Date post: | 23-Jan-2017 |
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Marketing |
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@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
We tend to associate ‘going viral’ with social media—in part because it’s relatively easy to see and measure the noise of
social sharing.
However, the much quieter email forward is
often a much more powerful influencer.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
The 1-to-1 or 1-to-few nature of email forwards makes them much more
personal and much more trusted—and therefore
more likely to drive action.@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Chad White @chadswhite• Research Director at Litmus• Author of Email Marketing Rules• Written thousands of posts and
articles on email marketing• Quoted in over 100 publications,
including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today
Justine Jordan @meladorri• Email critic and popular
industry speaker• Directs all things
marketing at Litmus• Recipient of 2015 EEC
Email Marketing Thought Leader of the Year award
• Organizer of The Email Design Conference
To better understand the quiet, often invisible influence of email forwards, we used Litmus’ Email Analytics to analyze the forwards generated by more than 400,000 email sends with at least 500 opens between Jan. 2013 and March 2015.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
To reduce the impact of list size, we normalized forward activity by calculating the forward-to-open rate—that is, what percentage of opens generated a forward.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
And to understand the drivers of email forwarding, we analyzed more than 200 emails from among the top 1% of viral emails and another 200-plus emails from around the 50th percentile—looking at tactics, topics, and other email elements.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
You’ll receive a copy of The Viral Email Report, slides, and a recording following the webinar.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Benchmarks for Forward-to-Open Rates
The median email (50th percentile) produced a 0.27% forward-to-open rate. Put another way, the middle-of-the-pack email generates 1 forward for every 370 opens.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
The 99th percentile of viral emails was 17.6 times more viral than the median, generating 1 forward for every 21 opens.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Tactics that Af -fect
Forward-to-Open Rates
Tactics we’ll explore…• Audience Size• Segmentation & Triggered Emails• Personalization• “Share with Your Network” Calls-to-
Action
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Audience SizeDoes an email sent to a small audience or a large audience have more viral potential?
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Small audience! The median email among those with 500 to 50,000 opens was forwarded 90% more than the median email among those with more than 50,000 opens.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
And it’s even more stark among the most viral emails Small Audience
Forward-to-Open Rate
Large AudienceForward-to-Open
RateSmall vs. Large
99th Percentile 5.04% 1.91% 2.6
95th Percentile 2.29% 0.89% 2.6
90th Percentile 1.49% 0.60% 2.5
75th Percentile 0.71% 0.32% 2.2
50th Percentile 0.30% 0.16% 1.9
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Segmentation & TriggersAre segmented emails and triggered emails more or less likely to be forwarded?
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
More likely! The emails in the 99th percentile were 4.3 times more likely to be segmented and 2.9 times more likely to be triggered than emails in the 50th percentile.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
San Diego Magazine segmented these
event promo emails to attendees of last year’s event and to
attendees of another event they
held. Both were among the top 1%
of viral emails.
PersonalizationAre personalized emails more or less likely to be forwarded? Note: We ignored first-name merges and other superficial forms of personalization.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
More likely! Emails in the 99th percentile were 4.5 times more likely than emails in the 50th percentile to include personalization.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
‘Share with Your Network’ CTAs
Are emails that include SWYN calls-to-action more or less likely to be forwarded?
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
More likely! Emails in the 99th percentile were 13 times more likely to include a “share with your network” call-to-action than emails in the 50th percentile.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
This highly viral email from Chevy
Safe & Fun included a photo
taken at an event, as well as prominent “share
with your network” links.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Recipients of this segmented email from JustGiving
were very happy to spread the
word that they were among the
top 1% of fundraisers during
2014.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Topics that AffectForward-to-Open
Rates
Email topics we’ll explore…• Promotions/Deals/Discounts• News/Helpful Content• Events/Webinars• Transactional/Account Change/ Action
Required@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Promotions/Deals/DiscountsAre emails about promotions, deals, and discounts more or less likely to be forwarded?
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Less likely! Promotions were the most common topic among emails in the 50th percentile and were 67% less likely to be the topic of the most viral 1% of emails.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
News/Helpful ContentAre emails about news and helpful content more or less likely to be forwarded?
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Less likely! Although very common in the 99th percentile of viral emails, news and helpful content was slightly more prevalent among emails in the 50th percentile.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Promotions and helpful content are staples of
email marketing, so subscribers are only driven
to forward those that are truly great. @chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Plan your email content calendar so that you’re occasionally sending an
awesome deal, exclusive news, or similarly
impactful content.@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
A really good deal—combined
with the announcement of store closings—made this email
from Home Decorators
Collection highly viral.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Presented as an infographic, news that
GameChanger’s app had tracked
800 million pitches for
amateur teams went viral.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Events/WebinarsAre emails about events and webinars that require registration or an RSVP more or less likely to be forwarded?
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
More likely! Emails in the 99th percentile were 3.2 times more likely to be about an event or webinar than emails in the 50th percentile.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
An exciting, controversial topic and a compelling
speaker propelled this
event email into the top 1% of
most-forwarded emails.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Transactional/Account ChangeAre emails about transactions, account changes, and required actions more or less likely to be forwarded?
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
More likely! These emails were 4.6 times more likely to be among the 99th percentile of viral emails than among the 50th percentile.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Two Types of Email Forwards…• Social forwards build awareness
and start others down their own funnels toward conversions.
• Advice-seeking forwards help the forwarder decide whether to convert.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Whereas most forwards raise
awareness and help convince others to
convert, the forwards of this
triggered transactional email from Glo primarily
helped the forwarder convert.
Final Thoughts
When your subscribers forward your emails, they expand your
reach, increase conversions, and boost your email engagement
metrics—which is good for branding, revenue, and
deliverability.@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
Forwards are a powerful indicator of the overall health of your email
program; they’re a sign that you are fulfilling your
subscribers’ needs at the highest level.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
If your monthly forward-to-open rate is in the bottom
quartile (less than 0.11%), then your email program is probably not
delivering experiences that are deeply relevant.
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
How to track forwards• Litmus Email Analytics detects
‘natural’ forwards—those made by clicking the ‘forward’ button in your email client.
• More insight than using ‘forward to a friend’
@chadswhite @meladorri #ViralEmail
litmus.com/giftcard + coupon code VIRALEMAIL
Track forwards, prints, and geolocation.
Litmus Email Analytics
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See how long each subscriber spent reading your message.
Who read, skimmed, or just glanced at your email?
Engagement
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See who opens in mobile, tablet,
desktop, or web-based inboxes.
Device Usage
Works with any ESP
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Questions?The slides, a recording, and copy of the full report will
be sent via email to everyone who registered.
Submit questions via the Q&A panel
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