2. Table of Contents
About the Author................................................................................ 3
6 Fascinating Email Marketing Insights................................... 4-5
6 Unique Ways to Use CTA’s in Email........................................ 6-7
8 Email Metrics that Matter.......................................................... 8-9
Successful Integrated Direct
and Digital Campaigns....................................................................10
25 Essential Creative Tips......................................................... 11-12
Contact Us............................................................................................13
35 Corporate Drive
Suite 1040
Trumbull, CT 06611
203.261.3337
www.gridirect.com
3. Brian Snider
Brian S. Snider is President and Chief Creative Officer
of The GRI Marketing Group, a direct and digital
marketing agency based in Trumbull, CT.
Celebrating 29 years of service, GRI has built a
client list that includes Embrace Home Loans,
Bloomberg, Time Consumer Marketing, Conde Nast,
McGraw-Hill, Time Warner Cable, The Direct Marketing
Association, New York Life, Pitney Bowes, The Hartford,
InterMedia Outdoors and dozens more.
Brian has been personally involved with hundreds
of campaigns for both b-to-b and b-to-c. In his
current role he has responsibility for agency positioning, strategy and vision.
He also likes to get“hands on”with the creative teams for each GRI client.
He holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Business Administration from Northeastern
University. When not at work or spending time with family and friends, Brian enjoys traveling,
spending time on the golf course, on a tennis court and in his recording studio.
About the Author
4. 6 Fascinating Email Marketing Insights
1. Photos can offer major
directional cues
If your email design elements include a photo
of a person or an animal, you should select
it carefully. While you probably put a lot of
time and attention into choosing an attractive
subject and an image that conveys your
overall message, what you’re probably
missing is the picture’s directional cues.
The next time you’re looking for an image
like this, consider where the photo’s subject
is looking. If it’s gazing directly back at the
viewer, chances are that the viewer will
return the gaze by staring into the subject’s
face. Eye-tracking studies have shown
that viewers tend to follow the gaze of the
subject they’re looking at.
Try a photo where the subject is looking to
the side, effectively gazing at the text that
you want the viewer to see. An image of
a photo subject who is looking out of the
frame in the direction of the call to action will
draw the viewer’s eye there as well.
2. Content must flow with appeal
Each and every “screenful” that a viewer
takes in when reading your email must
convince them to keep going. If the content
at the top isn’t appealing enough, the viewer
will never move further down. It’s important
to note that 80% of viewers will read
content only above the fold. Eye-tracking
studies show that navigational elements
do best when incorporated into the body
of the email. Isolating them at the top is
less effective because email readers aren’t
accustomed to looking along the top of the
message for navigational tools.
If your email is long, include a table of con-
tents at the top with links to the features
contained further down. This allows the
reader to quickly scan what’s in the message
and jump right to the section that’s most in-
teresting to them. Without this element, the
reader may lose interest before reaching the
section that would have drawn him or her in.
3. Readers browse in an F pattern
Readers tend to read in an F-shaped pattern,
first, by scanning the top of the page where
the heading or greeting is likely to be. Next,
the reader scans across the first paragraph or
two, forming the second bar of the “F.” Last,
the reader scans along the left side of the
page, probably taking in subheadings and
other call-outs.
You can use this information to your advan-
tage when you’re designing email marketing
campaigns by including the most important
information at the very top of the page. Make
sure subheadings or call-out text utilize key
words and phrases. You should place valu-
able information here rather than a vague
statement that won’t offer any new insights.
Consider the difference between “The email
test had a higher conversion rate”and“The
Eye-tracking studies have been around for some time and offer fascinating
insights into how readers view emails and web pages. These studies closely
monitor where the eye looks and how long it lingers there, producing heat
maps that are incredibly informative for marketers. These eye-tracking
insights will help you create more effective emails that cater perfectly to the
way viewers look at their screens.
Continued…
5. email test conversion rate came in at 20%
higher”One is vague and uninteresting while
the other communicates a powerful fact.
4. Hand drawn messages are effective
Hand drawn notes and arrows are very
effective at grabbing the viewer’s attention.
Theselittlegraphicsgivethepageaninformal
feel and make readers feel as though the
personal notes were added just for them.
Add these doodles to your marketing
messages and you can direct the reader’s
gaze exactly where you want it to go. Just
make sure you use both a note and an arrow.
Without the arrow, your message will get
across, but the user won’t have any direction
about where to look next.
5. Media grabs all the attention
If your emails include images of any kind, you
should be aware of the impact that they’re
having on the text in the message. Media of
all types is an attention hog when it comes
to eye tracking. Viewers focus on videos
and pictures more than text. Combine this
with the fact that they only look at an email
newsletter for an average of 51 seconds and
you have a compelling reason to consider
limiting your email design elements.
If you want the text in your message to get
serious consideration, don’t place it below
a flashy piece of media. If you do include
images, consider placing your call to action
on them, so the attractive image is actually
drawing the reader’s eye to the message you
want to send.
6. Viewers spend 69 percent of time
looking left
On a web page, the viewer spends 69 per-
cent of their time looking at the left hand
side of the page. The eye naturally drifts
left and gives this area more attention
than the rest. Use this insight in your email
marketing campaigns by making sure
the most important information and call
to action are on the left, not in a side bar
along the right. Leave the right column
of your newsletter for less important items,
recognizing that many viewers probably
won’t register what’s taking up space on this
half of the page much at all.
6. 1. Include text CTAs
When someone thinks of a CTA, they normally
think of using design to make it stand out.
But CTAs don’t have to be visual; they can
actually just be text.You can choose whether
you want to link that text to a landing page
or something else.
For example, if you’re running an email
campaign to inform a group of people
about a new webinar service you offer, a
CTA that’s as simple as “Please send me
an email at xyz@company.com and we
can set up a time to discuss our new
webinar service” or “For more details go to
www.webinar.ppp and link a PowerPoint
presentation.
This type of CTA can be a great way to help
you qualify your leads.
2. Add CTAs to signatures
Email signatures are often forgotten land-
scape that can be used for CTAs. That
could mean including your Twitter handle
within your signature and linking to your
Twitterprofile,orevenpromotingregistration
for an event or webinar that’s coming up.
When deciding what type of secondary
CTA to add to your signature, think about
the content of the email and an offer.
Ideally this secondary CTA will either
align with the subject matter of the
email (if you’re sending an email about
a new foot care product line, offer a free
sample), or be general enough to be
interesting to anyone.
3. Link your images to landing
pages or blog posts
Here’s something we learned over the past
couple years – people love clicking images.
With that information, we’ve learned
that images can do more for your email
marketing than just be a visual cue to the
contents of the offer you’re promoting,
or draw the eye to where you want your
reader to go. They can actually help improve
the conversion rates of your email –
particularly when the image in your
email has a natural tie-in to the offer you’re
promoting.
For instance, if you’re offering a discount on
a subscription in your email message and
you include an image of the publication in
that email, it’s natural for readers to think
they could click that publication to redeem
the offer. Yes, even if you have a big colorful
“Get 40% offYour Subscription”button in the
email. So link that image to your subscription
landing page!
Solving for how the reader might act,
instead of how you want them to act, can
help you improve conversion rates across all
your marketing.
6 UniqueWays to Use CTA’s in Email
You probably know you should have a big, standout call-to-
action (CTA) that drives your prospects to a dedicated landing
page in every email marketing message you send. But do
you know that there’s a lot of different opportunities for CTA
placement and type, beyond the same old“Click Here”or
“Download”buttons?
CTA testing is actually critical for improving your email engagement, which can result in a higher
return on investment. Here are some primary and secondary call-to-action opportunities to consider
in your email marketing, all taking different forms that you might not have thought of.
Continued…
7. 4. Make it easy to email or
forward your message
While email is typically used for nurturing
leads into customers, including calls-to-action
to email your messages to a colleague can
help you generate new leads. Some people
will forward on their own, but including
specific CTAs within your email to forward
can help even more people take action.
Make it as easy as possible to forward an
email to a colleague by providing a button
or text link“Email this to a Colleague”.
5. Include social sharing buttons
Social sharing buttons and links are a quick
and easy way to encourage people to share
the content of your email. Just as you need
to make it as easy as possible to encourage
your readers to forward your content to
a colleague, you should make it as easy
as possible to allow your readers to share
content on social media.
6. Optimize your preview text
When you open your inbox, you see a list of
your emails. Along with that list of emails
is preview text letting you see part of the
email, to give you more details about what
it’s about so you can decide whether or not
you want to open it.
But did you know that preview text isn’t
necessarily the first line of your email? You
can actually customize it to make it more
action-oriented.
Think about the ideal copy (it’s got to be
short) you want your audience to see that
will encourage them to open the email.
Remember, it may not necessarily be the
first couple lines of your email; it could
actually be something much farther
down in the email, maybe a portion that
highlights your call-to-action. Treat your
preview text as an opportunity to present
your readers with another call-to-action –
one to open your email in the first place.
8. We know today that 52% of marketers plan to
increase spending on email marketing and 68%
believe email is core to their businesses. Before
sending your next email, pause for a few minutes
and ask yourself: What is the goal of my email
marketing? Is it to grow my subscriber database?
Generate more leads? To convert more existing
leads into customers? Whatever you decide your
goal is (and you can have more than one), the next
thing you need to do is figure out which metrics
you’ll need to track in order to determine how
you’re progressing toward that goal.
Let’s take a look at the metrics you should be
payingattentiontoinyouremailmarketingefforts.
The lifetime value of an email address, long-term
loyaltyandsatisfaction,healthofyouremaillistand
ROI are the top metrics to measure to reach your
goals.Nometricismeaningless,butyoushoulduse
several metrics to get a holistic picture.
1. Clickthrough Rate
Clickthrough rate is a very important metric
for all email marketers to be tracking, as
it gives you direct insight into how many
people on your list are engaging with your
content and interested in learning more
about your brand or your offer.
2. Conversion Rate
The definition of a conversion is directly tied
to the call-to-action in your email, and your
call-to-action should be directly tied to the
overall goal of your email marketing, making
the conversion rate one of the most
important metrics for determining the
extent to which you’re achieving your goals.
3. Bounce Rate
Bounce rate measures the percentage of
your total emails sent that could not be
delivered to the recipient’s inbox. There are
two kinds of bounces to track:“hard”bounces
and“soft”bounces.
Soft bounces are the result of a temporary
problem with a valid email address, such as
a full inbox or a problem with the recipient’s
server. The recipient’s server may hold these
emails for delivery once the problem clears
up, or you may try re-sending your email
message to soft bounces.
Hard bounces are the result of an invalid,
closed, or non-existent email address, and
these emails will never be successfully
delivered. You should immediately remove
hard bounce addresses from your email list,
because internet service providers (ISPs) use
bounce rates as one of the key factors to
determine an email sender’s reputation.
Having too many hard bounces can make
your company look like a spammer in the
eyes of an ISP.
9 Email Metrics that Matter
Continued…
9. 4. List Growth Rate
There’s a natural decay of your email market-
ing list, and it expires by about 25% every
year –which means that it’s more important
than ever to pay attention to growing your
subscriber list and keeping it at a healthy size.
Collect feedback on a campaign through
tools such as surveys.
5. Email Sharing/Forwarding Rate
The rate at which your email recipients
forward or share your email with others
may not seem all that significant, but it’s
arguably one of the most important metrics
you should be tracking.
Why? Because this is how you generate
new contacts. The folks on your email list are
already in your database. So while conversion
is still a primary focus, this doesn’t help you
attract new leads. Encourage your readers
to pass along your email to a friend or
colleague if they found the content useful,
and start tracking how many new people
you can add to your database this way.
6. Open Rate
Open rate is actually a very misleading met-
ric for a few reasons – but most importantly,
an email is only counted as “opened” if the
recipient also receives the images embedded
in that message. And a large percentage of
your email users likely have image-blocking
enabled on their email. This means that even
if they open the email, they won’t be included
in your open rate, making it an inaccurate
and unreliable metric for marketers, as it
underreports on your true numbers.
You can get some value out of open rate
as a metric if you use it as a comparative
metric. For instance, if you compare the open
rates of this week’s email send to last
week’s email send – both to the same lists –
it might give you some insight since the vari-
ables are somewhat controlled.
7. Unsubscribe Rate
Unsubscribes and complaints are a good way
to know if you’re reaching the right audience.
Although, many subscribers who are tired of
receiving email messages from your brand
won’t bother to go through the formal
unsubscribe process. They’ll just stop
opening, reading, and clicking on your email
messages.
8. Time Spent on Site Page
The amount of time an email recipient
spends on the site page, and how they
interact, will tell you if the content is relevant
and engaging.
9. Return on Investment (ROI)
ROI is a top metric to measure. Track how
much revenue is generated from each
incremental spend.
10. Integrated marketing strategy plays an important
role in delivering the right brand message, to
the right prospect, at the right time, via the right
media channel to assist in a purchase decision
or build brand awareness. This strategy requires
evaluation and investment in multiple direct and
digital marketing channels.
It’s about combining multiple marketing
elements together to achieve an objective
more efficiently and effectively than by imple-
menting any one element alone. For instance,
The GRI Marketing Group has found a formula
which works for some of our direct mail clients
planning a campaign. Two emails are sentout
approximately within one week of the “in home”
date to warm-up prospects to your offer and
your brand. Another email is sent out just after
the “in home” date. During this time period,
banner ads are served up on the sites these
prospects are likely to visit.
GRI recommends building an integrated marketing
plan based on data-driven models that identify
the consumer behaviors that drive profit in your
business. Our data driven solutions identify prof-
itable new prospects and reduce mailing efforts
to non-responsive, non-paying names which
leaves more money on the table to bring in other
marketing elements.
Here are a few integrated program examples:
Premiere Global Services Integrated Direct
Marketing Program Yields High ROI
A 3-tier integrated direct marketing program
helped Premiere Global’s sales force close 200
high-level C-executive appointments in a 2
week period. Cost per appointment generated
improved from $500 to $300 per appointment.
GRI developed a program that created awareness
of the Premiere Global Fax2Mail service and
generated interest for the sales force to close
C-level appointments. The multi-channel effort
included direct mail, email and telemarketing
all strategically working together to achieve the
objectives. The direct mail and email created the
interest but the follow-up telemarketing was key
to the sales activity that occurred.
Retail Client with Multiple Locations Drives
Traffic through Print and Digital
After making a strategic decision to reduce their
print budget, the client needed a cost-effective,
broad reach vehicle to target consumers in high-
value geographic areas.
n Geographies within each of the trade areas
were identified using behavioral-based tar
geting to maximize impressions and reach the
client’s most valuable consumers.
n Display ads replaced print in areas where print
was not as effective and expanded reach into
areas previously not covered by print advertising.
n An integrated strategy of print and digital
was used in areas where there were high
concentrations of the client’s most desired
customers to drive traffic.
The display ad click-through rate was .09%, well
above the industry average of .04% for a network
ad and proved to be a good cost-effective vehicle
with a broad reach. The client’s overall spend
decreased while sales held steady.
Successful Integrated Direct Mail
and Digital Campaigns
11. Compelling Copy
Copywriting is one of the most essential
components of a successful advertising
campaign – whether it’s a direct mail package, a
full-page ad, an e-marketing campaign or
web content. The fact is, words matter. Even
one word can make the world of difference. In
crafting compelling copy, here are some points
to keep in mind:
1. According to research, five times as many
individuals read the headline as read the
body copy. Your headline must satisfy multiple
needs: it needs to present the USP (unique
selling proposition), focus on the key benefit
of your product or service in a few well-chosen
words, and be succinct and memorable all
at once.
2. Connect first, sell later. It is best to empa-
thize with the customer and identify with their
needs before you launch into your sales pitch.
3. Know who your audience is and the psycho-
graphics of your customer base. Dispel yourself
of the illusion that your copy will appeal to all
people. It doesn’t have to; all it needs to do is
appeal to your most likely customers.
4.Concentrateonbenefitsinsteadoffeatures.
Okay, so you have a high-impact, state-of-
the-art product that blows the competition
out of the water. But what does that mean
for your customer? It means that what they
get is a product that is faster, more efficient,
easier to use, flexible, and cost-effective. Your
prospects may not have a compelling need for
your product – or so they think. It’s up to you to
create that need.
5. Forget about the jargon. The most effective
mailings dispense with the jargon and speak
directly and straightforwardly to the customer,
weaving in logical and emotional reasons to
buy.
6. Use the element of scarcity with offers.
Scarcity is great because it creates a fear of
shortage, and thus a sense of urgency. Limited
time offers and limited quantity offers are
popular scarce tactics. In some studies, limited
quantity offers have outperformed limited time
offers because it is hard to tell when some-
thing that has a limited quantity will become
unavailable.
7. Personalization is a core tactic of direct
marketing. Combine transactional and profile
data to make sure customers get a message
that is right for them.
Design to Improve Marketing ROI
Email design elements are critical to open and
click through rates.
8. Design a multiscreen email design for all
campaigns to ensure your email marketing can
be read on mobile, tablet and desktop devices.
9. Stick to basic themes, colors and navigation
elements in your email campaigns. The design
elements in your email should be consistent
with the look and feel of your company brand
image so your readers can identify with you.
The use of email templates that include your
branding elements such as colors and logo is
one way to ensure a consistent email style.
10. Use clean HTML and lay your email out
using tables. Avoid using CSS and Javascript
elements as these may trigger spam filters.
25 Essential CreativeTips
Overall sales and market share can experience solid gains with modifica-
tions to your online and offline campaign’s copy and design elements.
Below are a few tips that work:
Continued…
12. 11. Use real text at the top of your email
template to start consumer engagement. Large
graphics at the top will not be visible unless the
consumer downloads the images.
12. The majority of people prefer emails
with images – pictures are a great way to
engage your audience. However, you should
pay attention to how long it takes to download
your email message. Be careful not to overdo it
with too many images or very large images.
There are many different designs and formats to
choose from when planning a direct mail cam-
paign depending on your budget and your tar-
get audience.
13. The most common is the letter package.
This format can look official or create a sense of
urgency by the use of teaser copy on the outer
envelope. Utilize action devices such as labels,
cards, personalized postage notes or zips/tear
offs to engage the consumer.
14. Postcards are the least expensive direct
mail format and gets your message in front of
the consumer immediately.
15. Self-mailers can be designed with clever
formats that are versatile. The Slim Jim,
Magalog and Digest can be designed and
mailed to look just like a magazine.
16. Dimensional mail stands out in your
mailbox and has a higher open rate than
traditional mail. A mail package with something
lumpyinitwillsparktheinterestoftheconsumer.
This tactic works well with small mailings
targeted to C-level executives.
Landing Pages that Convert
The landing page is the final step in converting
a visitor to a lead. What’s great about a landing
page is that it directs your visitor to your offer
without the distractions of everything else on
your website.
17. Landing pages should render properly
on all devices. Also, remove menu navigation
and links that could distract the visitor from
filling out the form or provides an easy means
of escape.
18. Headers should clearly explain the offer
and be consistent with the CTA visitors clicked
on to reach the landing page.
19. Be brief and to the point. Make it easy for
the visitor to scan a brief paragraph explaining
what the offer is, followed by a few bullet points
outlining the benefits of the offer.
20. Including a relevant, interesting image
on the landing page will help visitors visualize
the offer.
21. Convey the value of your offer clearly and
effectively. For instance, instead of “includes
specifications of xyz”spin it to“find out how xyz
can increase productivity by 30%”.
22. Don’t forget to include buttons to enable
your visitors to share content and offers.
23. A short form is key to a landing page. The
fewer fields you have on a form, the more likely
you will receive more conversions. Only ask
for the information that will help follow-up on
a lead. Also reduce the spacing between each
field and align the titles to the left instead of
above to make the form appear shorter.
24. One of the best ways to increase form
conversion rates is to simply not use the
default word “submit” on your button. If you
think about it, no one wants to submit to
anything. Instead, turn the statement into a
benefit that relates to what they will be getting.
For instance “download whitepaper” or “get
your free ebook”or simply“click here”.
25. People are reluctant to give up their
information these days, especially because of
the increase in spam. To help reduce a visitor’s
anxiety to complete the form, add a privacy
message that indicates their email will not be
shared or sold. If your form requires sensitive
information, include security seals, a BBB rating
or certification so visitors know their informa-
tion is safe. Adding testimonials or customer
logos is another way to reduce visitor anxiety.
13. Want more information?
To request more information or to schedule a
complimentary initial consult, call Brian Snider at:
203-261-3337 X11 or go to www.gridirect.com/contact-us