Why Email Marketing is Still King

With Br ian AbracenRe-engagement Market ing Manager at Ki j i j i Canada

Toronto Product Management AssociationJanuary 26, 2016

About Me

Brian AbracenRe-engagement Marketing Manager, Kijiji Canada

Previously:• Director of Customer Engagement, Intelex Technologies• Senior Conversion Marketing Manager, FreshBooks• Head of Email Marketing, Dealfind.com

Connect with me!

• Email: brian@abracen.com • Twitter: @brian_abracen• Linkedin: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/brianabracen

Agenda

1. Permission: Ins and Outs

2. Relevance: Segmentation & Personalization

3. Lists: Building & Maintenance

4. Deliverability

5. Testing

6. Measurement

7. Automation

8. Campaigns

The Basics

Introduction

Email Types

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, cu vim

sonet exerci. Vel eruditi commune

verastium

Column 2Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, cu vim

sonet exerci. Vel eruditi commune

verastium

Column 1Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, cu vim

sonet exerci. Vel eruditi commune

verastium

Column 3

The 5 Types of Email

Insert photo requirements Insert photo requirements Insert photo requirements

Email Types

The 5 Types of Email

So… what’s so good about email?

Introduction

Introduction

Email is dead? I don’t think so!• By 2017 there will be 2.7 billion email users across the globe

• Nearly 1 trillion marketing emails will be sent this year

• 91% of consumers check their email at least daily

• 55% of companies surveyed say they generate more than 10% of sales from email

• 74% of companies who regularly test email strategies report a positive ROI

• 77% of consumers say they prefer to receive permission-based marketing communications through email, beating out both text messaging and social media

1. Email marketing offers a huge ROI.

• According to the Direct Marketing Association, email yields an estimated 4,300 percent ROI

• ExactTarget reports that every dollar spent on email marketing offers a return of $44

2. Emails effortlessly nurture leads.

• A nurtured lead increases sales 20 percent more than a cold lead, and emails generate 50 percent more sales

• Smart email marketing is one of the single most effective ways to build relationships with customers:

1. Raise awareness, i.e. inform customers about a product

2. Stimulate a desire for acquisition, i.e. tell them where to get it

3. Guide the reader toward conversion, i.e. transform prospects into customers

4. Create customer retention, i.e. sell them related products

3. Email marketing is simple enough for DIY small-business owners.

• Email Service Providers user interfaces are easy to learn and apply

• Based on a survey by Constant Contact Small-business owners who have learned how to send out broadcasts and use autoresponders consider email automation as being worth $273 an hour

4. Emails convert three times better than social media.

• Email marketing works 40 times better at getting customers than Facebook and Twitter

• Compared to social media, email offers 17 percent higher conversion

• Email not only converts better than the most popular social media, but people spend up to 17 percent more when they do buy

5. People actually like getting emails!

• Of course, this only applies to emails they chose to receive…

• Of those, 95 percent of people who sign up for a newsletter from a recognized brand consider the email useful

6. The vast majority of consumers check email on their smartphones at least once a day.

7. Adding social sharing buttons can increase email click-through rates.

• Adding social sharing button increases trust

• As a result, the click-through rate increases by 158 percent compared to emails without it

The (Opt-)Ins and (Opt-) Outs

Permission

Get off on the right foot!Set subscriber expectations

• What do I get when I give you my email address?

• Are you going to spam me?

• How often will you email me?

• Will I get discounts?

• Will I get a first crack at your beta?

• Will you send me relevant offers or more junk?

Permission

CASL (Canada’s Anti-Spam Law)“The crux of the law is that people should get only

the emails they want, and if you want to email someone,you have to have permission.”

CASL requires that consent must be obtained from consumers before companies can

send them commercial email

• “Express” consent—obtained in person or in writing

• “Implied” consent, such as the existence of an ongoing business relationship

• Free opt-out mechanisms must be provided by senders or their third-party partners

• “From” lines must plainly state the name of the organization sending the message

Relevance

It’s All About Relevance

Email Marketing Overview

Be Relevant!Consumers quickly decide which companies they like receiving messages from based on relevance

• Personalization is paramount Noticeable evidence that content is targeted drives conversions

• Value is evidentIt’s important to make the advantage of being on the email list clear. This can be achieved via special deals, promotions or exclusive content

Relevance

Who are they?• The old-style first-name merge has evolved over the years. You can now personalize

images: Starbucks

• You can even personalize animated gifs: Helzberg Diamonds

• When’s their birthday? For example, this Pizza Express birthday email is triggered by a recipient’s birthday and includes a personalized image and alt text

Relevance

Who do they care about?Most personalization opportunities are directly about the subscriber, but their wider sphere of family members, friends, and work associates also provide occasions for personalization.

• LinkedIn sends many emails about your connections, including this email about connections who had changed jobs

• ToyTalk sends parents emails about what their kids say when they interact with their mobile app

Relevance

What did they do?A subscriber’s actions offer many opportunities for personalization. Combining this flavor of personalization with behavior triggered emails creates highly compelling messages.

• This loyalty email from Panera is personalized with the number of times the recipient has eaten at the restaurant during the current month

• This Fitbit email is personalized with the subscriber’s physical activity as collected via their wristbands

• Reliant Energy emails include power usage information and trends based on their subscriber’s household usage

Relevance

What did others do in reaction?People are increasingly interested in how their actions affect others.

• TripAdvisor sends you updates on the impact of your reviews as a way of spurring you to review more.

• Twitter sends weekly emails that detail how people reacted to your tweets so you can see what kinds of content they’re responding to most

Relevance

What do they have?• Moosejaw sent this well-timed rewards balance email during the holiday season to spur another

gift purchase

• Kiva, a microfinance company, sends emails personalized with the account balance to nudge subscribers to loan that money out

• Crate & Barrel sends product care instructions for some products, knowing that it will be handier in email form than on paper

Relevance

Where are they?Because of mobile, geolocation can play a significant role in personalization.

• Nextdoor provides neighborhood information in their emails that are personalized to your location

• Timberland used live content to include local weather information that was tailored to each subscriber’s location

List Segmentation

Segmenting your audience is the first step to creating a tailored email marketing campaign. This will allow you to group customers according to specific criteria.

Relevance

List Segmentation

Examples of data on which segments can be based:

• Responsiveness/behaviour/history

• Demographics

• Purchase amounts

• Language and culture

Smart segmentation strategies ensure messaging relevance

Relevance

Zen and the Art of List Building & Maintenance

Lists

Lists

Driving Sign-up• Pop-ups and overlays can be annoying but

are proven to be effective • Messaging: Incentives for registering must be

clear and evident • Opt-in: some data shows that double opt-in

provides better results • Social: Leverage social channels to grow lists,

such as an email form on a Facebook tab • Contests & Promotions can spike list growth • eCommerce: Incorporate email sign-up into all

account registration and eCommerce flows

Welcome EmailsAutomated emails create an immediate link with subscribers

• Increase account creation, customer acquisition, and list growth

• Reward subscribers with offers and valuable information

• Welcome series are even more effective. The series should be a portal to your site

Lists

Lists

Welcome!• Customers expect a welcome email when they subscribe to a list

• This triggered email is your chance to make a great first impression on your new subscriber: Show your subscribers what you’re all about, reiterate what kinds of emails they should expect to get from you and how often you’ll contact them

• A welcome series often consists of several emails, starting with the welcome email described above followed by a few emails containing high-value content sent over several weeks.

List Hygiene & Management

Improve your list integrity with accurate list cleansing

• Improve deliverability, minimize SPAM traps, improve response rates

• Delete inactive subscribers

• Investigate hard and soft bounces

• Partners services can facilitate cleansing by processing your list through their filters

Email Marketing Overview

Lists

Your mission:To ensure that your list contains only valid email

addresses at all times

Reaching the Inbox

Deliverability

Deliverability

Sender ReputationAchieving a positive sender reputation is the foundation for optimal email deliverability

• ISPs can make or break your sender reputation. Meeting their expectations helps improve deliverability and increases your response rates

• ISPs want to protect their users from unwanted email, regardless of opt-in

• Dozens of elements contribute to overall sending reputation with ISPs, directly affecting whether your message is deemed "good enough" to reach the inbox

• Audience engagement with your email messages is one of the primary measures used by ISPs to determine your legitimacy as a sender

Deliverability

Sender ReputationAchieving a positive sender reputation is the foundation for optimal email deliverability

• Personalization helps produce a stronger sender reputation for your brand. Increased open and response rates give ISPs the perception that a true relationship has been established with your audience

• Web and behavioral analytics to get better, fresher audience data with every email campaign can help you segment and target more precisely in subsequent emails with the timely, personalized, and relevant messaging that boosts engagement

• Adherence to applicable laws—CASL in Canada and CAN-SPAM in the US, which mandate proper unsubscribe processes and provide guidelines for email content and sending behaviors

Deliverability

Best practices for optimal deliverability1. Include safe-sender links

2. Don't use a "no reply" address

3. Work with a deliverability expert

4. Set clear expectations in advance

5. Give recipients control with preference centers

6. Optimize email for mobile

Email Marketing Overview

The Mobile ImperativeOver 50% of email opens happen on phones and tablets

• “Mobile First” approach to emails

• Mobile design techniques include:

• Responsive/adaptive emails

• “Mobile Aware” emails

• Recognize the users, particularly mobile users, are scrolling

Deliverability

Optimize for Mobile• Despite a 78.9% increase in email opens on tablets and a 40.7% increase in email opens on

mobile, few companies have a mobile-optimized email marketing strategy

• 70% of consumers delete emails that don’t render well on a mobile device immediately

• Test your emails on mobile devices before sending

• If you’re pressed for time, you can use a plain text email for mobile

A.B.T.: Always Be Testing

Testing

Email Marketing Overview

• Heat maps: Where are people clicking?

• Subject lines: What motivates your audience?

• Segments: Based on customer behaviour, demographics, sign-up date, etc.

• Copy variants: Tone, length, calls to action, offers, etc.

• Mobile: Optimized vs. non-optimized

• Frequency: When might fatigue set in?

• Date & time: When to send?

Testing & Optimization

You Can’t Manage What You Can’t Measure

Measurement

Email Marketing Overview

Measuring SuccessMoving beyond open and click-through rates

• Where do recipients go on your website?

• How often do they visit?

• Study conversions and/or email revenue

• Are there new ways to think about how to segment your list based on behaviour?

• Understand deliverability, bounces, unsubscribes and complaints

Email Marketing Overview

Measuring SuccessTagging email links for web analytics

• Adding analytics tags to the links in your emails allows you to track the visitors who come into your website through email marketing

• A popular tool is Google Analytics (GA). Here are the main tracking parameters that are available:

• Campaign Source (utm_source)

• Campaign Medium (utm_medium)

• Campaign Term (utm_term)

• Campaign Content (utm_content)

• Campaign Name (utm_campaign)

Email Marketing Overview

Measuring SuccessTagging email links for web analytics

Set it, and Forget it.

Automation

(Not Really.)

Automation

Components of Marketing Automation• Multichannel: email, social, SMS, +

• Landing pages

• Lead capture forms

• Content housing & management

• Website tracking incl. anonymous

• Lead scoring

• Lead nurturing

• ROI measuring

• CRM integration

• Segmentation / personalization

• Alerting

• Reporting and analytics

Automation

Automation Use Cases• Abandoned Shopping Cart

• Upsell, Cross sell and Cycle-based sell

• After Sale Support

• Customer Happiness (NPS)

• Wake Inactive Leads

• Highly Engaged Persons

• Event communication

Automation

Automation

One Email Does Not a Campaign Make

Campaigns

Campaigns

Drip Campaigns

Advantages of series vs. one-offs:• 119% higher click rate than regular broadcast emails

• Conversion rates as high as 50%

• Tend to generate 18x more revenue

Examples of typical drip campaigns:• Lead Nurturing

• Welcoming

• Renewals

Campaigns

Sample Drip Flow

Can You Handle the Truth?

Conclusion

Introduction

The truth is counterintuitive.• Email isn’t about selling.

• Email isn’t that great at driving traffic.

• Replies are a huge win.

• You don’t need to spend a fortune.

• Subject lines don’t drive opens.

• Design is less important than you think.

• The bigger the list, the worse the emails.

• You can email people every day …… if they are expecting it

Questions?