email strategies

1.  2003 L-Soft
Successful e-Mail
Marketing Practices
eMarketing Association
May 20-21, 2003
Gabriela Linares

2.  2003 L-Soft
Managing e-Mail Marketing
• Defining e-Mail Marketing Objectives
• Determining Communication Strategies
• Reaching your Target Audience
• Designing e-Mail Creative
• Evaluating Results
• Selecting a Solution
• Final Recommendations

3.  2003 L-Soft
Defining e-Mail Marketing
Objectives

4.  2003 L-Soft
Common Objectives
• Acquire new leads/ registrants/ customers/ clients
• Drive immediate sales
• Enhance customer retention programs
• Build stronger relationships with existing
customers/clients
• Provide company or product information
• Increase revenues by up-selling to existing
customers/clients
• Post-order targeted e-mails
• Build brand awareness
• As part of an integrated marketing strategy
• Increase web site traffic

5.  2003 L-Soft
Response Rates by Campaign Objective
15.30%
15.20%
17.10%
7.90%
5.60%
6.80%
Leads
Sales
Awareness
Conversion
CTR
Source: IMT Strategies, September 2001

6.  2003 L-Soft
Acquisition versus retention
Acquisition Retention
Search engine positioning 94% 6%
Banner ads 91% 9%
Referral/viral programs 85% 15%
Affiliate programs/ sponsorships 75% 25%
Incentive programs 51% 49%
E-Mail Marketing 37% 63%
Source: DMA- April, 2002

7.  2003 L-Soft
Sales Conversion Costs
Acquisition Retention
E-mail $57.10 $2.50
Direct Mail $25.00 $60.00
Banner ads $140.00 N/A
Source: IMT Strategies, September 2001

8.  2003 L-Soft
Determining Communication
Strategies

9.  2003 L-Soft
Popular e-Mail models
• Discount sales promotions
• Sales transaction confirmations
• Account statements
• Scheduled corporate newsletters
• Press release list
• News alerts from Media outlets
• Time-based reminders
• E-mail discussion groups/ communities
• Product announcements
• Entertainment (humor, film clips)
• Online education courses
• Product user/support groups
• Auto-responders

10.  2003 L-Soft
Average CTR for B2C and B2B
e-mail newsletters
3.40%
2.80%
1.90%
0.90%
0.50%
0.30%
0% 2% 4%
2000
2001
2002
B2C
B2B
Source: Opt-in News, May 2002

11.  2003 L-Soft
• Specials/offers from online merchants
• Specials/offers from local retailers or restaurants
• Household tips/recipes/crafts
• Humor
• Travel
• Entertainment
• Weather
• Local news
• Tech/business news
• Finance/stock information
• Sports
Top Interests for Permission
e-Mail Users in the US

12.  2003 L-Soft
Top reasons why US Internet users
respond to e-mail offers
• Know and trust brand
• Relevant information
• Friend has recommended
• Price/coupon/reward
• Timely
• Compelling subject
• Entertaining

13.  2003 L-Soft
Viral Marketing: Types of
messages that are forwarded
• Merchandise deals and promotions
• Prize/coupon/reward
• Social/political messages and petitions
• Warnings and advisories
• High level of relevance
• Funny
• Work related
• Informative
• Cool
• New Technology

14.  2003 L-Soft
How US internet users learn about
new web sites
Source: IMT Strategies, Sept. 2001
19%
22%
48%
56%
59%
80%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Radio
Guess URL
Television
Viral Marketing
Link from other site
Search engines

15.  2003 L-Soft
Reaching your Target
Audience

16.  2003 L-Soft
US Internet User Attitude towards
e-Mail Volume, 2001
49%
3%
34%
15%
0% 20% 40% 60%
Just right
Somewhat
more
Too many
Cannot
handle
Source: IMT Strategies, September 2001

17.  2003 L-Soft
E-mail overload: Number of e-mail
marketing e-mail sent in the US
939
796
674
549
430
289
0 500 1000
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
Source: Forrester Research, August 2001

18.  2003 L-Soft
Response to permission e-mail
versus unknown senders
52%
21%
15%
12%
1%
3%
6%
29%
49%
13%
0% 20% 40% 60%
Delete
Open but annoyed
Indifferent
Curious to read
Eager to read
Unknown senders Permission e-mail

19.  2003 L-Soft
Opt-in, opt-out, double opt-in,
spam: Preferred e-mail marketing
methods
64%
31%
4%
1%
Double Opt-In
Opt-in
Opt-out
Spam
Source: Opt-In News, May 2002

20.  2003 L-Soft
Rates for US e-mail permission-
based marketing campaigns
2.10%
7.80%
7.00%
17.80%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20%
Unsubscribe
Bounce
Net
conversion
Click-
through
Source: IMT Strategies, Sept. 2001

21.  2003 L-Soft
Permission e-mail marketing vs.
direct mail retention costs
Cost per
thousand
(CPM)
Click-
Through
Rates
(CTR)
Conversion
Rate
Cost per
sale
E-mail to
in-house
list
$5 15% 3.7% $1
Direct Mail
to in-
house list
$761 N/A 3.9% $20
Source: Forrester Research, August 2001

22.  2003 L-Soft
Building your
permission-based lists
• Subscriber form on web site
• Sponsor lists of sites with a similar demographic
• Send to a friend button – viral marketing
• Ask for permission to customer base
• Maintain list hygiene
• E-mail appending…

23.  2003 L-Soft
Building Customer Intelligence
• Harness your Customer Database
• Evaluate Customer Behavior
• Effective personalization and targeting
• Common Segmentation Factors:
o Purchase history
o Location/zip code
o Demographics
o Lifestyle/hobbies/interests
o Psychographics

24.  2003 L-Soft
US Internet Users’ Level of
Concern Regarding Online Privacy
71.30%
61.70%
23.10%
29.50%
5.50%
8.80%
2001
2000
Not
concerned
Somewhat
concerned
Extremely
concerned
Source: UCLA Center for Communication Policy, November 2001

25.  2003 L-Soft
US Consumers’ Privacy concerns
69%
70%
75%
66% 68% 70% 72% 74% 76%
Hackers will
steal info
Transactions
not secure
Sharing info
with third
parties
Source: Harris Interactive, February 2002

26.  2003 L-Soft
US E-Mail users’ preferred e-mail
marketing privacy and customer-
support practices
• Unsubscribe option in all e-mails
• Explicit no-share-address policy
• 48-hour e-mail support answers
• Editable personal preferences page
• Provide phone numbers in e-mail
• Explicit privacy policy
• Double opt-in confirmation
• Unchecked default opt-in box
• Third-party privacy seal in e-mail

27.  2003 L-Soft
Most Important e-Mail Marketing trust-
building factors among US users
• Secure sign-up form
• Trustworthy reputation
• Loyal customer
• Well-known brand
• Friend recommendation
• Trusted site referral
• Relevant offers

28.  2003 L-Soft
Why customers would give
personal info
• Guarantee that the information will not be misused
• Eligibility to win a prize in a sweepstakes
• Regular e-mail updates for products of their interest
• Access to more or better content or information
• Affinity points
• Receive targeted ads they’re likely to be interested in

29.  2003 L-Soft
E-mail Appending
24%
76%
Ethical
Not ethical
Source: Opt-In News, May 2002

30.  2003 L-Soft
Privacy & Regulations
• HIPPA covers health personal information
• COPPA protects children
• Gramm-Leach Bliley Act concerns financial information
• FTC supports Corporate Privacy Policies
• Federal spam regulation does not exist
• State laws exists in 13 US states, including California,
Colorado, etc.
• More information about spam regulations visit:
www.spamlaws.com

31.  2003 L-Soft
Creating the Content

32.  2003 L-Soft
E-Mail Message Content
• Subject Line – getting recipients to open mail is half the
battle
• Creativity
• Personality and dynamic content
• Keep it short and use links to draw reader to your web
site
• Keep it fresh – don’t re-use the same content
• Relevance – the more you understand your customers,
the more targeted and relevant messages will be
• Frequency
• Test messages

33.  2003 L-Soft
Email users’ preferred e-mail
marketing personalization models
• Communication Control: Digests, Frequency
• Self-select content
• Name recognition
• Personal events & reminders
• Geographic relevance
• Account History
• Recognizing Lifestyle Preferences
• Purchasing Behavior

34.  2003 L-Soft
Preferred e-mail advertisement
formats worldwide, Q1 2002
35%
62%
3%
HTML
Text
Rich Media
Source: Opt-IN News, May 2002

35.  2003 L-Soft
Response rates per format
1.20%
7.40%
9.00%
18.50%
3.20%
7.70%
5.30%
15.60%
0.00
%
5.00
%
10.00
%
15.00
%
20.00
%
Unsubscribe
Bounce
Conversion
Click-
Through
HTML
Text
Source: IMT Strategies, Sept. 2001

36.  2003 L-Soft
Evaluating results

37.  2003 L-Soft
How to measure the effectiveness
of e-mail marketing campaigns
• Click-through rates
o unique and sum of events & comparisons
• Unsubscribe rates
• Open rates
• Conversion rates (website tracking)
• Click-stream analyses
• E-mail pass along rates –viral marketing
• Coupon codes
• Anonymous tracking to respect privacy
• Campaign Comparison Reporting

38.  2003 L-Soft
Response time and cost per unit,
e-mail vs. direct mail
• Be prepared to handle responses
E-Mail Direct Mail
Response Time 3 days 3-6 weeks
Cost per unit $0.25 $1.25
Source: DMA, Forrester Research, Gartner Group, 2002

39.  2003 L-Soft
To Outsource or not to
Outsource

40.  2003 L-Soft
Maintain your server
• Hardware/computer
network
• Dedicated Internet
Connection
• Software for e-mail
management and delivery
• Best for large loads and
those with experience
• More cost-effective/
economies of scale
• Flexibility to create
campaigns on the fly
Outsource your list hosting
• Reliability and experience
• Redundant servers and
delivery capacity
• Flexibility to maintain
company Internet presence
• Ability to move from
hosting to in-house when
ready
• More expensive
• Rely on company’s
schedule

41.  2003 L-Soft
Outsourced e-Mail
Marketing Services
8%
28%
0%
2%
22%
68%
10%
8%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Analysis
Delivery
Creative
Strategy
2001
2003
Source: Forrester Research, August 2001

42.  2003 L-Soft
Evaluating Options
• Evaluate software product or hosting service before
purchasing
• Determine if solution provides appropriate features
• Decide what reporting features you need
o online real-time reporting, compatibility with other
software you employ
• Differentiating levels of privacy tracking
• Campaign manager to organize jobs
• Integration with your database and other applications
• Handle bounces

43.  2003 L-Soft
Main Recommendations
• Integrate e-mail into your integrated marketing
communication plan
• E-Mail marketing is best used for retention and other
customer permission-based communications
• Offering sales promotions is the most successful
strategy
• Consider double opt-in and build your permission-based
lists
• Respect recipients’ privacy to earn their trust
• Personalize messages to provide relevant information
which will increase response rates
• Evaluate options and opt for time-tested solutions

44.  2003 L-Soft
Questions?
5:45pm Consulting Session - Today
Gabriela Linares
L-Soft international, Inc.
www.lsoft.com
Info@lsoft.com
301-731-0440
800-399-5449