When it comes to email marketing, most marketers focus on opt-ins, open rates, clickthroughs, and conversions. It’s time to shift that focus to your customers because they are begging for better emails. Session insights will include email trends, research, strategy, planning, execution, integration (content, social, offline). We will also dive into specific examples of email branding, acquisition, loyalty, and retention strategies, covering best practices as well as advanced tactics. Presented at the 2016 Digital Media Summit // Toronto

1. HOW TO MAKE EMAIL MARKETING SUCK LESS
DIGITAL MEDIA SUMMIT // TORONTO

2. Thank you.

3. Want these slides?
barberandhewitt.com/dms16
Want to relive this presentation?
medium.com/@michaeljbarber
Say hello.
@michaeljbarber
Next.

4. Close your eyes and imagine…

6. On balance, [email is] maybe 10%
pleasure and 90% fear of missing out.
“
Larry Rosen, Psychologist

7. 78%
of email is spam

8. 94 billion
spam messages per day

9. $20 billion
cost to the global economy

10. MEANWHILE
People love email, a lot, like, a lot, a lot.

11. 4.1 billion
email accounts across the globe
Source: Radicati Group, 2015

12. CONSUMERS DIG IT

13. CONSUMERS DIG IT
Source: Litmus, 8 Trends That Will Define the Future of Email Marketing

14. YEAH, EMAIL & MILLENNIALS SITTING IN A TREE
Source: Litmus, 8 Trends That Will Define the Future of Email Marketing

15. EMAIL PREFERENCE COMPARED TO OTHER CHANNELS
Source: MarketingSherpa

16. MOBILE FIRST
Source: Litmus, 2016

17. WE READ EMAIL EVERYWHERE
Source: Adobe, 2015

18. AND, I MEAN EVERYWHERE
Source: Adobe, 2015

19. EMAIL IS AWESOME, AGAIN

20. EMAIL IS HUGE FOR US.
Said like Trump. Emphasis on the “huge.”
{Did you hear us stupid Americans managed to make him
the Republican candidate? Yeah, me too. Can I move here?}

21. EMAIL DELIVERS THE HIGHEST ROI FOR MARKETERS
Source: VentureBeat

22. EMAIL DELIVERS THE HIGHEST ROI FOR MARKETERS
Source: Econsultancy, 2016

23. REGARDLESS OF INDUSTRY
Source: GetResponse, 2016

24. AND, MARKETERS BELIEVE THIS WILL CONTINUE
Source: Litmus, 8 Trends That Will Define the Future of Email Marketing

25. ASSISTS OTHER CHANNEL INTERACTIONS
Source: Salesforce Marketing Cloud

26. AND, INCREASES REVENUE OVER TIME
Source: Salesforce Marketing Cloud

27. RESOURCES ARE SHIFTING ACCORDINGLY
Source: EmailOnAcid.com

28. BUDGETS ARE FOLLOWING FUTURE NEEDS
Source: EmailOnAcid.com

29. EVERYONE WANTS US
OUT OF THE INBOX
No surprise, really.

30. SPAM FOLDERS

31. MARK AS SPAM & INSTANT UNSUBSCRIBE

32. LAYERED AUTHENTICATION & REPUTATION DATA
Sender ID
Framework
(SPF)
Inbound
Mail Server
Authentication
Pass
Fail
DNS
SPF Record
Lookup
Inbox
Junk
?
Quarantine
Block/Delete
Reputation
Data
1 2 3 4
Sender
Internet

33. LAYERED AUTHENTICATION & REPUTATION DATA
Sender ID
Framework
(SPF)
Inbound
Mail Server
Authentication
Pass
Fail
DNS
SPF Record
Lookup
Inbox
Junk
?
Quarantine
Block/Delete
Reputation
Data
1 2 3 4
Sender
Internet

34. MOVED PROMO EMAILS OUT OF THE INBOX

35. REDEFINE THE INBOX

36. GOVERNMENT GETS SMART

37. CASL GONNA GET EM

38. Marketers are slowly losing
our real estate in the Inbox.

39. SHOULD WE BE SURPRISED?
Nah, bro, just look at these examples…

40. UMMM, SUBJECT LINE & WHERE DO I CLICK?

41. YOU JUST USED HALF THE SCREEN

42. TOTAL HIERARCHY MESS

43. SHARING TESTING IS CARING

44. EMAILS EVERYWHERE, WE DON’T CARE!

45. NOTHINGNESS

46. SUBJECT LINE #FAIL

47. URL CRAZINESS

48. WHAT THE WHAT?

49. CAN YOU READ THIS?

50. YEAH, NEITHER CAN I

51. I MEAN, COME ON!!!!

52. WE DON’T WANT TO TALK TO YOU, BUT WE REALLY DO

53. 9
the number of emails I received from
one brand on Cyber Monday…WTF?

54. HOLIDAY EMAIL AVERAGES
July to Sept. Halloween
to Dec. 15
Black
Friday
Cyber
Monday
Daily
average
7
9
11
12

55. 80.8%
of holiday email was ignored

56. THE REST JUST SUCKS BECAUSE…

57. ARE WE REALLY TRYING THAT HARD?

58. Email is the office memo
turned cancerous,
extended to home and everyday life.
“
Don Norman, interaction design expert

59. SO, WE SUCK.
Now what?

60. Let’s go back to the P’s.

61. Product, price, place, and promotion.
Let’s try some new ones.

62. PORTABLE
“The thumb is king.”
Email must be able to go where people go. If it
can’t follow people through his or her day, it's
no longer relevant.

63. SINGLE COLUMN “SKINNY” LAYOUTS.

64. SINGLE COLUMN “SKINNY” LAYOUTS.

65. SINGLE COLUMN “SKINNY” LAYOUTS.

66. FONTS & BUTTONS, OH MY!
>

67. FONTS
Headlines
30px+
Body copy
16px+
Minimum
13px
Because Apple Yo

68. BUTTONS
Buttons
44 x 44 points

69. GET TO THE POINT

70. LET IMAGES DO THE TALKING

71. LET IMAGES DO THE TALKING

72. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY, ELIMINATE CLICK HERE
X

73. PREHEADERS FOR EVERYONE

74. I see interactive as a huge shift in email
development. Early analytics have shown far
greater engagement from users who receive
interactive messages.
“
Mark Robbins, Email Developer, Rebelmail

75. DUDE, GIFS FTW

76. DUDE, GIFS WORK FOR B2B TOO

77. REAL-TIME / CONVERSATIONAL DATA

78. “MAILABLE MICROSITES” VIA @CHADSWHITE

79. TIM JUST MADE TEXT RELEVANT

80. NEED INSPIRATION?

81. TOOLS FOR PORTABILITY

82. LITMUS

83. WHERE DO WE EVEN START?

84. ALL HOPE IS NOT LOST

85. PERSONAL
The promise of digital was always and will always be its
potential for personalization. Your email must cater to
the individual needs and desires of every user—and
the experience must be unique to each individual.

86. SEGMENTED CAMPAIGNS CAN DRIVE A 760% INCREASE IN REVENUE

87. PERSONALIZATION INCREASES OPEN RATES BY 26%

88. HAVE DATA, WILL USE IT

89. HAVE DATA, WILL USE IT

90. HAVE DATA, WILL USE IT

91. HAVE SOCIAL, USE IT TOO

92. LEVERAGE DYNAMIC CONTENT

93. TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / THE WELCOME

94. 4x
higher open
rate
Source: Emma, 2015
5x
higher click
through rate
THE STATS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES
33%
increase in
long-term
engagement

95. Source: Emma, 2015
THIS ISN’T ROCKET SCIENCE, BUT…
57.7%
of companies send a
welcome email to subscribers

96. Source: Experian, 2015
Real-time welcome emails see
10x
more than the transaction rates and revenue
per email over batched welcome mailings

97. TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / ONBOARDING

98. TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / ONBOARDING

99. TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / BIRTHDAY OR EVENT

100. TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / BIRTHDAY OR EVENT

101. TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / PURCHASE INTENT

102. TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / PURCHASE HISTORY

103. TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / WEATHER

104. TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / DYNAMIC

105. TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / TRANSACTIONAL

106. TRANSACTIONAL EMAILS MATTER

107. ALWAYS GIVE ME MORE

108. ALWAYS GIVE ME MORE

109. ALWAYS GIVE ME MORE, INCLUDING MINI HORSES

110. TOOLS FOR PERSONALIZATION (AND AUTOMATION)

111. PRESCRIPTIVE
Brands are no longer in control of their email
conversations with people. Let people take control or
risk destruction of a valuable channel.

112. SPEAK LIKE A HUMAN BEING (SAY THAT SLOWLY FOR DRAMATIC EFFECT)

113. ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE

114. ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE

115. CONFIRM OUR RELATIONSHIP

116. TELL YOU WHEN I WANT IT

117. GIVE ME REASONS TO SAY HELLO

118. LET’S GET ENGAGED AGAIN

119. LET’S GET ENGAGED AGAIN, BUT DON’T EVER STOP EMAILING THEM.

120. IF I WANT OUT, MAKE IT EASY

121. GIVE ME REASONS TO STAY

123. DIE PURCHASE LISTS, JUST DIE

124. LET’S RECAP
Three P’s, Not the Old Four

125. PORTABLE
DESIGNED FOR OUR LIVES OR JUST STOP.

126. PERSONAL
BE RELEVANT OR BE DELETED.
PORTABLE
DESIGNED FOR OUR LIVES OR JUST STOP.

127. PRESCRIPTIVE
PUT PEOPLE IN CONTROL.
PERSONAL
BE RELEVANT OR BE DELETED.
PORTABLE
DESIGNED FOR OUR LIVES OR JUST STOP.

128. BUT, WHY CARE?
Three reasons…

129. ENGAGEMENT MATTERS
#1

130. We do not use clicks as a measure of engagement.
We track replies, moves, mark not as junk, delete without open.
Email Experience Counsel, 2015
“

131. Engagement is measured at the subscriber-level and
based on metrics we aren’t tracking.

132. THE FUTURE MATTERS
#2

133. “MAILABLE MICROSITES” VIA @CHADSWHITE

134. GOOGLE’S PONY EXPRESS

135. THE INBOX IS THE CART

136. We won’t be able to take advantage of
email’s future if we’ve screwed up its past.

137. FAMILIARITY RULES.
#3

139. The Inbox is the one digital place everyone understands.

140. www.barberandhewitt.com
hello@barberandhewitt.com
Los Angeles, CA
THANKS. QUESTIONS / COMMENTS.
Updated May 4, 2016
Want these slides? barberandhewitt.com/dms16