Why are so many big brands spending weeks to create their marketing emails? Learn how to perfect your email creation process and get emails out the door faster as we look at how to: - Eliminate bottlenecks that hurt email ROI - Enable teams to put emails together faster - Use content integrations to instantly make emails more engaging - Measure the speed and efficiency of your email creation process

1. Move Fast and
(Don’t) Break Things:
How Big Brands Can Do
Email Marketing at Startup Speed
1

2. Before we get started
Mike Zusel
Solutions Consulting, stensul
Mike Werch
Demand Gen & Marketing Ops, stensul

3. Innovative
Let’s play a word association game
Agile
Fast
Startup
Bureaucratic
Slow
Legacy
Major
Corporation
(Big brand)

4. Two vastly different environments for
getting things done
Startup Big brand

5. ‘Breaking things’ isn’t an option
for email marketers at big brands.

6. They have to maintain strict standards
✔
Legal Brand Technical

7. Version 2
Version 1
Which leads to complicated,
manual email creation processes
Distribution
Analytics
Approvals
Commenting &
Edits
Strategy
Creative Brief
Determine
Audience
Changes required
QA
ADA Compliance
Rendering Rules
Stretched Images
Regulatory
Compliance
Broken Links
Content Controls
ex: char limits
Brand Guidelines
Overhead
Template
Updates
Support Team
Training
Permissioning
ISP Rendering
Changes
Governance
(GDRP)
Insights
Build
Clean Code
Tracking
Parameters
Mobile
Optimized
Crop/design
Images
External Content
QA Elements >>
Failed QA

8. They also face major operational headwinds
Source: “The Biggest Email Marketing Challenges of 2018” ~ Litmus
Poor cross-department coordination
Understaffed programs
Inadequate
tech

9. 8 -10+ hours
Actual work time to create one email
15 days
To request, create and deploy one email
Which explains why it takes so long to
get emails out the door

10. Why does speed matter?

11. Marketers focused on getting emails built and
approved aren’t focused on...
✓ Content strategy
✓ Time to market
✓ Deliverability
✓ A/B testing
✓ Program optimization
✓ Audience insights

12. How can big brands speed up
their email processes?

13. Commit to working smarter
(don’t get left behind)

14. Identify where you need to improve
and make a plan for how you’ll do it
What is our process?
Understand current state
What are we creating?
Review emails being sent today
Who is involved with email?
Interview relevant teams, people, partners
What are our needs?
Determine shared vs. unique needs
Audit Define
What is required?
Regulatory | Brand | Content | Technology
Operationalize
Process
improvement
plan
Business impact
ROI

15. Current state | 1+ week(s)
Sample plan (envision it!)
Desired state | 1 day
Build
Create emails without code within brand
guidelines, enforce QA, rendering
Marketers
Deploy email via ESP
Review & Approve
Marketers
Core, Non-core, Partners, 3rd party
3rd Party
Design &
code email
In House
Design &
code email
Marketers
(Non-core, Partners, 3rd party)
Submit brief to Core
Marketers (Core)
Submit brief to Traffic
Traffic
Controls flow of work to agencies
Core
Review & approve email
3rd Party
Tests email by hand
3rd Party
Deploy email via ESP
Process
Audit Define
Needs
* Improve turnaround by x
* Reduce manual work by x
* Distributed sending
Requirements
* How desired state
becomes reality
Output

16. $100k
salary expense savings
1 FTE moved to distributed
program (no additional hire req’d.)
Sample business case (prove it!)
$60k
3rd party spend
$130k
105 salary hours saved/mo.
Less time spent on:
- Email creation
- Training
- Template maintenance
$120k
6% lift in email revenue
Conversion/revenue lift from:
- Smarter A/B tests
- Mobile optimized design
- More engaging content
- Faster time-to-market
Define
~$410k/yr
potential ROI benefit

17. Be pragmatic when operationalizing
Align Initial rollout
Key groups
Requirements
Timelines
KPIs
Documentation
Training
Surveys
Monitor KPIs
Compound winning methods
Expand to other groups
Scale

18. Reduce manual tasks & dependencies
Brace yourself
Efficiency is coming

19. Version 2
Version 1
Manual build steps create major friction
Distribution
Analytics
Approvals
Commenting &
Edits
Strategy
Creative Brief
Determine
Audience
Changes required
QA
ADA Compliance
Rendering Rules
Stretched Images
Regulatory
Compliance
Broken Links
Content Controls
ex: char limits
Brand Guidelines
Overhead
Template
Updates
Support Team
Training
Permissioning
ISP Rendering
Changes
Governance
(GDRP)
Insights
Build
Clean Code
Tracking
Parameters
Mobile
Optimized
Crop/design
Images
External Content
QA Elements >>
Failed QA

20. Modules and templates are two very different things
Templates Modules

21. Why embrace modular?
Flexibility
Easily A/B test
Agility
Rapid execution
Efficiency
Spend time on higher value work
Future-proof
Add modules to meet new needs

22. Automate content when it makes sense
What could you be integrating into modules with APIs?
Content
Real-time
Social
1:1 personalization
Events 1st party data
Image DAMs
Product
When you come to Brazil,
you’ll get more out of a
vacation than you’ve ever
dreamed of.
This week on Instagram

23. Build modules to be mobile first
Burned to live text
Optimized stacking
Shorter image
Desktop / traditional responsive Mobile-optimized responsive
Determining your responsive approach upfront saves hours of frustration later

24. Hardcode tracking parameters at the module level
Eliminate error-prone tasks and better understand email performance
utm_content=cta-button
URL source medium campaign content Tracking Link
https://webinar.com mkto email wb-speed cta-button https://webinar.com?utm_source=mkto&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ws-speed&utm_content=cta-button
Google Sheets (more common than you think)
Hardcoded parameter value is
auto-appended to tracking link

25. Don’t reinvent the wheel for every email

26. Build with QA in mind
Approvals
Commenting &
Edits
Changes required
Build
Clean Code
Tracking
Parameters
Mobile
Optimized
Crop/design
Images
External Content
QA Elements >>
Failed QA
Tips
- Modular design will
help with this
- Find ways to enforce
QA during the build
(instead of after) using
controls
The path to email approval is only as strong as your weakest QA link
ADA Compliance
Rendering Rules
Stretched Images
Regulatory
Compliance
Broken Links
Content Controls
ex: char limits
Brand Guidelines
QA

27. Time to rethink email briefs?
Email briefs serve two primary purposes:
What portion of ‘design
guidance’ could you eliminate
with smartly implemented
modular design?
Internal Alignment
Project Background
Objectives
Target Audience
Success Metrics
Timeline
Design Guidance
Colors
Fonts
Logos
Rendering & Usability
Standard elements (footer)
Links & Tracking
Personalization Tokens
Images & Graphics
Dimensions

28. Keep email reviews and approvals on track
Define Outline Create Review Approve
Objectives
Roles
Responsibilities
Resource reqs.
Campaign
Manager
Layout/modules
Creative reqs.
Creator Creator
RD 1:
review/edits
RD 2:
review/edits
Reviewer(s)
Creator
Approver
Final draftDraft preview
SLA
1-2 days per round
SLA
1 day
More time spent here than
any other part of email production

29. Hone in on the optimal org structure
to support email marketing goals
You create an email…
You create an email…
Everyone creates emails!

30. How does your marketing org structure affect email?
Centralized
One department controls everything
Decentralized
Departments operate autonomously
Distributed
Centrally created assets can be customized
TEAM STRUCTURE
ECONOMIES
OF SCALE
UNIFIED
BRANDING
CENTRALIZED
TECH
HYPER-
TARGETED
WHAT IT MEANS FOR EMAIL

31. So what have we learned?

32. Marketers
Focused on strategy,
optimization & results.
When email creation processes enable output instead
of restricting it, everyone wins...
Focused on higher-value
work, not coding emails.
Developers
Focused on design,
not layout.
Designers
Empowered to
create & localize.
Distributed MarketersMarketing Ops
Execs
Greater ROI; brand &
team positioned to win.
Less time supporting internal
clients & putting out fires.

33. How do you know your process is getting faster?
Metrics to keep an eye on...
Creation Analytics Team Happiness : )
Avg. creation time
# emails created
$ spent on email production
Time spent on
higher value work
# of screams heard daily
(declining)
The Bottom Line
Increased channel/program
performance

34. How can stensul help?

35. Version 2
Version 1
Most email processes
Distribution
Analytics
Approvals
Commenting &
Edits
Strategy
Creative Brief
Determine
Audience
Changes required
QA
ADA Compliance
Rendering Rules
Stretched Images
Regulatory
Compliance
Broken Links
Content Controls
ex: char limits
Brand Guidelines
Overhead
Template
Updates
Support Team
Training
Permissioning
ISP Rendering
Changes
Governance
(GDRP)
Insights
Build
Clean Code
Tracking
Parameters
Mobile
Optimized
Crop/design
Images
External Content
QA Elements >>
Failed QA

36. Version 2
Version 1
stensul
Distribution
Analytics
Approvals
Commenting &
Edits
Strategy
Creative Brief
Determine
Audience
QA
ADA Compliance
Rendering Rules
Stretched Images
Regulatory
Compliance
Broken Links
Content Controls
ex: char limits
Brand Guidelines
Overhead
Template
Updates
Support Team
Training
Permissioning
ISP Rendering
Changes
Governance
(GDRP)
Insights
Build
Clean Code
Tracking
Parameters
Mobile
Optimized
Crop/design
Images
External Content
QA Elements >>
Failed QA
stensul
stensul
stensul stensul
stensul
stensul

37. Questions?STOPMAKING EMAILS
AT SLOTH SPEED