Fundamentals Email Marketing

Slide 2: © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 3: Poll Question #1  What is your level of experience with email marketing, on a scale from 1 to 5?  (1=Never done it, 5=Expert) © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 4: Poll Question #2  What are your most pressing concerns about email marketing? Check all that apply: – Getting and keeping permission – Getting the right offer – Targeting the right audience – Copywriting – Design – Tracking & reporting – Getting it to “go viral” © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 5: Why Market via Email?  Critical mass: reaches 93% of internet users (Jupiter Research)  Response rates: 10x greater than direct mail (DMA)  Lower costs: 1/10 the cost per communication (Andersen)  Relationship builder: 80% of visitors never return (eMarketer) © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 6: Reaching Today’s Consumer  Corporate scandals erode trust  Growing marketing resistance  Receives 100 emails a day (10-20 from people you know)  Want to be treated as people, not a mass market  Spam is in the eye of the beholder © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 7: Coping with the Deluge  32% of email messages are official SPAM (Radicati Group)  Costs $8.9 billion in lost productivity annually (Ferris Research)  Spam filters in Outlook, Hotmail, AOL etc.; Anti-spam tools at the ISPs; Corporate email firewalls  15% of permission-based marketing messages are wrongly blocked (Assurance Systems) © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 8: (Nothing reeks of SPAM more than a message claiming not to be SPAM.) © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 9: Define Business Objectives  Audience – Prospects, customers, advocates, partners  Goals – Registrations, Signups, Sales  Content – Newsletter, Promotions, Reminders, Invitations  Metrics – Click through, Registration, Visits, Booking/Purchase © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 10: 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 © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 11: 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 © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 12: 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? © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 13: 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 © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 14: Distance Yourself from Spammers  Remind recipients that they’ve given you permission to contact them  Provide an easy way to unsubscribe – Unsubscribe urban legend  Be sure reply works  Have it signed by a real person  Publish and abide by a strict privacy policy © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 15: (Thanks United. You make it oh-so- easy to unsubscribe.) © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 17: Be REAL!  Develop a voice and unique personality  Relate to their problem  First few lines are key (WIIFM)  The ‘gift of education’  Be honest. Full disclosure - No hidden advertorials  Avoid ‘chest pounding’ and promotions  People trust people, not marketing speak © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 18: (Lands’ End’s relaxed tone and voice match the brand. Newsletter delivers entertainment value – not just product promotions) © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 19: Attention to Detail  Shoddy workmanship in your email campaign reflects poorly on your business – Typos & grammatical errors – Getting the facts wrong – Formatting problems – Otherwise illegible (font size too small etc.) or unintelligible © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 20: (Typos AND broken links – in a newsletter from an email marketing agency, no less!) © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 21: (Jupiter should have tested on multiple email clients.) © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 22: 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 © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 23: Above All, 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 © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 24: 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 © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 25: 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" © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 26: 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) © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 27: 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 & 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 © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 28: Measure Success  Unsubscribe rate  Bounce rate  Unique open rate  Total open rate  Clickthrough rate – Can separate HTML vs. plaintext clickthroughs  Conversion rate © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 29: 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 © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 30: Frequency  Depends on expectations of target audience  Email newsletters tend to be weekly or monthly  Monitor number/variety of contacts to avoid burnout © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 31: Timing  Tuesday through Thursday?  10am to 2pm?  Varies depending on your audience! © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 32: 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? © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 33: 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 © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 34: Check Your ‘Spam Score’  Do it BEFORE sending  Built into some email services (like GravityMail)  Or, free tool available from www.gravitymail.com/spamscore.php – Aim for < 5 SpamAssassin points – Note: This tool is only indicative. Not everyone’s using SpamAssassin to filter spam. Other filters will interpret your campaign differently. © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 35: Name that SPAM!  Play our email filter game!  The Rules: – Point out things in the email campaign that caused it to be unceremoniously junked by SpamAssassin – Must be something that’s displayed on the slide – The thing must be worth at least 0.4 points – See how many problems you can find © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 37: 6.2 / 5.0 2 things © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 38: 9.9 / 5.0 3 things © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 40: 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 © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 41: 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 © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 42: 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! © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 43: 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 © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 44: 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 © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 46: Segment Your List  By demographics, psychographics, clickographics (visiting behavior and transaction history)  Target who’s most relevant, most profitable, or most likely to respond © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 47: 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? © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 48: 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 © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 49: 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 © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 50: 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 © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 51: 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. GravityMail (www.gravitymail.com) © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 52: In Summary  Your subscribers listen to WII-FM  Regular contact is required to stand out  A lot of variables to get right – Such as frequency, length, content  Now you know how to get permission, build your database, personalize, segment, test, measure success © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Slide 53: Further Reading  Successful Email Marketing by Debbie Mayo-Smith  Marketing With E-Mail by Shannon Kinnard  Permission Marketing by Seth Godin © Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

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