Underinvested in Email

The Canadian Marketing Association's latest study of direct response vehicles charts some interesting growth. Telemarketing still dominates, representing the biggest spend area in 2007 at $4.4 billion. Direct mail - the supposed workhorse of the industry - is a distant second at $1.6 billion. And look look who's hot on their heels - the Internet (Web and Email) at $1.4 billion. The biggest difference, however, is growth rates. Spending on mail grew by only 4% last year while Internet marketing posted a 24% gain. Any money on what will be second place in 2008?

The absolute fastest-growing vehicle was Email, with 26% growth in spending. But with a very tiny base of $38 million, it was only 3% of all online marketing in 2008. Compare this to the US where Email is 15% of all interactive spending - that's a five-fold increase. (Forrester Interactive Marketing Forecast 2007-2012). Given that Email consistently shows the highest ROI of any marketing vehicle from year to year, it begs the question: why are Canadian marketers so slow on the uptake?
Geoff Linton

'No time to test' is no excuse

A Jupiter 2006 report indicates that only 40% of email marketers incorporate email testing on a regular basis. Some industry experts speculate that the lack of testing is due to emails’ low perceived cost but we believe it’s more a resource issue. The average email marketing department is small (1-2 people) and few emarketers make the time. Testing can be simple…examine your email program and highlight the key drivers in your message (tip: targeting and offer variables have the biggest lift). If you outsource, make testing part of your agency deliverables .

The payoff can be dramatic and we typically see an increase of 50% in click-through-rate engagement. Jupiter reports that bottom line conversion rates average 1%-2% but improve to over 3% with testing. Inbox agrees and a large Inbox Marketer client recently improved their cross-sell rates by 300% through a series of sequential targeting/offer/creative tests. They are now armed with a powerful control package to drive their business.

Increase your ROI with Google Analytics

Are you doing everything you can to make a sale easy for your clients? Imagine having the ability to track your email completely while identifying problems quickly in time to make changes if needed. Interested? Meet Google Analytics, your new web analyst.

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics might be the greatest tool you can get your hands on. Not only is it a free service but it offers detailed statistics about your visitors behavior allowing you to create new marketing initiatives that work. Not only can you use this to gather information, but you now have the ability to tweak and test different SEM strategies to increase conversions. Now, your adwords marketing strategy doesn't have to feel like a high stakes roulette game. Google Analytics takes away the guess work by showing you which ads are performing and surprising you with the unexpected sources of quality visitors.

How do you know what to measure?

Take a moment and review your site: What are you looking for in terms of measurements? Mary E. Tyler and Jerri Ledford point out in their book "Google Analytics" that every web page is different. Once you've established what measurements you need depending on your web site's objectives, you can use those metrics to improve the site's performance. For example: If your business is mainly a content business -- focus on how much time your visitors have spent on your site, where they go and how often visitors return. If you're trying to sell a product, you might be look for average time to sale, rate of shopping cart abandonment or what products interest your visitors most. Once you realize what you're looking for, you can begin to tweak Google Analytics to view those results.. instantly.

Funnelling through your Email

The Funnel Visualization element to Google Analytics can be your best friend when it comes to a successful email campaign. Setting up a funnel is easy! Just enter a list of all the page URLs that are part of the funnel. Whether your email campaign objectives revolve around an opt-in or a sale, Google Analytics allows you to view all the bottlenecks in your conversion, and tweak them accordingly so your users won't get stuck in messy navigation or confusing content.

Google Analytics allows you free access to the information you need to increase your ROI. So, to conclude I leave with you Tyler & Ledford "short answer" as to why you should choose Google Analytics:

"Because it’s there and it’s free, and web-page counters are so 1997..."

Subject Lines to make you smile

Imagine an email campaign that has breakthrough opens, an unbelievably high click thru percentage and more conversations then you know what to do with. Now that you're smiling, take a moment to delve into the world of subject lines...

Before you think about subject lines, it's a good idea to...

Take a moment and look over your marketing statistics. Who is your audience? What are their likes/dislikes? Knowing the ins and outs of your target demographic will help you analyze whether your campaign needs segmentation. Imagine that you're the owner of a small clothing retail store whose target market is teenagers aged 13-18. Maybe you would like to send an email showcasing your sale on sweaters: Wouldn't it be easier for you to segment your list by gender to showcase male and female sweaters separately with a switch of an image perhaps?

Designing your Subject Line... and why copy is STILL important
The key to writing the right subject line is to surprise your audience -- not confuse them -- maintaining the right blend of consistency and a sneak peek of what the email has to offer.

There are three ways you can do this:

1. Start your subject line with your company or newsletter name
   
2. Personalize the subject line with your client's name
   
3. Grab their attention with subject lines offering tips, savings or sales.
   

Now you're ready for....

The Subject Line Test
What makes email different from other forms of Internet marketing is the ability to measure everything. When it comes to subject lines, you should take full advantage of this fact. Once you've created a few subject lines that you think will send click thru rates through the moon,
test them with your clients. Send 3 emails with different subject lines to 1000 people, wait 48 hours, and analyze your results. Which had the best open rate? Which had the best click-thru percentage? Which subject line did best overall? With this information, you have a better idea of who your client is and how they react to different offers. If one did remarkably badly, take note of this and make sure you steer clear of that line in the future.

Post Deployment Check-up
After you've sent an email with the subject line you've chosen,view your deployment report. What were the results? Were they what you expected? Review your email again. Would you have changed anything? Sometimes we come up with our best work after the fact, so it's a good idea to take a moment after each deployment and write down different thoughts or ideas that come to mind. These 30 seconds could kick start your next creative campaign, and make your next deployment even better!

Your next subject line could make the difference between the open rate of your dreams or a nasty nightmare. With these tips under your belt, you'll be able to sleep a little easier during your next deployment.

Good Luck!

Ogilvy on Email Marketing: 5 Signs you have your next BIG idea.

"No Idea is big unless it will work for 30 years.." - David Ogilvy

In a world where we get frustrated if our lattes take more than 2.5 minutes from buy to try, a thought like this is refreshing, even if it was proclaimed over twenty years ago. The late David Ogilvy, known by some as the "Father of Advertising", knew what he was talking about. I mean, he was the one with a roster a mile high that included some of the greats :American Express, Sears, Ford, Maxwell House and even our dear friend Barbie. I highly recommend reading Ogilvy on Advertising if you haven't already, he fills his pages with tips, blatant honesty and humor that gives you a unique perspective on advertising that remains true to this day.

One luscious morsel of goodness I found was his concept of the Big Idea: a checklist on how to know if you have the next best concept staring you in the face. Of course, upon reading this, I immediately began to think of the ways this could be incorporated into the world of email marketing:

1. Did it make me gasp?

It's hard to impress people in email, especially when they've got their mouse hovering over the spam button like it's the $1000 question on Jeopardy. Every once in while, however, a star will rise in the ranks with an email marketing gem that gets noticed. Marketingsherpa does an excellent job showcasing these email rock stars in their Email Marketing Awards 2007 wrap-up.

The Winner for Best Email Opt-in Campaign was one of my favorites. Voltimum, an online portal dedicated to electrical installation professionals, devoted an email campaign to the prospects who left their email addresses at one of their industry's trade shows. Each email was personalized with a picture of the rep they were introduced to at the show. Acquiring double opt-in permissions doesn't have to be a bore, and Voltimum did a great job making it look easy.

2. Do I wish I had thought of it myself?

According to the RetailEmail.BlogSpot, Gap was one of the first to create a "See Other Emails" section allowing subscribers to see samples of other newsletters. While most email marketers use a link to their preference pages, this allows the user to see all the newsletters GAP has to offer in their email. Imagine, a woman who usually receives the women's clothing newsletter while she's expecting. She takes a peek at the Gap Baby or Gap Maternity newsletters, and decides to subscribe. Creating this new spin on email preferences sets this company apart from the competition, while giving its followers that pang of regret for not thinking of it themselves.

My favorite "I wish I had thought of it myself" idea -- Bench advertising. You drive up to a red light, look to your right and see the snide bench ad leering back at you, "You just proved bench advertising works!".

Annoying -- but brilliant.


3. Is it Unique?

Thinking up the next best email to whip your customers into an email frenzy could be tough work. This is why thinking out of the (in)box is sometimes necessary. For example, instead of selling your customers something, why not ask them to help you? Abercrombie & Fitch's casting call last August was an excellent eye-catching campaign which asked the customer to send in their best photos for a chance at a modelling contract. A few months later, their newsletter showcased the behind-the-scenes video with the winners of the contest.

4. Does it fit in the strategy?

So you've come up with the next best thing, but before you go viral, stealth or astroturfing ask yourself, "Does this fit with the original plan?" Does your big idea fit with your company's objectives? Is it increasing customer loyalties?

Here at InboxMarketer, we have dedicated all our efforts to create unique ideas that also fit into the overall email marketing strategy. When you've hit upon the next BIG idea, the last thing you want to do is forget the processes and best practices that will give you the results you crave. We've created The InBox Guide to Strategic Email Marketing that we can send straight to your inbox to help you increase your Sales & Marketing ROIs in time for your next email campaign.


5. Could it be used for 30 years?

With such an intense focus on social media now, it's tough to say if we'll ever see the long 30-year-old campaigns Ogilvy talks about in his book. But instead, we ask the question, "Can we make this viral?"

Marketingsherpa created a listing of 2006's Best Viral Campaigns, and they are impressive: These campaigns include Peerflix's Paparazzi Celebrity Game, Beer.com's Virtual Bartender or the insanely perfect campaign "Blog in Space" by MindComet which highlighted the huge marketing potential of the blogosphere.

Keep these tips handy for your next BIG idea, and don't worry, even if your idea doesn't pass the test it doesn't mean that it's not a step in the right direction. Like Leo Burnett said, "When you reach for the stars, you may not quite get one, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either."