Email Marketing 101

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Email Marketing 101 Stephen Guerra Email
Communications Strategist Silverpop
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CPE Credit

• To receive CPE credit for this session you must
  attend the entire session
• Session code BB20
• Recommended CPE credit 1 (this changes to 1.5
  for 90min sessions)
• Delivery Method Group-Live
• Field of Study Specialized Knowledge and
  Applications
• Enter your credits at the CPE kiosks available in
  the Tennessee and Presidential Lobbies

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Objectives

• Email as a Marketing Channel Sophisticated
  Capabilities with Multiple Challenges
• How Email Works
• Practice Hierarchy
• Legislation
• Industry Best Practices
• Organizational Best Practices
• Deliverability
• List Growth
• Message Design
• Discussion and Questions

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I Know How To Send An Email

• Favorite misconception of the new emailer

I know how to send email. In fact I just sent one
to my Mom five minutes ago. Lets rent a list and
get started!
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Why Commercial Email is Different

• Just because you know how to cook dinner doesnt
  mean you can run a restaurant
• Different environment
• More sophisticated tools
• Customers are less forgiving of errors
• Regulatory authorities have a say in how you
  conduct your business

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About Email
45 of consumers say that email is a great way
for companies to stay in touch with customers.
Quris and Executive Summary Consulting,
November 2004

• Email is a tremendously powerful tool
• Costs much less than direct mail
• Reveals reader behavior through measurable events
• Enables advanced communication possibilities

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Email Advanced Techniques

• Personalization Go beyond the name
• From Address
• Subject Line
• Relevant historical data
• Dynamic Content
• Timed Delivery
• Segmentation
• Testing

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What can go wrong?

• Poor practices contend with
• Legislative regulatory issues
• Recipient impact
• Offend recipients
• List burn
• Deliverability problems
• Brand damage

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Email Marketing 101

• How Email Works

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How Email Works
Header data
Text message
From communications_at_silverpop.com From
name Silverpop Subject Participate in our list
growth survey Reply-to reply_at_silverpop.com Env-fr
om v-hibgm_mfbaj_a_at_bounce1.rm05.net
ltxxxgt
HTML message
ltxxxgt
List
jsoren_at_yahoo.com Jessica kevin_at_blu.edu Kevin juli
a_at_nadiot.org Julia mildred_at_aol.com Mildred john_at_ex
cite.com John .
One message per recipient
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How Email Works
Send message to elaine_at_yahoo.com
Where do I send mail bound for yahoo.com?
Outbound MTA (mail transfer agent)
DNS
Give message to elaine_at_yahoo.com
Send to 125.46.350.219
Inbound MTA (inbound gateway)
Internet
Heres a message for 125.46.350.219
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Email Marketing 101

• Email Practice Hierarchy

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The Flaming Hoops of Email Compliance
Internal Policy
Industry Best Practices
Legislation
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LegislationCAN-SPAM Major Provisions

• Pre-empts states private right of action
• Provides for enforcement by the FTC, State
  Attorneys General, ISPs
• Prohibits fraudulent email practices
• Establishes fines up to 2MM and prison sentences
  up to 5 years
• Segments transactional relationship email from
  commercial email
• Prohibits sending additional commercial email
  more than 10 business days after opt-out is
  received.

Provided for discussion purposes only please
refer to your legal counsel for guidance
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LegislationCAN-SPAM Major Provisions

• Requires for all commercial email
• Clear and conspicuous identification that the
  email is an advertisement or solicitation
  (exception for prior confirmative assent)
• Working opt-out for a minimum of 30 days after
  the date of the message (keep the opt-out site
  live for 30 days post-mailing)
• Postal address of sender recommended for both
  transactional and commercial messages.
• Requires special labeling and message content
  restrictions for sexually-oriented material

Provided for discussion purposes only please
refer to your legal counsel for guidance
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LegislationCAN-SPAM Key Definitions

• Affirmative Consent
• The recipient expressly consented to receive the
  message
• If the message is from a third party, the
  recipient was given clear and conspicuous notice
  at the time consent was given.
• Commercial email
• Any electronic mail message the primary purpose
  of which is the commercial advertisement of
  promotion of a commercial product or service

Provided for discussion purposes only please
refer to your legal counsel for guidance
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LegislationCAN-SPAM Key Definitions

• Transactional and relationship messages
• Facilitate, complete, or confirm a commercial
  transaction
• Provide warranty information, product recall
  information, or safety or security information
  with respect to a commercial product or service
• Notifications
• Provide information directly related to an
  employment relationship
• Deliver goods or services

Provided for discussion purposes only please
refer to your legal counsel for guidance
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LegislationOther Legislation

• The U.S., EU, Australia, Japan and Korea have
  email-specific regulations
• All but Korea and the U.S. are opt-in regimes
  requiring affirmative consent
• All also require easy opt-out, plus
  identification of the sender
• Korea and the U.S. have opt-out regimes
• Korea has unusual and strict labeling
  requirementssee your local counsel
• Some South American states use data privacy to
  address spam issues opt-out approach
• Sending email to a cell phone in the U.S. is
  highly regulated by the FCC
• Consider blocking cell phone domains
• Incented forwarding in the U.S. is covered under
  U.S. commercial regulations
• This has important considerations for viral
  campaign design

Provided for discussion purposes only please
refer to your legal counsel for guidance
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Industry Best PracticesPermission Level
Not Recommended Brand Damage Deliverability Problems
Opt-Out Recipients added without clear permission (pre-checked box)
Opt-In Recipient actively requests subscription
Confirmed Opt-In Recipient actively requests subscription and receives a confirmation message
Double Opt-In Recipient actively requests subscription then receives an email which they must respond to before subscription is complete
Minimum Level Some deliverability issues
Best Practice Good balance between deliverability and marketing goals
Good PracticeExcellent deliverability, limits list growth rate
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email Trivia

• How did the term spam email originate?
• Comparing unwanted messages to undesirable food
• Reference to a Monty Python skit
• First spam sent by a meat packing company
• Acronym for Superfluous Product Advertisement Mail

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Industry Best PracticesWho Decides A Message Is
Spam?
Sender
Inbox Provider
Law
Recipient
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Organizational PolicesConsiderations

• Branding
• Creative Design
• Font selection
• Image selection
• Tone
• Permission
• House lists
• Partner mailings
• List rental
• Frequency
• Governance
• Decentralized
• Centralized
• Federated

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Email 101

• Email Deliverability

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(No Transcript)
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Email Deliverability Significance

• In a July 2004 JupiterResearch study, over 20 of
  online buyers reported at least one instance of
  opt-in email failing to arrive.
• "JupiterResearch executive interviews revealed
  investing in delivery services/solutions can
  improve e-mail delivery by 10 percent to 20
  percent.--Delivery Auditing Tools Tactics to
  Improve E-mail Delivery December 29, 2004

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Email Deliverability - Definition

• Email Deliverability How successfully a majority
  of messages in a mailing will be delivered to a
  recipient inbox in a readable format.
• Majority of Messages any bulk mailing to a
  variety of domains will have a certain percentage
  of messages that do not arrive in the Inbox
• Inbox Placement messages can be challenged,
  rejected, discarded, or routed to Bulk/Spam
  folders
• Readable Format message should retain all
  elements as designed

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Email Deliverability Challenges

• Anti-spam filters
• Blacklists
• HTML rendering / Image Suppression
• Message element blocking rich media, images,
  links
• Recipient fatigue

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What You Can Do

• Find the right partner
• Obtain high-quality, memorable permission
• Get in the address book
• Design delivery-effective messages
• Be relevant
• Leverage your brand
• List hygiene

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Email 101

• List Growth and Management

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List GrowthVery successful options vs. planned
to add
Source Silverpop List Growth Study, 2006
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List Management

• List Hygiene practices employed to maintain only
  active and engaged recipients in an email list
• Maintains list performance - eliminates
  non-productive records
• Deliverability best practice - addresses major
  deliverability issues
• Brand best practice portrays brand in best
  light
• List hygiene practices encompass management of
• Bouncing addresses
• Changed addresses
• Inactive addresses

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List Management Bounces

• Bounces Notice to sender indicating the message
  delivery failure
• Hard Bounce Recipient server To Address does
  not exist
• Addresses that produce hard bounces should be
  immediately unsubscribed from lists
• Soft Bounce Any non-hard bounce (Examples
  Mailbox Full, Recipient Server Offline,
  Message Rejected By Spam Filter)
• Addresses that produce soft bounces should be
  unsubscribed from lists only after two conditions
  are met
• The address bounces for three or more consecutive
  mailings
• The address continues to bounce for greater than
  fifteen days

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List Management Changed Addresses

• Individual recipients often change their email
  addresses
• Switching companies
• Corporate mergers
• Discard addresses due to high spam reception
• Automated email response reply notification of an
  address change
• These should be collected and the address change
  should be made in the customers record
• Usually will not receive notice that the address
  has been changed
• May or may not receive bounces
• The address may appear abandoned
• Address reacquisition procedures
• Call center
• Direct mail
• Stuffers
• Email Change of Address service

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Email 101

• Message Design

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HTML vs. Text

• Fancy formatting and images require HTML coding,
  like a web page
• HTML emails have higher response rates and are
  more measurable than plain text email
• Experiment with the degree of design present in
  your email
• Text-like formats can perform better for
  certain types of messages, and can also perform
  well as a variant in a longer campaign
• Your HTML will not render the same in all email
  clients
• Perform periodic reception testing to see what
  your email looks like in various clients,
  especially webmail clients like Yahoo and Hotmail
• You will still need to create a text version of
  your email for recipients that cannot open
  HTML-based email.
• Both the HTML and text versions of the email will
  be sent in the same message (multi-part
  messaging), and the appropriate one will be
  displayed

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Message Anatomy
Header
From Name
From Address
Subject Line
Body
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Header

• What a recipient sees in their inbox
• Must reassure, compel, intrigue, entice, excite
  recipient enough for them to OPEN the message
• Includes
• From Name
• From Address
• Subject Line

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Message ConstructionOverall Page Design Above
The Fold

• Portion of the message that is first viewed
  without scrolling
• Recipient will scan this first then decide to
  read
• Must engage the recipient immediately
• Should encompass in an easily scanned format
• Offer
• Call To Action
• Urgency Indication
• Brandmark
• Any other important content
• No exact fold demarcation due to differences in
  email software, viewing window size, and screen
  resolution

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Sample Message Strong Above The Fold Design

• click to view link
• Brandmark
• Offer
• Call To Action
• Urgency Indication

Above The Fold (400 pixels)
Fold
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Sample Message Weak Above The Fold Design
Above The Fold 400 Pixels

• Significant content (image only partially
  viewable without scrolling quick links below
  fold)
• Significant content(Most of the offer is below
  the fold)
• Call To Action

Fold
Below The Fold
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Color Layout

• Overall appearance of the message depends on good
  design of layout
• Use color and layout to pull reader into the
  message and guide the eye to important content

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Sample Message Strong Color Layout

• Color Usage
• Regions of message defined with blocks of color
• Overall color usage unifies the message

600 pixel width

• Layout
• Clearly defined regions ease navigation
• Page header
• Body
• Quick navigation
• Page footer
• Easily scannable
• Left justified primary body copy
• Centered footer
• Message width within approximately 600 pixels

Fold
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Email Metrics

• Good News
• Email campaigns produce a lot of data
• Bad News
• Email campaigns produce a lot of data

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email Metrics

• Tracking generally requires HTML messages
• Image suppression can interfere with tracking
• Unique message created for each recipient
• Identification codes embedded in message
• Codes relate the message to an individual
  recipient
• Links
• Images
• Envelope
• Replies
• Many metrics measured either as unique or
  aggregate (gross)
• Unique number of individuals who perform the
  action
• Counts only ONCE per recipient
• Aggregate number of times the action is
  performed
• Counts multiple occurrences per recipient

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Benchmarks

• The average open rate and click-through rates for
  email are
• a) 15 Opens, 0.5 Clicks
• b) 30 Opens, 4 Clicks
• c) 68 Opens, 25 Clicks
• d) 96 Opens, 68 Clicks
• Answer Averages dont matter
• What you need to know is how you compare to
  averages for your company and for the type of
  mailings you send

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Open Rate

• The percentage of people who render the message
  in an HTML environment and dont have images
  blocked

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Average Open Rates
JupiterResearch, Email Marketing Metrics
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Open Rates Dropping

• MarketingSherpa reports marketers finding open
  rates decreasing

MarketingSherapa Email Marketing Benchmark Guide
2006
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Open Rates External Influencers
Image Blocking
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Open Rates External Influencers
Inbox Fatigue
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Open Rates External Influencers

• Spam Concerns

Pew Internet American Life Project, April 2005
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Open Rates External Influencers

• Preview Panes

Open Rates
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Open Rates How to improve
Improving open rates takes time and a commitment
to respecting the lifetime value of your
subscribers

• From Address Name
• Friendly
• Consistent
• Subject Line
• Branded
• Short (40 characters or less)
• Compelling, but not mis-leading
• Frequency Relevancy
• List maintenance
• Request address book placement

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Click-through rate

• The percentage of people who click on a tracked
  link in a message
• Click-through rates can be measured uniquely or
  in aggregate
• Click-through rates can be measured as a
  percentage of sent messages, or as a percent of
  opens (also called the effective rate)

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Average Click-through Rates
JupiterResearch, Email Marketing Metrics
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Conversion Rate

• The percentage of people who performed the
  call-to-action
• The most common way to measure this is by passing
  parameters to a website
• EX If the recipient clicks from the email and
  makes it to the target page (e.g., the thanks
  for your purchase page, then a conversion has
  occurred

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Average Conversion Rates
JupiterResearch, Email Marketing Metrics
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Bounce Rate

• The number of messages that the Inbox provider
  entity did not acknowledge receiving (they
  bounced them back) divided by the number of
  messages sent
• Bounces can be caused by bad addresses, full
  mailboxes or spam blocks
• Bounce rates are notoriously unreliable

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Unsubscribe rate

• Also known as the opt-out rate
• The percentage of recipients that unsubscribe
  from a mailing, or over the course of a period

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Quiz

• Which measure is NOT useful for evaluating the
  success of your email campaign
• a) Bounce rate
• b) Unsubscribe rate
• c) Open rate
• d) Click-through rate
• e) Conversion rate

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Quiz

• Unsubscribe rate is a terrible measure of email
  success
• Bounce rate is useful for evaluating appends,
  list rentals or old lists
• Open rate is useful for evaluating the
  combination of your brand value and your subject
  line
• Click-through rate is valuable for evaluating
  your call-to-action
• Conversion rate measures success directly

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Getting Started With Email Checklist

• In-house system versus Email Service Provider
• Permission policy
• List growth strategies
• Determine messaging goals
• Promotional
• Sell product
• Drive traffic to site
• Drive Point of Sale traffic
• Informational
• Transactional
• Design messages and campaigns to achieve your
  goal
• Design test plans to evaluate your design,
  content, offer
• Monitor tracking results and modify accordingly

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Questions and Discussion
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• Contact Information Stephen Guerra Email
  Communications Strategist Silverpop sguerra_at_silv
  erpop.com
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