email academy presentations
TRANSCRIPT
–McKinsey, 2014
91% of all U.S. consumers still use email daily.
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/why_marketers_should_keep_sending_you_emails
–McKinsey, 2014
Email remains a significantly more effective way to acquire customers than social media—
nearly 40 times that of Facebook and Twitter combined.
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/why_marketers_should_keep_sending_you_emails
–Ascend2 Digital Marketing Strategy Survey, 2014
“Email’s popularity is due, in large part, to the fact that it is not
only the most effective type of digital marketing, it is also the
least difficult to execute.”
http://ascend2.com/home/wp-content/uploads/Digital-Marketing-Strategy-Summary-Report.pdf
–Pew Research Internet Project, 2013
In 2013, 52 percent of cell phone owners accessed their email
using their phones.
http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/09/16/cell-internet-use-2013/
http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/09/16/cell-internet-use-2013/
Strengths and opportunities
Not tied to a service
Opt-in: People ask for it
Replies
The inbox: Emails don’t flow by in a stream
Inexpensive and easy to execute
Easy to reach people on mobile
Types of email newsletters
Weekly or monthly newsletter
News events and roundups
Fundraisers
Event invitations
E-commerce
Letter from the president
Use the tools you have
Signup forms and groups
Reports
Segmentation
Performance testing
A/B testing
Automation
NYT Store: Segmentation and subject line testing
Saw 50% increase in sales when they started using segmentation and reports
Segmented to most engaged readers and customers
Tried out different subject lines
Immediate language worked best: “today only,” “five hours away,” etc.
https://blog.mailchimp.com/the-new-york-times-store-focuses-on-email-sees-50-increase-in-sales/
Steve Spangler Science: Browser testing and mobile optimization
Tested across email clients and browsers
Found that many readers are on mobile
50% increase in ROI for campaigns that were tested
Clicks doubled, complaints dropped by a third
https://blog.mailchimp.com/steve-spangler-science-experiments-with-inbox-inspector-optimizes-for-mobile-increases-roi-by-50/
Walker Art Center: Collaboration and editing
Subject-matter experts review and comment on their sections
Photo editor processes images
Design team approves templates
Send drafts and tests ahead of time to 30+ people
Publication-style process
Everyone cares!
https://blog.mailchimp.com/behind-the-scenes-of-walker-art-centers-email-collaboration/
Dropcam: Automation and segmentation
Announced iOS update to only iPhone users
Add loyal readers who reply and share testimonials to a special segment
Put email signup on landing page, then automate a series of emails
100% of newsletter signups from the landing page purchased
That’s ALL OF THEM
https://blog.mailchimp.com/dropcams-clever-segmentation-and-impressive-conversions/
Voice and tone
Write with personality
Think about people’s frame of mind when checking email
Reader may be distracted, curious, interested, busy
Adapt your tone based on the message: informal, warm, friendly, clear, direct
Think beyond the message
Subject lines
Subscribe and unsubscribe flows
Header and footer copy
Landing pages
From address
From name
Tips for subject lines
Tell what’s inside, don’t sell what’s inside
Don’t repeat subject line for multiple newsletters
Stick to 50 characters or less
Personalization works
So does localization (city name)
http://kb.mailchimp.com/campaigns/previews-and-tests/best-practices-for-email-subject-lines
http://blog.mailchimp.com/subject-line-data-choose-your-words-wisely/
–David Carr, The New York Times, 2014
“Email newsletters, an old-school artifact of the web that was
supposed to die along with dial-up connections, are not only still around, but very much on the
march.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/30/business/media/for-email-a-death-greatly-exaggerated.html?_r=0
● Grow readership ● Mobile Friendly ● Clean look to match the newly
redesign Gazette website ● Stronger emphasis on photography ● Provide flexibility in format
A Case for Change
Connecting Parents to the College Community
November 7, 2014
Colin Manning | Senior Communica1ons Officer, FAS
Ana Davis | Director, FAS Communica1ons and Marke1ng Strategy Lori LoTurco | Director of Communica1ons Strategy, Harvard College
• Lacked parent-‐focused messaging
• Incomplete distribu1on list
• Needed increased flexibility for mul1ple content types
• Anecdotal evidence = newsleLer not engaging
Diagnosing the problem
• Connect current parents to the vibrant life of the college • Ensure we are reaching every parent we can
• Draw parents in so they are “plugged into” their children’s Harvard experience
• Make parents feel that they are a part of the Harvard community
• Let’s give them what they want, while s1ll giving them
what we want to give them.
Why a redesigned newsleLer?
• Create a “new voice” that speaks to parents • Content must be fresh and invi1ng. • Limit increased demands on staff 1me • Breakdown communica1ons silos • Develop editorial calendar • Generate a new distribu1on list • A new template for the NewsleLer • Partnerships are key
Crea1ng a strategy
• Important Dates and Resources are a must • Include social/digital content • Repackage GazeLe ar1cles in a way that is not cut and paste
• Develop editorial calendar • Include useful contact links and numbers
How should template achieve our goals
• Immediately worked to foster beLer communica1ons among the offices of the College; know who is sending what out to whom and when.
• Coordinated with the Parents Fund, AA&D, Freshman Dean’s Office (FDO)
and the Office of Student Life (OSL), to determine where our audience overlapped and where there were gaps.
• Convened larger group across FAS and the University to share distribu1on
lists and discuss how to generate more robust lists. • Alter repurposed content so it addressed parents and did not appear to be
simply recycled material. • Work closely with Digital Strategies team (HPAC) to design a new
template; one that is not only more visually appealing but also provides flexible “modules” to allow for placement of diverse and more targeted content – text, photos, videos, etc. – which can change from month to month.
The Process
• Relevant, important information • Visually appealing, large interactive buttons • Action-oriented links
‘Plan Ahead’
• ‘In Case You Missed It’ acknowledges this is repurposed material • Link to Gazette subscription; important feature from previous newsletter
‘In Case You Missed It’
• Action-oriented links; connects to Parents Programs web page.
• ‘Did You Know?’ designed to be fun, yet informative, deepening the connection to the community.
Get Involved/ Did You Know?
• A section devoted exclusively to the student experience
• Connect to existing social media channel to enhance interactivity
Student Experience
Connec1ng the dots
• A look at the bigger picture • Digital strategy / communica1ons plan • Raising awareness • Finding ways to fit the parents newsleLer into a larger communica1ons plan
Open Rate: • August 59.03% • Sept. 54.57%
Click Through: • August 26.83% • Sept. 14.6% Still too early to claim success. Open and click rates very strong, part of this exercise is re-engaging and growing the audience which takes time. Anecdotal feedback has been posi1ve: “Wow, the Instagram dean! This is a new age. The newsle1er thing is good -‐ I don't recall geCng anything like this previous and it sets a nice tone.” – Harvard College parent
Were we successful?
• Informa1on about upcoming events receives the highest clicks; clearly parents want informa1on about “nuts and bolts” informa1on
• Many parents want to be engaged and are using the newsleLer as a way
to explore how to do so.
• Repurposed GazeLe content con1nues to perform about the same.
• Connec1ng to exis1ng channels and assets, such as social media is key • Know who your audience is. Working collabora1vely has grown the
distribu1on list from about 6,000 parents to over 10,000.
• With a more robust list, more eyes are definitely looking at informa1on the College feels is important.
Key Takeaways
Ana Davis, Director Communica1ons Marke1ng and Strategy, FAS
Lori LoTurco, Director of Communica1ons Strategy, Harvard College
Colin Manning, Senior Communica1ons Officer, FAS A special thank you to Chris Eramo and Catherine Conway of Digital Strategy, and Chris<ne Boehler, Communica<ons Specialist (FAS) for
all of their hard work and tremendous insight.
Thank you
A sustainable email Katie Hammer, Digital Communications Specialist, Office for Sustainability, Harvard Digital Strategy
“Harvard must model an ins1tu1onal pathway toward a more sustainable future.” -‐President Drew Gilpin Faust
Email by the numbers
Sustainability at Harvard List size = 8,500 Distribu1on= Monthly Plalorm = Mailchimp
Target audience ● Primary:
o Undergraduate and graduate students o Administra1ve and facility leaders o Employees, especially Green Teams and Green Offices o Alumni
● Secondary:
o Harvard community neighbors (Cambridge/Boston) o Peer higher educa1on ins1tu1ons
Project goals ● Reinforce sustainability as core University-‐wide priority
● Represent amazing efforts happening across Harvard’s Schools and departments
● Grow subscriber base
● Maintain awesome open rate (~ 22%)
Must: ● Update outdated email,
eliminate extra work
● Align branding, messaging, content strategy (1med with web redesign)
● Be responsive for web, tablet, and mobile viewing and sharing
Audience survey 300 + respondents (51% staff, 14% students, 5% alumni, 5% faculty) Audience wants: ● Simple, clear direc1ves for living more sustainably (1ps and
tools)
● Current sustainability news and stories, profiles recognizing sustainability innovators on campus
● Events, research highlights, and videos
New strategy Aggregate content from across Harvard and curate community-‐driven, crowdsourced tools and resources
Additional strategies ● Provide news and informa1on
highligh1ng current work and accomplishments of our community
● Include content that creates a dialogue i.e. features, stories, guest posts
● Develop content that can be shared and reused by our community
● Create an effec1ve design and iden1fy a distribu1on tool
● Establish governance and support
● Support best prac1ces and University standards
Getting to work ● Audience Survey
● Shared results with team
● Project charter
● Selected platform
(mailchimp)
● Worked with web vendors to create template that aligned with new website
Who We Are As Harvard’s ins1tute for advanced study, we • GENERATE ideas by scholars, scien1sts, public intellectuals,
ar1sts, and students through our three programs: – Fellowship Program – Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America – Academic Ventures
• SHARE ideas through lectures, conferences, performances, and exhibi1ons that are free and open to the public.
Our Audience We email 27,500 Radcliffe affiliates: • Current and former Ins1tute fellows • Radcliffe Alumnae (‘77 and prior); Harvard-‐Radcliffe Alumni (‘77-‐’99)
• Harvard Alumni • Harvard Faculty • Harvard Graduate and Undergraduate Students • General Public who aLend Radcliffe Ins1tute events or sign up online
Our Goals
• Engage our local, na1onal, and interna1onal audiences in the Radcliffe Ins1tute people, programs, and collec1ons through announcements and news alerts
• Invite Radcliffe affiliates to aLend our free and public events
Our E-communications • We launched our e-‐communica1ons program and plalorm in September 2011 – Harris Tools – Radcliffe Affiliates in Advance Database – New Design
• In 2012, we launched radcliffe.harvard.edu, which allows visitors to sign up to receive our news and events
• In 2013, we consolidated mul1ple email lists across the Ins1tute that were owned by individual programs.
Our Design • Promotes the Radcliffe Ins1tute brand • Mo1f consistent with our website • Layout: clean, one column which is more mobile friendly
– Tested layouts: 3 columns, right-‐hand sidebar
Our Segmentation: Geography
• Local v. all affiliates event invita1ons • Now, only send to all Radcliffe affiliates for events that are live webcast
• Why? The Data
Our Segmentation: Results • NYC v. Greater Boston
• BOS: Winter Schedule Heats Up – Opens: 2654, 36.69% – Clicks: 547, 7.48%
• NYC: Winter Schedule Heats Up – Opens: 1645, 26.80% – Clicks: 114, 1.18 %
• Segmenta1on helped increase engagement with our all affiliates e-‐communica1ons
Our Results – Geographical Segmentation With geographical segmenta1on, we • Increased our open rates for event invites:
– 21.5 percent to 32.3 percent – 50 percent increase
• Increased our average click through rate for event invites: – 2.2 percent to 4.7 percent – 113 percent increase
Our Best Practices • Distribu1on Times
– Sending between 7:30 AM–9 AM has generated the highest open and click through rates.
• Sender – Our audiences are most engaged in emails from Dean Lizabeth Cohen.
• Geographical Segmenta1on – Greater Boston area for events that will not be live webcasts
• Calls to Ac1on – The simpler, the beLer
Our Results: A Look at a Year In the 2014 academic year, we • Increased our average open rate:
– 23.55% (2012-‐2013) to 26.90% (2013-‐2014) – 14 percent increase
• Increased our average click through rate: – 3.60% (2012-‐2013) to 4.64% (2013-‐2014) – 29 percent increase
• Increased our effec1ve rate (unique clicks/unique opens): – To 16.7% – 8 percent increase
Our Program Results • In three years, we’ve:
– Increased reader engagement • Open Rate: increased from 21 percent to 27 percent
– 28 percent increase • Click Through Rate: increased from 2.9 percent to 4.3 percent
– 48 percent increase • Subscriber List: increased from 23 K to 27.5 K, a growth of 4 K
– 17 percent increase – Without a new subscriber base every year (i.e. a gradua1ng class since we only have 50 fellows) this increase highlights engagement from a new subscriber base.
– How? Website feature (our highest traffic months generate spikes in sign ups: 100-‐150 per month), Dean’s remarks at events, sign up cards at public events
IN RECOGNITION OF THOSE WHO PRESS SEND
An ode to those who just press send.
Catherine Conway, Digital Strategy @catjconway
“ Email’s popularity is due, in large part, to the fact that it is not only the most effective type of digital
marketing, it is also the least difficult to execute.
Ascend2 Digital Marketing Strategy Survey, 2014
CHECKLIST FOR EMAIL CAPABILITY
Strategy What, when, how often
Project Management Workflow
Creative Copy, design
Production
Templates, code
Development
List queries QA
Web, email testing
Reporting
Analytics, tagging
EVERYONE GETS A ROLE
○ Owners: responsible for deliverables ○ Feedback providers: give input ○ Approvers: give the green light ○ FYI: get notice on milestones
happening
BREAKING DOWN ‘JUST PRESS SEND’
○ Strategy/project management
○ Creative ○ Email
production ○ Quality
assurance
○ List development
○ Support ○ Reporting
STRATEGY/PROJECT MANAGEMENT
○ Identify goals for □ Overall campaign □ Individual email
○ Consult shared calendar & schedule ○ Create internal test group
CREATIVE
○ Include messaging & imagery ○ Build in rounds of feedback for drafts ○ Include subject line, preheader, sender
name & address, and reply-to address in draft
PRODUCTION
○ Develop html and text version of email □ Test across platforms as you build □ Test with internal test group
○ Add Google Analytics tagging to email links to track web traffic
○ Schedule for deployment in ESP
QUALITY ASSURANCE
○ Walk through the entire user experience
○ Make edits as necessary, including: □ Landing page □ Registration/donation process □ Confirmation screen □ Confirmation/thank you email
○ Test the flow again
LIST DEVELOPMENT
○ Identify your list criteria ○ Work with team to pull list in correct
format ○ Upload list to your ESP
ACTIVATE YOUR SUPPORT TEAM
○ Monitor reply channels: □ Reply inbox □ Help desk
inbox/phone ○ Monitor social
accounts
REPORTING
○ Report on relevant email and web analytics
○ Deliver end-of campaign final report/roll-up
Email Best Practices: Technical Tips
Melissa Kane | AA&D Marketing and Communications November 7, 2014
About
• Alumni Affairs and Development (AA&D) Marketing and Communications
• Support FAS and UDO development initiatives and HAA activities
• Strategy, integration, audience segmentation, messaging
• Email, web, social, print, events
Basic Guidelines
• Following a few basic guidelines will help you avoid common pitfalls:
o Simplify
o Optimize for mobile
o Respect limitations
Simplify
• Keep emails simple: you can’t include everything
• Limit the number of images, colors, fonts, and font sizes
• More = more likely your email will not render as intended
Respect Limitations
• Different mail clients treat your code differently
• Your email won’t look perfect across 100% of clients
Why Bother?
• You want your email to be opened.
• You want your email to be read.
• You want your recipients to heed your call to action.
• By following best practice guidelines, you can create an email that looks great in the majority of mail clients.
CSS
• Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a language which describes the look and formatting of an email
• CSS separates email content from email presentation (formatting)
CSS
• CSS support varies across email clients
• For best results, manually style elements
• If need be, use Premailer or similar to drop styles in-line
Common HTML Elements
• Some HTML elements are compatible across most email clients:
o Font-family o Font-size o Font-weight o Text-align o Text-decoration o Color
Text
• So you want to copy and paste…
o Copy and paste text into Notepad or another text editor
o Clear formatting
o Paste into email
Text
• Best to use a standard font such as:
Arial or Georgia
• If you must use something else, use a universal font as back-up
Images
• Use .JPG images
• .PNG files do not display as consistently
• Limit file size
• Include width
Images
• Use align and valign elements to dictate alignment
• Use padding element to dictate how the area around your image should appear
Images
• Always use alt text:
o Gives the recipient information about the image in the event that it does not load
o Also used by screen readers
Buttons
• HTML buttons are preferable to image buttons
• Will display even if graphics are turned off
Testing
• Use Litmus or a similar tool to see how your email will render across a variety of clients
Testing
• Open accounts with as many email clients as possible; add these accounts to your test list
• Check each account on desktop and mobile
• Do not rely on built-in preview mode
Evaluation
• Is text easy to read?
• Do graphics display correctly?
• Do links function properly?
• Does my email look great across a majority of email clients?
• Is my email optimized for mobile?
Learn More
• Enroll in a Lynda.com course focused on HTML, Dreamweaver, or email marketing
• Take a course in HTML or Dreamweaver at the Center for Workplace Development (CWD)
Slow Down, Daredevil: Best Practices for Email Testing, Analytics, and Reporting
Mike Petroff Digital Content Strategist @mikepetroff | #digemail
Topics
● Testing ● Creating test groups ● A/B testing
● Analytics ● Numbers to track ● UTM tracking
● Reporting ● Formats ● Making reports stick
credit: Michael Ochs Archives
Why Test?
● Test Group Basics ● Include both desktop, mobile ● Sender, subject ● Design, text, links ● Links, tracking (opens/clicks) ● Allow time for adjustments
Email: Numbers that Matter
Standard email reports include: ● Open rate (% of email recipients that open) ● CTR (Click-through rate) or link click totals Also consider: ● Effective rate (click rate divided by the open rate) ● Bounce rate (emails sent that could not be delivered) ● Subscription growth ● Unsubscribes ● Variations between email sends
Email: Numbers that Matter
Standard email reports include: ● Open rate (% of email recipients that open) ● CTR (Click-through rate) or link click totals Also consider: ● Effective rate (click rate divided by the open rate) ● Bounce rate (emails sent that could not be delivered) ● Subscription growth ● Unsubscribes ● Variations between email sends But, what about conversions?
Email: Analytics and UTM codes
Establish consistency in naming: ● Medium (email, social, print, etc) ● Source ● Campaign Name
For example, our ‘Medium’ is the most general, then ‘Source’ gets more specific about the type of email, then ‘Campaign’ is the specific name of the campaign.
http://www.example.com/?utm_source=weekly-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=best-deals
Email: Analytics and UTM codes
utm_source=newsletter utm_medium=email utm_campaign=hag utm_content=aad_comm_all_alumni_2014-10-24
Google Analytics dashboards
Resource: https://www.google.com/analytics/gallery/ Things to consider:
● Site goals and conversion metrics ● Visitor technology (mobile/desktop, screen size) ● Visitor behavior (new/returning, event tracking)
Distribution examples
Daily: Gazette email report
Goal: ● Provides overall open/click rate, story clicks ● Compiled in Silverpop, bulleted insights
Weekly: Dashboard report
Goal: ● Overall top stories, traffic breakdown by Harvard sources
(Harvard.edu, daily email, social) ● Compiled through GA Dashboard, with bulleted insights
Distribution examples
Goal: ● Trending analytics and analysis for main Harvard web,
email, social properties ● Compiled through several analytics sources, collected in
shared Google Doc, bulleted insights
Ad-hoc: Snapshot analytics reports
Goal: ● Provide consistent, templated approach to collection of
web, email, social stats and examples ● Compiled using several analytics sources, collected in
shared Google doc
Monthly: Monthly analytics report
Content Area
Nested Tables
Media Queries
table { border-spacing: 0; border-collapse: collapse; }
@media only screen and (max-width: 600px) {
table[class="body"] .row { width: 100% !important; display: block !important; } }
Avoid CSS for layouts
Preheader
Preheader Place at the beginning of your body section
Can be hidden or displayed in the email itself
<body> <span>This is my preheader! </span>
<body> <span style = “display: none;”>This is my preheader! </span>
Header Graphic (100% or fixed width)
HEADER TITLE Tagline | November 2014
100%
420px
Text (HTML)
visual impact
not visible by default
difficult to read text at small sizes
Remember your <alt> text!
Always visible
limited style options (support for web fonts is limited)
easy to edit
<img src=”image.jpg” alt=”This is your alt text” />
Header
Body Text & Images
Image basics
<img src=”image.jpg” width=”250” height=”180” border=”0” style=”display:block;” />
● Animated GIFs are supported in most email clients (not Outlook)
● Background images are not widely supported
Text Tip: Use non-breaking spaces to prevent orphan text
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