A tip & tricks email marketing presentation produced for the Belgian Email Marketing Forum.

1. The email marketing alphabet
Kenny Van Beeck

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Email has been around for a while (1971)
• We all use it
For business and pleasure
• Marketing people love it
To create value and conversations

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... but even if it’s not new, it’s still evolving
Last year Gmail rolled out the new tab format,
the image grid view is in béta. A snooze button
and email pinning may be the next big thing.

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65% of all US email is first opened on mobile
What separates top performers from the underdogs is:
• The ability to learn from big data
• Act fast on marketing insights
• Respond at the right moment
• On the right device
• With responsive design

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The email marketing alphabet
Be sure to stay ahead of the curve

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A nalyse your data
You have a lot of information at your fingertips.
• Opened and click-through rates
• Time of opening
• Devices
• Big data mining
Use it !!!

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B lasting times are over
Spamming your list or rented lists is not a good plan.
Focus on reliable 1-2-1 relationships.
Bring relevant information to people when they expect it.
Think about segmentation and personalization.

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C onversations are crucial
People don’t want your sales pitch.
Built a dialogue.
Allow people to interact.
And this begins with banning the
“noreply” mentality.

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D eliverability is key
Don’t take it for granted that your email always get to destination.
Focus on:
• Technical infrastructure
• Complaints feedback
• Bounce management

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E xplore your email approach
It works so why change it ?? That’s why:
• Your audience loves some change
• Technology and standards evolve
• Your competitors won’t wait ...
Dare to be different !!!

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F ind your vibe
Best practices are great, but know that this is not a holy grail.
• Every market has it’s particularities
• Your audience have their habits
• Your company has an identity

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G et to the point
The only purpose of an email is to generate the click.
• Be brief and very clear in your email about the CTA
• Don’t be afraid to use a direct action button
• Rephrase and elaborate on your landing page
• Never lose the focus on conversion

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H ave some fun
Email is a very creative medium.
Don’t be afraid to use it and think out of the box.
• Get personal if your brand allows it
• Play with top topical emails when possible
• Surprise your audience with birthday email ...

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I nject personality
Email is very easy to personalize.
Use it wisely!!
• Subject line personalization
• First name personalization
• Content that fits the needs of your audience
Forget the one size fits all mentality

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J ump at moments
Email marketing is a very fast way to communicate.
Use this opportunity to seize the moment.
• Last minute commutation
• Press releases
• Top topicals

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K iss
Keep It Simple and Stupid.
Don’t make your communication to difficult.
Make it :
• Short
• To the point
• With a clear CTA

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L everage the lifecycle
Identifying the right message at the right moment to the right
person should always be the goal in your communication.
Don’t forget:
• The device
• Local time of the receiver
• Individual habits of your audience
• The specific landing page

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M obile optimisation
Your message should look great on all different kind of devices.
Responsive or not?
Also don’t forget your landing pages! There is nothing so
frustrating to get an optimized email and land on a regular
non-optimized page.

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N ever forget to manage your list
The quality of your list is crucial in many aspects.
So be sure to:
• Handle unsubscribes
• Remove bounces
• Always use opt-in

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O pen rates
Yes I know that it’s not an exact metric since it only gives you an
indication of opened if images are rendered, but don’t neglect this
metric.
It will give you a precious insight of your audience involvement and
can also be a very good indicator of spam problems.

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P rogressive profiling
Learn more from your audience through a variety of actions.
Built a profile through explicit data by asking progressive questions.
Enhance the profile via implicit data such as open and click-through
rates.

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Q ualtity vs quantity
The size of your list is not important, the quality is.
It’s not because lots of people are getting your email that they are
all interested. Focus on the audience that really care and stop
annoying those who don’t.

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R elevance
Try to personalize as much as possible to bring your audience
the content they are really interested in.
Never focus on the “we”, but on the “what can we do for you”.

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S egment and target
Getting down to the level of pure 1-2-1 communication is almost
impossible. To get as personal as possible try to segment your
target audience in like-minded segments to bring your message.

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T est, test, test, ...
Email marketing is the perfect medium to test, so do it.
You can use A/B testing in different ways:
• Subject lines
• Time of sending
• Personalization
• Number of links
• ...

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U se what you know
Metrics are not only there to create nice looking reports.
Use what you have learned from your metrics over time
and keep optimizing your email marketing programs.

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V erify hypothesis
Everyone thinks to know what really works for your email program.
Prove it!!
Benchmarks are useful, but that doesn’t mean that it
will be the same in your market approach.
Don’t take benchmarks for granted.

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W ork through it
Not every challenge will have an immediate answer or short term
solution. Especially when it comes down to spam related issues and
IP warm-up. These things take time.
Never give up and work towards a solution!!

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X
When designing your email be sure to test it against multiple email
clients.
Don’t forget the first impact your campaign has without the images
turned on. Design using as much html as possible.

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Y our responsability
• Are you sure you are using the right contact database?
• Are all links properly tested?
• Did you checked the rendering of your email?
• Are there no spelling mistakes in your copy?
• ...

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Z ero excuses
If your email marketing program is not working the way it should
be, there is no one else to blame but yourself.
Keep working on it until it’s right!

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Want some help with your email marketing?
• Strategic advise
• Template design
• Email handling
• Campaign management
• ...
Intracto Digital Agency
Industrielaan 45
2250 Olen
Belgium
info@intracto.com
+32 14 28 29 20

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Thanks!
www.slideshare.net/intracto
@kvanbeeck
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