The NEW New Rules of Email

The NEW New Rules of The NEW New Rules of EmailEmailINNOVATIONS, SECRETS AND INNOVATIONS, SECRETS AND STRATEGIES TO BOOST RESULTSSTRATEGIES TO BOOST RESULTSFlorida Direct Marketing Florida Direct Marketing AssociationAssociationMarch 15, 2012March 15, 2012Karen Talavera, President Synchronicity Karen Talavera, President Synchronicity MarketingMarketing

• Nationally-recognized email marketing expert, educator, writer, speaker and consultant

• DMA Email Marketing lead training instructor since 1999

• Member Email Experience Council, Only Influencers• Top 100 Women in Ecommerce 2012 (WE magazine)• President and Founder, Synchronicity Marketing

– Founded 2003– Email Marketing Strategy, Training & Consulting– Based in south Florida serving clients worldwide

Your Speaker: Karen Talavera

Our Agenda

Email Marketing 2012: The NEW New Rules

Welcome Aboard: List Growth & Subscriber Retention Strategies

Getting the Open: Subject Line Secrets and Lies

Good-bye Vanilla: Content Options and New Creative Tactics for more flavorful marketing email

What Do You Mean by the NEW New Rules?

How Does This Apply to Email?

Welcoming Them Aboard so they Want to Stay

List Growth & Subscriber Retention

The #1 Way to Grow Your Email List

ASK!

NEW New Rule #1

Website

Paper (order form, etc.)

Phone (customer orders, etc.)

In Person (POS, check in, etc.)

You’re Probably Already Doing These

But Are You Using ?

Free consults/ discovery sessions (strategy sessions, breakthrough sessions) immediately engage and qualify interest

“Selling by Way of Serving first”

How about this?

And what about ?

Make sure there is an ONGOING value exchangeMake sure there is an ONGOING value exchange

Live by WIIFM

WIIFM?

NEW New Rule #2

Show and Prepare

Improve subscriber sign-up rate by asking only for the bare minimum

NEW New Rule #3

Asking Too Much

Better but Still Heavy

Remove Sign-Up Roadblocks

Ideal KISS

Remember:

Once you have the email address, you can go back to ask for more data or a complete profile later

Reassure and provide choice/flexibility to retain

NEW New Rule #4

Reassure

How you will use their email address

How you will protect their privacy

How you will use their email address

How you will protect their privacy

Reassurance

Beyond Reassurance: Choice & Control

Add an Opt-Down to your Unsub Pages

List Growth & Subscriber Retention Key Takeaways

In summary:1. Leave no stone unturned2. WIIFM3. Set expectations4. Create comfort5. Alleviate anxiety (pre-pave the

subscriber experience)6. Create trust with reassurance, choice and

control

New Research Reveals What Makes People Open

Subject Line Secrets and Lies

NEW New Rule #5

Average Marketing Email Open Rates According to Epsilon's Email Trends &

Benchmarks Report

New Research on Subject Lines In 2011 Alchemy Worx tested and

analyzed common assumptions about subject lines Short (< 35 characters) outperform long Single vs. Multi-proposition

Analyzed 205 million delivered emails across their entire client base

Total of 646 subject lines examinedSource:

Subject Line Length Analysis

The longer the subject line the lower the open rate, but the higher the click-to-open rate

Source:

Subject Line Length Findings Subject Lines (SLs) under 60 or more than 70

characters generate the highest response

Shorter SLs generate higher open rates, an initial measure of interest, but much lower click-to-open ratios

Longer SLs generate a higher click-to-open ratio, an indication of ongoing interest and true response

Open and click-to-open rates intersect at about 60-70 characters, a “dead zone” where neither metric is optimized

Source:

So if Longer Might Be Better . . . What Do You Say? Multiple vs. Single Propositions (topics)

Longer subject lines can accommodate multiple vs. single propositions, which increase relevancy

Get detailed (about the offer, benefit, or content) Use length to get specific enough for subscribers to

decide how relevant each message is to them The more relevant they consider the message, the more

likely they are to take response action beyond the open

Use separators between major points if multi-proposition

Single vs. Multi-Proposition

Single – often but not always shorter; longer can work for specificity

Multi – can be short, but at any length must get to the point

v

v

Subject Line Key Takeaways

They act as a relevance filter The more information you can get into the subject line, the

higher the percentage of your relevant target market will open

Length not as much an indicator of response performance as specificity

Keep them in perspective With “average” open rates around 22%, the vast majority

of email does not get opened no matter who you are or what you do

Innovations and tactics that get them to engage

New Content & Creative Strategies

NEW New Rule #6

Content from Two Perspectives

Three Flavors of Email

Performance of Triggered Blows Broadcast Out of the Water!

Triggered email messages can generate 10 times the revenue and 20+ times the profit of broadcast campaigns

Customer Email Program Example

Hewlett Packard monthly newsletter

– HP Newsgram sent to all registered customers

– Clearly-displayed issue month and table of contents

– Value-added:

o Free projects

o Interactivity, video

o HP Daily Surprise

o Cross-sells HP products too

Other HP Email Message Types

HP deploys a good mix of newsletter, sales promotions (deals), and holiday greeting emails

Even Triggered Email

Upgrade offers like this are frequently time or date-triggered

Apply and Align Messaging to the Customer Lifecycle

Each stage of the customer lifecycle naturally lends itself to specific email messages

Use them to shift and direct the dialog

Mix it Up

Storyboard your entire email program Some message frequency and sequencing can

be planned, but allow for triggered Create a flowchart illustrating message types,

timing, frequency

Don’t be “the friend who only calls when you need something” Although accustomed to heavy promotional

message volume from retailers, consumers also want conversation, community, news and fun

Compelling Email Content Ideas Evolve, supplement or refresh your static HTML

or plain text email with Animation Video Temporally-relevant campaigns Dynamic Content

Movement and multi-media = more clicks

Time, place and quantity-specific content = greater relevancy = more clicks

Animation

Use minimally and strategically

Movement is eye-catching

Can enable more content than static images

Video in Email – Two Approaches

• Link to self- or web-hosted• Preferred for now due to spam blocking, filtering, image

rendering and streaming video support issues

• Streaming video into inbox• Video or animation streams into the message over an

open connection to the Internet• Requires no plug-ins or media players on subscriber end, works with any

ESP• Requires HTML5-based message design• Current environments supporting video in email:

• Windows Live Mail (Hotmail) (H.264)• Apple iPad mail client (H.264)• Blackberry (BOLT 2.1) (OGG Theora)• Apple iPhone mail client (H.264)• Apple Mail 4 (H.264)• Thunderbird (OGG Theora)

• Leading current solution: Liveclicker (www.liveclicker.com)

Self- or Web-Hosted Video

Video in email tips: Alert them that the

email contains video Subject line and headlines Put video front and center Play/pause console should

be visible Host in your domain or Host on your YouTube

channel for longer shelf life

Streaming Video into Message

Liveclicker’s Video Email Express is integrated with several ESPs Generates simple

HTML code for inclusion in email

They host and deliver video content

Style Campaign also handles video in email (sans audio)

Example courtesy of StyleCampaign.com

Temporally-Relevant Content

Beyond seasonality and holidays, leverage major events, news But, tread

cautiously or know your audience

Dynamic Content

Big and getting bigger Content served can be based either on:

database-attributes (i.e. gender) Aka “custom publishing” in which you predestine certain

content for certain users based on database profile attributes

real-time response behavior (open on mobile) Use location, time and device to sense what should be

served Aka evolutionary optimization

Not just for email content – can define landing pages too

Time-Based Dynamic Content

Movable Ink’s technology allows emails like this one (to a conference attendee) to display live

counts of people attending the event

To have an offer that changes by the date or time

Example courtesy of Movable Ink

Other Dynamic Content Approaches

This retail message displays location-specific

store information Real-time

inventory updates

Time-based offer updates

Example courtesy of Movable Ink

Content Key Takeaways

When it comes to your email program, serve a multi-course meal, not the same dish over and over again

Greater message variety = less predictability = higher interest and engagement Continuity programs create high trust, so some email

should come on a regular schedule (newsletter) However the unpredictable gets noticed more

Static HTML is fine, but with HTML5 video in email is again possible

One size-fits-all is out. Triggered and dynamic content will dominate email of the future

Want More NEW Rules of Email? Join me Wednesday March 28th at 11:00 AM

for a free training callThe NEW Rules of Email

Email Marketing Innovations, Tactics and Secrets you MUST Know to Generate Sales, Revenue and

Business Growth in 2012 and Beyond

Sign up for call details at

www.synchronicitymarketing.com/newrulesofemail

Site and Blog www.synchronicitymarketing.comwww.synchronicitymarketing.com

Email: karen@synchronicitymarketing.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/SynchronicityMarketing

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/KarenTalavera

Twitter: @SyncMarketing

Phone: 561.967.9665

Thank You! Thank You! Questions?Questions?