8/7/2019 Emaii Opens Up to a Wider Odience

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email marketingfeatur

consumers without any consideration fortheir needs," argues Dominic Powers,senior vice-president, Asia-Pacific, atemail and data firm Epsilon Inter nation al."Marketers need to show respect to theircustomers to gain anything fromconsumers'cluttered inboxes."Asian consumers de lete large num bersof unsolicited messages without everopening th em . That's not surprising giventhe issue of spam - in China, 56% of emailssent to consum ers were spam last year.

"M arketers need toshow respect totheir custom ers togain anything fromcluttered inboxes"D O M I N I C POWERSSpam is one of the major rea sons Asia'smarketers have not embraced email."Clients are worried at being seen Asspammers " says an agency source. "O nemajor technology company told us it isreluctant to do email for this very reason,despite the fact we would only be usingopt-in lists."For marketers who d ecide to use email,then, it is imperative to look for ways tomake their messages compelling. "Asia-Pacific consum ers w ant to be in co ntrol oftheir private digital spaces and see mostemail as spam," says Alastair Duncan, chiefexecutive of MRMWorldwide. "Emailmust he used smartly and with caution asspam threa tens to clog up the very pipes

that supply our internet."Online travel firm Zuji is an example ofa company that takes email seriously. Zujigives consumers the chance to sign up toreceive a personalised email n ewsletter byselecting their favourite three d estinationsaround the region. The process ensuresthat all future emails include the latestprices to those destinations , allowingconsum ers to get the best possible deal."Relevance will determ ine w hether thereader trashes your spam email or views itas the best thing since sliced bread " saysSean Seah, Hong Kong country manager aZuji. "We work extremely hard to ensu rethat our emails are as relevant as possible."

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email marketingfeaturAnother travel firm that has invested inemail in Asia is British AiPA-ays, whichappointed OgilvyOne Worldwide to hand leits direct and digital m arketing accoun t in

the region. According to Skip Fedura,partne r at OgilvyOne in London, the rapiddevelopment of Asia-Pacific countriespresents brand ow ners with significantcreative and strategic challenges. Foremostamong these is ensuring the con tent ofpromotional emails is compelling enoughto convince consum ers to interact. "Moreand m ore email clients are not rend eringimages and are limiting what can he donecreatively," says Fedura. "Conseq uently,marketers have to he much m ore creativein how they use their data to m ake theiremail communications effective."That mean s having and using aneffective customer datahase. Up to now,marketers in Asia-Pacific have heen slowto invest in high-end data m anagem ent.But with data-reliant online ch annelsgrowing in imp ortance, that may have tochange. "You need a crystal clear ideaahout who you are targeting, an insightthat gives you a new way of reaching youraudience and a strategy for engagingthem," argues Tony Effik, head of plann ingat Puhlicis Modem . "Without this youremail is just junk."G o o d l a y o u tOnce th e data is ready, marketers m ust payclose attention to design, making sure thattheir emails are visually appealing , yetsimple enou gh to convey special offers andprice prom otions. For example, when aconsum er clicks on a link within an email,they expect to be taken to the product orservice featured in that email in the fastestand most efficient way possible. Gooddesign is essential to boosting click-through rates, which in the US haveremained largely unchanged at 5% for thepast five years, according to Forrester'sreport, 'Email marketing comes of age'.Despite the problem of gettingconsum ers to open emails, Forresterclaims that US consumers w ho buyproducts advertised in email spend 138%more than typical non-readers, with 50%of consum ers who open and read emailmarketing messages also likely to purchaseother items on impulse. "Email is widelyregarded as the single most cost-effectivedigital channel," explains Mike Teasdale,plann ing director at email specialist

Virgin HolidaysVirgin Holidays recently launched anemail marketing campaign n tne UKaimed at driving consumers to itswebsite, increasing bookingconversions, cross-selling productsand buiiing brand awareness.

The travel firm briefed directmarketing agency Kittcatt NohrAlexander Shaw to develop an eCRMstrategy that v\/ould allow it to startcommunicating with consumers on aregular basis.

Virgin Holidays began by mappingout the online customer experienceto gain an understanding of whatdifferent customer groups needed atdifferent points during the holiday-booking process.

Having defined the purchase cycleand identified the key consumersegmen ts, Virgin Holidays set up aseries of email triggers aimed atdriving responses from consumers atspecific points in the cycle andencouraging them to move forwardthrough the booking process, Ttiishighly targeted approach helped

generate $U56m in direct sales forVirgin Holidays during the firstmon tti. It achieved an open rate of85% and a click-through rate of48%. The campaign also led to a 6%increase in average spend percustomer and helped V irgin Holidaysshift its marketing budget towardmore profitable sales channels.

Virgin Holidays... developed email triggers at points In the purchase cycle

Intel Siiicon CommanderEmail can be used v ithin a broadercampaign as well as a standaloneeCRM tool. Anexample is the way itwas used by Intel to promote SiliconCommander, a multi-player strategygame targeting an IT audience.

Email was used to make peopleaware o ttie game, boost gameplayand encourage peer referral.

A trailer for thegame before it wasready to play encouraged people tosign up for email alerts. These alertshelped to maintain their interest inplaying the game post-launch.

These registrants were also sentan email with tips ongetting startedto ensure they weren't put off by thegame's complexity. Later on, people

who had registered but had stoppedplaying were sent email reminders,

A refer-a-frlend system was builtinto the campaign to allowregistrants to send email invites totheir friends, asking them to join thegame and challenge them. Thiscreated a viral effect among Bietarget audience. Most playersrecommended at least one friend.

"In addition to driving awareness,email was a vital component of thegameplay itself," says GermaineChoi, regional account director a tMRM Worldwide, the agency thathandled the campaign. She pointsto invitations to special downloadsand links to exclusive pages thatwere sent to selected players sothey retained interest.

Intel... selected players were sent email invitations to special downloads

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email marketingfeatureHarvest D igital. "Particularly for large e-commerce operations such a s Amazon,email is arguably the most imp ortantdriver of repeat business."

Asia-Pacific a dvertisers also need tofocus on implem enting trackingtechniques to gauge the success of theiremail activity. Qua ntitative m etrics such asdelivery, open and click-through rates are

"For e-commerceoperations , email isarguably the mostimp ortant driver o frepeat business"M I K E T E A SDALE

effective in providing mark eters w ith asnapshot of a campaign's performance."Emails must be tracked and analysed toimprove understand ing of customerbehaviour," says Zuji's Seah.More advanced techniques such asconversion tracking allow marketers toassess how many consume rs g o online to

buy a product as a result of receiving anemail. Post-click tracking gauges the levelof post-email user engage ment with acampaign, while qualitative techniquescan assess consume r satisfaction with anygiven email promotion. "Only brandstracking down to the ROI level can trulyunderstand the value of email marketingand justify its place on the media plan,"argues Powers.Increasing budgets mean that emailmarketing is becoming ever moresophisticated. A s well as segmentingconsumers hy a g e and demographic,advertisers can now target their campaignsbased on user-behaviour and onlinepurchases. Brand owners can also adddynamic content to their emails to makethem more relevant and appealing.But the advice for marke ters in sectorsthat have not traditionally used email isthis: master th e basics. B y concentratingon targeting consumers with relevantmessages from an accu rate database, brandowne rs can ensure th eir eCRM activity isboth cheap and highly effective. If theymanage th at, email w ill be a feature o fmedia plans for many years to come .

Epsilon International email studyEpsilon International has unveiled an Asia-wide studyinto consumer attitudes toward email marketing. Basedon 1,169 questionnaires conducted in Febaiary, it showsvarying attitudes to the discipline acnass six tenito ries.

One inleresttng variance w a s t h e definition of spam. InAustralia, 6 2 % classed spam a s a n y email the recipient

either didn't ask for or didn't subscribe to . In China just3 3 % think this, with a further 3 4 % defining spam as anyemail the recipient doesn't want.

What's more, 5 9 % of Australians currentfy us e anti-spam filtering, compared with 32% in China an d just2 1 % in Hong Kong.

How many promotional emails do you receive per \/veek?Australia 5 2 % , 13% 9% 6% 7% 4%

China

Hong Kong

India

Japan

Malaysia

9% 8% 4% 8%?0'!., 5% 4% 4% 6%

2 0 7 . 13% 7% 10%

13 % 1d% 8% 4 % 11%1 7% 7% 8% U%

0-1 finWould you use email coupons to buy products offline/tnstore?

lo Yes2 4 % 76%

Australia Ctima Hong Kong India Japan MalaysiaWhich action will you take when you vt/ish to pass on apromotional email to others?

2 1 % 4%24 % 6%

ChinaHong KongIndiaJapanMalaysia I Us e tne 'forward to a frisnct or 'lell a friend biitton ot link o n t h e emailI Forward the entire promotional material

Send text email with URLI 1 do notpass on promotional material

What is the biggest barrier preventing you from interactingw/ith offers sent to you by email?Austral I iCiilnaHong KongIndiaJapanMalaysia

43 % I 8% 1 5 % 9%2 1 % 11% 2

1 9% 14%

I SecurityI Offers or promotions are not attractive enough

OthersI Lack of human interactionI Cost. I elieve I can get better offerswith in-store purchse $ a u n x : E p s K ( x i l n t e m a t i o n a l

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