April Fools: Dumbest Mistakes Email Marketers Make and How to Avoid Them

Presented by Loren McDonaldSilverpop

April 1, 2009

Agenda

• Introductions/Overview

• The 12 Mistakes

• Q & A

The Fine Print

• What works for one company, may not work for you

• If you see your company, don’t take it personally – we all make mistakes

• When in Rome: April Fools/Ken Magill – let’s have some fun

12 Email Marketing Mistakes

Type of Mistakes I Will NOT focus on:

- Typos- Wrong

subject lines

- Wrong links

# 1: Hiding the Email Opt-in

The Home Page on My Laptop

Find the email sign

up

• Below the fold• Text link only• Hidden among a dozen

similar-looking links• Font color is hard to read• Could we make the font any

smaller?

Better Location

Double Duty

# 2: Having a Poor (or no) Welcome Email Process

This is Not a Good Welcome Experience

Confirmation Emails – Are Not “Welcome Emails”

• Primary Purpose is to confirm subscription

• They aren’t a subscriber yet

• Pre-selling; reminding of value proposition – but should not take the place of welcome email

#3: Not Using the Data You Ask For/Collect

My Expectations:• Birthday wish and/or coupon

• Age-based content/offers• Gender-based content/offers

Now for that haircut, I’d Pay More Than $16!

Loren

What I Get

• No birthday wish

• Content does not reflect age

or gender

#4: Not collecting any data for personalization or segmentation

No Data/Preferences Collected

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

#5: Not making it easy for subscribers to do what they want to do

Examples of What Subscribers Want to Do

• Change frequency• Change format preference (HTML to Text)• Change email address• Change interests (skiing to snowboarding)• Add/remove newsletters/emails you offer• Read your privacy policy• Find contact information• Read back issues• Search• Read your shipping/return policies• Unsubscribe

This email template needs more than a shampoo and trim

What’s Missing?

• Navigation• Locations• Coupons• Home Page

• Update Preferences link

• Change Email Address• Change Your

Reminder schedule

Things from Home Page/Web Site they Could Link to:• Update Reminders

• Services• Coupons

• Beauty Deals• Gift Cards

• Salon Locator

“Hey Ken, Not Bad Man – I’m Buying”

• Change email

• Unsubscribe

• Web Version

• Archives

• Story tips

• Subscribe

• Format

• Ad information

• Contact info

Pretty good Email Admin Footer from Magilla Marketing

#6: Making People Think or Work To Do What YOU Want Them To Do

Help me Buy

- Use Bullets- Better images- Cost?- Not clear

sidebar is coffee- How do I get to

$40?- Deadline is

hidden

• Select flights right from the email

• Oakland is my preferred departure

airport

• “Book a flight” links

• Search link

• “Today, March 27”

• No minimum

• 4-7 Day Delivery

• More details below

Do the Math for Your

Subscribers

- % off - Old price- New price- $ Savings- People are motivated by

different “discount”

math

#7: Not Optimizing for Blocked Images, Preview Panes & Mobile Devices

Find The “Check-in” Link/ButtonUnited

Check-in Email

- 7 links- But no check-

in

Oops – 2 Images – Link, Logo

Outlook Preview Pane

With images blocked

Outlook Preview Pane

With images enabled

Imagine This Copy on a Direct Mail Piece

BlackBerry Email & Browser Experience

Browser Version

BlackBerry Browser

Email Version

BlackBerry IS installed email client

Original Email

Good Use of Text Navigation & Alt Tags

Text links – key Web site destinationsAlt tags

Good Use of Text

Cross-Platform Design Tips

#8: Over Mailing to Generate Short-Term Results

20 Emails in 22 Days

Free Shipping20% off

$5, $10 off

What’s the Potential Impact of Over Mailing?

5 times per month

5 times per month

12 times per

month

12 times per

month

Revenue – Churn – Reputation….

Retailer – Increased Frequency

Unsubscribes and spam complaints went through the roof

Financial Impact of Increased Mailings

#9: Having Undifferentiated Emails

Social Network Emails in the Mix

Everyone is Using Free Shipping, 20% Off

Personality is the New Free Shipping

• People want to buy from people –Zappos CEO on Twitter

• Talk to ME

• Entertain me

• Reviews – what others bought

#10: Not Providing an Alternative to Unsubscribing

Should I Stay, or Should I Go?

Why Recipients Unsubscribe

• Too Frequent

• Irrelevant Content/Offers

• Also, lack of email address change functionality

So What are the Alternatives?

Alternatives

Frequency

Format

ChangeEmail

Profile/Preference

s

Channel

OtherEmails

Alternatives Are Promoted In the Email

Preference Center/Unsubscribe Page

Staples – Really Good, But Not Perfect

Missing:- Frequency Option

- RSS or catalog option- Contact info.

#11: Discussing Open, Click-Through and Delivery Rates in Front of Executives

Executives Don’t Care About Open Rates

Email Marketer

• My average open rate is now 23%.

• Unique click-through rate is trending up since the redesign.

• Deliverability is up at Hotmail since we stopped using the large postcard-style image.

• Spam complaints are down 20%.

Executives

• How much revenue did we generate from email?

• How has email improved customer retention?

• How has email helped reduce our costs to communicate with customers?

• What impact is email having on conversion via other channels?

Differentiate Process from Output Metrics

• Open rates• Bounces• Delivered• Click-through rates

• Revenue• Orders• Demos/Downloads• Sales-qualified leads

Process Output

Think differently about metrics

#12: Not Making Mistakes

There is No Easy Button

• Recognize mistakes• Get started• Try• Fail• Experiment• Fail• Test, test, test

Q & A• lmcdonald@silverpop.com• Twitter:

– @LorenMcDonald– @Silverpop

• SlideShare: www.slideshare.net/silverpop• LinkedIn:

– http://www.linkedin.com/companies/silverpop

• Facebook:– Search “Silverpop”