mapping out your email calendar
TRANSCRIPT
Brunch & Learn: Mapping Out Your Email Calendar –
How to plan ahead so you can send the right
message at the right time for maximum results January 29, 2014
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Today’s Speaker
Peggy Hatch President/Publishing Director
Direct Marketing IQ
Moderator
#DMIQWebinar
Reggie Brady President
Reggie Brady Marketing Solutions
bit.ly/Email2014
Agenda
• Why calendars are a valuable to increase relevance
• Frequency –how many emails do I send?
• Getting to relevance – beyond batch and blast
• Subject lines and relevance
Why do I need a calendar?
• A calendar is a vital planning tool
Helps you to organize the upcoming themes, products or categories of products to be featured
Allows you to shape the flow of your email program
• A calendar ensures your program has variety
• A calendar allows you to plan for the introduction of new products and services
• And, a calendar makes sure you take advantage of seasonal holidays
Image source:http://www.clarkisit.com/dates-remember-2014-holidays-events-festivals/
Calendars – holidays are important
Transaction rates on holidays vs. regular mailings
Experian – 2011 Digital Marketer Benchmark and Trend Report
Calendars as a planning tool
• Map out at a high level your upcoming plan
Just bullet points
Include those elements that are important to you
Sales
New product launches
Direct mail/catalog drops
Seasonal merchandise to be promoted
Include any holidays or special events
• Be clever
Take advantage of events
Superbowl tie-in
Subject line: Get Ready for the Big Game
with these Big Deals from HP
Take advantage of events
Inauguration tie-in
Subject line: Mrs. Obama and
Barneys LOVE...
Take advantage of events
Daylight savings tie-in
Subject line: Don't Be Late! Daylight
Savings up to 30%
DisneyShopping takes advantage of
their characters
Like the promo code DAYLIGHT
Take advantage
of events
Daylight savings tie-in from Brookstone
Subject line: Never worry about Daylight Savings
Time again!
Nice tip at bottom – a good example of value-added
content
Oscar tie-in
Vivre – an upscale fashion retailer featured
Oscar de la Renta items to past Oscar de la
Renta buyers – good segmentation!
Opens: 38.2%
Clicks: 15.9%
Conversions: 8.9%
MarketingSherpa 11/19/06
Take advantage of events
Geo-targeting to let subscribers know about
a heavy snowstorm expected
Subject line: Heavy snow is forecasted in
your area – be prepared
Take advantage of events
Take advantage of events
April Fool‟s Day tie-in
Subject line: Runner! New INVISIBLE
Running Shoes Are Outta Sight!
The Frequency Conundrum
There is no perfect answer
Frequency
how much is too much?
5 times a month 12 times a month
The positives
What’s the Potential Impact of
Over-Mailing?
Activity/Metric 5X 12X
Subscribers at start of year 500,000 500,000
Emails delivered per year 29,931,600 89,769,000
Email revenues $ 6,584,952 $ 14,363,040
Revenue per email $ 0.22 $ 0.16
Unique buyers 23,466 36,553
Arthur Middleton Hughes Internet Retailer – October 2008 – Finding the right email frequency for maximum profit
The negatives
Arthur Middleton Hughes Internet Retailer – October 2008 – Finding the right email frequency for maximum profit
What’s the Potential Impact of
Over-Mailing?
Activity/Metric 5X 12X
Monthly Unsubscribe Rate 0.74% 1.87%
Monthly Spam Complaint Rate 0.05% 0.64%
Monthly Bounces+Unsubs+Complaints 1.54% 3.44%
12 months List Churn 13.7% 46.2%
Lost subscribers 68,400 231,000
Cost to replace lost subs @$14 $957,600 $3,234,000
Annual profits from email $1,257,000 375,000
Profit % 19.1% 2.6%
Frequency
is a reason for opt outs
Exact Target - 4-11
Opt-down
This practice is used by
many email marketers
that mail more than
once a week.
Unsubscribe Best Practices
Frequency
the flip side of the coin
Testing the impact of frequency on
engagement
Newsletter
& resend
Twice monthly
& resend
A company that sent a monthly newsletter tested increasing
frequency in a 4-way test to equal groups
A 3-month picture
Source: Dela Quist – Alchemy Wokrx 3-13
Testing the impact of frequency on
engagement
Source: Dela Quist – Alchemy Worx 3-13
Based on percentage analysis the once a month strategy wins by a
large margin!
A look at percentages for opens and clicks
Testing the impact of frequency on
engagement
Source: Dela Quist – Alchemy Worx 3-13
Group 4 (bi weekly + resends) had the lowest overall open rate … but
the highest total opens. Different people open at different times.
And Group 4 had the highest purchase rate
And a look at the numbers
One idea on frequency
• Send more frequently to those who have opened and
clicked in past 90 days
• Send once per week to those who are less active
Another idea on frequency
Subject line: Want
to receive fewer
emails?
Frequency is OK with relevance
injected
Relevance
Make each customer feel special
Image source - http://getittogethermedia.com/one2one.html
Motorcycle Superstore
• Segment on type of bike
interest
• Purchase history
• Click activity
Results
• Opens went from 18.5% to
38.6%
• CTR from 6.2% to 20.6%
MarketingSherpa 3/26/08
Relevance Preferences and purchase history
Localized content – shows
closest locations based on
where the subscriber
opens the message
Movable Ink
Relevance Personalized content
National Hockey league
• 800,000 fan database
• Segment on zip & favorite team
• 60% of fans don‟t live in the city of their
favorite team
eDialog 7-10
Relevance Geographic content
A Boston Bruins fan living in Boston receives
an email with Bruins imagery and the Bruins
first 7 home games
A Bruins fan living in Philadelphia receives
Bruins imagery, but the game schedule only
has info on games in which the Bruins were
playing the Philadelphia Flyers in
Philadelphia.
The NHL believes this system increased
single ticket game sales by 31%
American Meadows sends a weekly email.
Now they send an additional email 3 days after main email.
Those who click on a product receive an email with a call-to-
action based on the product clicks
Those who did not click receive an email based on the most
popular product
Results:
• Behavioral segmentation increased revenue by 14%
Email behavior
Bronto website
Relevance
Subject lines
Stand out in the inbox overload
Image source: http://www.compliancesolution.com/ComplianceSolution/Web%20pages/Subpage%20Unsafe/Overloading.htm
Subject lines
Epsilon – 1/09
Shorter may be better!
• As a general rule of thumb, 8 in 10 will read the subject
line and From line
• That means you have to spend time on your subject line • Some copywriters believe you should spend ½ your time
on this
Top 15 most used words
Source: Experian The 2010 Digital Marketer: Benchmark & Trend Report
Impact of words
Source: 2013 Adestra Subject Line Report
Green means that
the word has a
positive impact on
results
Red means the
word has a
negative impact
on results
Impact of words
Source: 2013 Adestra Subject Line Report
Green means that
the word has a
positive impact on
results
Red means the
word has a
negative impact
on results
Which test won? Which subject line got better deliverability?
A. Free Guide – plus 3 mentions of the
word free in the email
B. SEO Guide – and no mention of the
word free in the email
MarketingProfs: Email – 10-24-12
Which test won? Which subject line got better deliverability?
A. Free Guide – plus 3 mentions of the
word free in the email
MarketingProfs: Email – 10-24-12
Version A was delivered to 99.3% of
recipients
Version B was delivered to 99.2% of
recipients
However, Version B had a 17% higher CTR.
Free won‟t harm delivery rates … but make
sure it resonates with your audience.
Which test won?
Which subject line increased opens and engagement for B2B services
company?
A. B.
Which Test Won – Email Testing Gold Award 2012
Live today: Next Generation Desktop
Summit
Live tomorrow: Next Generation Desktop
Summit
Which test won?
Which subject line increased opens and engagement for B2B services
company?
A.
Which Test Won – Email Testing Gold Award 2012
Live today: Next Generation Desktop
Summit Version B had more clickthroughs and
opens, but Version A had more
completed registrations.
This test was run on 2 different lists, a
home grown list, List 1, and an acquired
list, List 2. „Live Tomorrow:…‟ won in
opens and clickthrough for both List 1 &
List 2.
However, “Live Today:…” increased
registrations on List 1 by 232% and
increased registrations on list 2 by
121%.
Which test won?
Which subject line increased opens for an email services company?
A. B.
Which Test Won – Email Gold Award 2012
Improve Deliverability in Two Simple Steps Amanda, Improve Deliverability in Two
Simple Steps
Which test won?
Which subject line increased opens for an email services company?
B.
Which Test Won – Email Gold Award 2012
Amanda, Improve Deliverability in Two
Simple Steps Version B increased opens by 5.13% and
increased CTR by 17.36%.
In order to eliminate the chance that the
content reflected in the email affected
open rates, AWeber ran this test on 7
different blog emails. All emails used the
same email templates and directed users
to the new blog posts.
Subject line personalization
• Expedia tested personalization in the
salutation and had the email come
from Cathy Cruiser
• Results:
0.5% higher opens
23% higher clicks
Less likely to unsubscribe or report
as spam
• Then they tested subject line
personalization - "Dave, Your 7 Day
Alaskan Cruise Awaits.“
• Results:
10% increase in opens
Email Sherpa – 5/26/12
Take aways
• Use a calendar
• Frequency – monitor your metrics and look at both numbers and percentages
• Getting to relevance – go beyond batch and blast
• Strategically use subject lines
Reggie Brady
(203) 838-8138
Reggie Brady
President
Reggie Brady Marketing Solutions
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