5 WAYS TO MAKE EMAIL RELEVANT AGAIN

JULY, 2012

CANT JUST CHECK THE BOXES

• Marketers today can no longer check the boxes on the email best practices list when designing a campaign.

• They need to understand if and how the various elements of email apply to their specific target, and the specific ask of the individual recipient.

EMAIL IS DIGITAL, REMEMBER?

• Email today is being viewed under the consumer lens of 140 character micro-blogging and 5 second video clips that are highly entertaining and engaging.

• The volume of digital messages is steadily increasing, and to the consumer email is just another channel.

• Conversion rates are trending down on email, but through its ability to deliver customized messages, email can be extremely effective when used properly.

MAKING THE MOST OF CONTENT

• For marketers this means that effective delivery of your message through email can only be done well by knowing how to make the most of your content within your specific target audience.

• How can this be achieved?

ASK YOURSELF THE HARD QUESTIONS

• By challenging yourself with some questions about your target when designing your program.– How can I make an immediate impression with

them?– What can I do to demonstrate value to them?– How can I make it easy for my target to

interact with me?

AND ANSWER THEM

• Developing an understanding of these 5 key email best practices and how to apply them will help you answer them.1. Identify yourself2. Relevant Subject Lines3. Customization4. Mobile Email5. Delivery Schedule

1. IDENTIFY YOURSELF

• Clearly identifying yourself as the sender of the email is a basic principle to be universally applied across all communications, but often not used.

• Spam and unsolicited messages have turned consumers away from email.

• Properly identifying yourself in a publicly aware way establishes trust and sets an expectation with the recipient.

2. RELEVANT SUBJECT LINES

• The subject line is the first barrier to getting your email opened.

• Use all the information you have available on the recipient to communicate the value and importance of the product / service or information that you are offering.

• For example, a B2B client found that by including the recipients city in the subject line they were able to increase open rates by up to 40%.

3. CUSTOMIZATION

• Based on what you know about your individual target and what they have done with you in the past, what can you do to make email content as engaging as possible through customization?

• Amazon is the master at this by delivering book recommendations to customers based on their previous purchases.

• While their ecosystem gives them the luxury of knowing viewing and purchase behavior, all organizations have some element of customer data available.

4. MOBILE

• 50% of consumers use their mobile device to first scan the email then open later. – Does your target skew even more towards mobile? – If you are linking out from your email in your call to

action is the destination viewable on a mobile device?

• A typical subject line is 55 characters, however most smart phones show only 35 characters.

• Make sure that you are getting your point across quickly and effectively.

5. DELIVERY SCHEDULE

• Historically, overnight or lunchtime delivery while avoiding Mondays has been viewed as the best way to catch your targets attention.

• With more marketers adhering to this practice however, inboxes are getting crowded yet establishing a consistent schedule for delivery is important.

• To do so think about when you would like you customer to act, or when they are able to. – Home Improvement stores have found that Thursday or

Friday afternoon delivery aligns best for when customers are planning weekend projects, while recipe emails are best viewed around the mid-afternoon daily meal planning time.

DEVELOP MEANINGFUL RETURNS

• The cost effectiveness of email allowed marketers to become lazy, and email performance has suffered.

• By understanding how to apply best practices to your specific target marketers will be able to again develop meaningful return on investment, and confidence from their customers.

THANK YOU

Devon MacDonald

@devonmacdonald

Linkedin.com/devonmacdonald