Oversending as an Email Marketing Tactic

August 15, 2008 by Adam Blitzer Leave a Comment

Oversending: an outgrowth of the old “send until you break even” direct mail model. Combine this with the low-cost nature of the email channel and that’s a lot of emails. Repetitive messaging may be a “do” in marketing, but repetitive sending is a “please don’t” which is often formalized by the dreaded “mark as spam.”

The belief that sending more emails to more people leads to better business is flawed. After a certain point, this approach will lead to a greater amount of unsubscribes and spam complaints, resulting in higher acquisition costs to replace the lost customers.

The solution? Segmenting prospects and nurturing them through appropriate drip marketing programs. A more personalized and targeted approach is key in driving sales and conversions while reducing list churn.

Filed under Email Marketing Tagged with

Components of a Successful Marketing Email

July 16, 2008 by Adam Blitzer Leave a Comment

The success of your email marketing campaign depends on a combination of aspects.  Subject lines, email content, formatting and timing are key factors contributing to open and conversion rates.

Subject lines:

  • Subject lines should be relevant to the recipient and match the content of the email.
  • Research shows that while shorter subjects optimize open rates, longer subject lines tend to optimize click and click-to open rates.
  • The same research shows that the more words in a subject line, the more likely the email is to appeal to the “right” people.  Increased information allows people to better decide if an email is relevant to them.

Content:

  • The first line should tell the recipient why they are receiving this email (i.e. “You are receiving this message because you have subscribed to list XYZ.”)
  • Check that the content matches the subject line and is relevant to the recipient.
  • Make sure the unsubscribe link is easy to find (this may mean shortening your message.)

Formatting:

  • Don’t rely on people being able to see your images - image blocking is common on many email services.
  • Add inline styles - again, many email services will not allow anything else to show up correctly.
  • Use structural tables to create columns.
  • Make sure that the plain text version of your email is reader-friendly.

Timing:

  • Don’t send email too frequently.  This can cause recipients to tune out and ignore your email, or worse, annoy them to the point where they mark your emails as SPAM.
  • Don’t send emails too infrequently, this can make your recipients forget you.
  • Find the delicate balance between having your users forget you and having them annoyed by you.
  • Send out your emails during regular intervals so the recipient comes to anticipate them, and is less likely to mark them as SPAM.

Filed under Design, Email Marketing

Open Rates are Open to Interpretation

June 24, 2008 by Adam Blitzer Leave a Comment

I highly recommend you click over to Tamara’s recent post on open rates at BeRelevant, an email marketing blog, for a quick and easy explanation of how open rates are calculated.

I frequently speak with marketers who aren’t aware that open rates are based on images being loaded or that they can’t be tracked at all for text-only emails.  These facts make open rates a highly unreliable marker of success - and it’s likely that if you’re presenting these numbers to your boss, you’re actually selling yourself way short!

Filed under Email Marketing, Web Analytics Tagged with ,

Let’s Get Personal

June 13, 2008 by Adam Blitzer Leave a Comment

A recent Subscriber Experiences report from Return Path shoes that marketers are missing the boat on targeted e-mail marketing.

The study claims that 85% of marketers don’t personalize emails from the initial interaction. It also finds that it can take an average of 9 days for a new subscriber to receive their first email.

With modern email marketing technology, there is no reason for these oversights to occur. With automation software, it only takes a few simple clicks to ensure prompt, personalized messages are delivered to your subscribers. Here’s what you can do to make sure your prospects are feeling the love:

Choose an email tool that allows you to set up automated rules. 
Web-automation suites often include email functionality in their features package. Using one system to integrate your subscription forms with your emails means you can segment lists based on a prospect’s subscription selection and deploy the appropriate email within minutes, automatically.

Use autoresponder emails. 
If you know there will be a delay between the time a prospect submits a request and the time they receive the material, set up an autoresponder email that will act as a thank you message and acknowledge their submission. This works especially well if a customer is requesting support or follow-up by phone, which may take longer than email responses.

Personalize emails with dynamic tags. 
Similar to a mail merge, most email engines allow you to dynamically insert prospect information like first name in to a template. Though the email may not be completely unique and targeted, adding tags to insert a few key pieces of personalized information like name or company can go a long way to making an email appear less generic. Additionally, tags can be used to make a message appear to be sent from a prospect’s assigned sales representative, helping to build key relationships.

Filed under Email Marketing Tagged with ,

Testing, 1, 2, 3…

May 30, 2008 by Adam Blitzer Leave a Comment

Over at DMNews this week, Mark Stebbin of MarketMotive wrote apiece on A/B Testing for online marketing campaigns. Though the example used is a B2C campaign,  B2B marketers can benefit from the same concepts.

Marketing automation tools can be used to create multiple campaigns - changing out key elements such as graphics, subject lines or special offers - and then compare ROI results. Viewing click-through and conversion rates for the campaigns  will help you understand what strategies appeal to your target audience and lead to increased success in your future campaigns.

Automation software can also offer multivariate testing for your landing pages to compare conversion rates from you PPC campaigns. Just as you can determine which emails are most attractive to your prospects, you can analyze conversion rates and choose the landing pages that yield the highest ROI.

Creating two versions of a campaign may require a little extra legwork, but think of it as an investment that will save you time and increase future profits with just a few clicks.

Filed under Email Marketing, Marketing Automation

FTC Approves Changes to CAN-SPAM Law

May 16, 2008 by Adam Blitzer Leave a Comment

Part of responsible email marketing is ensuring that you’re always in compliance with CAN-SPAM laws. Earlier this week, the FTC made some changes to the CAN-SPAM requirements. 

The new rule provisions address four topics: 

  • An e-mail recipient cannot be required to pay a fee, provide information other than his or her e-mail address and opt-out preferences, or take any steps other than sending a reply e-mail message or visiting a single Internet Web page to opt out of receiving future e-mail from a sender
  • The definition of “sender” was modified to make it easier to determine which of multiple parties advertising in a single e-mail message is responsible for complying with the Act’s opt-out requirements
  • A “sender” of commercial e-mail can include an accurately-registered post office box or private mailbox established under United States Postal Service regulations to satisfy the Act’s requirement that a commercial e-mail display a “valid physical postal address”
  • A definition of the term “person” was added to clarify that CAN-SPAM’s obligations are not limited to natural persons

Michael Goldberg posted a great summary of what these changes mean for marketers on the Outperformance Marketing blog. 

Based on the new modificaitons, Goldberg explains: 

In a multiple-advertiser email, a single advertiser can assume the role of sole “CAN-SPAM sender.” The Final Rule issued by the Federal Trade Commission establishes that, when there are multiple advertisers in single email, a single advertiser can assume the role of sole CAN-SPAM sender if (a) the advertiser meets the requirements of “sender,” as defined under the CAN-SPAM act of 2003, (b) is the only advertiser identified in the “from” line, and (c) complies with all of the other original sender requirements imposed by the Act, including the requirements surrounding a “valid physical postal address.” 

Senders must provide recipients with an easy, unburdened way to unsubscribe from a commercial email. Specifically, the Federal Trade Commission requires advertisers to allow consumers to opt out of subsequent commercial email messages from that advertiser without requiring payment, information beyond the consumer’s email address, “or any other obligation as a condition for accepting or honoring a recipient’s opt-out request,” including requiring a consumer to visit more than a single Internet Web page.

“Person” will be defined, for purposes of CAN-SPAM, as an individual, group, unincorporated association, limited or general partnership, corporation, or other business entity. 

A “valid physical postal address” has been defined as “the sender’s current street address, a Post Office box the sender has accurately registered with the United States Postal Service, or a private mailbox the sender has accurately registered with a commercial mail receiving agency that is established pursuant to United States Postal Service regulations.” 

What didn’t change?

You still have only ten-business days to honor all opt-out requests.

Filed under Email Marketing Tagged with ,

Walk a Mile in Their Shoes

May 1, 2008 by Adam Blitzer Leave a Comment

Jeremy Saibil of Campaigner wrote an interesting piece on deliverablility for DMNews this week.

Saibil refers to the JupiterResearch E-mail Marketing Buyer’s Guide, 2008, which says 70% of respondents cited e-mail deliverability services as their top consideration when selecting an e-mail services provider. Obviously, this is a top priority for marketers. In Saibil’s mind, the problem arises when all the responsibility is placed on the email tool, when in fact, marketers themselves have a lot of influence over whether or not their emails make it to the inbox.

The article offers helpful tips on testing campaigns for optimum deliverability, including:

  • Have your IT folks set up a pristine, never-before-used e-mail box. Take this new address and subscribe to all of your own marketing programs
  • Audit your co-branded and affiliate marketing campaigns for relevance
  • Evaluate the content with the images blocked and see if the campaign still makes sense
  • Try replying, clicking and ultimately unsubscribing to see how user-friendly your campaigns are

By taking these steps, you will begin to see your campaigns through the eyes of the customer and ensure that your emails aren’t something that is going to be viewed as spam.

Saibil’s ultimate test:

The litmus test that you’re on the right track is when you’re brave enough to add your mother to your e-mail list and you’re confident that she won’t hit the “Report as spam” button.

Filed under Email Marketing Tagged with

Pulling It All Together

April 9, 2008 by Adam Blitzer Leave a Comment

This month, DMNews is featuring In perfect harmony: e-mail works in-sync with other channels, a piece about integrated, multichannel marketing campaigns. The article, quoting a JupiterResearch study on combining e-mail marketing with other advertising outlets, focuses on the increased results marketers have seen by creating consistent messaging across many medias. An emphasis is placed on building a brand within a campaign as well as testing elements of the marketing program.

Using an effective web marketing suite can help you easily create, test and measure many aspects of an online marketing campaign by:

Presenting a Consistent Brand
Providing uniform email templates will ensure that you’re putting your best brand forward with every piece of correspondence. In addition to making sure you have the last word on all consumer interaction, the sales team will appreciate the templates because saves them time. This way, you can reign your more “creative” sales staff, let them think it’s all to benefit them and still get clean, concise communications. Plus, using templates gives you the option to create HTML emails that will tie-in with your other campaign initiatives.

Integrating Paid Search Campaigns
With emerging technology, you can go way beyond simple cost per click and cost per conversion. New programs are available that can calculate cost per vetted prospect, cost per opportunity, cost per sale, and marketing ROI by tying your paid search costs to yourCRM opportunity data. This will show you what’s working and where to cut the fat - letting you improve your campaigns and boost the bottom line.

Testing Landing Pages and Emails
If you use programs that provide the right metrics, it can be easy to test the effectiveness of your customer-facing communications. Landing pages can be tested using multivariate testing. This works in conjunction with paid search campaigns, automatically directing traffic to multiple landing page locations. By monitoring traffic to different the sites, you’ll be able to see which page has a better conversion rate, helping to determine the stronger campaign tactics. The same theory applies to emails - try out different subject lines, times of day and days of the week to see which combinations most successfully attract opens and click-throughs from prospects.

Filed under Email Marketing, Marketing Automation Tagged with ,

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

February 15, 2008 by Adam Blitzer Leave a Comment

I’ve often discussed the benefits of using Drip Marketing, or Drip Irrigation, to nurture prospects along the sales cycle. New marketing automation technology has made it so easy to stay in constant contact with leads who aren’t quite sales ready yet.

I came across a brief interview with Jim Cecil, marketing consultant and founder of the Nurture Institute in last month’s B2B Magazine. Cecil emphasizes the importance of irrigating, not irritating, your customers. He also talks about the challenges small-to-medium sized businesses face when using a CRM to nurture leads. Tying in the sales team, Cecil does not discount the importance of building personal relationships as you move toward closing the deal.

What can we take away from this?

  • CRM’s and tools built for larger sales organizations don’t always meet the needs of a small or growing business, who can benefit from other marketing automation tools.
  • You must always follow the best practices of permission-based email marketing. Overwhelming your prospects with information that is not targeted to them creates negative feelings toward your company.
  • Teach your sales team to be patient, but not lazy. Drip Marketing is a great tool to keep you top-of-mind, but it can’t take the place of traditional sales calls. Conversely, the sales team has to let your marketing tools plant the seed before they go in guns blazing.

Filed under Drip Marketing, Email Marketing Tagged with ,

Segmenting for a Quick Lift

January 10, 2008 by Adam Blitzer Leave a Comment

Earlier this month, DM News published a quick feature on a company that saw great sales increases simply by segmenting their email campaigns. The piece profiles a promotional products company called Graphic Business Solutions. This company found that they increased their open, click and buy rates by 20-50% simply by creating segmented emails that contained product samples featuring local sports teams. The personalized approach helped the peak the recipient’s interest and form a connection in a way that can’t be achieved with a generic blast. 

There are many options for dividing these key groups based on your specific product. All that sorting sound overwhelming? It’s not. All of these email campaigns can be easily created and distributed using an web marketing automation program. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Geographic Segmentation

As discussed in the Graphics Business Solutions example, adding a little local flavor to your emails can help give your customer the feeling that you know and understand his interests, even from halfway around the world. 

Behavioral Segmentation

Setting up a set of automation rules that send messages based on user activity, also called drip marketing, can help you create an easy multi-touch campaign to reach new and returning visitors. For example, you may automatically send an introduction email to a prospect who has requested information, follow up with a pricing list three days after their last visit to your site, and send a special offer one month later if they still haven’t bitten. 

Purchasing Power Segmentation

Collect data on your leads and create campaigns specifically targeted to your key prospects. This can be especially helpful if you sell multiple products to different audiences, such as a software solution for the IT department and another that would be more helpful to the HR department. This way the HR manager receives only information that is important to her and not a generic catalog of your offerings. You can also use this setting to ensure that your email goes to the CEO and not the intern.

Segmenting is nothing new, it simply used to be a tedious process. Now B2B marketers have enough technology in their arsenal to make this not only worth doing, but easy to pull off as well.

Filed under Email Marketing Tagged with ,

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