This document discusses improving direct marketing through digital channels. It provides tips for better email design, such as using prototypes and gathering feedback. It also discusses how to enhance relevance and return on investment through segmentation, personalization, lifecycle management, and triggered campaigns. Testing and measurement are recommended to improve email marketing strategies. The overall message is that marketers must focus on relevance to engage customers as email inboxes become more crowded.

1. 10 lundis
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Direct marketing at digital age
Albert Derasse
Business Development Manager CITOBI
albert.derasse@citobi.com

2. Agenda 10 lundis
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• Benchmarks : interesting numbers from the field
• Tips for better Email Design
• Enhance the ROI of your campaigns by improving relevance
• E-CRM & Digital enable a Customer Centric Approach
• Business Case
2

3. Benchmarks : some definitions 10 lundis
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• The email open rate is used by marketeers an indication of how
many people "view" or "open" the Email they send out. This rate is
calculated on the basis of an Image tag. So it can be influenced by
the fact that some Email readers do not show images.
• The delivery rate represents the Emails that are considered as
arrived in the mailbox of the destinee. It corresponds to the
number of Emails sent minus the bounces (hard and soft).
However, this only gives a partial view of the reality as some Email
Services Providers do not send back a bounce even if the mail is not
delivered.
• Click through rate expresses the number of readers that have
clicked on a least 1 link in the email they have received.

4. Overall IAB benchmarks 10 lundis
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5. Agenda 10 lundis
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• Benchmarks : interesting numbers from the field
• Tips for better Email Design
• Enhance the ROI of your campaigns by improving relevance
• E-CRM & Digital enable a Customer Centric Approach
• Business Case
5

6. Great Email designs start with a good
process 10 lundis
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• It is right to copy : inspire yourself of other
newsletters in your business area
• Create low-fidelity prototypes with paper and
pencils or a wireframing software: place text
and image blocks on your drawing
• Do not forget to place Email “essential add-
ons” : pre-header, header, footer…
• Circulate your drawings among colleagues and
gather feedback from users
• Only then, ask a Web designer to create a
working prototype

7. Design Constraints 10 lundis
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• An Email is not a website : some web conventions do not work
in an Email
• Remember the fold (depends from the mail reader) : place you
Call to Action in the most visible part of your email
• Images are blocked by default on many email readers: design
your mail so that it will display correctly even with images off
• Limit the size of banners
• Position your images in order to create a rythm in your design
• Use bullet points and paragraphs to structure text

8. Keep the Image / Text balance 10 lundis
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9. Subject lines 10 lundis
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• Maybe the most important part of your E-mail
– Drives Opening Rates and has a important impact on spam scores
• Make your point in less than 50 characters :
– Depending of your Email reader, it is possible than more than 50 characters are
allowed so, bring the most important aspects in the first part of the subject line.
– Do not repeat the name of the sender in the subject line (already in the From)
– Avoid to break In the middle of a word or an idea
• State clearly what’s in it for the reader
– Be short and relevant
– Do not overstate the real interest of the mail
• Use A/B testing:
– Test different wordings
– Use different metrics (opening rates, click-through, final conversion).

10. Importance of the pre-header
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Ontdek in deze nieuwbrief, in ons eerste artikel, onze postbatibouw lenteactie!
Dacht ook u dat een sleutel-op-de-deur
• Pre-sells the CTA -> increases the opening rate
• Increases the visibility of online version
• Increases the visibility on mobile readers
• Increases deliverability scores
• Serves as reminder in the mailbox

11. Call to Actions (CTA) 10 lundis
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• “Click here” is not a CTA : be clear on what the consumer will
get by clicking : ex: “buy now”, “get your free copy here”
• Location, Location, Location : place the CTA before the fold
• Have at least a TEXT version of your CTA in case images are not
displayed
• Font Size : put the CTA in bold letters so that it is clearly legible
• Replicate the same CTA at various places in your copy and offer
alternative CTA

12. Call to Actions Examples 10 lundis
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Primary CTA Primary CTA
Repeat CTA Fold
Alternative
CTA Alternative
CTA

13. Email Add-ons 10 lundis
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Mandatory: rattraper
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Unsubscribe
Disclaimer/privacy statement
Contact link
Essential:
Profile update form
Preference Center
Personalisation
Forward to a Friend
Share on your networks
Nice to have
Library of previous newsletters
Table of contents

14. Opt-in procedures : show what people
will receive 10 lundis
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15. Opt-in procedures : engage subscribers
immediately after opt-in 10 lundis
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16. Preferences Center 10 lundis
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• A preferences Center
digital
allows to segment your
list based on readers
interests
• Process must be
straightforward
• The “preference” center
page must be accessible
from every mail
• Add a “snooze” function
to allow your contacts to
temporarely modify their
preferences as they can
change over time.

17. Unsubscribe procedures 10 lundis
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• Good unsubscribe procedures are key to your reputation and digital
deliverability : you must facilitate unsubscribing to avoid that
people declare your mails as spam.
• Gold rule : KISS (Keep it Simple and …) : the process must be
straightforward. Ex: do not require a password to unsubscribes
• Make your unsubscribe link visible : put in in the pre-header if
you have problems of Email reputation
• Act first, ask after: if you want to ask you subscribers to tell the
reasons of your unsubscription, do it only after having
registered their unsubscription.

18. 10 lundis
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19. Integrate User Generated content
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• To create a sense of digital
community with your
subscribers add reactions
coming from your
comment forms or from
social networks
• This type of content must
be curated to avoid
negative impact of some
comments.
• Be cautious not to select
only overly positive
comments.
• Add a possibility to
comment these comments
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20. Open and Closed e-couponing systems
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• « Closed» e-couponing system: le train du
digital
– The coupon is emitted by a retailer an can Validity:
only be used at the retailers cash. Consumer
Facial value : max 3 euros name max 45
– No need to standardize as all the days
parameters are in retailer’s hand.
– No need for a third party clearing system.
• «Open» e-couponing system:
– The coupon can be emitted by any product
company and must allow redemption in
any shop.
– Requires high standardisation level
– Requires a third clearing system
Product identifier: EAN
13
BABM, FEDIS and GS1 have agreed on the Personal
definition of a standard for e-couponing in identifier :
Belgium CODE 39

21. Agenda 10 lundis
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• Benchmarks : interesting numbers from the field
• Tips for better Email Design
• Enhance the ROI of your campaigns by improving relevance
• E-CRM & Digital enable a Customer Centric Approach
• Business Case
21

22. Email relevance becomes a vital issue
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 What’s in a word? Relevance is easier to define by its contrary : digital
irrelevance
 As their inbox are flooded by irrelevant e-mails, people tend to
consider messages as spam because:
 The timing of the message is not adapted
 The frequency of the message is too high
 The content is not differentiated
 The design does not fit the browser or the device (iphone...) specificities
 In short : the future of mass e-mailing is not too rosy. But its
siblings have good chances to survive.

23. Relevance...Beyond Deliverability 10 lundis
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• Relevance is NOT
digital
– A synonym of deliverability
– A technological-only
problem
• Even if you manage
to put 100% of your
message in your
readers mailboxes,
you still have an
issue with relevance
• However improving
relevance is a key
element to better
deliverability

24. If you don’t tackle irrelevance,
someone will do it 10 lundis
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• People who consider your e-mails as irrelevant are more
susceptible to declare your mail as spam to their ISP
• Internet Service Providers track the opening rates of your
mails. Low opening rates influence your spam scores. It can
lead to blacklisting.
«Because at the end of the day, the goal is to have marketers send messages that
consumers want. At the end of the day, it really becomes a lot less about permission, and
more about what consumers are asking for.»
Charles Stiles, AOL’s postmatser, in DMNEWS, october 30

25. How to improve relevance? 10 lundis
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– Opt-in procedures
– Segmentation an
personalisation
– Lifecycle management
– Triggered campaigns
– Testing and
measurement

26. Segmentation and personalisation 10 lundis
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• Problem :
– Less than 20% of marketeers use segmentation because of
• limited creative ressources (70%)
• lack of data (50%)
• lack of time (50%)
• Consequence:
– Mass e-mailing still prevails
– People consider mails as «bulk mail» and unsubscribe or report as spam
• Solution :
– Segment your database at registration moment
– Enrich your database with surveys
– Track what customers do
• Links click history
• Web analytics
• Buying habits
• ...

27. Enrich your database with customer
feedback and surveys 10 lundis
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• Consumers are generally willing to share their feedback about your
messages, so it is advisable to regularely ask them questions.
• Add a quick link to a feedback form.
• Reward feedback with feedback : if you change something on the
basis of users feedback, do not hesitate to tell them.

28. Track what customers do 10 lundis
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• Enrich your databases with information on your customers
habits
– Clicked links history
– Survey participations
– Web analytics data
– Buying history
– Social Network activity
– ...

29. Example of segmentation patterns 10 lundis
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• Explicit preferences and interests : the most obvious and underused way to segment.
• Implicit preferences based on open rate and click through rate : give a score to links in your
Emails and segment accordingly
• Prospects vs Clients : nothing is a counterproductive as sending the same message to
prospects and clients containing better deals that what the former client got.
• Time preferences segmentation : people tend to open their e-mails at a given time. It is wise
to follow the same pattern. For example : phone users tend to read their emails in the
morning, Ipad users read their emails in front of TV in the evening.
• Acquisition channels : people coming from a call centre or co-registration must be treated
differently than people who have opted in on your site...
• Geography : people receive specific offers targeted to their region.

30. Example of geographic /
time segmentation 10 lundis
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• Customers receive an offer that is tailored to the weather
rattraper
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predictions in their city

31. Lifecycle management 10 lundis
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• Lifecycle-based e-mail campaigns can create important touch
points that will keep customer engaged and enable to achieve a
lasting relationship.
• Welcome programs.
• First-time buyer programs.
• Loyalty programs.
• Ambassador programs.
• Re-activation programs.

32. Example of a lifecycle
management program 10 lundis
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Acquistion Management Lifecycle Management
- 4 m - 2m TD Day 0 Day 7 +1 Month +2 Years +5 years
testdrive Customer
First web Interaction & call Post purchase Cross- Warrantee Replacement
visit to action buys product Satisfaction Survey sell offer renewal offer offer
Campaign
Creation & sending
Relationship Reporting
Scenario
Event Capture DB enrichment online
offline Coupon
Source: scanning

33. Triggered campaigns 10 lundis
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• Triggered e-mail are the most susceptible to be considered as
relevant by the addressee as they closely follow the user
status.
• Key success factors :
– Use with care. Be certain to recognise where it’s appropriate to create trigger based campaigns
and where there may be little benefit.
– Set Frequency Limits. Don’t send too often, but do not under-send. When was the last time the
customer or prospect received something from you?
– Think customer first. Don’t be fooled by the capabilities of your marketing automation tool.
– Keep it simple and manageable. It is unlikely that the campaign will immediately deliver results. Be
prepared to polish your work over time.

34. Testing and measurement 10 lundis
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• Use control groups. Take a small group of profiles who will
not be affected by the relevance improvement. Monitor the
difference between this group and the groups on which you
test your relevance improvement strategies.
• Don’t test too many (max 3) variables to avoid any risk of
confusion and non representative numbers.
• Be systematic. Test every message you send to your audience.
You can use automated split testing mechanisms.
• Keep track of your experiments. Information gathered
through testing can help you setting the blueprints for future
successful campaigns.

35. Agenda 10 lundis
pour
rattraper
le train du
digital
• Benchmarks : interesting numbers from the field
• Tips for better Email Design
• Enhance the ROI of your campaigns by improving relevance
• E-CRM & Digital enables a Customer Centric Approach
• Business Case
35

36. 10 lundis
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• Customer relationship management (CRM) is a broadly
recognized, widely-implemented strategy for managing and
nurturing a company’s interactions with customers, clients
and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize,
automate, and synchronize business processes—principally
sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer
service, and technical support
• To put it more succinctly, CRM is a strategy for managing the
relationship with customers using technology to automate &
organize the interactions
http://ericbrown.com

37. 3 goals 10 lundis
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• Lead Management
Acquisition • Suspect>Prospect>Client
• Loyalty Program
Retention • 1/6 principal
• Up Selling
Increase • Cross Selling
the SOW” • B2B2C: Enhance Selling Out

38. Additionnal benefits
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First/Basic Market Insight
Product Development through lead users
Network management

39. Link between Sales Force Automation
& Marketing Automation. 10 lundis
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Reported reactions
• Expressed towards sent message • Through Account
(dis)satisfaction Manager team
• Decreasing/increasing • Opening e-mail • Through Dedicated
Product Use • Clic/participation Actions
•… • Info request •…
• Participation Satisfaction
Survey
Recorded in DataMart Next Best Action

40. E-CRM as a bridge between HQ and
Network/front Office 10 lundis
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Relationship
Marketing
Understand conversion Generate leads & TD
Business Lead
intelligence Management
Capture sales events Make TD happen
Sales
& customer datas Management
Increase conversion

41. Get the customer journey 10 lundis
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Declaration phase Consideration Phase Buying phase le train du
digital
>6 months 6 months… 3-1 months… “TD” day <1 month … Purchase
The prospect An e-mail A “conversion” The prospect Satisfaction survey
enters the DB and triggering the e-mail, tests the car after the test drive
indicates which are “discovery” of suggesting a
the models of his new models, test drive
interest and a novelties and
potential date of accessories
change
o ----
o ----
o ----
Source:

42. The client centric crossroad 10 lundis
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3
Campaign
2 tracking 4
Network input
Transactional
feedback in
Data
FO interface
1 5
Web Social Media
Behaviour Tracking

43. What consumer deserves that you
were talking to him and how…? 10 lundis
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Mass Personally Mailing with
D2D addressed personal
e-mail mailing content
Customer Equity based
DM Communication Mix

44. The 4 R’s of the New Relationship
Management 10 lundis
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Reveal • Discover in « avant-première »…
• The product that would better fit to you…
Retain • Churn Management
Respect • « You are my client and I know you »…
Reward • I’m gratefull you are my client
• Thanks for your loyalty…

45. 10 lundis
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• Bibliographie
– Benoit De Nayer. Citobi e-mail academy 2011
– Lester Wunderman. (2004). Being Direct. Edition M 135
– Jean-Marc Lehu.(2000) La fidélisation Client. Editions de l’organisation
– Steven Woods. (2009). The digital Bodylanguage. New Year Publishing LLC
– Stanley Brown. (2006) CRM La gestion de la Relation Client. Village mondial
– W Chan Kim, Renée Mauborgne. (2004) Stratégie Océan Bleu. Pearson
– Catherine Viot. (2006). Le e-marketing. Gualino éditeur.

46. Agenda 10 lundis
pour
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le train du
digital
• Benchmarks : interesting numbers from the field
• Tips for better Email Design
• Enhance the ROI of your campaigns by improving relevance
• Digital enables a Customer Centric Approach
• Business Case
46