Matthew has 8 years of experience in email and online marketing. Originally launching Claritas Interactive and helping to develop this across Claritas Europe, he was a member of the original Email Marketing Association (eMMA) and a founder member of the DMA Email Marketing Council. He is currently Commercial Director at behavioural marketing and analysis group RedEye.
Measuring email: past, present and future
How marketers measure email is changing and will continue to change.
Where we used to look at open and click rates, today we are putting in place plans to measure email lifetime value. So what is going on?
I was reviewing results from a split creative test on a basket abandonment email recently (names removed to protect the successful) and it struck me how the methodology for measuring email results can, quite erroneously, determine how we use email marketing and develop marketing strategies.
So I thought I would combine the results here with my recommendations on how to measure email marketing.
Email is much more than a cheap marketing channel
It is frankly maddening when I hear marketers talk about how ‘valuable’ email is because it is ‘cheap’.
It says to me this marketer is likely to be banging out high frequency emails to produce orders without due consideration to the real value of email marketing in CRM terms.
Top 10 tips for improving basket abandonment emails
RedEye’s latest Behavioural Email Benchmark Report shows that the number of online retailers employing a basket abandonment strategy has doubled from 7% to 14%.
So, I’ve asked the key guys at RedEye for their ideas about how to improve a basket abandonment email campaign. I got the fun of ranking them.
And in the style of Jimmy Savile, I’m counting down starting at number 10!
Basket abandonment myths debunked: No.2
I've seen a lot of advice recently suggesting that 'recency is the key', and all basket abandonment emails should be sent immediately.
I find it quite depressing. Individuals giving this advice assume that all customers are the same. Segmentation, customer analysis, research and even good old fashioned ‘thought’ is ignored for the sake of a headline.
In translation, these vendors are screaming ‘Spam the lot of them immediately!!’
Basket abandonment myths debunked: No.1
“You can’t use offers in Basket Abandonment emails because it trains customers to deliberately abandon”.
What tosh! All marketers know that offers improve conversion. To blandly state that you can’t use an offer to improve conversion on a basket abandonment campaign is at best a lazy excuse.
Are cookies off the menu in the new online Europe?
There has been a lot of noise recently surrounding the new legislation on online tracking and the use of cookies and permission. Marketers must sit up and listen to the potential underlying threat this legislation can pose and consider whether a new approach to transparency and education can head off the threat now and in the future.
It seems most of the controversy is based on the typical ambiguity that seems to exist in many online rules and regulations. Because, let’s face it, the situation is meant to be led by public opinion, with the legislators supposedly following suit. The public want to be “protected” from evil online marketing spies, who are poised and ready to sell something at the first sign of interest.
Or do they?
10 best practice tips for basket abandonment emails
Everyone is doing basket abandonment emails today… or so I thought. But I have just been proved wrong.
According to our research, less than 10% of the top 100 UK e-commerce sites (as defined by Hitwise) currently do basket abandonment emails, so I thought I would post the top 10 best practice learnings that we have had from the last decade...
The rules of email engagement: part two
A couple of weeks ago I posted a piece on the rules of email engagement, very much laying out fairly broad thoughts on the subject.
Now I want to follow up with a more pointed ‘plan’ that, if followed, will ensure a virtuous spiral of engagement and increased ROI...
The rules of email engagement
Bulk email is dead. OK, some people might still be doing it, but does that mean it works as well as it could? Just look in your own junk folder to find the many emails you have opted into but no longer reach your inbox.
So why is bulk email on the way out? Well, let’s consider what the top three email ISPs have to say...
Defining trigger, remarketing and behavioural emails
It is important, I think, to define what is going on and what is out there in the market regarding trigger email marketing, behavioural email and remarketing, phrases thrown around and often confused but which have key differences.
I want to hazard some definitions of these terms, and of course I am open to having these challenged...
