2. creative: creating exceptional email marketing messages: part 1

Creating Exceptional Email Marketing

Messages

The Recipe For Brilliant Creative

Deliverable Readable

Relevant Email Message

Offer

Architecture

Format Optimization

Graphics & Visuals

#1: Offers

NEW New RuleIEEO

Old New Rule

AIDA

The Traditional Psychology of Advertising

• AIDA Model

Attention

Interest

Desire

Action

AIDA Examples

The New Approach to Selling

• The IEEO Model

Invite

Engage

Educate or Entertain

Offer

IEEO Examples

Offer Optimization: Understand Types• Certain offers are optimal for specific stages of the

customer lifecycle and not others

Entice to Subscribe

• Exclusivity• Sweepstakes• Free content/gift/access

Welcome

• Thank• Familiarize, orient• Preview, alert

Purchase

• $ Savings• Free shipping• Sale deadline

Cross-sell/Up-sell• Bounce-back• Segment-specific exclusivity• Behavior-related offer

Retain/Grow • Education, tools• Tier-exclusivity• Loyalty/rewards programs

Reactivate• New Information• Extra savings, $ incentive• Behavior-driven reward

How and If People Respond is Evolving• Consumers tired of being beat over the head with solicitations

everywhere, all the time

• Inclusion, invitation and community valued over promotion

• People want relationship & temporal relevancy– Recognize appropriate stage at right time (you don’t go from first date

straight to proposing marriage)

• Give in order to receive

• Social/service orientation resonating more than outright sales

Offer Key Takeaways

• There’s still a place for both AIDA and IEEO

• Variety and an ongoing mix of offer types is key– Begin with IEEO; progress into AIDA

• Brand, product, and price can influence but do NOT DEFINE the approach you select

• If in doubt, head-to-head test

• Offer performance tracking important– Measure effectiveness and point of diminishing returns especially on

AIDA style offers

#2: Subject Lines

NEW New RuleLonger and More Specific

Old New Rule

Short and Simple

Average Marketing Email Open Rates• According to Epsilon's Email Trends & Benchmarks Report

New Research on Subject Lines

• In 2011 Alchemy Worx tested and analyzed common assumptions about subject lines– Short (< 35 characters) outperform long– Single vs. Multi-proposition

• Analyzed 205 million delivered emails across their entire client base

• Total of 646 subject lines examined

Source:

Subject Line Length Analysis

• The longer the subject line the lower the open rate, but the higher the click-to-open rate

Source:

Subject Line Length Findings

• Subject Lines (SLs) under 60 or more than 70 characters generate the highest response

– Shorter SLs generate higher open rates, an initial measure of interest, but much lower click-to-open ratios

– Longer SLs generate a higher click-to-open ratio, an indication of ongoing interest and true response

– Open and click-to-open rates intersect at about 60-70 characters, a “dead zone” where neither metric is optimized

Source:

So if Longer Might Be Better . . . What Do You Say?

• Multiple vs. Single Propositions (topics)– Longer subject lines can accommodate multiple vs. single

propositions, which increase relevancy

• Get detailed (about the offer, benefit, or content)– Use length to get specific enough for subscribers to decide how

relevant each message is to them• The more relevant they consider the message, the more likely they are to

take response action beyond the open

• Use separators between major points if multi-proposition

Single vs. Multi-PropositionSingle – often but not always shorter; longer can work for specificity

Multi – can be short, but at any length must get to the point

v

v

Subject Line Key Takeaways

• They act as a relevance filter– The more information you can get into the subject line, the higher the

percentage of your relevant target market will open

• Length not as much an indicator of response performance as specificity

• Keep them in perspective– With “average” open rates around 22%, the vast majority of email does

not get opened no matter who you are or what you do

#3: Format and Layout

NEW New RuleOptimized for Multi-Environment

Viewing and Renderability

Old New Rule

Optimized for Desktop Viewing

Email Receiving Environments

10 Years Ago

5 Years Ago

Today

Proper Message Rendering a Growing Issue

• Proliferation of hardware, software and physical place for receiving and viewing email create infinitely different and changing view-ability

• Image blocking ongoing in Google, Outlook, corporate environments

• No uniform standards across receiving email clients– Some like iOS resize message, others don’t

• Anti-spam measures disable images, links

• Format and layout need to enable, not hinder

How They See Your Carefully Crafted Messages

• Fully opened on desktop/laptop

• Preview pane

• Tablet PC

• Smartphone

Format and Layout Tips for Today

• Single vs. Multi-Column Message Layouts– Single-column easier for mobile viewing and enables larger font sizes

• Vertical still viable, but horizontal emerging– More common on Web pages making it’s way to email

• Plain text still viable, but shrinking in use for commercial vs. functional email

• HTML5 will accommodate video, but not yet universally supported

Single vs. Multi-Column Design

Vertical vs. Horizontal Scroll• Food blog Tablespoon did a holiday greeting email

that scrolled horizontal

Switch it Up

• This design approach fits the brand image and product name perfectly

• What aspect of your brand/store/product image would translate to email?

Format and Layout Key Takeaways• Design with a “mobile in the mainstream” mindset

– Where once only a small percentage of your total list ever viewed email on a mobile device, it will become the new norm

• Assume partial vs. full view– Optimize for preview pane viewing – position key elements to pop in

order to stimulate full open• Plan Layout to stimulate both open and click• Simplify content organization (layout)

– Too many columns, small print, too long not being read– Link to extended content on web

• Form should support function– Layout should enable vs. hinder response

#4: Graphic Design

NEW New RuleImages & design support both

rendering and response optimizationOld New Rule

Balance to achieve message rendering

Design in Terms of Building Blocks

Pre-header•Main offer•View as web page•Mobile link/text

option•Whitelist/address

book request•Social media

connections

Headline (Graphic Header)•Large enough to

show in preview or mobile

•Not so large as to dominate usefulness

•Relates to offer

Body•Sub headline(s)•Images•Copy•Links•Call-to-action

buttons, icons, arrows

•Create as a mosaic

Admin Area – Bottom•Unsubscribe•Postal address•Link to Preferences

Center or Account•Other useful links•Offer T&C•Share with

Social/FTAF

Ensuring Viability: The Pre-header and Its Components

• Link to Render Images or View as Web Page• Rendering or layout issues averted when viewed through browser

• Link to view on Mobile Device

• Add to Address Book/Whitelist request

• “Pre-header Message”• Image-proof your offer with a plain text restatement of it at top of

message or one-word link to landing page

Pre-header Example

• Pre-header message restating offer is front and center

• Link to view as Web page

• Mobile option to view as text

• Social media connections