Short-and Long-Term Strategies for B2B Email List Growth

Adrian Xavier OlveraSr. Marketing ConsultantDell, Inc.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

About Dell

Every Fortune 100 company does business with Dell.

We’ve been the No. 1 PC supplier to small and medium businesses in the United States for 10 consecutive years.

On average, we ship about 140,000 systems per day – that’s more than one every second.

We have nearly 2 billion interactions with our customers every year.

The 10 largest U.S. companies run on Dell.

9 Dell facilities in the U.S. and Europe are powered by 100% green energy.

We’re the only computer company offering free computer recycling to consumers worldwide.

List Growth Facts and Figures• Now, more than ever, companies are investing in email marketing.

For Dell SMB, 65% of all new global marketing deliverables in 2009 were email communications.

• Standardize, optimize and innovate your list growth strategy with online before spending tons of budget on list rentals and other “hunting” tactics.

• A recent study stated non-incented site registration was the highest ranked list growth based on average rating and continuity* followed closely by incented site registration.

• Dell U.S. SMB grew organic opt-in rates by 16% overall, and up to 14x the quarterly average during the holiday season.

• Dell optimized its preference center to minimize bounce rates by 24%.

*Conducted by ExactTarget for the 2009 Email List Growth Study. Over 350 top companies participated.

Effective B2B Email List Growth

4

Standardization

• Set your KPIs (MQL, SQL)

• Keep close track of List Health

• Evaluate spend on “Hunting” tactics

Optimization

• Make it easy for a subscriber to give you an email address

• Advertise the email program effectively online

• Test Timing and Traffic

Innovation

• Think beyond the preference center

• Continuously simplify the user experience for customers

B2B List growth

Dell SMB Case Study

Dell SMB Case Study

Obvious Fact:Site traffic from existing, organic sources are full of potential email subscribers.

Reality:Primarily, we must sell product. Secondarily, it is vital to sell the email program.

How:Optimize existing entry paths to the preference center.Harness the traffic that already exists and knows the brand.

Goal:Increase organic opt-in rate by at least 15%.

Online/Mktg

Landing pages

Preference center

Dell SMB Case Study

7

1

US transactional landing page example

2

• Ensure email call-to-action is consistent• Bring it up into the site navigation

8

1

1

Dell SMB Case Study

Drove +16% incremental organic list growth

9

1

1

Dell SMB Case Study

• Prominent CTA directly in the path of traffic• Less likely of being lost in the background• Generic value proposition

10

2

Dell SMB Case Study

2

• Drove +36% incremental organic list growth

11

2

Dell SMB Case Study

2

• Test a coupon incentive in high traffic areas• Coordinate with online advertising, site

12

3

Dell SMB Case Study

3

Drove 14x the avg. opt-in rate during the holiday season

13

3

Dell SMB Case Study

3

Close the Deal: Optimize the Preference Center

Dell SMB (U.S.): Before

• Information overload

• Too many required fields

• One. Long. Page.

• 70%+ page abandonment

• Dude, you’re getting…bored.

Dell SMB (U.S.): After

Optimize the Preference Center

Optimize the Preference Center

Short, benefit-driven copy

Minimal Required Fields

Page 1

Page 2

Page 2

Additional preference options

Email samples, Awards

Warm thank you message

Optimize the Preference Center

Final Considerations

• Standardize: Understand your KPIs and adjust your strategy to meet those needs.

• Positive organic list growth over time is more healthy than quick-fix list rentals. Enable the opportunities that will lead to more relevant messaging.

• Optimize: Dell reduced bounce rates by 24% by moving to a two-page format.

• Innovate: Explore the world beyond subscriber preferences (propensity modeling, behavioral targeting, etc.).

Credits/Thank YouAnd big thanks to:

• Acxiom Digital– Acxiomdigital.com

• U.S. Dell Marketing Team

– Jessica Vogel, SMB online

– Mimi Burleson, SMB Email

Adrian Olvera, Sr. Marketing Consultant

1-512-507-2832

Adrian_Olvera@dell.com