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What is Relevance, Anyway? October 13, 2009
What is Relevance, Anyway?
October 13, 2009
Ask the experts about email success…
…and they’ll all say
But what is relevance, anyway?
Relevance = Right Message + Right Time
Relevance
Right Time• Wanted• Trusted and Recognized• Expected• Delivered• Timely• Surprising
Right Message• Usable• Personalized• Differentiated• Valued• Humanized
It’s all about the customer/subscriber!
Wanted
Different Levels of “Wanted”
The Reluctant - Opt-In?
The OK, If I have to - Opt-In?
The You Decided For Me - Opt-In
The Incented - Opt-In
The I Really Want It - Opt-In
Hmm, Sounds Pretty Good - Opt-In
Trusted and Recognized
Who the Heck is Presentation Excellence?
I’m sure Mike is a nice guy…
Expected
Weekly - Opt-in Form
Monthly – Welcome Email
Wine of the Day - Cadence
Consistency – Every Tuesday
Delivered
Impact of Poor Deliverability
• Inconsistent inbox experience
• Lost subscribers
• Lost revenue
20% of email fails to reach the Inbox
52% of marketers cite deliverability as their greatest challenge
Source 1: Pivotal Veracity Q2 2009 delivery benchmarksSource 2: “What are your greatest challenges when conducting email marketing? (select all that apply)” JupiterResearch/E-Rewards Goodmail Email Executive Survey (10/08), n = 202 (email marketers, US
The future of deliverability is
managing reputation at the
individual level.
Evolution of Spam Filtering
The progression of spam filtering
Personal Preference
• Consumer Relevancy
• ISPs adopt adaptive learning models and determine delivery based upon consumer preferences – both explicit AND learned
• Reputation
• If you have a good reputation in the eyes of the ISPs your mail will be delivered
Border Patrol
• Authentication
• ISPs use Authentication to help reduce false-positives
Stone Walls
• Blast and Spray
• All emails were welcomed by ISPs and consumers
No Email Boundaries
ISPs will continue to adapt their filters and other technology to mirror end user preferences
• Whitelist & Blacklist
• ISPs incorporate basic spam filtering techniques to thwart spam
Picket Fences
Source: Pivotal Veracity
Selected Deliverability Tips
• “Add to address” in Welcome email
• Monitor response rates of new subscribers
• Monitor deliverability by ISP
• Make sure your email stands out if it
reaches the Junk folder
• Follow general deliverability best practices
Timely
Overloaded Inboxes, & New Entrants
Email is Competing for Mindshare
Time Variables Are Endless
Send Time Matters…
Because we are all individuals
One Size Fits All = A Failed Approach
…when each individual recipient is most likely to respond:
The time when they consistently open and act on your emails.
The Right Time Of Course Is…
Optimizing for Individual Send Time
• Export your email data from a recent send• Group recipients by their open time• Test your next send
– 50% get the email at the standard time– 50% get it at the hour of day they last opened
Overview• Regular weekly promotional email• Established open and click rate trends
Results on first send• Open rates increased 20%• Click rates increased 30%• Total revenue generated increased 75%
• Average value per order grew 35%
Little Tikes Case Study
Timely, Also = Date Based
• Birthday• Anniversary• Holiday• Season/Weather• Renewal• Replenishment• Sale/Special• Service due
Timely, Also = Event Based
• Special Event – e.g., Super Bowl
• News event
• Recent purchase
• Abandoned shopping cart
• Status or preference change
Surprising
I could use more emails like this!
Unexpected content
VSL – “discovery”
Big Results after One Month:(compared to all previous email
campaigns)
48% lift Click through rate
129% lift in Net Conversion rate
Accounted for 10.4% of the total revenue from email marketing
while representing only 2.7% of the total email volume.
Usable
Help me Buy
- Use Bullets- Better
images- Cost?- Not clear
sidebar is coffee
- How do I get to $40?
- Deadline is hidden
• Select flights right from the
• Oakland is my preferred
departure airport
• “Book a flight” links
• Search link
• “Today, March 27”
• No minimum
• 4-7 Day Delivery
• More details below
Do the Math for Your
Subscribers
- % off - Old price- New price- $ Savings
- People are
motivated by
different “discount”
math
Good Use of Text Navigation & Alt Tags
Text links – key Web site destinationsAlt tags
Mobile Friendly – Header CTA
Personalized
This is not really personalization
This is personalization
Halfway There
No Data, No Relevance
Logical Personalization?:
• Gender• Marital status• Age ranges on signup• Wedding anniversary• Significant other’s birth date
Celebrate Your 26th Anniversary With an Engagement Ring????
Differentiated
Free Shipping, 20% Off – “So What”
Social Network Emails in the Mix
• Your emails are competing with social alerts/conversations
• Negatively affecting opens, clicks and engagement
• Increases need for relevance, personality and social components in your emails
Fun Subject Lines
One-of-a kind content
Valued
What is a Valued Email?
• Engaged recipient
• Conversion/Revenue
• Shared
Break Through the Clutter With New Message Streams
• Notifications• Alerts• Reminders• Aggregators• Updates• Closeouts• …and more
Incorporating Social Aspects Within Emails
• Comments• User ratings• Top read, top purchases, etc.
Leveraging Member Reviews in Email Content
Share to Social in Email
• Increased views, clicks
• Reach new audience
• Obtain new subscribers
• Viral buzz
• Increased ROI
• Most valuable sharers
Humanized
We Like Personalities
Jim Cramer – Mad Money
Keith Olbermann – MSNBC
…Not Faceless Corporations
Can we talk?
• More than ever, we want to connect with brands via real people– Think Twitter
• We want a personal note, not a direct marketing promotion
A Dash of Personality
• Tone• From a real person• Humor• Employee, customer
stories/comments• UGC• “Relatable”
Woot is a Hoot
Like, Awesome Dude!
• Personal reviews/ comments from staff members
• While not objective, puts real people behind the products and emails
Q & A / Reminders & Contacts
• Loren McDonald– [email protected]– Twitter: @LorenMcDonald
www.silverpop.comTwitter: @Silverpop
Thank you!
On Twitter: @Silverpopwww.slideshare.net/silverpop
www.silverpop.com
