Naughty or Nice? 10 Keys to Holiday Email Marketing Success
Speakers and Agenda
• Stephen Guerra– Manager-Strategy
Consulting
– Silverpop
• Loren McDonald
– VP, Industry Relations
– Silverpop
• Checklist• Q & A• Wrap-Up and
Survey
Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance
Make informed frequency/cadence decisions
Make subscribing attractive and easy
Check and prepare customer data , integrations, list hygiene
Fine-tune your social-sharing initiatives
Create cart-abandonment and browse campaigns
Offer an unsubscribe preference center
Optimize transactional emails
Create a post-purchase email strategy
Manage expectations with a holiday-themed welcome program
Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and
appearance
• Crowded inbox = less tolerance for design challenges
• Design for recipient behavior path:Open, Scan, Engage, Convert
• Plan design tests now• Review design and functionality on
mobile, web, & desktop clients
What Have You Done?
• Start with last year’s results– What did you do and what worked?– What did others do that seemed to work
better?
• Evaluate offer, subject lines, calls to action
• A baseline for where to start this year's holiday email planning
Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance
Make informed frequency/cadence decisions
Increase in Frequency
• Silverpop found retailers studied sent 22% more emails during Cyber Week in 2009 than they did in 2008
• Record sends were posted during last year’s holiday season
Impact on Opens and Clicks
Opens:• 2008: 15%• 2009: 14%
Clicks:• 2008: 29%• 2009: 25%
Top two unsubscribe drivers: Lack of message relevancy and
high message frequency
- Forrester, The ROI Of Email Relevance, 2009
More Can Lead to Less
You Know You’ll Send More.Set the Stage Now.
• Deliverability relies on sender reputation – check it now
• Develop a frequency segmentation plan
• Monitor tolerance– Establish baselines
now– Determine
thresholds
Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance
Make informed frequency/cadence decisions
Make subscribing attractive and easy
Holiday Email List Considerations
@
Optimize for List Growth
• Value offer for opt-in
• Obtain address & permission immediately
• Review preference forms – test designs
• Include opt-in offer in messages
Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance
Make informed frequency/cadence decisions
Make subscribing attractive and easy
Check and prepare customer data , integrations, list hygiene
Email Infrastructure Check
• Dynamic content• Integrations
– Web analytics– Content
• List Hygiene– Bounces– Non-responders– Data quality
Save Time with Dynamic Content• Improves time efficiency for sending
over individual segment sends• Requires initial time investment• Prepare now
– Content– Template design– Business rules
Relevance through Behavioral Tracking
• 51% of surveyed US email marketers use email click-through behavioral segmentation
• 31% of consumers consider consumer reviews the most important part of site content
- Forrester, The ROI Of Email Relevance, 2009
Be Relevant. Segment.
• Holiday behavior shifts– Review past holiday
periods– Holiday shopper
segmentsEntertainer, Parent, Budgeted
• Simple segments– Open vs. Non-Open– New vs. Old Subscriber
• Segmentation tactic to highly target interest in holiday offers
• By offering option may limit potential audience
Create Special Holiday Lists?
Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance
Make informed frequency/cadence decisions
Make subscribing attractive and easy
Check and prepare customer data , integrations, list hygiene
Fine-tune your social-sharing initiatives
Reach Out Socially
• Fire up Your Social Networking Channels
• Take the time to do it right
Consumers Are In Control
Silverpop’s Social Sharing Study• Facebook dominates among social
networks• The life of a shared message is
about one week• Including sharing links isn’t
enough: 35% of messages generated no sharing
Why People Share• Contributing to the conversation• Self-Interest• Altruism• Validation• Affinity
Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance
Make informed frequency/cadence decisions
Make subscribing attractive and easy
Check and prepare customer data , integrations, list hygiene
Fine-tune your social-sharing initiatives
Create cart-abandonment and browse campaigns
Multiple Opportunities in the Funnel
Recommendations/Abandon Site Email
Early results:
• 40% open rate
• 57% click to purchase conversion
• Earns $2.18 per email deployed
• Earned $127.70 per email clicked
Average cart abandonment rate
71%
Source: SeeWhy
Following up with abandoners by email yields
25% or more conversion rates.
Did You Forget
Something?
A Special Offer To Return
To Tafford
2009 Abandoned Cart Indexed Results…
25% conversion on cart abandoners.
Cart program accounts for almost 1/3 of TOTAL yearly email sales
First and most effective in the series sent within hours after abandonment.
Abandon Cart Emails
Grad Images: Three stage campaign
Immediate
23 hrs after
120 hrs after
“Service” tone
An overt sales message may be counter productive. Service based communications work much better
+ Expectations+ A service email stating their
transaction did not complete+ Use your transaction
confirmation as a model
+ May not be ready to buy yet+ An overt sales message may be
counter-productive
Abandonment Email Takeaways
First email within a few hours
Multiple follow-ups
Start with service tone
Test timing and discounts Automate
Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance
Make informed frequency/cadence decisions
Make subscribing attractive and easy
Check and prepare customer data , integrations, list hygiene
Fine-tune your social-sharing initiatives
Create cart-abandonment and browse campaigns
Offer an unsubscribe preference center
Why Recipients Unsubscribe
• Too Frequent
• Irrelevant Content/Offers
• Also, lack of email address change functionality
Jupiter Research (now Forrester)
Administrative Footer - Obvious
Make sure links are not just
images
Link at Top of Email - Depends
- Use if high complaint rate
- Potentially only with specific ISPs
So What are the Alternatives?
Alternatives
Frequency
Format
ChangeEmail
Profile/Preferences
Channel
OtherEmails
Typical retention is 20-30%
Alternatives at Opt-out?
Silverpop Study of Internet Retailer 500 - 2009
Email Frequency
Change Email Address
Multiple Lists
Interest Preferences
Office Depot
Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance
Make informed frequency/cadence decisions
Make subscribing attractive and easy
Check and prepare customer data , integrations, list hygiene
Fine-tune your social-sharing initiatives
Create cart-abandonment and browse campaigns
Offer an unsubscribe preference center
Optimize transactional emails
Think beyond just this…
Marketing Content in Transactional Messages - Benefits
Decreased Burden on Support
Lower Call Center Volumes
Increased Customer Satisfaction
Increased Brand Recognition
Increased Revenue
0% 10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
% of email Marketers
Graph Source: Jupiter Research “The Transactional Messaging Imperative,” 2008n=200 email marketers, US
Demand from Order Confirmation Series emails grew 41.5% from 2008 to 2009.
Open rates range 45%-50%
Order Confirmation Series
Promotional Content Doesn’t Have to be Customized
Order details
Great HTML Layout
Same promotional content reiterated
Including photos = higher
avg click-
through rate
(7.1% vs 4.7%)
Silverpop’s 2006 study
“email creative that
works”
Main message clearly
communicated in subject line and top of message
Bad Ratio!Pressing Your Luck
LOTS of promotional
content
The majority of content in transactional messages should
be non-promotional
Cross Sell / Upsell
Best Practice:Recommend accessory itemsor complementary items for each product in cart
Recommendations
Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance
Make informed frequency/cadence decisions
Make subscribing attractive and easy
Check and prepare customer data , integrations, list hygiene
Fine-tune your social-sharing initiatives
Create cart-abandonment and browse campaigns
Offer an unsubscribe preference center
Optimize transactional emails
Create a post-purchase email strategy
Pre- to Post-Purchase EmailsPre-Transaction
• Browse abandonment
• Cart abandonment
Purchase Process
• Order Confirmation
• Order status• Shipping notice• Shipment confirmation
• Trip preparation
Post-Purchase
• Satisfaction Survey
• Review request• Review notification
• Recommendation
• Replenishment• Repurchase• Upgrades
Relationship
• Bounceback• Account reminder
• Loyalty programs
• Account status• Purchase anniversary
Right time, right message!
Client Trigger-Email Program
Low Volume, High ROI
59.8 %Batch Campaigns
40.2%TriggeredCampaigns
95.9 %Batch Campaigns
4.1%TriggeredCampaigns
Sales GeneratedVolume of Emails sent
Fred, A Special
Thank-You Offer From
Tafford
Tafford Customer Survey - Tell Us
What You Think
Fred, A Special
Thank You Offer from
Tafford
Fred, A Special
Thank-You Offer From
Tafford
Tafford Customer Survey - Tell Us
What You Think
Fred, A Special
Thank-You Offer From
Tafford
Tafford Customer Survey - Tell Us
What You Think
Fred, Rate the Tafford products
you purchased
Post Purchase Lifecycle Indexed Results
6X+
Better
Surv
ey
perfo
rms
over
20%
bette
r…
Post-Purchase Review
Product Review Email14% of those who click place another order
Second highest conversion rate next to Abandon Cart emails.
Products Review Notification
12% of those clicking on this email go directly to make another purchase.
Thanks!
• 60% Open Rate• Nearly 3X avg
• 18.5% CTR• 3X avg
• 7.5% higher AOV than overall average
• 60% higher conversion rate than overall average
Reminders…almost out of stock
Open, CT and Conversion Rates that are MORE THAN DOUBLE broadcast email rates
Average Order Value is 53% HIGHER
Purchase Anniversary
15% higher conversion rate than average from broadcast messages
Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance
Make informed frequency/cadence decisions
Make subscribing attractive and easy
Check and prepare customer data , integrations, list hygiene
Fine-tune your social-sharing initiatives
Create cart-abandonment and browse campaigns
Offer an unsubscribe preference center
Optimize transactional emails
Create a post-purchase email strategy
Manage expectations with a holiday-themed welcome program
Welcome emails may be the most
important email your company
sends.
Internet Retailer 500
22% send NOemails
Silverpop Study - 2009
Welcome Emails: Goals and Purpose
Goals• Speed up conversion • Minimize list churn• Strengthen brand
perception• Reduce inactivity
Purpose• Educate subscriber• Reward/Incent• Instill/reinforce trust• Enable immediate
“email experience”• Provide administrative
information/tools• Set expectations
Timing / Cadence• Immediate• Suppress regular emails• Transactional OK• Move to a series
Immediate
3-7 days
7-14 days
Immediate
Stand alone
Email # 1
Email # 2
Email # 3
3-part series
Welcome to the Tafford Community
Tafford #1
Three Reasons You Will Love Tafford + A Special
Offer
Tafford #2
Personalize Your Tafford Experience
Tafford #3
2009 Welcome Series Indexed Results…
Welcome #1 Performs 6X Better!
Lastminute.com
Holiday Welcome
• Increased frequency• Frequency options• Change preferences• Reassure simplicity of
holiday shopping experience
• Email-only specials• Information about:
– Shipping promotions and schedules
– How to return items– Gift-card promotions– Call-center hours
Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance
Make informed frequency/cadence decisions
Make subscribing attractive and easy
Check and prepare customer data , integrations, list hygiene
Fine-tune your social-sharing initiatives
Create cart-abandonment and browse campaigns
Offer an unsubscribe preference center
Optimize transactional emails
Create a post-purchase email strategy
Manage expectations with a holiday-themed welcome program
Resources / Q & A
About Silverpop
• A leading email marketing / marketing automation provider
• Email marketing
• Transactional email
• Share-to-social
• Send Time Optimization
• Landing pages
• Surveys
• SMS• API Integrations w/ Web
analytics, personalization, reviews, recommendation technologies
Resources
• Resource Center– White papers– Webinars– Blogs– Case studies– Newsletters– http://www.silverpop.com/marketing-resources/index.ht
ml
• Many presentations on SlideShare– www.slideshare.net/Silverpop
Q & A and Contact Information
• Stephen Guerra, Silverpop
– Manager-Strategy Consulting
– Twitter:
• @stephenguerra
• Loren McDonald, Silverpop– VP, Industry Relations– [email protected]– Twitter:
• @LorenMcDonald
@Silverpopwww.silverpop.com
Thank you!
On Twitter: @Silverpopwww.slideshare.net/silverpop
www.silverpop.com