David HallermanPrincipal Analyst

N O V E M B E R 1 8 2 0 1 0

N E W Y O R K NY

Email Best Practices in the Age of Social and Mobile

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What we’ll look at today: 7 best practices are ideas, not absolutes

① Mix social and mobile with email

② Deal with the details

③ Build better segmentation and targeting

④ Email and social more than just share-this

⑤ Mobile is now email central

⑥ It’s all about value

⑦ It’s all about choice

Idea Idea #1#1

Idea Idea #1#1

Mix social and mobile with email

Instead of cannibalizing, they fuel one another…

The shared elements, the right blend, the virtuous circle

Email + social = strengthen customer relationships (with key differences)

Email + mobile = different messages, more and more local opportunities

Permission + value = the common thread (communicating + giving)

Use one channel to drive interest in other channels (e.g., mobile offer for email subscribers only)

All emphasize need for short and sweet notes (audience has attention span of a cocker spaniel)

Twitter – #eMwebinar

Integrated email helps build brand awareness and greater engagement, boosting deliverability and other good things

Not news that marketers increasing focus on social and mobile—but email, too

Jay Baer, founder, Convince & Convert

“The first step in social media effectiveness

shouldn’t be building an empire of half-baked, free-standing social outposts,

but rather determining how to add social frosting to your existing marketing

cake.”

Idea Idea #2#2

Idea Idea #2#2

Deal with the details

Traditional best practices for email marketing are the foundation…

The basics still rule—but now marketers oversee an empire, not just a kingdom

More chances to get people to say “yes” (develop various methods and channels for opt-in)

More ways to collect data (know where it came from)

More opportunities to send messages (find the right balance between overwhelm and ignore)

More time with your audience (refine message for blend of channel and customer life cycle)

More contact through social and mobile (highlights need for clear and attractive subject headers)

More need for mutual communication (two-way)

Twitter – #eMwebinar

Opt-in email creates higher customer engagement than social or mobile alone—but together…

Email list data quality reaches peak with full-scale opt-in (a committed audience)

Single Opt-In

Affiliate Network orForward to Friend

Purchased List or List Rentals

Double or Confirmed

Opt-In

More people of any age subscribe to opt-in emails than become brand fans on Facebook

Tactics used to build opt-in email lists, June 2010

Source: Lyris, October 2010

Of course, best practices mean grappling with email’s many details besides opt-in

Subject & from lines Time of day/week Frequency Cadence (life cycle) Message types/formats Building opt-in lists Saying hello (greeting) White-list language List hygiene

Personalization Testing A/B variables Segmentation (targeting) Deliverability Opens Clickthrough rate Landing pages Triggers to send or stop Call to action

David Daniels, chief executive officer, The Relevancy Group

“A lot of the tactics that you need to apply in social or

mobile are the same as direct-marketing tactics. You have

to test. You have to optimize, particularly as you enter a

channel like social that may be new to the business. All

those rules still apply.”

Twitter – #eMwebinar

40%-plus of marketers test both email’s unique elements (subject lines) as well as creative and offers

Eric Groves, senior vice president, Constant Contact

“You determine the look and content of a message and send it to your contact’s inbox. The recipient can choose to read it or not—but whatever happens

will give you valuable information for the future,

even message bounces.”

Most important reason to use an ESP (email service provider): to measure and analyze all the details

Idea Idea #3#3

Idea Idea #3#3

Build better segmentation and targeting

Data is crucial for all three channels…

More touchpoints mean more data points mean more accuracy (potentially)

More information to get inside the head of audience

Cross-channel communication means greater need to identify different preferences of audience members

Segment audience by demographics, geography, value, product category, source, channel, activity

Target messages based on mix of segments and customer preferences (to improve relevancy)

The ideal: one database for all channels (email and social and mobile best managed by same people)

Be aware of privacy concerns when targeting

Twitter – #eMwebinar

Nearly 70% of marketers segment and target their email lists (what’s up with the other 31%?)

Most important email marketing initiatives in 2010

Source: StrongMail, December 2009

Data derived from email can improve mobile and social marketing performance (and vice versa)

Basic email data contributes to better segmentation and targeting for B2Bs

Top 5 tools marketers use to segment audiences blend traditions

Source: Forrester Research, July 2010

Relevance is key factor in deliverability and relevance highlighted by social and mobile mixed with email

Idea Idea #4#4

Idea Idea #4#4

Email and social more than just share-this

Communication is a two-way…

Social-email combo means more avenues for engaging with customers

Email, the original social medium (share with a friend)

Follow-us links in email, sign-up forms on social

Social media increases exchange of ideas; need to carry that over to email (active return address)

Loyal customers can become brand ambassadors (how to identify them?)

Vary the conversation by the channel (no cut-paste)

Email shifts social marketing metrics from web goals (traffic, page views, fans) to response goals (conversion, revenue, average order value)

The ongoing connection: Email and social together increase brand reputation

Features that inspire trust on social media sites, June 2010

Source: Invoke Solutions, July 2010

Stephanie Miller, vice president, Return Path

“Another thing email and social media marketing

have in common: both are driven by content. The

content that you create for your email program is

something that becomes an asset for your social

program and vice-versa.”

Twitter – #eMwebinar

Sharing content is mainly a mix of email and social (% of messages shared)

Source: SocialTwist, October 2010

The two ways most people share content: email and Facebook (no surprise)

User review content is typically derived from social but often used in email marketing

The fusion of email and social: better results according to 54% of marketers

Idea Idea #5#5

Idea Idea #5#5

Mobile is now email central

At least for many people…

Mobile still fairly undeveloped for email marketing, which means…

Chance to steal market share from competition

Smartphones are fueling an email revival

Need to create email that fits the small screen (various screens and rendering)

People scan inbox quickly (which emails to open right away, which to save, which to trash)

Personal devices emphasize obtaining permission

Local marketing, but also local testing

Be brief, give format choices, right landing page

Twitter – #eMwebinar

At this point in time, social-email integration offers more impact than mobile-email

Email dominates users’ mobile internet time (% of average hour, June 2010)

Source: The Nielsen Company, August 2010

Mobile media usage in the US, Q1 2010 (location low now, look to email & SMS)

Source: The Nielsen Company, August 2010

Texting akin to email for mobile, but even more personal and therefore needs very clear permission for advertising

Idea Idea #6#6

Idea Idea #6#6

It’s all about value

Discounts, free stuff, content, news, previews, communication…

There are very few real “fans”—most people want something back

Typically money in some form (discount, free, deals)

Inside info, news, previews, access (feel special)

B2B content: case studies, white papers, webinars (cover topics target audience most interested in)

Direct communication with a company decision-maker

Email-social media’s value is about being personal, conversational, offering expertise and dialogue

Email-mobile’s value is about time and space (immediate offers work well, coupons too via SMS)

Vary the value (over time, for customer, for life cycle)

Incentives are as much engagement as most people want with companies

Email is often about finding deals (and you think FB fans are any different?)

Simms Jenkins, chief executive officer, BrightWave Marketing

“The bread and butter of any email program is to give

something of unique value. So on the Facebook page, we said: ‘If you are on the email list, you

are going to get a great offer next week. No one will get this offer except email subscribers.’

We used social to drive subscription interest in the other

channel.”

Twitter – #eMwebinar

Consumer motivation to share an email address is typically value in return

Idea Idea #7#7

Idea Idea #7#7

It’s all about choice

Foundation for all aspects of marketer-consumer relationship…

The digital space is about people choosing who/when/what they want to hear

Robust preferences give recipients control

Robust preferences give marketers data

Choice creates receptive, engaged audience

Opt-in is only the first step in the choice ladder

Give channel options (e.g., text message instead of email; deals via Twitter, text and/or email)

Give delivery options (when, how often, format)

Discover preferences over time, directly and indirectly (it’s just like dating)

Twitter – #eMwebinar

“Because the email marketer understands

permission, he or she is in the best position to

own the emerging channels of mobile and

social.”

Scott Olrich, chief marketing and sales officer, Responsys

Finding out what people want is both a social and email strength that drives deliverability

The more marketers ask about interests, the more data for segmentation

Accurate usage of recipients’ preferences builds more receptive audience—the reverse is reduced loyalty

Tim Kopp, chief marketing officer, ExactTarget

“You need to meet consumers wherever they

are. That way you can honor their unique

preferences in how to reach them.”

Twitter – #eMwebinar

However, only 37% of retailers actually make it easy to manage preferences

TakeawaysTakeawaysTakeawaysTakeaways

Best practices are nearly endless, but what holds them together is this…

Your audience doesn’t live in channel silos, so don’t market to them that way

The same central details that make email work can be replicated with social and mobile (especially segmenting and testing)

Gathering data to discover your audience, who they are and what they want, can color entire campaigns

Two-way communication brings the social-email connection to life (invest in people to do the job)

Mobile-email an emerging market (puts extra weight on testing)

Giving value, offering choice is paradigm for digital marketing beyond the email-social-mobile mix

Who is Return Path?

Manage Your Reputation

Reach the Inbox

Earn a Higher Response

Email Monitoring ToolsEmail CertificationConsulting Services

Clients who’ve grown with usAchieves Double Digit Open & Click-Through Rates

Achieves 35% Increase in Conversion Rates

Achieves 100% Increase to Inbox Placement Rate

WHITEPAPER:Back to the BasicsAnd why you need Return Path in addition to an ESP

http://www.returnpath.net

The place to be to ensure your

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Presented by:David HallermanPrincipal Analyst, eMarketer, Inc.

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Email Best Practices in the Age of Mobile/Social

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