4 tips to better engage consumers through email

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©2013 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Experian and the marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners. No part of this copyrighted work may be reproduced, modified, or distributed in any form or manner without the prior written permission of Experian. Experian Public. ©2013 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Experian and the marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners. No part of this copyrighted work may be reproduced, modified, or distributed in any form or manner without the prior written permission of Experian. Experian Public. Connecting with subscribers 4 tips to better engage consumers through email experian.com/marketingservices @ExperianMkt

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Connecting with subscribers - 4 tips to better engage consumers through email. Learn the current state of email engagement, trends in deliverability, and how to connect with subscribers.

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Page 1: 4 tips to better engage consumers through email

©2013 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Experian and the marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks ofExperian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.No part of this copyrighted work may be reproduced, modified, or distributed in any form or manner without the prior written permission of Experian. Experian Public.

©2013 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Experian and the marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks ofExperian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.No part of this copyrighted work may be reproduced, modified, or distributed in any form or manner without the prior written permission of Experian. Experian Public.

Connecting with subscribers

4 tips to better engage consumers through email

experian.com/marketingservices

@ExperianMkt

Page 2: 4 tips to better engage consumers through email

2©2013 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.Experian Public. 2©2013 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.Experian Public.

Speakers

► Erin Haselkorn, Senior Marketing Programs Specialist

► Spencer Kollas, Global Director, Delivery Services

► Brad Wyman, Key Account Manager

► Bridgette Darling, Product Marketing Manager

Agenda

► The current state of email engagement

► Trends and headwinds with deliverability

► 4 tips to connect with subscribers

Welcome!Introductions and agenda

Page 3: 4 tips to better engage consumers through email

3©2013 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.Experian Public. 3©2013 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.Experian Public.

How we view our customers receiving mail

Page 4: 4 tips to better engage consumers through email

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Email reality

Page 5: 4 tips to better engage consumers through email

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The woes of deliverability

Managing an email database is complex

Spamtraps can be created from abandoned email accounts

Point-of-sale acquisition methods are error prone

ISPs review user feedback to determine sender reputation

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Email database breakdown

Active Emails

Active Non-Responders

Opt-out Requests

Bad Emails

Inactive Subscribers

Individuals who no longer open or engage with your messages

Subscribers that you mail to with no issues

Subscribers who have opened email in the past, but have not responded recently

Subscribers who no longer wish to receive your messages

Emails that bounce, have syntax errors, are loader exceptions, etc.

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“Honeypots” or pristine traps—addresses that have never been used to sign up for any marketing message in the past

Recycled addresses—addresses that once were real but have been shut down for at least 1 year and have sent failure notices during that time

Typo addresses—addresses that are similar to real addresses both before and after the @ (i.e. @homail.com, gmil.com)

Old emails can become spamtraps

Spamtraps can wreak havoc on a sender’s reputation. But, spamtrapsdo not just appear from acquiring bad lists. Formerly valid emails can

become damaging spamtraps

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Point-of-sale methods are very common, but staff members may frequently enter a generic or inaccurate address

Call center environments have many pressures to take information as quickly as possible, leading to errors

Website collection is plagued by user distraction

Acquisition pain points

While many organizations collect email across channels, many acquisition methods are error prone

Page 9: 4 tips to better engage consumers through email

9©2013 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.Experian Public. 9©2013 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.Experian Public.

ISPs view email service as a cost center

► Feedback loops

► Customer service calls

► Abandoned mailboxes

► Hosting costs

ISP user feedback

How users interact with email ties directly into a company’s ability to send email to all subscribers

Page 10: 4 tips to better engage consumers through email

10©2013 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.Experian Public. 10©2013 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.Experian Public.

Big lists do not equal big revenue

VS

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What is the opportunity cost of a bad email?

According to eMarketer, the median ROI for customer emails was $28.50 per dollar spent, which is half the cost

of acquiring a new customer at a mean of $55.24

Calculate the opportunity cost

► What is the average lifetime value of a customer?

Determine the cost of acquiring new customers

► What do you spend on marketing and sales efforts to bring a new customer on board?

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4 tips to better engage consumers through email

To improve email communication, marketers should:

1. Grow email lists intelligently

2. Maintain a healthy email list

3. Review user activity and tailor messages appropriately

4. Connect across channels

To harness the power of email, marketers need to take into account the many challenges of collecting and maintaining a robust email list

in order to remain engaged with consumers

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Tip 1: Grow your email list intelligently

Promote email subscription through multiple channels

Validate emails at the time of acquisition

Consider the unique challenges at each point of collection

Encourage social sharing of materials

Make it easy for people to subscribe

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Tip 2: Maintain a healthy email list

Flag bad email addresses and remove them from distribution

Provide an easy way to unsubscribe

Review bounce rates

Perform regular email cleansing

On average, 2% of contact data goes bad every month

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Different cleansing methods for different emails

Active Emails

Active Non-Responders

Opt-out Requests

Bad Emails

Inactive Subscribers

After standard hygiene and data enhancement place in a reactivation campaign

Regular hygiene

Have set period to transfer to inactive subscriber. Follow re-engagement best practices

Keep out of campaigns to avoid spam complaints

Clean and add back in all emails that can be corrected with software

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Tip 3: Review user activity and tailor messages

Before removing an inactive subscriber, check if:

► No opens/clicks in 90-365 days

► No purchases in 6 months

► Issues with inbox placement rate (sender reputation)

Use engaging subject lines

Re-engage with special offers

Marketers should identify user preferences and inactive users to tailor messages and

distribute appropriate campaigns

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Tip 4: Connect across channels

Remove users from campaigns if they remain inactive

Utilize social, mobile, point-of-sale, direct mail and other channels

New channels may be the preferred way for users to communicate

Even if you are unable to communicate with clients through email, there are many other preferred channels to use for engagement

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Perception is not often reality

Consider the challenges of deliverability and inactivity when engaging in email marketing

Without a clean email list, marketers are left unable to communicate through this valuable channel

Marketers need to utilize multiple channels to communicate with customers

Summary

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Email validation

Emails corrected by:

Catching and correcting syntax errors

Confirming domains can accept mail

Verifying mailboxes exist

Suppressing spamtraps and risky emails

Organizations who implement email

validation have seen:

Improved email delivery

Enriched customer satisfaction

Advanced reengagement campaigns

Service delivered in:

Real-time

Nightly batch processing

One-time database cleansing

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