Email Marketing 101
Stephen GuerraEmail Communications StrategistSilverpop
CPE Credit
To receive CPE credit for this session you must attend the entire session• Session code: BB20
• Recommended CPE credit = 1 (this changes to 1.5 for 90min sessions)
• Delivery Method = Group-Live
• Field of Study = Specialized Knowledge and Applications
• Enter your credits at the CPE kiosks available in the Tennessee and Presidential Lobbies
Objectives
Email as a Marketing Channel: Sophisticated Capabilities with Multiple Challenges
How Email Works Practice Hierarchy
• Legislation• Industry Best Practices• Organizational Best Practices
Deliverability List Growth Message Design Discussion and Questions
I Know How To Send An Email…
Favorite misconception of the new emailer:
I know how to send email. In fact I just I know how to send email. In fact I just sent one to my Mom five minutes ago. sent one to my Mom five minutes ago.
Let’s rent a list and get started!Let’s rent a list and get started!
Why Commercial Email is Different
Just because you know how to cook dinner doesn’t mean you can run a restaurant
• Different environment
• More sophisticated tools
• Customers are less forgiving of errors
• Regulatory authorities have a say in how you conduct your business
About Email
Email is a tremendously powerful tool:
Costs much less than direct mail
Reveals reader behavior through measurable events
Enables advanced communication possibilities
45% of consumers say that “email is a great way for companies to stay in touch with customers.”
– Quris and Executive Summary Consulting, November 2004
Email: Advanced Techniques
Personalization – Go beyond the name• From Address
• Subject Line
• Relevant historical data Dynamic Content Timed Delivery Segmentation Testing
What can go wrong?
Poor practices contend with:• Legislative & regulatory issues• Recipient impact
• Offend recipients• List burn • Deliverability problems• Brand damage
Email Marketing 101
How Email WorksHow Email Works
How Email Works
[email protected] Jessica
[email protected] Kevin
[email protected] Julia
[email protected] Mildred
[email protected] John
….
From: [email protected]
From name: Silverpop
Subject: Participate in our list growth survey
Reply-to: [email protected]
Env-from: [email protected]
List
Header data
Text message
HTML message
One message per recipient
<xxx>
<xxx>
How Email Works
Outbound MTA(mail transfer agent)
DNS
Internet
Send message to [email protected]
Where do I send mail bound for yahoo.com?
Send to 125.46.350.219
Inbound MTA(“inbound gateway”)
Here’s a message for 125.46.350.219
Give message to [email protected]
Email Marketing 101
Email Practice HierarchyEmail Practice Hierarchy
The Flaming Hoops of Email Compliance
LegislationIndustry Best
Practices
Internal Policy
Legislation
CAN-SPAM Major Provisions
Pre-empts states’ private right of action Provides for enforcement by the FTC, State Attorneys
General, ISPs Prohibits fraudulent email practices Establishes fines up to $2MM and prison sentences up to 5
years Segments transactional & relationship email from
commercial email Prohibits sending additional commercial email more than 10
business days after opt-out is received.
Provided for discussion purposes only; please refer to your legal counsel for guidance
Legislation
CAN-SPAM Major Provisions
Requires for all commercial email:• Clear and conspicuous identification that the email
is an advertisement or solicitation (exception for prior confirmative assent)
• Working opt-out for a minimum of 30 days after the date of the message (keep the opt-out site live for 30 days post-mailing)
• Postal address of sender – recommended for both transactional and commercial messages.
Requires special labeling and message content restrictions for sexually-oriented material
Provided for discussion purposes only; please refer to your legal counsel for guidance
Legislation
CAN-SPAM Key Definitions
Affirmative Consent:• The recipient expressly consented to receive
the message• If the message is from a third party, the
recipient was given clear and conspicuous notice at the time consent was given.
Commercial email:• Any electronic mail message the primary
purpose of which is the commercial advertisement of promotion of a commercial product or service
Provided for discussion purposes only; please refer to your legal counsel for guidance
Legislation
CAN-SPAM Key Definitions
Transactional and relationship messages: Facilitate, complete, or confirm a
commercial transaction Provide warranty information, product
recall information, or safety or security information with respect to a commercial product or service
Notifications Provide information directly related to an
employment relationship Deliver goods or services
Provided for discussion purposes only; please refer to your legal counsel for guidance
Legislation
Other Legislation
The U.S., EU, Australia, Japan and Korea have email-specific regulations• All but Korea and the U.S. are “opt-in” regimes requiring affirmative consent
• All also require easy opt-out, plus identification of the sender• Korea and the U.S. have opt-out regimes
• Korea has unusual and strict labeling requirements—see your local counsel
Some South American states use data privacy to address spam issues – opt-out approach
Sending email to a cell phone in the U.S. is highly regulated by the FCC• Consider blocking cell phone domains
Incented forwarding in the U.S. is covered under U.S. commercial regulations
• This has important considerations for viral campaign design
Provided for discussion purposes only; please refer to your legal counsel for guidance
Industry Best Practices
Permission Level
Not Recommended Brand Damage & Deliverability Problems
Opt-Out Recipients added without clear permission (pre-checked box)
Opt-In Recipient actively requests subscription
Confirmed Opt-In
Recipient actively requests subscription and receives a confirmation message
Double Opt-In
Recipient actively requests subscription then receives an email which they must respond to before subscription is complete
Minimum LevelSome deliverability issues
Best Practice Good balance between deliverability and marketing goals
Good PracticeExcellent deliverability, limits list growth rate
email Trivia
How did the term ‘spam email’ originate?a) Comparing unwanted messages to undesirable food
b) Reference to a Monty Python skit
c) First ‘spam’ sent by a meat packing company
d) Acronym for Superfluous Product Advertisement Mail
Industry Best Practices
Who Decides A Message Is Spam?
Sender
Inbox Provider
Recipient
Law
Organizational Polices
Considerations Branding Creative Design
• Font selection• Image selection• Tone
Permission• House lists• Partner mailings• List rental
Frequency Governance
• Decentralized• Centralized• Federated
Email 101
Email DeliverabilityEmail Deliverability
Email Deliverability Significance
In a July 2004 JupiterResearch study, over 20% of online buyers reported at least one instance of opt-in email failing to arrive.
"JupiterResearch executive interviews revealed investing in delivery services/solutions can improve e-mail delivery by 10 percent to 20 percent.“
--Delivery Auditing Tools: Tactics to Improve E-mail Delivery December 29, 2004
Email Deliverability - Definition
Email Deliverability: How successfully a majority of messages in a mailing will be delivered to a recipient inbox in a readable format.
Majority of Messages – any bulk mailing to a variety of domains will have a certain percentage of messages that do not arrive in the Inbox
Inbox Placement – messages can be challenged, rejected, discarded, or routed to Bulk/Spam folders
Readable Format – message should retain all elements as designed
Email Deliverability Challenges
Anti-spam filters Blacklists HTML rendering / Image Suppression Message element blocking – rich media, images,
links Recipient fatigue
What You Can Do
Find the right partner Obtain high-quality, memorable permission Get in the address book Design delivery-effective messages Be relevant Leverage your brand List hygiene
Email 101
List Growth and List Growth and ManagementManagement
List GrowthVery successful options vs. planned to add
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Call center
Non-branded list rental
Tradeshows
Offline advertising/direct marketing
In-store/point of sale/purchase process
List appends
Co-registration
Co-marketing
Cross promotions
Online marketing/search
Viral marketing
Planned
Deemed successful
Source: Silverpop List Growth Study, 2006
List Management
List Hygiene: practices employed to maintain only active and engaged recipients in an email list • Maintains list performance - eliminates non-productive records• Deliverability best practice - addresses major deliverability issues• Brand best practice – portrays brand in best light
List hygiene practices encompass management of:• Bouncing addresses• Changed addresses• Inactive addresses
List Management
Bounces
Bounces: Notice to sender indicating the message delivery failure
Hard Bounce: Recipient server: “To Address does not exist”
• Addresses that produce hard bounces should be immediately unsubscribed from lists
Soft Bounce: Any non-hard bounce (Examples: “Mailbox Full”, “Recipient Server Offline”, “Message Rejected By Spam Filter”)
• Addresses that produce soft bounces should be unsubscribed from lists only after two conditions are met
• The address bounces for three or more consecutive mailings
• The address continues to bounce for greater than fifteen days
List Management
Changed Addresses
Individual recipients often change their email addresses
• Switching companies
• Corporate mergers
• Discard addresses due to high spam reception Automated email response reply notification of an address change
• These should be collected and the address change should be made in the customer’s record
Usually will not receive notice that the address has been changed
• May or may not receive bounces
• The address may appear abandoned
Address reacquisition procedures
• Call center
• Direct mail
• Stuffers
• Email Change of Address service
Email 101
Message DesignMessage Design
HTML vs. Text
Fancy formatting and images require HTML coding, like a web page• HTML emails have higher response rates and are more measurable than plain text
Experiment with the degree of design present in your email• “Text-like” formats can perform better for certain types of messages, and can also
perform well as a variant in a longer campaign
Your HTML will not render the same in all email clients• Perform periodic “reception testing” to see what your email looks like in various
clients, especially webmail clients like Yahoo and Hotmail
You will still need to create a text version of your email for recipients that cannot open HTML-based email.
• Both the HTML and text versions of the email will be sent in the same message (multi-part messaging), and the appropriate one will be displayed
Message Anatomy
Header
Body
From Name
From Address
Subject Line
Header
What a recipient sees in their inbox Must reassure, compel, intrigue, entice, excite
recipient enough for them to OPEN the message Includes
• From Name
• From Address
• Subject Line
Message ConstructionOverall Page Design – ‘Above The Fold’
Portion of the message that is first viewed without scrolling Recipient will scan this first then decide to read Must engage the recipient immediately
Should encompass – in an easily scanned format
• Offer• Call To Action• Urgency Indication• Brandmark • Any other important content
No exact fold demarcation due to differences in email software, viewing window size, and screen resolution
Sample Message Strong ‘Above The Fold’ Design
Fold
Above The Fold
(400 pixels)
•‘click to view’ link
•Brandmark
•Offer
•Call To Action
•Urgency Indication
Sample Message Weak ‘Above The Fold’ Design
Fold
Below The Fold
•Significant content (image only partially viewable without scrolling & quick links below fold)
•Significant content(Most of the offer is below the fold)
•Call To Action
Above The Fold
400 Pixels
Color & Layout
Overall appearance of the message depends on good design of layout
Use color and layout to pull reader into the message and guide the eye to important content
Sample Message – Strong Color & Layout
Layout:• Clearly defined regions ease
navigation• Page header• Body• Quick navigation• Page footer
• Easily scannable• Left justified primary body copy• Centered footer• Message width within approximately
600 pixels
Color Usage:• Regions of message defined with blocks of
color • Overall color usage unifies the message
Fold
600 pixel width
Email Metrics
Good News:
Email campaigns produce a lot of data
Bad News:
Email campaigns produce a lot of data
email Metrics
Tracking generally requires HTML messages Image suppression can interfere with tracking Unique message created for each recipient Identification codes embedded in message
• Codes relate the message to an individual recipient• Links• Images• ‘Envelope’• Replies
Many metrics measured either as unique or aggregate (gross)• Unique: number of individuals who perform the action
• Counts only ONCE per recipient• Aggregate: number of times the action is performed
• Counts multiple occurrences per recipient
Benchmarks
The average open rate and click-through rates for email are:
• a) 15% Opens, 0.5% Clicks• b) 30% Opens, 4% Clicks• c) 68% Opens, 25% Clicks• d) 96% Opens, 68% Clicks
Answer: Averages don’t matterWhat you need to know is how you compare to averages for your company and for the
type of mailings you send
Open Rate
The percentage of people who render the message in an HTML environment and don’t have images blocked
Average Open Rates
30%
24%
27%
32%
34%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Overall
B-to-Cmarketers
Promotionalmarketers
Newslettermarketers
B-to-Bmarketers
JupiterResearch, Email Marketing Metrics
Open Rates Dropping
MarketingSherpa reports marketers finding open rates decreasing
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Decreasedsignificantly
Not a bigchange
Increasedsignificantly
2004
2005
MarketingSherapa Email Marketing Benchmark Guide 2006
Open Rates External Influencers
Image BlockingOpen Rates
Open Rates External Influencers
Inbox Fatigue
Open Rates
Open Rates External Influencers
Spam Concerns
Pew Internet & American Life Project, April 2005
Open Rates
Open Rates External Influencers
Preview Panes
Open Rates
Open Rates –How to improve
From Address & Name
• Friendly
• Consistent Subject Line
• Branded
• Short (40 characters or less)
• Compelling, but not mis-leading Frequency & Relevancy List maintenance Request address book placement
Improving open rates takes time and a commitment to respecting the lifetime value of your subscribers
Click-through rate
The percentage of people who click on a tracked link in a message• Click-through rates can be measured uniquely or in
aggregate
• Click-through rates can be measured as a percentage of sent messages, or as a percent of opens (also called the “effective rate”)
Average Click-through Rates
12%
11%
12%
14%
14%
0% 5% 10% 15%
Overall
B-to-Cmarketers
Promotionalmarketers
Newslettermarketers
B-to-Bmarketers
JupiterResearch, Email Marketing Metrics
Conversion Rate
The percentage of people who performed the call-to-action
The most common way to measure this is by passing parameters to a website
EX: If the recipient clicks from the email and makes it to the target page (e.g., the “thanks for your purchase” page, then a conversion has occurred
Average Conversion Rates
4%
3%
4%
4%
4%
0% 5% 10% 15%
Overall
B-to-Cmarketers
Promotionalmarketers
Newslettermarketers
B-to-Bmarketers
JupiterResearch, Email Marketing Metrics
Bounce Rate
The number of messages that the Inbox provider entity did not acknowledge receiving (they “bounced them back”) divided by the number of messages sent• Bounces can be caused by bad addresses, full mailboxes
or spam blocks
• Bounce rates are notoriously unreliable
Unsubscribe rate
Also known as the opt-out rate:The percentage of recipients that unsubscribe from a mailing,
or over the course of a period
Quiz
Which measure is NOT useful for evaluating the success of your email campaign:
a) Bounce rate
b) Unsubscribe rate
c) Open rate
d) Click-through rate
e) Conversion rate
Quiz
Unsubscribe rate is a terrible measure of email success
Bounce rate is useful for evaluating appends, list rentals or old lists
Open rate is useful for evaluating the combination of your brand value and your subject line
Click-through rate is valuable for evaluating your call-to-action Conversion rate measures success directly
Getting Started With Email Checklist
In-house system versus Email Service Provider Permission policy List growth strategies Determine messaging goals
• Promotional• Sell product• Drive traffic to site• Drive Point of Sale traffic
• Informational• Transactional
Design messages and campaigns to achieve your goal Design test plans to evaluate your design, content, & offer Monitor tracking results and modify accordingly
Questions and Discussion
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form: BB20 Contact Information:
Stephen GuerraEmail Communications [email protected]
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