A New Chapter in Low-Cost Lead Generation
Written by Karen Gedney
A disaster recovery software company generates leads for under a penny per e-mail. Read on.
» Full story
Jeanniey Mullen says: READ This Column and Get a Free Magazine
Jeanniey Mullen says: READ This Column and Get a Free Magazine |
How to engage audiences through email marketing
28 November 28, 2008 Categories: How to..., Indispensible marketing department
You’re an IT Director in financial services. Or the Head of e-Delivery in the public sector. From our decision-maker research, we know that you receive around 30 supplier marketing emails every day (without even considering more regular spam emails) – and probably find barely a quarter of these to be relevant.
It’s a sign of email’s growing popularity or even over-use in isolation from other activities (as a more ‘measureable’ and ‘cost-effective’ digital channel) and of some common mistakes being made in how it is used.
We recently reviewed a year’s worth of emails sent out as part of wider relationship, lead generation or thought leadership programmes. The key conclusions are presented – and illustrated with examples – in a paper available to download here.
3 Absurdly Simple Ways to Tie Together Social Media and Email
Increasingly, active email marketers are wondering how they can engage with their subscribers in social media.
It’s a bit scary, because most email is still of the “batch and blast” variety, and that dog will not hunt in social media, where the marketing is conversational and the name of the game is relevance.
But, assuming you aren’t looking at social media as a messaging venue, but rather an opportunity to learn about your customers, and for them to learn about your brand, tying your email and social media efforts together should be a 2009 prime directive.
Here’s 3 easy ways to do so:
1. Collect Profile Data in Subscription Forms
Offer your email subscribers the option of including their Twitter name on your subscription form. Something like:... read on
Email subject lines: Does length matter?
Added:Dec 10, 2008
A strong subject line is the key factor in improving the return-on-investment of email marketing campaigns, rather than the length of the subject line, according to new research.
The study, from Email Services Provider Epsilon International, analysed the impact of more than one billion emails over nearly 20,000 separate campaigns sent out by five US retail clients and five US consumer goods clients, in what is understood to be the biggest ever study of the impact of subject line length...read on
Email Marketing to BlackBerrys - Usage, Formating & Rendering Tips
Ready to hear the horrible truth? 64% of key decision makers are viewing your carefully crafted email on their BlackBerrys and other mobile devices, according to new MarketingSherpa data. And, chances are, your email looks downright awful.
By Chris Heine | MarketingSherpa - July 2007
What do you do? First, find a BlackBerry and see for yourself. Then, call for an immediate meeting with your email design team. To help, we’ve put together a list of tactics and creative samples so you can see just how truly bad it is. Plus, hotlinks to two cool simulators ... read on
THE FROM LINE EXTENDED: Email Rendering on Mobile Devices Poses New Challenges and Opportunities
The mobile phone continues to rise in popularity as a primary communications device making email rendering on mobile devices a serious issue. According to data from MarketingSherpa, approximately 64% of “key decision makers” are reading messages on a BlackBerry or other mobile device. Let’s find out why this issue is finding its way to the top of many a priority list.
What is the problem?
Right now, mobile devices only display text emails. Basically, they make a mess of a finely crafted HTML message. They are fussy about font size and the user is often scanning, not reading, the text. Email marketers will also have a challenging time separating their mobile users in email databases from traditional computer receivers. The segmentation will be necessary, however, to ensure proper rendering of messages to non-HTML-friendly email clients. Another snag is that mobile devices also make it more difficult for email marketers to determine the true open rate of their campaigns. Metrics, we know, are key to evaluating success and implementing positive change.
How do email marketers solve this problem?... read on
February 8, 2008 1:30 PM
Lyris and Hotmail
We have been working on new ways of improving response rates from recipients with Microsoft email domains. We have had remarkable success in recent weeks, in particular, we have in some cases been able to improve the open rate for Microsoft domains by 50% (e.g. from 14% to 21%), through a series of techniques which I would like to share with you.
Checking your open rate by domain is a very good way of identifying ways of improving results from your mailing. We have noticed that Microsoft has recently been reacting very quickly to response rates (in particular the percentage of recipients who hit the Junk or 'mark as Junk' options) by first rate limiting (slowing down the speed they accept email from you) and then delivering the content to the junk folder, rather than the inbox. We have also seen more cases recently, where Microsoft has gone beyond this and actually blocked the mailing altogether. In these cases they send back either a soft or a hard bounce in the SMTP transaction. Microsoft has filters and response management tools which are watching the metrics of your mailings and taking decisions as to how to treat your email on a hour by hour basis.
Microsoft does give legitimate senders good feedback on how they are treating mail from your IP address. You can see this by signing up to the Microsoft SNDS program
Microsoft changes the way your mailing is treated over time, whilst your mailing is being sent. So, your mailing can be delivered to the inbox in your tests and in the first couple of hours and then, due to response rates, the rest of your mailing can be delivered to the junk folder. How can you tell if this is happening?
- Firstly, you can check your general open rate against previous mailings. If you have a consumer list, Microsoft domains will make up a large percentage of your list and so you will see a lower open rate.
- Secondly, you can check your open rate for hotmail and compare with previous mailings. You can do this by creating a segment of all hotmail recipients who have opened the email and dividing the total by the number of hotmail recipients who received the email (another segment). Alternatively you can use SQL queries for this or make a custom report. If you have any questions on this, please do contact me on andrew@lyris.co.uk.
- Thirdly, download the .csv file of the segment of hotmail recipients who have opened the email and check the alphabetical distribution of the first letter of recipient addresses. Listmanager starts sending at letter 'a' and goes on through the alphabet. If you find that you have a large percentage of hotmail openers with 'a' or 'b' at the beginning of their email address but very few with 's' or 'w', there is a strong likelihood that your mailing has been delivered to the inbox at first and then after the first couple of hours, delivered to the junk folder or blocked.
How do you optimise your chances of consistent delivery to the inbox at Microsoft Domains?
The method we have employed is to split a mailing into two; send first to all the recipients who have opened an email in the last 3 months, then send the rest of the mailing to recipients who have not opened in the last 3 months. This means that the responses that Microsoft sees in the first few hours of a mailing are overwhelmingly positive. The mailing therefore doesn't get assigned to the junk folder. This means that engaged recipients don't miss out on the mailing at the start and 'inactive' recipients are more likely to respond because they will actually 'see' the email in their inbox. This method also shows you how well your content is doing at re-engaging the 'inactive' members of your list. If you get an open rate of 4% on your inactive list, for example, that is a cause for celebration. This means thousands of people have opened the email who have not done so in the last 3 months.
I was reading Ben Chestnut's interesting post on the MailChimp blog about how Sending to old lists will kill your deliverability. Our approach, as outlined in the paragraph above, goes one step further than what Ben is suggesting and gives you a much better chance of improving response rates.
Checking your open rate by domain is a very good way of identifying ways of improving results from your mailing. We have noticed that Microsoft has recently been reacting very quickly to response rates (in particular the percentage of recipients who hit the Junk or 'mark as Junk' options) by first rate limiting (slowing down the speed they accept email from you) and then delivering the content to the junk folder, rather than the inbox. We have also seen more cases recently, where Microsoft has gone beyond this and actually blocked the mailing altogether. In these cases they send back either a soft or a hard bounce in the SMTP transaction. Microsoft has filters and response management tools which are watching the metrics of your mailings and taking decisions as to how to treat your email on a hour by hour basis.
Microsoft does give legitimate senders good feedback on how they are treating mail from your IP address. You can see this by signing up to the Microsoft SNDS program
Microsoft changes the way your mailing is treated over time, whilst your mailing is being sent. So, your mailing can be delivered to the inbox in your tests and in the first couple of hours and then, due to response rates, the rest of your mailing can be delivered to the junk folder. How can you tell if this is happening?
- Firstly, you can check your general open rate against previous mailings. If you have a consumer list, Microsoft domains will make up a large percentage of your list and so you will see a lower open rate.
- Secondly, you can check your open rate for hotmail and compare with previous mailings. You can do this by creating a segment of all hotmail recipients who have opened the email and dividing the total by the number of hotmail recipients who received the email (another segment). Alternatively you can use SQL queries for this or make a custom report. If you have any questions on this, please do contact me on andrew@lyris.co.uk.
- Thirdly, download the .csv file of the segment of hotmail recipients who have opened the email and check the alphabetical distribution of the first letter of recipient addresses. Listmanager starts sending at letter 'a' and goes on through the alphabet. If you find that you have a large percentage of hotmail openers with 'a' or 'b' at the beginning of their email address but very few with 's' or 'w', there is a strong likelihood that your mailing has been delivered to the inbox at first and then after the first couple of hours, delivered to the junk folder or blocked.
How do you optimise your chances of consistent delivery to the inbox at Microsoft Domains?
The method we have employed is to split a mailing into two; send first to all the recipients who have opened an email in the last 3 months, then send the rest of the mailing to recipients who have not opened in the last 3 months. This means that the responses that Microsoft sees in the first few hours of a mailing are overwhelmingly positive. The mailing therefore doesn't get assigned to the junk folder. This means that engaged recipients don't miss out on the mailing at the start and 'inactive' recipients are more likely to respond because they will actually 'see' the email in their inbox. This method also shows you how well your content is doing at re-engaging the 'inactive' members of your list. If you get an open rate of 4% on your inactive list, for example, that is a cause for celebration. This means thousands of people have opened the email who have not done so in the last 3 months.
I was reading Ben Chestnut's interesting post on the MailChimp blog about how Sending to old lists will kill your deliverability. Our approach, as outlined in the paragraph above, goes one step further than what Ben is suggesting and gives you a much better chance of improving response rates.
Expert warns businesses against sending 'too much' email marketing
Expert warns businesses against sending 'too much' email marketing
Business Strata - Business News - Farnborough,Hampshire,UK
Growing businesses that do not use email marketing in conjunction with social media could be "missing a real opportunity", according to an expert. ... read on
See all stories on this topic
Business Strata - Business News - Farnborough,Hampshire,UK
Growing businesses that do not use email marketing in conjunction with social media could be "missing a real opportunity", according to an expert. ... read on
See all stories on this topic
Email marketing company Pure’s solution crosses the language divide
Email marketing company Pure’s solution crosses the language divide
Free press releases (press release) - Oxford,UK
Pure announces its new language module as part of its pure response email marketing software. One of the many benefits of email marketing is that, ... read on
See all stories on this topic from google
Free press releases (press release) - Oxford,UK
Pure announces its new language module as part of its pure response email marketing software. One of the many benefits of email marketing is that, ... read on
See all stories on this topic from google
Businesses 'beginning to understand the potential of email marketing'
Businesses 'beginning to understand the potential of email marketing'
Business Strata - Business News - Farnborough,Hampshire,UK
Growing businesses in the UK are beginning to understand the potential of email marketing, according to an expert. John Coyne of consultancy firm ...
See all stories on this topic from google
Business Strata - Business News - Farnborough,Hampshire,UK
Growing businesses in the UK are beginning to understand the potential of email marketing, according to an expert. John Coyne of consultancy firm ...
See all stories on this topic from google
Trigger-Based Email Marketing Improves Sales and Customer Experience
Trigger-Based Email Marketing Improves Sales and Customer Experience
Practical Ecommerce (subscription) - Grand Junction,USA
“That’s what trigger email is all about.” There are multitudes of email-marketing service and software suppliers, providing online-registration, ...
See all stories on this topic: google
Practical Ecommerce (subscription) - Grand Junction,USA
“That’s what trigger email is all about.” There are multitudes of email-marketing service and software suppliers, providing online-registration, ...
See all stories on this topic: google
BtoB newsletter Oct 2008
Case study: How ClearBrick built its e-mail list
By Karen J. Bannan
Software provider ClearBrick offers its customer experience planning software to small companies across the world. Until April 2007, it got the word out using pay-per-click ads and direct marketing...
FULL STORY
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FULL STORY
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Why are our targeted weekly e-mails getting little response?
Answer: When a marketing program does not work, always go back to the basics of marketing 101: right target, right message, right timing, right channel.Despite advances in scenario-based Web design created to track customer online behavior and build profiles or personas, for targeted marketing campaigns, your customers are still bombarded with tons of irrelevant messages—often the result of batch-and-blast campaigns sent by stove-piped e-mail applications and outsourced e-mail service providers—each day.
If you aren’t getting responses, it is quite likely that your customers view your correspondence as spam rather than relevant or valuable information, regardless of whether or not they have opted to receive your e-mails. Relevance is key in e-mail.
Assuming your target audience, timing and channel are right, it’s time to step back and take a closer look at your message and its relevancy. What about your personalization capabilities? If you’re relying on customer profiles and Web behavior alone, it’s time to expand your approach and take into account all customer interaction: Have you met face to face at a trade show? Spoken on the phone? Engaged in preliminary sales discussions?
Often these data are stored in two different locations. Customer profiles are housed within your Web and e-mail system, and real-world customer interactions are stored in the sales force automation (SFA), or customer relationship management (CRM) system or a lead management database. What you need is an enterprise marketing platform that will link the two. Adding this technological infrastructure links online data accumulated through Web and e-mail tracking with offline data stored in SFA/CRM and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to automate the communication process.
There are a number of platforms out there, however the best solution will manage and gather data as well as support more personalized, tightly coordinated communications across multiples channels, not just e-mail. This technology should be able to handle sophisticated marketing automation work flows—especially those supporting highly personalized, large-volume outbound communications and should integrate with back-end transactional solutions.
At the same time, the technology should continuously and automatically monitor response rates and digital body language to provide you and your sales staff with up-to-the-minute details on campaign performance. With A/B testing and measurable results, you’ll be able to devise more targeted, impactful campaigns while integrating e-mail with new and existing communications channels to increase customer loyalty and drive sales—a far cry from the soulless batch-and-blast campaigns flooding your customers’ inboxes.
Patrick McHugh is exec VP-North American operations for Neolane (www.neolane.com), a provider of enterprise marketing software.
Back to The Basics - How is your email perceived?
Back to The Basics - How is your email perceived?
Posted: 01 Oct 2008 10:39 AM CDT
To continue with the theme of email Bests Practices topics, I think it's fair to state that both the ISPs and their email recipient clients are able to differentiate between legitimate marketers, and spammers. But the ISP and the email recipient share a frustration with the legitimate marketers. They notice inconsistencies in recognizing the need for best email delivery practices by the legitimate marketers.When all is said and done, it is the ISP, and the email recipient perception that will affect your deliverability. As a whole, both parties, act as the combined force for deciding whether or not they accept your email to the recipient inbox.
To break this down, most ISPs are mainly concerned about certain technical factors about the email itself including; the header and subject line information, the body of the email, the reputation and past performance of the sending network. So you want to ensure the content and technical setup in your emails can pass the filters, gateways and servers designed by the ISPs for their customer's privacy; furthermore, you want to ensure that your emails are recognized by the human ISPs postmaster employees, as your email subscribers - for more on this see the five R's of email.
With the email recipient, the issues become more about the presentation, the intent of the email, and the recognition of the sender, and less about technical specifics; therefore, it is important that you ensure that your emails are recognized by the email recipient, as legitimate email. It is imperative that your intentions and practices are clear and conspicuous to the email recipient at the time of subscribing and with each message being delivered. By ensuring both the ISP and email recipient are satisfied, increase the likelihood that your email will make it to the recipient inbox.
So, are your issues technical or presentational? Do you know how some ISPs interact and collaborate with their clients to combat spam? Are you aware of the differences in how the ISPs and email recipients in other countries regard data collection and protection?
The answers could be as simple as a consistent "from domain", ensuring a proper DNS setup, a broken URL link which does not go to a legitimate "Subscribe" or "Privacy" link, or a misinterpretation of countries data protection legislation.
So ask yourself - "Where do my sending practices need tweaking?"
Email marketing 'high earner for firms'
Email marketing 'high earner for firms'
One Stop Click - London,UK - October 1, 2008 13:57
Email marketing can offer organisations "incredible" levels of cost-effectiveness and high returns on investment (ROI), it has been claimed. ... read on
See all stories on this topic from google
One Stop Click - London,UK - October 1, 2008 13:57
Email marketing can offer organisations "incredible" levels of cost-effectiveness and high returns on investment (ROI), it has been claimed. ... read on
See all stories on this topic from google
How to Succeed With Email Marketing
How to Succeed With Email Marketing
TheStreet.com - USA - 10/01/08 - 09:03 AM EDT
Entrepreneur.com's Gail Goodman recently spoke with Rosen to understand more about her business and the important role email marketing plays in her success. ...read on
See all stories on this topic from google
TheStreet.com - USA - 10/01/08 - 09:03 AM EDT
Entrepreneur.com's Gail Goodman recently spoke with Rosen to understand more about her business and the important role email marketing plays in her success. ...read on
See all stories on this topic from google
Email marketing 'a question of balance'
Email marketing 'a question of balance'
M Consulting - Birmingham,UK - Wednesday, 01 October 2008
According to Dianna Dilworth of dmnews.com, firms using email as part of a financial services marketing campaign should balance the need to maintain regular ... read on
See all stories on this topic from google
M Consulting - Birmingham,UK - Wednesday, 01 October 2008
According to Dianna Dilworth of dmnews.com, firms using email as part of a financial services marketing campaign should balance the need to maintain regular ... read on
See all stories on this topic from google
Offer subscribers the ability to change the frequency of their emails
Offer subscribers the ability to change the frequency of their emails
Posted: 30 Sep 2008 11:19 AM CDT
To make emails more relevant to your subscribers, offer a preference panel that allows them to control what they receive from a company. Offer the flexibility to pick areas of interest, frequency, etc. Allow readers the ability to change their selections with each mailing. Make it as easy as possible! Stay away from complicated password-protected access, these are a real turn-off, and readers may just start deleting your emails rather than try to change their subscription.
The unsubscribe function would of course be a part of this panel. But subscribers may not want to unsubscribe completely - they may simply want to hear from your company less frequently. Smart marketers should look into offering options other then "remove me from everything". And, since "too frequent" is one of THE top reasons for reporting an email as spam or unsubscribing, this preference panel would go a long way in building a good relationship with the subscriber.
Here's a great example from J.Crew, which gives the subscriber an opportunity to control the frequency - or to easily go on to remove themselves from all J.Crew mailings. This form comes up when the recipient selects unsubscribe. J.Crew offers a polite touch point between the initial 'click here to remove' request and the final 'remove' function. (NB: The form is pre-populated with the email address.)
Jennifer Curtin
Head of Marketing
Newsweaver
Emerging platforms 'are changing the role of email marketing'
Emerging platforms 'are changing the role of email marketing'
Business Strata - Business News - Farnborough,Hampshire,UK
The growth of social media and mobile devices is changing the role of email marketing within promotional campaigns, according to an expert. ...
See all stories on this topic from google
Business Strata - Business News - Farnborough,Hampshire,UK
The growth of social media and mobile devices is changing the role of email marketing within promotional campaigns, according to an expert. ...
See all stories on this topic from google
Email Marketing Clinic: Could 'opt outs' be damaging your reputation?
Email Marketing Clinic: Could 'opt outs' be damaging your reputation?
IT Wales - Swansea,Wales,UK
The recipient just clicks on the link, your email marketing software package handles it, end of story ...right? Not necessarily. Firstly, there two ways a ...
See all stories on this topic from google
IT Wales - Swansea,Wales,UK
The recipient just clicks on the link, your email marketing software package handles it, end of story ...right? Not necessarily. Firstly, there two ways a ...
See all stories on this topic from google
MarketingSherpa’s New Benchmark Guides Offer Budget Planning Help
MarketingSherpa’s New Benchmark Guides Offer Budget Planning Help
PR.com (press release) - Levittown,NY,USA
The sixth annual edition of MarketingSherpa’s Email Marketing Benchmark Guide will be completed by October 2008. It is being completely re-researched and ...
See all stories on this topic from google
PR.com (press release) - Levittown,NY,USA
The sixth annual edition of MarketingSherpa’s Email Marketing Benchmark Guide will be completed by October 2008. It is being completely re-researched and ...
See all stories on this topic from google
"Cover Your ASSets! What Marketers Need to Know to Stay in ...
"Cover Your ASSets! What Marketers Need to Know to Stay in ...
Emediawire (press release) - Ferndale,WA,USA 29/09/2008 20:14
He is a Certified Information Privacy Professional and a Certified Email Marketing Professional. Luis is one of the most widely published authors in the ...
See all stories on this topic from google
Emediawire (press release) - Ferndale,WA,USA 29/09/2008 20:14
He is a Certified Information Privacy Professional and a Certified Email Marketing Professional. Luis is one of the most widely published authors in the ...
See all stories on this topic from google
Well on Your Way to Creating Successful Email Campaigns.
Well on Your Way to Creating Successful Email Campaigns.
By Winston Bowden: Friday, 3rd October 2008
Microsoft challenged email marketing designers after the release of Outlook 2007. In the past, Outlook rendered HTML email using Internet Explorer. ...
Good email design is a critical part of ensuring a high response rate -
A major frustration within the industry is the lack of standards to guide designers when creating HTML email. Though there isn't one email-marketing design bible, there are fundamental design rules that should be applied.
This article reviews some of the high-level design principles as well as more in-depth rules affecting some of the most common issues and questions we are most often asked... read on - it's very good
By Winston Bowden: Friday, 3rd October 2008
Microsoft challenged email marketing designers after the release of Outlook 2007. In the past, Outlook rendered HTML email using Internet Explorer. ...
Good email design is a critical part of ensuring a high response rate -
A major frustration within the industry is the lack of standards to guide designers when creating HTML email. Though there isn't one email-marketing design bible, there are fundamental design rules that should be applied.
This article reviews some of the high-level design principles as well as more in-depth rules affecting some of the most common issues and questions we are most often asked... read on - it's very good
Email marketing 'still an attractive option' in the economic downturn
Business Strata - Business News - Farnborough,Hampshire,UK: 26/09/2008 19:55
An expert has claimed that email marketing is "still an attractive option" for growing businesses looking to promote their work during the economic downturn ...
An expert has claimed that email marketing is "still an attractive option" for growing businesses looking to promote their work during the economic downturn ...
Email Karma.net
Links for 2008-09-24 [del.icio.us]
Posted: 25 Sep 2008 12:00 AM CDT
- First Name Personalization - The Debate Continues
DJ talks about Personalization with First Name
Train your brain - Email Experience Council
Train Your Brain - 25/09/2008 Email Experience Council
The Truth About Email Marketing (FT Press, August 2008) is the new book by eec member Simms Jenkins, CEO of BrightWave Marketing, and creator of EmailStatCenter.com (an eec sponsor).
The book covers 49 proven email marketing best practices and bite-size, easy-to-use techniques that get results. The Truth About Email Marketing has received strong accolades since it was published in August, including praise from eec members.
"Simms has a great knack for simplifying the complex world of email. From the novice email marketer to the email aficionado, The Truth About Email Marketing provides insight and thought-provoking content that all of us can use in our email and online marketing efforts."
- Aaron Kahlow, CEO & Founder, Online Marketing Summit
***Exclusive offer for eec'ers***
Get a copy of The Truth about Email Marketing for 25% off, plus free shipping (US only). Just purchase the book through the FT Press store and enter the discount code Emailmark01 during the checkout process.
The Truth About Email Marketing (FT Press, August 2008) is the new book by eec member Simms Jenkins, CEO of BrightWave Marketing, and creator of EmailStatCenter.com (an eec sponsor).
The book covers 49 proven email marketing best practices and bite-size, easy-to-use techniques that get results. The Truth About Email Marketing has received strong accolades since it was published in August, including praise from eec members.
"Simms has a great knack for simplifying the complex world of email. From the novice email marketer to the email aficionado, The Truth About Email Marketing provides insight and thought-provoking content that all of us can use in our email and online marketing efforts."
- Aaron Kahlow, CEO & Founder, Online Marketing Summit
***Exclusive offer for eec'ers***
Get a copy of The Truth about Email Marketing for 25% off, plus free shipping (US only). Just purchase the book through the FT Press store and enter the discount code Emailmark01 during the checkout process.
5 ways to ensure good e-mail content
September 25, 2008
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5 ways to ensure good e-mail content
-
» FEATURE
5 ways to ensure good e-mail content
By Karen J. Bannan
The quality of your e-mail newsletter content is usually directly proportional to how widely it’s read and to whether or not readers unsubscribe.
FULL STORY
FULL STORY
ADVERTISEMENT
How can you acquire new customers when people are spending less in today’s slow economy? Without the right processes and metrics, your well-intentioned customer acquisition programs can become expensive experiments, with few results. Get on track for better results with this step-by-step self audit.
Download the free customer acquisition audit guide now.
Download the free customer acquisition audit guide now.
» ASK THE EXPERT
How can marketers adjust their e-mail programs in a slower economy?
Answer: At a time when economic concerns are forcing companies to look carefully at marketing budgets across the board, e-mail is still an attractive option given its extremely high ROI. (According to the Direct Marketing Association, e-mail will generate $45.65 for every dollar spent in 2008.) To achieve that ROI however, you must look at allocating your spending so that every dollar is working to drive the maximum benefit.
The first step is to categorize and analyze the expenses associated with your e-mail programs, including the money being invested in database development, customer profiling and segmentation, strategy, e-mail creative, e-mail deliverability, e-mail production and e-mail deployment. Because highly targeted, tested and well-crafted e-mails almost always generate better results, you’ll want to make sure that you’re investing properly in these areas.
If you find that a lot of your budget goes to e-mail deployment, you should ensure that you’re leveraging the right solution to meet your needs. While many companies have historically outsourced e-mail marketing to e-mail service providers for lack of a viable alternative, the latest generation of in-house e-mail marketing solutions can enable companies to lower their costs by eliminating CPM fees, which increase alongside e-mail volumes.
The bottom line is that reducing your e-mail deployment costs will allow you to allocate more of your budget to strategic areas that can actually lead to increased conversion rates, such as A/B testing, dynamic content creation, database enhancement, transactional e-mail optimization and Web analytics integration. Spending your money on the areas that can make the most difference is always a smart decision, but even more so in a slowing economy.
Ryan Deutsch is director of strategic services at StrongMail Systems (www.strongmail.com), a provider of e-mail marketing solutions.
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Benchmark Your Results:
Key Metrics for Successful Lead Management Programs
BtoB Webcast: Thursday, Oct. 2 at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT
Marketers are under pressure to deliver measurable results. How do you stack up against the competition? Attend this Webcast to evaluate your lead management program's effectiveness against industry averages. We'll reveal overall response rates to lead-nurturing emails, the number of touches it takes to win and more. Register now!
Key Metrics for Successful Lead Management Programs
BtoB Webcast: Thursday, Oct. 2 at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT
Marketers are under pressure to deliver measurable results. How do you stack up against the competition? Attend this Webcast to evaluate your lead management program's effectiveness against industry averages. We'll reveal overall response rates to lead-nurturing emails, the number of touches it takes to win and more. Register now!
» E-MAIL NEWS
IAB issues best practices for e-mail data management
New York—The Interactive Advertising Bureau has issued Email Data Management Best Practices, a position statement recommending privacy and data security guidelines for publishers, marketers and service providers....
FULL STORY
FULL STORY
Drip Marketing: Slow and Steady Wins the Customer
Inside CRM - San Francisco,CA,USA
Email marketing is a particularly tricky business because of spam's current choke hold on email campaigns. In fact, most people who get a message from a read on...
See all stories on this topic from google
Email marketing is a particularly tricky business because of spam's current choke hold on email campaigns. In fact, most people who get a message from a read on...
See all stories on this topic from google
Email database a click away
NEWS.com.au - Australia
And If you're not using a custom-built email database to communicate with your customers, you are running behind, an e-marketing expert says. read on...
And If you're not using a custom-built email database to communicate with your customers, you are running behind, an e-marketing expert says. read on...
Email marketing can play role in 'drip' promotional campaigns
Business Strata - Business News - Farnborough,Hampshire,UK
Direct marketing formats such as mail and email can play a role in carefully planning "drip" campaigns, according to an expert. Writing on InsideCRM.com, read on...
Direct marketing formats such as mail and email can play a role in carefully planning "drip" campaigns, according to an expert. Writing on InsideCRM.com, read on...
SUBSCRIBERS RULE!
ExactTarget, a leading provider of on-demand email and one-to-one marketing solutions, announces the launch of its SUBSCRIBERS RULE! initiative aimed at educating marketers on the importance of respecting subscriber preferences when sending marketing messages. Key aspects of the initiative include a newly-launched blog, www.subscribersrule.com, that covers subscriber-centric marketing practices, and a whitepaper series that helps marketers leverage email and other one-to-one communication channels to optimize relationships with their most loyal customers.
The 'SUBSCRIBERS RULE! philosophy consists of three simple tenets:
-- Serve the individual
-- Honor their unique preferences with regard to communication, content, frequency and channel
The Right Way to Trim Inactives
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E-MAIL DELIVERY By Stefan Pollard, The ClickZ Network, Sep 24, 2008
Columns | Contact Stefan | Biography
Whenever marketers deal with e-mail delivery challenges, delivery experts often suggest first isolating active subscribers from inactive ones and then mailing only to their active files.
Seems like sound advice, but I've yet to meet a marketer who embraces the idea of removing even a single valid e-mail address, even if the holder of that address hasn't clicked on an e-mail in the last five years.
Some say they have long sales cycles. Others say they use e-mail as brand builders rather than sales or Web-traffic drivers. So, why chuck an address that one had to spend good money to get?
Many marketers will also try to find a strategy to minimize the loss, which I agree with completely.
We usually recommend pruning the deadwood because your most active subscribers generate all your traffic and revenue. You're not hurting your program by removing valid addresses that don't have any activity associated with them.
Also, activity is one metric that ISPs are starting to use when determining your sender reputation. A large volume of inactive e-mail recipients is considered junk by ISPs. Engaged and active recipients should generate the positive metrics ISPs look for, and will improve your overall reputation scores.
Who is an "Active Subscriber?"
This can be hard. Do you define a subscriber as active or inactive only on the basis of e-mail behavior? Remember: process metrics, most notably the open rate, are notoriously inaccurate. Someone who opens your messages without downloading images won't have that open recorded. The click rate is a better barometer, but it also doesn't measure the e-mail's effect on brand building or awareness.
When possible, mix in purchase activity and Web interactions, such as posting reviews, blog comments, and frequent browsing of categories. The data points you have at your disposal, and the ability to integrate them with subscriber metrics, can influence how you define an active subscriber.
Ultimately, it depends on what you consider a successful outcome of your e-mail. It could be the full path from open to click to conversion, just the click itself, or some other measure. But that is the one you should use to separate actives from inactives.
Having a well-defined system of identifying inactives is important so you can remove true inactives, not the people who are reading you in stealth mode and appear to have "emotionally unsubscribed."
How to Identify and Wake Up Inactives
The first and most important step in any reactivation campaign is identifying your audience. I recommend segmenting your audiences using the metric or factor you use to define inactivity, but don't change anything right away.
Send the same creative to your inactive segment that your active subscribers receive. Make sure your inactives truly don't respond. This provides the opportunity to refine your segmentation should you not properly identify the inactives on your first attempt.
Before you trim the deadwood, try to awaken inactives from their slumber with a well-planned reactivation campaign. Reactivation doesn't mean you can approach long-ignored addresses or unsubscribes. This approach can backfire and drive spam-complaint volumes up to the point where ISPs will block the e-mails you send to the truly active subscribers on your list.
Determine and Promote Subscriber Value
A clear message telling readers what benefits they can get as subscribers should be the centerpiece of your reactivation campaign. Sending out a pouty or poignant e-mail saying you miss them doesn't do this. Have they missed out on subscriber-only discounts, promotions, freebies, breaking-news events or other benefits of your program?
Every e-mail you send must provide value to the subscriber. E-mails that lack value also lack relevance. Irrelevant e-mail is often the reason subscribers unsubscribe, go inactive, or report a message as spam.
More than One Way to Reactivate
You might be tempted to cut to the chase and send out a threatening e-mail telling your inactives, "Click now or I won't send you any more e-mail!" A quick-and-dirty approach is sure to shrink your list. Moving the address out of your database is your last resort.
Instead, remember your normal message strategy isn't working, and you'll need to try several different and new approaches to reach your inactive subscribers:
- Send non-responders a short questionnaire asking why they don't click.
- Offer a welcome-back incentive, one that doesn't go out in your regular e-mails.
- Encourage subscribers to update their preferences, change lists, change frequency, or communication channel (RSS feeds instead of e-mail).
- Send less often, such as a monthly compilation e-mail instead of weekly, or weekly instead of daily.
- Send a final goodbye e-mail which notes you will remove the address from your active database and no longer send e-mail; include links and an offer to reactivate just in case.
Avoid This Pitfall
I can't stress enough how important it is that your reactivation campaign doesn't remove active and valuable subscribers. Take the time to make sure you've really tried to save those addresses before letting go.
Efforts to remove non-responders can lift performance metrics, or solve delivery problems. However, avoid opt-out reactivation schemes that merely continue to drive large, unresponsive programs, which is the exact opposite of your goal.
Until next time, keep on deliverin'!
Join us for a new Webcast, High-Touch Personalization, The Successful Marketer's Secret Ingredient, September 29 at 2 p.m. EDT.
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As senior strategic consultant, Stefan Pollard is responsible for guiding Responsys clients in developing e-mail marketing and lifecycle messaging strategies to increase clients' ROI. Most recently, Stefan led the e-mail consulting program for Lyris clients, frequently speaking at industry events on best practices. Prior to that, he managed the audit process and consulted with clients to improve their e-mail delivery challenges for Habeas. As an e-mail marketer, he spent several years building and executing acquisition and retention campaigns at E-Loan and Cybergold.com.
Article Archives by Stefan Pollard:
» The Right Way to Trim Inactives - September 24, 2008
» The Best E-mail Frequency? It Doesn't Exist - September 10, 2008
» Five Tips for Building Better Segments - August 27, 2008
» ISPs Continue to Reach Out - August 13, 2008
» Four E-mail-Blocking Causes and How to Fix Them - July 30, 2008
» Peeking at Someone Else's Paper? Watch Out! - July 16, 2008
» More Articles by Stefan Pollard
email marketing still on top
Tuesday 21st October 2008
New research has suggested that email marketing could be set to play a major part in many businesses' marketing strategies over the next year.The study by eMetrics Marketing Optimisation Summit found 83.6 per cent of companies are planning to either increase or maintain the amount of money they spend on email in 2009.
In addition, the US findings, which may reflect UK trends, also highlighted that the channel was the least likely to experience a fall in the budget spent on it.
Jim Sterne, one of the authors of the report, said there may be two reasons behind the popularity of format.
"This may be due to the fact that email is relatively inexpensive compared to other channels or that many companies have found it demonstrably effective," he explained.
A recent poll by the Online Marketing Blog found that email marketing is among the top five promotional channels expected to be used by businesses in the next six months.
Companies 'misunderstand email marketing'
Businesses are missing sales opportunities because they do not understand how their email marketing strategies affect customers, it has been claimed ... read on |
| © Adfero Ltd - source: © 2007 ihotdesk Ltd 23 September 2008 |
Making Good On Your Mistake
| DMA Email Marketing Council Blog Posted: 17 Sep 2008 11:14 AM CDT Here's what I found in just one day's worth of email messages recently: 1. Wrong landing page Yes, everyone makes mistakes. But how you recover from them will either save your reputation and business or make readers think you're unprofessional and untrustworthy. A good recovery isn't enough, though. Know where your greatest vulnerabilities are in your email program and what you have to do to make sure errors either don't happen or get caught before you click "send." First Rule: Don't rush out an immediate email correction! Your first instinct probably is to send out a second email immediately, before readers can act on the wrong one, but this can make the effects of your mistake much worse. Sending a second email to your entire list right after the first one can make you look like a spammer to ISPs if your list has too undeliverable email addresses. You look like you're pounding on addresses that don't exist, belong to closed accounts, have become inactive or are temporarily unavailable. If the mistake doesn't involve an email function – broken or wrong links, wrong price, incorrect image, wrong copy -- or won't mislead your readers, don't send out a follow-up to the whole list. Instead, include a short apology in your next regular email. Second Rule: Fix the Mistake You must correct the mistake if it could mislead readers or if it breaks the email's functionality. Also, if you are sending the email on an advertiser's or partner's behalf, you have to make good. However, it's still not time to rush out a correction email to your entire list. If the mistake involves your Web site –- the landing-page link is broken, or you published the wrong link or the wrong offer –- post a note on the page with an apology and a link to the correct page. Post a similar note on your front page, again with a link to the correct page. How to send follow-up emails: 1. Send a follow-up email only to those who either opened or clicked within 24 hours. This is a typical watch period for most ISPs and spares you from hitting all those inactive or undeliverable addresses again. Note: Don't send just to addresses that opened the message. If the reader views your email in the preview pane or doesn't download images, the open won't show up - so include those who click. 2. Send a follow-up email after 24 hours to your list if you can't segment out your openers and clickers. If you email more often than weekly, wait until your next regular email, then including an apology and the correct information. Yes, you could lose some sales, but that will motivate you to make sure your emails are correct before they go out, Third Rule: Apologise the Right Way What not to say: "Ooops! We goofed!" or "Did you ever have one of those days when nothing goes right?" if you mail to a business list. It looks unprofessional. Better: "We apologise for the mistake and the inconvenience. Here is the correct link/information/price." Imagine what your typical reader would say, and match your apology to that. Fourth Rule: Look for List Churn Scrutinise your list metrics for higher unsubscribes and changes in open or click rates. Also, watch for more spam complaints and act on those immediately. Fifth Rule: Step Up Your Quality Control These steps can help you spot mistakes better without adding too much time to your publishing schedule: 1. Create a checklist that includes all relevant information for the email, including deadlines, who's responsible for it and who signs off that the information is correct. Include the offer, price, images, graphics/design, lists/sublists/segments the email will go to and any other relevant information. 2. Create a fresh email message every time, using an error-proofed template. You won't forget to change the subject line or placeholder copy or images. 3. Create a test message before it goes live. Spelling and format mistakes will stand out. Unlike the test you use to try out subject lines and offers, this test goes only to a few people inside your company. 4. Have others review this message in different Web browsers, on different platforms (Mac, PC, smartphone and not just iPhone) and in different email clients (desktop, Web client and smartphone). 5. View message without images and in preview pane. Then, turn on images and open message, view content and click all links. 6. Watch all mailboxes to spot bounces or customer complaints about mistakes as soon as the message goes out. Sixth Rule: Know the Traps 1. Content:
2. Format:
3. Landing page:
4. Mailing list:
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Mobile Email Marketing Tips
Mobile Email Marketing Tips
Posted by kim on Sep 17, 2008 in Mobile Marketing
Is he reading your email? This week I came across two excellent resources about email marketing specifically as it relates to mobile. Because so many people are now checking email on their mobile devices this advice is particularly timely. Any smart marketer would be wise to pay attention to this phenomenon and take appropriate action. read on...
Posted by kim on Sep 17, 2008 in Mobile Marketing
Is he reading your email? This week I came across two excellent resources about email marketing specifically as it relates to mobile. Because so many people are now checking email on their mobile devices this advice is particularly timely. Any smart marketer would be wise to pay attention to this phenomenon and take appropriate action. read on...
Email Client Stats
Email Client Statistics - Fingerprint
Quote: "This report shows the current state of the email client market. It serves as the largest ever study of its kind, with data from almost three million email recipients"
No.3: Hotmail, 25%
Quote: "This report shows the current state of the email client market. It serves as the largest ever study of its kind, with data from almost three million email recipients"
No.3: Hotmail, 25%
Email Client Stats
Email Client Statistics - Fingerprint
Quote: "This report shows the current state of the email client market. It serves as the largest ever study of its kind, with data from almost three million email recipients"
No.3: Hotmail, 25%
Quote: "This report shows the current state of the email client market. It serves as the largest ever study of its kind, with data from almost three million email recipients"
No.3: Hotmail, 25%
The Email Marketing Reports Newsletter | Issue 92
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| No need for 1984 in 2008
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Making Good On Your Mistake
Posted by Kath Pay on Sep 09, 2008 | Permalink | Category: Email Tactics
Here's what I found in just one day's worth of email messages recently:
1. Wrong landing page
2. Spelling mistake in the subject line
3. Test subject line not removed
4. Email sent to the wrong company division list
5. Personalisation code showing instead of name
6. 2007 copyright date
7. Broken link to Web version
8. Images failed to load even when enabled
9. Brand name misspelled
Yes, everyone makes mistakes. But how you recover from them will either save your reputation and business or make readers think you're unprofessional and untrustworthy.
A good recovery isn't enough, though. Know where your greatest vulnerabilities are in your email program and what you have to do to make sure errors either don't happen or get caught before you click "send."
First Rule: Don't Panic!
Don't rush out an immediate email correction. Sending a second email to your entire list right after the first one can make you look like a spammer to ISPs if your list has too many undeliverable email addresses. You look like you're pounding on addresses that don't exist, belong to closed accounts, have become inactive or are temporarily unavailable.
If the mistake doesn't involve an email function – broken or wrong links, wrong price, incorrect image, wrong copy -- or won't mislead your readers, don't send out a follow-up to the whole list. Instead, include a short apology in your next regular email.
Second Rule: Fix the Mistake
You must correct the mistake if it could mislead readers or if it breaks the email's functionality. Also, if you are sending the email on an advertiser's or partner's behalf, you have to make good. However, it's still not time to rush out a correction email to your entire list.
If the mistake involves your Web site –- the landing-page link is broken, or you published the wrong link or the wrong offer –- post a note on the page with an apology and a link to the correct page. Post a similar note on your front page, again with a link to the correct page.
How to send follow-up emails:
1. Send a follow-up email only to those who either opened or clicked within 24 hours. This is a typical watch period for most ISPs and spares you from hitting all those inactive or undeliverable addresses again.
Tips for Sending a Welcome Message
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E-MAIL MARKETING By Derek Harding, The ClickZ Network, Sep 4, 2008
Columns | Contact Derek | Biography
As I wrote my last column, "Three Rules for Reconfirming E-mail Lists," I realized that I haven't written about the dos and don'ts for writing and delivering a welcome message to new subscribers. Whether you use, or should be using, confirmed opt-in (COI) depends on many factors. COI is the gold standard. It has many benefits and some disadvantages.
Regardless of what kind of opt-in you use, you'll send a first message to each new subscriber. The what, when, and how of that first message is key. It sets the tone for the relationship. As with any relationship, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
Explain Why
This takes on added importance if there's a time lag between subscription and first message. Remind recipients when, where, and how they registered. Otherwise, they may not remember having subscribed or they may not connect your e-mail with the Web site they visited a few days earlier.
Sometimes an e-mail address is shared by two or more family members. Providing the details can avoid a situation where an angry spouse complains of spam. Whatever the reasons, the more you tell recipients about why they're receiving your message, the fewer complaints and issues you'll have.
The number one way to reduce complaints among new subscribers is to provide a clear and accurate explanation of why someone is receiving a message.
For example, something like this doesn't count and won't help: "You are receiving this message because you signed up on our Web site, or that of one of our affiliates, or contacted our customer support, or in some other way indicated a desire to receive e-mail from us."
However, this will: "You are receiving this e-mail because on Saturday, August 24 at www.example.com you signed up for our product updates newsletter."
Don't Delay
Your confirmation message should be sent quickly. Ideally, that means immediately upon receipt of the subscription. There can be reasons why a message takes time to work its way through your internal systems, but it's vital to make this happen as quickly as possible.
The greater the delay, the greater the disconnect among subscribers between their subscription behavior and the received e-mail. This leads directly to an increased complaint and opt-out rate.
Offer an Opt-Out
If you aren't using confirmed (double) opt-in, at the very least ensure there's a clear and easy opt-out mechanism in your confirmation message. Sure, it can be argued that this isn't legally required because the message is transactional in nature, but this is when recipients are most likely to change their mind.
When someone wants off your mailing list, making it hard -- or even fighting with that person -- does more harm than good. If you don't let them easily unsubscribe, many will use the TIS (this is spam) button instead, which harms your reputation, may result in delivery issues, and -- most importantly -- irritates your customers and prospects.
Explain What
This is your opportunity to set expectations. Even if your signup process discloses what someone signs up for, it's worth repeating. If you send daily offers, yet subscribers don't expect them, subscribers will find out pretty soon and may be upset. Tell them up front what they're going to get, and how often, so they can choose to join or not.
If you offer a profile management center, this is also a great place to get new subscribers to ensure their profile is accurate and that their subscription preferences are what they really want. If you send a variety of communications, your subscribers may or may not realize just how many of them they agreed to when they first signed up. This is especially true for off-line subscription processes.
The first e-mail you send to a new subscriber is where you set and manage expectations. Your efforts will be rewarded if you do this successfully and then meet those expectations.
Until next time,
Derek
Join us for ClickZ Presents: Online Marketing Summit, September 25 at the Sheraton San Diego.
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Learning From the Presidential Race in Your Inbox
Learning From the Presidential Race in Your Inbox
B2B E-MAIL MARKETING
B2B E-MAIL MARKETING By Karen Gedney, The ClickZ Network, Sep 3, 2008
Columns | Contact Karen | Biography
I'm not a political pundit and I haven't worked in a professional capacity on any political campaign. However, for the past few months, I've been viewing and collecting a steady stream of e-mail messages from most of the presidential candidates.
With so much at stake, the most innovative use of e-mail in 2008 will likely come out of the political arena. I'm watching these e-mail messages closely; you might want to sign up for a few candidates' e-mail to follow along.
Here are a couple things I've noticed that you should consider trying in your B2B (define) campaigns:
Short Subject Lines
Across the board, all the candidates are employing short, intriguing subject lines.
How short is short? Many subject lines are only one or two words long. The longest seems to be four words. Recent subject lines I've seen are:
- Appalling
- Imagine
- Running Track
- Last Night
- Flying Fur
This "less is more" trend seems to be in keeping with e-mail metrics I wrote about from MailerMailer, which revealed how open rates are 5.1 percent higher for subject lines under 35 characters and that the CTR (define) for e-mail with shorter subject lines are 1.7 points better.
Will this work for your B2B e-mail? Try an A/B subject line test and see -- it's the only way to know.
I recently tested a 35-character subject line against the traditional 45-character line, and there was no real difference in response rates for this slightly shorter message. However, next time, we'll try something in the range of 10 characters (one or two words).
Letter-Type E-mail Messages
While subject lines are short in political e-mails, the messages inside are typically long.
Following the typical fundraising formula, almost all the candidates' e-mails are written in a letter format -- and come in at about 250 to 350 words.
For visual interest, a sidebar is usually included on the right with a photo, video clip, and always an action button, which typically says "Donate."
These letter formats routinely outperform shorter ad-like formats. I strongly suggest testing this format to see if you can ratchet up your B2B results with longer, more personal copy.
Staying on Message
While longer messages seem to be the norm, it's important that the reader take away a sound bite that encapsulates your brand.
Typically, candidates have a tagline in their banner that summarizes their positions. They also reiterate their stance in the copy itself.
As a B2B marketer, you must stake out your own claim. People need to know how you stand out from your competitors, so highlight your company's unique value proposition in every e-mail message.
I can't tell you how many of my clients leave this out -- as if everyone knows their company and products as intimately as they do! If a new contender comes along and upsets your own competitive product race, you need a loyal base of customers who know your company and will stay with you.
Online Video
All the candidates send along their latest YouTube videos on a regular basis.
While some candidates have been on the political scene for a long time, others are relative unknowns, so it's good to be able to get acquainted through video, watching their facial expressions and getting a feeling for their personalities.
However, an advertising agency that deals with progressive causes recently told me that online videos don't attract significantly higher open rates and CTRs, even from die-hard activists, so I wouldn't invest a lot in multiple online videos without testing.
Yet it might be worth a test to see if you can attract new clients based on your brand personality by using one video that captures your brand experience in an interesting way.
An easier, less expensive alternative is to create a slideshow of photos organized into a story with text captions. These low-tech slideshows perform extremely well for a significantly lower investment.
Multiple Senders, Celebrity Endorsers
While a consistent sender line can be a good branding tool, try mixing things up from time to time by sending messages from different senders.
In political campaigns, not only do e-mail messages come from the candidates themselves but also from their campaign directors, family members, and colleagues. Different senders can highlight different perspectives.
In the B2B world, besides having your company president write a message, have your salespeople, customer service reps, satisfied customers, and strategic partners send messages.
And of course, any endorsement should be played up to the hilt -- in both the political arena and in the B2B world. People want to know what other people think, and they don't always have time to fully research every decision they need to make. Likewise, celebrities add luster to political and advertising campaigns and keep things interesting, so be sure to keep your own "marquee name" clients in the spotlight.
In the months ahead, as the campaigns heat up, it'll be interesting to see what new e-mail techniques are developed on the political front that we all can try in our own B2B campaigns. So stay tuned.
What new directions are you taking with your B2B e-mail marketing in 2008? Let Karen know.
Karen is off this week. Today's column ran earlier on ClickZ.
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