Fundamentals Email Marketing

© 2006 Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com

Getting Started with Email Marketing

by Stephan Spencer, Founder & President of Netconcepts

© Netconcepts www.netconcepts.com


Poll Question #1

What is your level of experience with email marketing, on a scale from 1 to 5?

(1=Never done it, 5=Expert)


Poll Question #2

What are your most pressing concerns about email marketing? Check all that apply:– Getting and keeping permission– Getting the right offer– Targeting the right audience– Copywriting– Design– Tracking & reporting– Getting it to “go viral”


Why Market via Email?

Critical mass: reaches 93% of internet users (Jupiter Research)

Response rates: 10x greater than direct mail(DMA)

Lower costs: 1/10 the cost per communication (Andersen)

Relationship builder: 80% of visitors never return (eMarketer)


Reaching Today’s Consumer

Corporate scandals erode trust Growing marketing resistance Receives 100 emails a day

(10-20 from people you know) Want to be treated as people, not a mass market Spam is in the eye of the beholder


Coping with the Deluge

32% of email messages are official SPAM(Radicati Group)

Costs $8.9 billion in lost productivity annually(Ferris Research)

Spam filters in Outlook, Hotmail, AOL etc.; Anti-spam tools at the ISPs; Corporate email firewalls

15% of permission-based marketing messages are wrongly blocked (Assurance Systems)


(Nothing reeks of SPAM more than a message claiming not to be SPAM.)


Define Business Objectives

Audience– Prospects, customers, advocates, partners

Goals– Registrations, Signups, Sales

Content– Newsletter, Promotions, Reminders, Invitations

Metrics– Click through, Registration, Visits, Booking/Purchase


Spam

Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE) Typical spam has a bogus sender address, bogus

unsubscribe instructions, and bogus offers Spam is in the eye of the beholder Ensure recipients don’t misconstrue your message as

spam


Get Permission

Opt-in, not opt-out. Get recipient’s consent in advance!– Opt-in: recipient volunteered to receive your email– Opt-out: recipient didn’t have the opportunity to avoid

receiving your first email, only to avoid receiving subsequent ones

“Hand-raisers” are a lot more likely to not only tolerate receiving your emails, but also to respond favorably

Read Permission Marketing by Seth Godin


Improve the Odds that a User Will Join Your List

Provide numerous opt-in opportunities all with low barriers to entry

Make sure the amount of work required to sign up is minimal– Many sites only require the email address and all other

personal information is optional Place the email list sign-up on all forms on your site,

including inquiry, order, and feedback forms– Ok to have the sign-up checkbox ticked in advance?


Privacy Policy

Builds trust Address what you’ll be doing with the user’s information,

both now and potentially in the future Post it in an obvious place on your site Link to it from your email campaigns Abide by it, no exceptions Don’t revoke or weaken it once you’ve published it


Distance Yourself from Spammers

Remind recipients that they’ve given you permission to contact them

Provide an easy way to unsubscribe– Unsubscribe urban legend

Be sure reply works Have it signed by a real person Publish and abide by a strict privacy policy


(Thanks United. You make it oh-so-

easy to unsubscribe.)



Be REAL!

Develop a voice and unique personality Relate to their problem First few lines are key (WIIFM) The ‘gift of education’ Be honest. Full disclosure - No hidden advertorials Avoid ‘chest pounding’ and promotions People trust people, not marketing speak


(Lands’ End’s relaxed tone and voice match the brand.

Newsletter delivers entertainment value – not just product promotions)


Attention to Detail

Shoddy workmanship in your email campaign reflects poorly on your business– Typos & grammatical errors– Getting the facts wrong– Formatting problems– Otherwise illegible (font size too small etc.) or unintelligible


(Typos AND broken links – in a newsletter from an email marketing agency, no less!)


(Jupiter should have tested on multiple email clients.)


Consequences of Spamming

“Flames,” i.e. hate email Harassment from spam vigilantes Badmouthed in discussion forums Blacklisted (SpamCop, etc.) You may even have your Internet privileges revoked by

your ISP Remember, perception is 9/10ths of reality


Above All, Deliver Value!

Email should be relevant, timely, and beneficial “Value" can take the form of:

– newsletters, discounts, contests, last minute availability, event reminders, invitations, prizes, memberships, bonuses, coupons/discounts, exclusive sales, free samples, or demos.

Surveys - give free report or enter them in a draw Go paperless - specs, price lists, statements


Types of Outbound Email

Newsletters– Regularly scheduled messages that deliver timely and

interesting news, tips, and other informational tidbits Promotional messages

– Inform recipients about special offers Discussion forum posts

– Soft-sell marketing strategy for becoming an accepted and trusted member of your target audience’s online community


Discussion Forum Posts

Discussion forums include Usenet newsgroups, email discussion lists (listservs), and web forums

Often overlooked by e-marketers Key is to respect the forum’s non-commercial nature Don’t blatantly advertise

– Add value by answering questions in a vendor-neutral manner, then soft-sell solely through your "signature"


Signature Line

At the bottom of your discussion post Should be short - no more than 4 lines Your name Your company name Your email address (include mailto: in front) Link to your site (include http:// in front) Your USP (Unique Selling Proposition)


Components of an Email

Subject line– Most important ~35 characters of the email. Focus on it!

From line To line Message body

– A promotional message should contain a compelling offer & call-to-action– An e-mail newsletter should contain a header, a table of contents, a

welcome, and multiple ‘departments’– Privacy statement, Disclaimer, and Unsubscribe instructions


Measure Success

Unsubscribe rate Bounce rate Unique open rate Total open rate Clickthrough rate

– Can separate HTML vs. plaintext clickthroughs Conversion rate


The Bane of the Email Marketer: the Delete Key

The split-second decision - keep it or delete it The basis of their decision: the From and Subject line Your open rate may be overstated

– Your message may be getting displayed in recipient’s preview pane as he selects it just to delete it


Frequency

Depends on expectations of target audience Email newsletters tend to be weekly or monthly Monitor number/variety of contacts to avoid burnout


Timing

Tuesday through Thursday? 10am to 2pm? Varies depending on your audience!


Length

In general, keep it short and sweet. Use links. Weekly newsletter should be no more than five

sections, with three or fewer paragraphs each, Monthly newsletter can be double or triple that. Promotional messages should be significantly shorter

than a newsletter. Include whole articles or just abstracts with links to the

rest?


Spam Filters

Spam filters built in Outlook, Hotmail, AOL etc. Corporate email firewalls Don’t trip the spam filters

– “Free”, “opt-in”, “!!!”, “forward to a friend”, etc.– ‘Bcc’– ‘To’ line doesn’t include recipient’s email address– Scripts– Attachments


Do it BEFORE sending Built into some email services (like GravityMail) Or, free tool available from

www.gravitymail.com/spamscore.php– Aim for < 5 SpamAssassin points– Note: This tool is only indicative. Not everyone’s using

SpamAssassin to filter spam. Other filters will interpret your campaign differently.

Check Your ‘Spam Score’


Play our email filter game! The Rules:

– Point out things in the email campaign that caused it to be unceremoniously junked by SpamAssassin

– Must be something that’s displayed on the slide– The thing must be worth at least 0.4 points– See how many problems you can find

Name that SPAM!



6.2 / 5.0

2 things


9.9 / 5.0

3 things


5.5 / 5.0

2 things


HTML vs. Plain Text

HTML emails typically have twice the clickthroughs HTML offers more control over layout HTML looks more ‘polished’ (could be good or bad) Some old email clients can’t do HTML, e.g. Outlook 95 “Sniff” for HTML open or send multiple versions multi-

part


Plain Text Emails

Precede URLs with “http://” and emails with “mailto:” Limit the line width to 65 characters Headlines in ALL CAPS

– Reading text in caps is very slow, because people read only the tops of letters. ALL CAPS letters don’t have enough differentiation to them


HTML Emails

Tables - to control placement & avoid long lines Graphics - <30k, will cause the recipient grief if reading email

while offline, increases download time Color - color text or color a table background, doesn’t impact

download speed Font - face, size, and color Forms - embed in the email to make it easy for the recipient to

respond to an offer, e.g. seminar registration– Auto fill-in as many form fields as possible

Scripts, Flash, Streaming Video - not recommended!


Your Database

Collect more than just the email address– Name (first name should be a separate field)– Zip code, interests, and other relevant demographics – What else?– Also ask for info that you plan to use in the future

‘Text to Columns’ feature in Excel In-house lists typically perform much better than

purchased or rented lists


Personalize

Tailor the offer to the individual. Beneficial offers are relevant offers

Provide customized content specific to recipient location and interests

Greet the recipient by first name. Perhaps even in the Subject line too.

To line should specify the recipient’s email address Let the recipient control the contact frequency Increases the likelihood of being at the right place at the right

time with the right value proposition


(Oops! That’s not my name!)


Segment Your List

By demographics, psychographics, clickographics (visiting behavior and transaction history)

Target who’s most relevant, most profitable, or most likely to respond


Buy or Rent Lists?

Avoid the use of purchased lists– Many have actually been “harvested” from web pages,

newsgroup discussion posts, or domain contact information (from the “whois” database) – without the knowledge or permission of the affected individuals

Rented lists from reputable list brokers may be worthwhile– Is it double opt-in, fastidiously clean of unsubscribes, and

finely segmented?


A Veritable List Goldmine

Email addresses of prospects, potential distributors and business partners, journalists

Member lists - associations, clubs, etc. Find them with Google Introduce yourself. Be personal and informal. Careful! Potential spam territory


Test, Test, Test!

Treat your email campaigns like experiments Have a control group Vary only one thing at a time What to test?

– The offer, the Subject line, the From line, the message copy, the layout, the message length, the timing, the contact frequency


Test, Test, Test!

Track response rates of each test by making call-to-action URLs & e-mail addresses unique for each test group

Special attention should be given to the frequency– don't allow recipient burnout, particularly with a regular

mailing such as an e-mail newsletter Test and refine, test and refine


Software and ASPs

Reduce the administrative headaches - the bounces and unsubscribe requests, the tracking, reporting, segmenting, and personalizing – Do-it-yourself software. e.g. WorldMerge

(www.coloradosoft.com)– Or outsource to an e-mail service bureau, e.g. GravityMail

(www.gravitymail.com)


In Summary

Your subscribers listen to WII-FM Regular contact is required to stand out A lot of variables to get right

– Such as frequency, length, content Now you know how to get permission, build your

database, personalize, segment, test, measure success


Further Reading

Successful Email Marketing by Debbie Mayo-Smith Marketing With E-Mail by Shannon Kinnard Permission Marketing by Seth Godin


It’s time for some Q & A!

Thank You!

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