refreshing your e-mail marketing campaigns: getting back ...€¦ · refreshing your e-mail...

Refreshing your E-mail Marketing Campaigns:

Getting Back to Basics

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Sponsored by:

Welcome

Bob Felsenthal

Publisher

BtoB magazine, BtoBonline.com

Our Sponsor

www.campaigner.com

Ellis Booker

Editor, BtoB and

BtoBonline.com

Housekeeping

Submit Questions

Housekeeping

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Refreshing your E-mail Marketing Campaigns

CHALLENGE: Inevitably, most e-mail programs become

less effective over time. E-mail marketers constantly

struggle with diminishing response rates, declining sales

and lack of engagement.

Live Polling Question

How often do you review the performance of your e-mail marketing campaigns?

a. Daily

b. Weekly

c. Monthly

d. Annually

e. I do not actively track my e-mail marketing campaigns.

Wendy Lowe

Director, Campaigner Product Marketing

Protus

Agenda

Evaluating your

email marketing campaigns

Tracking Metrics


Setting Objectives

The Email Marketing Plan

From and Subject Line

Design

Copy

Personalization

Segmentation

Testing

a/b split tests

What to test

Track campaign metrics

Focus on the basic best practices

Test! Test! Test!

Refreshing your email marketing campaigns

Email Evaluation

Have results hit a plateau?

Have response rates waned?

Have sales declined?

Have unsubscribe rates increased?

Is there a lack of engagement?

Take Stock

Look Familiar?

Email Campaign Report

Date Number Sent

Number Delivered

Number Bounced

Number Opened

Total Click Thrus

Unique Click Thrus

Unsubscribes Unsubscribe Rate(%)

Bounce Rate (%)

Open Rate (%)

Click Thru Rate (%)

4-May 273 268 5 105 35 31 3 1.12% 1.83% 39.18% 11.57%

11-May 105 104 1 34 3 3 3 2.88% 0.95% 32.69% 2.88%

18-May 60 60 0 16 4 4 1 1.67% 0.00% 26.67% 6.67%

25-May 167 167 0 46 6 6 1 0.60% 3.33% 20.69% 3.42%

31-May 212 209 3 41 5 5 2 0.96% 1.42% 19.62% 2.39%

15-Jun 194 189 5 23 6 5 0 0.00% 2.58% 12.17% 2.65%

22-Jun 199 198 1 36 5 4 2 1.01% 0.50% 18.18% 2.02%

Nearly 20% of email marketers do not know

how their email marketing campaigns perform.

Source: eROI survey of over 500 email marketers

Tracking

Campaign

Metrics

Importance of Tracking

See where you can improve

What’s working? What’s not?

Learn about your audiences’ preferences

Personalization

Maintain a healthy contact list

CAN-SPAM compliance

Why aren’t we paying more attention?Lack of time

Compiling and analyzing data

Implementing changes

Analysis Paralysis!

Lack of resources No dedicated team to manage email marketing

Automated campaigns can be “out of sight, out of mind”

Don’t know the benefits

Don’t have the tools

What should I measure?

Reputation, Message Envelope, Timeliness,

Infrastructure

• Open rate

• Hard bounces

• Soft bounces

• Date and time sent

Creative Content

• Click-through rate

Targeting and Positioning

• Unsubscribe rate

• Links clicked

• Positive vs. Negative clicks

• Subject Line

• From Line

• Response by list segment

Campaign Effectiveness

• Conversion Rate

• Track Campaign Source

• Sales

• Revenue

Source: eROI

Metrics Report

Source: MarketingSherpa

Agenda

Evaluating your


Tracking Metrics


Setting Objectives



Design

Copy

Personalization

Segmentation

Testing

a/b split tests

What to test

Get Back to Basics

Setting

Objectives

What are you trying to accomplish?

• From Name• Best day to send

• Creative/Layout• Subject line• Copy

• Subject line• Best time to send

• From Name• Calls to Action

• Landing pages• Calls to action• Creative/Layout

• Subject line• Copy• From Name

Increase sales?

Promote your business?

Launch a new product?

Convert website leads?

Improve customer loyalty?

Attract new customers?

All of the above?

What type of communication?






Newsletter

Promotion

Press Release

Welcome Email

Letterhead

Invitation






Planning

Key elements of an email campaign

From line

Subject line

Content and Design

Contact List

From line

Subject line

Content and Design

1. Read Now2. Read Later

From Line – 3 Principles

1. Include your brand name or name of recognized person in the company

2. Keep a consistent “from” name

3. Consider entire “email envelope” when crafting from name

Source: Marketing Sherpa


From Line- Familiar

- Trusted

From Line – Test Ideas

Melanie @ Campaigner

IBMProtus

Customer Service

Elaine Stewart, Office Supply

Depot

DPTR Workshop Reminder

BlackBerry®

Subject Lines

40,400,000

There is no guaranteed

formula!

Subject Line Tips

Write your subject line first

You have ~50 characters to work with

For mobile devices and PDAs: ~19

Be consistent with your brand’s tone

Consider from name and subject line together

Describe what’s in the email

No misleading or deceptive subject lines

Address recipients’ pain points - WIIFM

Subject Line Tips

List key info first: most important words are the first two

Convey a sense of urgency. Use deadlines.

Use action words

Avoid spam filter trap words

Test! Test! Test!

Scrutinize the results Repeat what works

Measure the effect on all results

Subject Line Test Ideas

Ask prospect to take action

“Get your free download”

Make an offer

“Save $100 on tax services from Boyd’s

Financial”

Use a “hot” word in your subject line

“Renew your Business magazine subscription

for 30% off

Test Long vs. Short vs. Super short subject

lines

(short = 35-45

characters or less)

Include news or time-sensitive information

“Recent Update: Changes in technology

funding”

Personalization

“Jason, read Campaigner’s June

Newsletter”


Design

The Preview Pane – Horizontal view


The Preview Pane – Vertical View


The “Golden Triangle”


Design Tips for Preview Panels

Most important message needs to be near the top (within first inch or two)

Avoid large image headers, logos, images

Instead, display table of contents or your offer with small logo underneath

Call-to-action

Test location – above the fold

Test different design treatments


Design Tips for Preview Panels

Don’t think of your email as paper letterhead

Don’t match your email design to your website design

Use easy-to-scan, bulleted copy

Remove far-right columns (people don’t see them)


Blocked Images - Before

Blocked Images - After

Images on/off by default

Source: MarketingSherpa, Consumer Media Survey, September 2008 N=1,438

ALT-Text Tags

Email Copy

What are you trying to accomplish?







Put yourself in your customer’s shoes

Aim is to trigger an action

Coupons, special offers or promotions?

Valuable information and practical tips?

Best newsletters include a mix of sales with expert opinions and advice.


Make sure it reflects your brand

Introduce yourself and set expectations

Say thank you

Voice/Tone

Calls to Action


Clear

Above the fold

One per email

Examples Visit the store or office

Call a sales rep

Read more

Buy online

Get a quick quote

Watch this online seminar

Event invitation

Download this free widget

Offer Ideas

Limited time discount

Downloads

Free shipping

Buy one, get one (free, % off)

Free gift

Free services

Invitation

“First to See”

New product launch

Length


No best practice

More frequent, less copy

“Provide enough copy to make it relevant to the recipient and to get the action you want.”

Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets.

Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets.

Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets.

Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets.

Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets.

Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets. Email copy with no white space or bullets.


Use simple language

Use bullet points – make it easy to scan

White space!

Personalize

Think like a customer

WIIFM – speak to customer’s needs and interests

Reviews and Testimonials

Encourage Feedback Ask about what they want to hear

Images

Use personalization


Inserting a person's name into an email increases open rates by as much as 10%.

Source: Jupiter Research (2006)

Dear Michael,

Segmentation

Relevancy – 3 steps1. Capture as much information as you can

2. Test to achieve the best creative and offer Watch out for burn out, intrigue and entertain, shake things up

3. Get the right frequency No right answer. Ask your customers


Geography

You prefer to buy in March because it coincides with your government buying cycle. Buy 1 license, get 1 free.

Preferences Buy:

Get:

Free

Past purchases

You bought these supplies in store in September…

…is it time for a paper, toner or ink refill?

Action

You attended our last webinar on email marketing…

…come to our next webinar on social media.

You’ve been a loyal customer of our training services for 5 years, here is a 25% discount on our latest course…

Loyalty

Agenda

Evaluating your


Tracking Metrics


Setting Objectives



Design

Copy

Personalization

Segmentation

Testing

a/b split tests

What to test

Live Polling Question

Do you regularly test such things as subject line, best time and day to send, or offer in your email campaigns?

-YES

-NO

The #1 way to

jump-start your email campaigns

Testing!

Adopt a testing philosophy

A/B Split Testing

A • Open rate 24%

B • Open rate 31%

Entire ContactList

10%

10%

15% off

Free shipping

What can you test?

Source: "The Practical Guide to E-mail Marketing" by Jordan Ayan

Opens

Conversions

Click-Throughs







Source: Marketing Experiments






Subject line testing

Subject Line #2 explains the benefit of the new order option.

Subject Line Open Rate

The Organic Dish: A New Way to Order (control) 35.2%

The Organic Dish: Now only 2-meal order minimum 44.1%

Relative Difference 25.3% Increase

Percentage of Agency and ESP clients who take advantage of A/B Split Testing

Source: MarketingSherpa Email Marketing Benchmark Guide 2008

B-to-B Marketers Evaluate ROI of testing

Source: MarketingSherpa Email Marketing Benchmark Guide 2007

Track campaign metrics

Focus on the basic best practices

Test! Test! Test!

Refreshing your email marketing campaigns

Q&A

Sponsored by:

Contact the Speaker

Wendy Lowe

Director, Campaigner Product

Marketing

[email protected]

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