Secrets to Email Marketing Success

Stephan SpencerPresident, Internet Conceptssspencer@netconcepts.com

www.netconcepts.com

Get Permission• Opt-in, not opt-out. Get recipient’s consent in advance!

– Opt-in: recipient volunteered to receive your email– Opt-out: recipient didn’t have the opportunity to avoid receiving

your first email, only to avoid receiving subsequent ones• “Hand-raisers” are a lot more likely to not only tolerate

receiving your emails, but also to respond favorably• Read Permission Marketing by Seth Godin

Spam• Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE)• Typical spam has a bogus sender address,

bogus unsubscribe instructions, and bogus offers

• Spam is in the eye of the beholder• Ensure recipients don’t misconstrue your

message as spam

Distance Yourself from Spammers

• Remind recipients that they’ve given you permission to contact them

• Provide an easy way to unsubscribe• Be sure reply works• Have it signed by a real person• Publish and abide by a strict privacy policy

Improve the Odds that a User Will Join Your List

• Provide numerous opt-in opportunities all with low barriers to entry

• Make sure the amount of work required to sign up is minimal– Many sites only require the email address and all other

personal information is optional• Place the email list sign-up on all forms on your site,

including inquiry, order, and feedback forms– Ok to have the sign-up checkbox ticked in advance?

Privacy Policy• Builds trust• Address what you’ll be doing with the user’s information,

both now and potentially in the future • Post it in an obvious place on your site• Link to it from your email campaigns• Abide by it, no exceptions• Don’t revoke or weaken it once you’ve published it

(Remember the hot water Amazon got into?)

Consequences of Spamming• “Flames,” i.e. hate email• Harassment from spam vigilantes • Badmouthed in discussion forums• Blacklisted (SpamCop, etc.)• You may even have your Internet privileges

revoked by your ISP• Remember, perception is 9/10ths of reality

Deliver Value• Email should be relevant, timely, and beneficial• “Value" can take the form of:

– newsletters, discounts, contests, last minute availability, event reminders, invitations, prizes, memberships, bonuses, coupons/discounts, exclusive sales, free samples, or demos.

• Surveys - give free report or enter them in a draw• Go paperless - specs, price lists, statements

Types of Outbound Email• Newsletters

– Regularly scheduled messages that deliver timely and interesting news, tips, and other informational tidbits

• Promotional messages– Inform recipients about special offers

• Discussion forum posts– Soft-sell marketing strategy for becoming an accepted and

trusted member of your target audience’s online community

Discussion Forum Posts• Discussion forums include Usenet newsgroups, email

discussion lists (listservs), and web forums• Often overlooked by e-marketers• Key is to respect the forum’s non-commercial nature• Don’t blatantly advertise

– Add value by answering questions in a vendor-neutral manner, then soft-sell solely through your "signature"

Signature Line• At the bottom of your discussion post• Should be short - no more than 4 lines• Your name• Your company name• Your email address (include mailto: in front)• Link to your site (include http:// in front)• Your USP (Unique Selling Proposition)

Components of an Email• Subject line

– Most important ~35 characters of the email. Focus on it!• From line• To line• Message body

– A promotional message should contain a compelling offer and a call-to-action

– An e-mail newsletter should contain a header, a table of contents, a welcome, and multiple ‘departments’

– Privacy statement, Disclaimer, and Unsubscribe instructions

Measure Success• Unsubscribe rate• Bounce rate• Unique open rate• Total open rate• Clickthrough rate

– Can separate HTML vs. plaintext clickthroughs• Conversion rate

The Bane of the Email Marketer: the Delete Key

• The split-second decision - keep it or delete it• The basis of their decision: the From and

Subject line• Your open rate may be overstated

– Your message may be getting displayed in recipient’s preview pane as he selects it just to delete it

Frequency• Depends on expectations of target audience• Email newsletters tend to be weekly or monthly• Monitor number/variety of contacts to avoid

burnout

Timing• Tuesday through Thursday• 10am to 2pm• Varies depending on your audience

Length• In general, keep it short and sweet. Use links.• Weekly newsletter should be no more than five

sections, with three or fewer paragraphs each,• Monthly newsletter can be double or triple that.• Promotional messages should be significantly shorter

than a newsletter.• Include whole articles or just abstracts with links to the

rest?

Spam Filters• Spam filters built in Outlook, Hotmail, AOL etc.• Corporate email firewalls• Don’t trip the spam filters

– “Free”, “opt-in”, “!!!”, “forward to a friend”, etc.– ‘Bcc’– ‘To’ line doesn’t include recipient’s email address– Scripts– Attachments

HTML vs. Plain Text• HTML emails typically have twice the clickthroughs• HTML offers more control over layout• HTML looks more ‘polished’ (could be good or bad)• Some old email clients can’t do HTML, e.g. Outlook 95• “Sniff” for HTML open or send multiple versions multi-

part• Old versions of AOL only support a crippled form of

HTML

Plain Text Emails• Precede URLs with “http://” and emails with

“mailto:”• Limit the line width to 65 characters • Headlines in ALL CAPS

– Reading text in caps is very slow, because people read only the tops of letters. ALL CAPS letters don’t have enough differentiation to them

HTML Emails• Tables - to control placement & avoid long lines• Graphics - <30k, will cause the recipient grief if reading

email while offline, increases download time• Color - color text or color a table background, doesn’t

impact download speed• Font - face, size, and color• Forms - embed in the email to make it easy for the

recipient to respond to an offer, e.g. seminar registration– Auto fill-in as many form fields as possible

• Scripts, Flash, Streaming Video - not recommended!

Your Database• Collect more than just the email address

– Name (first name should be a separate field)– Zip code, interests, and other relevant demographics – What else?– Also ask for info that you plan to use in the future

• ‘Text to Columns’ feature in Excel• In-house lists typically perform much better than

purchased or rented lists

Personalize• Tailor the offer to the individual. Beneficial offers are

relevant offers• Provide customized content specific to recipient location

and interests• Greet the recipient by first name. Perhaps even in the

Subject line too.• To line should specify the recipient’s email address• Let the recipient control the contact frequency• Increases the likelihood of being at the right place at the

right time with the right value proposition

Segment Your List• By demographics, psychographics,

clickographics (visiting behavior and transaction history)

• Target who’s most relevant, most profitable, or most likely to respond

Buy or Rent Lists?• Avoid the use of purchased lists

– Many have actually been “harvested” from web pages, newsgroup discussion posts, or domain contact information (from the “whois” database) – without the knowledge or permission of the affected individuals

• Rented lists from reputable list brokers may be worthwhile– Is it double opt-in, fastidiously clean of unsubscribes, and

finely segmented?

A Veritable List Goldmine• Email addresses of prospects, potential

distributors and business partners, journalists• Member lists - associations, clubs, etc.• Find them with Google• Introduce yourself. Be personal and informal.• Careful! Potential spam territory

Test, Test, Test!• Treat your email campaigns like experiments• Have a control group• Vary only one thing at a time• What to test?

– The offer, the Subject line, the From line, the message copy, the layout, the message length, the timing, the contact frequency

Test, Test, Test!• Track response rates of each test by making

call-to-action URLs & e-mail addresses unique for each test group

• Special attention should be given to the frequency– don't allow recipient burnout, particularly with a

regular mailing such as an e-mail newsletter• Test and refine, test and refine

Software and ASPs• Reduce the administrative headaches - the

bounces and unsubscribe requests, the tracking, reporting, segmenting, and personalizing – Do-it-yourself software. e.g. WorldMerge

(www.coloradosoft.com)– Or outsource to an e-mail service bureau, e.g.

MessageMedia (www.messagemedia.com) or GravityMail (www.gravitymail.com)

In Summary• Now you know how to get permission, build your

database, personalize,segment, test, measure success

• Newsletters vs. promotional campaigns• Frequency, length, content• The intricacies of HTML

Further Reading• Successful Email Marketing by Debbie Mayo-

Smith• Marketing With E-Mail by Shannon Kinnard• Permission Marketing by Seth Godin