April Fools: Dumbest Mistakes Email
Marketers Make and How to Avoid Them
Presented by Loren McDonald
Silverpop
April 1, 2009

Agenda
• Introductions/Overview
• The 12 Mistakes
• Q&A

The Fine Print
• What works for one company, may not
work for you
• If you see your company, don’t take it
personally – we all make mistakes
• When in Rome: April Fools/Ken Magill –
let’s have some fun

12 Email Marketing Mistakes

Type of
Mistakes I Will
NOT focus on:
- Typos
- Wrong subject
lines
- Wrong links

# 1: Hiding the Email Opt-in

The Home Page on My Laptop
Find the
email sign
up

• Below the fold
• Text link only
• Hidden among a dozen similar-
looking links
• Font color is hard to read
• Could we make the font any
smaller?

Better Location

Double Duty

# 2: Having a Poor (or no) Welcome
Email Process

This is Not a Good Welcome Experience

Confirmation Emails – Are Not
“Welcome Emails”
• Primary Purpose is to confirm subscription
• They aren’t a subscriber yet
• Pre-selling; reminding of value proposition –
but should not take the place of welcome email

#3: Not Using the Data You Ask
For/Collect

My Expectations:
• Birthday wish and/or coupon
• Age-based content/offers
• Gender-based content/offers

What I Get
Now for that haircut,
• No birthday
I’d Pay More Than $16! wish
• Content does
not reflect age or
gender
Loren

#4: Not collecting any data for
personalization or segmentation

No Data/Preferences Collected
Logical Personalization?:
• Gender
• Marital status
• Age ranges on signup
• Wedding anniversary
• Significant other’s birth date

No Recognition of Their Value Proposition
How About Product
Selection & Content
that recognizes I’m:
• Male
• Married
• Kind of old guy
• Married 25 years

#5: Not making it easy for subscribers to
do what they want to do

Examples of What Subscribers Want to Do
• Change frequency
• Change format preference (HTML to Text)
• Change email address
• Change interests (skiing to snowboarding)
• Add/remove newsletters/emails you offer
• Read your privacy policy
• Find contact information
• Read back issues
• Search
• Read your shipping/return policies
• Unsubscribe

This email template needs more than a
shampoo and trim
What’s Missing?
• Navigation
• Locations
• Coupons
• Home Page
• Update Preferences
link
• Change Email Address
• Change Your Reminder
schedule

Things from Home Page/Web Site they Could Link to:
• Update Reminders
• Services
• Coupons
• Beauty Deals
• Gift Cards
• Salon Locator

Pretty good Email
Admin Footer from
Magilla Marketing
• Change email
• Unsubscribe
• Web Version
• Archives
• Story tips
• Subscribe
• Format
• Ad information
• Contact info
“Hey Ken, Not Bad Man – I’m Buying”

#6: Making People Think or Work To Do What
YOU Want Them To Do

Help me Buy
- Use Bullets
- Better images
- Cost?
- Not clear sidebar
is coffee
- How do I get to
$40?
- Deadline is
hidden

• “Today, March 27”
• No minimum
• 4-7 Day Delivery
• More details
below
• Select flights right
from the email
• Oakland is my
preferred departure
airport
• “Book a flight” links
• Search link

Do the Math
for Your
Subscribers
- % off
- Old price
- New price
- $ Savings
- People are
motivated by
different
“discount”
math

#7: Not Optimizing for Blocked Images, Preview
Panes & Mobile Devices

Find The “Check-in” Link/Button
United
Check-in
Email
-7 links
- But no check-in

Oops – 2 Images – Link, Logo

Outlook Preview
Pane
With images
blocked
Outlook Preview
Pane
With images
enabled

Imagine This Copy on a Direct Mail Piece

BlackBerry Email & Browser Experience
Original Email Email Version Browser Version
BlackBerry IS installed BlackBerry Browser
email client

Good Use of Text Navigation & Alt Tags
Text links – key Web site destinations
Alt tags

Good Use of Text

Cross-Platform Design Tips

#8: Over Mailing to Generate Short-Term
Results

20 Emails in 22 Days
Free Shipping
20% off
$5, $10 off

What’s the Potential Impact of Over Mailing?
5 times 12 times
per month per
month
Revenue – Churn – Reputation….

Retailer – Increased Frequency
Unsubscribes and spam complaints went through the roof

Financial Impact of Increased Mailings

#9: Having Undifferentiated Emails

Social Network Emails in the Mix

Everyone is Using Free Shipping, 20% Off

Personality is the New Free Shipping
• People want to
buy from people –
Zappos CEO on
Twitter
• Talk to ME
• Entertain me
• Reviews – what
others bought

#10: Not Providing an Alternative to
Unsubscribing

Should I Stay, or Should I Go?

Why Recipients Unsubscribe
• Too Frequent
• Irrelevant Content/Offers
• Also, lack of email address
change functionality

So What are the Alternatives?
Frequency
Other
Format
Emails
Alternatives
Change
Channel
Email
Profile/
Preferences

Alternatives Are Promoted In the Email

Preference Center/Unsubscribe Page

Staples – Really Good, But Not Perfect
Missing:
- Frequency Option
- RSS or catalog option
- Contact info.

#11: Discussing Open, Click-Through and
Delivery Rates in Front of Executives

Executives Don’t Care About Open Rates
Email Marketer Executives
• My average open rate is • How much revenue did we
now 23%. generate from email?
• Unique click-through rate is • How has email improved
trending up since the customer retention?
redesign. • How has email helped
• Deliverability is up at reduce our costs to
Hotmail since we stopped communicate with
using the large postcard- customers?
style image. • What impact is email having
• Spam complaints are down on conversion via other
20%. channels?

Differentiate Process from Output Metrics
Process Output
• Open rates • Revenue
• Bounces • Orders
• Delivered • Demos/Downloads
• Click-through rates • Sales-qualified leads
Think differently about metrics

#12: Not Making Mistakes

There is No Easy Button
• Recognize mistakes
• Get started
• Try
• Fail
• Experiment
• Fail
• Test, test, test

Q&A
• lmcdonald@silverpop.com
• Twitter:
– @LorenMcDonald
– @Silverpop
• SlideShare: www.slideshare.net/silverpop
• LinkedIn:
– http://www.linkedin.com/companies/silverpop
• Facebook:
– Search “Silverpop”