Power up: Mailgun + SendwithusMake Mailgun a full-featured growth marketing platform

With Kelly Kenney (Sendwithus) & Angela Bartels (Mailgun)

Hi, I’m Angela

● Marketing @ Mailgun

● 2 years @ Mailgun, 7 years @ Rackspace, 13

years in tech

● Fun fact: I have the most Rackspace blog

bylines (like more than 300!)

Hi, I’m Kelly

● Marketing @ Sendwithus

● Over 9 years in the Tech marketing field

● Email nerd, animal lover and cheese enthusiast

Tech Heros

Dylan MooreTech expert @ SendwithusSWU hero by day, Pokemon hunter by night

Nolan Iriarte Tech expert @ Mailgun

Housekeeping

● Mailgun / Sendwithus Questions

● Follow-up Recording

● Swag Giveaway

● Email template management

● Iterate / Optimize without deploying code

● Set up A/B tests, drip campaigns

● Simplify workflow with Litmus & Smartling integration

Mailgun & Sendwithus

● The Email service for developers

● Powerful API that allows you to send, receive, and track emails

● In-house email deliverability experts

Sendwithus Overview

● Y Combinator company (founded Jan. 2013)

● Based in Victoria, BC and San Francisco, CA

● Control + Optimize Email

● Top 300 Email sender Worldwide

Today’s Objectives

● Demo Mailgun + Sendwithus integration

● Importance of App/Site Email customer experience continuity

● Learn from awesome examples of transactional email & email fails

● Dead-end Emails

● Questions? We got answers

Demo time!

App to Email: Consistent Experience

Transactional emails should look like the site they came from.

Brand consistency across all media builds a strong impression of your company in the user’s mind.

email

website

Transactional Email

● Sent automatically in response to a user’s action on your app

● Welcome email - 4x more opens and 5x more clicks vs marketing email

● Notification email - second highest engagement rate

● Receipt email - 64% of consumers consider these the most valuable messages

● People expect them and read them - take advantage!

Examples

Facebook

● Clear, concise message

● Clear CTA

● Consistent branding

Examples

Twitter

● Entire message is included

● Clear CTA

● Helpful links in footer

Great Example!

Uber

● Subject line: Your Friday afternoon trip with Uber

● Includes all ride info (fare, map, route, pick up time)

● Look / Feel an extension of the app

● CTA - “Rate your Driver”

● Help & share link easily accessible

Not-so-Great Example!

Uber Eats

● Subject line: Your Friday evening trip with Uber

● Confusing! Did I just take a ride?

● No order details

Great Example!

Gusto

● Gusto Notification email

● Upbeat, clear message

● Includes all pertinent information (amount, taxes, etc)

● Provides CTA for engagement (tweet)

Not-so-Great Example!

BC Ferries

● BC Ferries confirmation email

● Text-only

● Address section error, hard-coded with punctuation

● Difficult to read / parse

Could be Better

Soylent

● Subject line: “Your Soylent order is confirmed”

● Branding is great. Awesome receipt.

● No links to social media / community

● No other stories

Dead-end Emails

Definition:

“An email that does not contain a clear call to action to next step for your user”

Why do they matter:

● Part of your user's website workflow

● Discontinuous experience

● Results in poor Customer experience

How does this Happen?

● Owned by Marketer● Optimized for engagement● Customer-centric

Transactional EmailLanding Page

● Owned by Developer● Focus is information● Information-centric

How to Identify a Dead-end Email

● Is it clear: “Who is this email from?

● Is it clear: “What is my next step?”

● Is there an opportunity to engage me further?

Examples

Frank and Oak Linkedin

● No clear CTA - 3

options!

After a Dead-End

● Don't assume! - A/B Test!

● Treat email like a landing page

● Email is complicated. You can test:

○ SUBJECT LINES

○ INTRO TEXT

○ BODY STYLE

○ HEADINGS

○ CTAs and MORE!

Wrapping Up

● Mailgun + SWU =

● Email is an extension of your product

● Email experience has to match product

● Dead-end email = missed opportunities

● Transactional email has endless potential

● A/B test to rectify missed opportunities

● Learn more at: http:/www.sendwithus.com/mailgun

Questions?

kelly@sendwithus.com angela.bartels@rackspace.com