Strategic Guru, Inc. » Email Marketing

Lead Generation Success Story: Triggered Emails

Chelsea Junget — Mon, 17 May 2010 20:51:20 +0000

Flickr user jbeauchamp

Your email marketing efforts are ticking along at a great pace. You send relevant messages appropriately timed to an opt-in list. Your open rates are good, traffic is delivered to your website and your unsubscribe rates are reasonable. But you are looking for more email marketing strategies for a company to grow.

EmailInsider suggests considering trigger-based messages. They are right-time; right recipient messages that only reach a fraction of your total email list but deliver highly personalized messages. Examples include: welcome emails, cart abandonment, shipping updates and follow ups from customer service. Demographic triggers might include: birthday, wedding anniversary, location and age messages.

While the volume on trigger messages may be low, they are so precisely targeted that they can deliver significant ROI and be considered a true lead generation success story:

A travel site generates 45% of its email profits from triggered messages that make up only 5% of their message volume.
A uniforms seller generates 25 times the revenue as a regular broadcast email from birthday email messages.
An online specialty-products retailer discovered that 40% of their email revenue is attributed to triggered messages, which makes up around 4% of their email volume.

Sound overwhelming? It needn’t be. These messages, once optimized properly, can be automated. Get started by analyzing the data contained in your subscriber list; do you have what you need? If not, consider ways you can fill in the gaps. And, ABT (always be testing). Try a few different things when developing triggered messages. Copy, design and subject lines all play into the effectiveness of all email marketing.

How are you implementing trigger-based or other automated messaging?

Email Marketing Strategies: Writing Great Subject Lines

Chelsea Junget — Thu, 06 May 2010 18:32:14 +0000

MailChimp.com, an email marketing service provider, recently published a great guide to writing effective email subject lines. As most recipients use the subject line to decide whether to open an email or delete, understanding what kinds of subject lines are likely to deliver high open rates is essential to your marketing strategy. Of course, an open rate is affected by several other factors such as your list, your audience and more.

See below for actual statistics and subject lines as well as MailChimp’s take on why they work or don’t. Note: all names have been changed in the subject lines.

Subject Lines With Top Open Rates
Subject Line	Open Rate	Comment
Preliminary Floor Plans for Southern Village Neighborhood Circle Members	93%	Timely information. Implied benefit for quick action. Over 50 characters in length
Your April Website Stats	92.6%	Timely and useful information
Idlewild Camp – Important Travel Information	90.1%	Information I need now
Invitation for Murdoch, Brown, Rove & Johnson’s Snow Ball	89.7	Party invitation. Personal and timely
MotorCycling Magazine Reader Survey	88.1%	High affinity to activity/experience
Announcing Paige Elizabeth Sullivan	82.6%	Birth Announcement: Personal and useful information
Ship’s Log #5: Parus Arrives in Phuket	82.1%	Personal and timely
Nautica in Rutland Opens Soon!	79.9%	New condos – valuable information to be first in line
Updated Time Zones & Log On Information	79.1%	Required information

Inside Football: Summer Training Camp Preview Issue	74.3%	Timely and useful information

Subject Lines With Low Open Rates
Subject Line	Open Rate	Comment
Final reminder for complimentary entry to attend the West Freelands BCI Cluster Conference 2006	0.5%	Reminder and subject is too long
Tempting August NUSA Specials!	0.9%	Special, exclamation mark
SALE ends soon – up to 50% off all bras at Kara!	1.9%	Percent Off
Help Baylor create the ideal college experience	2.5%	Help – means ignore
Printers World Offers 100% Commission Up Front	7.5%	Too good to be true
3% Commission For You, $10,000 in Upgrades For Your Client	7.8%	Bait & Switch
Help Spread The News !	10.8%	Help
Don’t Let 2006 Slip Away Without a Tax Deductible Donation To the Children & Families of Omire	11.6%	Donation and too long

A couple of take-aways: It appears that long subject lines deliver low open rates – but long subject lines when they have an implied benefit work.

Percentage off, discount and other number figures listed in email subject lines may deliver lower open rates. It may be better to focus on the value of the offer enclosed in the email rather than the deal.

Of course, test, test and test again. What works in your industry and among your recipients is what truly matters. If you have not already, take a look at your email marketing statistics over the past 9-12 months and compare subject lines and open/click rates. A pattern may emerge that will help you refine your email marketing strategy for even better results.

Read the full post.

Educating A New Generation

Chelsea Junget — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:37:25 +0000

“Things have changed since I was in school.” Sounds like something your parents said to you growing up, huh? That statement still holds true. Kids are a part of a whole new learning generation; interaction is mostly via instant message, text message, Twitter and Facebook and the internet is the first place they turn for research. The shift in marketing is taking place as we speak, but are Marketing and Public Relations instructors and professors educating their students about the phenomenon that is social media?

Back in the day, marketing majors were required to learn the 4 P’s (Product, Price, Promotion, Place) and that is still relevant, but along with the 4 P’s they need to have a basic understand of HTML, design software, e-mail marketing campaigns, search engine optimization, and knowledge of social media Twitter, Facebook, YouTube,etc). However, are recent grads receiving said education?

We’ve all read that many companies are struggling to understand social media and how it can be used in their industry. With this occurring, companies are looking to hire recent grads with degrees in Marketing and Public Relations to fill the social media gap. But, are colleges and universities integrating the new trends in marketing into their curriculum – such courses as Internet Marketing, Digital Media and New-Media Marketing? Another challenge: are college professors and faculty on top of the changing trends in the marketing world? If not, they need to be. How can you teach it, if you don’t fully understand it yourself? As the old adage states, “lead by example.”

Here’s a question for all our Marketing & PR majors out there –Are NC State, Duke and UNC teaching courses on new-media and internet marketing? Or are you educating the professors on social media?

Interactive Marketing Will Grow – Is It Right For You?

Chelsea Junget — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:42:45 +0000

Interactive marketing (email, social media, online and search) is contributing to a major shift in the marketing landscape. With social media sites and mobile marketing emerging as the next big thing, some marketers are moving away from traditional tactics (print, television, display advertising), but is this wise? A recent report from Forrester predicts that interactive marketing will “cannibalize” other channels. In fact, 60% of those surveyed will increase their interactive marketing budgets by shifting funds from traditional media.

Here’s our take:

Yes, interactive marketing and social media are becoming increasingly popular, but it’s risky to place all advertising dollars in one basket or move away traditional channels altogether. It’s clear that social media’s not just for kids: the largest group of Facebook users are aged 35-54. There are still people out there that don’t engage with social media and prefer old-school communication channels-direct mail, newspapers, magazines and television. Furthermore, a recent report from Razorfish suggests that people don’t trust their online friends as much as their offline friends.

For most companies, a combination of traditional and interactive marketing still makes sense. An integrated strategy will give you a better opportunity to reach your target market through various channels. A blend of online and offline messages support each other -–print ads can drive people to a Facebook fan page and a Twitter stream can direct prospects to get a coupon to test out your service. For example, Starbucks is currently giving away coupons for free pints of their ice cream via Facebook. Are they still running print ads for their ice cream? It’s likely. An online channel (Facebook) supports an offline channel (in-store advertising).

One last thing to drive the point home, marketing and technology are ever changing, so be sure to know who your target market is and what marketing channels they prefer before making any drastic changes in your marketing plan.

Back to the Basics

Chelsea Junget — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:22:08 +0000

As the old saying goes, time is money. Companies are looking for ways to trim their budgets and reach a more targeted audience with less. Here are four quick ways to use the information you have in your customer database to your advantage:

Make a list – many marketers have data in several different locations; consolidate this information and store it in one location that is easily accessible. Also, be sure to rid your list of addresses that have bounced in the past campaigns; practicing good list hygiene can lead to a higher open rate.
Become one with your IT personnel – Don’t consider the IT staff your enemy; marketers need them to grow business opportunities.
Identify basic, but relevant customer data points – find information that will allow you to reach your target market with information that is of significance to them. Such as customer IDs, purchase history, sales data, and order values.
Conduct a test drive with email – Email marketing continues to grow and drives the most ROI versus any other online-marketing channel. Like a scientist testing his or her hypothesis, use a control group and test group to test what works and what doesn’t. For the test group, use a data-driven campaign. For the control group, use standard messaging. For example, the test group is selected email addresses that are relevant for the targeted campaign, while the control group is randomly selected email addresses.

Test and Learn – Send out the pilot email and track the results using web analytics. Use the information to build a more integrated approach for future campaigns.

Don’t expect high numbers right off the bat. Remember: “Slow and steady wins the race!”

CEOs Aren't Feeling the Social Media Love

Chelsea Junget — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:50:13 +0000

Does CEO Barbie Twitter?

A recent report by UberCEO indicates that top CEOs are not participating in social media, despite the staggering growth of social media marketing. They researched Fortune’s Top 100 CEOs of 2009 and the key findings were:

Two CEOs out of 100 have Twitter accounts.
13 CEOs have LinkedIn profiles, and of those only three have more than 10 connections.
Over 80% of CEOs don’t have a personal Facebook page.
Three quarters of the CEOs have some kind of Wikipedia entry, but nearly a third of those have limited or outdated information.
No Fortune 100 CEO has a blog.

Clearly, despite the buzz around social media, top CEOs are not buying it. This could be for a couple of reasons:

CEOs are usually not the public face of the brand. Of course, Steve Jobs and Apple go hand-in-hand, but many consumers are not closely acquainted with CEOs. Does following the CEO engage the consumer more with the brand? It’s debatable.
The ROI around social media is fuzzy. For a busy CEO, does the potential benefit of engaging through Facebook, Twitter and other channels really reflect the time invested? For most in the CEO spot, probably not.
Most CEOs are at the top of the heap, so to speak. They have done all the networking they need to maneuver to the leadership position in business. Connecting with via LinkedIn, primarily a business-networking site, likely does not enhance their career prospects.
It’s just not worth the risk. After many notable social media flubs, it’s entirely too easy for one false move to start a negative chain reaction that’s difficult to combat. To be inoffensive and authentic online is a challenge.

Despite the behavior of top CEOs, social media can be an integral part of a strategic marketing plan. For many businesses it’s still a great way to reach out to targets, engage them and build online real estate for the brand.

Top Ten Email Marketing Mistakes

Chelsea Junget — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:02:09 +0000

With the presence of bulk e-mail services and new software, email marketing has become increasingly easy to execute. Now is not the time to let your guard down – make sure you aren’t making any of these common mistakes:

Sending an Email Without a Strategy
You must have a strategy detailing the who, what, and why for each message. Otherwise, you might be reaching the wrong audience.
Using an Old, Tired or Just Plain Mysterious List
If contacts haven’t opted-in to your email list, you may be flagged as spam and prohibited from sending messages in the future. Also, a fresh list cuts down on undeliverable emails.
Missing Subject Opportunities
Your top-line message should include a link to a web-based version in case your message is being viewed by a reader with a PDA or other email system that doesn’t support HTML content.
Focusing on the Wrong Content
The audience of your message needs know that it is important. Emails with the highest open rates come from thought leaders in the industry or from personal insights on industry trends.
Being Too Graphic or Text-Heavy
Having too much text or graphic content in your email can be overwhelming to the reader if there is nothing there to move them smoothly through the page.
Having an Obvious Sales Pitch
If your readers sense a sales pitch, they are likely to stop reading, delete the email, and may even report your email as spam.
Testing On Only One Browser
Don’t assume that all email systems will display your message the same. Testing with a Mac, PC, Internet Explorer, and Firefox and in the most used email clients will ensure that readers are able to see all of your content correctly.
Ignoring Statistics
Metrics will reveal whether your message was successful, along with showing bounce rates, open rates, opt-outs, and spam reports.
Sending at the Wrong Time
Keep your contacts’ time zones and business hours in mind. Recent data suggest higher open rates occur on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Forgetting to Lead Your Web Traffic
Opinion-driven news letters are most effective when they have content directing website traffic. A portion of your story should have a link to “read more” and have links relevant to specific website pages.

One more thought – what are you using for your “From” line in your marketing e-mails? B2B Magazine recommends using a real person’s name for this line because, after all, B2B buyers are still people. Personalize the “From” and ‘Reply to” fields so that they are coming from the sales representative that the particular lead or contact “belongs” to.

What strategies are you using to give your email a more personal touch?

More Evidence that E-mail Should be Added to Your Strategic Marketing Mix

Chelsea Junget — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:29:12 +0000

A recent study by Forrester Research indicates that the weak economy is not impacting consumer’s email-driven purchases. Around forty-two percent of more than 2,000 North American consumers surveyed in November 2008 reported having made at least one e-mail-inspired purchase compared to 45% who reported doing so in April of the same year, according to the study.

The report also indicated that 82% of those surveyed expected to make no cutbacks to their Internet spending in the next 12 months. (Granted, this survey is from November, and consumer confidence has taken more hits in the recent months)

However, consumers are looking for bargains. In another finding, 41% of consumers said that as a result of current economic conditions, they are more likely to click on ads for coupons, the report said.

Here at Strategic Guru, we’ve long championed email marketing as a trackable, cost-effective tactic that cultivates relationships with customers and prospects. And it’s not just for retailers or e-tailers; email marketing is an ideal tactic for service industry businesses such as construction, too. Leverage the power of your customer and prospect list as a lead generation tool. Is it time to consider developing a direct marketing solution, including email?

Email Design Pivotal to Campaign Success

Chelsea Junget — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:25:42 +0000

As marketing budgets tighten among companies of all sizes, folks are looking at low-cost tactics that are trackable and measurable. Because your company is known to customers and you have determined which recipients have opted-in to your list, email design and messaging is the most critical element of a campaign’s success.
Here are two points to consider when crafting an email campaign:

“Less is more” for an effective email. An email with a shorter copy and fewer graphics work best. A clean presentation helps potential customers see your message clearly and eliminates unwanted confusion.
Bring in customers with a call to action. Clearly marked calls to action are important so that the customer knows the who, what, why, and where of your email communication. An email with a weak or missing call to action is as ineffective as simply not sending a message at all.

Stay tuned for more email marketing tips.

Generate Warm Leads with Compelling Offers

Chelsea Junget — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:25:26 +0000

Marketing plans should be developed strategically; the end goal to deliver leads to your sales force. A compelling call to action in an email, direct mail or other advertisement can generate warm leads by establishing an initial relationship between your company and your prospects. In one to one marketing a meaningful, valuable offer can open a conversation and drive sales. When brainstorming what offer you will extend, consider what might your prospect need that will make their job easier.

Examples of offers that generate results:

Whitepapers
Invitation to Topical Webinar
Market Report
Free Assessment
Invitation to an Event
Guide or Handbook
Sample of Product
Special Savings Coupon
Gift card

When choosing an offer – think strategically. What offer that will be perceived as having the most value to your prospects? What will open the lines of communication?

What have you tried that worked?