Mapping Out Your Email Calendar

Preview:

Citation preview

Brunch & Learn: Mapping Out Your Email Calendar –

How to plan ahead so you can send the right

message at the right time for maximum results January 29, 2014

A special thank you to:

Thank you for joining us – we will be starting at 12:30 PM ET/9:30 AM PT

If you are unable to hear music at this time, please make sure that your computer speakers are turned on and that

your system has not been muted.

#DMIQWebinar

Tips for Webinar Attendees

• Technical difficulties? Let us know by using the “Q and A” box, or

trouble-shoot by clicking the “Help” widget below

→ Quick tip: Common problems (like loss of sound and/or stall in the slides)

can often be fixed by a quick refresh of your browser.

• Have a question for today’s speaker? Submit via the “Q and A”

box

• Please disable pop-up blockers

• See what this console can do! Click on the “Tips for Attendees”

widget for the complete rundown.

Don’t forget to “share” this webinar! #DMIQWebinar

Today’s Speaker

Peggy Hatch President/Publishing Director

Direct Marketing IQ

Moderator

#DMIQWebinar

Reggie Brady President

Reggie Brady Marketing Solutions

bit.ly/Email2014

Agenda

• Why calendars are a valuable to increase relevance

• Frequency –how many emails do I send?

• Getting to relevance – beyond batch and blast

• Subject lines and relevance

Why do I need a calendar?

• A calendar is a vital planning tool

­ Helps you to organize the upcoming themes, products or categories of products to be featured

­ Allows you to shape the flow of your email program

• A calendar ensures your program has variety

• A calendar allows you to plan for the introduction of new products and services

• And, a calendar makes sure you take advantage of seasonal holidays

Image source:http://www.clarkisit.com/dates-remember-2014-holidays-events-festivals/

Calendars – holidays are important

Transaction rates on holidays vs. regular mailings

Experian – 2011 Digital Marketer Benchmark and Trend Report

Calendars as a planning tool

• Map out at a high level your upcoming plan

Just bullet points

Include those elements that are important to you

­ Sales

­ New product launches

­ Direct mail/catalog drops

­ Seasonal merchandise to be promoted

Include any holidays or special events

• Be clever

Take advantage of events

Superbowl tie-in

Subject line: Get Ready for the Big Game

with these Big Deals from HP

Take advantage of events

Inauguration tie-in

Subject line: Mrs. Obama and

Barneys LOVE...

Take advantage of events

Daylight savings tie-in

Subject line: Don't Be Late! Daylight

Savings up to 30%

DisneyShopping takes advantage of

their characters

Like the promo code DAYLIGHT

Take advantage

of events

Daylight savings tie-in from Brookstone

Subject line: Never worry about Daylight Savings

Time again!

Nice tip at bottom – a good example of value-added

content

Oscar tie-in

Vivre – an upscale fashion retailer featured

Oscar de la Renta items to past Oscar de la

Renta buyers – good segmentation!

Opens: 38.2%

Clicks: 15.9%

Conversions: 8.9%

MarketingSherpa 11/19/06

Take advantage of events

Geo-targeting to let subscribers know about

a heavy snowstorm expected

Subject line: Heavy snow is forecasted in

your area – be prepared

Take advantage of events

Take advantage of events

April Fool‟s Day tie-in

Subject line: Runner! New INVISIBLE

Running Shoes Are Outta Sight!

The Frequency Conundrum

There is no perfect answer

Frequency

how much is too much?

5 times a month 12 times a month

The positives

What’s the Potential Impact of

Over-Mailing?

Activity/Metric 5X 12X

Subscribers at start of year 500,000 500,000

Emails delivered per year 29,931,600 89,769,000

Email revenues $ 6,584,952 $ 14,363,040

Revenue per email $ 0.22 $ 0.16

Unique buyers 23,466 36,553

Arthur Middleton Hughes Internet Retailer – October 2008 – Finding the right email frequency for maximum profit

The negatives

Arthur Middleton Hughes Internet Retailer – October 2008 – Finding the right email frequency for maximum profit

What’s the Potential Impact of

Over-Mailing?

Activity/Metric 5X 12X

Monthly Unsubscribe Rate 0.74% 1.87%

Monthly Spam Complaint Rate 0.05% 0.64%

Monthly Bounces+Unsubs+Complaints 1.54% 3.44%

12 months List Churn 13.7% 46.2%

Lost subscribers 68,400 231,000

Cost to replace lost subs @$14 $957,600 $3,234,000

Annual profits from email $1,257,000 375,000

Profit % 19.1% 2.6%

Frequency

is a reason for opt outs

Exact Target - 4-11

Opt-down

This practice is used by

many email marketers

that mail more than

once a week.

Unsubscribe Best Practices

Frequency

the flip side of the coin

Testing the impact of frequency on

engagement

Newsletter

& resend

Twice monthly

& resend

A company that sent a monthly newsletter tested increasing

frequency in a 4-way test to equal groups

A 3-month picture

Source: Dela Quist – Alchemy Wokrx 3-13

Testing the impact of frequency on

engagement

Source: Dela Quist – Alchemy Worx 3-13

Based on percentage analysis the once a month strategy wins by a

large margin!

A look at percentages for opens and clicks

Testing the impact of frequency on

engagement

Source: Dela Quist – Alchemy Worx 3-13

Group 4 (bi weekly + resends) had the lowest overall open rate … but

the highest total opens. Different people open at different times.

And Group 4 had the highest purchase rate

And a look at the numbers

One idea on frequency

• Send more frequently to those who have opened and

clicked in past 90 days

• Send once per week to those who are less active

Another idea on frequency

Subject line: Want

to receive fewer

emails?

Frequency is OK with relevance

injected

Relevance

Make each customer feel special

Image source - http://getittogethermedia.com/one2one.html

Motorcycle Superstore

• Segment on type of bike

interest

• Purchase history

• Click activity

Results

• Opens went from 18.5% to

38.6%

• CTR from 6.2% to 20.6%

MarketingSherpa 3/26/08

Relevance Preferences and purchase history

Localized content – shows

closest locations based on

where the subscriber

opens the message

Movable Ink

Relevance Personalized content

National Hockey league

• 800,000 fan database

• Segment on zip & favorite team

• 60% of fans don‟t live in the city of their

favorite team

eDialog 7-10

Relevance Geographic content

A Boston Bruins fan living in Boston receives

an email with Bruins imagery and the Bruins

first 7 home games

A Bruins fan living in Philadelphia receives

Bruins imagery, but the game schedule only

has info on games in which the Bruins were

playing the Philadelphia Flyers in

Philadelphia.

The NHL believes this system increased

single ticket game sales by 31%

American Meadows sends a weekly email.

Now they send an additional email 3 days after main email.

Those who click on a product receive an email with a call-to-

action based on the product clicks

Those who did not click receive an email based on the most

popular product

Results:

• Behavioral segmentation increased revenue by 14%

Email behavior

Bronto website

Relevance

Subject lines

Stand out in the inbox overload

Image source: http://www.compliancesolution.com/ComplianceSolution/Web%20pages/Subpage%20Unsafe/Overloading.htm

Subject lines

Epsilon – 1/09

Shorter may be better!

• As a general rule of thumb, 8 in 10 will read the subject

line and From line

• That means you have to spend time on your subject line • Some copywriters believe you should spend ½ your time

on this

Top 15 most used words

Source: Experian The 2010 Digital Marketer: Benchmark & Trend Report

Impact of words

Source: 2013 Adestra Subject Line Report

Green means that

the word has a

positive impact on

results

Red means the

word has a

negative impact

on results

Impact of words

Source: 2013 Adestra Subject Line Report

Green means that

the word has a

positive impact on

results

Red means the

word has a

negative impact

on results

Which test won? Which subject line got better deliverability?

A. Free Guide – plus 3 mentions of the

word free in the email

B. SEO Guide – and no mention of the

word free in the email

MarketingProfs: Email – 10-24-12

Which test won? Which subject line got better deliverability?

A. Free Guide – plus 3 mentions of the

word free in the email

MarketingProfs: Email – 10-24-12

Version A was delivered to 99.3% of

recipients

Version B was delivered to 99.2% of

recipients

However, Version B had a 17% higher CTR.

Free won‟t harm delivery rates … but make

sure it resonates with your audience.

Which test won?

Which subject line increased opens and engagement for B2B services

company?

A. B.

Which Test Won – Email Testing Gold Award 2012

Live today: Next Generation Desktop

Summit

Live tomorrow: Next Generation Desktop

Summit

Which test won?

Which subject line increased opens and engagement for B2B services

company?

A.

Which Test Won – Email Testing Gold Award 2012

Live today: Next Generation Desktop

Summit Version B had more clickthroughs and

opens, but Version A had more

completed registrations.

This test was run on 2 different lists, a

home grown list, List 1, and an acquired

list, List 2. „Live Tomorrow:…‟ won in

opens and clickthrough for both List 1 &

List 2.

However, “Live Today:…” increased

registrations on List 1 by 232% and

increased registrations on list 2 by

121%.

Which test won?

Which subject line increased opens for an email services company?

A. B.

Which Test Won – Email Gold Award 2012

Improve Deliverability in Two Simple Steps Amanda, Improve Deliverability in Two

Simple Steps

Which test won?

Which subject line increased opens for an email services company?

B.

Which Test Won – Email Gold Award 2012

Amanda, Improve Deliverability in Two

Simple Steps Version B increased opens by 5.13% and

increased CTR by 17.36%.

In order to eliminate the chance that the

content reflected in the email affected

open rates, AWeber ran this test on 7

different blog emails. All emails used the

same email templates and directed users

to the new blog posts.

Subject line personalization

• Expedia tested personalization in the

salutation and had the email come

from Cathy Cruiser

• Results:

0.5% higher opens

23% higher clicks

Less likely to unsubscribe or report

as spam

• Then they tested subject line

personalization - "Dave, Your 7 Day

Alaskan Cruise Awaits.“

• Results:

10% increase in opens

Email Sherpa – 5/26/12

Take aways

• Use a calendar

• Frequency – monitor your metrics and look at both numbers and percentages

• Getting to relevance – go beyond batch and blast

• Strategically use subject lines

Reggie Brady

reggie@reggiebrady.com

(203) 838-8138

Reggie Brady

President

Reggie Brady Marketing Solutions

Questions?

Question & Answer Session

If you haven‟t done so already,

please take this time to submit

questions to our speakers using

the “Q&A” box on your console.

#DMIQWebinar

Enjoying this webinar? There’s so much more where this came from!

Click the publication widget below to sign up for a FREE subscription to

Who’s Mailing What! Report.

Thank You

#DMIQWebinar

Thank you for taking the time to attend our Webinar today.

For additional information about our Webinar series, check out the following Website:

www.directmarketingiq.com/webinar

Please take a moment to fill out our feedback survey.

(It will open in a new browser window/tab momentarily!)

Recommended