Michael Barber - Precon- Make Email Great Again — With an Actual Plan On How to Do That

MICHAEL BARBER
FOUNDER // BARBER&HEWITT
@michaeljbarber

Let’s start with rules.
🙋🖐🗣😀

Pre-Con Part 1 (75 min)
Coffee Break
Pre-con Part 2 (105 min)
Grab Lunch // Sponsor Area
Pre-con Part 3 (45 min)
TIMING
8:30 – 9:45 a.m.
9:45 – 10:00 a.m.
10:00 – 11:40 a.m.
11:45 – 12:00 a.m.
12:00 p.m. – 12:45 p.m.

• Pre con rules
• Introductions
• Why are we here?
• Latest trends and stats on email marketing
• How to perform effective email audits
• How to select email marketing/marketing automation providers
• How to develop short and long-term communications plans with subscribers
• How to determine the email metrics that matter
• What does the future look like for email?
AGENDA

Want these slides?  
barberandhewitt.com/preconference
Want the conference workbook? 
portland.digitalsummit.com/agenda/workbooks/
Say hello.
@michaeljbarber
michael@barberandhewitt.com
Questions/Comments/Random Thoughts

4.1 billion
email accounts across the globe and growing
Source: Radicati Group, 2015

EMAIL DELIVERS THE HIGHEST ROI FOR MARKETERS
Source: VentureBeat

REGARDLESS OF INDUSTRY
Source: GetResponse, 2016

OR SURVEY
Source: Econsultancy, 2016

EMAIL BEATS SOCIAL BY 40X FOR CUSTOMER ACQUISITION

ASSISTS OTHER CHANNEL INTERACTIONS
Source: Salesforce Marketing Cloud

AND, INCREASES REVENUE OVER TIME
Source: Salesforce Marketing Cloud

BUDGETS ARE OPENING UP
Source: GetResponse, January 2016

BUDGETS ARE OPENING UP
Source: eMarketer, January 2017

RESOURCES ARE SHIFTING ACCORDINGLY
Source: EmailOnAcid.com

BUDGETS ARE FOLLOWING FUTURE NEEDS
Source: EmailOnAcid.com

ARE WE SHIFTING ENOUGH BUDGET? MAYBE NOT.
Source: Econsultancy, 2016

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

CONSUMERS DIG EMAIL TOO

EMAIL PREFERENCE COMPARED TO OTHER CHANNELS
Source: MarketingSherpa

YEAH, EMAIL & MILLENNIALS SITTING IN A TREE

MOBILE FIRST
Source: Litmus, 2016

MOBILE FIRST

Source: Litmus, Everything You Need to Know About Gmail Rendering Webinar
75%
of email clients support responsive design

Source: Litmus, https://litmus.com/blog/email-attention-spans-increasing-infographic
10.4 
SECONDS
2011
11.1 
SECONDS
2016
AVERAGE TIME SPENT READING EMAIL INCREASED 7% OVER THE PAST SIX YEARS

ENGAGEMENT IS INCREASING

MOBILE USERS SPEND MORE TIME, NOT LESS

WE READ EMAIL EVERYWHERE, AND I MEAN EVERYWHERE
Source: Adobe Email Survey 2016, US
53%

JUST TWO YEARS AGO…THAT WAS A MILLION YEARS AGO

BUT, NOW AN EMAIL RENAISSANCE?

Email is still the number one most effective one-to-one
communication channel for marketers, even though
there is more noise in all of our inboxes, and despite
growth in mobile apps, social media, and text. Power
rests in being close to the data to help determine the
right email message and when to deliver it.
“
Adobe

BUT, WE GOT PROBLEMS
With all due respect, we (largely) suck at life email.

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

94 billion
spam messages per day

$20 billion
cost to the global economy

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

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

80.8%
of holiday email was ignored

UMMM, SUBJECT LINE & WHERE DO I CLICK?

EMAILS EVERYWHERE, WE DON’T CARE!

I COULDN’T MAKE THIS UP EVEN IF I WANTED TO…

#IVEEMAILEDYOU5TIMES #IDONTCARE #GOAWAY

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

YOU REALLY WANT TO UNSUBSCRIBE, REALLY, REALLY

ARE WE REALLY TRYING THAT HARD?

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

🙋
What kills you about email?

MEANWHILE
The tech & laws around email continues to evolve.

MARK AS SPAM & INSTANT UNSUBSCRIBE

LAYERED SPF & 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

MOVED PROMO EMAILS OUT OF THE INBOX

APPS CONTINUE TO EVOLVE
Outlook for iOS
• The Outlook app splits messages into two groups:
Focused and Other. Over time, Outlook learns who
users normally interact with and adds those emails to
the Focused group for quick access.
• For users who are overwhelmed by the amount of
email in their Focused group, the Outlook app oﬀers a
“Schedule” feature that temporarily removes email from
the user’s inbox until a chosen time.

APPS CONTINUE TO EVOLVE
Apple Watch
• Text is back , baby!
• Not only must we focus on text, need to
ensure it optimized for wearables.
• text/watch.html

WINDOWS 10 UNIVERSAL OUTLOOK
Universal Outlook
• Ughhhh, still issues.
• Images scaled incorrectly
• No CSS3 support
• No HTML5 support
• No support for divs
• No media query support
• Use mobile-friendly layouts
• Use table-based emails

GOVERNMENT GETS SMART

GOVERNMENT GETS SMART-ER

CASL REQUIREMENTS
• CASL regulations apply to any "Commercial Electronic Message" (CEM) sent from or to
Canadian computers and devices in Canada. Messages routed through Canadian
computer systems are not subject to this law.
• A CEM is any message that:
• is in an electronic format, including emails, instant messages, text messages, and
some social media communications;
• is sent to an electronic address, including email addresses, instant message
accounts, phone accounts, and social media accounts; and
• contains a message encouraging recipients to take part in some type of
commercial activity, including the promotion of products, services, people/
personas, companies, or organizations.

IMPLIED V EXPRESS CONSENT
• Implied consent includes when:
• A recipient has purchased a product,
service or made another business deal,
contract, or membership with your
organization in the last 24 months;
• You are a registered charity or political
organization, and the recipient has made a
donation or gift, has volunteered, or
attended a meeting organized by you; or
• A professional message is sent to
someone whose email address was given
to you, or is conspicuously published, and
who hasn't published or told you that they
don't want unsolicited messages.
• Express consent:
• If your recipients don't meet any of the
above criteria, then express consent is
required before you can send campaigns to
them.
• Express consent means written or oral
agreement to receive speciﬁc types of
messages, for example "You want to receive
monthly newsletters and weekly discount
notiﬁcations from Company B."

EXPRESS CONSENT
• Express consent is only valid if the following information is included with your request for consent:
• A clear and concise description of your purpose in obtaining consent.
• A description of messages you'll be sending.
• Requestor's name and contact information (physical mailing address and telephone number, email
address, or website URL).
• A statement that the recipient may unsubscribe at any time.
• The requestor can be you or someone for whom you're asking. If you're requesting consent on behalf of
a client, the client's name and contact information must be included with the consent request.

EXPRESS CONSENT
• Messages to family or a person with established personal relationship.
• Messages to an employee, consultant, or person associated with your business.
• Responses to a current customer, or someone who has inquired in the last six months.
• Messages that will be opened or accessed in a foreign country, including the U.S., China, and most of Europe.
• Messages sent on behalf of a charity or political organization for the purposes of raising funds or soliciting contributions.
• Messages attempting to enforce a legal right or court order.
• Messages that provide warranty, recall, safety, or security information about a product or service purchased by the recipient.
• Messages that provide information about a purchase, subscription, membership, account, loan, or other ongoing
relationship, including delivery of product updates or upgrades.
• A single message to a recipient without an existing relationship on the basis of a referral. The full name of the referring
person must be disclosed in the message. The referrer may be family or have another relationship with the person to whom
you're sending.

KEY DIFFERENCES FROM CAN-SPAM
CASL CAN-SPAM
Address broad range of Internet issues (spam,
spyware, pharming, etc)
Address spam only
Applies to all forms of electronic messaging
(email, SMS, IM, in-app, etc)
Applies only to email
Applies to “commercial electronic
messages” (very board)
Applies to messages that are 1) commercial; or
2) transactional or relationships (more narrow)
Primarily opt-in; permission based
Opt-out; you can technically mail any person at
least once

Marketers are slowly losing  
our real estate in the Inbox.

How do we make email great again?

AUTHENTICATION
Prove who you are.

AUTHENTICATION MATTERS
SPF
DKIM
SENDERID
DMARC

SENDER
POLICY
FRAMEWORK
SPF, or Sender Policy Framework, works as the sort of gold standard
of email authentication. They provide the email service provider with a
framework of data for every email you send.
When your email gets to the email service provider, the ESP checks
your info against the info in the email. This info might include the DNS,
what types of fields your emails use when you send, and other data.
If this data does not match up and your email is sent from an
unknown or different origin that doesn't match the info you provided,
the ESP blocks the email from making it to the inbox, removing the
chance of spam complaints.

DOMAIN KEYS
IDENTIFIED MAIL
DKIM, also known as Domain Keys Identified Mail, is the ESP's
way of checking the DNS records you provide with the ones
that come with the email. If the DNS records fail to match,
the ESP will block that email and you won't have to suffer
from spam complaints.

SENDERID Sender ID is almost identical to SPF, with a few key differences.
Ultimately, they're both out to do the same thing: authenticate every
email you send by matching data records the ESP holds against the
ones that accompany the email or newsletter waiting to make it to the
inbox.

DMARC
A DMARC policy allows a sender to indicate that their messages are
protected by SPF and/or DKIM, and tells a receiver what to do if
neither of those authentication methods passes – such as junk or
reject the message.

MICROSOFT SMART NETWORK DATA SERVICE (SNDS)

SINGLE COLUMN “SKINNY” LAYOUTS.

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

BUTTONS
Buttons
44 x 44 points

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

TOOLS FOR DESIGN & DELIVERABILITY

FROM NAMES MATTER, LIKE A LOT
From Name

SUBJECT LINES
They matter, a lot.

SUPERLATIVES MATTER, A LOT.
• Some phrases aﬀect response rates very positively. Take, for example, “Brand
new,” “Latest,” and “Exciting,” which give open rate lifts of 37%, 24% and 19%,
respectively.
• “The perfect gift,” which imperfectly depresses open rates by -28%. Or the
most mediocre of adequate adjectives, “good,” which reduces open rates by a
not-so-good -20%.
• Consider which superlative phrases add value to your subject lines. Some may
be “special” (+12%,) but nothing is “wonderful” (-2%) all the time.

SELL WITHOUT BEING SPAMMY
• For a long time, people said that you shouldn’t charge admission to your
emails. “Don’t talk about sales in subject lines… because spam ﬁlters will be
mean to you,” they’d say. They are wrong.
• “Buy one get one free” deal? This stalwart of sales gets a shocking +89% on
open rates.
• When people get emails about sales, they are much more likely to click
through. Take, for example, “prices” (+246% CTR), “worth” (+134%), and
“deal” (+91%.)
• Bring balance or customers will either get bored or expect sales all the time.

QUESTIONS MAKE A DIFFERENCE
• Questions that start with “can’t” (+25%) or “won’t” (+20%) often do better than
“will” (-27%) or “who” (-41%.)
• When used in context they can work well. Context is key.

EMOJIS &🎄🎉
Source: Adobe, 2016

EMOJIS &🎄🎉
Source: MailChimp

INTERACTIVITY
Let’s have some fun in the Inbox.

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

REAL-TIME / CONVERSATIONAL DATA

“MAILABLE MICROSITES” VIA @CHADSWHITE

AUTOMATION AND TRIGGERS
It’s time-consuming, but makes all the diﬀerence.

SEGMENTED CAMPAIGNS CAN DRIVE A 760% INCREASE IN REVENUE

PERSONALIZATION INCREASES OPEN RATES BY 26%

TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / THE WELCOME

TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / ONBOARDING

TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / BIRTHDAY OR EVENT

TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / PURCHASE INTENT

TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / PURCHASE HISTORY

TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / PRE / POST EVENT

TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / WEATHER

TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / VALUE

TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / CUSTOMER DATA

TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / DYNAMIC

TRIGGERS BASED ON DATA / TRANSACTIONAL

ALWAYS GIVE ME MORE, INCLUDING MINI HORSES

ALWAYS SAY HELLO
Because it’s the most important campaign you’ll send.

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

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

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

SHOW ME HOW TO DO BUSINESS WITH YOU

OFFERS CAN BE GOOD, BUT BE CAREFUL

TOOLS FOR PERSONALIZATION (AND AUTOMATION)

BE HUMAN
Let’s get real. It’s email after all.

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

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

EMAIL AUDIT
How To Perform & Questions to Ask 
Via @sietsema

PLATFORM/SERVICE PROVIDER
• Ultimate Question: Is there a better alternative for sending emails than what is used
presently?
• Objective Appropriate
• Are email program objectives aligned with functionality?
• Based on your existing business goals, is the current email service provider (e.g. ConstantContact,
Lyris, Campaigner, etc.) a feasible match?
• What important tasks cannot be accomplished with the chosen service provider today?
• Right-Sized
• Is the existing platform big enough or too small?
• Do business requirements call for more sophistication (automation, CRM integration, lead scoring
capabilities) from the service provider? Or is the current email tool-to-task match the equivalent
of killing a bumblebee with a bazooka?

PLATFORM/SERVICE PROVIDER
• Ultimate Question: Is there a better alternative for sending emails than what is
used presently?
• Future Focused
• At what point will there be a need to upgrade to a more advanced email service
provider?
• What speciﬁc functions and operations will be necessary in the near future as the
program evolves?
• Sender Reputation
• What is the current SenderScore for the program?
• Based on this score, should the platform in use today be abandoned, and should the
program be migrated to a diﬀerent email service provider?

AUDIENCE
• Ultimate Question: Are there opportunities for improvement with customer records management?
• Acquisition
• How are new customer records acquired?
• Is the practice of list rental or purchase avoided? Just say “hell no” to buying or renting lists.
• Are contacts informed properly about how their information will be used?
• On-Boarding
• What messages are delivered to new contacts upon sign-up? Are expectations for message delivery
and frequency set properly?
• Are there opportunities to improve the content that is delivered to new contacts?
• Are other content assets and methods to connect with the brand (e.g. customer service, social media,
mobile applications, etc.) introduced?

AUDIENCE
• Segmentation
• Are customer records segmented in a meaningful way?
• What methods can be used to divide customer records to improve message eﬃcacy and
avoid irrelevant email delivery?
• How can the segmentation process be improved by relying upon self-selected
parameters (via survey) or behavior monitoring (based on previous activity/engagement)?
• Unsubscribe/Preference Process
• Is the unsubscribe option clear and easy to identify within each message?
• Are requests to unsubscribe handled responsibly?
• Does the program oﬀer a way for email recipients to choose their preferences?

DESIGN
• Ultimate Question: how should design be modiﬁed to represent the brand and appeal
to all audiences?
• Channel Appropriate
• Is the current email design right for the email channel?
• Is the design comprised of of one single image? Does it strongly resemble a direct mail
piece, a ﬂyer, or an outdoor board?
• Does every email message include a physical mailing address and a subject line that does
not deceive (re: CAN SPAM compliance)?
• On Brand
• Is the email design consistent with other brand assets?
• Does the email design conform to existing brand standards and guidelines?

DESIGN
• Optimized for Mobile
• Does the email render well on smaller mobile device screens?
• Does the email utilize the @media query for responsive design?
• How should the mobile version of the email design be modiﬁed to appeal to recipients on the
go?
• Client Compatible
• How does the email render in all email clients? (Hint: use Litmus or Email on Acid)
• Are their email clients that are more important than others based on their popularity among
recipients?
• How does the email look in clients that are traditionally troublesome like the dreaded Outlook
2010, Outlook 2013, and Yahoo Mail?

PROCESS
• Ultimate Question: How are various aspects of the email program
managed and in what ways can they be improved?
• Frequency
• How often do contacts receive messages?
• Based on response rates and engagement levels, how should frequency
be modified?
• Should frequency for certain audience segments be different from
others? Read more on finding the optimal email frequency here.

PROCESS
• Message
• Does the overall message align with the motivations of the audience to
request email communication in the ﬁrst place?
• How are brand assets (content marketing productions, events, video,
graphics, etc.) utilized to encourage a response from the audience?
• How should the message diﬀer based on audience segments? Is there a
need to modify the message for certain recipient groups?
• Are there opportunities to develop a nurture program (or drip campaign)
for contacts and prospects?

PROCESS
• List Hygiene
• What methods are used to maintain list integrity?
• Are some recipients removed or sequestered after long periods of inactivity?
• Does the program include email veriﬁcation either at sign-up or after extended time frames?
• Testing
• What email tests have been run with recent messages? What elements have been tested (e.g.
subject line, from name, content, call to action, etc.)?
• Does the program entail an A/B split or multivariate approach to testing? What improvements
can be made to the testing process?
• How are results from previous tests interpreted and put into play for subsequent messages
and campaigns?

PROCESS
• Ultimate Question: How is the email program measured today and what methods can be
introduced to gauge success more accurately?
• High Level Performance
• At what rate are email messages successfully delivered to their intended recipients?
• What are the current open and click rates for the campaign/program?
• What has the trend for delivery, open and click metrics?
• What is the monthly/quarterly/annual rate of list growth? List churn?
• Traﬃc Generation
• What is the click response to key content placed within the email?
• How does email compare to other channels with regard to website visits? Time on site? Pages per visit?
• What kind of messages have a high rate of success when it comes to delivering website visits?

PROCESS
• Ultimate Question: How is the email program measured today and what methods can be
introduced to gauge success more accurately?
• Sales and Activity
• How does email perform with respect to generating sales?
• Does email have a recognizable impact on the bottom line? Does the email channel make it rain?
• What other key performance indicators (downloads, event registrations, product demo views, etc.)
have been impacted by the email channel?
• The Correct Gauges
• Are the metrics used to evaluate the ongoing performance of the email appropriate?
• What other performance metrics should be considered given the nature of the program?
• What goals or benchmarks should be set for the email campaign(s) in the coming year?

LET’S RECAP
How do we make email great again?

AUTHENTICATION
PROVE WHO YOU ARE.

AUTHENTICATION
PROVE WHO YOU ARE.
DESIGN
BE UBIQUITOUS.

AUTHENTICATION
PROVE WHO YOU ARE.
DESIGN
BE UBIQUITOUS.
SUBJECT LINES
GET BETTER OR BE BORING.

AUTHENTICATION
PROVE WHO YOU ARE.
DESIGN
BE UBIQUITOUS.
SUBJECT LINES
INTERACTIVITY
LET’S GET JAZZY.

AUTHENTICATION
PROVE WHO YOU ARE.
DESIGN
BE UBIQUITOUS.
SUBJECT LINES
INTERACTIVITY
LET’S GET JAZZY.
AUTOMATION & TRIGGERS
PERSONALIZATION MATTERS.

AUTHENTICATION
PROVE WHO YOU ARE.
DESIGN
BE UBIQUITOUS.
SUBJECT LINES
INTERACTIVITY
LET’S GET JAZZY.
ALWAYS SAY HELLO
IT’S POLITE AND WORKS.

AUTHENTICATION
PROVE WHO YOU ARE.
DESIGN
BE UBIQUITOUS.
SUBJECT LINES
INTERACTIVITY
LET’S GET JAZZY.
ALWAYS SAY HELLO
IT’S POLITE AND WORKS.
BE HUMAN
TALK NORMALLY.

BUT, WHY MAKE EMAIL GREAT AGAIN?
Three reasons…

We do not use clicks as a measure of engagement.
User engagement will not affect your overall reputation.
If you remove people who do not open or click,  
you are leaving money on the table.
Microsoft, Gmail, and Comcast stated  
that they do not convert old accounts to spam traps.
Email Experience Counsel, 2015
“

WHAT ISPs TRACK?
• Opens —less relevant metric because images downloaded by default in certain email clients, but
ISPs still track it.
• Replies — replying to a message is a super-strong signal of engagement. So, why are we all using
no-reply@? Baﬄing, I tell you.
• Moves — to junk = strong, negative signal. If your AOL subscribers do this two times, you’re in the
spam folder for pretty much life.
• Mark Not As Junk — strong, positive signal that the email should not be considered spam. AOL
says this is enough of a signal to “reset” the previous behavior.
• Delete without open — a quick glance at the sender/subject: a somewhat negative signal. So,
your from name and subject lines matter.
• Move to folder — if people are moving messages around, it means they care about them. This is
strong positive signal.

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

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

The Inbox is the digital place we
understand and know how to control.

www.barberandhewitt.com
hello@barberandhewitt.com
Los Angeles, CA
THANKS. QUESTIONS / COMMENTS.
barberandhewitt.com/preconference
APRIL 2017

GROUP TIME
Get to know your neighbors.

🙋
How would you make this  
email better?

Michael Barber - Precon- Make Email Great Again — With an Actual Plan On How to Do That

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