Writing Effective Association Email
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While social media continues to be a hot topic for marketers, email is still one of the most effective and widely used ways to reach members and engage with your audience. This presentation covers how to break through the clutter to make sure your messages get read and acted on.
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Writing Effective Association Email
- 1. EFFECTIVE ASSOCIATION EMAILS Hilary Marsh, Content Company Associa5on Forum, July 17 2013 HOW TO WRITE FOR MAXIMUM RESULTS ASSOCIATION FORUM COMM/MARKETING SIG – JULY 2013
- 5. 2007: 50 million 2008: 87 million 2009: 100 million NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS 2007: • 50 million emails • 8 e-‐newsleDers 2009: • 100 million emails • 40 e-‐newsleDers
- 6. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS 29% 20% 19% 20% 7% 7% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 2008 2009 2010 YTD Company-Wide E-mailOpen and Click Rates 2008 - 2010 Average Open Rate Average Total Click Rate
- 7. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS We took ac5on: • Two-‐day content summit • 50 communicators from 23 departments • First day, presenta5on of the facts, “recita5on” by each group of their e-‐ newsleDers, key web pages, brochures & other communica5ons • Second day, brainstormed solu5ons Outcome: • Combined almost all e-‐newsleDers into a single, customizable weekly all-‐ member opt-‐out • Created an online form for content requests • Worked with Exec Comms to create a weekly intro “from” the president
- 9. BENCHMARKS
- 11. AVERAGE EMAIL METRICS FOR ASSOCIATIONS • 98.15% delivery rate • 32.36% open rate • 21.08% click rate • .051% unsubscribe rate 53% of emails opened were classified as read (recipients spent 10 seconds or longer engaged with the email) -‐-‐Informz 2013 Associa5on Email Marke5ng Benchmark Report
- 16. SHORTER IS BETTER Highest open rates were emails with subject lines having fewer than 10 characters: 51%. (Informz)
- 17. CHOOSE THE RIGHT WORDS Avoid using “help,” “percent off” and “reminder” because they tend to trigger spam filters. (Mailchimp)
- 18. CHOOSE THE RIGHT WORDS Yes: Alert Bulle5n New Video Daily Weekly Breaking (Adestra Subject Line Analysis Report, GetResponse) No: NewsleDer Monthly Forecast Report Top Stories Free No-‐Cost
- 19. GET CREATIVE • Use capital leDers strategically • Share a “secret” • Be informal • Use numbers • Use rhymes or allitera5on (GetResponse blog)
- 20. TIPS FOR E-NEWSLETTER SUBJECT LINES • Use the lead story headline, or the most interes5ng item. • Consider using several short headlines, separated by the “|” character. • Don’t use the same generic subject line for every issue. • Be en5cing, but not decep5ve. • Think magazine cover lines.
- 21. IT’S ABOUT THE CONTENT, NOT THE THING
- 22. FOCUS ON THE BENEFITS Extract the juicy bits rather than talking about the “container.” For example: • To get more clicks to a report, highlight a key sta5s5c. • To promote a mee5ng, highlight a par5cular session, speaker or aDendee tes5monial. • To gain more sales for a new book, consider publishing a free chapter.
- 23. GOOD BLURBS • Build on the item headline. • Give just enough informa5on to make the reader want more. • Think “cliff-‐hanger.” • If you are “cura5ng” content – that is, sharing an ar5cle from another source – link to a summary and analysis on your site, then take the reader to the original source. • Write for the preview pane: Focus the main point of interest on the copy that will appear in the preview pane of your email. Most people decide if an email is interes5ng by previewing it without opening it.
- 27. YOUR EMAILS DON’T LIVE IN A VACUUM • “Train” your members that the informa5on in your emails is worth clicking on. • Good email headlines need to link to valuable, well-‐wriDen content. • Choose the most member-‐centric content from your website, podcasts, blog, and social media channels for your emails.
- 28. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MEMBER NAR e-‐newsleDer analysis – most popular items: • They are not press releases, do not address something about the associa5on or its workings. • They speak to na5onal concerns that are of interest to a wide range of people (e.g., the real estate bubble, eminent domain). • They promise to teach a member something (e.g., how to run an open house, how new laws affect landlords). 10 *mes more popular than the least-‐popular items
- 29. OTHER OPPORTUNITIES • Ohio Landscape Associa5on put its magazine online and drove poten5al members there – maximized content, saved $ on postage. • OLA also segmented its list to send local event informa5on to the appropriate people. • Retail Confec5oners Interna5onal shares an industry event calendar. • Email lets RCI connect email opens to event registra5on. (Constant Contact)
- 30. ADD VISUALS
- 31. WHEN YOU DELIVER INFORMATION VERBALLY, PEOPLE ONLY REMEMBER 10% OF IT. IF YOU ADD A PICTURE, RETENTION IS 65% -‐-‐Carmine Gallo, Stanford Business School hDp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drtxj2ih0ai
- 34. THINK BEYOND OPENS AND CLICKS Quan5ta5ve • Downloads • Registra5ons • Program par5cipa5on • Renewals Qualita5ve • Sa5sfac5on • Realiza5on of value
- 35. TESTING, TESTING
- 36. FIND OUT WHAT WORKS FOR YOU AND DO MORE OF IT • A/B tes5ng • Headlines • Time of day • Frequency • Number of items • Surveys
- 37. Hilary Marsh, Content Company BE A CONTENT DJ CAP Digital Team Retreat, June 14 2013
- 38. “MIX” YOUR CONTENT WELL • Members want a few topics (they won’t get bored) • Repurpose content by thinking “bite, snack, meal” • Account for different levels of knowledge • Organize your e-‐newsleDer into sec5ons/categories (tech 5ps, local news, money savers, take poli5cal ac5on, etc.) Hilary Marsh, Content Company hDp://www.slideshare.net/hilarymarsh/become-‐a-‐content-‐dj-‐how-‐to-‐create-‐a-‐winning-‐mix-‐for-‐your-‐content-‐marke5ng hDp://ewriteonline.com/ar5cles/2011/11/bite-‐snack-‐and-‐meal-‐how-‐to-‐feed-‐content-‐hungry-‐site-‐visitors/ CAP Digital Team Retreat, June 14 2013
- 39. REDEFINE SUCCESS FROM “PUT IT UP” TO USAGE MEASURE SATISFACTION, AS WELL AS VISITS Hilary Marsh, Content Company CAP Digital Team Retreat, June 14 2013
- 40. THANK YOU. hilary@hilarymarsh.com www.hilarymarsh.com @hilarymarsh