This document summarizes a presentation on email marketing best practices. It covers topics like legislation, building an email list, email design types, social media integration, guidelines, testing, and deliverability. Statistics for open and click-through rates in the travel industry are provided. The importance of list segmentation, personalization, day of the week, and link tracking are discussed. Spam filters and what triggers them are also reviewed.

1. Masterclass in Email Marketing
Presented by
Cara Callaghan, Michelle Conaghan,
Online Training Manager Business Development Manager
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2. What we are going to cover?
1. Legislation
2. Building your Database
3. Types of Email
4. Social Media
5. Guidelines
6. Best Practices
7. Stats
8. Deliverability

3. What is email marketing?
“ The process of delivering relevant,
engaging and timely marketing
messages about your products and
services to a specific group of
recipients via electronic mail.
”

4. How important is email?
 Well executed email affects
brand attitudes.
 The quality of email affects
brand perception.
 The expectation for well known
brands are higher!

5. Legislation

6. Ireland & UK Legislation
For Ireland and the UK:
1. Businesses can be opt out. (B2B)
2. Individuals must be opt in. (B2C)
3. Should include a clear, prominent privacy statement.
4. Easy, free unsubscribe process.
Email Footer should include: (2007 in 'business letters' & 'order forms’)
• Full company name, with "limited“
• Place of registration
• Registered number
• Address of registered office

7. US Legislation
For the US:
• The CAN-SPAM Act covers commercial email messages, the
primary purpose of which is the advertisement or promotion of a
commercial product or service.
• The CAN-SPAM Act allows direct marketing email messages to be
sent to anyone, without permission, until the recipient explicitly
requests that they cease ("opt-out").
• Every message must include opt-out instructions. The sender
must honour the opt-out requests of recipients within 10 days.

8. Glossary
1. Open Rate - The percentage of total recipients who open a given email.
2. Clickthrough Rate - The number of times the links in an email were clicked compared to the
total list size, represented as a percentage.
3. Below-the-fold: Refers to the area of a web page or email that is not visible until the mouse or
arrow keys are used to scroll father down the page.
4. Email Service Provider (ESP): Service that provides clients with platform from which to create
and deploy email messages, as well as the ability to access reporting tools. Depth of service and
sophistication of systems vary depending on the ESP.
5. Forward: An email function allowing subscribers to relay a previously received message in full to
another email address (or addresses).
6. HTML-based Email: An email comprised of HTML code. Essentially, an HTML-based email is
the equivalent of emailing a web page, complete with colours, graphics, and other visually
appealing methods of delivering content.

9. Signing Up.....
1. Offer a good description of what they can expect to receive.
2. Allow segmentation – e.g. tick areas of interest
3. Offer HTML or Text Version
4. Link to a current issue so they can see what they’ll be receiving.

10. Building a Database
Web Signup form
 Easy to find
 Offer benefit
 Easy to use
 Non intrusive
• Face-to-face data collection
e.g. trade shows, events, call centres etc
• Drive traffic to form
• Viral database building – Forward to a friend

11. Growing Your Email Database
1. Link to your signup form from every page of your website.
2. Place a link to your email signup form in your email signature (ask
everyone in your company to do it too).
3. Offer free giveaways to one lucky subscriber .
4. In your "Contact Us" form on your website, add a checkbox to "signup
for our newsletter“.
5. Offer a relevant incentive, such as email subscriber discounts.

12. Growing Your Email Database
6. Include on relevant printed material like feedback forms etc .
7. Include a ‘Forward to a Friend’ link in your email.
8. Include the link in post-stay emails so guests who have stayed can
subscribe if they haven’t already done so.
9. Include Social Media – mention on Facebook, Twitter, Blog and
encourage social sharing

13. Growing Your Email Database
More than 1,100 marketers were asked to indicate the level of effectiveness of each
list growth tactic used by their organization. See the results in the chart below.

14. Design: Types of Email
Short editorial
Alerts, press releases, tip of the day or week and product launches
• These messages are short and to the point.
• They inform your subscribers about news and tips
• The content should be focused on editorial rather than promotion. A
suggested balance is around 70% editorial 30% promotion. “THIS IS NOT A
SALES HAMMER”
Long Editorial
Email newsletters, long press releases and industry guides.
•Allows you to write a little bit more
•Many companies choose to send long form editorial to customers &
prospects.
•This is not a sales pitch
•You can utilise space to promote offers and buying information.

15. Design: Types of Email
Short Promotional
E-Cards, sale announcement and reminders.
• Keep this type of email short and sweet.
• The aim is to get the reader off the email as quick as possible
• Take one key message and promote it.
• Must have a clear benefit to the recipient.
• Most effective in driving bookings for hotels.
Long Promotional
Sales Letter and Catalogue email.
• Allows you to present many benefits of your product or
service.
• Also allows you to present many products on one email.
• Ideal for products or services that require more explanation.
• Direct sales driven so your copy should reflect this.

16. Short Promotional

17. Short Promotional

18. Social Media & Email Marketing
Integrated campaigns
• Add social icons
• Add a social element or reward to the
campaign
• Encourage user to become a fan
• Unlock the reward or offer once they
become a fan
• Build your database through social
• Welcome new fans
• Track new fans
• Record ROI and engagement achieved

19. Social Media & Email Marketing
Case study – stats on integrated campaign
• Grew fans by 10%
• 50% of new likes in first 48 hours
• 1,040 views on the ‘exclusive fan offer’
tab on their FB page
• Top referrer to website
• 28:1 ROI on campaign
• 18% revenue came through Facebook
channel

20. Email Marketing Guidelines
Email is an inexpensive yet effective way to reach a large audience quickly.
Following some simple guidelines can ensure that your promotional emails
don't get lost in an inbox full of messages or deleted without being read.
 Be Respectful
 Keep it Short
 Build an Effective Plan
 Consider the content:
1. Subject lines should be short and should clearly communicate the message.
2. Only use 1 or 2 images per email.
3. Be sure to have an HTML version and a plain-text version to send.

21. Best Practices
1. Employ Target Segmentation to maximize relevancy. Develop target
specific messaging.
2. The Subject Line is the most important 35 characters of the email.
3. The Message Body should contain a compelling offer and a call to action.
4. One Click Unsubscription
5. Ensure Testing is Carried Out
6. Avoid the Spam Filters

22. Best Practices
Best Practices continued…….
7. Personalise where possible
8. Tuesday / Wednesday = Increased Response
9. Link-Click Testing
10. Make it easy for people to give you their email
11. Track all actions

23. Stats
Stats for the Travel Industry*
• Open Rate - 24.97%
• Clickthrough Rate – 4.96%
• Soft Bounces – 2.17%
• Hard Bounces – 3.74%
• Unsubscribes – 0.39%
*Average Email Campaign Stats of MailChimp Customers
Response Rates (Not specific to travel industry)
• 0.5% is considered terrific
• 0.2% is considered great
• Calculate it on a cost per sale basis – how does it compare to other mediums?

24. Test, Test, Test
• Small changes can make a big difference in
results – subject line, sender name, offer placement
• Testers achieve 68% higher return over non-
testers (JupiterResearch)
• Good news: most marketers don’t test ;-)

25. Test Product, Offer and Creative
Product Offer Creative
Name Discount (€) Format
Description Discount (%) Copy
Benefits Incentive Design
Price Offer Deadline Color
Image Call to action Graphics

26. Email Deliverability
1. Minimise spam complaints
2. Manage expectations at the beginning
3. Validate email addresses at opt-in
4. Optimize design and HTML coding for delivery and rendering
5. Use a dedicated IP address
6. Set internal ground rules for list additions
7. Perform regular list hygiene

27. SPAM Filters
What they look for… ISP Filter Corporate filter
Phrases Inbox filter
Coding
Header structure
Phishing
Image/text balance
Reputation
Some phrases, words and styles to watch out for
(visit spamassassin.apache.org)
HOT CLICK HERE >>
Font SHOUTING FREE
Colour Using all caps Very Large & STOCK
BOLD TEXT small text
ENHANCED

28. Email Marketing Resources
1. http://www.newsweaver.com/emailmatters
2. http://blog.mailchimp.com/
3. http://www.clickz.com/type/column/category/email
4. http://www.emarketer.com
5. http://blogs.boomerang.com/blog/category/email-marketing/
6. http://www.hotelmarketingstrategies.com/email-marketing-guide/

29. Any Questions?

30. Thank you for joining us today.
Questions to training@avvio.com
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