In email marketing, you can’t say enough about segmenting

Last week part of the ClickMail Marketing team spent two days conducting workshops for the marketing staff at a large national company. Although this company is a client, their email marketing program is still evolving. And that led to a dialog about targeting and segmenting and emphasized once again why both are necessary.

During the copywriting workshop, we discussed how generic their email marketing copywriting is, how it’s written to one big vague audience rather than being written differently for their many smaller segments. We asked them to imagine writing to just one person and then describe that one person as a way to write more targeted copy.

One of their copywriters was able to describe to a T a military man, husband and father, with a young family, and his issues and concerns as related to this company’s product. Writing an email specifically to that one person’s pains would result in very targeted, compelling email copy that says “Hey, we get you. We know where you’re at in life, what your concerns are, and we can help.” By addressing those pain points specifically, the marketer-and the email-becomes believable.

This company plans to segment in the near future, it’s part of the evolution they’re going through. And when they do, they’ll be copywriting targeted messages that will hit home with their prospects and drive email marketing ROI.

You can too.

In the email marketing world, subscribers rule

Yesterday at an ExactTarget conference in Seattle, Jeffrey Rohrs, VP of Marketing for ExactTarget, gave a great talk called “Subscribers Rule!”

In it, he made many great points, but what really stuck with me was his emphasis on email marketing as a long-term tactic, a marathon and not a sprint. That email is not great for acquisition, its strength is retention. Search and PPC will get people to your site to start your relationship with your customer. Email is how you continue it. It is the relationship medium.

To really make use of email marketing in that way, however, you must give your subscribers control. Hence the double entendre of the talk’s title: They rule because we’d be nowhere without them, and they rule because we have to listen to them.

Some advice to help you keep subscribers top of mind, courtesy of Jeffrey:

• Think of them as individual subscribers and not as a list
• Use your data to let the subscribers tell you what works
• Manage your email marketing campaigns for the long-term, always be thinking of it that way
• Engage them, talk to them
• Have some agreed upon dos and don’ts, policies that your company will adhere to, to make sure you’re always putting the subscriber’s best interests first

And his three major tenets for putting the subscriber first:

1. Serve the individual
2. Honor their unique preferences for communication, content, frequency channel
3. Deliver them timely, relevant content that improves their lives

Respect the medium of email marketing, and respect the subscribers as a result. Email touches your best customers, the people who said yes I want to hear from you, vs. searchers who want to hear from you once. Make sure they want to keep hearing from you by treating them well…and letting them rule.

 

What determines your online reputation? And what can you do about it?

Last time we covered the importance of your digital reputation for deliverability and therefore email marketing ROI. This time, we cover what determines that reputation in the first place.

As we said last time, ISPs are relying more and more on a marketer’s reputation when deciding which emails to let through. Why do you care what the ISPs think? Because they stand between you and your prospects and customers. They are the gatekeepers that let your email pass…or stop it in its tracks.

According to Pivotal Veracity, ISPs look at the following when determining your reputation:

• Complaint rates
• Unknown user rates
• Identity stability
• Volume
• Third-party assessments

You don’t have to live in the dark, however, firing off your email marketing campaigns without knowing if you’re considered a goodie or a baddie. There are a variety of ways to find out what your reputation is and how you fix it. To get you started, here are two great online tools you can use to make sure you’ve got your bases covered:

https://senderscore.org

http://www.senderbase.org

In the world of email marketing, your reputation matters. A lot.

Do you know your reputation? Do you care? No, it’s not a popularity contest, but you should be paying attention to your reputation because it affects your deliverability. And your deliverability rates are key to your email marketing ROI.

Deliverability is a top challenge for online marketers using email marketing. Having a great design and offer won’t do much if you can’t make it to the inbox. And reaching that final destination-the inbox-gets more difficult all the time due to the vast amount of resources that are being thrown at the ‘spam’ problem. There are hardware and software filters and algorithms in place that attempt to stem the flood of spam. As a result, what used to make it to the inbox is no longer a good indicator of what will make it there now…or in future.

And now more and more ISPs are routing inbound email based on the email marketer’s reputation, and not just on the potential spamminess of the content or subject line. In some cases, ISPs are basing that decision solely on the sender’s reputation.

Obviously reputation is now something you as an email marketer must pay attention to.

Now that we have your attention (we have your attention, right?), we’ll spend the next Email Marketing ROI blog post on what affects your reputation and what you can do about it. Stay tuned.

When it comes to image blocking, email marketers still don’t see the light

Half of users have their images turned off, meaning when that visually stimulating email you so meticulously designed with rich graphics arrives in their inbox, it fails miserably to impress.

Imagine all your pretty pictures replaced with empty boxes…empty except for the accusing little red x in the corner. Sadly this is an all too common scene in the email marketing industry.

Not worried? You should be. The newest retail email rendering study from the Email Experience Council and SubscriberMail is out, and it’s chockfull of numbers that should make email marketers sit up, take notice…and call their designers right away.

Go to http://blog.emailexperience.org/2008/06/retail_email_rendering_benchma.html for the executive summary. We won’t rehash it here, but note this stat:

“Only 42% of the 104 top online retailers included in our study designed emails that were a good mix of HTML text and images, and only 63% used alt tags adequately or extensively.”

How do you get past this? By no longer thinking of your emails as direct mail or web pages. You don’t have to abandon graphics altogether and stick with text only. But you do have to be more thoughtful in your design. And test. Always test.

If nothing else prompts you to take action and rethink your approach to html email, consider the dollars. The summary states that email generates $48.29 for every dollar spent on it, but that ROI could jump to $52.69 if all emails were optimized for image blocking. That’s $4.40. Per dollar. Not a bad return. And you get much nicer looking emails too.

Why not welcome your email subscribers?

Once again, the numbers show that marketers are missing out on a critical touch point with their email subscribers: Return Path recently found that 60% of the companies studied fail to send out a welcome email message to a new subscriber.

We all know from our own experiences as real-life people who sign up for emails and newsletters how infrequent the welcome message is: We don’t get them most of the time! So we really notice when we do. Take note: So do your customers.

Other studies have shown that welcome emails have higher open rates than regular emails. That alone should be reason enough to make them part of your email marketing program.

But then there’s the missed marketing opportunity too. Why are email marketers so negligent of this chance to further the relationship? The person who signs up for your email has already raised their hand and said “yes, I want to hear from you.” Who better to extend a warm welcome to?

Then there’s the branding component: If you are doing welcome emails, hurray for you! You’re ahead of the crowd. But give your welcome email a critical eye: Is it boring, bland, generic? Or does it use a tone, voice and design that emphasizes your brand?

If you’re ready to up your email marketing ROI by making the most of the welcome email, also see the Email Experience Council’s Retail Welcome Email Benchmark study. It’s free only to EEC platinum members, but you can get highlights from it at http://blog.emailexperience.org/2007/09/retail_welcome_email_benchmark.html…or join the EEC. And see what kind of welcome email you get.

 

Reasons for upgrading your email service provider

You started with an entry-level ESP (email service provider) because at the time, it was all you needed for your basic email marketing. But now your list has grown, along with your knowledge of what’s capable with email marketing. How do you know when it’s time to upgrade? It’s time to move up to a more robust ESP when you want:

• To segment
• API integration
• To integrate to SalesForce.com or another CRM or a web analytics tool
• More sophisticated reporting
• Event triggered emails
• Drip marketing
• Better throughput (deliverability) because your list has grown in quantity

In the world of ESPs, you get what you pay for. Make sure your ESP keeps pace with your email marketing needs.

Email marketing ROI: What’s the real cost of your ESP?

Many email marketers enter the email marketing fray with an entry level ESP (email service provider). It makes sense when you’re starting out. You don’t need much functionality, your in-house list is small, and your budget might be tight.

Then time goes by, your email marketing gets more sophisticated (or you want it to, at least). Your list grows. And you start to pay more attention to your email marketing ROI. That’s when it’s time to think about moving up to a top tier ESP and here’s why: A lower deliverability rate can mean you’re leaving money on the table.

Speaking of tables, the one below shows the impact on your ROI of using an entry level ESP vs. a top tier one. Say you have list of 100,000 names, your widget sells for $25 each, and your conversion rate is 3%. As you can see below, even with the higher cost per email with the top tier ESP, the increase in emails delivered-and therefore sales made-more than covers that additional cost. With this example, you’re still $9280 ahead.

 

	Entry Level ESP	Top Tier ESP
# of names on list	100,000	100,000
Deliverability rate	76%	91%
Delivered	76000	91000
conversion sell rate	3%	3%
# sales	2280	2730
Average sale price	$25	$25
Total sales	$57,000	$68,250
Cost of ESP per email	0.005	0.015
Cost to email	$380	$1,365
Net revenue	$56,620	$66,885
Increase in cost		$985
Increase in revenue		$10,265

Does your email marketing reinforce your brand?

Every contact your customers and prospects have with your company and your products is part of your marketing, from the appearance of your store or Web site to the friendliness of a voice on the phone. It’s all part of the customer’s experience of your business and therefore your brand.

 

Including your email marketing.

 

Does your email marketing appropriately represent your brand? We’re not talking about your logo and your colors here. We’re talking about the whole experience. And when it comes to customers, perception is reality.

 

Think of all the parts that make up the customer’s experience with your email, and make sure your email marketing is in line with your brand, working for it, not against. Below are just a few of the obvious ones to consider…

 

Are you emailing too frequently? Not by your standards, but by those who get your emails. Emailing too frequently is akin to a waitress who keeps showing up at your table as you eat, or a salesperson hounding you as you go through a store. If obnoxious is your brand, then by all means, keep up the frequent emails. If not, make sure the frequency is appropriate.

 

Is your content relevant to your prospects and customers or only to you? Are you giving them information they want to get, or that you want to push out? Again, it’s part of your customer’s experience with your company and therefore your brand. If your brand is helpful and friendly, then your email content should be too.

 

Is it perfectly clear what you’re offering? Does your email make it easy to respond? Is the call to action obvious? Does it go to a distinct landing page?

 

Your logo is great, your employees are trained, your tagline is set…now make sure your email marketing is working for your brand too.

Get your emails opened

You’ve jumped through all the hoops to get that email to the inbox. Now what? Now you’re depending on the recipient to open it. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Just because your email got delivered doesn’t mean it’s going to get open, let alone acted upon. To help your email “deliver” once delivered, follow these two best practices: a carefully crafted subject line, and an appropriate From address.

The best performing subject lines are usually seven words or less. A subject line that length results in an approximately 42% higher open rate, so spend time on your subject line. Of course, the best way to determine your most effective subject line is to do an A/B split test. 

When deciding what name or email address shows in the From field, remember that more email recipients check who the mail is from vs. the subject line in determining whether to open an email. Best practices for your best From address are:

•          Use and/or change labels as appropriate

•          Keep a static ‘from’ address

•          Don’t use someone’s name unless that name is known to the recipient. For example, if you say just Michael Kelly, they won’t know who that is and will be less likely to open the email. However, if including the company name increases the recognition factor, do it that way: Michael Kelly – ClickMail Marketing

Another best practice involves asking people to add your From address to their safe sender’s list or address book. That’s because what used to get delivered might not anymore due to ISPs changing their filters and algorithms. If you are on the recipients ‘safe sender’ list or in their address book, your messages will continue to route to their inbox, your images will render and your links will be live.

(The above information is drawn from a soon to be published ClickMail Marketing whitepaper on driving ROI once your email is delivered. Look for more about the whitepaper in this blog soon.)