTouch System | Free Shipping

Case Studies

Barack ObamaStand with me today

The New York Times

[Known Audio Company]NEW

Subject Lines

To This

product released just in time for the holidays

Get Unlimited Access to NewYorkTimes with Home Delivery.comFree the Online

Hey

52%In Revenue

10%In Opens

34%In clicks

16%In Donation Revenue



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Case StudiesPreheaders

From This



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Case StudiesPreheaders

To This

12%In Click-Rate

104%In Click-Rate



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Case StudiesBody Copy

From This



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Case StudiesBody Copy

To This

16%In Click-rate

50%In Click-rate

23%In Revenue



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Case StudiesCalls-to-action

From This



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Case Studies

13%In Click-rate

Calls-to-action

37%In Click-rate

To This



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Friction (f)


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eme = rv(of + i) – (f + a) ©

Definition – Psychological resistance to a given element anywhere in the email process.

Friction


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• We often generate unnecessary problems in our emails by the amount of content we have and/or the way we display it. To the customer, this is perceived as:• Unnecessary Difficulty• Unnecessary Length

• In most cases, the objective is to minimize, not eliminate friction. If you eliminate all friction, you eliminate “the click.”

Friction

Key Observations



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Case Studies

621%In Purchase

Rate

46%In Purchase

Rate

42%In Click Rate

From This To This From This To This From This To This

Each of these case studies are a prime example of how unnecessary difficulty can significantly impact behavior.



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Case StudiesDifficulty – Mobile

From Thiseme = rv(of+i) – (f+a)


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Case StudiesDifficulty – Mobile

To This

15%In Click-rate



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Case StudyDifficulty – Desktop

From Thiseme = rv(of+i) – (f+a)


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Case StudyDifficulty – Desktop

To This

Click here to learn more

Click here to learn more

11%In Click-rate



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Case Studies Length

From This eme = rv(of+i) – (f+a)


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Case Studies Length

11%In Click-rate

To This eme = rv(of+i) – (f+a)


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Anxiety (a)


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eme = rv(of + i) – (f + a) ©

Definition – Psychological concern stimulated by a given (or unaddressed) element in the email process.

Anxiety


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Anxiety They’re just hard water stains…



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• Anxiety is just as lethal to conversion as friction.

• Try and mitigate anxiety rationally and you are likely to fail…• Though created from legitimate concern, its impact in the

mind is often disproportionate to the reality of risk.

• In email, anxiety is most often experienced as a form of intense “knee-jerk” skepticism and caution.

Anxiety

Key Observations



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Anxiety



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Case StudiesTo This

60%In Click-Rate

159%In Completion Rate

From ThisAnxiety



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252%In Email Conversion Rate

152%In Revenue per email

Case StudyAnxiety



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Case Studies From This

Anxiety



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Case Studies To This

151%In Click-Rate

Anxiety



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Final Case Study


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Final Case Study

Background: A company selling audio equipment and accessories.

Goal: To significantly increase email click-through rate.

Research Question: Which email copy approach will generate the highest click-through rate?

Approach: A/B split test

� Brand: (Protected)Location: MarketingExperiments Research LibraryProtocol ID: TP20184


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Final Case Study Original


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Final Case Study


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TreatmentOriginal


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Final Case Study

Email Design Click-through Rate

Purchase Rate

Revenue per Email

Version A 0.6% 0.017% $0.044

Version B 1.6% 0.024% $0.066

% Relative Change: 167.6% 43.2% 48.2%

Increase in Purchases43%

The email design that utilized the strategic formula produced a statistically significant increase in clicks, purchases and revenue.


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Summary


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• Customers aren’t trying to open and click your emails, they are trying to eliminate them.

• To prevent your emails from being prematurely dismissed by customers, you must significantly increase perceived value and significantly decrease perceived cost.

• You can achieve this when you use the email effectiveness index as a strategic guide to optimizing and creating your email campaigns.

Summary

Key Observations


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Free Bookmark and additional tools

• Get today’s slides immediately.

• Get 18 additional case studies connected to the strategic formula.

• Get free access to the recently captured presentation on email personalization.

• Get $100 off on tickets to MarketingSherpa’s 2015 Email Summit.

MECLABS.com/CNX2014


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Session speaker info

@JonPowell31

@MktgExperiments

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Questions?


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#cnx14 - the strategic formula for email conversion success

Documents

email marketing

email conversion success

unconscious thought1874

informationour conscious

pantheon books

executive research

version b621

version b46