Email Marketing Crash Course for Beginners. How to get into the Mind-Box of your audience.

1. How to get into the Mind-Box of your audience
www.markedu.com

2. This is how we roll today
• 3 hours with 2 * 10 minute breaks
• Ask questions in the chat box whenever you
want
• If you purchased the Certificate, you will
receive email with information about the test
• Twitter hashtag #markedu
• My Twitter @michaelleander

3. About the content & flow of this
email marketing crash course today
• Abstracts of the original Email Marketing
Masterclass
• Part 1 is about important considerations and
generic obstacles
• Part 2 is about the components of an email
marketing programme
• Part 3 is tidbits of tips and good practices

4. Email Marketing Audit Components
1. Email Marketing Purpose & Objectives
2. Email Marketing Content Concept
3. Email Marketing Value Proposition
4. Permission Marketing and Privacy
5. Frequency and channels
6. Profiling, segmentation and subscription center tactics
7. Subscriber acquisition conversion ecosystem
8. Messaging tactics including welcome flow
9. Design in templates and design consistencies
10. Response tactics / inbound marketing
11. Data management including bounce management procedures
12. Use of behavioral data
13. Email Marketing Service Provider alignment with objectives
14. Triggers & events + transactional emails.
15. Deliverability and ISP issues

5. An email marketing audit sample

6. How many years of email marketing
experience do you have?
• Less than 1 year
• 2-3 years of experience
• 4-5 years of experience
• 6 years or more
• Not sure
6

7. Which of the following would you say
you are most comfortable with?
• Direct marketing
• Branding
• Social media
• PR and communications
• None of the above
7

8. In a world where
social media is
dominating marketing
conversations, why is
email marketing (still)
relevant?

9. High return on email marketing
investment if you do it right

10. Your audience likes email
- businesses and consumers are habitual, highly
frequent inbox surfers
- the inbox travels everywhere; it often beeps,
but never sleeps
- email is an accepted method for effective 1to1
and personal communication
- Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google, YouTube
etc. are heavy users

11. But inboxes are overloaded with
important & irrelevant & relevant
& interesting & boring & junk &
personal & more or less private
messages

12. The biggest shift email
marketers are facing right now
Touch
changes everything

13. Think about how your audience interacts
depending on which device they are on

14. Touch requires rethinking of your
approach and it impacts everything

15. Some inboxes are smarter now and they
don’t all behave the same way
Gmail filters messages on your behalf

16. Mobile inbox with added functionality

17. The inbox is your battleground
And that battleground is always on the move
Understand inbox behavior across different email inboxes
Understand inbox behavior when used on different
devices; desktop, smartphone, tablets , feature phones
and …

18. Customers are becoming more
and more cautious
Trust is critical

19. Your target
prospect is
exposed to
3-6000
advertising
messages every
single day
… and hundreds of
emails every week

20. Short attention span, loads of intrusion
- how do you cut through the clutter?
Brain
filter
Do I know you?
Do I need you?
Can I trust
you?

21. Stop focusing on
the inbox,
start focusing on
the Mind Box

22. Unique
passionate
emotional
authentic
focused
interactive
meaningful…
How to get into the Mind Box?

23. Main barriers to effective email marketing

24. More internal & external challenges on
your road to success with email marketing

25. Terminology
• OTS = Opportunity to See
• Suspects = Unknown potential customers
• Prospects = Known potential customers
• Leads = Often covers both of the above
• Sales qualified leads = ready to talk to sales

26. Significant changes in buying behavior
OTS* high to
get a reaction
No sex on
the first
date
*OTS = Opportunity to see
Referral &
recommendation
Latency
increase
incubationtime
Get more inspiration http://www.zeromomentoftruth.com

27. Why?

28. THE COLOSSAL OTS CHALLENGE
Attention Action
Message Message Message Message Message Action
Increase Opportunity To See by multiple of 3, 5, 10
Pre launch phase Hard selling phaseNurture & convince phase
The “it’s all over” phase

29. Increase OTS for better results –
works almost all the time
• Remember: people take longer time to make a decision
• Higher frequency will not hurt you as long as you are well
established in the Mind-Box
• In email marketing, be sure to differentiate messages based on
open, clicked, no action

30. Decisions you have to make !
• What is the optimal frequency for your audience
and your purpose?
• How do you differentiate (types of) email
communication aligned with your frequency plan
• What is your reaction plan if your planned
frequency doesn’t deliver or backfires
A decision concerning frequency should be
reviewed regularly and changed based on actual
experience

31. Unsilo your email marketing activities
Silos
Make
You Suck

32. When choosing an email marketing
service provider (ESP)
• How and where will you consolidate data?
• CRM, ERP, ESP, XYZ
• How can you build profiles of your audience to
enable better segmentation &
personalization?
• If relevant, how do you establish a system
allowing real-time triggers and automation?
• Deliverability rate performance is paramount
to your success. Some ESP’s handle this
poorly

33. Think about how your email marketing efforts
can integrate seamlessly with other channels
Make email marketing part of an integrated
multi-channel marketing programme
Go from sender control to recipient control

34. See case study – integrated campaign
See the campaign case study here

35. Big Data or Small Data?
If you can’t handle small data –
you can forget about big data !

36. When thinking about your content
• How do you create synergy between your
email content and other content channels?
• Make sure you have writers skilled for getting
results in the email marketing channel
• How do you track which content works and
which doesn’t?
• If using segmentation; how will you approach
content creation?

37. Success in email marketing requires
focus and experimentation
Time spent, investments & commitment to succeed is essential for email marketing

38. Some of the focus areas for
successful email marketing
Focus areas - general
• Content match target audience
• Desktop, mobile, tablet rendering
• Timing & frequency
• Understand recipient behavior
Clean database of subscribers
• Inactive audience revival
• Clean up bounce, soft&hard
• Profiling match targeting
requirements
• etc

39. Things Take Time
often 3-5 times longer than expected

40. Before the break
Quick email
marketing IQ
questions

41. In email marketing, what is
most important?
Sender name Subject line

42. Which of these contribute most to
the success of an email marketing
campaign OR newsletter?
1.The message / the offer
2.The target audience
3.The creative

43. Allocation of focus in any direct marketing
activity – here specific to email marketing
Message/offer Target group
Creative Deliverability
100%
45%
5%
40%
10%

44. 10 minute break

45. From wasted to wanted
Messaging
Customer intelligence
Mass
Communication
Demographic
data
Customer
history
Contact
data
Personalized
Communication
Segmented
Communication
Transactional
Communication
Customer
transaction
Intention/
behaviour
Data source
Integrated
Web analytics
Behavioral /
web sales
Mailing list/
database
CRM system
Enhanced
profiling
Customer
value
Potential benefit =
Tailored promotions (sales)
Loyalty
Information
Relevant
offers
Behavioral
Communication
Potential benefit =
Up-sales/ promotions
Triggers
based on
behavior
Trigger on
transaction
Newsletters, surveys
& one-size-fits-all
promotions
Lifecycle
emails
Targeted email
campaigns/ offers
97% here

46. The purpose of email
marketing is to acquire,
convert, sustain and grow
customers whom then in
turn will attract other
customers’ through
referrals

47. The planning phase
See video about being objective driven http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mxvy_usWz8

48. Starting point for successful
email marketing
1. Customer strategy
2. Clear purpose, goals, core messages
& ROMI requirements
3. Best of class data integration
4. Flexible Email Marketing Technology
5. Culture of experimentation &
willingness to continuously train
staff

49. Think about
top, mid and
end of funnel
and focus
ferociously
on the end
goal, short
and long
term
49
Bottom of funnel is where the action takes place –
engagement need to drive your audience towards
the bottom of the funnel

50. More input to your planning
phase
• There are no quick fixes with email marketing
• A good strategy is essential and management buy
in to see the mid-term to long-term opportunities
important
• Acquiring permissions can be a sizeable
investment
• A purpose which is about dialogue first and selling
second usually wins
• Investing time to establish the right setup in the
planning and pre-launch phase is paramount.
50

51. Thin
Which
problem are
you
solving?

52. 4 questions
you must ask
yourself first
(c) Michael Leander Nielsen, 2009 52

53. The war of the inbox
starts pre acquisition
(c) Michael Leander Nielsen, 2009 53
At the back of their mind, your audience
thinks
- too many emails in the inbox
- not enough time to read info
- concerns about how you treat their information
- is it worth the time and effort?
- can you be trusted? Are you telling the truth?
- what’s the catch?
Welcome to the battlefield

54. Why do you want to acquire email
permissions?
Send Offers &
Promotions
Send Newsletters
Send Alerts and
product updates
54
1
Volume
you are
likely
to attract
H
L
Recipients
perceived
commitment
L
H

55. Whom do you want to engage?
(c) Michael Leander Nielsen, 2009
55
2

56. Whom do you want to engage?
56
2a
Operational
Middle
management
Top
management
CEO
CTO
DB Admin Programmer
CMO
Marketing
asssistant
How do you differentiate
your message/offer to attract
different people with different
interests, insights and inclinations?

57. How much are you willing to pay for an
email permission?
57
3
B2C example, level of
profiling
B2B example, level of
profiling
Acquisition
cost
Email address only Email address only € 1 to €
2,50
+ First name, last name
and civil status
+ First name, last name
and title
+ Address + Address
+ Phone + Phone
+ Buying intend + Buying intend
Etc. Etc. € 10 to € 50

58. Are you offering your audience a
compelling reason to subscribe?
(c) Michael Leander Nielsen, 2009
58
4
Article
content
Special
interest
Advice,
guides
Promotions
Exclusive
offers
First to
get info
Special
coupons
Special
events
?
?

59. Quick email
marketing IQ
questions

60. Test your way to success
Test version A
Send Volume: 10,000
Sample criteria: Random
Click through rate: 6.1%
Test version B
Send Volume: 10,000
Sample criteria: Random
Click through rate: 4.5%
Main Broadcast
Send Volume: 180,000
Click through rate: 5.8%

61. A. Get two brand new articles about branding
B. News in a flash – articles about branding
A -> 32%
B -> 42%
Which subject line generated the
highest open rate?
(A/B Split test)

62. Which is often more effective -
short copy or long copy ?
Copy copy copy copy copy
copy copy copy copy copy
Copy copy copy copy copy
copy copy copy copy copy
Copy copy copy copy copy
copy copy copy copy copy
Copy copy copy copy copy
copy copy copy copy copy
Copy copy copy copy copy
copy copy copy copy copy
Copy copy copy copy copy
copy copy copy copy copy

63. Which generated the best
CTR (Click Through Rate) ?
A ? B ? C ?
A B C26,22% 5,00% 10,32%

64. Divorce your “silly”
preconceived ideas
and start testing

65. Experimentation in
email marketing
• Test frequency, timing
• Test sender name & structure
• Test subject lines
• Test template designs
• Test pre-headers
”Failure is a huge part of your
success in email marketing”

66. Some important areas to test now
• Behavior desktop vs. mobility
• Timing desktop vs. mobility
• Frequency

67. Your Content
Concept
Email value
proposition
AcquisitionEngage
audience
Measure &
react
First 30
days
Sign-up
tactics
Automate
Email Marketing
Roadmap

68. Think like a publisher!

69. Your content concept defines
• How you are going to add value to your recipients
• Which stories you are going to share
• How these stories will help you reach your
objectives
• What kind of mix you want between promotional
content /or offers/ and value adding content
• Tactical elements such as frequency, volume of
content in communication, tone of voice etc.

70. 2 links – one soft and
one hard call to action
Why is the balance between
soft- and hard promotion
important to your email
marketing?

71. Then ....
Translate your
content concept
into your Email
Value Proposition

72. Your email value proposition
• Describes
– What you deliver
– Why your offering is valuable
– What the benefits are (What’s in it for me?)
• Is used for
– Sign-up pages
– Any acquisition activity (also on phone, in-store)

74. Summary of the content
concept = ESP
(Email Value Proposition)
Bullet list of
benefits
gets attention
Showing or linking to
a sample works well

75. Permission acquisition tips

76. Facts about permission acquisition
• A strong landing page for permission
acquisition will yield a 35% conversion rate
(that is 100 visitors generate 35 new sign-ups)
• Your success page should engage people
immediately > offers, other content, links

77. Acquisition flow tactics
• What are you offering (content concept?)
• What is the incentive?
• Email only -> then to form with more fields
• Minimal # of fields and then profile later
• Full profile required
• A mix

78. Basic
profile
Expanded profile
+ Add behavioral
+ Add transactional
78
Stimulate
to get
more info
What are the
contents of your
basic profile?
Your ideal
profile
Use
progressive
profiling
Use lead
scoring

79. Build your profiles and improve targeting,
timing and conversion to last step
79
Data input
from
customer
Behavioral
Transactions
(on/offline)
70-100% accurate 50-100% reliable 90-99% trustworthy

80. Best practices for personalization
Approach Data prerequisite Barriers
Intent Track, add to profile &
store behavior that would
indicate buying intent
Difficult to track
Not 100% accurate
indication
Past behavior Track clicks & events No integration
RFM Et al Infrastructure is not
actionable
Capture profile data you intend to use in communication

81. Customer
potential
Customer
quality
high
low
low high
One time customers
with low potential
Average customers
Good customers Very good customers
15 % 15 %
60 % 10 %
Focus on most valuable segments or
Most Likely to Buy and measure your
success based on their behavior
Ask these questions
• Whom are ”most likely to buy?” (Use RFM with behavioral)
• Whom are ”most likely to defect/churn”?
Bang & Olufsen
increased share
of wallet by
focusing on ”Most
Likely to Buy More”

82. Grundfos smart profiling
(global pump manufacturer)
82
Working
areas:
Heating
systems
Water supply
(Ground waster,
pressure
boosting)
Waste water
(Disposal
solutions)
Cooling
systems
Fire
protection
(Sprinkler
systems)
Frequently 77% 14% 18% 18% 3%
Occasionall
y
16% 74% 62% 53% 43%
Never 7% 12% 20% 29% 54%
Info.
wants:
Energy
saving
pumps
Time saving
pump
selection
tools
Product
news
Technical
product
info.
GFOS
seminar
info.
Case
stories
Very
interested
84% 76% 70% 64% 42% 24%
Quite
interested
14% 21% 29% 33% 49% 60%
Not
interested
2% 3% 1% 4% 9% 17%

83. Creating your email value
proposition
Your email value proposition is your
sales pitch to get subscribers to
register/opt-in
83

84. As a minimum you must
address these questions
1. What are
you offering?
2. ”What’s in
it for me?”
3. Frequency
– how often?

85. …also include these
85
4. Privacy policy / link
5. Opt-out instructions You can unsubscribe anytime you want by following
the link included in each email we send you
6. What happens next? You will receive an email confirming your subscription.
Your first newsletter/message will reach your inbox within
the next 5 days
7. Reference sample
emails/preview

86. Structure of your USP / Email
Value Proposition
86
• Benefit driven – precise – ask a
question if possibleHeadline
• What’s in it for me?Benefits/value
• What do you want me to do?Call to action
• We don’t spam, sell /rent
addresses etcSecurity

87. Structure - suggestion
87
What is wrong here?
Free web seminar alerts
Get your alerts about free marketing
events once a week.
First name:___________________
Last name:___________________
Email:_______________________
You can unsubscribe anytime you want. Read
our privacy policy here. We do not spam.
Security
Headline, USP, frequency

88. Free gift
multiplies
conversion rates
Benefits +
content
concept
Re-confirm
Value
proposition
and USPs
Customize ->
show care
about
relevancy
Landing page
Unique
Email marketing
Proposition

89. Version B
First page
Version B
Second page
Version A - One page
Version A’s one-page form boosted sign-ups
from total traffic 51% and sign-ups from PPC traffic 113%.

90. (c) Michael Leander
90
Is this smart? I wanted to sign-
up for a newsletter - only

91. (c) Michael Leander Nielsen,
2009
91
Cross-sell

92. Incentive example from Denmark's
largest furniture retailer chain
92
• First implemented in
2005
• Outperforms all other
signup forms
• 99% of all profiles are
complete
- The text
Win 1.000 each month
Tell us about yourself
and get a chance to win
the prize.
You participate for as
long as you are a
subscriber.
Sex
Birth year
Children at
home
Type of housing

93. What to consider for your landing page
and variations of sign-up form
• Headline
• Long Copy vs. Short Copy
• Credibility Logos
• Security Assurance
• Banner Present vs. Not Present
• Submit Button / Order Button Text
• Audio / Video Message
• Testimonials
• Urgency
• Price

94. A few word about acquisition of
permissions (subscribers)

95. Don’t count the customers you
reach – Reach those who count
@michaelleander

96. Fact: You have 8 seconds to engage
96
Cheapest acquisition channel
60-95% of visitors leave quickly

97. Give sign-
up a
prominent
position

98. Does Size Really Matter When It
Comes to Email Opt-In Form
Overlays?
98
A B
Got + 8,8% increase

99. Integrate call to actions on all pages
85%
15%
Which produced more sign-ups – the banner or the text link?
Banner and text links are on the same web-page

101. Use ALL channels to offer your
email communication. ALL.

102. Consider this for drive-to-web activity
1. Direct mail
2. To campaign url
3. Insert unique code, which recognizes the respondent
4. Have respondent sign-up to newsletter et al
5. Fantastic results
6. 100% measurable
102

103. Now that you have acquired a permission,
you know someone is interested in you,
but what do you do next?

104. Take really good care of your list (your
subscribers)
• Measure health of your list regularly
• Act on your findings – it is important
Measure Period Number of
Subscribers
% of list total
Never Open All time 48,000 16.0%
Last 6 Months 168,000 56.0%
Never Click All time 96,000 32.0%
Last 6 Months 144,000 48.0%
Never Bought All time 48,000 16.0%
Last 6 Months 192,000 64.0%
Never Bought
Online
All time 96,000 32.0%
Last 6 Months 216,000 72.0%

105. The First 30 Days and Welcome Flow
In email marketing
The experience at the
beginning of the relationship
impacts the LENGTH (how long the
average subscriber
will stay with you) and the VALUE
of the relationship

106. Reaffirm
the value you
offer
Push profile
update – increase
knowledge
Give a reason to
respond now

108. 80% click on
one or more
of those links!

109. Sequential auto responder program
- > stimulate purchase, use etc.
109
Day 1 Day 3 Day 5

110. Example with time limited offer – and
offer extension in the welcome flow
Welcome
Email
Time-limited
offer
Offer
Extension

111. Technique. Marketing Automation
Automated Email Sequences > Targeted > Behavioural
Source: Dave Chaffey, Smart Insights

112. Lufthansa – reactivate case

113. Pretending gets
you in trouble.
Know thy
recipients or else…

115. If you can’t measure conversions,
you really can’t measure ROMI

116. Content interest
revealed through
tracking
• Top 1/3 is the most
valuable real-estate
• But if subject line is
compelling – content can
be placed anywhere
• Think about scanning

117. TOP TIP
Zoom of preheader


118. Box it Up for
Dynamic content!
12 sections of
personalized content
Increased revenue by
25% per email
sending
What’s in your boxes?
- Content A -> SA
- Content B -> SB
- Offer A
- News B
- Regional
- Division
- Service

119. Remails & OTS
Send Tuesday Send Friday

120. Activate your existing
subscribers to help you
acquire new subscribers
(c) Michael Leander Nielsen, 2009 120
Get a garland cake
If your company increase the number of
subscribers the most before next issue

121. Mobile Email Design Best Practices
• A narrow email width
• Single column layout
• Compelling subject
line
• Large headlines & Call
to Actions (CTA’s)
• Bullet proof buttons
• Graceful Degradation

124. Incorporate social sharing

125. -> Link opens message
in social network
-> Default text to share
-> Track # of shares
-> Track # of conversions

126. Michael Leander is an international
marketing speaker.
He has spoken in Germany
and more than 40 other countries
Find him here
http://www.twitter.com/michaelleander
Speaking: http://www.michaelleander.me
Consulting: http://www.michaelleander.com
Questions, comments:
send an email to michael@michaelleander.me