Baltimore, Maryland

Email Benefits & Best PracticesFebruary 2011

MGH & Blue Sky Factory

About Blue Sky Factory

Client Services

Deliverability

Creative

Software Development

Social Media & Strategy

Support, Education & Training

We are here for you: Employee Spotlights:

DJ Waldow, the director of community, oversees all BSF social media interaction and engagement. DJ helps us, and our clients, keep a finger on the pulse of the social media industry.

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As VP of strategy and innovation, Chris Penn is responsible for helping BSF set and execute its strategies, and for building our market presence and strength. Chris also develops strategies to help us and our customers be more effective in email and social marketing.

Our director of deliverability, Ken Pfeiffer, monitors all email traffic that goes through our Publicaster system to ensure compliance and email delivery, assists our clients in following email best practices, and maintains ISP relations.

Blue Sky Factory Education

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Publicaster-Specific Education General Education

http://www.blueskyfactory.com/subscribe.php

Blue Sky Factory Education

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https://learnpublicaster.groupsite.com

IntroductionIntroduction

Why Email?

People unfamiliar with email marketing often wonder what all the fuss is about. Didn't spam kill email as a marketing vehicle? And if spam didn't kill it, what about blogs, Twitter and all the other clever ways we can communicate online? Isn't email outmoded?

The simple truth is, when done right, email just works.

• It is desired• It is data driven• It’s social• It builds relationships, loyalty and trust• It supports sales through other channels

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1Why Email?

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A Best Practices Discussion.

It’s Desired

Why Email?

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Permission based email marketing, addressing only those subscribers who have expressly indicated their interest in your message, outperforms all other direct marketing channels.

According to research conducted by the Direct Marketing Association, permission based email marketing generated an ROI of $43.62 for every dollar spent on it in 2009. The expected figure for 2010 is $42.08.

Opt-In Form - Placement

Many email marketers place the link to their email sign-up page in a discrete location (like the footer).

Make this call-to-action easy to find and present on every page of your website.

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A bigger list leads to bigger ROI potential so why hide the sign up?

Client ListOpt-In Form – Active Opt-In

The first step in building up a List is buildingan opt in form.

Only send emails to subscribers who give explicit consent by checking a box.

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Email addresses that are collected for other means should not be added to your email distribution list unless the user is given a clear decision to:

a. receive updates and offers via email (by checking a box) or

b. be left off the list and receive only transactional communication (leave box unchecked)

Give the user the choice and require that they checkthe opt in box themselves (do not pre-check the box).

Client ListOpt-In Form – Campaign Explanation

Include information on the types of campaigns they will be receiving.

Whether it’s an enlargeable example of a campaign or a simple explanation of what the email will include, it is important to inform your subscribers and manage their expectations appropriately.

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Client ListOpt-In Form - Privacy

Guarantee to not share their address with other companies.

Potential subscribers will see your privacy pledge clearly stated at the bottom of the opt-in form.

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Client ListOpt-In Form – Easy Connect

Accelerate List Growth With Social Tools Like Facebook Connect. During sign up, users can avoid some data entry with two simple clicks. Facebook Connect also allows you to share the code: put it in a tweet, in a press release, in your email, anywhere a regular web link can go.

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Social Media – Opt-In Via FacebookSocial Media – Opt-In Via Facebook

Tap into an already-engaged customer base – add an email opt-in form to your Facebook page. Get instructions on how to add an email sign-up form to your Facebook page here: http://tinyurl.com/34x9uhv

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Client ListOffline Channel – Other Options

Encourage email sign-ups via offline means such as:• Phone orders• Tradeshows and events• Traditional Media

Include a link to your subscription center on:• Business cards• Merchandise tags• Order Receipts• Catalogs

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Client ListSMS – Subscription Via Text Message

Offer subscription via text message to newsletter. Let prospective customers subscribe to your lists via short code (e.g. text your email address to 41411) and capture them on the spot. This is especially effective when people arestanding around for a bit (at an airport, at a bus stop, at an event).

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Client List What’s Next?– Subscription Via Bar Code

Tailor your opt in experience to match the sophistication of your audience. With Publicaster’s New Landing Page Feature, you can attach the url of your opt in form to a barcode and imbed your opt in in the middle of a subscriber’s experience.

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2Why Email?

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A Best Practices Discussion.

It’s Data Driven

Client List5 Metrics to Monitor

Delivery RateDemonstrates the amount of subscribers who successfully received the email. Delivery is calculated

by subtracting the number of hard and soft bounces from the total number sent.

Blue Sky Factory looks to see a delivery rate above 98%.

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Client ListAct on Your Findings - Poor Delivery

Poor DeliveryIf your bounce rate is increasing, it is important to evaluate the following aspects of your program:

1. Authentication. Are your Sender ID and SPF records set up properly? These important measures can help you communicate your

legitimacy to the ISPs (Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, Gmail, etc.). Go here for a full explanation: http://bit.ly/SPFrecords

2. Make sure you are adhering to the expectations you set for your subscribers originally. Once you begin straying from the expectations you originally set, the complaint rate typically begins

to rise and blocks can occur.

3. Age of list. As subscribers change jobs or email clients, their email addresses often change therefore old lists

often contain many inactive addresses. Sending to an old list with many inactive (no longer actively used) addresses can lead to a high bounce rate.

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Client List5 Metrics to Monitor

Clickthrough RateMeasures the number of recipients that clicked one or more links in an email. In addition to clickthrough rate, it is also valuable to monitor clickthrough performance. This showcases the links in the email, the total number of clicks, and the unique number of clicks for each link.

A clickthrough rate equal to or greater than 3% for a given campaign is preferred.

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Client List5 Metrics to Monitor

Conversion RatePercentage of subscribers who clicked through to a page on your website that is being tracked for conversions.

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Client ListAct on Your Findings - Low Clickthrough/Conversion Rate

Low Clickthrough RateTo address a decreasing clickthrough rate, implement the following:

1. A/B split testing-Test calls-to-action used and call-to-action placement, as well as overall messaging used.

2. Segmentation-Send more targeted emails to increase user engagement (e.g.- include products subscribers have historically shown interest in by clicking or purchasing).

3. Stronger calls-to-action-Consider changing the verbiage used to generate interest/action (e.g.- instead of ‘Click to Purchase’ use ‘Sale Ends Today, Buy Now’). To visibly make the callouts more noticeable and attractive, consider replacing links with HTML buttons.

4. Creative check up-Check with your Email Service Provider to ensure that your design is up to current industry best practices. For a copy of Blue Sky Factory’s basic design guidelines, go here:http://www.blueskyfactory.com/resources/bsfemaildesignguidelines.pdf

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Client List5 Metrics to Monitor

Open RateConveys the number of subscribers who viewed the images in the email.

An open rate greater than 15% is ideal. Blue Sky Factory recommends adding ‘View in Browser’ clicks and ‘View Mobile Version’ clicks into overall open rate.

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Client ListAct on Your Findings - Low Open Rate

A low or decreasing open rate is typically indicative of the following:

1. Lack of testing-Blue Sky Factory recommends A/B split testing the subject line for each campaign to garner the

highest open rate possible.

2. Poor engagement-Poor engagement is often a result of untargeted campaigns. To increase your recipients’ desire to

open each email, make sure the content is relevant to them by segmenting based on subscriber data and previous reporting metrics.

3. Ineffective subject line-A poorly constructed subject line increases the chances that your subscribers will pass over without

opening. Use a subject line structure that seems to work for your specific list (which can be revealed through A/B split testing). And follow these best practices: Keep it 35 characters or less; Avoid “spammy” words and phrases; Per the CAN-SPAM Act, avoid deceptive subject lines; Make it actionable by providing a sense of urgency and call-to-action (think verbs!).

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Client List5 Metrics to Monitor

Opt-Out / Unsubscribe RatePercentage of subscribers who clicked the ‘Opt-Out’ or ‘Unsubscribe’ link to be removed from future mailings. These subscribers are no longer able to receive emails.

Blue Sky Factory encourages clients to begin evaluating program if opt-out rate begins to exceed 1%.

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Client ListAct on Your Findings - Rising Opt-Out Rate

Rising Opt-Out RateSimilar to complaint rate, the opt-out or unsubscribe rate may increase if you do not stick to the expectations originally set for your subscribers. According to actual consumers, here are the top 6 reasons they choose to unsubscribe from email campaigns:

Client ListAct on Your Findings - Rising Opt-Out Rate

Re-Engagement Campaigns

Strategically emailing inactive subscribers (have not opened or clicked), asking them to confirm their desire to continue receiving communications, and opting out those who don’t.

Run a re-engagement campaign every 6 months to:

• Clean your lists of dead and “emotionally unsubscribed” email addresses.

• Ensure subscribers on your lists are active and positively contributing to your email results.

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Ask current subscribers to share with their friends

It’s Social

Forward to a Friend with a Subscribe Link can lead to new email sign ups. Your subscribers are your best advocates, make it as easy as possible for them to share your emails. Basic ‘Forward to a Friend’ functionality plus option for forwarder to add comments and recipient to have option to opt-in.

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Sharing – ‘Forward To A Friend’

Use ‘Share With Your Network’ features to make it easy for recipients to share your email content with their social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Be sure to clearly define areas and call outs to distinguish between Connecting and Sharing via social.

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Note: Content posts to recipient’s page. The Sender does not need to have a presence on any of these social networks in order to feature SWYN call-outs.

Sharing – ‘Share With Your Network’

Posts summary copy and a link to the email on the subscriber’s page on a given social platform. Reporting allows sender to see how many times and on what networks an email was shared.

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Sharing – ‘Share With Your Network’

Facebook Like allows viewers to "like" the email in Facebook and expand a campaign’s reach to a new viewing audience.Posts a link to the email on a subscriber’s Facebook page and records as a “like” in the count on the email.

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Sharing – ‘Facebook Like’

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A Best Practices Discussion.

Builds Relationships, loyalty and trust

Client ListGet to know your Subscribers better

Subscriber Preference centers allow you to collect further information for future segmenting: Consider linking to one of these from your email campaigns. This will allow recipients to update their preferences and information at any time. This is also a good place to cross-promote any other email offerings available to the subscriber.

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Enlarged Versions: http://www.bsf01.com/creatives/ramblers/subscriberpreferencecenter1.jpg & http://www.bsf01.com/creatives/ramblers/subscriberpreferencecenter2.jpgNote: This is separate from the opt-in form and should also be integrated directly with email marketing platform

Speak to your subscribers directly by personalizing emails.

There are several forms of personalization, some more basic than others, but each offers a personal touch that will keep your subscribers engaged.

Static Personalization: Insert information into email that is always available via your email marketing platform (subscriber’s email address, current date, etc.)

Dynamic Content:Dynamic Statements (specific coding dependent on ESP) allow for extensive customization of the email, including using If-Then statements to insert content dynamically based on the field data for subscribers (e.g.- give subscriber certain block of content based on past purchase).

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Be on a first name basis

Segment your list in order to send more targeted, relevant emails to your subscribers. Targeted emails lead to higher engagement and, ultimately, conversion. Segment by list attributes (information contained in your list) or by reporting analytics.

Personalization from List Data: Pull content from subscriber’s record in the list (areas of interest, purchase history, etc.)

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Increase your message relevancy

Make their DayMake their Day

• Will be sent on subscriber’s birthday or during subscriber’s birthday month

• Should be set up to send automatically based on date (birth date)

• According to Experian Marketing Services report, 2010, the top five birthday subject lines based on open rates are:

1. A special gift for your birthday2. Happy Birthday [FIRSTNAME]3. Happy Birthday From [Company]4. Your Special Birthday Bonus5. A special gift of 20% off for your birthday

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Birthday Email

Client ListTransactional Emails – A Moment of trust

When sending purchase confirmations or other transactional emails, make sure to ask customers to subscribe to your newsletter. They liked your product enough to pay for it; it stands to reason they might be interested in periodic updates.

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5Why Email?

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A Best Practices Discussion.

It Supports the entire Sales Cycle.

Message VarietyMessage Variety

Types of Campaigns: For optimal engagement a variety of messages should be sent to constituents.

Positive First Impression/ Initial Adoption: Welcome campaign

Creating Engagement: Awareness Action Nurture Milestone

Sustaining Engagement: Re-engagement campaign Subscriber preference introduction

Social Media & E-mail Integration: Social engagement

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Message VarietyMessage Variety

• Will be sent on the first day of subscription• Should be set up to send automatically once a

new user is added to the email list• Recommended Welcome email content:

• Welcome message.• Thank you for signing up.• Be sure to mark the ‘From’ address as a

Safe Sender in your email system• Provide a link to whitelisting instructions• Present a promotion for first purchase

to drive conversion.

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Welcome Email

Message VarietyMessage Variety

• Will focus on promoting loyalty and retention• Possible Nurture ideas include:

• Add value by sending valuable information to subscribers (e.g.- sustainability tips)• Put a smile on subscribers’ faces by sending a ‘thank you for being a customer email’ • Add some spice to a recipient’s day with a viral video• Ask your subscribers to submit travel photos which showcase them interacting with your

clients’ brand.

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Nurture Email

Message VarietyMessage Variety

• Goal of awareness emails is to keep your clients’ brand top-of-mind and keep subscribers up to date

• Awareness-focused emails to include:• Alerts when stores in subscribers’ area

begin carrying your clients’ products.• Website launch or redesign

announcement

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Awareness Email

Message VarietyMessage Variety

• Will focus on driving ROI

• Conversion-driven emails to include:• Promotional offers and discounts• Product recommendations based on past

purchases or click behavior• Free shipping• Refer-a-friend incentives

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Conversion Email

Message VarietyMessage Variety

• Should be sent post-purchase.• Blue Sky Factory recommends making these automated (trigger emails) either through us or

your e-commerce platform.• Regardless of where this message comes from, use these communications to maintain

customer satisfaction and disseminate important marketing messaging.

• Transactional email examples:

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Transactional Email

• Order confirmation and thank you• Order has shipped• Review your product• Recommend accessories to go with

purchase• Encourage gift card redemption

Message VarietyMessage Variety

Send a free offer to a customer every year after they've subscribed.

Solicit feedback after a recent purchase; get permission to publish that experience.

Consider automating a Birthday Campaign.

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Milestones

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Important Considerations:

Friday is the most popular day of the week to send out promotional emails, with 42% of US Online Retailers sending at least one promotional email.- Smith-Harmon "Retail Email Unsubscribe Benchmark Study" (2010)

Dollars-off promotions in birthday emails have the highest transaction rate(0.95%) and revenue per email ($0.57). -Experian Marketing Services "The Birthday and Anniversary Report" (2010)

An online specialty-products retailer found that 40% of its email revenue comes from transactional/triggered messages, which make up only 4% of volume. -Email Insider "Triggered Emails: Low Volume, High Returns" (2010)

Predominantly image based transactional emails received 50% higher clicks through rates than text based transactional emails. - Silverpop "How Top Retailers Use Transactional Emails" (2009)

Summary

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Remember Email Marketing can be a Powerful Tool:

• Generates immediate action: sales, downloads, inquiries, registrations, etc.

• Drives traffic for offline stores and events

• Builds awareness and contributes to branding

• Strengthens relationships, encourages trust and cements loyalty