10 Online Marketing and Email Trends Guaranteed to Increase Your Success Reggie Brady reggie@reggiebrady.com (203) 838-8138 Regina Brady 2011 all rights reserved
Agenda Benchmarks and how do you rate? The impact of mobile on email design Maximizing social for list growth & in emails 5 triggered messages you should put in place Reactivation strategies The importance of customer reviews
Overall Benchmarks Q2-11 Conversions based on clicks 3.16% (up from Q1-11) Epsilon Q2-11 Email Trends and Benchmarks 8-31-11 a study of 7.1 billion emails sent by Epsilon across multiple industries for around 150 clients
Overall Benchmarks Epsilon Q1-11 Email Trends and Benchmarks 8-31-11 a study of 7.1 billion emails sent by Epsilon across multiple industries for around 150 clients
Benchmarking Maturity Class Best-in-Class Top 20% Industry Average Middle 50% Laggard Bottom 30% Mean Class Performance for Email 21% average year-over-year improvement in revenue 11% average year-over-year improvement in click-through rates 2% average year-over-year improvement in revenue 2% average year-over-year improvement in click-through rates 2% average year-over-year decline in revenue 1% average year-over-year decline in click-through rates How do you rate? Aberdeen Research Email Marketing: Customers Take It Personally 12-10
Your CEO doesn t care about opens
Differentiate Process from Business Metrics Process Opens Bounces Delivered Clicks Business Revenue/Orders Downloads/Demos Qualified Leads Retention Cross channel activity
Your mission: beat the competition I ll share some ideas to keep you ahead of the pack
Email design must take mobile into account
Mobile devices and email Last October fewer than 9% of emails were read on a mobile device Today between 16% and 20% are read on a mobile device Forecasts indicate that >50% of computing devices sold in 2011 globally will be smart phones and tablets You need to re-think design for the small screen or be left behind *Deloitte s 2011 Technology, Media and Telecommunications
Advice for email re-design KISS - stick with your offer, create something actionable Don t waste valuable real estate on a tiny screen with clutter Proper coding will enable your message to be seen on iphone, Droid, Blackberry. Avoid slow download times Use short subject lines
Advice for email re-design Width must be compressed Less than 500 pixels Columns no more than 2 Put the most important information to the left The top 2 3 inches is valuable Put click to view and click to view mobile at top Headers should be short no more than 120 pixels in height Move forward to a friend, social icons and add to address book below top of the message Use text links, in combination with image links The fat finger issue
Mobile Rendering a handy tool If a rendering check is not provided by your ESP, Litmus.com offers this capability starting at $50 per month for 29 different environments.
2 columns Easier to read on screen Allows for easy organization of content If many of your subscribers read emails on mobile, you may want one column at least near the top.
2 columns Easier to read on screen Allows for easy organization of content If many of your subscribers read emails on mobile, you may want one column at least near the top. If this email was displayed on a mobile device, readers would see the upper left text, but may not see the picture of the waffle breakfast sandwich.
Co-op 2012 Maximizing social for sign-ups and within email
Social can be a big gorilla Plan to integrate your email and social strategies Today most marketers have yet to get a return on investment with social but it s coming BtoB 11% see a direct ROI BtoC 15% see a direct ROI Source: White Horse, B2B Marketing Goes Social, 5-18-10
Exploit your social presence Promote your email program Kentucky Fried Chicken created a separate area on Facebook with an email sign-up widget 3% of all sign-ups now come from Facebook These sign-ups have 70% higher opens and CTRs Post or tweet offers or content from your email programs Promote social via email and email via social to grow your list Email Sherpa 2/15/11
Exploit your social presence to grow your list Moosejaw Mountaineering
Consider a social sign-up option Allow people to sign up with their social credentials A recent study found 90% opted for regular email sign-up and 10% used Facebook Connect Source: Janrain company blog 4-14-11
Consider a social sign-up option The data you collect is amazing!
Consider a social sign-up option Why? Major implications for e-commerce!
Registration and email sign-up Facebook Connect
Some marketers consolidate social media icons with forward to a friend Embrace social in your emails
Embrace social in your emails Create special emails to encourage social participation Subject line: Now You Can Follow Us on Facebook and Twitter!
Embrace social in your emails Does an excellent job at explaining why people should follow them on Twitter. Share photos of you in your favorite looks by The Limited
Where to put social icons Florida Power & Light tested the location of sharing icons. They found a 42% increase in click rate after sharing was placed after the story.
Where to put social icons Florida Power & Light then tested including icons for both email and Facebook. Average social click-throughs moved from.85% to 2.07% of total clicks - a 144% increase in social engagement.. Chad White Smith-Harmon 6-22-10
Co-op 2012 5 Triggered Messaging Campaigns to add to Your Email Arsenal Today!
Relevance The days of batch and blast are over Relevant emails that make each customer feel special will provide more leverage and sales Triggered messages are a great way to personally touch your audience
Trigger #1: browsed, but didn t buy Trigger sent if customer views at least 3 products but does not buy. Incentive to purchase Address possible customer service issues 30% open rate and 6% CTR along with increase in live chat usage S&S Worldwide Must Have Triggered Campaigns for Every Business 1-10
Trigger #2: birthday messages Subject Line: Happy Birthday Get 10% Off Your Next Flight Results: 50% open rates Revenue per email 360% higher than average fare sale Alaska Airlines 2-3-10
Trigger #3: cross-sell in order confirmation Additional selling in message Subject Line: Order Confirmation #092857855452 Like top navigation & You May Also Consider Dynamic population of items that complement purchase Observes 80/20 rule with most of the message referring to transaction
Trigger #4: order review request Purchases featured Sent 3 weeks after purchase Nice way to drive site involvement
Trigger #5: abandoned cart My favorite you can recoup up to 15% of lost sales Most marketers see up to 50% of carts abandoned Consider: sending a series including a product picture no discount in first email
Trigger #5: abandoned cart You could sweeten the offer, like the email here I like sending a series and NOT including a discount in the first email Opens Clicks Conversion % Revenue per email No offer 15% 12% 1.8% $3.20 Offer 17% 13% 2.9% $3.29 Experian CheetahMail- The Remarketing Report 2/10
Trigger #5: abandoned cart Including a picture of the product left in the cart is a consideration. Opens Clicks Conversion % Product shown 63.8% 28.8% 2.9% No product but link to cart 53.5% 24.9% 1.4% Log in to see your cart 45.1% 17.1% 1.3% Experian CheetahMail- The Remarketing Report 2/10
Abandoned cart emails work! Experian CheetahMail- The Remarketing Report 2/10
One company s experience with triggered messages Annual email volume Annual email sales *Carolyn Nye- S&S eroi Virtual Trade Show 11/11/10
Co-op 2012 Re-engagement Strategies
Create a win back plan Up to 50% of most lists are inactive and have not opened or clicked in months. Win them back before it s too late!
Reactivation An important reason to care! ISPs are starting to measure non-openers It affects your reputation A large volume of inactive e-mail recipients is considered junk by ISPs. Long-term inactive email addresses can turn into spam traps. Remember, your most active subscribers generate all your traffic and revenue Inactives do NOT help you reach business goals and you are paying to send to them. Your metrics are distorted if you have a significant number of inactives.
Reactivation And it is costing you money! The financial costs of inattention
Reactivation Cisco Win Back Campaign Huge database but, only 25% were active - Some hadn t been active in 3 to 6 years - Some didn t have clear opt-in flag - Decided to test 14.5% of inactives Segments and offers to capture updated info: - VPs and above - $25 Starbucks gift card - Directors & Managers white paper - Directors & Managers no offer Results: - VPs Opens 17.1%, CTR 7.6%, Conversions 6.1% - White paper Opens 12.1%, CTR 2.0%, Conversions 1.4% - No offer Opens 18.3%, CTR 6.5%, Conversions 3.9% Email Sherpa 1-11-11
Reactivation Bed Bath & Beyond Win Back Campaign Decreased frequency for inactives from 7x per month, to 5x per month and eventually to 1x per month
Reactivation Bed Bath & Beyond Win Back Campaign Finally, they send a repermission email specifying a date when they would stop sending emails without subscriber permission.
Reactivation HP Win Back Campaign Subject line: [First Name], here's one last chance to claim your 5% discount.
When all else fails Remove dead addresses your metrics will also improve
Re-engagement of past purchasers Subject Line: We Miss You Come Back for 30% Off Your Next Flight Entice non-flying members to book. Tested offer vs nonoffer. Results compared to usual promotions: - Opens 55% higher - CTR 75% higher - Revenue per email 564% higher Alaska Airlines 2-3-10
The Importance of Online Customer Reviews and How to Leverage them
Customer Reviews Reviews are altering how consumers make purchase decisions Reviews will increase conversions Online shoppers are often willing to spend more for highly rated products Plus, page views increase and customers say they feel more satisfied with their shopping experience when it includes customer reviews Forrester Research says that 87% of consumers tend to write reviews when they have something positive to say.
Customer Reviews Conversions go up SEO traffic goes up Returns go down Customer satisfaction and brand trust increase Reviews are a fundamental tool where customer conversations become powerful content.
Customer Reviews Customer Reviews encourage site purchases. If you have them on your site try including them in some emails. Subject line: Shop Dell's Top-rated Products Consider highlighting reviews in your subject line. Dell found if a shopper spent time with site reviews, conversions doubled. (BazaarVoice)
Customer Reviews A review capability need not be expensive AlpacaDirect.com, a small business, works with PowerReviews and pays $80/month. Results: Sales grew by 23% for those items that had positive reviews CNN.com 9/28/09
Any questions? Thank you!
Contact Info Reggie Brady Email Marketing Consultant (203) 838-8138 reggie@reggiebrady.com