The Four Rights

Rok Hrastnik is the International Internet Director of Studio Moderna, and he's just taken the stage here at MarketingSherpa's Email Summit '09 to share his thoughts on why email marketing is all about branding.

Rok's thesis is that too many marketers see email marketing strictly as a sales funnel.  In real life, the purchase is not a straight line.  As a result, you need to always measure indirect impact on sales--not just direct impact.

A few key points from Rok:

• When you measure indirect impact, you find that email marketing positively impacts direct purchases through other channels (such as search marketing)
• Shifting your view of email requires a shift of your email marketing strategy (need to mix in engagement calls-to-action along with sales CTAs)
• Segmentation is key to creating desired brand impression within different demographics
• Subject lines aren't just about getting the email opened--it's also about motivating specific segments with language that motivates them according to their interests.
• Don't just segment content, segment presentation.

So how should you measure and assess indirect email marketing impact?

1. Readership & engagement (time on pages, interactions on website)
2. Churn (not just unsubscribes but also decline of engagement)
3. Delayed conversions (with long-term expiration and no conversion variable overwriting)
4. Short-term cross-channel measurement
5. User behavioral changes (increased engagement, cross-channel interactions, etc.)

All in all, I think Rok's message is one that every email marketer needs to hear.  In order to get the respect & budget you deserve, you must:

1. Demonstrate clear direct sales impact
2. Measure & demonstrate clear indirect sales & engagement impact
3. Segment, segment, segment
4. Integrate email into your brand marketing efforts
5. Advocate for your awesomeness--don't be shy about your successes, share them with leadership and at conferences like the Email Summit.