This session for the WACVB Tech Summit 2014 event focussed on effective email marketing strategies and tactics for CVBs, DMOs, and the larger travel vertical. It includes information related to email trends, research, strategy, planning, execution, integration (content, social, offline). It also dives into specific examples of email branding, acquisition, loyalty, and retention strategies, covering best practices as well as advanced tactics.

1. ETHOLOGY DIGITAL MARKETING PRESENTATION
ADVANCED EMAIL MARKETING!
Prepared by: Kent Schnepp, Vice President of Client & New Business Development
Mike Corak, Executive Vice President of Strategy
!
Date: March 13, 2014

2. @MIKECORAK
MIKE CORAK
@KSCHNEPP
KENT SCHNEPP
#WCAVBTECHSUMMIT

3. ADVANCED EMAIL MARKETING
YOUTILITY BY JAY BAER
First 3 to tweet:
“This @ethology email session rules #WCAVBTechSummit”

4. INTEGRATED DIGITAL MARKETING
FOR EVOLVING CONSUMER BRANDS

5. STATE OF EMAIL & TOP TRENDS

6. HISTORY OF EMAIL MARKETING
1971 - Ray Tomlinson Sends 1st Email

7. HISTORY OF EMAIL MARKETING
1971 - Ray Tomlinson Sends 1st Email
1978 - Gary Thuerk send 1st Mass Email

8. HISTORY OF EMAIL MARKETING
1991 - Birth of the Internet
1996 - HotMail Launches
1998 - Spam is Added to the Oxford Dictionary

9. HISTORY OF EMAIL MARKETING
1991 - Birth of the Internet
1996 - HotMail Launches
1998 - Spam is Added to the Oxford Dictionary

10. HISTORY OF EMAIL MARKETING
2001 - 1st Behavior Email Sent
2003 - Can Spam Law Introduced in US
2004 - AOL Provides ESPs with Spam Complaints

11. HISTORY OF EMAIL MARKETING
2001 - 1st Behavior Email Sent
2003 - Can Spam Law Introduced in US
2004 - AOL Provides ESPs with Spam Complaints

12. HISTORY OF EMAIL MARKETING
2012 - 85% of Email Marketers Segment Lists
2013 - Email Automation Enables Conversions

13. WHAT’S IN STORE FOR 2014?

14. ADVANCED EMAIL MARKETING
MYTH BUSTING: EMAIL ISN’T GOING ANYWHERE
• People continue to rely on email to engage with brands, organizations, and each other.
• You can’t transact online, signup for a service, receive personalized content without email.
• People are always in touch with their email on-the-go. Mobile usage rates continuously climb.
• Email and social compliment vs. compete (one to one vs. one to many + engage)

15. ADVANCED EMAIL MARKETING
EXACT TARGET - 2014 PRIORITIES

16. ADVANCED EMAIL MARKETING
PRIMARY ROLE OF CHANNEL

17. ADVANCED EMAIL MARKETING
EMAIL’S PARTICIPATION IN FUNNEL - TRAVEL

18. ADVANCED EMAIL MARKETING
A SHIFT TO LIFECYCLE MARKETING & INTEGRATION
EMAIL SOCIAL
LIFECYCLE
MARKETING+ =MOBILE
+

19. ADVANCED EMAIL MARKETING
TOP 5 LIFECYCLE TRENDS IN 2014
MOBILE
FRIENDLY
PERSONALIZATION
EDITORIAL
VOICE
TRIGGER
SOPHISTICATION
INSPIRED
FUNDAMENTALS

21. TOP 5 TRENDS IN 2014
1. MOBILE FRIENDLY

22. TOP 5 TRENDS IN 2014
2. PERSONALIZATION

23. TOP 5 TRENDS IN 2014
3. TRIGGER SOPHISTICATION

24. TOP 5 TRENDS IN 2014
4. EDITORIAL VOICE

25. TOP 5 TRENDS IN 2014
5. INSPIRED FUNDAMENTALS

26. FINDINGS
EMAIL & THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY
STRENGTHS
!
• Strong Interest
• Cool Content!
• Imagery
• Upfront Data Collection
• Deliverability
!
!
!
OPPORTUNITIES
!
• Personalization
• Full User Experience
• Device Responsiveness
• Design Refresh
• Channel Integration
• Ongoing Data Collection!

27. PROGRAM OPPORTUNITIES

28. WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF YOUR PROGRAM?
GENERATE INTEREST?
PROMPT VISITATION?
GATHER USER DATA?
TRANSACTIONS?

29. ADVANCED EMAIL MARKETING
CUSTOMER LIFECYCLE THEORY
INNOVATION
SPEED
EFFICIENCY
1.ACQUISITION
3. GROWTH
2.CONVERSION
5. REACTIVATION
4.RETENTION
In order to better communicate with your
subscribers, you need to know where they
are within their relationship with
you. Customers move through various
phases in their relationship.

30. ADVANCED EMAIL MARKETING
ENGAGE CUSTOMERS THROUGHOUT LIFECYCLE
Data Capture
Post Transaction Stream
Acquire/Onboard Retain/ReactivateConvert/Grow
Email+Social
Welcome Series
Real-time Confirmation
Profile Completion
Education & Offers
Real-time Confirmation
Education and Help
Alerts and Notifications
Ratings, Review, Advocacy
Abandonment Retargeting
Browser Retargeting
Winback Series
Reactivation
Opt-down
Opt-out
Loyalty Program
Anniversary

31. ADVANCED EMAIL MARKETING
SOPHISTICATION RESULTS

32. ADVANCED EMAIL MARKETING
TRIGGERED EMAIL STRATEGY

33. PROGRAM OPPORTUNITIES
4 SIMPLE AUTOMATED EMAILS TO CONSIDER
1. SIGN-UP THANK YOU
!
Send a thank you email
immediately upon subscription
setting expectations for follow-
up. Consider decreasing
upfront data collection and
starting a drip campaign to
collect more information over
time. This is also a great place
for offers.
2. WEBSITE
ENGAGEMENT
!
Follow-up website engagement
email (send a response to a
specific user action – average
open rate is around 45-55%).
!
!
3. ANNIVERSARY
!
If visitation history or behavior
is known, send automated
anniversary emails to
subscribers ahead of next visit
to allow time for planning and
booking.
!
!
!
4. POST-EXPERIENCE
!
If visitation timing is collected
or can be estimated through
interest procurement, follow up
with subscribers that have just
arrived home. Opportunities
include gathering user
generated content, visitation
information, and building the
experience to extend the value
of your brand (loyalty strategy).!

34. PROGRAM OPPORTUNITIES
ACQUISITION - ORLANDO NEWSLETTER

35. PROGRAM OPPORTUNITIES
ACQUISITION - ORLANDO NEWSLETTER
Analyzed Email Best Practices
Sender
Reputation 94 /100
Blacklisted No
Welcome Email Yes
Social Links No
Images & Text No

36. PROGRAM OPPORTUNITIES
LOST ACQUISITION - ORLANDO NEWSLETTER

37. PROGRAM OPPORTUNITIES
ACQUISITION - TORONTO NEWSLETTER

38. PROGRAM OPPORTUNITIES
ACQUISITION - TORONTO NEWSLETTER
Analyzed Email Best Practices
Sender
Reputation 97 /100
Blacklisted No
Welcome Email Yes
Social Links Yes
Images & Text Yes

39. PROGRAM OPPORTUNITIES
OTHER ACQUISITION - TRAVEL PORTLAND
Great Thank You Message
Opportunities:
• Pre-checked interests are
generally not recommended
• No welcome email received

40. PROGRAM OPPORTUNITIES
OTHER ACQUISITION - SCOTTSDALE
Great newsletter preview
and balanced form
!
Opportunities:
• Thank you message
• No welcome email
received

41. SEGMENTATION

42. SEGMENTATION
SEGMENTATION BASICS
• Practice ‘considerate’ marketing by providing subscribers with content that uniquely appeals
to them. Basic segmentation and content customization opportunities:
• Endemic (declared) data: self-reported demographic and preference data.
• Behavioral data: user actions captured by web analytics & email service provider applications.
Cross populate social knowledge to close the communication loop.
• Conversion data: historical collection of activity including frequency, visit detail, and causal
environment data. Integrate offline information too to build a complete subscriber profile.

43. SEGMENTATION
SEGMENTS NOT TO BE MISSED
• Location: handy for bad weather campaigns
• Non-converters: those we have contact information for, but didn’t take a desired site action
• Interest based matching: match new site content, features, events, etc, with those with related
interest points
• Travel based emails: if travel dates are known, plan a series that sends prior, during, and after
visitation

44. SEGMENTATION
ASK FOR PREFERENCES

45. SEGMENTATION
DYNAMIC CONTENT
• Endemic: Self-Reported
• Geographical interest
• Business travel
• Sports
!
• Behavioral
• Loyalty program activity

46. CREATIVE

47. CREATIVE
THE MULTI-USER SCREEN
Opportunity: Prioritize
content based on device
contest. Admin Workhorse Couch Companion Constant Companion
• At home or office
• Task-oriented
• Solitary experience
• Web surfing & shopping
• Entertainment
• Shared experience
• Always with you
• Location-specific
• In person
• Personal

48. CREATIVE
ENSURE YOUR MESSAGE IS CONSUMABLE
• Top-down hierarchy of
information
• Single-column layout
• Large font
• Concise messages
• Contrasts in Color
• Links to deeper dives

49. CREATIVE
BASIC EMAIL ANATOMY
CLICK
THROUGH
COMPLETE
EMAIL
ABOVE THE
FOLD
PREVIEW PANE
SUBJECT LINE
FROM NAME

50. CREATIVE
OPTIMIZE FOR IMAGES OFF
Optimized Design Non-optimized Design
If an email is
created primarily
with images, it
will not display
effectively when
images are
blocked.
HTML text in
web safe fonts
Main call-to-action
in prime placement
Designed with
image-blocking
and preview pane
viewing in mind.

51. CREATIVE
CROSS-DEVICE TRAVEL RESEARCH & BEHAVIOR

52. CREATIVE
TRAVEL - APPS VS. MOBILE WEB

53. CREATIVE
ENGAGING WITH EMAILS ON MOBILE
• Size: buttons should be at least 44px square
• Placement: keep links/buttons to the center or left
• Space: separate links to avoid touching two links
• Avoid: hovers & other interactive features
• Don’t Say: “click here” - 43% of openers are tapping

54. CREATIVE
MOBILE DESIGN - TWO APPROACHES
MOBILE-AWARE
!
• Simple improvement w/o specialization
• Design-only tactics
• (GOOD)
RESPONSIVE
!
• Deliver a customized mobile experience
• Special design + code
• (IDEAL)

55. CREATIVE
RESPONSIVE DESIGN

56. CREATIVE
COMMON RESPONSIVE DESIGN LAYOUTS

57. CREATIVE
EMAIL DESIGN ON MOBILE DEVICES
Desktop-centric Mobile aware Responsive code
Poor experience Good experience Excellent experience

58. CREATIVE
NEWSLETTER EXAMPLE - TUCSON
Analyzed Email Best Practices
Sender
Reputation 96 /100
Blacklisted No
Calls to Action Yes
Social Links Yes
Images & Text Yes
Great: CTAs, Social links, varied
content, mobile friendly, navigation
Opportunities: Responsive (mobile
prioritized content), personalized

59. CREATIVE
TRUE RESPONSIVE DESIGN - EXPEDIA CRUISE SHIP CENTER
What would make the
mobile version even
better?
• 1 column
• Larger buttons
• App link
• Click to Call!

60. CREATIVE
THINK ABOUT FULL EMAIL TO SITE EXPERIENCE
MOBILE SITE MOBILE APP DESTOP RESPONSIVE <5 SECONDS PINCH / ZOOM
Marriott m. apple / droid ✗ ✔ n/a
Hampton Inn 3rd party apple / droid ✗ ✔ n/a
Comfort Inn m. apple / droid ✗ ✔ n/a
Best Western 3rd party apple / droid ✗ ✔ n/a
Radisson m. apple / droid ✗ ✔ n/a
Hyatt m. apple / droid ✗ ✔ n/a
Fairmont 3rd party apple ✗ ✔ n/a

61. CREATIVE
EFFECTIVE EMAIL FOR DESKTOP & MOBILE
1. Content Strategy
2. Wireframe for Desktop
3. Wireframe for Mobile
4. Live Prototype
5. Code
6. Quality Analysis
7. Segment, Deploy & Test
8. Review Email Performance & Analytics

62. CREATIVE
1. CONTENT STRATEGY
• Align content with audience needs and desires
• Label hierarchy 1,2,3,4
• Decide if any content is suppressed/replaced:
• Green means it stays, red means it is hidden

63. CREATIVE
1.5 PLAN FOR THE LONG TERM
• Design a sustainable responsive framework
that can be reused in the long term, aligning
design with projections outlined in your
content calendar.

64. CREATIVE
2. WIREFRAME FOR DESKTOP
• Decide how content should expand on
desktop views
!
• 5 common tactics
• Stack
• Hide
• Show
• Resize
• Restyle

65. CREATIVE
3. WIREFRAME FOR DEVICES (MOBILE)
• Use high level content and low-fi graphics to
communicate content strategy for mobile
screens
!
• Use Photoshop, Illustrator, or wireframing
software like Balsamiq, or just pen and paper

66. CREATIVE
4. LIVE PROTOTYPE
Code the wireframes into one HTML-based
prototype to show functionality for MULITPLE
versions

67. CREATIVE
4.5 VISUAL DESIGN GUT-CHECK
• Are both views on brand?
• Is content prioritized and customized to
support audience needs and content
marketing goals?
• Does it align with the content strategy/
wireframe?
• Is this able to be coded in an adaptable way
(avoiding too many areas to hide/show)
• Is this a sustainable format to follow for
future emails?

68. CREATIVE
5. CODE
The above query states that if the viewing screen is less than 480px, then display the email at a
width of 320px. If the viewing screen is equal to or greater than 480px, then display the email at a
width of 640px (the “normal” width).
!
You can also change the device width if you would like to include larger mobile devices like tablets
<style type="text/css"> @media only screen and (max-device-
width: 480px) { /* mobile-specific CSS styles go here */
table[class=contenttable] { width: 320px !important;
} } /* regular CSS styles go here */
table.contenttable { width: 640px; } </style>

69. CREATIVE
6. QUALITY ASSURANCE
• Use software to test email rendering,
like Litmus or Return Path
• Nothing beats first-hand testing, so
borrow a friend’s iPhone or Android

70. CREATIVE
7. SEMENT, DEPLOY & A/B TEST
Dynamic Content
• First Name vs. No Name in Subject Line
• First Name vs. No Name in Email
• Company Name vs. No Company Name in
Subject Line
!
Email Copy
• Familiar vs. Professional Tone
• Including “Free” in Content
• Paragraphs vs. Teaser Copy
• Subject Line Variations
Call-to-Action
• Image CTA vs. Text CTA
• CTA Button Copy & Color
• Link Placement within Text
• Text CTA in Body Copy vs. P.S.
• Social Proof vs. No Social Proof
• Offer Type

71. CREATIVE
8. REVIEW TRACKING & ANALYTICS
• Include Google Analytics or other web analytics tracking code on links within email for
“beyond-the-click” analysis
• Sophisticated ESPs often provide functionality that automates link tagging.
• Use Advanced Segments to isolate visitors referred by email and track behavior throughout
the site.
• Accurately calculate ROI of your email program.
!

72. INTEGRATION

73. INTEGRATION
SOCIAL & EMAIL CROSS-CHANNEL CONTENT MARKETING
The debate is not about email or social media. The discussion should be email and social media in
combination.
!
Create as many touch points as possible with your subscriber. Encourage subscribers to follow
you on your social media channels, and encourage your social media followers to join your email
program. State the differences and reasons to improve enrollment and satisfaction.

74. INTEGRATION
EMAIL & SOCIAL
EMAIL
!
!
• Cross-promote social networks and benefits
(1 to Many + Community)
• Customize messaging based on known
social network inclusion and activity
• Include ability to share content via email
• Encourage advocacy in social and review
channels
• Align communication calendars
!
SOCIAL
!
!
• Cross-promote email program and benefits (1
to 1)
• Utilize audience intelligence gained through
email behavior to inform social content and
engagement
• Utilize email segmentation to inform social
message targeting and advertising

75. INTEGRATION
MULTI-CHANNEL RELATIONSHIP WITH SOCIAL CONNECT

76. INTEGRATION
SOCIAL MEDIA & EMAIL CROSS-CHANNEL
Share Tools empower subscribers and
encourage brand advocates to spread
your content within the email itself.

77. INTEGRATION
CONVERSATIONS MAKE GREAT CONTENT

78. INTEGRATION
PUBLICIZING CONTENT THROUGH EMAIL
Repurposing content can help stretch your content and maximize your resources.
• Information from your website
• Blog Posts
• Data sheets
• Publicity (for instance, extracting quotes from an executive email with the press)
• Interesting product attributes
When you have good content, determine alternative ways it can best be used.
!

79. INTEGRATION
UTILIZE USER GENERATED CONTENT
User-generated content is a great way to speak directly to other consumers about your product or
service.
• Comments
• Testimonials
• Reviews
• Social media interactions
• Contests
Employees can be a great source of user-generated content because they deal directly with the
subscriber. Consider designing an internal plan so that employees identify compelling stories for
subscriber outreach.

80. INTEGRATION
UGC REQUEST - PRICELINE
What would make this better?
• Responsive survey experience
• An ask to share experience in other
channels (local/social)
• Thank You email with social next steps

81. INTEGRATION
EMAIL & DIRECT / CRM
EMAIL
!
!
• Inform Direct/CRM efforts of subscriber
preferences gained through email interaction
• Include off-email statistics throughout the
funnel (ex. Website results)
• Integrate data to build out the most complete
customer profile possible
• Align communication calendars
DIRECT / CRM
!
!
• Inform email program of subscriber
preferences gained through direct interaction
• Inform email program of scheduled activity
allowing email to support the desired efforts
and outcomes
• Integrate data to build out the most complete
customer profile possible
• Align communication calendars

82. INTEGRATION
ALIGN TEAMS & EDITORIAL CALENDARS
Centralize and align editorial calendars according to your content strategy to produce the best
results
!
Schedule the following meetings:
!
• Email + Social: Start with cross-promotion, social links and sharing capabilities in email, email
signup and promotion in social
• Email + Content Marketing (search, social, content): Start with content calendar alignment, and
content promotion in email. Utilize strengths.
• Email + Direct/CRM: Start with calendar alignment and cross-channel support
• Email + Creative: Responsive design isn’t future forward, it’s now! Adjust all communications to be
device agnostic (email to content hub alignment)

83. PLATFORMS

84. PLATFORMS
EMAIL MARKETING PLATFORMS
• Unsophisticated + Smaller Budget:
• Fewer than 5K email per month
• Batch & Blast
• Platforms: MailChimp, Constant Contact, CVB Software
!
• Sophisticated + Additional Budget:
• Platform Can Grow with Your Database
• Sophisticated Segmentation
• Platforms: ExactTarget, Responsys, SilverPop, Cheetah

85. MEASUREMENT

86. MEASUREMENT
ULTIMATE KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
• Generating Interest
• Are emails being opened?
• Is content being consumed and shared?
• Are desired actions being taken?
• Prompting Visitation
• Are email subscribers behaving like potential visitors?
• Are email subscribers actually visiting?
• Learning About Audience
• What content produces response? By segment?
• What creative messaging works best?
• How can this knowledge be applied to other channels?

87. MEASUREMENT
KEY EMAIL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
VALUE TRAVEL INDUSTRY AVERAGE
SOFT BOUNCE RATE LIST QUALITY 0.84%
HARD BOUNCE RATE LIST QUALITY 0.83%
UNSUBSCRIBE RATE EMAIL SUBSCRIBER RELEVANCE 0.17%
OPEN RATE
QUALITY OF SUBJECT &
BRANDING
34.90%
EMAIL CONVERSION RATE CAMPAIGN EFFECTIVENESS 0.05%
ABUSE COMPLAINT RATE LIST QUALITY 0.08%

88. PRO TIPS

89. PRO TIPS
PLAN FOR THE TRENDS NOW!
1. ‘Responsive email design’ will just be ‘email design’
2. Email marketers will send out more emails than 2013
3. Marketing automation will create lots of automated spam (avoid)
4. Custom audiences will make publishers and marketers a bunch of money

90. PRO TIPS
PLAN FOR THE TRENDS NOW!
1. ‘Responsive email design’ will just be ‘email design’
2. Email marketers will send out more emails than 2013
3. Marketing automation will create lots of automated spam (avoid)
4. Custom audiences will make publishers and marketers a bunch of money

91. PRO TIPS
WHAT IS THE #1 IMPEDIMENT TO TACTICAL INTEGRATION?

92. PRO TIPS
WHAT IS THE #1 IMPEDIMENT TO TACTICAL INTEGRATION?
SILOS: YOU BUILT ‘EM, NOW TAKE ‘EM OUT!

93. PRO TIPS
CULTURAL SHIFTS THAT BREAKDOWN SILOS
• Reimagine your organizational structure, processes, and operations design
• Rally teams around content marketing program
• Assign common success KPIs across teams (incentives)
• Create a senior level content position AND give them real authority
• Include cross-channel teamwork in performance reviews
• Celebrate group successes
• Educate!

94. PRO TIPS
OPERATION FOUNDATION
• Add email to your content strategy, content marketing plan and editorial calendar: think individual
content relevance
• Ensure analytics is in place to measure email performance and activity across channels (email to
content hubs)
• Tag user content preferences in CRM for future data mining (stated and behavioral)
• Create basic segments based on business attributes and content preferences
• Optimize email templates for all devices

95. PRO TIPS
DATA SHARING & CONTENT OPTIMIZATION
• Use email as a means to add visibility and virility to content marketing efforts
• Develop a rich database of content interest per subscriber and segment
• Test content acceptance prior to release through all non-email channels
• Share knowledge across channels to improve content acceptance and inform future topical targeting
and positioning

96. QUESTIONS?