Improving Email Campaigns: Improving Email Campaigns Getting Results from Email Marketing
Agenda: Agenda Why Email Marketing? Best Practices for Email Design Testing Tools Building HTML Emails Campaign Examples Discussion
Why Email Marketing?: Why Email Marketing? Improve E-commerce Target specific areas of a site Increase conversion (sales) Time Offers Offer subscriber only discounts and benefits Increase Brand Awareness Build Trust Relevance Target specific groups through segmentation
What’s Measured?: What’s Measured? Delivery Rate Total number of emails sent Does NOT mean “delivered to inbox” Bounces Hard and soft bounces Open Rate (20-25%) Total number of HTML emails opened Excluding text emails, very misleading metric Unique Click Through (3-7%) Percentage of unique clicks on an email Good metric to use Conversions Ultimate metric, with help from web analytics
Subject Lines: Subject Lines Very important Influence open rates Open rates decline (average 20-25%) Declining open rates increase importance Attention Grabbing Creative Avoid spam key words Buy, Sale, $, !, ALL CAPS 40-50 Characters
From Lines: From Lines Also important Signify a trusted source Branding important Good: Rosetta, Rosetta.com
Examples: From / Subject: Examples: From / Subject Gmail Yahoo Webmail
HTML Design: HTML Design Trust is a major factor Logo identity placement important Personalization is a plus Ex: Dear Jane Smith, Message must be discernible even if images are disabled
HTML Design: HTML Design Layout Tips Avoid long message with scrolling Keep design within 650 pixels wide Keep total email including images around 100k in file size Optimize Images JPEG : 40-50 compression GIF : 32-64 colors “Call-to-action” above the fold and generally in the center or to the left of the email
Where is the Fold?: Where is the Fold? Depends Generally 300-400 pixels down from the top depending on individual email viewer settings Web mail can increase width and height slightly Test designs to improve results
Content: Content Message and Links Use links within body copy as a backup to buttons Use white space effectively Think billboard advertising Keep subject, headings and copy consistent with message Avoid Flash or audio inside emails Move Flash or rich media to a landing page
Design Challenges: Design Challenges Outlook 2007 No Longer uses IE as a rendering engine Word 2007 as a rendering engine Lacks good CSS support Lotus Notes Strips out most CSS Requires strict HTML 4 coding Gmail Removes most CSS Strict SPAM filtering
Building Email HTML: Building Email HTML Browsers / Viewers Outlook Yahoo Webmail Gmail Hotmail AIM Free Email Testing Services http://www.campaignmonitor.com http://www.litmusapp.com
Building Email HTML: Building Email HTML More Robust Service http://www.exacttarget.com Capabilities Dynamic Content Templates Team Development Segmentation List Management Advanced Web Site API
Building Email HTML: Building Email HTML Why not just slice and send? Relies too much on ALT text for "call-to-action" Many recipients never enable images Decreases total delivered emails Flagged as spam
Building Email HTML: Building Email HTML Code email as “old school” HTML Use strict HTML 4 coding Avoid CSS formatting Use short “call-to-action” ALT tag “call-to-action” for images and buttons Use spacer images for specific pixel layout Break design out into HTML as much as possible Optimize images for best delivery resultsBuilding Email HTML: Building Email HTML Markup Tips HTML Layout <table> Specify widths, image sizes Avoid cellspacing and cellpadding Use spacer images Fonts, Colors and Styles <font> <i> <strong>
Slide 23: Branding Personalization Call to Action Spacer?! Banner?! [comp]?! Site Service, Spam Compliance Example Email (open)
Slide 24: Example Email (w/ images enabled) Personalization Call to Action Site Service, Spam Compliance Branding
Slide 25: Email View on Click (1024 x 768)
Slide 26: Email View w/ Images Enabled (1024 x 768)
Slide 27: Crate & Barrel in Gmail
Slide 28: Crate & Barrel in Gmail
Slide 29: Sanjaya-ize Viral Campaign Released on August 20th 494 Senders (Forwards) 772 Friends
Discussion / Sources: Discussion / Sources http://www.emaillabs.com/tools/ http://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/ http://www.clickz.com http://www.exacttarget.com http://www.forrester.com