integrating email with social media

Integrating Email With Social MediaLoren McDonald, Silverpop @LorenMcDonald

John Getze, Monster@johngetze

IM

Overloaded inbox

Facebook

CAN-SPAM Act

RSS

SPAM

Mobile

ChangingDemographics

Email is Dead, Right?

Twitter

Twitter is Hot, But Email is Ubiquitous

Twitter has roughly 50 million users

*The Radicati Group

Email has more than 1.4 billion worldwide users*

In Fact, Social Usage = More Email Usage

Email marketing outperforms virtually all other media in terms of

ROI*

*DMA, CMO Council

Email Still Rules Dude

Email FTAF is The Old Viral

Less than 0.1% CTR

Social Email is The New Viral

0.5% CTR

One to One to Many

Extends the Reach of Email

Social network users are, on average, connected to

between 150 and 200 friends

24% average

increased reach

High-Value Sharers Emerge

Agenda

• How Does Share-to-Social Work?

• Monster Communities Case

Study

• The 6 Keys to Success

• Key Takeaways

• Q & A

Share-to-Social (S2S)/Share With Your Network (SWYN): How it Works

This is NOT Share-to-Social/SWYN…

But this is…

Insert Share Links

http://www.email-marketing-reports.com/iland/2008/10/coding-emails-and-landing-pages-with.html

ESP Or Custom Coding

Personalized by recipient

Shared with Friends

Monster Communities Case Study

Social links in email

landing page

FireLink fan page on Facebook

Share-to-social links on landing page

Post content to Facebook profile

Social links in email

landing page

FireLink fan page on Facebook

FireLink fan page on Facebook

Seeded content

- articles- photos- site info

User generated content- comments- photos- links

6 month referral results

138,045

65,969

15,347

7,216other

The 6 Keys to Successful Integration of Social Networks and Email

6 Keys to Successful Social/Email Integration

Know What Motivates People to

Share

Target the Right Networks

Educate Subscribers on

Sharing

Optimize Design/ Link

Location

Create Shareworthy

Content

Test, Analyze & Refine

1. Understand What Motivates People to Share

What Motivates People to Share?

Contributing to the Conversation

Sharing benefits people through the value of the information shared in return

Self Interest

Sharing rewards the pocketbook

Altruism

Sharing makes them feel good

Validation

Sharing feeds the ego

Affinity

Sharing makes people feel more a part of the "community"

Prurience

Sharing makes people feel less guilty for gawking

2. Target the right social networks and media

Facebook Links Included 100% of the Time

B2B EmailsLinkedIn = 83%

Are 4 to 5 Networks the Right #?

Facebook is Most Effective

Which social networks drive the most additional email “views/opens”?

Facebook has highest social network effectiveness:• Average = 68% - 1000 share clicks = 680 share opens• Top Quartile average = 195% - 1000 share clicks =

1950 share opens

Keys to Targeting the Right Networks

• Utilize third-party research

• Survey subscribers/Monitor network

activity

• Test and analyze click/share activity

• Identify subtrends

– e.g., High-value sharers

• Kill the losers

3. Educate subscribers on how/why to share

Why Education is Key

• Despite growth, “sharing” is still early

• Different levels of social adoption

• Sharing features/networks can differ in approaches

Share to Social in Action

Announce…

Explain...

Encourage

4. Optimize email sharing design and link location

Link Location - Top, Middle or Bottom?

Content, Content, Content

Eat Better America - Bottom

Eat Better America - Top

Dinner Made Easy - Bottom

Dinner Made Easy – Near Top

5. Create shareworthy content

TrustworthyThe brand and

source of content or offer is widely

known and trusted.

Taps into Tribes

Message content speaks to tribal

groups within your subscriber base.

ObviousEssence of the email

content to be shared is obvious, simple to grasp.

Easy to ShareSharing links are easy to find and

use.

Social AcumenTargets the right

social networks and social acumen of

subscribers.

Creates ValueMust provide value or recipients will

not share with their networks.

Rewards/Incents

Incentives are naturally viral, but

come at a cost.

Great ContentWell-written, timely, unique content that

jumps out of the inbox.

8 Keys to Shareworthy Emails

What B2B Emails Are Shareworthy?

Relevant Articles

News / Press Releases

Event /Webinar Notifications

What B2C emails are Shareworthy?

Great offers New season / product announcements

Sale Notifications

B2C - Recipes Are Naturally Viral

What’s Not Shareworthy?

× Long newsletters

× Highly Personalised Emails× Transactional

Emails

× Negative News

“Dough” + Valentine = Shareworthy

6. Test, Analyze and Refine for Increased Sharing

Test – What’s Working/Not Working

• Copy/Content/Offers

• Link Style, Location

• Broad versus Narrow Focus Messages

• Viral-Only Messages

• High-Value Sharers…

Identify Key Influencers

• Identify recipientswho shared yourmessage

• Create lists of key influencers

• Target them with future offers andincentives

How to Measure Success

Process• Email share click-

through rate

• Network opens/rate

• Network clicks/rate

• Performance by

network• Who is sharing –

influencer rates

Output

• New subscribers

• Additional reach

• Conversions/revenue

Results • 800 recipients shared the email offer

• 8% list growth

• 33% people who viewed a shared item clicked through to the offer – 3x CTR of their standard

emails

What to Tell Your Boss

$0

5X

25%

...but it does require more than just inserting links

4 Extra Email Marketing Tactics for 2010

1. Capture and Use the Right Data

Data:

They key to

email relevance, and

therefore your success

Data Is the Foundation of Relevance

Relevance

Explicit Data

Implicit DataContent/

Offers

Frequency/Cadence

Why Preference Centers?

•Demographics & interests

•Up to date/changes

Data Capture•“My

Email”

•Better retention

Subscriber Empowerment

•Preferred frequency, lists

•Basis of personalization, segmentation

Increased Relevance

Preference Center Touch Points

Opt-in

Welcome

Regular Emails

Web Site

Transactional Emails

Opt-out

No Data, No Relevance

Logical Personalization?:

• Gender• Marital status• Age ranges on signup• Wedding anniversary• Significant other’s birth date

No Recognition of Their Value Proposition

How About Product Selection & Content that recognizes I’m:

• Male• Married• Kind of old guy • Married 25 years

26th Anniversary…and I get This?

Progressive Sign Up

Net-a-Porter

Society of London Theatre

Targeted Communications Based on Age

• Under 26 targeted mailings – Age centric subject

line – Sent to recipients

under 26 years– Open rates around

double average open rates

• Mailing for the over 50’s– Targeted discount

offer– Open Rates 75%

above average open rate

2. Welcome Emails – Start the Relationship Right

What is the first email your subscribers receive?

Do you throw them in mid-stream, or “welcome”

them into the relationship?

Research by marketing publisher MarketingSherpa shows email subscriber

interest begins to disintegrate as soon as two weeks after the opt-in, as measured by the

open rate.

Within two months, the open rate typically falls 20% to 25%.

The Honeymoon is Over!

Welcome Email

Immediate Offer

versus

Customer Data Collection (aka digital handshake)

Williams-Sonoma 3-Part Series

Welcome Email Ecommerce Case Study

• Text• Single email• IT Generated• No marketing messaging

• HTML• 2-part email series• Marketing generated• Promotions, education

75% increase in conversions

3. Incorporate Personality/UGC

Do your emails stand out?

Do they talk at, or with customers?

Stand-out from the rest of the crowd, make your subject line

POP!

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”

Incorporating Social Aspects Within Emails• Comments• User ratings• Top read, top purchases,

etc.

Woot is a Hoot

Like, Awesome Dude!

• Personal reviews/ comments from staff members

• While not objective, puts real people behind the products and emails

Fun Subject Lines

4. Move to Lifecycle / Behavior/ Trigger / Event-Based Messaging

Make your conversations

with your customers

happen in real-time

Free Shipping20% off

20 Emails in 22 Days

You Know Who You Are…

Break Through the Clutter With New Message Streams

• Triggers• Notifications• Alerts• Reminders• Aggregators• Updates• Closeouts• …and more

Date/Event-Based Emails

•Birthday•Anniversary•Holiday•Season/Weather•Renewal•Replenishment•Sale/Special•Service due

•Special Event – e.g., Super Bowl•News event•Recent purchase•Abandoned shopping cart•Status or preference change

4 Components

Thanks!

• 60% Open Rate• Nearly 200% higher than our broadcast average

•18.5% Click through rate

• More than 200% higher

• 60% higher conversion rate than overall average

Happy Birthday

• 52% Open Rate •(Nearly 150% higher than broadcast average)

• 13.8% Click through rate

•(125% higher than broadcast average)

• 10% higher conversion rate and slightly higher average order value.

Purchase Anniversary

• 30% Open Rate

• 15% Higher conversion rate than overall average

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.

Key Takeaways

• Make your emails shareworthy

• Capture and use the right data

• Start your subscribers off right

• Incorporate personality

• Use automation – triggered and lifecycle

• Test everything and don’t be afraid to fail

Resources

• Whitepaper, Email Marketing Goes Social

• Emails Gone Viral, Social Sharing Benchmark Study

Q&A

lmcdonald@silverpop.com@Silverpop

@LorenMcDonaldwww.slideshare.net/

silverpopwww.silverpop.com

john.getze@monster.com@johngetze

www.monster.com