Inactive Email Subscribers:
     Tips for Taming the Beast




#SPOPWebinar
Speakers

• Carey Marston
   • SmartPak
   • Email Marketing Manager
   • Cmarston@smartpak.com



• Loren McDonald
   •   Silverpop
   •   VP, Industry Relations
   •   Twitter: @LorenMcDonald
   •   Google+: +LorenMcDonald
Agenda

         Framing the Challenge



          SmartPak Overview



              Action Plan


              Summary/
                Q&A
Framing Today’s Topic
Remove your
    inactives; Send
      less email!



 Don’t remove
your inactives;
  Send more
    email!




The Inactives Debate
“Inactives” are about
  human behavior…

 not deliverability.
Goal for this Webinar…

   Get you to think a little
differently about inactives…
1. Reactivate early
 2. Automate/Programs
3. Focus on mimimization
Why Do You Care About Inactives?
Inactives Are a HUGE Issue
Typical Actives vs. Inactives Ratio
Impact of Inactives

                Lost potential revenue


              Inefficiencies/Reduced ROI


                     Fuzzy metrics


            Potential reduced deliverability
Retailer X Inactives Challenge

450,000 Subscribers


   40%-50% Inactive (no opens
   + clicks for 12 months)


      200K-250K non-responders
Hypothetical Revenue Loss

                          Actives   Inactives

    # Subscribers         250,000    200,000

    Average Revenue Per
                           $0.12
    Email Delivered


    4 X week X 53 weeks
                          $6.4M
    ~ 212 emails

    Potential Lost
    Revenue                         $5.1M
SmartPak Program Overview
About Our Email Program

•   ~1MM emails sent, per month
                                                         Email Volume
                                                                         Transactional
•   Email generates 34% of all online      Promotional
                                                                          & Triggered
                                                                          Email, 11%
    marketing channel revenue               Email, 89%


•   Healthy transactional and triggered
    email program drives high return

•   Email team comprised of:
     – Email Marketing Manager
                                                         Email Revenue     Transactional
     – Email Designer                                                       & Triggered
     … and three businesses to support!   Promotional                       Email, 37%
                                           Email, 63%


           In 2010, launched 11
       automated campaigns with
       Silverpop, growing revenue
            40% year-over-year



                                                                                         16
SmartPak’s Email Program Framework

                               Email Channel



     Promotions                 Transactional           Lifecycle

                             SmartPaks On-Hold         SmartPaks
     Newsletters               Confirmation            Welcome

                             Order Confirmation      Order Reminder
        Offers
                                 Shipment            Abandoned Cart
                                Confirmation

                                   SmartPaks        SmartPaks On-Hold
                             Confirmation/Welcome
  Today, 26 transactional
                                                      Post Purchase
  and lifecycle emails per        Password               Review
 day, and 10+ promotional         Recovery
     emails per month
                             Credit Card Failure    SmartPaks Up-sell
                                Notification

                              SmartPaks Cancel
                                Confirmation                            17
SmartPak: Inactives History

  Became aware of impact in 2007



  Analyzed database = ~50% inactive


  Tested suppressing inactives = exact
  same number of opens/clicks
SmartPak: Current View

             Win-back = Revenue
                opportunity

            Potential deliverability
                   impact

             Reach through other
                  channels
SmartPak: Current Inactive Definition



                 No
No Opens                    6+ Months
              Purchases

        40%-45% of database
Inactives Action Plan
Inactives Action Plan

                         Root
                        Causes


                                       Define &
        Minimize
                                       Segment




             Automate            Reactivate
Why Recipients Go Inactive

   Never fully engaged - just wanted the incentive


   Interests / needs have changed


  Content did not meet expectations


   Emails are being routed to junk folder


   You send too often for their taste


   You send un-personalized, irrelevant emails


   Long sales/purchase cycle


   Inability to update email address / change preferences
Determine Root Causes

 Are certain acquisition sources producing a higher rate of
 inactives?

 Has increased frequency numbed them?


 Is your email program stale and boring?


 Are you attracting the right audience?


 Are you delivering against expectations?


 Do you have deliverability issues?
Analyze…

 By list source


 Age on file


 Customer segment/profile


 Subscriber survey responses


 Creative test results


 Response by message type/frequency changes
Action Plan – Define & Segment
Defining Inactives – Sample Parameters

           Email activity (opens & clicks)

                    Time on list

           Purchase/Conversion activity

          Web site/Other channel activity

         Sales/Purchase cycles/Seasonality

           Customer value/Ideal profile
All Inactives Are
Not Created Equal
SmartPak: Analysis/Definition
Understand Your Inactive Segments

      More Potential?        Less Potential?

         Past customer        Never purchased


         Organic Opt-in         Sweepstakes


        Recent purchase      Long ago purchased


       High customer value   Low customer value

        Engaged in other       No engagement
           channels              anywhere
Are inactives worth keeping?

  Do we treat segments of
   inactives differently?
Predicting Subscriber Value Potential
• Leading online retailer

• Suppressing inactive subscribers

• Hypothesis that “high value potential” subscribers
  existed among inactives

• Leveraged third party data (purchase behavior,
  demographics, etc.) and advanced modeling to predict
  Subscriber Value Potential.
Approach & Results

• Segmented inactive                       Campaign Revenue per
  subscribers by Value                         Subscriber
  Potential and conducted                                     $0.18

  reactivation test
                                                   8.4x



• Results: High vs. Low                    $0.02
  segment
 • 1.8x higher Open Rate                Low Potential     High Potential
                                          Segment           Segment
 • 8.4x higher Revenue per subscriber
Action Plan - Reactivate
Typical Reactivation Rate: 1%-2%

    High Performers: 10%+
Re-engagement Series - Incentives
Re-engagement Series Results
• Performs poorly (as expected)
   – 5.8% Open rate

   – 1.8% click through rate

   – 1-2 orders per fiscal quarter

• Non-responders are removed
Tell us what you want
LinkedIn: Reduced Frequency
SmartPak: Attempt #1

We miss hearing from you!
As a valued customer and subscriber to our e-newsletters, you are the first to
learn about new products, promotions, sales and healthcare
information. Don’t miss out on all of this valuable insight that comes straight
to your email inbox. If you prefer to receive your e-newsletters at a different
email address, please click here to update your profile.

We hate to see you go! But if you choose to no longer receive our e-
newsletters, please click here to unsubscribe. We hope to hear from you
again soon.

As a thank you for being our valued customer, please use this code (xxxx) to
apply free shipping to your next order with us.

-    Your Friends at SmartPak
#2
#3
SmartPak: Reactivation Metrics

   Metrics        Reactivation     Other Emails

    Bounces          3% - 7%          0.57%

   Open Rates          3%              18%


   Reactivated     13,000 so far

      AOV            $111.19          $119.09


  Avg Rev/Email       $0.06            $0.20
Action Plan - Automate
Automate: Activate Early Inactives

                New subscribers don’t
             open/click first XX messages/X
                          weeks


             Move these early inactives into
                   “activation” track


              Send survey, different offers;
                   best of, diff subject
                lines, testimonials, etc.
Sample “Month 4” and “Month 7” Program
                 Broadcast emails: 3-5 per week
    No activity for 3 months – moved to reactivation track


                   Month 4: 1 email per week
                                                       Update
Sweepstakes       Unique Offer      New Brands
                                                     Preferences


                  Month 5-6: Normal 3-5/week


                  Month 7: 1 email per week
  Promote other                       What You Are
                     Unique Offer                         Survey
     channels                           Missing
Action Plan – Minimize
The best reactivation strategy
   is to minimize inactives
        to begin with.
Opt-in process




Preference mgmt.                                        Expectation mgmt.


                         Minimize!



          Targeted / Relevant                    Welcome /
               Content                           Onboarding
Opt-in Source / Process
Setting Expectations
Welcome / Onboarding
Ask for More Information
Relevant Content – Post Purchase

Follow-Up
Emails
Sent after
1st Supply
order
Crazy Content


 See Our Models
Nearly Naked in Our
New X-Ray Catalog
Footers – Make it Obvious




 Include links to all 3 main options:
         - Update preferences
       - Change email address
             - Unsubscribe
Enable Preference Changes




            Change:
          - Preferences
          - Email address
           - Frequency
             - Topics
          - Publications
Opt-down alternative to opt out
To Remove or Not?
No
Maybe
 Yes
Remove, suppress or retain?

               •   Send less
               •   Treat differently
  Retain       •
               •
                   Monitor reactivation
                   Have resources to deal with




               • Deliverability
               • Business decisions / low value
 Remove          subscribers
               • Cost/Resource Savings
               • Make sure they are truly inactive
Takeaways / Q & A
SmartPak: Some Lessons Learned

                  OK to suppress


            Most inactives ARE inactive


          Right definition/approach is key


                    Be careful
SmartPak: What’s Next?

            Early activation/automation


                       Testing


              Track the life of inactives


          More behavior-based automation
Takeaways

                Don’t ignore inactives – be
                         proactive


                   Focus on minimizing


            Automate reactivation, rather than
                        one-offs


                     Test and Analyze
Questions?
    Carey Marston
CMarston@smartpak.com

     Loren McDonald
Twitter: @LorenMcDonald
lmcdonald@silverpop.com
 Google+: Loren McDonald
Resources


• Resource Center
   •   White papers
   •   Webinars
   •   Blogs
   •   Case studies
   •   Newsletters
   •   http://www.silverpop.com/marketing-resources/index.html
• Many presentations on SlideShare
   • www.slideshare.net/Silverpop
Thank you!


  On Twitter: @Silverpop
www.slideshare.net/silverpop
   www.silverpop.com

Inactive Email Subscribers Reactivation Strategies

  • 1.
    Inactive Email Subscribers: Tips for Taming the Beast #SPOPWebinar
  • 2.
    Speakers • Carey Marston • SmartPak • Email Marketing Manager • Cmarston@smartpak.com • Loren McDonald • Silverpop • VP, Industry Relations • Twitter: @LorenMcDonald • Google+: +LorenMcDonald
  • 3.
    Agenda Framing the Challenge SmartPak Overview Action Plan Summary/ Q&A
  • 4.
  • 5.
    Remove your inactives; Send less email! Don’t remove your inactives; Send more email! The Inactives Debate
  • 6.
    “Inactives” are about human behavior… not deliverability.
  • 7.
    Goal for thisWebinar… Get you to think a little differently about inactives…
  • 8.
    1. Reactivate early 2. Automate/Programs 3. Focus on mimimization
  • 9.
    Why Do YouCare About Inactives?
  • 10.
    Inactives Are aHUGE Issue
  • 11.
    Typical Actives vs.Inactives Ratio
  • 12.
    Impact of Inactives Lost potential revenue Inefficiencies/Reduced ROI Fuzzy metrics Potential reduced deliverability
  • 13.
    Retailer X InactivesChallenge 450,000 Subscribers 40%-50% Inactive (no opens + clicks for 12 months) 200K-250K non-responders
  • 14.
    Hypothetical Revenue Loss Actives Inactives # Subscribers 250,000 200,000 Average Revenue Per $0.12 Email Delivered 4 X week X 53 weeks $6.4M ~ 212 emails Potential Lost Revenue $5.1M
  • 15.
  • 16.
    About Our EmailProgram • ~1MM emails sent, per month Email Volume Transactional • Email generates 34% of all online Promotional & Triggered Email, 11% marketing channel revenue Email, 89% • Healthy transactional and triggered email program drives high return • Email team comprised of: – Email Marketing Manager Email Revenue Transactional – Email Designer & Triggered … and three businesses to support! Promotional Email, 37% Email, 63% In 2010, launched 11 automated campaigns with Silverpop, growing revenue 40% year-over-year 16
  • 17.
    SmartPak’s Email ProgramFramework Email Channel Promotions Transactional Lifecycle SmartPaks On-Hold SmartPaks Newsletters Confirmation Welcome Order Confirmation Order Reminder Offers Shipment Abandoned Cart Confirmation SmartPaks SmartPaks On-Hold Confirmation/Welcome Today, 26 transactional Post Purchase and lifecycle emails per Password Review day, and 10+ promotional Recovery emails per month Credit Card Failure SmartPaks Up-sell Notification SmartPaks Cancel Confirmation 17
  • 18.
    SmartPak: Inactives History Became aware of impact in 2007 Analyzed database = ~50% inactive Tested suppressing inactives = exact same number of opens/clicks
  • 19.
    SmartPak: Current View Win-back = Revenue opportunity Potential deliverability impact Reach through other channels
  • 20.
    SmartPak: Current InactiveDefinition No No Opens 6+ Months Purchases 40%-45% of database
  • 21.
  • 22.
    Inactives Action Plan Root Causes Define & Minimize Segment Automate Reactivate
  • 23.
    Why Recipients GoInactive Never fully engaged - just wanted the incentive Interests / needs have changed Content did not meet expectations Emails are being routed to junk folder You send too often for their taste You send un-personalized, irrelevant emails Long sales/purchase cycle Inability to update email address / change preferences
  • 24.
    Determine Root Causes Are certain acquisition sources producing a higher rate of inactives? Has increased frequency numbed them? Is your email program stale and boring? Are you attracting the right audience? Are you delivering against expectations? Do you have deliverability issues?
  • 25.
    Analyze… By listsource Age on file Customer segment/profile Subscriber survey responses Creative test results Response by message type/frequency changes
  • 26.
    Action Plan –Define & Segment
  • 27.
    Defining Inactives –Sample Parameters Email activity (opens & clicks) Time on list Purchase/Conversion activity Web site/Other channel activity Sales/Purchase cycles/Seasonality Customer value/Ideal profile
  • 28.
    All Inactives Are NotCreated Equal
  • 29.
  • 30.
    Understand Your InactiveSegments More Potential? Less Potential? Past customer Never purchased Organic Opt-in Sweepstakes Recent purchase Long ago purchased High customer value Low customer value Engaged in other No engagement channels anywhere
  • 31.
    Are inactives worthkeeping? Do we treat segments of inactives differently?
  • 32.
    Predicting Subscriber ValuePotential • Leading online retailer • Suppressing inactive subscribers • Hypothesis that “high value potential” subscribers existed among inactives • Leveraged third party data (purchase behavior, demographics, etc.) and advanced modeling to predict Subscriber Value Potential.
  • 33.
    Approach & Results •Segmented inactive Campaign Revenue per subscribers by Value Subscriber Potential and conducted $0.18 reactivation test 8.4x • Results: High vs. Low $0.02 segment • 1.8x higher Open Rate Low Potential High Potential Segment Segment • 8.4x higher Revenue per subscriber
  • 34.
    Action Plan -Reactivate
  • 35.
    Typical Reactivation Rate:1%-2% High Performers: 10%+
  • 36.
  • 37.
    Re-engagement Series Results •Performs poorly (as expected) – 5.8% Open rate – 1.8% click through rate – 1-2 orders per fiscal quarter • Non-responders are removed
  • 38.
    Tell us whatyou want
  • 40.
  • 43.
    SmartPak: Attempt #1 Wemiss hearing from you! As a valued customer and subscriber to our e-newsletters, you are the first to learn about new products, promotions, sales and healthcare information. Don’t miss out on all of this valuable insight that comes straight to your email inbox. If you prefer to receive your e-newsletters at a different email address, please click here to update your profile. We hate to see you go! But if you choose to no longer receive our e- newsletters, please click here to unsubscribe. We hope to hear from you again soon. As a thank you for being our valued customer, please use this code (xxxx) to apply free shipping to your next order with us. - Your Friends at SmartPak
  • 44.
  • 45.
  • 46.
    SmartPak: Reactivation Metrics Metrics Reactivation Other Emails Bounces 3% - 7% 0.57% Open Rates 3% 18% Reactivated 13,000 so far AOV $111.19 $119.09 Avg Rev/Email $0.06 $0.20
  • 47.
    Action Plan -Automate
  • 48.
    Automate: Activate EarlyInactives New subscribers don’t open/click first XX messages/X weeks Move these early inactives into “activation” track Send survey, different offers; best of, diff subject lines, testimonials, etc.
  • 49.
    Sample “Month 4”and “Month 7” Program Broadcast emails: 3-5 per week No activity for 3 months – moved to reactivation track Month 4: 1 email per week Update Sweepstakes Unique Offer New Brands Preferences Month 5-6: Normal 3-5/week Month 7: 1 email per week Promote other What You Are Unique Offer Survey channels Missing
  • 50.
  • 51.
    The best reactivationstrategy is to minimize inactives to begin with.
  • 52.
    Opt-in process Preference mgmt. Expectation mgmt. Minimize! Targeted / Relevant Welcome / Content Onboarding
  • 53.
  • 54.
  • 55.
  • 56.
    Ask for MoreInformation
  • 57.
    Relevant Content –Post Purchase Follow-Up Emails Sent after 1st Supply order
  • 58.
    Crazy Content SeeOur Models Nearly Naked in Our New X-Ray Catalog
  • 59.
    Footers – Makeit Obvious Include links to all 3 main options: - Update preferences - Change email address - Unsubscribe
  • 60.
    Enable Preference Changes Change: - Preferences - Email address - Frequency - Topics - Publications
  • 61.
  • 62.
  • 63.
  • 64.
    Remove, suppress orretain? • Send less • Treat differently Retain • • Monitor reactivation Have resources to deal with • Deliverability • Business decisions / low value Remove subscribers • Cost/Resource Savings • Make sure they are truly inactive
  • 65.
  • 66.
    SmartPak: Some LessonsLearned OK to suppress Most inactives ARE inactive Right definition/approach is key Be careful
  • 67.
    SmartPak: What’s Next? Early activation/automation Testing Track the life of inactives More behavior-based automation
  • 68.
    Takeaways Don’t ignore inactives – be proactive Focus on minimizing Automate reactivation, rather than one-offs Test and Analyze
  • 69.
    Questions? Carey Marston CMarston@smartpak.com Loren McDonald Twitter: @LorenMcDonald lmcdonald@silverpop.com Google+: Loren McDonald
  • 70.
    Resources • Resource Center • White papers • Webinars • Blogs • Case studies • Newsletters • http://www.silverpop.com/marketing-resources/index.html • Many presentations on SlideShare • www.slideshare.net/Silverpop
  • 71.
    Thank you! On Twitter: @Silverpop www.slideshare.net/silverpop www.silverpop.com

Editor's Notes

  • #47 Campaign centric currently. Through re-engagement campaigns, we have reactivated about 13,000 names back onto our active mailing list. We reactivated about 5x more names when we targeted those who hadn’t opened in 6 months vs our current definition of open + purchase history.
  • #67 We have learned that it is OK to suppress these recipients from the file. Through reactivation campaigns, we win back very few subscribers and have proven that much of our inactive list is truly inactive. We have also learned that you need to have the right message as to not confuse current customers. Before we integrated purchase data into email, we only looked at open rates as our inactive indicator (customers who had not opened/clicked in 6+ months). Our first attempt at a reactivation campaign did get some recipients’ attention by us indicating that we missed them and hadn’t heard from them in a while…there was a response from customers getting our monthly automated shipments who were quite confused. We tweaked the next campaign’s messaging by focusing it solely on the fact that they had not been viewing our emails and they were missing out on great offers, healthcare tips, etc. A bit more “big brother” but there was less of a response from current customers, if any at all. Our current creative (now that we also take into account purchase history) ties a message of both email non-responsiveness and come back and buy from SmartPak. Lesson learned: know your audience and tailor your messages to all potential recipients. A reactivation campaign can certainly be confusing if the recipient is not truly inactive, and you could potentially be throwing a reactivation offer to customers currently buying from you.
  • #68 *Automation and identifying these subscribers earlier in their email life to attempt to wake them up before we view them as inactive. We know we have them on our list, and it’s a problem for all companies, but how can we do something about it to prevent such a dramatic loss of recipients? Send them exclusive offers to entice them to make another purchase or open the email. Subject line and offer testing with inactives. What entices them to open and make a purchase? Looking forward to testing some programs with Silverpop. I would also like to set up a process that tracks these recipients. After reactivation, are they more likely to fall into the definition of inactive again? Are they serial inactive email recipients who constantly need a jolt?