This morning, our Oversee.net client’s Lowfares.com travel portal again made headlines as MarketingSherpa detailed the success of its award-winning triggered email campaigns leveraging the StormPost digital marketing communications platform. Anyone interested in this metrics-rich case study can access it via MarketingSherpa for free until February 18th. After the 18th, access is limited to StormPost clients and Marketing Sherpa members.
Oct 05
If you’re planning to be on San Francisco for the DMA Conference, be sure to attend the essential session for email marketers – the email marketing workshop and certification program, sponsored by the Email Experience Council. This exciting and informative two-day workshop and certification program provides marketers with the education, best practices, strategies, and techniques they need to ensure that their email marketing programs achieve maximum success and are appropriately integrated into the multi-channel marketing mix today’s companies depend on for increased revenue and brand equity.
The workshop will be led by Datran Media’s brightest email marketing stars, Jason Oates and Todd Boullion, as well as other industry veterans from ReturnPath, Exact Target, and Eloqua . They will address a variety of topics ranging from email monetization to email compliance. Each workshop module breaks down into several parts and includes case studies and strategies that will help you achieve your marketing goals. Attendees that complete the two day workshop will receive a certificate of completion.
If you want to get a head start on any of the topics, you know, just to be sure you ace the certification, check out our whitepaper and webinar library that offers tips on all the topics convered during DMA.
For more information, visit the DMA Conference Web site. We hope to see you in San Francisco!
Oct 01
The Email Experience Council’s Deliverability & Rendering Roundtable, with contributions from the StormPost Deliverability Team, just released a new report entitled Best Practices for Email Deliverability and Inbox Placement. The goal of this whitepaper is to inform email senders of the key factors that impact email deliverability as well as provide several best practices for reaching the inbox on a consistent basis. The report also includes several case studies of how major brands saw significant lifts in deliverability and conversions by following some simple recommendations from the experts.
Like all eec reports, The Best Practices for Email Deliverability and Inbox Placement is available for download in the Research Store and is free for eec members.
For the direct link to the report, please click here.
Sep 14
Computers are starting to look more and more like televisions. The rise of online video has created a whole new way for users to engage with content. The mouse has effectively become a remote control, providing the power to watch what we want when we want. It’s no wonder online video is one of the fastest-growing channels in digital marketing. Now, marketers are confident that video will prove beneficial to their email efforts as well, according to “The 2010 Video Email Marketing Survey and Industry Trends Report” from the Web Video Marketing Council.
According to the study, email marketers are excited to start using video in email. 73% of respondents thought video would raise clickthrough rates for their email programs, and the same number believed video made email recipients more likely to convert. However, unlike posting a video on a Web site, there are some challenges with getting video to work in email.
Besides needing the right technology in place, video email requires an ISP that can successfully deliver the “see-mail.” Therefore, marketers believed the most effective way to integrate video with their email campaigns was to link recipients to a video landing page, closely followed by embedding video players directly in email messages.
We’ve actually seen some success using embedded streaming video first hand. Last year, leveraging technology from Goodmail, Datran Media helped deliver live embedded streaming video within the body of the email for PGATour.com Not only did the campaign win multiple awards, it helped PGATour.com see a staggering 142% increase in clickthrough rates. I guess it’s true what they say, seeing is believing.
Sep 01
Yesterday, Google announced the release of a new feature that could have significant impact on email marketing. Priority Inbox is an inbox enhancement designed to improve the overall experience of Gmail subscribers by highlighting messages in their inbox that are deemed “Important”, ultimately reducing email clutter.
So how does it work? Mail reaching the inbox is grouped into 3 sections – Important and Unread, Starred, and Everything Else. These classifications are powered by the activity and engagement of the end user. Examples of engagement are the frequency of opens, replies or emails to the sender, staring emails, word associations in the content, archiving without opening and deleting. If Priority Inbox makes a mistake, the user is provided with “mark as important” and “mark as not important” buttons for each message. These interactions teach Priority Inbox how to properly classify the mail in the user’s inbox.
Obviously, this new feature has the potential to be a game changer. But it’s way too early to tell how it will impact email marketers. It certainly does reinforce the current trend at major mailbox providers that emails deemed unwanted are less likely to reach the eyes of consumers. The age old models of “Last In, On Top” and “One Message Fits All” no longer apply, and marketers must focus on relevance and personalization in order to keep their subscribers engaged and avoid being lost with “Everything Else”.
For additional information about Priority Inbox, visit the Gmail Help section.
Jul 29
I am writing this from about 33,000 feet over West Virginia. I am on my way back to Dallas from a great week visiting customers in New York City. As always seems to be the case these days, my flight was delayed. We sat on the runway for around 2 hours and 15 minutes before we were finally given the green light to take-off. I don’t normally get hooked up to the wi-fi on flights. The times when I am on airplanes are the last times in my life that I am actually disconnected from the world. I enjoy getting lost in a book or a crossword puzzle and thinking about nothing at all. Events on this flight inspired me to get connected and get writing.
We’ve become information junkies whether we like it on not. Television, radio, cell phones, text messages, smart phones, ticker crawls on every channel, and we haven’t even mentioned the internet. We have email, Facebook, Twitter, ICQ, Foursquare, and about a million other ways to communicate and receive information. What happens when we’re cut off from that information? I’ll tell you what happens. People freak out when they don’t feel like they know what’s happening.
We taxied out from the terminal and took our position. The pilot was more than forthcoming telling us everything he knew about our situation. Weather west of NYC was stacking up traffic and causing delays. He told us the tower would let us know when things cleared up. He also told us when they released the traffic to the south, we were 3rd in line. Good enough if you are listening. Here is the problem, most of us don’t listen anymore because we don’t have to, we have information.
A man in the row behind us started to panic. He called his buddies on another flight. He kept looking out the window watching other flights (certainly going another direction) take off and loudly complaining that WE were 3rd in line. This went on for about an hour and he was counting down the time until the 3 hour rule kicked in and we returned to the terminal. I’m sure he was disappointed that we took off.
What’s the point of all this? We expect information at all times today and we’re lost without it. Our listening skills continue to deteriorate becuase we’ve grown accustomed to not using them. We need to keep this in mind as we attempt to communicate through whatever channel we might be using. Clear and concise bits of information are what people like to digest.
Think about the new “attention span” as you are building out a communication plan. Are there points where your customers will need information and feel left out? Remember Mr. Impatient on my flight and how freaked out he was. Kill us with information. We crave it and need it in today’s world.
Jul 27
For the first time since the recession reared its ugly head, marketers are once again making new customer acquisition a top priority. According to the “2010 Lead Generation Optimization Key Trends Analysis” from CSO Insights and reported in eMarketer, more than 91% of companies worldwide reported increasing new customer acquisition was one of their top strategic marketing objectives for 2010. And of all the marketing channels used to generate a steady quantity and quality of leads, companies said email was their best lead generation program.
As marketers rev up their new acquisition programs, it’s important to think about the customer as more than just a number in a database. Customers are savvy and are clearly in control more than ever before. So to truly be able to penetrate a new audience, you must treat them like you would a close friend.
Every great relationship, be it with a friend, co-working or customer, is dependent on good communications and a continuous fair value exchange. Without that, someone always feels left out, abused and taken advantage of. If you don’t understand how to listen and value your friends and relationships you’ll have limited success in your personal and business endeavors. How often do you hear of people or groups of people being referred to as Readers, Customers or Consumers? Those names are a bit impersonal, but not as bad as Aggregators, Data, Leads or Screamers. How a company refers to its prospects and customers tells you lot about how those people are treated and valued. How do you like it when “that friend” (and you all have one) call you or stops by only when they want something but are never interested in returning the favor or bringing some sort of value to the table…beyond what you’d expect from an acquaintance.
We’re all somewhat dependent on each other and while developing a competitive advantage is important in business, it’s much more important to building trusting, efficient, scalable and sustainable relationships. If we pick a few important common goals, we’ll be much more aligned with our partners and that’s one of the most important competitive advantages you can have.
Remember, if you put the customer’s needs and wants first, you will generate not just a lead, but a loyal customer.
Jul 06
One could argue the email marketing subject line is the most important part of an email marketing campaign. That being said, it’s pretty amazing how little time most senders spend creating and testing them. The subject line is one of only two things (along with from name) a recipient will see that help them determine if they want to interact with a message or not. So how do we construct the perfect subject line? Let’s give it a shot.
- Who Are You? – First and foremost, you should identify yourself. A recipient should at a single glance know who the message is from.
- What’s the Purpose of the Message? – A great subject line should tell me what the email is about before I open it up.
- Anticipation – A subject line should truthfully tease the recipient.
- Keywords – Not unlike blogging, the subject line should contain relevant keywords just like a title.
- Length – I like to see subject lines under 60 characters. There’s no reason to go longer and risk losing an important part of your message.
The reward for a great subject line is increased open and click rates. Increased open and click rates mean increased engagement. Increased engagement means better deliverability. Better deliverability means more revenue. The best thing is that you can very confidently test the results.
Jul 01
What is email marketing strategy all about? It’s sometimes a challenge to explain to friends and family exactly what it is that I do. Honestly, the question sometimes goes beyond friends and family, and is asked by email marketers. Over the years, I’ve worked out a bit of an “elevator pitch” to answer that question.
“I work with companies to help them design and send out email that their customers enjoy reading.”
That’s my passion in 17 wonderfully descriptive words. If you can execute on that short sentence, you will be a successful email marketer. It’s so much fun to work in an industry that has a clearly defined and executable goal. I love working with a client and watching the light bulb come on when they understand that this business is as the core very simple. My experience allows me to help senders cut through the noise and get to the business of success, but it can be transferred and learned. Teaching is what I do.
What is email strategy? Strategy is assessing the current program and opportunities. Strategy is working to build a plan of action for the short-term and the long-term. Strategy is working with senders to craft just the right message to arrive at just the right time. Strategy is making sure that you are optimized for deliverability. Strategy is testing the right way. Strategy is analyzing numbers and working together to make them better. Strategy is also having someone to bounce ideas off of and come up with the next killer concept.
Let’s talk strategy!
Jun 28
As we all know, deliverability is a critical component for email marketing success. If your subscribers never see your message because it’s blocked or sent to the spam folder, they are unable to take an action. A 2009 benchmark study conducted by Return Path found that nearly 20% of permission-based email messages never reach the intended recipient. They are bounced back, delivered to the spam folder, or even worse, accepted by the ISP and not delivered to the inbox or spam folder (silent filtering). I’m sure this statistic gets a lot of marketers pretty steamed, and after speaking to some of my clients about this study, I started to wonder: Is permission to send someone an email really enough?
The Definition of Spam Is Changing
Over the past year, email professionals have witnessed a fundamental shift in the way ISPs and email providers accept and filter incoming mail. Today, the focus is on delivering email that subscribers want, rather than just blocking unsolicited or malicious messages as evident by the upcoming changes to Hotmail. To accommodate this new model of filtering, ISPs are utilizing more data about subscriber response when determining inbox eligibility. In addition to the traditional metrics of spam complaints and unknown users, ISPs incorporate open and click data, time spent viewing an email, and deleting without opening when calculating sender reputation.
With this increase in filtering intelligence, the definition of spam has now changed. From an ISP perspective, spam has become any email message determined to be unwanted by the end user, regardless of whether or not the email sender obtained opt-in consent. Even if your list is double opt-in, if the majority of your subscribers are not positively engaged with your brand, you run the risk of being filtered by the ISPs.
Focus On Customer Value
So as a permission-based marketer, how do you avoid having your mail misclassified by the ISPs? First, it is important to develop a program that provides ongoing value to your subscribers. Leverage customer data and history to send relevant messages at the right time and stay away from the batch and blast mentality where one email fits all. In addition, a welcome series, original content newsletters, and ongoing transactional messages are a great way to reinforce your brand and increase positive engagement from subscribers.
Bottom line, if you focus on what your subscribers want out of your email program, then deliverability and revenue usually take care of themselves.
