Archive for Email Marketing
Email Marketing Captures the Clicks, Landing Pages Sell the Products
Most email campaign reporting applications provide standard, but important stats on number of emails delivered, opens, clicks and opt-outs. Although helpful, this information alone is not sufficient to determine the real success of your campaign. To truly measure the performance of an email campaign, it is paramount to have the ability to track behaviors once the consumer clicks onto the corresponding landing page.
The goal of the email marketer should be to capture the clicks with a compelling email promotions, but it doesn’t end there. Think of your email as the ‘teaser’ promotion that entices the consumer to click through to a landing page where more detailed ‘sell’ information is presented. The page will usually display content that is a logical extension of the email advertisement.
The landing page is where you advance the reader to the desired action you wish them to take, be it to provide personal contact information or to purchase a product. It’s where all the action happens so those metrics should be carefully studied as well.
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MECLABS is a science based lab that uses real-world research to help business leaders get better use out of sales and marketing technology and resources and their Managing Director (CEO) states: “Landing pages sell product, emails capture clicks that bring people to landing pages. Emails get clicks by clearly explaining offers, offering incentives, and reducing friction and anxiety. Think of email this way, you use it to start a conversation and to build trust. You know when you have successfully done so by the number of clickthroughs. The landing page is where you sell the product.” — Dr. Flint McGlaughlin
Don’t let the email response report be the final say in the success of your campaign. The better measure is to use a service like Google Analytics that generates detailed statistics about what visitors are doing on your landing page. This insight can be used to see what consumers do after they clicked; see what content they view, how long they stayed on the site, where they left and actions they took along the way. Most website analytics tools provide a simple tag/code that is tied to each link included in the email creative, so this is a tactic that can be easily implemented into your next campaign.
This behavioral information can then be used to better segment, profile and optimize your future marketing programs. Only by tracking conversions within and across response channels can you measure the totality of your campaign’s performance.
The key take-away here is to not only focus on just the email, but spend a large majority of time developing a well optimized supporting landing page. According to SilverPop’s Landing Page Report, you only have eight seconds to capture attention once someone clicks on to a landing page. So you’ll want to make sure the landing page validates your offer and supports the conversion process quickly, seamlessly, and without distraction. You can learn more about developing effective landing pages here.
New Chart: Most effective email marketing objectives by channel
The channel and complexity of the sale will determine the effectiveness of email marketing objectives. We asked more than 1,100 marketers to identify the effectiveness of email in achieving marketing and sales pipeline objectives, starting with “building brand awareness” through “improving customer retention.
When setting objectives for email marketing, the focus should be on effectiveness. Email marketing is very effective at achieving a number of quantifiable objectives such as “increasing Web site traffic” and “increasing sales revenue.”
However, there are significant differences in how email is used and the objectives it most effectively achieves, in business and consumer channels. B2C marketers are much more likely to use email as part of their e-commerce or direct sales programs.
Consequently, email will be most effective achieving related objectives such as “increasing Web site traffic” and “increasing sales revenue.”
B2B companies, which traditionally have a more complex path to purchase, will find email effective achieving the aim of “building brand awareness” and “increasing lead generation.”
For additional research data and insights about email marketing, download and read the free Executive Summary from the MarketingSherpa 2011 Email Marketing Benchmark Report.
Email Dead? Nope, Not Even Gasping
Great article by Ken Magill of http://www.magillreport.com. Complete repost! Thanks @kenmagill
Email is the No. 1 online activity people across all age groups engage in, according to a recent study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
“Email and search engine use remain the backbone of online activities, with 88 percent of the oldest generation using email,” the study said. “Communicating by email is not as popular with teens, however; only 73 percent of teens use email, making them the generation least likely to do so. When teens do use email, they tend to use it more in formal situations or when communicating with adults than to communicate with friends.”
An average of 94 percent of all online adults use email, according to the Generations 2010 study.
Meanwhile, blogging came in at the bottom of the list with an average of 14 percent of all online adults saying they maintain their own blogs, the Pew study said.
The highest blog activity was among online adults 18 to 33 years old, with 16 percent saying they maintain a Weblog, Pew reported.
Not surprisingly, the lowest blog activity was among online adults aged 74 plus, with just 5 percent saying they do so, according to Pew. Also, people aged 74 plus accounted for the lowest percentage of Internet penetration with just 30 percent saying they go online, according to the study.
Ecommerce came in strong with 66 percent of all Internet users saying they have bought products online, according to Pew.
The strongest ecommerce segment was the 56-to-64-year-old demographic with 69 percent of them saying they have bought products online, according to the study.
Travel reservations also came in strong with 66 percent of all online adults saying they have booked travel on the Internet, according to Pew.
Also not surprisingly, social media fared extremely well with youngsters leading the way.
“Younger adults are by far the most likely group to use social network sites such as Facebook, MySpace, or LinkedIn—83 percent of adults 33 and younger currently use them,” the study said. “However, older generations have seen the most dramatic growth over the past two years.”
Social-media use by people aged 46 to 55 increased 30 percent over the past two years, from 20 percent in December 2008 to 50 percent in May 2010, and social media use among people aged 56 to 64 increased 34 percent from 9 percent in 2008 to 43 percent in 2010, according to the Pew report.
“The fastest rate of growth was seen among the oldest generation of internet users, as the percentage of adults age 74 and older who use social network sites quadrupled from 4 percent in December 2008 to 16 percent in May 2010,” the study said.
Overall use of social media increased from 35 percent to 61 percent from 2008 to 2010, according to the Pew report.
Get the whole study here.
Market Your Holiday Offers
Great article from the Google Retail Blog regarding Holiday Marketing…check it out!
In recent years, shoppers have been conditioned to look for deals when shopping. We’ve asked consumers three years in a row about what promotions and offers they want for holiday, and it hasn’t changed much over time. Consumers are focused on sales, discounts and free shipping. And as consumers are more focused on immediate gratification rebates have decreased in importance.
Source: Google/Ipsos OTX Consumer Holiday Shopping Intentions Study, September 2010
This is reinforced by what we see people searching for. Searches for ‘printable coupons’ are currently up by 20% over last year, Searches for ‘bogo’ (short for ‘buy one get one free’) are currently up by 10% over last year.
Offering consumers some sort of value or discount is expected. Make sure to message your offers, free shipping and other value to your consumers through your advertising and your websites. Let the consumer know they are getting a good deal!
Posted by Heidi Spector, Google Retail Team
Why Email Marketing Still “Rules”
In October of 2009 The Wall Street Journal published an article “Why Email No Longer Rules” in which it claims email’s reign as communication king has been overthrown by social media tycoons Facebook and Twitter. However, here we are, over a year later and social media is still taking a backseat to the powerful communication reach of email marketing. Furthermore, conferences dedicated to email are still as popular as ever.
At the ‘All About Email Virtual Conference and Expo 2010′, there was a ton of useful information and helpful tips to improve engagement, deliverability and customer acquisition.
Staggering Statistics
* If email was a country, its 1.4 billion users would make it the largest in the world. Bigger than the populations of the USA and European Union combined
* 247 billion emails are sent each day, that translates into one email every 0.00000035 seconds
* 13.4 billion is the number of direct marketing dollars forecast to go on email in the US in 2009
* It would take 181 marketing emails to produce enough revenue to buy one share in Microsoft
Why do people unsubscribe/hit spam button? : Subscriber behavior can be a tough code to crack. But as described in the session, the main reasons people unsubscribe from a list or hit the spam button include:
1. The email is no longer relevant or valuable to them
2. Your recipient decides they are getting too many emails and are clearing out their subscriptions
3. Recipients might be hitting the spam button as a way to delete an unwanted email
Prepare your campaigns for the mobile revolution : At the risk of sounding like a broken record, mobile is a recurring, hot topic when it comes to marketing and with an entire session dedicated to the topic there’s no denying that marketers need to pay attention to this trend. First, it’s important to know which mobile devices your subscribers are using, according to Unica Pivotal Veracity almost 90% of mobile customers are using the iPhone or iPad.
Next, know how your emails look on mobile devices and make sure your content renders clearly. Lastly, understand the capabilities of the different types of hand held phones, for example both the Andriod and Windows’ mobile devices default to images ‘Off’ which will affect your open rates and the customer’s viewing experience. Mobile should be an engaging experience that encourages peoples to take action either on right there on their mobile device or at a later time on their personal computer.
Leverage social media, but don’t solely rely on it : Social media should be used as a marketing tool to grow your email subscriber list, promote upcoming events and presentations, and show your company’s ‘human’ side. For Facebook especially, users connect to the social media platform to engage with people, not companies.
It’s also important to understand that you do not own the information you place on these sites, if the site goes down tomorrow you lose all of that data. So coupling your social media efforts with email marketing is your best bet.
The power of trigger emails : If you buy email addresses, then invest the time and money into trigger emails you will likely see a boost in your ROI. A trigger email is one that is generated based on a meaningful event or change in customer behavior. A post-purchase confirmation email, win-back emails in which you are attempting to re-engage with a dormant subscriber, and “hey, you have x number of products in your shopping cart” reminders are examples of trigger emails. You can also use customer profile data that you collect when people subscribe in order to generate trigger emails, those types of emails could be around birthdays, anniversaries, or wedding events.
Fore more info of this topic, check out mailer mailers blog @ http://blog.mailermailer.com/
Is Double Opt-in Overrated?
Why are we still talking about “double opt-in?” It has been discussed, debated and explained by the industry leaders over and over again. Yet, it is still considered by many to be the highest standard of email permission.
Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against double opt-in. My reservations are for the illusion that has the industry believing that it is the highest standard of email consent. In reality, the double opt-in method is a tool that allows email senders to segment subscribers who are excited about a program and are willing to take another action by clicking on the link to ensure they remain with the email program.
But does that mean the subscribers using a double opt-in method are clear as to what they are opting into? Maybe, and maybe not. The answer lies in the disclosure language of the consent. I suggest we put more focus on the disclosure at the time of consent and less focus on the double opt-in method.
But first, when is double opt-in a good idea? If you run a community website and users are required to sign up to be a part of this community site, then why not use the double opt-in signup method to collect emails? Similarly, if you are sending a diabetes newsletter and your audience includes patients seeking education, you have an energized audience excited enough to confirm subscription. Double opt-in is also recommended for companies that are capturing emails through co-registration programs so they can confirm the true owner of the email address.
Conversely, if users navigate through your site during comparison shopping and sign-up to receive your messages, why would you initiate a double opt-in and risk missing out on the chance to communicate to all of them? If you are only mailing to a double opt-in list, you may be missing out on marketing to a huge segment that would like to receive your communication but was not excited enough to opt-in for it twice. That’s the biggest drawback to double opt-in – lost opportunities.
Regardless of where you stand on double opt-in, do not confuse it with permission levels. Generally, senders that restrict subscriptions to double opt-in adhere to the highest standards. (This could be why the double opt-in signup method has gained a reputation as the highest standard of email permission.) The knee-jerk implication is that single opt-in methods cannot maintain the same standards. That is simply not true. You can still maintain the highest standards of permission levels!
The health of the email program does not lie in whether you use a single or a double opt-in method. If you want to positively impact the health of your email program, focus your attention on these key areas: signup disclosure, relevance and frequency.
Signup Disclosure – Signup disclosure is incredibly important to your list health, but is often given the least attention. When creating a signup process, focus on aligning user expectations with the communications you plan to send. Make sure the process is clear and conspicuous. Set the right expectation regarding frequency and content at the very beginning. Many senders are reluctant to disclose frequency at this point in the collection process. Later, they find themselves struggling with elevated complaints. You can avoid, or at least diminish, this problem by using words such as periodically, frequently, weekly or daily.
A clear and conspicuous signup process also means that disclosure language cannot be in fine print or hidden in the privacy policy. Instead, it should be present at the point of collection. A preference center is a great way to capture interests and set the right expectation on what subscribers can expect to receive after signing up. A welcome message is another way to reinforce these expectations.
Frequency – Most senders struggle to find the optimal frequency for their subscribers. They are either too afraid or don’t have the technical ability to give this control to users. My advice? Stop trying to guess the right frequency for your list. Once, twice, three times a week? Who can tell?
Instead, improve frequency governance by shifting the controls from list level to user engagement levels. Set frequency based on where users are in their lifecycle. If they are actively responding to your communications, then it is likely they are happy with the frequency and content. If they are not responding to your communication, then allocate more resources to improving your content and making it more relevant.
Relevance – You can have the best signup and consent process and the best preference center in the world, but unless you can keep your message relevant, your subscribers will disengage over time. Segmentation through demographics and interests is a successful method for ensuring message relevance. Plus, it is generally easier to execute. If you segment based on user preferences, then it is important to frequently encourage users to update their preferences since these can change over time.
Behavioral targeting is also a great way for you to keep your messages relevant, especially through predictive analytics. With predictive analytics, you can study user behaviors and model them against other users with similar behaviors. This can be a powerful tool to keep messages relevant over time. Making simple adjustments in your program can translate into increased performance.
Remember, opt-in is important, but if you want to make your list – and profits – soar, focus on signup disclosure, frequency and relevance.
http://blog.deliverability.com/2010/09/is-double-opt-in-overrated.html
Are you an Email Marketing Skeptic?
Are you skeptical that email, as a marketing channel, can work for you? With anticipated postal rates, for commercial senders, to increase anywhere from 5% to 23%, what do you have to lose then to give email a try – But, we want you to be successful.
Here are a few tactics to consider when developing your email campaigns that will help turn email list rental into an extremely effective acquisition tool:
1. Don’t lead out of the gate with trying to sell: If you are a cataloger, for example, would you expect an email to work the same way as a multi-page, glossy catalog does? Of course not, use email to get people to raise their hand to receive your catalog. This “free” offering will be well-received by email recipients. But, wait, aren’t I still sending a catalog? Yes! But now, you are sending to a smaller, but self-selected group of hand-raisers. You’ll be more efficient with your direct mail spending.
2. Send a series of emails: Would you send one catalog and then, if a sale isn’t made, stop sending? No, of course not. Depending on the list you’ll send at least a few issues before you cut that name off the list. So why would you send one email and then quit? Instead, consider a series of emails to the same names. This could be aimed at getting them to sign up for the catalog (see #1), but could also include some selling. Since you’ve given yourself more time, you can try getting prospects to make a small purchase, to get them hooked. Of course, you want to use incentives (free shipping, discounts, and so forth) the same way you do with catalog prospecting.
3. Test, test, test and test some more!: Testing is a crucial aspect of marketing. Without it, you’re never quite sure what caused a campaign to succeed or fail, where to spend your money, how to avoid repeating mistakes, or how to optimize your campaigns for best results. Email is a highly measureable marketing channel and a medium can be extremely effective if you apply the same rigor that you do to your direct mail efforts. Test your subject line, offer, creative, landing page and lists. When you hit on a winning formula, keep using it, but then test some more to optimize.
These are just three ideas to help you start thinking about how email can help your acquisition efforts so you don’t spend your precious marketing budget on high postal rates.
Why do so many email marketers not bother to test their offers?
One of the challenges Email Marketing Companies struggle with is getting their clients to take the time to test their email campaigns. Marketers think, “Email is so inexpensive, why bother testing?” Email marketers all too frequently ignore years of direct marketing lessons. They won’t or can’t or don’t test aspects of their messages. Without testing, email can become very expensive when; its irrelevance drives customers away, or recipients delete your message at first glance or when response rates are next to nothing, or when there is a high volume of spam complaints that affects your sender reputation and can wide up being blacklisted.
So, Marketers, treat email as you have done in the past with offline marketing channels and test. Here are three helpful tips to consider as part of your testing plan:
1. Maintain a control message. To really understand if a change to an email actually affects response rates, it must be compared to a control group. Testing email is so easy that inexperienced marketers are tempted to test multiple facets of a message at once. Don’t. Stick to altering one part of the message, and then compare it to the email with the best response so far. Testing more than one facet is unnecessarily complicated.
2. Test significant differences. Ensure what you’re testing differs significantly from the control group. For example, rather than slightly rewording your offer, try one hard sell and one soft sell. Or send one message with a discount and one without. Over time, alter the size of the discount.
3. Test formatting. How many of you receive emails, that when viewed, the formatting was all messed up. Consumers receive a significant number of poorly formatted HTML messages because the sender didn’t test how it rendered in the different ISP’s email readers. Most likely your Email Service Provider (ESP) will have the capability to test to see what your email will look like across all major readers, both in preview mode and after the messages have been opened. They can find out if any of the content is likely to trigger spam filters, and if there are dead links and html errors. They will follow up with a report that gives advice about fixing any problems found. Correcting any potential viewing or delivery problems before you hit “send” will help to ensure your campaign will be viewed the way it is intended to be.
So why not turn testing into profits? Test as many different methods as possible, discover the most effective method, and crank up the volume on your best method. When you get into serious volumes and your results are doing very well, make a minor change – sometimes just a minor difference can result in a major impact on the amount of revenue you generate.
Email Marketing Efforts Correspond Directly to Web Sales Performance
The 2010 Internet Retailer Top 500 report shows a shift by consumers to Internet shopping as opposed to brick and mortar. The report shows that e-commerce sales grew in 2009, while total sales fell. With even more options such as mobile commerce making shopping online quicker and easier, many consumers avoided trips to the store. Instead they flocked to the Internet to find which online retailers had the cheapest price, best deals and most product information.
The folks at Email Data Source took a look at the list of the biggest winners and the biggest losers and pulled data from Email Analyst to get a sense of how their email marketing efforts corresponded to their web sales performance. The results are tabulated below, and there’s no doubt that the two went hand in hand.
The retailers with the largest growth in email marketing efforts (as measured by the growth in the number of email campaigns, including their own campaigns and third party campaigns that link back to the retailer’s website) were Crocs.com, Express and Meijer.com.
Are Moms Reading Your Emails?
Great article on MediaPost today regarding email marketing and taking the time to understand specific demographics and their preferences to make your email communications more effective and to keep them coming back for more.
Current statistics show that moms control about $4 billion in annual household spending today, which is obviously why so many marketers are trying so hard to engage them. And it seems that one of the preferred ways to communicate with just about any target segment these days is through email, due mainly to its low cost and high ROI potential.
A recent report from Forrester predicts that emails from marketers to consumers’ primary inboxes will swell to an average 9,000 annually by 2014. But, considering moms’ hectic schedules that keep them running everywhere from the workplace to school activities to soccer practices and dance classes to doctor and dentist appointments, you wonder when these active women have time to check email.
We conducted our own research among more than 400 women with children age 12 and under living in their households, including if and when they read marketing-oriented emails and newsletters. It turns out that even the busiest moms make time to check their email accounts on a regular basis. In fact, here’s what we found:
• Nearly 96% of respondents said they check email at least once a day.
• More than 80% of them actually look forward to checking email.
• Most important, eight in 10 moms indicated they want to receive offers and information from preferred brands via email.
Understand Their Preferences
It’s clear that email is a viable vehicle for engaging moms, but it’s a crowded space, especially when knowing that more than half of these women maintain only one email account. And, with 50% of our respondents indicating that they are most likely to “unsubscribe” either because they don’t find the information useful or interesting, or they’re being inundated with emails, staying relevant is key with regard to both frequency and content. Here are a few findings that might help you with this process:
• Approximately 45% of respondents indicated they prefer to receive email correspondence from any one brand about once a week.
• Nearly 50% of respondents said they tend to read emails with time-sensitive subject lines, such as “50% Off Today Only,” first.
• Nearly 85% of respondents said they wanted to receive coupons, and approximately 78% said they preferred to receive information about sales and promotions.
• Nearly 73% of our moms indicated they might make a special trip to the store after receiving an email containing a coupon or promotion.
• More than 63% said they print coupons for brands they use or want to try so they have it for their next trip to the store.
Even after nearly 20 years of email marketing, the right offer still drives a desired action. To be effective with this channel, consider periodically offering incentives to get subscribers to provide feedback through quick surveys about what they consider to be both relevant content and acceptable frequency. Then tailor your emails to reflect these findings. Look closely at your subject lines and ensure the content speaks to your consumers’ personal interest.
Make It Personal
Speaking of “personal,” more than 60% of moms said they would provide information about themselves to a trusted brand if it meant they would receive more personalized content. Interestingly, seven in 10 of these women said they would even provide certain information about their children if it meant they could get more relevant information and offers from their preferred brands.
These findings illustrate that women have become comfortable providing information about themselves — even about their children — to preferred brands if it means they will get more useful information and offers back. If they’re willing to provide the data, then you need to make sure you have mechanisms in place to collect it. But, be smart about what type of information you ask for and how often you ask for it. And, make sure you then use it. Asking moms what they want and then failing to deliver on it could be worse for your brand than not asking at all.