email marketing improvements
DESCRIPTION
This was a presentation I gave to the executives at Senior Market Sales, Inc. depicting the current state of our email marketing efforts. We have been using an ad hoc communications manager--built entirely through ColdFusion--and have recently outgrown some of its capabilities. This presentation allowed the execs to see our progress and was instrumental in their decision to expand our email efforts. Over the last month, we have began using Lyris to improve our communications. I believe there will be a follow-up to this presentation soon. Chad CarstensenTRANSCRIPT
Email Marketing Improvements
1. Improved Email Understanding2. Expanded Tracking3. Expanded SPAM Evasion Tactics4. Improved User-Friendly Design
Improved Email Understanding
• The Email Anatomy (sequentially)1. The FROM line2. The SUBJECT line3. The PREVIEW PANE4. The BODY5. The ACTION
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Expanded Tracking
• From whom is this email?1. From SMS
(Marketing, Compliance, Templates)2. From a 3rd Party
(press-release, Life Blast, SMA, Etc.)3. Consistent FROM address
(ex. [email protected])
• Origination is recorded and reported when the user takes an action (fig. 1)
Fig. 1
Expanded Tracking
• Taking a better look at . . .1. Open Rate - Percentage of recipients
who received and “accessed” said email. AKA as “unique users”.
2. Subject Line – A short descr. (appx. 50 characters) of the email. Can be interrogative or demonstrative.
1. Do you want more leads?2. Purchase leads from us, or else!3. Topic 1, Topic 2, Topic 3, Topic 4
3. Click Thru – What user actions are being taken
Expanded Tracking
• Open Rate
Expanded Tracking
Expanded Tracking
• Open Rates by Department1. MA = 24%2. Travel = 19%3. MedSupp = 18%4. LTC = 16%5. 3rd Party = 9%6. eNews = 18%
Expanded Tracking
• Evolving Subject Lines1. eNews = Quick snippets of info that
attempt to cover main topics1. Keep as many recipients involved as
possible2. Exp. = eNewsletter - Income Riders,
PD Winners & Losers, Leads and NACOLAH Bonuses
2. Marketing = Highly targeted1. Only relative to segmented group2. Exp. = Certify now with CIGNA $200
off on Lead Program
Expanded Tracking
• Evolving Subject Lines
Expanded Tracking
• Click Thru’s1. Document Tracking From Email
1. 7 Ways To Sell Medicare Insurance2. Featured in eNews Aug 20th
3. Data collect from 8/19 thru 8/264. 339 “Unique” Downloads
Expanded Tracking
• Is Timing Important?1. Do agents prefer to receive email at a
specific time?
Expanded Tracking
• Timing is Money 1. Do agents prefer to receive email on a
specific day?
Indicates sent date
Expanded SPAM Evasion Tactics
• What is SPAM?1. Spam is unsolicited e-mail on the Internet.
• What steps are being taken to avoid the filter?
1. Technical email critiques2. Increased client testing3. Increased schedule monitoring/evaluation4. Continued education on email best-practices5. Increased marketing message quality6. Future Considerations
Expanded SPAM Evasion Tactics• The SPAM Check - The higher the score, the more likely
the e-mail will be considered spam by ISPs and more likely to get filtered.
0.0 - 4.5 nice and clean, few or no problems; no actionrequired 4.6 - 7.0 the strictest may object; clean up the easy-to-findissues
7.1 - 10.0 Dangerous territory! Clean up any big issues andthe easy-to-find smaller penalties
10.1 - 13.0 likely over ISP limits; review and clean
13.1+ major problems; overhaul needed -- systematically clean,point by point and then re-test (this may require two or threechecks).
Expanded SPAM Evasion Tactics
• SMS SPAM Scores1. High = 2.4
Expanded SPAM Evasion Tactics
• SMS SPAM Scores1. Low = 1.4
Improved User-Friendly Design
• Agent Email Client Reports1. Calculates Email Client per Project
Improved User-Friendly Design
• Agent Email Client Majorities1. Expanding design to fit most popular
email clients including:1. Outlook Express2. Outlook 033. Outlook 074. Hotmail5. Yahoo6. AOL
Improved User-Friendly Design
• Email Archiving on the web1. Image-Restricting Email Clients2. PDA’s, Phones and other mobiles3. User Error – “Umm, I deleted that
email, can you send me a link?”
SMS Email Marketing Totals
SMS Email Marketing Totals
• Total Emails Sent by Department1. MA = 19.6K2. Travel = 6.7K3. MedSupp = 24.6K4. LTC = 21.5K5. 3rd Party = 15K6. eNews = 86K7. Total = 173.4K
SMS Email Marketing Totals
SMS Email Marketing Totals
• Difference from 2nd to 3rd Quarter1. 280% Increase in Total Email Projects 2. 214% Increase in Total Emails Sent