britishgas_edialog

Email best practice

How British Gas can make best use of your email communications

Email best practice

How British Gas can make best use of your email communications

2

Agenda

Introductionse-Dialog

Team

The email landscape

Best Practice Email planning

Best practice email design

Your World today – British Gas email programme

Your World tomorrow – pipeline of initiatives

© e-Dialog Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Who we are – the 5 minute version

e-Dialog is a specialist provider of email and multi-channel technologies and services

Born in the USA but with a totally self-sufficient European team 115 digital marketers, technology experts, data specialists, analysts, production experts and designers

Unique in having both market leading technologies and the resource to support digital, multi-channel marketing needs

Gives clients the flexibility to engage with us with whatever level of support they want

An infrastructure that today delivers over 100 billion emails/year and a vision that is future proofed to support our clients.

“Cyber Monday” (Thanksgiving period) – 255 million emails. Plus over 2,000 transactional and automated emails a minute. Plus hundreds of automated programmes delivering personalised messages

Passionate about the work we do and the clients we serve

Office Locations

Seattle, WA

Austin, TX

Burlington, MA

New York, NY

KOP, PA

London

Singapore

Denver, CO

5 © e-Dialog Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Part of the eBay inc.

MarketplaceseBay

Shopping.comStub Hub

EnablementWebstore, FulfillmentFull Service AgencyMarketing Solutions

PaymentsOnlineOffline

Phone line


Marketing Solutions Group

MBS InsightDatabase marketing CRM, interactive services and analytics

e-DialogeMail Marketing Strategy and Services

SilverLignIntegrated Marketing Design and Strategy agency

PepperjamAffiliate marketing network

M3MobileSMS and mobile marketing

ClearSaleingMultichannel Marketing attribution and optimization modeling

FetchbackWebsite visitor remarketing

True ActionFull service interactive agency


e-D Products and Services

Serv

ices

Tech

nolo

g

y

Strategi

c

Creative

Technical Production

Precision Central

Messaging

PlatformDatabase

Planning, Reporting, Insight

Concepts, designs, guidelines

Web Apps, automations, development

Campaign execution, optimization, QA & testing

• Campaign Builder, Insight Builder, e-Reports, Poll Builder, Conversation Manager…

• Email, mobile, eComm

• Oracle database

We are proud to work with…

Database of 100 million+; global engagement managed out of three offices; mail in 30 languages+

130 stakeholders; global CRM, campaign deployment, reporting and analysis

Self-deploy client; deeply personalised programmes with deep content integration

Self-deploy client; developing extensive automation for newsletter and behavioural programmes

Strategic Leadership; advanced content publishing solution

50+ content feeds; automated time sensitive marketing

Client snapshots

http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/eng/welcome.html

https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_home

Supporting British GasDedicated Client Service team at e-Dialog

Scope of relationship determines functional team representation

Key Responsibilities:Annual : Planning Session Deliver Strategic Business Reviews to entire

team, focusing on metrics for all business units and markets

Bi-Annually: Business Review Meeting

Monthly: Email Planning Session, Account Check-in Meeting

Daily: Campaign and project progress as well as performance

updates

Campaign Support

Tools & Data Support

Communication Client Meetings

Sharing Knowledge and Expertise

Email AnalysisPerformance

Metrics

Learnings Applications

Client Service Team Structure

Client Service Lead

BSA

Strategy Specialist

Producer Support Resources

Account Development Lead

•Producers•Project Managers•Database Programmers

•Project Developers•QC Specialist•Analytics Specialists

•Strategy Specialists

Supported by Functional Experts

Channel Development Consulting

Customer Journey Mapping

Channel Planning / Programme Design

Analytics and Insights

Campaign Execution

Tool and Workflow Optimisation

Quality and Testing

Translation

Data Services

Project Management

Web Application Development

Automation

Strategic Services

Production ServicesTechnical Services

Creative Services Ideas and Concepts

Design

Copywriting

Guidelines and Templates

British Gas Client Service Team

13

The world today…


•Implementation kicked off August 2011

•Batch data sync operational 14 September

•First mailing deployed 15 September (GMR)

•GMR automated daily trigger deployed September

•Total mailing volume to date: 8.2m

•Conversion tracking project underway

•PEEAT dynamic imaging project underway•e scheduled for w/c 12th Oct

15

The Email Landscape



1971: First Email

Email Grows Up


1995+ Mainstream use of internet begins


2000Webmail becomes prominentEmail marketing sees growth


2006Webmail is primary inbox

Email marketing becomes established


2010Social & Mobile take hold

Email marketing now a major industry

Ranking of channels for ROI Proportion of companies ranking as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’

Email consistently top/second top channel for ROI since 2008

10/04/202322


SEO 73%

Email marketing 72%

PPC 56%

Social media 43%

Mobile marketing 34%

Affiliate marketing 47%

Offline direct marketing 32%

Online display advertising 24%

Average split of online marketing budgets


Website 23%

Email marketing 18%

PPC 15%

SEO 10%

Display advertising 8%

Affiliate marketing 6%

Social media 6%

Mobile 2%

Other 12%

The state of the channel


Source: DMA

Open rates Click rates

Unsubscribe rates

Mobile email marketing


Connecting with consumers 18-24 are the heaviest users of

mobile email

Special offers are

the preferred type of

mobile email

It’s not just calls & texts

Mobile phone activitiesChecking personal email is predominant activity

Common behaviour among Social and Mobile users

Base: Respondents with an Internet-enabled mobile phone

And consumers are engaging through other channels

Meteoric rise of social mediaSocial networks continue to grow

Over one-third of consumers

interact socially with marketers

42% say that e-mail is a primary

driver in social networking

One-quarter review and rate

purchased products

Almost 20% say they forward

messages to family and friends

What’s deemed “most

shareworthy”? New product

information, special offers and

promotions


Role of email with social web

Email as the glue between social and commercial web assets

© e-Dialog Inc. All Rights Reserved.28

Social Media activity:Your brand personality

Your website:The commercial

shop-front

Email communications:Reminds consumers to

re-engage

Drivestraffic

Keepsinformed

Drivestraffic

Builds brand engagement

Prompts engagement between sales cycles

Drives reason for regular contact

Closer

Branded Keyword Search

Here’s what you see…

Site Purchase

Its Not Just Last Click

Purchase Path Provides Full Funnel Visibility

Day 1

Day 8

CloserInfluencersIntroducer

Natural Search

Display Campaign

Email Marketin

g

AffiliateBranded Keyword Search

Here’s what you see…

Site Purchase

Site Visit

Social

Here’s what you missed

Its Not Just Last Click

31

The cut-through challenge

Emails need to be:-

Engaging

Entertaining

Surprising and delightful

Relevant



Show me the money…

While highly relevant emails require additional investment, they have the potential of generating 10x the ROI of broadcast emails


Broadcastemails

RelevanceTested emails

£0.02 £0.05

+10x ROI vs. Broadcast

emails

Revenue per emailCost per email

£0.12 £1.00

33

Six Factors of Relevance

Contact Management

Relevance Trajectory Scoring

Detailed worksheet calculates score for each of 6 factors

34

How does British Gas compare?

British Gas Relevance Trajectory score currently stands at 98/300

35

BG0

50

100

150

200

250

300

98

EMEA Client Relevance Scores

36

•

British Gas Relevance Trajectory Score

Life

cycle

Man

agem

ent

Segm

enta

tion

Pers

onal

izatio

n

Conta

ct M

anag

emen

t

Inte

ract

ivity

Test

ing

& Mea

sure

men

t0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

40%35%

20%

37%

16%

47%

37

What we do

Tailoring a solution to fit the client’s needs (and budgets)

e-Dialog clients regularly exceed industry averages for implementing

intelligent programmes


Helping marketers get to where they aspire to be

Source of Average figure – Forrester European e-mail marketing in 2011

38

Common outputs of Planning

Channel development roadmaps

New e-mail programmes (including test plans)

Contact management mechanisms (contact frequency maps, contact prioritization inc. best next contact models, suppression hierarchies)

Acquisition programmes (including LTVs)

Audience segment definitions and developments

Relevance Trajectory benchmarking and action plans

Reporting framework & KPIs

Supported by Business Cases wherever possible© e-Dialog Inc. All Rights Reserved.


Lifecycle management


Relevance Drives Retention

Programme Planning Process

Questions

Jill Brittlebank, Director of Strategic Services41

Creative thinking at e-Dialog

Presented by


Dan Clarke


The combination of strategic thinking, great

ideas and creative execution enable us to

produce award winning campaigns that address

specific business objectives and encourage high

levels of customer engagement.

© e-Dialog Inc. All Rights Reserved.44

Our Email Expertise

As a channel, email provides a low

cost opportunity to form a

relationship with the consumer,

that ultimately drives a high ROI.

Underpinning all of these results is

great creative work.

Our creative team are experts in

the channel, understanding the

best way

to communicate with your

customers maximising the impact

of the channel.


Design best practice

Design for email

Our team has many years experience understanding design best practice for the email channel.

Campaign testing

We frequently test every element of our design work, including content hierarchy, tone of voice and subject lines to ensure we get the most from the channel.

Messages that drive results

Creative critiques, refreshes and testing

We can use our expertise in the channel to undertake critiques of your current campaigns.

Tell me more!To find out more about our creative critiques please contact your account teams today.


Bulletproof HTML Production

Best Practice HTML for Email

With the various combinations of email clients, webmail providers and web browsers, coding email that renders consistently can be a challenge.

Our team has developed best practice coding techniques to make sure consumers receive the optimal experience regardless of how they access their email.

Tested in email clients & mobile devices

Our HTML builds are thoroughly tested in popular email clients using live accounts and ReturnPath Campaign Preview.

Code critiques & training

We also work with our clients’ internal development teams, and offer both code critique/fixes and training sessions.

Best Practice HTML that works across email clients


Template Driven Campaigns

Why Templates?

Whilst templated campaigns require an initial development time, for frequently sent campaigns they quickly reap benefits in the form of lower cost, reduced turn around times, brand consistency and reduced QA.

Efficiently and quickly delivering repeat campaigns

Similar benefits can also be realized by using template methodologies for multiple language campaigns.


Automation

Triggered campaigns allow marketers to provide relevant content at the right time for the consumer, by strategically acting upon behavioral data. Popular Triggered campaigns include:

Welcome streams

A series of emails introducing new customers to the brand and building interest in future emails.

Abandoned shopping cart

Re-targeting consumers after they abandon the check out process.

Ensuring the right message is sent at the right time

Reactivation

Creatively encouraging lapsed consumers to re-engage with the brand.

Social welcome streams

Introducing new consumers to the brand, after acquisition through social channels such as Groupon deals or Facebook & Twitter.


A web that works on all devices

Freeing content from plugins (eg. Flash)

Make ‘app functionality’ native

HTML5


Video in emailNews International

Brief:Increase downloads of the Times iPad App

Solution:Targeted known iPad owners.

Headline that made an emotional connection with ipad users

Design optimised for iPad

Fully playable video in the email, including audio.


Creative opportunities

Showcasing products

App features

Help tutorials

Degrades gracefully

Reverts to a traditional image linking to hosted video

Recipient unaware they aren’t receiving the full experience

Video in emailBritish Gas Example


Where it works

Video in email

Where it doesn’t work


Forms in emailBritish gas mock-up

Aim:Requesting contact detail updates

Solution:Allows users to update their details directly into the email.

54



Where it works

Where it doesn’t work


56

Dynamic Imagery



Account Statement

Personalised graphs based on the user’s account are dynamically published into the email.

Using dynamic imagery avoids an otherwise labour intensive task personalising images.


Customised Products

Custom publish imagery based on data, without manually creating images.


Live Email

Updating the content of the email at the time the user opens, not the time we mail.

Example campaigns:

Live countdown

Stock countdown

Live Tweets

60

Responsive Email Design


Comscore 2011 Mobile Report


41.8%Android

27%iPhone

21.7%Blackberr

y

5.7%Windows


iPhone is now 2nd to Outlook in some markets

We should treat all users as mobile users.

How should we design for mobile?

Clear message – less copy

Adjust design for 320px wide (desktop emails are 600px wide)

Easy to use with a touch interface

Why is this important

64

British Gas Mobile


13%Android

85%iPhone /

IPad

1%Blackberr

y

.14%Windows

1.1%Nokia OS


One HTML layout adapts to the users device


Responsive Email DesignBritish gas mock-up

67

Data drivenMobile Content



Data driven mobile content

Example campaigns:

Mobile Apps

Video Campaigns

Tailoring content based on the device and platform the user has.

Best use of email 2011 Innovation in email 2010

Emails Working Harder


10/04/2023


What is Conversation Manager?

• Gives users the ability to create multi-touch marketing campaigns using an intuitive drag-and-drop interface .

• Reduces the reliance on IT, programmers, or third-parties in the campaign management process

• Delivers a visual tool that automates manual, disparate campaign management process.

• Helps marketers save time while enabling them to improve campaign relevance and execution

• Improves visibility into all campaign “touch points” for better troubleshooting, testing, and analysis


Conversation Manager

8 Seconds


What can be achieved in 8Seconds…..

75

The number of CTRs by up to 45% and often

more

Testing of email campaigns is a proven method to increase ROI.

How…..

76

Image Optimization

Different images to different recipients that open their email

Buy Now

Shop Now

Click Here

More Info

Switch Now Register

Measures statistically and in real time which images are the most successful in terms of clicks or conversions

Automatically shows this best image (or combination of images) to the next recipients that still have to open their email at that moment in time.

Test…..

77

30%

Case Study

78

Thank You


britishgas_edialog

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