Great Email Marketing Resources

We all do it. We all get to a point in our projects, our mailings, or our day to day when we feel like we need a change. It may come naturally, or it may be helped along by an event. The good news is that there are amazing guides out there available to us to help us evolve our email marketing.

Here are a few of my fav's:

1. Mail Chimp's Resource Library: Ton's of easy to read, well written white papers on every top email topic. http://mailchimp.com/resources/guides/

2. Epsilon's Email Institute: Packed with great trending news updates and quarterly design "look books". http://www.emailinstitute.com/best-practices/email-marketing

3. The Email Experience Council: Fantastic content from in the know email marketers across a variety of industries. http://www.emailexperience.org/email-resources

Do you have a few that you follow that are not listed here? Post them in the comments to share!

~ Stephanie

Top 5 Things You Should Focus on in 2013

Top 5 Things You Should Focus on in 2013

1. Data: At the soul of every email marketers plan should be the data you have about your subscribers. Who they are, what are their likes/dislikes, and how they interact with not only your company but also your industry.

2. "Other" Email: Are there other departments or branches of your company that send bulk email? If so, are those emails branded and maximized to their full potential? Do a little digging and be sure you have a handle on everything that your brand sends out.

3. Automation: Do you currently have automated email campaigns in place? If not, maybe try starting with a birthday, or anniversary of sign up campaign. Have fun with these and ease some of the burden of constantly composing manual mailings.

4. Testing: There are always new things to try out in our ever developing space of email. Run a series of A/B tests to see how some of the latest tricks might work or not work for your subscribers. Characters in subject lines, mobile dedicated versions, animated gif's, etc. all make for great tests.

5. Optimization: How do your emails look across email clients? What about mobile? There are many rendering tools available out there to make proofing and tweaking your designs easier. Make sure you always take a look as a subscriber would, at least in your lists top 3/4 ESP's.

Email Marketing and your Customer Lifecycle

As an active digital consumer myself I receive a lot of email. Most of the time in my limited personal time, I find myself browsing through at a rapid pace looking for those few emails that are exactly for me and not whatever group the sending company placed me into.

It makes me wonder how prevalent is behavioral marketing or life cycle mapping in most email marketers tool chests today? Because even as much as I have read about it in the email community for years, it still seems that its not yet the commonplace.

Take this diagram for example, published by Strongmail all the way back in early 2011:

 How much are you as an email marketer tailoring your knowledge and products to the needs and life cycles of your consumers? If you are not doing it now, in what ways could you grow your programs to listen more and offer things only when its right for that customer? Email is personal- so why don't we all market like it is?

The future of digital is all about 1:1. We live in an on-demand society. Are you adapting and advancing or simply growing stale? The choice is up to you.

What's the value of email in your marketing mix?

That's the golden question every company wants to know! Is email dead? What's your true channel ROI? How does email compare to social in terms of size and effectiveness?

Take a look at this awesome infographic from SmarterTools:

16 Things People Really Hate About Your Email Marketing

Over on the Hubspot blog, Cory Eridon talks about these "16 Things People Really Hate About Your Email Marketing":

1. Emailing People Who Didn't Opt In
2. Making Unsubscribing Difficult  
3. Not Honoring Unsubscribes
4. Writing a Vague Subject Line  
5. Not Indicating How We Know Each Other  
6. Speaking With Forced Sincerity 
7. Providing Irrelevant Content  
8. Bombarding Recipients With Email  
9. Sending Emails Once in a Blue Moon
10. Including Broken Dynamic Content  
11. Not Including a Call-to-Action
12. Sending Emails That Aren't Mobile Optimized
13. You're Overdesigning Your Emails
14. Not Optimized for Plain Text and HTML
15. You're Not Proofing Your Email Before Sending  
16. Not Providing a Real Address to Reply To

Read the full article here (it contains a ton of examples of what not to do!)

Spam collection inboxes

As I logged into my Yahoo email that I've had since, cough, 1997, I was overwhelmed to see 4700 new messages.

It got me thinking, I wonder how many people have more than one email account? One for personal, one for spam, and one for work?

As an email marketer, I spend tons of time and money trying to deliver successful, dynamic email. But what if my lists are full of spam inboxes? How would I know and what could I do about it?

I think the answer lies in list hygiene. Know your audience engagement and baseline metrics, and if they stink, re-engage them. Drop the dead subscribers and move forward delivering craveable content to an active list.

To often people focus on quantity. Email is about quality. Quality in what you send, who you send to, and quality in yourself as a sender.

6 Stages to Getting the Click

Do you repeat yourself in your personal email copy? Probably not, so why would you repeat yourself in your marketing copy? What does it take to get someone to engage and click on your offer?

The truth is:
Recipients look at your message and make decisions to engage in a very linear way...follow their decision path and ensure you aren't giving away valuable real estate...

The 6 Stages of Getting the Click

Stage 1 = The From line
Recipients look at your from name and email 1st/before any other metric and make a decision to read on/delete based on this initial info.

Stage 2 = The Subject line
Recipients look at your subject line and depending on what they can see (< 45 char = baseline; < 16 char for mobile) and how relevant the topic is- make a decision to read more/delete. DO not repeat your name here- you are wasting valuable real estate. Instead- front load your subject line with the attractive part...make sure they see it.

Stage 3 = The Preview Pane
After glancing at your from and subject line, recipients next look at your message in their preview window. (sometimes the same as stage 4/above the fold) and make the decision to read on or delete. It's important to understand how your email renders with images turned off- because industry standards say 50% will not see those images and only 11% will scroll down out of this preview area. Don' repeat your name or subject line info in the snippet text or H1 area...make it a continuation of your message.

Stage 4 = Above the Fold
Some recipients will see the whole above the fold area as their preview window, like Outlook for example. But there are ESP's who only show the top left of a message as the standard preview, like AOL, and for those recipients they will need to expand your message to see this above the fold area. Always design as though the preview area was the 300x300 section in the top left of your message- its the only for sure method for designing for a preview area.

Stage 5 = The Complete Email
As this linear decision wraps up, some recipients will be satisfied enough with a text call to action and might have clicked already, but for those that really want the whole picture they will open the email to view the whole message. This still doesn't guarantee that they will have their images turned on, but if you have been sending responsibly through the same email for a while, you have a much better chance of being delivered with images on.

Stage 6 = Your CTA / Clickable Link
Finally- the last step is a recipient being so interested in what you are driving them to do that they click on your CTA. What's a reputable click through rate? Depends on your product/offer/list, etc but a good guess for a high dollar purchased good/service is 2-5% with the excellent range in the 5-10%.

Test. Optimize. Grow

Did you know that 61% of Email Marketers do not test?

For me as a Strategist, that was a shocking statistic. As much as I preach best practices in email marketing, they are only a start. The old adage is true- what works for one might not work for another. The only way to really know is to test!



Sources say that you should dictate 5-10% of your resources to testing.


Here are some tips:

• Plan your tests way ahead of time
• Start small- consider only using 10-20% of your list for the test and send the winning creative to the rest of the list 2 days later.
• If you have sparks of ideas for tests post them on a wall- make them hard to ignore.
• Try testing your

• Subject lines
• Layouts
• Images
• Content pieces
• Various Landing Pages
• Varying frequencies
• Time/Day to send
•  Segments/List demographics

Email Marketing for Mobile / Smartphones

Smartphone Usage is GROWING:

38% of the US population owns a smartphone (Neilson 5/11)
55% of phones purchased are smartphones (Neilson 5/11)
Email is the #1 most used feature on any smartphone

Despite this amazing opportunity for marketers, it's also a tough one- because it's a moving target!

• Technology is constantly evolving
• Users are "checking in" around the clock
• Viewing screens are smaller than the standard email size
• Content is much easier to share with smartphones
• Users are even more connected to friends and family and more likely to share stories, etc.

Despite all this growth and evolution-

Only 42% of marketers are designing for mobile

Here are some tips for designing for mobile:

• Consider making your CTA link to a mobile optimized landing page or website
• Measure the size of your mobile audience by:
• sending a dedicated email 
• using a preference page
• looking at website analytics
• commonly it's 20% of your list
• Design for a max of 320px wide
• Minimum 14pt, web friendly font
• Use ample space around links for "fat finger syndrome"
• Prioritize/limit your tracking URL's
• Use brief copy points
• Consider the flow of info: Starting at the From line, Subject line, Head text, Above the fold, and Preview pane.
• Keep the message size under 20kb
• Add a "view on a mobile device" link at the top
• Add a "view our mobile website" link
• Make sure you preview and test rendering

How to use email with a social audience

Only 31% of marketers use email to drive their social campaigns

75% of social users would rather communicate through email

49% of twitter users have bought something from an email

What's this mean for marketers?
That social users are very engaged list members!

But how can you do it well?

The "like" on Facebook is considered a low engagement and low risk option for subscribers to promote your brand with little work on their behalf. ENCOURAGE "likes" by:

• Offering a "Like Us on Facebook" link in all of your email campaigns
• Place a interest form on your Facebook page and give fans a way to subscribe

Social is a soft sell!!

• Just being there, front of mind, and providing useful interaction is what its all about. 
• Social let's you LISTEN. Hear your fans and what they are talking about- take their pulse. Hear what motivates and inspires them- and make sure your product is presented in a way that will appeal to their needs.
  
• Social is the new engagement platform- talk to your fans, listen to their pain points, their language, and the content they share. Develop "crave"able content that's useful and relevant to them. EARN their trust and when they are ready- they will buy.
• Drop the "marketing" speak- talk like a human! Be clear and upfront about who you are and what you are trying to accomplish. Social/Mobile users have a super short attention span- so make your 2 seconds COUNT.

Have you tried including the "SWYN" Share with your network links in your emails? These are the social equivalent to the "forward to a friend".
Did you know that if someone "shares" your email on Twitter that the subject line is the default tweet text? That means you only have 140 characters to make an impact. 

And finally- BE CONSISTENT
Maintain your brand voice and offer your fans content that they might expect to receive from you

Listen - Learn - Measure - Evolve.

Tips for using automated email campaigns well

Think of your automated email campaigns as the "automatic sprinklers" of your database.

It's all about Timing and Relevancy:
Set the timers for when your audience is thirsty for a message and you will maintain your engagement / healthiness of list.

Most popular auto campaigns?

1. Welcome campaigns
2. Thank you campaigns 
3. Transactional campaigns
4. Post purchase campaigns
5. Upsell campaigns
6. Activation campaigns
7. Data triggered campaigns

But how do we go about setting up an auto campaign?

• You must define what the ROI is for your current emails. See which ones carry the most weight and ROI and automate those. 
• Plan for the messages: who/what/when/where/why. Jump in with clear intentions and it will be clearer to your audience. Only ask for information that you plan on using. 
• Coordinate with your sales team. Leverage teamwork and facilitate buy in early in the creation process- this will lead to better results post drop. Don't forget to say thank you and celebrate your team. 
• Re-purpose content- see where there are opportunities for inserting personal stories in your customer lifecycle. Look across departments for human stories people can really relate to. Paint your brand feel.

At a loss for words? Ideas for successful email content

Examples of Popular Email Campaign Topics

Many examples below, hopefully there are some you may not already be doing and they will spark your creative spirit!
Good luck!

Campaigns for new Leads/Customers
(early in their life cycle):

Education Campaigns

• Address common questions and concerns your subscribers may have
• Make sure you are monitoring and measuring your metrics
• Add testimonials and real person stories- people remember how you make them feel
•  Build your brand to be crystal clear in the eyes of your buyer- no grey areas
• Consider that you are not always speaking directly to the consumer of your product- it may be a messenger.

Entertainment Campaigns

• Connect and share a series of funny or emotional stories
• Could be about your: brand, an employee, a customer, a supplier, your culture, your industry, or your community. 

Life Transition Campaigns

• These campaigns are totally reliant on how much data you have on your customers- don't have much? do a 1/2 question survey but don't forget to reward! 
• For B2C- Birth, 1st home, retirement, starting/completing school
• For B2B- Product use tutorials, installation tips, activation, details around the processes or procedures your customers go through to use your product.

Campaigns for Leads Nurturing (mid life cycle)

• Welcome and thank you for signing up
• Populate the source they came from if possible
• Offer bullet points outlining the value they will receive from signing up
• Might want to ask for additional data/survey
• Make sure to include a white list request
• Content that is timely and relevant, and keeps them engaged until its time to buy
• Tip: It's a good idea to use roughly 25% of your lead gen spend on lead nurturing campaigns!
• Choose your tone and stick with it: educational, friend, brief, or personal
• Once the lead is entered into your system, take a look at the road map to the sale
• Your campaign content should meet the stages on the path to purchase
• Consider giving these leads special offers to engage them, such as:
• "Be the first to see/hear..."
• "Limited time only" offers
• eCoupons
• Special "members only" benefits
• Referral offers

Campaigns for After the Sale (end life cycle)

• Continue the conversation and build on the trust earned in the sale
• Inform them on details of their purchase that might be relevant or useful or details of delivery
• Automate common sales/support topics or questions
• Make sure to offer targeted subsequent offers or return customer deals
• Continue the communication with: Birthday offers, Anniversaries, etc.
• Send pre-event details for future offers
• Send post-event details or updates with whitepapers/reports, etc. 

Where to place email in your sales pipeline

It's all about using the correct: 
Placement / Planning / Metrics

Ask yourself, why are we sending these emails?
Is it for a sale?
To nurture the lead?
To drive website traffic?
To raise/maintain brand awareness?

You must quantify your ROI on your email campaigns! Find where you can get the biggest bang for your buck and then AUTOMATE. Take a careful look at your customer life cycle:

Attract
Acquire
Service
Retain
Refer

Consider reviewing / revising your life cycle emails and make sure you are doing the following:

• Keep it relevant + interesting for your subscribers: "teach me, don't sell me"
• Don't talk about your company through a megaphone- subscribers only care about their problems not yours!
• Consider how you handle yourself when the sale is not imminent- this is speaks volumes about your brand.
• Give guidance, share info, and always remain positive
• Make sure your thank you emails provide:
• Links to past content
• webinars
• video links
• Provide the shoppers / "kicking the tires" leads with access to plenty of relevant info- make them into educated buyers.
• Always offer links to unsubscribe or view your privacy policies
• Ask the lead to whitelist your sending address
• Show them what you will be sending and how often to set the expectations and BUILD TRUST
• Consider building a welcome campaign instead of just a single email (ex. 4 part series over 5 weeks)

Email Design Tips for Small Business Marketers

---

Brought to you by The Exact Target Blog Posted: 02 Aug 2011 07:30 AM PDT You've got your subscriber list and communication strategy, but before you start creating your emails consider these tips for designing a more effective campaign: 1.       Create Brand Synergy. Utilize your current brand elements to create a cohesive online brand experience. 2.      Watch your Image and Text ratio. Images may look aesthetically pleasing, but too many divert attention from your message and may cause your email to be too large for and blocked from some email clients. Images should balance and complement your text content. 3.      Use Tables. For consistent display and better control of your email layout, use tables when writing your HTML and when formatting your content within ExactTarget's Content Editor. Check out these resources on Coding HTML for email vs. web. 4.      Edit Images. Use photo editing programs to edit images to proper size and save the edited images in your portfolio. For best rendering results use JPEG or GIF file types. 5.      Use Plain Text and Web-Safe Fonts. Text from websites or word processors include formatting that cause rendering issues when pasted into your email. Copy your text into a Plain Text Editor such as Notepad (PC) or TextEdit (Mac) and format your text using web-safe fonts. 6.      Have a Clear Message. Use a Call-to-Action to encourage a response from your subscribers. 7.      Optimize Your Content. Adding background colors to images and including styled "alt" tags will allow your subscribers to experience your content when images are blocked.  8.      Design for the Subscriber Experience. Organize your content according to the six stages of the email experience. 9.      Be CAN-SPAM Compliant. Become familiar with commercial email regulations and what your email needs to include. 10.  Test. Errors can reduce your message's effectiveness and your brand's credibility. Here's a testing checklist. BONUS TIP: Get Social. Integrate social media into your email design. For more interactive marketing tips and advice, read our past blogs or follow @ETDesign on Twitter! Amanda Parks Associate Designer, Small Business ExactTarget Campaign Solutions Team

Top 5 tips to thinking like a subscriber

1. Filtering from ESP's is common, Gmail uses smart labels now to allow users to mark their incoming mail. ex. "Bulk", "Forums", "Notifications". So train your subscribers to crave your content.
2. Subscribers say the best way to be seen is through GREAT CONTENT. Because, great content gets you higher opens/clicks, which raises your sender reputation, which decreases your probability of being filtered for junk, and increases your delivery rates!
3. Don't change your sending IP's! There is history and reputation behind them so consistency is key.
4. Fun Fact: 88% of all email users don't separate work and home email addresses.
5. Make sure you are on the good side of the law- follow the US CAN SPAM and CANADA's FISA Bill religiously.

Deliverability- Making it into the inbox

 
"Of the 8 billion emails Hotmail receives each month, 5.5 billion are blocked at the gateway and another 1 billion are marked as junk." -Strongmail 12/2010


 Staggering to think that 75% of the email you send to Hotmail users is potentially never being seen. Deliverability is a tough game to play. Marketers are chasing a moving target as ESP's constantly update their algorithms to keep up with the increasing amount of Spam.

How do I make sure my legit bulk email gets delivered?
You must practice good list hygiene by managing bounces, opt outs, and spam reports on an ongoing basis. Your hygiene efforts should include measures to allow you to look at the members who are inactive after more than a year. Clean, maintain, and always strive to send timely, relevant email- that's how to ensure your future deliverability. 

According to marketers, list dormancy and junk placements are only getting worse! 

Did you know on average, 20% of all the email you send winds up undelivered? That's mostly because 4% of it goes into the junk folder and 16% is "missing" or rejected/blocked by the ISP's.

The future of email deliverability is = SENDER REPUTATION.
  
What's that? It's your reputation as an email sending vendor that is effected by:

• What you send
• How often you send
• How many you send to
• Whether or not subscribers are opening, clicks, deleting, reporting as spam to your messages
• What you use as your sending domain
• Your sending IP address

There are 4 items you can control that effect your deliverability:

1. List Hygiene
2. Spam Complaints
3. Relevant Content
4. Sender Historical Performance 

Think like your subscribers and make sure your emails are:
 Targeted / Relevant / Anticipated

Automatic Email

Whats the difference between a drip campaign and a triggered email?




A Drip Campaign = A series of emails to a group setup to auto deploy on predetermined dates.

A Triggered Mailing =   A single email, auto deployed because of an action the user made.