Latest Email Marketing content from Econsultancy

Q&A: XYDO CEO Eric Roach on email automation

2012-02-09T18:12:00+00:00

What led you to create this B2B email product?

We started off as a news-based social network and we'd create a daily email of the ten articles you should focus on. People loved it, especially reporters. We happened to be talking to a business and asked if this type of email would be useful and they said it was exactly what they were looking for.

So we created an email that embedded ten pieces of content that would be of interest to their users. Seven times the open rates. Bingo, we found something really powerful. But that was a small business.

We've tried this with 25 companies so far and it's worked across the board. We look for content that speaks to the interest of the user instead of spamming them with content they're not interested in.

How do you find the content?

We take keywords, twitter handles, hashtags or whatever the client wants to access and search for them across 300,000 feeds and three million users whose walls we watch. We look for social endorsing by liking, sharing, etc. and score the content and the system categorises the content by subject.

Why aren't most businesses doing this themselves?

Most businesses have a good idea what their customer base is but are not learning how to speak to them. When we ask them about their customers, they respond by giving base demographics. When we say no, what are they interested in, they'll be like they're interested in this and this and this.

There seems like a drastic need in this space. Telling the story is important but hard so they flounder. We decided to solve that problem.

So far we've seen five to eight times the click through rates than for emails the businesses we're working with have sent in the past. The emails are fully integrated with everything possible in social and 10 - 15% of all click throughs are shares. So businesses are essentially expanding their base as users are sharing.

The big question is always ROI. How are you measuring this?

We give as much analytics as we can: clicks, bounces, unsubscribes, type of devices, etc. On average 40% of click throughs are coming from devices, and the iPhone is used the most. As we produce content, we provide details of the type of content customers are clicking on. Through that a business can find their voice. These are the things their customers are interested in so that can tailor their promotion based on that.

We also retarget so we have the ability to target the user and do lead scoring, and provide sales teams with analytics. It's all about continued learning.

The same goes for our own development. With our product design, there is a direct connect between what we learn from the customers and the product. Before we even wrote the code for the new dashboard, we went to the customers and got feedback first.

What's next for you?

Social marketing. Our process is that we determine the content types a business wants and it produces a stream. From that stream, you identify pieces of content that you like to send to your customers.

Things go into email now but soon they may go into Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Pinterest. It will all be managed by one console.

What do you think the future of email marketing is?

I believe in the theory of unmarketing. When you stop screaming and start talking to customers about what they are interested in, that is marketing.

Apple Customers are defenders of the brand as they are giving so much value. Marketing needs to go this way. And to be done for all the right reasons. You only have to look in your own inbox, it's full of garbage. When you get something of value, it shocks you and that company will stand out.

The real return of investment is when you are looked at as a thought leader. That belief will benefit you years down the road.

O2 continues to surprise and delight with Valentine's campaign

2012-02-09T10:36:00+00:00

O2 head of social media Alex Pearmain said that the efforts at Christmas produced over 40,000 mentions on twitter, was covered on CBS' breakfast show in the US – and resulted in over 1,000 videos.

O2 is focusing on creating some ‘surprise and delight’ experiences for our customers and finding new and different ways to connect them – as well as with them as a brand.”

Unlike the Christmas campaign, which was wholly promoted via social media, customers will be informed via emails to its 5m strong newsletter database.

We wanted to make sure that customers have the opportunity to hear about and take part in the activity first, hence using our email programme to alert them ahead of anyone else.”

If people want a totally personal message, customers (and anyone else on Twitter once the campaign breaks) simply tweet the message they would like the O2 Cupids to read out to @O2, including using the hashtag #O2Cupid.

The company says that "every message will be picked up", and that the personalised videos will be posted to the O2 Cupids' YouTube Channel.

O2 will even send users’ messages to other people directly, leaving recipients guessing as to who their mystery admirer might be.

The personalised message idea is nothing new. Old Spice lead the way with its ‘Man Your Man Could Smell Like’ campaign in 2010, which was a huge success and sparked a series of copycat attempts. The Muppets used the same tactic just last month to promote its new film, getting Kermit the Frog to record personalised responses to questions sourced from Twitter.

'Surprise and delight' is also an age-old customer service method, but the introduction of social media has supercharged this. The idea of being a ‘one of the chosen’, with your personalised treat fully accessible to all, makes it more powerful. The reach is bigger, the reward is bigger, and it’s a simple mechanic that works very well when it’s done right.

The thing about this technique however, is that though it may seem gimmicky in some situations, it’s actually a very smart ways to create evangelists while benefitting from the positive effects of social media.

You create people who will talk endlessly, possibly for the rest of their lives, about that one time a brand did something amazing – while talking to a broader audience, teasing them with the idea of what they might be part of it if they were a customer.

Marketer versus machine discussions dominate OMS 2012

2012-02-08T19:38:00+00:00

The session began with a preview of the findings of our upcoming study of marketing attribution, in partnership with Google Analytics. Attribution is a hot topic at OMS and any other marketing conference you're likely to attend, with good reason. Done properly, attribution can greatly expand marketers' knowledge of how channels work, how they work together and how different customer segments interact with marketing.

Key takeaways from the research show that organizations need to:

Prepare for change
Organizations have to be prepared for the changes that attribution should cause to media mix and budget. If compensation packages are still tied to siloed spending, there will be resistance to adopting an attribution-based model.
Be aware of the effect of change on customers
Marketing automation is another set of practices and technologies that can have a profound effect on the customer relationship. At its best it decreases the sales cycle, increases lead quality and boosts retention. It also saves marketers from busy-work.Successful automation takes people, ironically.
It requires the technical resources at the front end to ensure that the technology fits with and talks to existing systems, as well as the people with the creativity and commitment to making automation work. The strongest play is to attach compensation elements to automation goals; with so many priorities, marketers have an easy time prioritizing against their personal bottom lines.
Commit to the customer experience
Customer experience is an exploding area of interest for marketers and the many vendors serving the space. There are many facets to the 'customer experience' and marketers can choose from a wide set of methods and technologies for observing, collecting data and evaluating how customers interact with marketing assets.
The big question for organizations is how far they're committed to going in their orientation around the customer. Are they willing to reorganize around customer segments, or are they looking at measures like cross-disciplinary teams to spread the lessons of customer analysis? For those that commit deeply, the benefits include higher dollar values per customer, easier retention, and improved products/services.

We also touched on a few specific channels where we have recently conducted research including:

Mobile
The key takeaway is simple; no company has the luxury of ignoring their mobile visitors. The growth rate of visits from mobile devices is through the roof, regardless of sector. One place where companies are failing to capitalize on this growth is mobile behavior.
Only 27% of companies have some awareness of how mobile visitors' behavior differs from web visitors. They're ignoring vital information that should be informing their mobile strategy, sites and/or apps.
Email
Recently, we completed a study of email practice in conjunction with the Email Experience Council of the DMA. The interplay between social and email is on everyone's mind, but few are trying to cross pollinate between the channels.
Even though a channel like Twitter delivers a very different value and experience from email, companies aren't trying to use the content that's unique to each channel to encourage multi-channel opt-in from their subscribers. Nor are they likely to have a strategy for how social and email programs work in tandem.
Social
Social engagement ranks as the top priority for marketers responding to our Quarterly Digital Intelligence Survey conducted in partnership with Adobe. Yet, social measurement lags far behind on the list. This is especially ironic because marketers are likely to agree with the statement that social has produced more goals and programs, without generating the revenue to support them.
Our conversations with attribution marketers often turned up insight on how social was a 'helping' tactic for the sale, but without measurement, social will remain caught in a limbo between promise and performance.

FUNNEL 2012

2012-02-07T17:40:07+00:00

Does your email marketing need a new prescription?

2012-02-07T14:30:26+00:00

Someone has clearly thought: “look how technology can replace all the letters and paperwork we used to send out” but without really driving the strategy home. Replacing letters with email is all well and good but it’s just a tiny piece of the whole picture.

If you’re really trying to change user behaviour, you have to reinforce your message at every opportunity. Why didn’t it come from a recognisable source? Why hadn’t just a little more thought been put into joining all this up?

Considering the recent news from The Telegraph that just 89 patients signed up to a new initiative allowing them to contact their GP by email, you sort of get the feeling that some of these schemes are missing that element of co-ordination that could really generate mainstream adoption.

Part of this has to be down to the marketing strategy. How many of you even knew the “email your GP” scheme was out there?

If you don’t publicise these initiatives, how do you expect anyone to take them up? When are organisations like these going to learn to make the most of digital marketing?

A common diagnosis

In a similar way, there are many companies who use email marketing tools but are failing to make the full use of key features. Ironically, these can often be ones they highlighted rapturously when putting out their tender.

You almost have to ask whether marketers have enough time to make the most of these features, and we should certainly consider how you can help them really get their money’s worth from them.

Naturally there’s the option of many “managed services” out there but to really keep things simple, we’ve spent a lot of time revising our welcome programme for customers who start using our tools.

Sophisticated triggers cater for more than 40 different possible points in the onboarding lifecycle or different approaches to it. But you don’t necessarily need to invest in it that heavily to get results.

One step at a time

Sometimes it’s a matter of starting small. Roll out one email to say hello and establish the relationship. From there, you can start to implement more copy, perhaps reach out once a week.

That only means 52 emails a year. Even if you just decide to go monthly, that’s 12 emails and, with all the tracking and analysis available, you’ll begin to literally see the results.

So start small, forget the fear factor and get stuck in. We’re with you every step of the way. We’ve done this before, we know how to monitor it and we know how to help you develop the best possible strategy.

Three steps to keeping email marketing simple but effective

2012-02-03T15:01:29+00:00

1. "Test! Test! Test!” should be a mantra for all email marketers

Ensuring you hit your audience with relevant, personalised and timely messaging is crucial. Think of it like a driving test. All the theory in the world, the hours spent memorising the Highway Code, won’t help you when you’re out on the road.

The only way to pass that test is to practice.

In order to hone the effectiveness of email, delve into all the precious data you collect on the people you’re trying to reach, to provoke them into action.

Take insights from people’s preferences and purchase history (if available), and experiment with length and tone of subject lines, and different types of content.

Consider HTML, the length of copy, size and colour of images, embedded links and video. Even the choice of vocabulary and use of punctuation are important elements in avoiding the spam trap (don’t over exaggerate by using too many exclamation marks!!!!).

Continuous testing and data analysis will enable you to tweak your strategy for communication and additionally provide greater insight into your consumer segments and how they respond to your communications.

As a result, you can begin to segment your audience in more detail and refine and personalise the types of content you send them. It’s important to use the data to understand the likes and dislikes of individuals to boost brand advocacy.

Compare the results of your email tests

For example, subject line length, type of offer or call to action included, or response to keywords used, with metrics for your website, SEO and PPC, mobile engagement and offline activities, and you will begin to see trends.

Which targets were receptive? Which didn't respond? Is the offer right? An in-depth analysis of campaign responses enables you to improve effectiveness and optimise the return on investment.

This information can then be used to strengthen knowledge of the target audience, influencing future communication strategies and marketing plans.

Testing means making the most of data to devise and send your campaigns, and the virtuous circle will be completed by response data that underpins improved email marketing the next time out.

Amazingly, we’re beginning to see marketing plans change every quarter and in some instances every 30 days! All the more reason to “test, test, test” to see how your audience is engaging with your brand and to ensure you keep ahead of the pack.

2. Time of day

People engage with brands in many different ways, so there isn’t always a “one size fits all” approach to timing. It’s important that you review the data in detail to find the optimum time to target people.

Don’t just look at how many people opened your emails, look at who opened them and when.

As a rule of thumb, many marketers send emails between 7am and 10:30am, targeting subscribers as they wake up in the morning or when they reach the office.

Another popular distribution time is noon, to engage people during lunch breaks, or early evening when users typically jump back online to purchase the goods they have been researching in the office.

To be honest, these times have collectively shown good results for most brands, but to really ensure you reach your targets at the right time, look at your response data and the time stamp on your opens (also compare this to the ‘delivered’ time to analyse the gap between send and open, you may be surprised to see some of your emails being opened 3 to 4 days later).

Finally, you can cross-reference the email address and offer code to understand how effective your email communication was in driving revenue.

An example of good practice was the activity of an online retailer which used an innovative tactic to work out the ideal time to send emails to individual users.

Their theory was that if users were available to sign up to an email list at a certain time, they would be more receptive to receiving an email at the same time on subsequent days.

The company’s campaigns resulted in 20% uplift in click-through, approximately 65% increase in conversion and average revenue per recipient boosted by almost 200%.

On the flip side to ‘push’ email campaigns are customer-initiated interactions. Responding to these with immediate and relevant messages and offers, again implemented through the use of existing data, can greatly enhance the relationship and strengthen loyalty.

3. From and subject lines

These are two very important elements. The first thing a subscriber will do is scan the 'from' address to ensure the email is being delivered by a reputable source (i.e. a brand they recognise) then they perform a final pass on the subject line.

Subjects need to be punchy and enticing, short and simple (try to keep it to less than 50 characters). It is important to ensure that you include some type of personalisation and the organisation’s name.

Try to keep the WIFM (What’s In It For Me?) front of mind, as people generally respond well to “Offer”, “Sale”, “Attention” and “Invitation”.

Not all communications are about sending offers, so if this is the case make sure there is a value exchange and that the intent of the email is clearly stated, e.g. “Company Name Newsletter: December 2012” or “Company Name Newsletter: Important Information”.

Ultimately, a combination of context and content is vital to drive successful email communications.

Changes and challenges for email marketers in 2012: report

2012-02-02T17:53:00+00:00

As highlighted in the survey results, problems with email often comes from tactics. Companies who are creating precise and unique email campaigns continue to find the highest return. For them, this is often the best way for communicating with customers and prospects over the long-term.

Those who still compensate for relevance with volume by “batching and blasting,” have found the results have ebbed, deliverability has dropped, and list growth is slowing. No wonder email gets such a bad rap.

Some of the hurdles companies are facing, as outlined in this report, are due to budget restraints and the increased reach of social media:

75% of respondents describe competition with social media as “somewhat” or “very” challenging.
In a similar vein, 69% believe that young people are abandoning email as a primary channel.
65% report that it’s a challenge to get the budget that their email programs deserve.
Yet agencies report that the majority (60%) of their clients who use them for email are increasing their email usage.

With social media pulling focus from email, how well are companies integrating the two channels? Less than one in four organizations has a documented plan to integrate email and social. Other than the widespread use of sharing icons (69%), only 35% of companies have incentives for email subscribers to join their social programs.

This highlights perhaps one of key takeaways from the Email in Action Survey: companies need to acknowledge that online behaviours are changing in a profound way and on a massive scale. Certainly this means email strategy will need to be reconsidered.

The subscriber experience needs to be shaped with mobile and social in mind. It will be those companies who are already integrating their user experience across multiple platforms may find greater success in this traditional marketing medium.

The UK Econsultancy team are currently conducting a similar survey on email marketing with Adestra. If you are interested in taking part, you can fill out the survey until February 8, 2012.

2012: Email in Action

2012-02-02T17:32:00+00:00

New digital devices and services are causing large shifts in online behavior, altering how consumers are using email. Marketers are responding to the new mix, and adjusting their email strategies to compensate. Challenges abound, but there are also new opportunities just waiting to be maximized.

This 42-page study, asks over 450 in-the-trenches North American email marketing experts about:

Integrating email and social media
Email use trends
Spending trends & Budget distribution
Segmentation & Personalization
Automation
Benchmarking KPIs

Conducted in partnership with the Email Experience Council of the Direct Marketing Association, this report features 45 charts, covering a range of topics, and broken down by target market. It will be an asset to all levels of marketers, from beginners who are just learning about email marketing, to experienced professionals seeking to benchmark their performance and outlook against their peers.

Introduction
Executive Summary
Challenges to Email
Email and Social
Testing and Tracking
Budgeting and Financial Metrics
Email Benchmarks
Personalization & Segmentation
List Size and Growth
Automation
Improving Email Performance
Methodology and Respondent Demographics

Table of Figures

Figure 1: Challenges to Future Success in Email

Figure 2: Clients’ Use of Email: The Agency View

Figure 3: Social and Email Integration

Figure 4: Social and Email Integration (B2C)

Figure 5: Social and Email Integration (B2B)

Figure 6: Email Factors Tested

Figure 7: Email Factors Tested (B2C)

Figure 8: Email Factors Tested (B2B)

Figure 9: Email Metrics Tracked

Figure 10: Email Metrics Tracked (B2C)

Figure 11: Email Metrics Tracked (B2B)

Figure 12: Email Budget Distribution

Figure 13: Email Budget Distribution (B2C)

Figure 14: Email Budget Distribution (B2B)

Figure 15: Financial Metrics Tracked

Figure 16: Financial Metrics Tracked (B2C)

Figure 17: Financial Metrics Tracked (B2B)

Figure 18: B2C Lead Generation – Newsletter Benchmarks

Figure 19: B2C Lead Generation – Sales Email Benchmarks

Figure 20: B2B Lead Generation – Newsletter Benchmarks

Figure 21: B2B Lead Generation – Sales Email Benchmarks

Figure 22: B2C Direct Sales – Newsletter Benchmarks

Figure 23: B2C Direct Sales – Sales Email Benchmarks

Figure 24: B2B Direct Sales – Newsletter Benchmarks

Figure 25: B2B Direct Sales – Sales Email Benchmarks

Figure 26: Definitions of Inactivity

Figure 27: Factors in Personalization/Segmentation

Figure 28: Factors in Personalization/Segmentation (B2C)

Figure 29: Factors in Personalization/Segmentation (B2B)

Figure 30: Preferences Offered to Subscribers

Figure 31: Preferences Offered to Subscribers (B2C)

Figure 32: Preferences Offered to Subscribers (B2B)

Figure 33: Changes in List Size

Figure 34: Changes in List Size (B2C)

Figure 35: Changes in List Size (B2B)

Figure 36: Effectiveness of Automated Triggers

Figure 37: Effectiveness of Automated Triggers (B2C)

Figure 38: Effectiveness of Automated Triggers (B2B)

Figure 39: Word Cloud – “What’s the Key to Effective Email?”

Figure 40: Respondent Organizations by Type

Figure 42: Target Markets of Respondent Organizations

Figure 43: Respondents’ Primary Conversion Goal

Figure 44: Respondents’ Database Size (B2C)

Figure 45: Respondents’ Database Size (B2B)

Companies boosting digital marketing budgets - new report

2012-02-01T12:09:00+00:00

Econsultancy's Marketing Budgets 2012 Report, published by Econsultancy in association with Experian Marketing Services, shows increasing levels of investment across a range of digital channels and disciplines.

According to the research, based on a survey of more than 500 companies and agencies, more than two-thirds (68%) are increasing their digital budgets for 2012, compared to 45% of companies increasing overall marketing budgets but only 16% saying the same for 'traditional' marketing budgets.

Three-quarters (74%) of companies are investing more in digital marketing technology this year, up from 67% who expressed similar intent a year ago.

The research also shows an encouraging commitment to address the skills gap within many companies, which we have previously described as 'a ticking digital time bomb'. More than half (56%) of companies say they will recruit more people into their digital teams this year, up from 52% a year ago.

Despite this progress, 'lack of staff' is still cited as one of the most significant barriers preventing further investment in digital marketing.

The chart below shows the proportion of companies planning increased investment for specific areas of digital, with more than half of organisations planning to boost budgets in almost every area. (Groupon investors should look away now.)

What best describes your budget plans for the following digital marketing channels or disciplines in 2012?

Commenting on the findings, Mark Zablan, Managing Director, Experian Marketing Services, UK & Ireland, said:

While spend is increasing, it is little surprise that much of the dynamic growth has been in companies trying to understand, interpret and measure customer behaviour within this increasingly complex marketing ecosystem.

The key to success is turning huge quantities of data into insights which show behaviour not only across channels, devices and platforms, but which also span both the online and offline worlds and drive customer engagement.

Marketers are therefore investing in the tools, technology and people to allow them to deliver greater returns on their campaigns and present insight and results back to the business in a meaningful and incisive way.

The report also looks at levels of investment in offline channels such as printed media and direct mail. Television is the only 'traditional' marketing channel where investment is holding steady rather than declining.

The research shows significant investment in mobile, as businesses seek to engage with the vast numbers of people now consuming information on devices such as smartphones and tablets.

Zablan added:

While social networks may dominate media headlines, and are gaining ever-increasing shares of marketing budgets, strong performances by channels such as mobile and TV highlight the vital importance of a multichannel strategy.

Google, Facebook, PayPal and Microsoft join forces to fight phishing

2012-01-30T17:15:00+00:00

“Email has changed the way the world communicates. But many of the attributes that have made it great – it’s openness, it’s interoperability – have also made it vulnerable to malicious activity. The beauty of DMARC is that it attempts to address the security threats to the email ecosystem without impacting its utility as a communication channel,” said Matt Blumberg, CEO of Return Path, a leading email certification company. “Fast, widespread adoption of DMARC will make a significant dent in scammers ability to perpetuate crime through email.”

According to a report from the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), more than 300 brands are hijacked by phishers every month.

"Email phishing defrauds millions of people and companies every year, resulting in a loss of consumer confidence in email and the Internet as a whole," said Brett McDowell, Chair of DMARC.org and Senior Manager of Customer Security Initiatives at PayPal. "Industry cooperation - combined with technology and consumer education - is crucial to fight phishing."

DMARC is encouraging all Internet Server Providers (ISPs) to adopt these standards in order to clean up our inboxes. This will be good news to those using email in their integrated campaigns. With less spam and fears of phishing, customers should gain more trust in the emails they recieve.

Over the next 18 months, DMARC standards will be tested and further developed. For organizations interested in improving email authentication, there is still an opportunity to be a part of the conversation at www.dmarc.org.