MEET YOUR SPEAKERS

Brian Banks,ACCOUNT DIRECTOR, BLUEHORNET

John Bilderback,SR. CREATIVE DESIGNER, BLUEHORNET

• Blindsgalore uses an opt-in light box triggered by website behavior:

• number of pages visited

• dwell time

• abandonments stats

• Clever, concise copy emphasizes value proposition

OPTIMIZE OPT-IN

• Location, Location, Location – Go beyond the home page and layer multiple (and persistent) opt-in options through out your website.

• Test interstitial and pop-up opt-ins –Brands with light boxes see in upwards of a 50% increase in acquisition rates.

• Keep it simple – Use common sense to determine appropriate fields for the acquisition form.

• Don’t forget about mobile – Include the mobile user’s experience when determining acquisition strategy.

• Keep it clean – Validate subscribers at sign up to ensure data quality.

DESIGN & PLACEMENT

ACQUISITION FORM BEST PRACTICES

• Collect the data you need, leave the rest.

• You can always ask for more later. Use a preference center or progressive profiling to acquire more data later in the consumer lifecycle.

• Test the number of form fields you use to understand where opt-in behavior starts to decline.

• Confirm (and thank) subscribers when they complete the form.

• Make sure error messages are helpful and clear.

• Track acquisition source to determine your most valuable subscribers and add another dimension to your reporting.

65% of B2C companies

require 2 - 4 fields for list

growth efforts

BLUEHORNET & ASCEND2, EMAIL LIST

GROWTH SURVEY

• Recent BlueHornet consumer research shows that almost 50% of consumers are “Not Likely” to share marketing messages to their social networks.

• Use social appropriately

• Make it worth their time – and yours

• Thank subscribers

• Set expectations

• Incent conversions

• Encourage cross-channel engagement (if appropriate for your audience)

• Tell your unique brand story

• Welcome is worth it. This campaign saw a 300% increase in open rate and almost 1000% increase in CTR. Revenue-per-email (RPE) is one of the best for the brand.

• Pet360 sends early & often

• Day 1: 20% thank you discount

• Day 5: Coupon reminder & product line exploration

• Day 11: Value-added content, beyond product

• Day 14: Coupon conversion urgency

• Send the first email immediately.

• Set expectations and clarify what you’ll be sending and when so subscribers know what to expect from you.

• Educate about special benefits, loyalty programs, and cause initiatives.

• Consider rewarding subscribers with a special offer – but you may not need to.

• Welcome is a great time to ask for additional information.

• Provide a link to your preference center and allow subscribers to customize content and cadence.

• Test performance to optimize cadence, content and call-to-action.

• Consider tailoring your welcome to acquisition source.

• Global Hotel Alliance’s DISCOVERY rewards program delivers a true 1:1 experience.

• Each message is custom tailored by membership level, award status within membership tier, stated preferences, and recent travel.

• This data is also reflected in the linked landing page.

• Rich, detailed, consistent creative delivers a luxurious brand experience.

WELCOME

POINT ACCOUNT SUMMARY

POINTS ACCRUAL, REMINDERS

BIRTHDAY REWARD

• Mountain HardWear sends a discount 7 days after subscription to surprise & delight their customers.

• Result? Higher engagement, higher lifetime value than using a discount to incent loyalty membership.

• Subscribers like it so much they share it with others to encourage them to join the program.

LOYALTY

LOYALTY REWARD

Recent BlueHornet consumer research shows that nearly 75% of consumers expect personalization based on online purchases and self-reported interests.

• More than 50% of consumers surveyed also expect personalization based on gender, birth date, and web browsing behavior.

• Preference centers are a great way to start.

BikeBandit asks for email address and bike riding style at subscription, enabling an effective level of initial personalization right out of the gate.

Subsequent emails encourage account set up where subscribers can specify bike type.

And it works – 70% of their subscribers complete this information.

Luxury Link wins them back:

• Subject line & body copy are relationship-focused

• We Miss You!

• Where’ve you been?

• Hi <First Name>, Still Want to Get Travel Deals?

• Subscribers are reminded of the value to them

• A special offer incents conversion

• Strong call-to-action

• Subject lines drive success – Opens are critical to overcoming habits of disengagement. Test and optimize to ensure you’re sending your very best.

• Keep it short and sweet – Email content should be concise, to the point, and compelling.

• Be direct – Tell your subscribers what their behavior, or lack of behavior, means to the relationship moving forward.

• It’s okay to say goodbye – Ensure the “unsubscribe” button is clear for those who decide to leave.

• Encourage a dialogue – Let your subscribers tailor their experience by providing links to an Opt-Down or Preference Center.

• Allen Edmond’s temperature-sensitive campaign was enabled by location at time of open.

• Those at 40 and below saw the winter wear version.

• Those at 41 and above saw the rain gear.

• Context is king.

+300% click-through

rate

• Edmunds.com customers engage with the brand most right on the lot.

• Email is tailored to the device of open.

• One click to download the app

• Great creative continuity

• 68.07% of shopping carts are abandoned*.

• Columbia Sportswear sees open rates between 55% and 66%, and RPE between $5.89 and $10.30.

• Average RPE is a 10,000% lift over promotional messages.

*Source: Baymard Institute, Dec. 2014

• Do your research – Experiment with the number of reminder emails and the amount of time required before each email triggers.

• Remind subscribers of what they’re missing – Feature an image, description, customer reviews, and testimonials of the abandon item(s).

• Focus on customer service – Be sure the reply address is a monitored inbox, and give customers multiple ways to order (phone, live chat, etc.).

• Consider sweetening the deal – Test including incentives such as free shipping, free returns, or discounts if the first email doesn’t lead to a conversion. But be careful, you don’t want to train your consumers to abandon in order to get a discount.

Rethink the every day with

“new” holidays

• National Donut Day

• National Ice Cream Day

• Talk Like a Pirate Day

Make up your own events

• Technology Tuesdays

Push the envelope

• David Hasselhoff’s birthday

• It’s Burning Man Season

Go international

• Guy Fawkes Day

• Day of the Dragon or Lotus

• Know your audience. For Brighton customers, more is more.

• Going the extra mile with detailed content to create a larger story around a recent purchase.

• Refreshing change from typical follow-up purchase emails.

• Create a great brand experience by showing your appreciation and focusing content around customer service.

• Include images of the purchased product(s) and include as much additional product information as possible.

• Build community by soliciting reviews for recently purchased products.

• Incentivize customers to re-purchase with free shipping offers on their next purchase or a discount on their next logical product.

• Be mindful of the thin line between transactional and promotional messaging.

• Great design

• Inspirational

• Tied to relevant events

• 12+ products per email

Like a post purchase series,

product lifecycle messages are

great vehicles for building trust.

Help your customers with

warranty information, product

care guides, loyalty programs,

and additional resources and

services available.

• Focus messaging around utility and better customer experience, rather than a sales email.

• Personalize the email with images of relevant product.

• Make it easy to purchase again. Craft a click-to-conversion path that reduces the amount of clicks and fields as possible.

• Consider a series as the time to repurchase/ replenishment nears.

• Use the opportunity to cross and upsell related items, warranties, and services.

Recent BlueHornet research indicates that more than 40% of consumers will stay on your list if you simply allow them to control messaging frequency.

Another 40% will go regardless of what you do.

Use the opportunity to improve your program – like this smart survey.