Email Marketing - From Best Practices to Best Results - Gina Nykerk

Hello, Brand-‐Aid!

Thank you for being here. You look lovely today.

Presented by

Gina Nykerk [email protected] | @ginanykerk

From Best Practices to Best Results: Create Lasting, Sustainable & Engaging Email

Marketing Programs

Email is a powerhouse!!

Email brought in an es5mated $39.40 for every dollar spent in 2012, and is predicted to bring $35.02 for every dollar spent in 2016. – Email Marke?ng Reports

eMarketer expects there to be 216.6 million US email users this year, represen5ng 89% of total internet users. Two out of three people in the US will be email users in 2013. -‐eMarketer "US Internet Users 2013: Solid, Saturated Market for Web, Search and Email" (2013)

55% of marke5ng professionals agree email marke5ng is the most effec5ve marke5ng tac5c. -‐ Ascend2 "Marke5ng Strategy Report" (2013)

54% of respondents in a consumer survey said they had a more favorable opinion of the companies that send them email. -‐ Epsilon (Oct 2008)

Email can be discouraging

“Subscribers who receive promo5onal permission-‐based email es5mate that they delete 55% without opening.”

-‐ Merkle (2009), -‐ EmailStatCenter.com (2013)

“Nearly a third of survey respondents (32%) said they have stopped doing business with at least one company

altogether as a result of it’s poor email prac5ces.”

Meanwhile, you’re dealing with all this:

“Tablets generate far more clicks than smartphones, study finds”

-‐ Smartbrief

So, How do we create lasting, sustainable & engaging

Email Marketing Programs?

Through knowing & evalua5ng our internal situa5on, understanding our external environment, and adap5ng accordingly.

Three words: Annual Email Audit

Time to evaluate preby much everything

Internally:


An audit should be taking into account 4 general topics:

1.  Email Strategy 2.  Email Infrastructure 3.  Email Prac5ces 4.  Data Security


When evalua8ng your Email Strategy:

1.  Start by reviewing your goals from the year so you are familiar with them.

2.  Are there any goals you can immediately check off the list? 3.  If you weren’t able to execute your strategy, why not? Goals too

lofy? Not the proper man-‐power? Strategy not supported by decision makers/those-‐you-‐serve? Wrong email service to make it easy to execute? Did you make the plan without considering what your audience wants?

4.  If you were able to execute your email strategy, why? How can you replicate that for 2014?

Three words: Annual Email Audit Email Infrastructure: Time to evaluate your ESP:

  How is my delivery rate in this system?   Have I/my team had to use customer support this year? If so, why?

How ofen? Have they been able to resolve our issue(s)?   Am I able to accurately represent my brand in this provider?   How are they handling emails in the mobile space?   How are they handling segmenta5on and autoresponders?  What new features have they released? Have they been helpful to

me? Will I have an opportunity to use them in the future?   Have they allowed me to integrate with other complimentary

services?   Is the pricing s5ll efficient for my budget?


When evalua8ng your Email Prac8ces be prepared to methodically dig through your data.

Review at least 50% -‐ if not 100% -‐ of the emails you sent in 2013. Watch for trends rela5ng to engagement. Specifically, how did the following affect your open/click-‐through rates?

Length and specificity in subject lines Use of Images Use of segmenta5on Use of Call to Ac5on – size, quan5ty, placement, text vs graphic Varying lengths of content Varying topics of content Frequency of email send


Data Security:

Has your email service or marke5ng automa5on provider had any security breaches/issues in the last 12 months? If so, did it affect you? How was it handled?

Is data handled outside of ESP provided sign-‐up/registra5on forms? If so, how quickly is it entered into the system? How many hands does it pass through, first? Is there any way to alleviate this poten5al hazard?


Lastly:

Is there any data outside of my email provider that should come into play?

Did you (or someone else in your organiza5on) do a member/user survey?

What other marke5ng tac5cs were used during this 5me. Were they complimentary – were they driving people to email, or visa versa?

Annual Email Environment Audit

Time to evaluate preby much everything

Externally:

In 2013:

Q: What new developments will affect your email marke?ng program in the next 12 months? Please select all that apply.

This is what we’re concerned about as marketers – within our

industry. What about outside of our industry?

Differen5a5ng Yourself from Your Compe5tors

What’s your compe55on

doing?

What’s going on in the world of your target

market/client?

In 2013:

Q: What new developments will affect your email marke?ng program in the next 12 months? Please select all that apply.

There is much to evaluate externally,

but let’s focus now on the few priority items – mobile & social -‐ that affect how/what we’re doing with our email

strategy

Adaptation: Mobile

In 2012, 40% of emails were read on a mobile device, compared with 35% on a desktop.

-‐ Informz “2013 Associa?on Email Marke?ng Benchmark Report, Part I: Key Metrics" (2013)

Almost 85% of respondents own a mobile device such as a smart phone that is enabled to receive email, up 8% from 2012.

-‐ BlueHornet "2013 Consumer Views of Email Marke?ng" (2013)

Adaptation: Mobile

Email is the top reported ac5vity on smart phones, bea5ng out even the act of making phone calls

Sta?s?c: Adobe 2013 Digital Publishing Report: Retail Apps & Buying Habits. Graphic: Emma Email Marke?ng

Adaptation: Mobile

Just 8 months ago, there was a lot of mixed opinion on Responsive Design

technology

Adaptation: Mobile

Did you know? "Mobile-‐op5mized" means design choices have been made for easier viewing on small screens. "Responsive" means special code called media queries have been added to show, hide or move content automa?cally depending on screen size and resolu5on.

This is a mobile-‐op5mized email

80.3% of consumers delete an email on their mobile phone if it doesn't look good, up from 69.7% in 2012. 30.2% said they would unsubscribe.

-‐ BlueHornet "2013 Consumer Views of Email Marke5ng" (2013)

This is a responsive design email

Adaptation: Mobile

1. A single-‐column layouts work best. 2. Design for touch! Bubons and text links should have a clickable area of at least 44×44 pixels for “thumb-‐sized” clicks. 3. Body copy should be a minimum of 14px and headlines should be a minimum of 22px (or should adjust to these sizes for mobile users) per Apple guidelines 4. Keep subject lines shorter: the longer the subject line, the lower your email content is pushed on an Android device. Aim for 25 characters if possible. 5. Keep your message and call-‐to-‐ac5on concise and posi5on in the upper lef corner of the email. This way, even devices that don’t support responsive email design can s5ll show the most important part of the message.

*Courtesy emfluence emsights

Adaptation: Mobile

We talk all the 5me about subject lines, but how is your pre-‐header?

“Missing out on great deals? Move this email to

Primary & Click Yes”

“30% Off plus Free Shipping!”

Adaptation: Mobile Pre-‐header: “50% Off

Everything!” “If you are having trouble

viewing the email, click here.”

“SHARE with friends on Facebook”

“SHOP MOBILE”

“ATTENTION GMAIL USERS! Please click the (yellow tab) above to

ensure you see our latest offers”

Adaptation: Mobile

  Achieve a firm understanding of how much of your traffic occurs on mobile devices   Work with customers to understand if and how they would like to consume your email and content on mobile devices   Engage in a few basic mobile op5miza5on tac5cs, such as ensuring each email has a relevant pre-‐header   Make sure that links in mobile-‐friendly emails send recipients to mobile-‐friendly landing pages   Make sure QR codes sent prospects to a mobile-‐friendly landing page

-‐ Courtesy of Daniel Burstein, Marke?ngSherpa

If you haven’t already, in the next 12 mo:

Adaptation: Mobile

Adaptation: Social

Social Media companies are using

email

Adaptation: Social

Despite the fact that targeted sends have a 40% higher open rate, 80% of marketers are s5ll emailing the same content to all subscribers.

-‐ Experian "The 2012 Digital Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report" (2012)

Adaptation: Social

Companies use email to promote their social media

presence

Adaptation: Social Want the full marke5ng experience? Download Vail Resort’s Epic

Mix app on your phone – buy a season pass – and let the magic begin.

Adaptation: Social

Consider using your email list

in Facebook to grow your

follower base on your

business page

Adaptation: Social Pinterest devoted prime real estate on

my account

homepage to growing

their email

newsleber list

Adaptation: Social

Grow your

email list using

Twiber!

Adaptation: Social

From Facebook Ad to Email subscriber

(post purchase)

Adaptation: Social

Use Facebook to promote your

email!

What will email do for you in 2014?

(And more philosophically, what will you do for email in 2014?)

Keep: Making your list






Keep: Working To Improve Content

Keep: Working To Improve Content

Great use of a Trigger

(Autoresponder) email! This came out right afer the Spartans

won a game.

Great balance of images and text on this DailyWorth email. Plus, they test out the lower area

of their content. A few issues before

this, there were three ar5cles and photos at the bobom; now there’s only two.

Don’t forget simple things like Alt Tags!

The end!

Ques5ons?

(No calculus, please)

Thanks for having me!

Email is

[email protected] | @ginanykerk | linkedin.com/in/ginanykerk