sam michel-better results from email marketing: some ideas, experiences and examples
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Email marketing life cycles. Tallinn 13.04.2006 Eturundus chinwagTRANSCRIPT
Email Marketing Life Cycles
Better Results from Email Marketing:Some ideas, experiences and examples
http://www.chinwag.com
Eturundus! 5Tallinn, 13th April 2006
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Chinwag
• Chinwag was founded in 1996• uk-netmarketing
– UK’s oldest forum for new media marketers• Operates in three areas:
– Email-based community forums & resources– Chinwag Jobs - specialist recruitment website– Digital Marketing Consultancy
• Consultancy clients:– MSN UK, BBC, Arsenal FC– Focus on email marketing & eCRM
3/17
Email Marketing Activities
Direct Marketing Association UKhttp://www.dma.org.uk/content/Rsr-Introduction.asp?grp=8
4/17
User Journey
• Opt-in/Subscribe• Receiver• Responder
– Newbie– Mature Subscriber
• Unsubscribe – Or worse, ‘ignore’
Analyse
Plan
Test
Roll Out
5/17
Little Changes Add Up
• Micro-Persuasion• Resource always an issue• Don’t tackle too much
Call to Actionby Bryan & Jeffrey Eisenberghttp://www.grokdotcom.com
6/17
For example?
• Email subscription form– Easy? Obvious? Informative?– Is it on your homepage?– This is FREE MONEY!
• And the “Thank You” page?– Cross-sell– User feedback– How did you hear about us?
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MSN UK Example
• User benefits• What & when• Example copy• Prepares user for Microsoft
Passport sign-up
• Result:– 10% increase in sign ups
8/17
No Spam Thanks
• Why Permission is Important– Trust– Brand/customer loyalty– Legal issues– Deliverability– Blacklists & collaborative filters– Poor conversion
Permission Marketing bySeth Godinhttp://www.sethgodin.com/permission/
9/17
Subject Lines
• Think like a tabloid headline writer
10/17
British Tabloid Headlines
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Subject Lines• Think like a tabloid headline writer• First 50 characters most important
• Fight for attention• No open = Wasted Opportunity• Playboy TV Newsletter
– Funny Subject Lines = Better open rates
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Some UK Examples
– Lastminute.com (quality editorial)• http://www.lastminute.com
– Game (integration with website)• http://www.game.net
– Innocent Smoothies (brand extension)• http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk
– Holy Moly (email-driven & editorial)• http://www.holymoly.co.uk
– Rocking Vicar (long text-only quality)• http://www.rockingvicar.com
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Testing & Segmentation
• More testing = better results• Advanced testing = even better results• Test, test, test…
– From address– Subject lines– Copy: length, links, style– Layout: single column, pictures– Frequency: hourly, daily, weekly monthly– Day-part: time, day of week, day of month– Behavioural: response, purchase, recency
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Knowing Your Audience• No pics, sorry
• Advent calendar – Right time, right place, right hand?– Daily email from Playboy Bunnies– Drive trials and paid subs
• Stats from campaign– 98% open rate– 45% click-through rate– 30% free trial offer– Trial converts @ ~35%– On Christmas Day!
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Is It Working?
• What should I measure?– Focus on the right statistics
• Long-term vs. short-term– small clickthrough now– but lifetime value?
• Audience surveys– easy with email
http://www.sherpastore.com/c/a.pl?1047&p.cfm/1976
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The Future…
Or at least some guesses on my part…• RSS – not an email killer…yet• Delivery/spam still a big problem
– Goodmail/Habeas/Bonded Sender
• Very sophisticated testing– Multi-variate/Taguchi method tests– Better data = better, testing = better results
• New email readers, new challenges– E.g. Hotmail Live