1) Email marketing now requires more thought, investment, and integration with other channels to be effective as consumers are more cynical. 2) To succeed, email programs need a clear strategy and plan, to deliver real value to customers through relevant segmented messaging, and make the most of collected customer data. 3) Testing is important but should have clear, measurable objectives, and reporting should focus on metrics like revenue, ROI, and customer lifetime value that matter to senior management.

1. Stream:20 Top 20 : Email MarketingCutting through the clutter to keep your customers engaged – 20 tips for success

2. Intro.For too long, email marketingprovided marketers with great ROI with relatively minimal effort. Those times have long gone. Email can still deliver a fantastic ROI but much more thought and investment, both in terms of resource and budget, now needs to go into your program.

3. IntroConsumers are getting savvy and cynical – they demand the best in breed and only the most engaging and value-driven emails will cut through the clutter and resonate. So where do you start?

4. Strategy1. What’s the plan? Plan, plan some more and then plan again. Look how to collect data your budget needs, creative and integration with other marketing channels.

5. Strategy2. Deliver real value to your customersNext, create a proposition. Creating a customer-facing proposition for your email will help it cut through the clutter and ensure you deliver valueconsistently and constantly.

6. Strategy3. Data is powerKnow what you want to tell the folk on your database and what you want to get out of the program?Time to start collecting data. If we’re talking a soft opt in, you’ve hopefully ring fenced real estate across your site as part of your data collection strategy. But have you ensured sign up is prominent on key SEOand PPC pages? Does the sign up creative include popular search key words?

7. ESP Selection

8. Welcome Messages5. Education, Education, Education.... Start thinking beyond the welcome message you’re already sending (you know… the one that is triggered instantly, makes the recipient feel that they’ve absolutely made the right choice in registering and features all kinds of useful information to drive them back to your site).You are doing that, right?…now start being more ADVENTUROUS!!

9. Welcome Messages6. Sequential welcome processLook into a sequential welcome processto further educate your usersCreate a platform to show them what aspects of your service they have or haven’t used in a defined period of timeUsed in this way, welcome emails are remarkably effective at cross-selling and for deepening product experience to extend lifetime value.

10. Welcome Messages7. Targeted and Triggered How about taking your welcome program further by setting up tailored emails that are triggered by the search term a customer has used to find your site and then register?

11. Welcome Messages8. Use what you already know... You could of course go even further. If your business relies on affiliates to send new customers to your site, do you notice a difference in the value and engagement of users from different lead generators? A welcome program tied around the characteristics of an affiliate’s leadscould be used to better nurture and imbed new acquisitions and further extend their lifetime value.

12. Relevancy9. SegmentationIdentify your non-responders - treat them discretely from your main “active” database - Beyond the basics of demographic segmentation, perhaps thebiggest quick win in segmentation is around life-stage. - By establishing hurdle rates to identify active, lapsed and pending lapsed users/customers, you can quickly segment your base for effective messaging.

13. Relevancy

14. Relevancy11. Automation...Relevancy is not just about content but also timing and reaction. Triggered emails can be a strong driver of ROI so it’s worth investing in automated campaigns.

15. Relevancy12. Feed responses back into the databaseLooking for further data? That instant welcome email comes into play again. Ensure it’s full of useful service or product information and is rich in links. Apply a careful link naming convention(based on product type, genres etc) and feed this implicit info back into your email database to further target the content of your emails.

16. Relevancy13. Analyse everythingThe next stage on from this? Naturally, that would be web analytics data. Don’t just rely on what they tell you they’re interested in. Plug in an analytics tool to monitor and record their onsite behaviour too.

17. Optimise Creative14. Observe basic best practice First, some must-haves... Regardless of your sector/messaging/type of email, your wireframes should include a pre-header message with CTA in rich text, navigation bar, and a footer including links to your privacy policy and company registration details. Think of your emails as an extension of your site – essentially they’re there to drive traffic so it’s only right they should offer a seamless user journey.

18. Optimise Creative15. “View mobile version”Smart-phone sales are exploding…..at the very least, create a single column HTML mobile version that will render on most phones’ browsers.

19. Optimise CreativeTesting is almost limitless, but unless you have a clear plan it’s also meaningless. Before you start, set clear, attainable, measurable objectives. Don’t rush!

20. Integrate17. Social Media Advertisers have been on Facebookfor a few years while email marketers are still feeling their way, waiting for ESPs to get the technology up to scratch to integrate social and email in a meaningful way. Start mapping out your email-social integration strategy today.

21. Integrate18. Mobile Optimising your campaigns and strategy for mobile marketing is simply no longer a consideration, but an absolute necessity. Integration is key and selecting a technology provider that offers x-channel functionality is vital.

22. Report19. Report on the areas that matter to the people who matter …senior managementStop reporting on opens and clicks, they’re not interested. Revenue, ROI and conversion metrics are keyBut look at reporting on engagement, lifetime value, brand loyalty, opportunity cost and more.

23. Report20. Control groupsCentral to testing and reporting is the use of control groups. If you’re to see the incremental improvements of your hard work, make sure you set a group aside for comparison.

24. Stream:20?Stream:20 is a leading digital consultancy based in London, UKWe help senior digital marketers with strategic, tactical and resource issues to drive revenueWe work with leading blue-chip clients and start-ups

25. Contact usconsultancy@stream20.com+44 (0) 207 793 2450www.stream20.com