Email Marketing Re-vitalizing your most important channel Tony Aslanian Director of Marketing & Revenue Strategy Nickelodeon Suites Resort
Why is Email Marketing Vital? Email Marketing is a major component of your overall Digital Marketing Strategy Website, SEO, PPC, SEM, Retargeting, Media Buying, Campaign Reporting, Social Media, Mobile, etc Businesses benefit from email marketing because it is fast, direct, cost-effective, and builds loyalty Strategic email marketing increases your business visibility, brand equity, and generates revenue A recent Exact Target study found 75% of consumers would prefer to receive permissions-based promotions through email, and 93% of online consumers have provided companies with permission to send them information through email
Types of Email Marketing Educational - help answer a question or solve a problem for your potential customers Informational - are short and don t usually ask the recipient to take action Promotional - have a main goal of moving the recipient to take some action Newsletter - can include blog articles, videos, or other types of content
List Segmentation Strategy Develop segmented lists so you can separate relevant content and information for particular groups of people Bounce back Birthday/Celebration Booking Window/Code Travel Window Geo Targets Exact Target Study
Campaign Strategy Develop specific campaigns that focus on your unique selling proposition or business objective Use a campaign brief format which identifies: Business Objective The Offer Metrics & Measurement Data Objectives Target Audience Perception Objective Tactic Review Creative Objective Tone & Style Design Process
Campaign Case Study Identify our Best Customer Profile by using Data Mining tools with geographic, demographic, psychographic, lifestyle, transaction, and interest selections Apply similar Data Mining tools to target consumers and households that replicate to our Best Customer Utilize variable data to customize and personalize direct mail, email, and PURL (personal URL) communications Create a Bounce Back Campaign and a Customer Acquisition Campaign
Best Customer Profile How we found our Best Customer Profile Completed a Data Portrait Analysis (DPA) comparing the demographic and lifestyle/interest characteristics of our best customers to the characteristics of households in a reference population The result of the comparison is a list of characteristics that identify and distinguish customer households across the United States Prior to this analysis, demographic and lifestyle/interest data was appended to our customer file. When a match occurs, the record is enhanced with demographic and lifestyle/interest data for the household
Best Customer Profile Let s start with the 3 most Ideal Household Targets (by Age) 1 2 3
Best Customer Profile Economic Stability Indicator (ESI)
Best Customer Profile Occupation - 1st Individual
Best Customer Profile Targeting by PersonicX - a segmentation system that places each U.S. household into segments based on similar demographic socio-economic, and consumer behavior 1 2
Best Customer Profile
Best Customer Profile
Best Customer Profile Variable Factors for Campaign Message & Creative Design
Best Customer Profile Creative Design for Direct Mail, Email, and PURL Personalized Family Name, Graphics, Copy and Offer
Best Customer Profile Creative Design for Direct Mail, Email, and PURL Different characters by Personicx and Nickelodeon audience demographics and data
Best Customer Profile Creative Design for Direct Mail, Email, and PURL Memorable and Emotionally Engaging
Best Customer Direct Mail Piece
Best Customer Direct Mail Piece
Best Customer Email Email Key Components Social Media Icons/Sharing Variable Graphics Variable Copy/Offer (CTA) Personalized Name Video content (Rich Media) PURL Limited Copy; Very Visual
Best Customer Email - PURL
Best Customer Email - PURL
Best Customer Email - PURL
New Customer Acquisition Email Email Key Components Social Media Icons/Sharing Variable Graphics Variable Copy/Offer (CTA) Personalized Name Video content (Rich Media) Limited Copy; Very Visual
New Customer Acquisition Email ROI Advanced Audience Analysis The campaign was sent to target markets that mirror the current Nickelodeon best customers based on the Data Portrait Analysis. The current high-level demographics on the audience are as follows: Families with children ages 0-10 Interest in travel and/or family travel, or contributed from travel website Household Income of 100,000 or greater Drivers: Located in either FL, GA, AL or SC Flyers: Audience Located in NY, NJ, IL, MD, MI, NC, OH, TN, TX, VA Economic Stability combination of household income and net worth
New Customer Acquisition Email ROI Campaign Analysis The campaign was broken out into 16 cells, with a consistent target audience based on demographics and insight gathered from analytical reports, testing the following: Two Creatives Creative A: 48 Hour Sale Creative B: Connect with Us Two Subject lines per creative Creative A Claim Your Free Night & Book Now for 1 Free Night + $100 Resort Credit Creative B Plan the Best Birthday Ever and receive Instant Access & Join the Most Exciting Club in Town Two Geographic Areas Backyard Prospects (FL & GA) High-Value Prospects (NY, NJ, IL, MD, MI, NC, OH, SC, TN, TX, VA) Two Data Sources
New Customer Acquisition Email ROI
New Customer Acquisition Email ROI Overall, all subject lines were very close based on open rate The two winning subject lines for each creative outperformed the other subject line by approximately 15% The click-to-open rate was the highest on the Claim Your Free Night subject line The short, quick call-to-action in the subject line helped to encourage a higher click through rate
New Customer Acquisition Email ROI
New Customer Acquisition Email ROI The open rate on the audience in Florida and Georgia was higher than the various other states, most likely due to a higher brand recognition on the From line from local residents. However, the click-to-open rate on the other group was higher, indicating those that opened found the creative to be a bit more compelling and interesting than those in Florida and Georgia. Focus should be on creating more compelling subject lines for the High-Value prospects who may not be as familiar with the resort as the Backyard Prospects.
New Customer Acquisition Email ROI
Nick Hotel Club Members
Nick Hotel Club Seek Data to Continue the Dialogue Childrens Name Childrens Birthday Areas of Interest What are You Celebrating?
Nick Hotel Club Email Email Key Components Persuasive Subject Line Compelling CTA Video content (Rich Media) Limited Copy; Very Visual Social Media Icons/Sharing
Nick Hotel Club Email Reporting
Viacom CRM Email Blasts The dedicated Viacom CRM targeted email blasts drive awareness for each campaign s initiative to send out an exclusive offer! 2/12/13 3/12/13 4/9/13
Email, Mobile & Social Media Combine email, social media and mobile marketing tactics Email drives social web activity, through notifications, alerts and more Email is a great complement to social - allowing marketers to extend the reach of their messages and identify influencers on their list
Email, Mobile & Social Media Best Practices Tap Into Current Events & Pop Culture Use Twitter & Facebook to Promote Opt-In URLs Segment Your Database Provide Incentives to Email Subscribers via Social Media Expand Email Lists With SMS Promotions Optimize Emails for Smartphones
The Golden Nuggets Top Take Aways Grow Your Database with Prospects that Mirror Your Best Customer Profile Segment Your Database and Talk to these Segments Uniquely Measure and Track Your Campaign ROI Integrate Email, Mobile & Social Media Strategies
Thank You! TONYASLANIAN@NICKHOTEL.COM @TONYASLANIAN
Email Marketing Re-vitalizing your most important channel Irene Pallais Area Internet Marketing Director New Orleans Hotel Collection / Interstate Hotels & Resorts
More than 600 million people world wide use email. 80% of email marketers send the same content to all subscribers. Experian Segmentation is key to engage your subscribers and decrease irrelevancy. Consumers receive about 5 marketing emails daily.
Reasons People Unsubscribe 1. You talk too much o Emails came too frequently 2. You re boring o Content became repetitive or boring over time 3. They don t care o The content was not relevant
CAN-SPAM Essential rules to be CAN-SPAM compliant: 1. Must provide recipients the option to opt-out. Unsubscribe requests must be honored within 10 business days. 2. Content compliance Use accurate From subject line that reflects the name of the business. Include the physical address of business in the email. Subject line is relevant to the content of message.
Less is More 69% of U.S. email users unsubscribe from an email because the organization sends too many emails. -Source: MailChimp Keep the message and subject line short, limit the number of emails each recipient receives Recipients don t read, they skim. Pick one message and make the call to action clear.
Visual Impact Emails with graphics, images and breaks in text make them more likely to be read. Use short paragraphs in web safe fonts. Avoid emails that are entirely an image. Use alt-text for each graphic and image in the email. 60% text and 40% images is a best practice.
E-mail campaign featured countdown timer to create sense of urgency for this limited time offer.
Example above how image alt tags display when images are blocked
Social Sharing Integrate social sharing into your emails Emails should be shareable (forward to a friend) Include your social media links
Make it Mobile Stats say 42% of email is now opened on a mobile device. Litmus Litmus(March 2013) Create a responsive template design that adapts according to screen size. 63% percent of consumers say they may buy from an email read on a mobile device, while the number who may unsubscribe due to poor mobile display exceeds 30 percent. -BlueHornet
iphone & Microsoft devices automatically shrink the size of the email to fit screen. Android devices open emails on the upper left corner. The beginning of the subject line is the most important!
Track and Test If you use Google Analytics, use a tracking tag on links back to your website. A/B test one thing at a time to gauge response rate. o Ex. subject line, call to action, creative Email providers should offer reports, such as open rates, click through rates (CTR) and unsubscribes. Average open rate in travel & leisure industry is 16.2% with a 2.3% CTR. -2012 Silverpop Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study
Thank You irene.pallais@interstatehotels.com @irenepallais