Table of Contents Introduction...03 The Evolution of Email...04 4 Reasons to Target Email Subscribers in Social...05 Campaign Tactics...06 Turning Email into Social...07 Creating Social Ads that Convert... 08-10 Call-to-Action...08 Copy...09 Choosing an Image...10 Helpful Tips...11 Conclusion...12 T :: 1.888.9.SteelHouse W :: www.steelhouse.com E :: contact@steelhouse.com MARKETING WHITE PAPER by SteelHouse Q3 2014 02
Introduction Is email dead? With the rise of social media and other communication apps, this is an increasingly popular topic to debate, especially in the world of marketing. Email is certainly not without its challenges. Consistently deploying attractive email campaigns takes a dedicated team and can be expensive. With the recent announcement that several popular email providers are funneling marketing email into promotions folders, it s easier than ever for consumers to overlook a marketer s email campaigns. As a result, even the best email campaigns rarely achieve a 30% open rate. McKinsey s iconsumer survey reported a 20% decline in email usage between 2008-2012, as the medium surrendered ground to social networks, IM, and mobile messaging apps. However, the overwhelming response: Email is not dead, but it is evolving. Email is becoming the backbone of a wider range of communication services we use in our day-to-day lives. Email alone doesn t cut it. As a marketer, this is the reason it is more important than ever for you to adopt a multi-touch approach in order to effectively reach your customers. The fact is, email and social are still two of the most powerful marketing channels you have in your arsenal. What s even more powerful - integrating them into a multi-touch strategy in a way that makes them work together for you. Not only promoting social sharing options in your email campaigns, but actually targeting your email subscribers where they are... in social. In this white paper, we ll explore how to reach outside the inbox and increase your customer retention by targeting your email subscribers in social channels like Facebook and Twitter. If executed properly, you can repurpose your email messages into highly effective social media ad campaigns that will boost your overall campaign performance. billion emails are sent worldwide per day of all emails sent are SPAM, but filters catch most of it of email users visit social sites to gather product information and recommendations hours is the average time sent reading and answering emails / week of all emails are opened on a mobile device (20.6% Smartphones, 6.8% tablets) of Americans create a new email address every 6 month hours is the average time spent on social media of Internet users visit social networking sites at least monthly a day is the average number of times Smartphone users check Facebook T :: 1.888.9.SteelHouse W :: www.steelhouse.com E :: contact@steelhouse.com MARKETING WHITE PAPER by SteelHouse Q3 2014 03
The Evolution of Email Believe it or not, email is nearly 50 years old. Think about how your own email habits have changed over the past decade. What do you think is next for email marketing? 1960 s 1965 Concept of email explored @ MIT 1970 s 1971 1976 1977 1978 1st email sent over ARPNET network Queen Elizabeth 1st head of state to send an email U.S. Postal Service begins to see email as a potential threat SPAM is invented 1980 s 1982 1983 1988 1989 1st known use of word, E-mail in July 82 issue of Computerworld 1990 s 1st commercial email service offered to the pubic 1st commercial email product widely used, Microsoft Mail released for Mac IBM releases Lotus Notes 1.0 1992 1993 1996 1997 1998 1st smartphone with email capability released AOL and Delphi connect their email to the internet 1st free service, HoTMaiL (HTML) launched Microsoft Outlook 97 & Yahoo! Mail released You ve Got Mail premiers at the box office 2000 s 2000 2001 2003 2004 2006 Microsoft introduces Entourage mail for Mac 2010 s 1st behavioral email sent, triggered based on consumers online behavior Can-Spam law passed in U.S. Federal Trade Commission codifies email SPAM laws Facebook opens to the general public, Twitter is launched 2010 2011 2011 2012 2012 Microsoft Outlook 2010 includes social connector Associated press changes e-mail to email & Oxford dictionary recognize LOL, OMG, TMI and FYI Apple sells more than 100 million iphones 40% of marketing emails are opened on a mobile device EMAIL & SOCIAL MEDIA MARRY T :: 1.888.9.SteelHouse W :: www.steelhouse.com E :: contact@steelhouse.com MARKETING WHITE PAPER by SteelHouse Q3 2014 04
4 Reasons to Target Email Subscribers in Social If you re like most marketers you ve accepted that your email campaigns will rarely reach even 30% of your audience. But what s your plan for the other 70%? Re-sending doesn t seem like the best way to get their attention. Why not send the same message through (a combination of) different channels like Facebook or Twitter? Here are some reasons to give it a try: 01 You ve Already Got What You Need - No need to reinvent the wheel. We re recommending you actually just repurpose your best performing email campaigns into Facebook News Feed ads and Twitter ads. Your email subject line becomes the header then just edit down the message and make sure your image meets the proper requirements... and there you have it. See examples on the next two pages. 02 Message Your Audience Where They Are - 59% of marketers are integrating email and social channels together. There s a reason - on average, smartphone users check Facebook 14X a day and Twitter has 100 million active daily users. People spend an average of 23 minutes a month on Facebook and 13 minutes a month on Twitter looking at updates from friends and promotions from brands they Like or Follow. 03 Increase Your Campaign Response Rate - Targeting your email list means you re reaching people who already know your brand and have shown enough interest to opt-in to receiving messages about your brand. This connection means higher response rates than messaging a new group of people who may have never heard of you. 04 Expand Your Reach with Social Sharing - Encourage social sharing. Consumers say they are 71% more likely to purchase when referred by social media. Customers can easily like, comment, or share your Facebook ads or retweet your Twitter ads adding up to 35% additional reach to your campaigns. Now that you re convinced, let s take a look at some tactics that will make turning your email campaigns into social campaigns easy. Real World Case Study: The official retailer of a major sports organization targeted their email subscribers in their Facebook News Feed. This was the perfect way to reach the majority of their customers who weren t opening their emails. Instead of reaching less than 30% of their audience with email, they were able to reach 55% of their email list in social, resulting in a 2.24% click-through rate and a 7X return on ad Spend. T :: 1.888.9.SteelHouse W :: www.steelhouse.com E :: contact@steelhouse.com MARKETING WHITE PAPER by SteelHouse Q3 2014 05
Campaign Tactics Take your email campaigns - whether you re running a flash sale, loyalty campaign, or customer win-back - you can easily get more exposure with minimal effort by mirroring these campaigns in social. T :: 1.888.9.SteelHouse W :: www.steelhouse.com E :: contact@steelhouse.com MARKETING WHITE PAPER by SteelHouse Q3 2014 06
Turning Email into Social Here s an example of an email campaign and its social counterparts: T :: 1.888.9.SteelHouse W :: www.steelhouse.com E :: contact@steelhouse.com MARKETING WHITE PAPER by SteelHouse Q3 2014 07
Creating Social Ads that Convert It s important to remember that people don t necessarily come to social sites like Twitter and Facebook to buy; they re not there for the ads, they want to connect with their friends. The goal of any social ad campaign should be to grab potential customers attention enough that your brand will remain top of mind. However, when you target your email subscribers in social, your target audience is more likely to click through to your site and make a purchase if your ads include the right elements. 01 Call-to-Action - It s okay to be bossy... when it comes to CTA s. Your ad must tell people what to do. Just saying Look at this cool thing isn t going to cut it. Use CTA s like Sign Up Now, Buy Now, Get FREE SHIPPING, or Shop NOW. Tip: You can use a Call-to-Action in your copy and in your ad image for even better performance. It s easy to compare email performance to social... for example: Email subscribes = Facebook Likes Email unsubscribes = Facebook UnLikes Email opens = Facebook impressions Email clicks = Facebook feedback Email forwards = Facebook shares T :: 1.888.9.SteelHouse W :: www.steelhouse.com E :: contact@steelhouse.com MARKETING WHITE PAPER by SteelHouse Q3 2014 08
Creating Social Ads that Convert 02 Copy - Be specific! Be bold! You can take the copy from your best performing email campaigns and easily repurpose your messages to work in social. Both Facebook and Twitter have character limits so choose every word carefully! Here are a few things to keep in mind: Be direct in your copy and let people know exactly the value you re offering them. Talk about benefits. People want to know what s in it for them. If you re making a claim, don t be afraid throw in a number value or statistic. T :: 1.888.9.SteelHouse W :: www.steelhouse.com E :: contact@steelhouse.com MARKETING WHITE PAPER by SteelHouse Q3 2014 09
Creating Social Ads that Convert 03 Choosing an Image - We recommend taking the existing elements from your email creative and fitting them to the dimensions required of your social ads. Not only will this make your message look more consistent across various channels, half the work has already been done. As you re making edits or choosing a new image, here are some pointers on the types of images that convert: Happy people: People trust eye contact. Images that convert the best include happy people looking directly at the camera. Color: Choose bright, warm colors, especially for Facebook ads since the color-scheme is blue and white. Logo: Since you re targeting your email subscribers, prominently featuring your brand logo in your image will increase brand recognition. Check if your image meets the Facebook guidelines: Facebook currently specifies that your image is comprised of 20% or less text. Visit Facebook s 20% text tool www.facebook.com/ads/tools/text_overlay. T :: 1.888.9.SteelHouse W :: www.steelhouse.com E :: contact@steelhouse.com MARKETING WHITE PAPER by SteelHouse Q3 2014 10
Helpful Tips Here are some tips to keep in mind while you plan your campaigns: 01 Segment your list so your messaging is more relevant - It s common knowledge that segmenting your email-marketing leads to better open and click rates. By sending messages to targeted groups who share the same interests, behaviors, etc. within your lists, your recipients will find your campaigns more relevant and relevant campaigns get better results. According to a popular email marketing platform, segmented campaigns have a 14.4% better open rate and 15% more clicks than regular email campaigns. Well, the same is true for all types of marketing, including social. 02 Timing is everything - To maintain consistent messaging, make sure you re timing the promotions in your email campaigns and other channels with the ads you ve created in social. 0.2% 0.1% SUN MON THURS TUES WED FRI 0% -0.1% -0.2% -0.3% -0.4% -0.5% Effect on CTR Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun SAT Engagement rates are 18% higher on Thursdays and Fridays. Facebook recently revealed data showing that the Happiness Index on Facebook spikes by 10% on Fridays. Tweets posted on Friday, Saturday and Sunday had higher CTRs than those posted during the rest of the week. 03 Keep your ads fresh - Running the same campaigns over and over again will quickly get old to your audience, and that could make them hide your ads from their feed. Keep customers interested by updating pictures and copy for your ads. T :: 1.888.9.SteelHouse W :: www.steelhouse.com E :: contact@steelhouse.com MARKETING WHITE PAPER by SteelHouse Q3 2014 11
Conclusion So there you have it - a relatively easy way to get even better performance out of your email campaigns by utilizing social to create consistent messaging in both channels. We hope you re inspired to give this a try with your brand. SteelHouse is a data-driven marketing technology company that brings innovative advertising solutions to brands, agencies, and ecommerce marketers. The SteelHouse team is comprised of veteran direct marketers and engineers from eharmony, E*TRADE, Oracle, and the Rubicon Project. Together, we ve built the easiest Multi-touch ecommerce Marketing Platform SteelHouse CANVAS one platform for acquisition and retention, which consistently keeps the same message in front of an audience through display, onsite, and social. SteelHouse reaches more than 170 million consumers a month, across hundreds of the world s largest brands with its award-winning creative and retargeting technologies. At SteelHouse, we strive to stay on the forefront of digital marketing trends and technologies and keep you up-to-date through our website and other data-driven marketing resources. If you d like to speak with someone at SteelHouse about targeting your email subscribers in social... call 1-888-9-STEELHOUSE or email sales@steelhouse.com today. References: 1. http://mashable.com/2011/05/05/past-present-future-email-infographic/ 2. http://www.harbor-hyundai.com/infographic-the-evolution-of-email 3. https://www.optyn.com/resources/email-marketing/evolution-of-email-marketing 4. http://mailchimp.com/resources/research/effects-of-list-segmentation-on-email-marketing-stats/ 5. http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/facebook-vs-twitter-data-stats_b51335 T :: 1.888.9.SteelHouse W :: www.steelhouse.com E :: contact@steelhouse.com MARKETING WHITE PAPER by SteelHouse Q3 2014 12