the email marketing wake-up call: steps to get better email response and list engagement

The Email Marketing Wake-up Call:

Steps to get better email response and

list engagement

October 23, 2013

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Today’s Speakers

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Moderator

Thorin McGee Editor in Chief

Target Marketing

Cyndie Shaffstall Founder and CEM

Spider Trainers

Debra Ellis Founder

Wilson & Ellis Consulting

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Please Welcome

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Debra Ellis Founder

Wilson & Ellis Consulting

@DebraWEllis

Email Marketing Wake Up Call

Finding the Right Email Mix

© 2013 Wilson & Ellis Consulting

www.wilsonellisconsulting.com

@DebraWEllis


Finding the Right Email Mix

Promotional

Educational

Informational


wilsonellisconsulting.com

@DebraWEllis


Email Objectives

Acquisition

Retention

Sales

Service


wilsonellisconsulting.com

@DebraWEllis

Retention

Fight to Keep Customers

Dig deep in analytics

Start the win-back program early

Provide excellent service

React when people change course



@DebraWEllis

Service

Provide Useful Information

Identifies a problem

Reference material

Provides a solution



@DebraWEllis




@DebraWEllis

Retention

Make it easy

Analyze behavior

Use the actionable information

Market to Behavior & Preferences



@DebraWEllis


Make it Easy



@DebraWEllis

Retention

Make it Easy



@DebraWEllis


Personalized vs. Pricing



@DebraWEllis

Mobile



@DebraWEllis


Crossing Channels

Create web accessible emails

Encourage people to share information

Make sharing easy

Always include a call to action



@DebraWEllis

Sales



@DebraWEllis




@DebraWEllis

Deliverability

Spam Triggers



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Spam Triggers

Relationship

Keywords & Phrases

Image to Text Ratio

Reputation

Styling

© 2012 Wilson & Ellis

Consulting www.wilsonellisconsulting.

com

@DebraWEllis

Deliverability

Spam Triggers

Service Provider



@DebraWEllis

Service Provider



@DebraWEllis

Gmail Before



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Gmail After



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Gmail Mobile



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Deliverability

Spam Triggers

Service Provider

Recipient



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Recipient

Volume

Boredom

Lack of Relevance

Relationship

Content



@DebraWEllis

Tips

Monitor subscriber activity

Focus on building relationships

Provide useful information

Make it easy to cross channels

Optimize your emails for subscribers, deliverability and search

Be relevant



@DebraWEllis

Thank you!

Debra Ellis

[email protected]



Please Welcome

#TMGWebinar

Cyndie Shaffstall Founder and CEM

Spider Trainers

Results-getting changes you can

make to improve deliverability and

opens of your marketing emails.

WRITE A GREAT SUBJECT LINE

To learn more, get the guidebook at http://spdr.at/tip-1c

http://spdr.at/tip-1-left



Use four to six words

Convey urgency

Value proposition

Be timely

Call to action

Number it

Ask a question

Be clever, use a pun, or

try risqué

Write it last

Test, track, and tweak

Look for inspiration

To learn more, get the guidebook at http://spdr.at/tip-1nc

http://spdr.at/tip-1-left-2



USE PERSONALIZATION





Most studies on the effectiveness of personalization

in email indicate click-thru rates are higher when

the message is personalized — but not when you

personalize the subject line.





It’s rarely that simple.

We recommend you test, track, and tweak.





GIVE A GREAT PRESENTATION





The preview text, or preheader, can be an

influential factor in your open rates, especially

for recipients using mobile devices.





Think twice before using this prime real estate

for something as unfriendly as:





Most studies show that emails sent from brands or

individuals enjoy higher open rates than when an

email address is used as the from name.





Some pundits believe that using a

person’s name (without whom the recipient

has a relationship) is just as bad.





Most email applications offer templates,

but templates rarely represent the uniqueness

of your company, brand, product, or services.

Get professional help.





Be responsive.





KEY ELEMENTS

Well-written content

Professional design

Visual connection to the brand

Personalization

Call to action

Permission reminder

Unsubscribe link

Share with a friend link

Legally required content

(CAN-SPAM)

Be selective when adding:

Social-follow links

Links to your website (beyond

those included in the CAN-

SPAM required footer)

Other links

Error-free programming

Well-formed HTML with inline

CSS

Responsive layout

Plain text version and web version





OPTIMIZE YOUR CALL TO ACTION (CTA)





With more than one call to action, you run the risk

of diluting your message or worse:

confusing the recipient.





Calls to action are great fodder for A/B

and multivariate testing, as long as you

follow the rule of one message, one call to action.





DON’T BECOME A SPAMMER





Spam-combatting organizations use a honeypot

— a planted (yet hidden) email address that,

when harvested and emailed,

identifies the sender as a spammer.





These addresses, or spamtraps, do not bounce;

instead they are delivered to the monitoring

company in order to identify the sender.





Avoid purchasing or renting lists.





Customers who receive targeted emails

based upon their preferences are

more receptive to the message.





PROTECT YOUR SENDER REPUTATION





Sending to spamtraps or accumulating bounces

and spam complaints all contribute to

your sender reputation.





Sender reputation is not yours alone to bear

— it is associated with the IP address

of the mail server you are using.





Six elements to your sender reputation

Volume — Keep traffic to an

even keel.

Lots of unknown recipients

— Send to people with whom

you have developed a

relationship.

Complaint rates — Should

not exceed more than 1 per

thousand.

Spamtrap hits — Avoid at all

costs.

Consistency — Find an ESP

and stick with it.

Management — Be

responsible for the

acquisition and ongoing

maintenance of your list.





USE SENDER AUTHENTICATION





Spoofing is when the sender’s address and/or other

parts of the email header are modified in order to

appear as though the email is being sent from a

different source (usually a more-reputable source).





Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an

email-validation system you can use to prevent

spam by detecting email spoofing by

verifying the sender’s IP address.





CELEBRATE UNSUBSCRIBES





Repeatedly sending emails to people who are

not engaged or who mark you as a spammer,

will affect your future deliverability.





Inactive leads are a liability.

Kick ’em to the curb.





TEST EVERYTHING





Deciding what engagements to test and measure

will be based upon the goals for each component

of your campaign and for your entire campaign.





In an A/B test, two versions (A and B) are

compared, which are identical except for one

variation

that might impact a user’s behavior.





Multivariate testing (MVT) is when you test two or

more design or content changes at the same time.





MONITOR YOUR ANALYTICS





Explicit data are demographics such as title,

gender, location, and so on.

Implicit data are what you can collect over time;

behavior such as links clicked, resources

downloaded, pages visited, and the like.





Pre-open metrics are:

Deliver

Bounce rate (email)

Bounce rate (website)

Day and time of send

Location





Post-open metrics are:

Open

Glance, skim, and read

Click (download, view,

etc.)

Opt-out (unsubscribe)

Forward to a friend

Delete

Print

Socially engage

Visit website





As experts in drip and nurture marketing,

Spider Trainers is chosen by companies to amplify lead

and demand generation while setting standards for

design, development, and deployment.

To learn more, get the guidebook at http://spdr.at/spider-trainers

http://spdr.at/spider-trainers



Contact us:

Chuck Meyer

Client relations manager

651 702 3793

[email protected]

http://www.spidertrainers.com

Spider Trainers designs, develops, and

deploys custom blast, drip, and nurture

campaigns.

Visit our resource center to learn more:

Profiling Personas

20+ Ideas for Automated Marketing

Prospects, Leads, & Subscribers

Marketing Metrics

Drip-marketing Toolkit

Great Big Book of Things Marketers Count

Great Big Book of Things Marketers Say

To learn more, get the guidebook at http://spdr.at/spider-trainers

mailto:[email protected]






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the email marketing wake-up call: steps to get better email response and list engagement

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