marqui's top 10 email marketing mistakes and how to avoid them

Top 10 Email Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

April 29th, 2010

4/29/2010 1www.marqui.com

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Why is Email Such a Big Deal?

“If email was a country, its 1.4 billion users would make it the largest in the world. Bigger than China, bigger than the populations of the USA and European Union combined.” - Email Marketing Reports (2009)


A Datran Media survey of CMOs in 2009 found that email was by far the strongest marketing performer.

Why is Email Such a Big Deal?


Mistake 1: Graphics and Size Aren’t Optimized• Consider most emails are read in a preview pane

– Less than 600 pixels

• Too many graphics can cause readability issues when the images are blocked, or not downloaded.

One in five emails are invisible and ineffective due to blocked images. - Email Experience Council (Jan 2007)

EMAIL FACT # 1:


Solution: Limit Images and Email Size • Test emails to ensure that they are still readable even if images aren’t downloaded.

• Create emails to be less than 600 pixels so they fit into a preview pane properly


Mistake 2: Un-inspiring Email Copy

• Boring copy, and uninventive subject lines reduce the likelihood your email will be read.

• Spelling and grammatical errors are unprofessional

• Long, descriptive copy doesn’t engage readers


Solution: Creative and Compelling Copy • Your email copy needs to engage your audience

and convince them to convert on your campaign

• Compelling, direct, customer-centric language appeals to readers

• Skimmable copy is easy to read and effective

• Make your value proposition and offer clear

• Placement of calls-to-action

• Have someone proof-read your work EVERY TIME!


Mistake 3: Not Testing for Email Client Compatibility

• Not all templates will look the same in all email clients

• Create test accounts with popular free ISPs to see if your email is categorized as spam, and how the emails look with pictures on and off

– Outlook

– Gmail

– Yahoo

– Hotmail / Live Mail

– AOL Mail


Solution: Cross-Provider Email Testing • Test your email for several email service providers to ensure that your

email works properly


Mistake 4: Broken / Misleading Links • If your links aren’t working, your readers can’t act on your calls-to-action

• If people can’t tell a link IS a link, then they won’t be able to follow it

• Misleading / untrustworthy links or shortened URLs can make your email look like spam

97% of Email is Spam – BBC News (August 2009)

2% of all spam emails use shortened URLs to mask links to suspicious sites –Message Labs (July 2009)

EMAIL FACT # 2 & 3:


Spam Emails Love Shortened URLs


Solution: Test Campaigns and Be Transparent• Make sure your links are in working order

before your campaign goes out

• Make sure your links are formatted so you readers know where they are (obvious buttons, underlined, hover states)

• Make sure you use full URLs so your readers trust your buttons and links and know where they will go if they click on it


Mistake 5: Weak Calls-to-Action & Landing Pages• Calls-to-action are not visible, clear or

compelling

• Landing pages aren’t consistent with email copy or offer

• These issues can lead to bad conversion rates for your campaigns


Solution: Follow Best Practices and Test

Call-to-action best practices:

• Compelling and urgent

• More than one is okay

• Logical next step from the message or offer

• Hyperlink with tracking

• Spell out URL in the plain text version

Simple Landing Pages:

• Make sure it’s consistent with the email offer

• Keep form fields to a minimum

• Test landing page variations

• Convey your company’s privacy policy

# 1


Good Examples

Call to Action: Landing Page:


Mistake 6: Irrelevant Communications • Irrelevant email messages lead to ineffective campaigns

• Non-targeted emails, poor timing and company-centric language discourage readers from converting

75% of respondents say lack of relevance is the biggest reason subscribers choose to opt out, followed closely by sending too frequently (73%). - Merkle Interactive

Services (2009)

EMAIL FACT # 4:


Solution: Segmentation, Timing and Customer Focus• Segment your email campaigns to reach a more targeted audience

– Helps you be relevant

– Avoids list fatigue

– Better long-term results

• Sending emails out at the right time for your readers can increase conversion rates

• Customer focused copy can engage visitors more readily


Mistake 7: Not Ensuring CAN-SPAM Compliance• Not understanding CAN-SPAM legislation is

dangerous and unlawful

• Ignoring these rules can erode your brand’s reputation:

– A visible and operable unsubscribe is necessary

– Unsubscribes must be recognized within 10 days

– Accurate from lines with either yourself or your organization

– Relevant subject lines (relevant to offer in body, not deceptive)

– A legitimate, physical address of the publisher must be present


Solution: Know Your Laws and Follow Them • Deal with unsubscribes immediately (automatically is even better)

• Address spam complaints decisively

• Make sure your content is relevant to your list (segmentation)

Spam has increased over 141% since March and spam volumes grow by over 117 billion e-mails a day -Return Path"Top Email Trends in 2009" (2010)

EMAIL FACT # 5:


Mistake 8: Not Making it to the Inbox

• There is more to delivering an email that you think

• Clicking send is only the beginning

Achieving strong inbox placement remains a challenge in the B-to-B sector with a delivered rate of just 75%. - Return Path (2010)

Twenty percent of email in the United States and Canada is still not making it to the inbox while 3% of email goes to the "junk" or "bulk" folder and another 16% goes missing. - Return Path (2010)

EMAIL FACT # 6 & 7:


Solution: Managed Delivery

• White listing / Paced Delivery

• Sender policy Framework Compliance

• Domain Keys

• Bounce and Read Tracking

• Don’t use “spammy” subject lines

• Spam Assassin -http://spamassassin.apache.org/

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Mistake 9: Not Using Benchmark Data

• Not knowing or understanding benchmark data makes it difficult to understand the results of your campaigns

• If you don’t know how you’re doing, you can’t improve!

• You need to be able to compare your campaigns to industry averages


Solution: Get Familiar with the Statistics! • Some Email Benchmarks for 2010:

– Average Open Rate: 22.0%Average Delivery Rate: 93.9%Average Click-Through Rate: 5.9%Epsilon Q4 2009 Email Trends and Benchmark (Jan 2010)

• Measure how your campaigns do in comparison so you can improve


Mistake 10: List Size vs. Participation • More concern over list size, than audience participation can be

detrimental

• It isn’t necessarily about how big your list is, but how much your customers are engaged

Image by Uncleweed


Solution: Understand which Metrics Matter • Understand your click-through, read and bounced rates

• Measure your audience involvement through unsubscribes

• A large house list is good, but if nobody cares about your emails, it’s useless

• Focus on audience engagement FIRST


Marqui’s Top 10 Email Marketing Mistakes 1. Not optimizing for blocked images and preview panes

2. Un-inspiring email copy

3. Not testing for email client compatibility

4. Broken / misleading links

5. Weak calls-to-action and landing pages

6. Irrelevant communications

7. Not ensuring CAN-SPAM compliance

8. Not making it to the Inbox

9. Not using benchmark data

10. List size vs. participation size


Taking Your Email to the Next Level • Testing

– Learn what works and what doesn’t and then improve

• Marketing Automation

– Stay front of mind with an automated drip campaigns

– Nurture leads with triggered emails and lead scoring

• Mobile Optimization

– Smaller screen resolutions

– Rendering issues with HTML, images and attachments

– Include a “mobile version” link

– Us mobile internet usage expected to reach 50% by 2013 (Emarketer 2009)


Feedback or Questions?

Richard Sharp, VP Marketing

[email protected]

604.484.8543

Follow our blog at http://www.marqui.com/blog

Follow us on Twitter @Marqui_CMS

Amberlie Denny, Marketing Coordinator

[email protected]

604.630.3712


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