Through this presentation, you will learn about: the email marketing ecosystem, email validation, how to avoid spam traps, delivery and inbox optimization, design best practices, optimizing for mobile, predictive modeling for a better ROI, and more! This presentation was given by Nirmal Parikh, Founder/President of Digital Wavefront, at NEDMA's Annual Conference on May 14, 2014.
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Digital Wavefront - Your Technology Partner for multi-channel marketing
Creating Email Awesomeness!Nirmal Parikh
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How’s everyone doing?
Ray TomlinsonKnow who this is?
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Wired
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Anyone knows who this is? …..He’s an iconic figure when it comes to email marketing…He’s the reason why I am able to stand up here and talk to you about email marketing…His name is Ray Tomlinson and he’s universally attributed to have sent the world’s first email.
Wikipedia
1971
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Ray used this machine, a DEC-10, back in 1971 to send his first email.
And, have we come a long way since!
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Ray used this machine, a DEC-10, back in 1971 to send his first email. And, have we come a long way since!
3.2 billion email accounts
838 billion marketing messages (2013)
3 out of 4 marketers use email marketing for retention
2 out of 3 consumers have made a purchase as a result of an email
It can/does influence purchase decisions and behavior
Email is context-agnostic (no matter where, what, when)
Email has control over us. Yes, it’s true!
We have very little patience & an even smaller attention span
We make decisions based on FROM names and subject lines
So, What Does All This Mean?
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@Modeling
Delivery
DevicesCompliance
Development
Design
Validation
Strategy
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So, what constitutes this email marketing ecosystem? Well, there are several elements. Let’s focus on some of the important ones. Strategy – Audience, Offer, Content etc. Validation – Checking for syntax, spam traps etc. Design – Designing for desktop and mobile interfaces Development – Art of creating the HTML Compliance – CAN-SPAM and other industry-specific regulation if you are in healthcare, insurance or lending Devices – Diff. form factors that you will need to account for Delivery – The art of deploying the email using an ESP Modeling – Finding “look-alikes” to help improve email ROI The email ecosystem is like an orchestra. Your email ROI depends on all of these factors working together. If you don’t you’re going to get mediocre results at best.
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1: Strategy
There are 3 parts to an email strategy…
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There are 3 parts to an email strategy…
@film.vic.gov.au
Part 1. Your Target Audience
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Part 1. Your Target Audience > We’ll assume you have already identified your audience.
@valuablecontent.co.uk
Part 2 – Your Content.
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Part 2 – Your Content. We’ll also assume that you have a content strategy in place and the content is ready to go.
@ewaydirect.com
Part 3: Your Offer.
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Part 3: Your Offer. You’ve already decided on your “special offer” to deliver as an incentive to encourage engagement and click-throughs. We’ll focus the rest of the presentation on the “mechanics” of the email from design to delivery. Plus, strategy is unique to each organization and not universally applicable. So, it takes a more engaged dialogue to put that in place.
So, why do we validate? Well…one of the reasons is to simply to avoid spam traps set up by ISPs.
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So, why do we validate? Well….one of the reasons is to simply to avoid spam traps set up by ISPs.
Validation > Better Delivery Ratios!Use Case A
Start 100
Post-validation 100
Delivered 80
Deliverability 80%
Use Case B (validated list)
100
88
80
90%
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Validation is the process of “pinging” an email address w/o actually sending an email; one of the most critical things from a perspective of data hygiene.
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And, it also improves your delivery ratios. Validation is the process of actually “pinging” an email address w/o actually sending an email. It’s one of the most critical things from a perspective of data hygiene.
3: Design
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Design > Mobile
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65%
69%
66%
Source: ExactTarget, Forrester, DMA, ReturnPath
Of email is opened first on a mobile device.
69% delete emails that don’t display correctly on mobile.
So, here’s a distribution of email clients as of March 2014 based on data provided by Litmus.
From Point & Click to Touch & Scroll
Users are accustomed to scrolling
Long-form content is perfectly OK!
Single-column layout
Design for touch accuracy
Animated GIFs?
Font sizes
Design > Optimization
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Long form content: Give your users more of what they want, which is “Less content” Single-column layout: Try and create single-column emails and minimize the use of images. On occasion, you’ll run into some “designer-headwinds” but you should be able to make your case based on achieving maximum device and email client compatibility. Touch accuracy – What should your button (CTA) size and spacing be? You want to prevent accidental inputs so make sure your buttons are at least 60px tall. The wider the better. Animated GIFs: OL 2007, 2010, 2013 do not support. Windows Phone 7 doesn’t either. Support is better than CSS. Font sizes:
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Here are some email designs that were targeted for and maximized for mobile device compatibility. The common theme across all of them is again “long-form” content and big/bold CTAs.
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Here are some email designs that were targeted for and maximized for mobile device compatibility. The common theme across all of them is again “long-form” content and big/bold CTAs.
4: Development
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Now that you have your design ready it’s time to move on to the next step - Development!
Standards-compliant <html></html>
Email client compatibility
Device compatibility
Responsive style-sheets (@media queries, CSS3)
Image ALT tags
Plain-text alternative
Email pre-header or
Johnson Box
Development > HTML
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Without getting too technical, let’s review some of the considerations when creating the HTML for your awesome emails!
Development > Respect the Inbox
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Consider feature advancements and developments with different email clients.
Gmail Promotions Tab – List View
Gmail Promotions Tab – Grid View
For example: your promotional emails may end up in the Gmail promotions tab, but you can maximize that space by designing for grid view.
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Consider feature advancements and developments with different email clients.
5: Compliance
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Content Compliance Accurate FROM address
Relevant Subject line
Physical address of publisher and/or advertiser
Unsubscribe Compliance A visible and operable unsubscribe mechanism
Opt-out requests are honored within 10 business days
Country and Local Legislations• Canadian Anti-Spam Laws (CASL, Jul 1st 2014)
• EU Safe Harbor Policies
Compliance > CAN-SPAM
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Canadian Anti-spam laws if your audience is up north. Or, EU Safe Harbor policies if your audience happens to be across the Atlantic. You want to consult with your legal team to help guide you.
6: Devices
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Devices > Ubiquity
@5-6am 8am 6pm 8pm
We live in a “multi-screen” and “multi-context” world, constantly switching devices over the course of the day.
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We live in a “multi-screen” and “multi-context” world. We’re constantly switching devices over the course of the day. Our mornings begin with our smartphones. Our work day is spent glued to our desks using our phones and laptops. And, when we come home we pretend to relax while checking email on our tablets at night while watching TV. We’ve surrounded ourselves with devices!
Devices > Context
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Consider the context – when and where your emails will be read.
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We live in a “multi-screen” and “multi-context” world. We’re constantly switching devices over the course of the day. Our mornings begin with our smartphones. Our work day is spent glued to our desks using our phones and laptops. And, when we come home we pretend to relax while checking email on our tablets at night while watching TV. We’ve surrounded ourselves with devices!
Devices > Form Factors
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Consider the different form factors you are targeting. From smartphones with 4-5” screens, to mid-sized tablets, all the way to laptops and wide-screen monitors.
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So, consider the diff. form factors you are targeting. From smartphones with 4-5” screens, to mid-sized (7”-10”) tablets, all the way to laptops and wide-screen monitors for now… I say “for now”…because the next wave of devices is at our doorstep. Can anyone guess what’s next?
Devices > Wearable Tech
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The Next Wave?
It’s wearable computing. Your emails are going to have to be “wrist-friendly” in the near future.
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It’s wearable computing. And your emails are going to have to be “wrist-friendly” in the near future.
7: Delivery
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This is an important milestone in the process as you prepare to send your email. This is where the “rubber meets the road”. Let’s consider a few delivery or “Inbox” optimization techniques.
The Subject line is your Elevator Pitch. Master it.
33% of email recipients open email based on subject line alone
Try special characters ()
Keep it under 70 characters
Make it intriguing but relevant Avoid spammy words and phrases
FREE, mortgage, insurance, limited time, click now, open immediately, etc.
And, PLEASE don't!!! USE UPPERCASE, or a lot of punctuation!!!
Delivery > Subject Line Optimization
@Source: ExactTarget
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Avoid using spammy words unless you live in Nigeria and are signing off your $100m inheritance.
@http://litmus.com/resources/subject-line-checker
Check how your subject line will render across different clients and interfaces.
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You can even check how your subject line will render across different clients and interfaces.
Delivery > Tactical Considerations Aligning emails with in-home delivery of direct mail
Response rates 10% - 30% higher*
Acquisition costs 25% - 35% lower*
Time-zone localization
9am EST, 9am CST, 9am PST
Time-lapsed delivery
9am vs 2pm
Weekday vs. Weekend vs. Holiday delivery @
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There are also some tactical considerations to maximize open rates.
Delivery > Reputation
@Source: ReturnPath
Inbox SPAM83%
One of the biggest influencers of delivery is your ESP’s and/or server’s IP reputation (affecting delivery by 83%).
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But, one of the biggest influencer of delivery is your reputation. And, by that I mean your ESP’s and/or server’s IP reputation.
Sender Scorehttps://senderscore.org
Use this as a resource to check your sender score.
Delivery > Calibrating Sender Score No volume = No reputation = No Sender Score
Sudden influx of email = Potential spam
30 days of mailing = +46
Reverse DNS setup = +16
Complaints > 1.5% = -40
Target: < 0.1%
Bounce rate > 10% = -40
Spam trap = -40Source: ReturnPath @
90+
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Let’s look at how you can calibrate for maximizing Sender Score
Delivery > DNS Records SPF (Sender Policy Framework)v=spf1 mx ip4:72.19.227.112 a:me-ss2-6qydu7.mailengine1.com ~all
DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)_domainkey.yourdomain.com IN TXT "t=y; o=~;"
Sender Scores of 90-100 are 42% more likely to pass DKIM - ReturnPath @
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Let’s look at some things you CAN do to improve your Sender Score. Setting up the right DNS records is a first step. Now, this may look/seem complicated but it isn’t. If you are using an ESP and don’t send using a dedicated IP you are okay. However, if you are sending through a vanity from url/address and using a dedicated IP, you will want to involve your IT folks to help with this setup.
Delivery > Choice of ESPs
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8: Predictive Modeling
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Predictive Modeling > Why?
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Send fewer, more targeted emails
Model after positive behavior and “look-alikes”
Improve delivery
Gain a better reputation & SenderScore
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The goal of predictive modeling is to help you build “look-alikes” or “models” for the future based on historical data and interactions and delivered with a reasonable level of accuracy.
@Modeling
Delivery
DevicesCompliance
Development
Design
Validation
Strategy
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Recap
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Presentation Notes
So, what constitutes this email marketing ecosystem? Well, there are several elements. Let’s focus on some of the important ones. Strategy – Audience, Offer, Content etc. Validation – Checking for syntax, spam traps etc. Design – Designing for desktop and mobile interfaces Development – Art of creating the HTML Compliance – CAN-SPAM and other industry-specific regulation if you are in healthcare, insurance or lending Devices – Diff. form factors that you will need to account for Delivery – The art of deploying the email using an ESP Modeling – Finding “look-alikes” to help improve email ROI The email ecosystem is like an orchestra. Your email ROI depends on all of these factors working together. If you don’t you’re going to get mediocre results at best.
And That’s How YouCreate Email Awesomeness!
@Digital Wavefront - Your Technology Partner for multi-channel marketing
