breaking bad habits: transitioning to intentional and thoughtful member communications
TRANSCRIPT
Breaking Bad Habits: Transitioning to Intentional and Thoughtful
Member Communications
McKinley Advisors Breakfast SeriesKarli Kasonik, MBA, Senior Consultant
November 8, 2012
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Overview• The current landscape-Association case studies- Implications• Challenging the status quo
- The member experience- Segmentation- Process and discipline
Welcome
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Association AAn internal issue…
Case Study
27 Discrete member e-newsletters
35 Average number of emails sent per week*
9,000 Average size of email distribution list
16,290,745 Emails sent to individual contacts in 2011
*does not include emails relating to chapters, membership, transactions, customer service and others
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Association BAn external issue…
Case Study
136 Emails sent in the past three months
11 Average number of emails sent per week
12% Average open rate
7% Average bounce rate
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These issues are not unique.
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Why Pricing Hurts Sent
100% of total
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Why Pricing Hurts Opens
34% of total
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Why Pricing Hurts Clicks
7% of total
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Why Pricing Hurts Conversions
1% of total
Is it worth it?
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Email is free!!!LaborCopywritingEditingProofingDesignList
ManagementDistribution
SystemsEmail
distributionDatabase
Cost-Benefit Analysis – The ROI of EmailCosts Benefits
?? Brand Perception ??
SalesEvent
RegistrationProducts and
Services
Advertising
Awareness
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The Brand Touchpoint Wheel
Source: Building the Brand-Driven Business; Scott M Davis, and Michael Dunn
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What about the 99%?
Occupy the inbox!
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Building new habits
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1. Think like a member.
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The member’s perspective
-Shift the internal discussion from “what do staff want to say?” to “what do members want to hear?”- Review opt-in procedures; allow members to self-select their content.-Are they sitting at a desk? Out in the field? Tailor your communications to best suit their needs.
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2. Segment, segment, segment!
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<50 50-100 100-250 250-500 500-1000 1k-5k 5k-50k 50k-100k 100k-250k >250k0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60% 58%
36%
31%
28%24%
21%17%
15% 16%12%
19%
29%
25%23%
18%16%
14% 14%13% 14%
Open Rate
Click Rate
Number of recipients
Importance of Segmentation
Source: The Informz 2012 Association Email Marketing Benchmark Report
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3. Be disciplined
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Discipline
- What is your email philosophy? What are your goals? How do you know if you are meeting them?-Track everything that goes out and to whom, and then track the results- Set policies and limits- Assign a gatekeeper
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-Testing: segment a large email list into groups, try different subject lines, calls to action, etc
-Tracking: keeping tabs on all outgoing emails will quickly show what is working and what is not working.
First Steps
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Email Performance Dashboard: 1) Performance Metrics
- Open rate, click rate, bounce rate, unsubscribe rate2) Content Audit
- Percentage of emails made up of news and stories, versus association promotions and advertisements
3) Survey response data- Readership survey asking members their perceived value of association emails
Tracking System and Tools
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Tracking System and ToolsE-Newsletters Performance Score
(range 25-100)Content Score(range 25-100)
Survey Score(range 60-200)
Email 1 85 91 175.60Email 2 65 76 141.40Email 3 45 76 121.35Email 4 70 93 163.25Email 5 85 93 177.60Email 6 70 70 140.00Email 7 80 84 164.00Email 8 80 80 160.20Email 9 60 96 155.57Email 10 70 72 142.00Email 11 65 83 148.40Email 12 75 80 154.53Email 13 85 82 166.60Email 14 65 67 132.14Email 15 80 65 145.28Email 16 - - -Email 17 65 79 144.40Email 18 65 60 125.00
Average 71 79 150.43
Legend:
Top 20th Percentile in
categoryBottom 20th Percentile in
category
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Summary
The present: • Low barriers + instant gratification = abuse of email• Ratio of negative impacts to positive is high
The future:• Shift in organizational philosophy• Honoring member and customer preferences• Diligent in testing, tracking, and improving
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Discussion
Your experiences