email summit 2014: top takeaways from this year's award winning campaigns

#SherpaWebinar

Join the conversation!

#SherpaWebinar

#SherpaWebinar

Email Summit 2014: Top takeaways from this year’s award-winning campaigns

#SherpaWebinar

Today’s speakers

Courtney EckerleManager of Editorial Content

MECLABS@CourtneyEckerle

Daniel BursteinDirector of Editorial Content

MECLABS@DanielBurstein

#SherpaWebinar

Join the conversation!

#SherpaWebinar

#SherpaWebinar

Email Summit 2014

#SherpaWebinar

Related resources• B2B Email Marketing: How a publishing company used marketing automation to increase CTR 1,112% – Email

Awards 2014 Best in Show, Lead Generation

• Email Marketing: E-commerce site increases online ticket purchases by 66% with relevant content – Email Awards 2014 Best in Show, E-commerce

• MarketingSherpa Email Summit 2013 Wrap-up: Top 5 takeaways for email marketers

• Marketing Automation: Key challenges a global information company overcame to transform from batch and blast to persona-driven email marketing

• Email Marketing: Copyblogger's email list grows by 400% using free paywall to access "MyCopyblogger" content

• Email Marketing: Weekly newsletter sees 400% lift in reactivation of inactive subscribers with personalization

• Email Marketing: Dell lifts revenue 109% via GIF-centric campaign

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/b2b-email-marketing-automation-personas

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/eventful-increase-purchases-content

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/wrap-up/top-5-takeaways-email-summit-2013

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/video/webinar/marketing-automation-email-marketing-personas

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/email-marketing-free-paywall-access

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/newsletter-reactivation-lift-personalization

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/gif-centric-email-campaign

#SherpaWebinar

10.5 hours. 158 slides. 30 minutes. What should we do?

• Go fast and get through as much as we can

• Keep things slow and steady

#SherpaWebinar

Lesson #1. Testing small can lead to big changes in conversion and culture

#SherpaWebinar

Why One Test Triggered a 180-Degree Turn in How All Whirlpool Brands Direct Market to Consumers

Thomas Mender

Sr. Manager, Database Marketing

Whirlpool

#SherpaWebinar

Before Testing: Clickthrough vs. opt-out rates

0.00%

0.50%

1.00%

1.50%

2.00%

2.50%

3.00%

2008 2009 2010 2011

Opt-Outs

Clickthrough Rate

#SherpaWebinar


0.00%

0.50%

1.00%

1.50%

2.00%

2.50%

3.00%

2008 2009 2010 2011

Opt-Outs

Clickthrough RateWe faced a challenge, so …

#SherpaWebinar

Email Summit 2013

#SherpaWebinar

Testing: Calls-to-action

Experiment ID: Summit Experiment – Calls-to-ActionLocation: Whirlpool Testing LibraryCampaign Focus: Ice email campaign

Background: Applying what was learned about minimizing CTAs in email sends at Email Summit 2013.

Objective: To achieve a higher clickthrough rate.

Primary Research Question: Will having a single CTA be more effective than multiple CTAs?

Test Design: Single variable A/B split test

Research Notes:

#SherpaWebinar

ControlTesting: Calls-to-action

• Primary goal of the campaign is to promote one-time promotional email ($400 off)

• Recipients: Total of 700k of current customers• Hand-raisers

• Recent purchasers (≤5 years)

• Old purchasers (>5 years)

• Current Ice product owners

#SherpaWebinar

Control email

TopBottom

#SherpaWebinar

Testing: Calls-to-action

Treatment

CTA CTA

Control

#SherpaWebinar

Results: Testing calls-to-action

Calls-to-action testedHand-raisers

Purchasers(≤ 5 years)

Purchasers(> 5 years)

Current Ice owners

Avg.

Control 1.23% 0.35% 0.40% 2.77% 1.19%

Treatment 1.55% 0.54% 0.57% 4.34% 1.75%

Relative Difference +26% +53% +43% +57% +42%

42% Increase in clickthrough rateTreatment increased CTR for each of the segments below.

#SherpaWebinar

Previous process

Agency builds creative

Marketing team approves

Creatives are published

#SherpaWebinar

Building customer profile

Data collection

Agency builds creatives

Test is launched

Current process

Marketing team approves creatives

Creating test ideas – collaborate

#SherpaWebinar

Testing: Clickthrough vs. opt-out rates

0.00%

0.50%

1.00%

1.50%

2.00%

2.50%

3.00%

3.50%

4.00%

4.50%

5.00%

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Opt-Outs

Clickthrough Rate

#SherpaWebinar


0.00%

0.50%

1.00%

1.50%

2.00%

2.50%

3.00%

3.50%

4.00%

4.50%

5.00%

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Opt-Outs

Clickthrough RateSmall changes, BIG impact

#SherpaWebinar

Lesson #2. Find your email marketing voice

#SherpaWebinar

How a Seasonal Retailer Evolved from Promo Emails to Year-Round Content Marketing

Marcia Oakes

Senior Online Marketing Manager

Calendars.com

#SherpaWebinar

The problem

• Compelling promotions in off-season is a challenge

• Deliverability issues from decreased engagement and inconsistent mail volume

Highly seasonal product

#SherpaWebinar27

The Challenges – Part 3

Finding our voice

#SherpaWebinar

You can’t always get what you want

… and it takes a significant time investment to get

what you need.

#SherpaWebinar

Connecting content to consumers

• Develop quality content

• Identify “evergreen” content you may already have available

• Create a content calendar – make a plan for the resources and time you need

You can’t always get what you want

… and it takes a significant time investment to get

what you need.

#SherpaWebinar

Connecting to our content

#SherpaWebinar

Themed days


#SherpaWebinar

Real dates in history

Themed days


#SherpaWebinar


33

Celebrity birthdays

Real dates

in history

Themed days

#SherpaWebinar

Home organization tips

Real dates in history

Themed days

Celeb b-days


#SherpaWebinar

Real dates

in history

Themed days

Home orgtips

Celeb b-days

Links directly to popular Pins


#SherpaWebinar

The results

Blog traffic after Flip Day newsletter send

#SherpaWebinar

The results

*Other factors contributed

• Newsletter produces a positive ROI, despite low conversion rates

• Good customer feedback

+71%OpenRate*

#SherpaWebinar

• Newsletter produces a positive ROI, despite low conversion rates

• Good customer feedback

The results

+71%OpenRate*

“I enjoy reading your monthly Flip Day

calendar.”-Kim

“You nailed it.”-Beverly

“BRAVO for your wonderful Flip Day newsletter!”

-Claire

We craft smart digital strategies for flagship brands like Lee Jeans, Hyatt, Purina, GoPro and more

We generate demand through compelling and sustainable digital relationships

We are the ONLY 2x ExactTarget Partner of the Year

Web: www.DEGdigital.com

Twitter: @DEGdigital

DEG: Smarter Digital

http://www.degdigital.com/

#SherpaWebinar

Are you interested in becoming a MarketingSherpa case study?

Contact us at: [email protected]

#SherpaWebinar

Lesson #3. Stand out in the inbox

#SherpaWebinar

How Dell designed an email with old technology to launch a new product

Old Dog, New Tricks

Dave Sierk

Consumer & Small Business Email Strategist

Dell

#SherpaWebinar

#SherpaWebinar

The new Dell Convertible Tablet is unlike any other tablet you’ve seen before! Why settle

for the machine you have, when Convertible Ultrabook™ offers so much more? Convert

it, touch it, wake it in a flash. Multitask with blazing fast performance, access files in a

snap, use it all day long...and enjoy peace of mind with built-in security. Wondering

exactly how the Convertible Ultrabook™ works? During the day you can simply use this

computer as your everyday, go-to laptop. Open up the front and start typing away. But

once you’re ready to head out, close up the laptop and rest assured that if you need to

use your Convertible Ultrabook™ at any time, you can open the cover, flip it around and

suddenly you’ll have a working tablet in your hands. The tablet side of the screen hides

the keyboard that you were previously using your Ultrabook™ 2 as a laptop! And in a

flash you can lift up the top part of your tablet, flip it back around to turn your Convertible

Ultrabook™ back into the laptop you were working on your presentation on this morning.

The ability to flip and turn this computer around into a tablet is unlike any other piece of

technology out on the market. Work on your laptop during the day and turn it into a tablet

by night – you will get the best of both worlds with the Convertible Ultrabook™

#SherpaWebinar

A GIF?

#SherpaWebinar

Show your value proposition(REALLY SHOW IT)

#SherpaWebinar

#SherpaWebinar

109% Increase in revenueCompared to benchmarked data from last year

Email with animated GIFIncrease against quarterly benchmark for

similar promotional campaigns

Click Rate 42.6%

Conversion 103%

Revenue 109%

#SherpaWebinar

Lesson #4. Question your assumptions

#SherpaWebinar

How an equipment company created emails that changed the culture of its marketing campaigns

Email on the Wild Side

Chris HawverTeam Leader, Americas MarketingTennant Company

#SherpaWebinar

Email on the Wild Side: I Wanna RideNew email design

#SherpaWebinar

Email on the Wild Side: I Wanna RideNew landing page design

#SherpaWebinar

Experiment: Background

Experiment ID: Tennant Subject Line Test Record Location: Tennant Testing Library

Background: Tennant, a global cleaning equipment company.

Objective: To increase email open rates and number of demos scheduled.

Primary Research Question: Which subject line will generate the greatest overall open rate?

Test Design: A/B/C split test

Research

#SherpaWebinar

Experiment: Subject line test

Which subject line won?

A. Meet the NEW Tennant B10 and T12 (Traditional)

B. Wanna Ride? Take the NEW T12 and B10 for aSpin (Non-traditional)

C. Take a Ride on the Wild Side with the new Tennant T12 and B10 (Hybrid)

#SherpaWebinar

24% increase in total opensSubject line C (Hybrid) increased open rate by 24.2%

Experiment: Results

What You Need to Understand: The subject line focused on a mix of product relevance and target audience appeal outperformed the traditional subject line by 24%.

Subject Lines Open RateRelative

Difference

A. Meet the NEW Tennant B10 and T12 (Traditional) 26.6% -

B. Wanna Ride? Take the NEW T12 and B10 for a Spin (Non-traditional) 24.9% -6.5%

C. Take a Ride on the Wild Side with the new Tennant T12 and B10 (Hybrid) 33% 24.2%

!

#SherpaWebinar

The success of this campaign transformed our marketing.

#SherpaWebinar

Email on the Wild Side: Culture change

How our culture transformed

• New and creative ideas to drive future email efforts

• Focus on customer benefits and advantages

• Offer solutions, not products

• Using email for lead generation

• Integration of email campaigns with other channels

#SherpaWebinar

Overall results

• Qualified leads 36% over goal

• New product revenue 110% of goal

• Overall ROMI 10:1 (working to 15:1 in 2014)

#SherpaWebinar

Lesson #5. Don’t ask for too much up front

#SherpaWebinar

Key challenges in transforming from “batch and blast” to persona-driven email marketing

Marketing Automation

Byron O’Dell

Senior Director, Demand Management

IHS

#SherpaWebinar

Challenge: Implementing technology and changing

the culture

#SherpaWebinar

Craft automated drip tracks

for each persona

Create forms to capture persona

information

Make templates

with customizable

content blocks

TestUse A/B

testing to optimize

How To: Implement automation technology

Build database

throughout campaign

using progressive

profiling

Tip: Don’t stop batch and blast – be smarter about it!

#SherpaWebinar

Progressive Profiling

How the program works

Nurture MessagingPersona Messaging

Welcome Email

Week 1:5 Ways IHS Can Help

Week 2:Case Study for you

Week 3:IHS best content

Week 4:Schedule Demo

Week 5:Insider Drip

Week 6:Insider Nurture

#SherpaWebinar


for each persona

Createforms to capture persona

information

Make templates

with customizable

content blocks

TestUse A/B

testing to optimize


Build database

throughout campaign

using progressive

profiling

Tip: Don’t just add technology, change the

culture.

#SherpaWebinar

Tip: Ask for the persona

68

What is your current role?

#SherpaWebinar

Forms Learning #1Tip: Iceberg form strategy

From this short form, we get all this!

• Company (structured)• Address• Company phone• Fortune 1000 flag• Industry• Employee count• Annual sales

#SherpaWebinar


for each persona

Create forms to capture persona

information

Maketemplates

with customizable

content blocks

TestUse A/B

testing to optimize


Build database

throughout campaign

using progressive

profiling

#SherpaWebinar

Persona-specific messaging

Inbound source customization

Inbound source customization

Persona-based customization

#SherpaWebinar


for each persona


information

Maketemplates

with customizable

content blocks

TestUse A/B

testing to optimize


Builddatabase

throughout campaign

using progressive

profiling

Tip: You don’t have to build your targeted

database all at once.

#SherpaWebinar

Personal info opt-in page

Before

After

#SherpaWebinar

Progressive Profiling: Initial sign-up

Form shrunk from 15 required fields down to 7

Plus, this is another iceberg form:• Company (structured)• Address• Company phone• Fortune 1000 flag• Industry• Employee count• Annual sales

#SherpaWebinar

Drips: Beginning and middle of the month

Content is gated

#SherpaWebinar

Progressive Profiling: Persona

Asking for more persona

information

#SherpaWebinar

Progressive Profiling: Contact

Tip: Auto-fill information that you

already know.

Ask for/confirm address because they are ready to

buy!

#SherpaWebinar


for each persona


information

Maketemplates

with customizable

content blocks

TestUse A/B

testing to optimize


Build database

throughout campaign

using progressive

profiling

Tip: Get it out the door! Follow best practices first, then optimize with data.

#SherpaWebinar

Top takeaways

• It is all about content – and the right target audience – and the right timing. It’s a three-legged stool.

• The payback on this approach is ultimately less overhead and higher engagement vs. traditional batch and blast.

• Getting the organization to think in terms of persona-relevant content and buying-stage-relevant content = higher success = sales.

• Use the technology: Triggered communications, form design and database enrichment will fuel your success long term.

• Just start and keep it simple. Remember, the fast eat the slow.

#SherpaWebinar

Lesson #6. Tailor your message to your customer

#SherpaWebinar

How an e-commerce site transformed its email program to increase purchases by 66%

Segmentation and Personalization

Paul Ramirez

VP, Operations

Eventful

Ryan Blomberg

Director, Engineering

Eventful

#SherpaWebinar

The original

enginerecommendation

#SherpaWebinar

Record store recommendations• Popularity

What everybody is listening to

• Categorization

The artists in the same genre of that one

• Sponsorship

The artists people paid us to promote

• Staff picks

What the record store employees are listening to

• Fans like you

Fans of this artist also love this artist and this artist and this artist

#SherpaWebinar

The inventionof social sharing

#SherpaWebinar

1

2

3

4

Predict from known data

Connect the dots

Craft forms with purpose

Be something bigger

#SherpaWebinar

#SherpaWebinar

What if you don’thave this technology?

#SherpaWebinar

1

2

3

4

Predict from known data

Connect the dots

Craft forms with purpose

Be something bigger

#SherpaWebinar

The first takeaway

• No more standard forms.

• What are the right fields? Right number of fields?

• Every opportunity to engage is a chance to learn more about your customers and serve them better.

• Figure out why your audience might want to hear from you. Connect to that motivation.

#SherpaWebinar

#SherpaWebinar

Subject Line:Arcade Fire – coming to Parc Jean-Drapeau

#SherpaWebinar

Social sharingFeedback

#SherpaWebinar

Opportunity to select more similar artists

#SherpaWebinar

reactivation of inactives400%

#SherpaWebinar

increase in site visits12%Increase in site visits after the addition of non-performer event alerts

#SherpaWebinar

Lesson #7. Link your campaign to relevant pop culture

#SherpaWebinar

How an IT company leveraged a multichannel campaign to “wake the dead”

Above the Noise

Christine Nurnberger

Vice President, Marketing

SunGard Availability Services

#SherpaWebinar113

Look outside the

industry for

inspiration

#SherpaWebinar114

Look outside the

industry for

inspiration

Relevance

#SherpaWebinar

Relevance

Deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time.

#SherpaWebinar http://www.flickr.com/photos/gezzamondo

Summer 2013

#SherpaWebinar

Retargeting Inactive Users

Retargeting list

Landing Page

Email List

“Enter to Win” Placed in CRM

Asset Email Winners

AR & PR

C-LevelSales Call Follow-up

PR Agency Follow-up

Mail 1 Mail 2Social Media

Campaign overview

Cloud Availability

IT Disaster Recovery

#SherpaWebinar

Cloud Availability Services

#SherpaWebinar


#SherpaWebinar

Retargeting list

Campaign overview

Landing Page

Email List

“Enter to Win”

Social Media

Placed in CRM

Cloud Availability


Retargeting Inactive Users

AR & PR

C-Level

Mail 1 Mail 2

Sales Call Follow-up

PR Agency Follow-up

Asset Email Winners

#SherpaWebinar

Retargeting email campaign

“We hope it’s not too late”

Content offer

#SherpaWebinar

Retargeting email campaign

“We hope it’s not too late”

Content offer

Reactivated 2% of contacts who had not interacted in 6 months

#SherpaWebinar

Landing page with registration page

#SherpaWebinar

Landing page with registration page

Linked to how migrating to the cloud as a business

option aligns with surviving the zombie

apocalypse

#SherpaWebinar

Social media campaign

Almost 2,000 shares

#SherpaWebinar

Social Media Campaign: Examples

#SherpaWebinar

Campaign Winners: Flash drive

#SherpaWebinar

Campaign Winners 2: Survival kit

Backpack

Survival guideFlashlight/compass

“World War Z” movie tickets

Silly string

Brochure

#SherpaWebinar

Results

• "IT Availability Cloud" email campaign achieved 1.2% higher click-to-open (CTO) rates among the director level, and above average rates in global, large and medium enterprises.

• The "Disaster Recovery/Managed Recovery Program" campaign created a 3% increase in CTO rates among president or owner titles.

• The retargeting email reactivated 2% of contacts who had not interacted with SunGard within the previous six months.

#SherpaWebinar

Learn about the customer

Connect with your audience

Test the waters

How do we best tell that story?

#SherpaWebinar

How to choose the right channels

1. Can it communicate the right message?

2. Can it reach the right audience?

3. Can it communicate in a way that will resonate with our audience?

#SherpaWebinar

Top takeaways

1. Don't be afraid to step outside the box and try a new creative messaging approach –it could have huge payoffs in B2B (particularly among the difficult to reach C-suite).

2. Even in today's B2B marketing and digital era, direct mail may not be as dead as zombies.

3. Leverage social channels to help amplify your message.

#SherpaWebinar

Lesson #8. The best experience wins

#SherpaWebinar

Email Design: How to optimize for all environments in a mobile worldJustine Jordan, Marketing Director, Litmus

#SherpaWebinar

Session speaker

Justine Jordan

Marketing Director

Litmus

I’m an email builder, designer, marketer, teacher and all-around opinionated person. Approaching eight years in email!

@meladorri

#SherpaWebinar

• How can you create mobile-friendly emails?

• Best practices, examples and tips

Got screens?image credit: helpmyhelpdesk.com

#SherpaWebinar

Mobile is big, but how big?

Mobile: Smartphones (iPhone, Android) and tablets

Desktop:Installed email programs (Outlook, Apple Mail)

Webmail:Email accessed through a Web browser (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo)

24%Webmail

49%Mobile

27%Desktop

Source: Litmus Email Analytics; 306 million worldwide opens

#SherpaWebinar

Desktop, Webmail, Mobile: 2011 - Now

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Q1 2011

Q2 2011

Q3 2011

Q4 2011

Q1 2012

Q2 2012

Q3 2012

Q4 2012

Q1 2013

Q2 2013

Q3 2013

Q4 2013

Desktop

Webmail

Mobile

Source: Litmus Email Analytics

#SherpaWebinar

Desktop, Webmail, Mobile: 2011 - Now

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Desktop

Webmail

Mobile

10%

33%

50%

Source: Litmus Email Analytics

#SherpaWebinar

Top email clients

#1 iPhone 24%

#2 Outlook 13%

#3 iPad 12%

#4 Android 12%

source: emailclientmarketshare.com

#SherpaWebinar

Top email clients

source: emailclientmarketshare.com

#1 iPhone 24%

#2 Outlook 13%

#3 iPad 12%

#4 Android 12%

#SherpaWebinar

Screensize-apalooza

Small Medium Large

iPhone2.3” wide

Galaxy Note3.2” wide

Nexus 77.3” wide

BlackBerry2.6” wide

iPad Mini5.3” wide

Excite 138.5” wide

#SherpaWebinar

The unifying characteristic?

TOUCH.

#SherpaWebinar

Experience matters.It’s more than just metrics.

#SherpaWebinar

One chance to make an impression

How does a poorly designed email affect your perception of the brand?

If you get a mobile email that doesn’t look good, what do you do?

BlueHornet Study: Consumer Views of Email Marketing, 2012 and 2013

80.30%

30.20%

13.50%

3.80%

6.30%

Delete it

Unsubscribe

View on computer

Don't know

Read anyway

+68%

+15%75%negative

Slightly Negative

51%

Strongly Negative24%

Neutral25%

#SherpaWebinar

The mobile experience is different than the desktop experience

Conversion

Page

Tap

Open

Preheader

Subject Line

From Name

The Subscriber Experience

#SherpaWebinar

From Name

Subject Line

Preheader Open Tap Page Conversion

#SherpaWebinar

From Name

Subject Line

Preheader Open Tap Page Conversion

✘ ✔

✘ ✔

✔

Making Touch-Friendly EmailsPrinciples and best practices

#SherpaWebinar

Bigger is better

• Body copy: 16px+

• Headlines: 22px+

• Buttons: 44px by 44px

• Space: 10px+

• Tappable touch targets

#SherpaWebinar

Less is more

• Analyze each section of your email and messaging

• Prioritize goals and actions

• Look at historical performance for clues on what to cut

• Aim for 2 to 4 sentences at 16px

#SherpaWebinar

Responsive design/media queries

• More than a “line of code”• Set of conditional statement that enables specific styles

• If the screen size is x, then display y• If the screen size is x, then increase headline size to y• If screen size is x, then show image at 100%

• Detects screen size, not device type

#SherpaWebinar

First responsive email = highest traffic ever!Mobile traffic exceeded previous week

#SherpaWebinar

Thank you!

Courtney EckerleManager of Editorial

ContentMECLABS

Daniel BursteinDirector of Editorial

ContentMECLABS