A couple of conversations today prompted me to take a fresh look at the "mobile email problem", as I have come to think of it.  After reading our whitepaper "Email Marketing for the Third Screen" a client asked, "But I am still not sure exactly what to do!"  Yep, you are not alone.

There are a lot of ideas out there about how to solve the problem.  Some are better than others.  Some are simply poor and short-sided... but I digress.  Fact is, all of the proposed solutions are nothing more than workarounds to a complicated and baffling problem derived from the fact that no common coding standards exist.  Optimize for one scenario and you mess up performance for another.  There is no simple quick fix.

Now that I have rained on everyone's parade, the larger question really is "What is going to FIX the mobile email problem?"  This question was raised in a discussion this afternoon.  The following is an edited response I posted to that group.  Enjoy!

The right answer is for mobile devices to adopt standards for rendering email such that current coding standards work.  This is similar to the standardization efforts that helped unify the internet.  Remember when the internet was littered with images like this?  Thankfully they are gone now.



The initial thought was to muster the email troops and lobby for the adoption of standards that would better serve the consumer.  However, the market forces against getting manufacturers to standardize how they treat email are simply too strong at the moment.  Consider that iPhone recently leapfrogged the entire industry in their ability to render email and now RIM (Blackberry) has Apple pegged as enemy #1.  How well these devices support mobile email is a huge competitive advantage and when you are talking about selling cell phones, you are talking about big, big bucks.  In several attempts to engage with people who could influence the adoption of industry standards I was met with head shaking and laughing, as if to say, "How naive?"

Fortunately, Apple has done more for creating the necessary pressure than any lobby could ever hope to do.  Their move with the iPhone was a huge step toward "rendering email properly". The pressure they have applied to the market to handle email and the online experience well (no matter how much one may agree or disagree about "how well" thus far) is already accelerating changes in the market.  RIM knows they are in a fight as they enter the consumer smartphone market.  They will need to update their enterprise mail server capabilities and get with the times... or get their teeth kicked in.  All Apple needs to do is drop their price to $100 for a smartphone and RIM drops out of the consumer battle.  Since the consumer smartphone market is is where the big money is in the coming years, it is imperative for RIM to upgrade the way they handle email and the web.  I believe that B2B trends will follow quickly... or else RIM will go the way of Lotus Notes to be only used when IT has already invested too much to pull out.

My belief is that this problem will fix itself through market competition in the next 2-3 years, which is faster than a lobby would probably have an impact. We have not seen the long term solution yet, but it is coming--the competition is fierce, and that is a good thing for our cause.  After getting laughed at realizing the economic forces at work, we stopped trying to beat the "thy must standardize" drum.

For now, mobile email remains a big challenge.  Only a select few have figured out solutions that are even halfway decent.  Nothing stellar.  There is the trade-off between desktop appearance and mobile rendering.  Where mobile is highly likely (e.g., travel alerts) then go with simple single column, boring old email.  If simply trying to accommodate for a mobile audience where readership is more likely to happen on a desktop, then then trying to minimize the distortion of email on the mobile device by using tools like Pivotal Veracity eDesign Optimizer for mobile devices and then leverage a click to view solution (where the landing page determines the type of browser and then renders the page accordingly). Unfortunately, that is still the best I have come across. 

ExactTarget is committed to investigating other alternatives.  Moreover, this is a personal passion of mine and there are many others at ExactTarget passionate about finding better workarounds.  We are optimistic that a decent workaround is on the horizon, but not foolishly so--there will not be a perfect workaround until standards emerge.  If you have ideas that you would recommend or like to try, let us know, we would love to work with you.

See this example for a good example of how to keep the quality of your email list high.  The grim reality is that subscribers tend to interact with your newsletters less as time goes by. This begs the question, why would you want subscribers who signed up three, four, or five years ago on your list?  There is a good chance these subscribers are just fluff and not driving much traffic to your site.

I received this excellent example from MediaPost. Instead of waiting until their list grows old and tired to clean it up, they keep their list evergreen by maintaining an annual subscription model. As you can see, my subscription is up this month and they recently started running these renewal reminders at the top of my daily email.

By doing this, MediaPost keeps their list fresh, response rates up, and keep themselves out of trouble often associated with mailing to old names (such as hitting dead inboxes that most ISPs monitor). Many fear that by adopting this approach, they will drastically cut into the size of their list. This is not completely unwarranted, but it is short-sighted. Despite the annual subscription approach (which by the way has worked for print subscriptions for years) MediaPost is able to keep the size of their list up. According to Mediapost's media kit, circulation for the EmailInsider newsletter is 58,000... pretty impressive for a high quality B2B email list.

When starting a new email marketing strategic planning engagement, we often rely on a combination of tools to help assess a client's value proposition.

What is working now: For established senders, we start by looking at historical results. What has worked in the past and what has not? What types of links draw the most traffic? Etc.

What is working for others in the space: This is where competitive intelligence tools come into play. Email Analyst allows us to look at the email messages that competitors are sending and it provides insight on the traffic that those emails may be driving through an overlay of traffic data from Alexa. This provides incredible insight into what appears to be working for competitors. Thus, it provides good insight into messaging components that the client may want to consider.

Identify and validate key messaging components: Combining the learnings from the prior two steps, we come up with the key messaging components that appear to be on target for the client's audience. We then develop a survey around those key messaging components to validate which components subscribers want most.

Set the value proposition: The last step in the process is to codify the value proposition. Using all of the data gathered through these three steps, the key learnings are distilled into a single, straight forward value proposition that is used to guide future messaging and list growth initiatives.

There are several advantages to this approach... but the most compelling advantage is that it aligns your program with the expectations of your subscribers.  In a marketing channel where the subscriber rules... this is a huge step toward ongoing success.

If you didn't see it already, ExactTarget and Email Data Source announced a partnership in November.  Check out the press release.

Since then, I have been getting questions about how to use competitive intelligence to improve your email program.  Here are just a few of the ways we use competitive intelligence.

1. In strategic planning, use competitive intelligence to monitor what appears to be working for your competitors.  Email Analyst allows us to look at the email messages that competitors are sending and it provides insight on the traffic that those emails may be driving through an overlay of site traffic data from Alexa. This provides incredible insight into what appears to be working for competitors. Thus, it provides good insight into messaging components that the client may want to consider.
2. Look for positive trends in subject lines. Wondering if terms like "Free shipping" are overused? Are they really taboo? Competitive intelligence can help you assess different terms and phrases you are considering using in your subject lines. With Email Analyst's view into site traffic data, you can also get a feel for whether or not these "taboo" phrases really are taboo! (Hint: they probably aren't if your sender reputation is good)
3. Track the frequency and cadence of competitors email programs. 
4. Evaluate the in-house vs. 3rd party email mix of your competitors. Many companies drive traffic to their site through links in 3rd party emails. A competitive intelligence tool allows you to see which emails are driving traffic to your competitors sites... and it allows you to look at the links (content links, text ads, banner ads, etc) that are driving the traffic. Moreover, it allows you to figure out who your competitors are partnering with early on, and allows you to develop a counter-strategy.
5. Track where your brand is showing up. This is especially important when working with affiliates. Bill McClosky, founder of EDS, told me about meeting a prospect who asserted that their affiliates were not, absolutely not, sending email on their behalf. A quick search in Email Analyst proved that wrong... something like 30 emails had been sent in the prior month that drove traffic to the prospects website... all affiliates.
6. Identify new partners. By searching for key phrases and terms that are used in emails, you can identify like minded companies that are leveraging similar phrases and, thus, may be targeting similar audiences. Sure, some of these will be direct competitors... but some may be future partners!

The difference between doing email appends right and doing them wrong involves changing one significant step… the outbound message.  Instead of the outbound message containing a link to opt-out, the outbound email marketing message should have registration as the primary call to action. This approach to email appends is called "opt-in" email append.

ExactTarget was one of the early proponents of this approach and we have now real life experience with this approach under our belts.  Opt-in email appends have been very successful in delivering highly responsive subscribers without the headaches and pitfalls associated with opt-out appends.  However, the challenge is in getting a significant number of people to convert on these outbound email invitations.

Success in converting opt-in email appends involves defining your value proposition. It involves having a compelling reason for subscribers to register--selling your program to the prospective subscriber. All of which is based in the bedrock of marketing success... a good strategy combined with strong campaign execution.

Once you have your strategy for enticing prospective registrants, follow the steps outlined in my previous post about opt-in email campaigns.

The thing that clients like about this approach is that they only pay for emails that are likely to perform. It can take a while to get past the reality that this is not going to add a million email addresses to your list, but that shouldn’t be the point. There are only two business models that can drive revenue from an unresponsive email address—list brokers and email append vendors. By working with these providers on opt-in programs, you eliminate waste and ensure that you will get email addresses of real, live people that are likely to respond.

Yes, this puts a premium on the associated costs and makes pricing more complicated.  Don't expect to pay $0.50 per email address acquired through an opt-in append.  Things like the loyalty of people on your house file, the strength of the call to action, the size of the input file, and anticipated conversion rates may be considered in determining costs. But at the end of the day, this is in the best interest of the client as it avoids the issues typically associated with opt-out email appends and the overall quality is much, much higher.

The Silver Bullet?

Companies looking at email appends are typically looking for a fast and efficient way to grow their lists.  Don’t buy into the promises of a quick and easy solution to grow your list. To be completely cliché “If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.”

Done right, email appends can be effective—but they still take time, careful planning, good execution, and financial resources.  It is not the silver bullet that most people imagine when they latch on to email append as the solution to their list growth woes.

• Done wrong, as is the case with opt-out email appends, we have found that these initiatives are more time and cost intensive as other list growth tactics.
• Done right, in the case of opt-in email appends, we have found these initiatives to be at least as time and cost intensive as any other list growth tactics.

Given this reality, 9 out of 10 times, I prefer to invest the same time and resources into other proven list growth methods.  A couple consistent winners are:

1. Make sure that there are compelling opportunities to register for email throughout your website. This is basic, basic stuff… START HERE.
2. Integrate search campaigns with email registration. Search campaigns should be integrated with email registration efforts. Capturing email addresses on landing pages is the first step. Aligning the call to action on your landing pages with specific search campaigns is the second step. For example, visitors from brand keywords should get a different call to action than visitors from direct in-category keywords or competitive keywords.
3. Integrate with offline efforts. Provide an incentive as part of your existing direct mail or print advertising efforts to register with your company online.
4. Partner co-registration. Find like minded companies that you can cross promote. You include a signup space on their page and vice versa.
5. Tradeshows are huge for B2B marketers. This is no secret, but there is often a significant effort involved in collecting all those business cards and then getting those contacts to opt-in to your program. Do the due diligence and get these systems in place.

If my inbox is any indication, list growth was a common goal set for this year.  In the past week, I have been asked for information on email appends and other list growth tactics by several clients a day.

Most email append providers offer what we call an "opt-out" email append service.  The process looks something like this:

1) Client provides a file containing street addresses of customers or prospects that is matched against a database. Where a match to the client's list is found, the email address is appended to the record.

2) An email is then sent to the individuals on the newly created list with the option to opt out. (Interestingly, many email append companies advertise the low number of opt-outs that are received... but more on that in a minute)

3) After allowing some time for people to opt-out (typically a week), two files are returned to the customer. The first file is a list of successfully appended and delivered emails. The second is a list of opt-out emails to be used for suppression.

Cost

We have worked with several third parties on email append projects with clients. Pricing is competitive in this industry with rates from reputable email append providers starting around $0.50 per appended email address with significant discounts based on volume. Pay attention, since there are hundreds of companies that advertise significantly lower rates. If someone quotes you rates starting at $0.05, or even $0.10, per email append... RUN!

Issues with Opt-out Append

1) Those low opt-out rates are not a good thing.

One prominent player in the email append space advertises, "Less than one-fourth of one percent choose to opt out." No one should be impressed by this since opt-out rates are always low.  The industry wide average opt-out rate is about one-tenth of one percent. So, quoting one-fourth of one percent suggests that their average opt-out rate is 2.5 times higher than the industry averages.  Not good!

2) Quantity, not quality.

The opt-out approach to email appends provides no incentives for the email append provider to ensure that the names will be responsive. They get paid by the address they provide back to you, regardless of whether or not the address is responsive. While reputable providers do have an interest in repeat business and referrals, which is some incentive, the fact still remains that you pay for the email addresses you receive back at the end of this process. The only requirements are that the email address is deliverable and they did not opt-out to a single email sent to them as part of the process.  These are embarassingly low thresholds. In my experience, addresses acquired through opt-out append are less responsive than new registrants from other sources. At least part of this can be attributed to “recipient dilution”, which you can read more about in Al’s recent post. At the end of the day, you just end up paying for a lot of deadweight.

3) "Opt-out" is not permission.

Why is this important? Because lists that are not permission-based result in higher unsubscribe rates, higher percentage of people clicking this "This is SPAM" button, and lower open, click-through, and conversion rates. These factors lead to problems with your online reputation, and thus, your ability to get your email delivered. Just because someone does not unsubscribe or report you as SPAM the first time you send an email to them (as part of the opt-out append process) is no indication that they will not do so later. The best predictor of someone reporting you as SPAM is the level of permission you obtained when they were added to your list. "Opt-out" lists, while legal under CAN-SPAM, do not meet the demands of most ISPs receiving your email, significantly increase the likelihood that your email will be blocked, and make it much more difficult to get your email unblocked.

"But all the email addresses are 'double opt-in'!" is a common protest when we bring up this point. Well, yes... maybe at some time they double opted-in for something. But, they never opted-in to anything for you! Permission in marketing is non-transferable.

For that reason, ExactTarget is a permission-based ESP. All ExactTarget clients sign an agreement agreeing that the lists they provide are permission-based and are not permitted to send to opt-out lists using our system.

4) Opt-out append leaves a negative impression with some recipients. 

I have yet to find a way to measure the financial impact of the negative impression that is left in the minds of unwilling recipients of appended emails, but there is no question that there is a dark side. Forrester provides excellent insights based on a survey they conducted in August 2004. "Nearly 50% of likely email subscribers wouldn't mind and would read appended emails from a cataloger. However, appended email blatantly offends between 25% to 39% of consumers, depending on the type of business sending it. And it has hidden risks. About 20% of consumers say that even though they read appended emails, they find them annoying. Another 12% say that although they don't unsubscribe, appended emails annoy them."

5) Results are spotty at best.

MarketingShepra's 2007 Email Marketing Benchmark Guide indicates that of marketers who have tried email appends, more than half said it either didn't work or it wasn't worth the effort.

Part II coming soon... email appends done right!

Another compliment to the fine work the folks at Apple are doing to push the mobile world ahead. I am not saying the iPhone is perfect, but it is putting a lot of pressure on competitors. I suspected that they caught the other smartphone manufactures off guard, and the folks at Fortune seem to agree. BTW... this post came out the same day as my last posting on the iPhone. I promise I did not see it before I wrote my post. :)

Tom O'Brien of MotiveQuest also has a great post on how the iPhone has changed the meaning of cool.

The hoopla has started to calm down, but the impact of the iPhone is becoming crystal clear now. The battle between Apple and RIM is shaping up. B2B marketers hoping that business users are only using Blackberries need to take note. Optimizing your email for mobile rendering on the Blackberry is not going to be the long term answer.

Furthermore, other smartphone manufacturers continue to release phones that seem to be a direct response to the iPhone. Samsung's F700 and the LG Voyager are just a couple of the more notable recent releases.

It seems that iPhone’s full support of HTML on the web and email has fundamentally changed the definition of “mobile internet.”  Where users had grown accustomed to having limited functionality on their mobile devices, the iPhone responds with a clear message, “you don’t need to settle.” iPhone delivered a user-friendly experience that makes huge strides (however imperfect) toward providing a web and email experience that mimics a traditional computer.

Whether or not Apple caught the other manufacturers off-guard or not is a moot point now.  Fact is, that many of the leading mobile manufactures, such as Nokia, Samsung, and Ericsson had joined the dotMobi bandwagon prior to the iPhone release. The folks at Apple recognized error of the dotMobi approach, which essentially creates two distinct online worlds--simultaneously creating both a fractured marketing experience and administrative nightmares associated with running parallel sites. Instead, Apple developers facilitated access of the traditional web and email on a mobile device... and by doing so, set a new standard.

In bypassing the dotMobi movement, Apple has done a service to all online and email marketers by creating demand for mobile devices that have full internet functionality, and by showing that it is possible. Email marketing professionals should praise this accomplishment. I believe it is a critical first step toward a solution to the current challenges associated with mobile email rendering.

Slightly off topic here, but I feel like I am on a hidden camera show right now.  Trying to log into my Sprint account, I have been informed that Sprint has upgraded their security policy.  To verify my identity, they ask me to answer questions about relevant items such as:

1. The make and model of my car.  Okay, so how does Sprint know that? And how is it relevant really to my cell phone usage?
2. The address I live on when I purchased my car.  Even a bit more freaky... again, how does Sprint know that?  Moreover, this appears to be evidence that cell rates are too high.  If they have money to build databases that store that information, then they definitely have too much money.
3. Select from a list of properties "Which of the following properties have you PREVIOUSLY OR CURRENTLY owned?"  Maybe I understand this one, I have been a customer of Sprint for a while, tracking historical addresses makes some sense... I guess?
4. What month and year I purchased the aforementioned home? I have no idea... that was three houses ago!! I just went back and checked my tax records from 2000 and for some reason I can't find the month I purchased the home.  It was summer, I think.  I remember it was a really hot day when I moved.  In fact, I remember vowing never to ever to move again that day. Oh my, I broke that vow, how can I be so dishonest with myself? Okay, you got me there... I don't know when I bought that house and I am getting depressed thinking about it. If all else fails, go with option C.
5. Pick from a list of streets I never lived on.  Apparently C was incorrent because they have more questions for me. All of these street names look familiar. One of the streets listed was from an appartment I rented in college in 1993! Some great memories from that apartment. Gee Sprint, thanks for taking me down memory lane. It is clear you know me better than I know myself.
6. The name of the seller of a home I purchased 7 years ago.  Am I really expected to know this? It was just some guy, I dunno his name, I never even met the person.  I dealt through an agent.  You are asking me questions I don't even know the answer to.  From memory lane to flashbacks of my calculus final.
7. The names of people that have lived with me.  You have got to be kidding me. You track my roommates??  Roommates? I hated some of those people. They weren't even Sprint customers. How (and why) are you doing this to me?

I work in the industry where we analyze data to provide relevant marketing materials to customers. Things like email address, gender, occupation, and interests. But, this type of completely over the top use of data is the stuff that gives the privacy mongers ammunition. There is a balance. If data is relevant and helps you identify me as who I claim to be, or helps you provide me with information I want, that is one thing. To chronical my life and track it for the past 15 years is WWWAAAAYYYY too much. If we want Washington to stay out of the online privacy world, companies need to use a bit more common sense. Don't make people feel like they are in an episode of the twilite zone.

I just received an email from Sam's Club. For some reason I started receiving these emails a couple weeks ago. I never signed up with them--no permission. I have, however, registered to receive email from Wal-Mart. I assume that Wal-Mart shared my email address with Sam's Club, even though Wal-Mart's privacy policy does not state that they will do this, nor does the email newsletter preference center allow me to manage my Sam's Club email preferences. 

Initially, I let it slide.  I even got interested in doing some last minute online shopping today and clicked through on a link in today's email from Sam's Club. I did my shopping and at checkout I was faced with the following, oh so friendly (yet somewhat expected) message: "You must be a logged in member to purchase." Well, you guessed it, this means becoming a member of Sam's Club, membership fees and all.



What I don't get is why? Of course, I understand how Sam's Club works, but I am a Costco member. I don't want to pay another membership fee to Sam's Club. My why refers to WHY engage in such horrible practices?

• Sam's Club started emailing me without my permission
• WalMart shared my data in (seeming) violation of their own privacy practices
• I am not a Sam's Club member, it seems like they should have checked into that first
• Sam's Club won't let me buy online without becoming a member of their club
• Why put both brands at such risk??

There is a lesson here for the rest of us. The allure of a "bigger list" is always looming. Companies often see taking on their sister companies' lists as one way of growing their list. This is what Sam's Club apparently did, they simply took the WalMart list and called it their own without ever asking me if this was what I wanted. If this is something you are considering, know that lack of planning around three areas is likely to get you in trouble:

1. Do the people you are bringing into your program from a sister company WANT to be in the program? Simple solution... run an opt-in campaign. Tell the people you are inviting how you got their name, what you plan to offer them, and ask for positive opt-in.
2. Does the audience you are inviting even make sense? Sam's is sending me emails and I can't even buy from them until I become a member. In other sceanrios I have seen, the target demographics of the two sister companies are completely different... why send email to people who aren't likely to (or worse... can't) buy your products. It is a ROI loser!
3. Don't violate your own privacy policies. CAN-SPAM is one thing, violating your own stated policies is, at minumum, a PR nightmare waiting to happen. At worst, it is a legal nightmare. 

As for Sam's Club and WalMart. You need to update your privacy policy... especially if you want my trust as you so emphatically claim in your privacy policy:

We realize that making purchases at Walmart.com, or any other web site, requires trust on your part. We value your trust very highly, and pledge to you, our customer, that we will work to protect the security and privacy of any personal information you provide to us and that your personal information will only be used as set forth in this Policy. This includes your name, address, phone number, email address, and credit card or checking account information, in addition to any other personal information that can be linked to you, personally.

 

EmailStatCenter.com recently released findings from a survey they conducted in September and October of this year on the State of Email Metrics. The survey consisted of 345 respondents, with 55% coming from client side marketers and the remaining 45% coming from agencies and ESPs.

The study provides some decent insight into the challenges that marketers are facing today.  List development, time constraints (which can also be interpreted as resource constraints), and strategy/planning are all areas highlighted both as challenges and as areas for near term focus. 

All of these are critical areas.  We continue to test new list development strategies and will be providing some updates on this topic soon.  Time and resource constraints... building out metrics and making the business case for getting email the attention it requires is a critical first step. Beyond that, recruiting experienced talent in this area is tough.  Strategy and planning is near to my own heart, so I'm glad to see this on the list.  It also makes sense given the considerable growth of our Strategic Services practice in the past two years which focuses the vast majority of its attention on strategy and planning.

Interestingly, another area many indicated as an important near term focus was “metrics and measurement”.  Not that this is interesting in itself, but it puzzles me a bit to see this as the second highest near term focus area (behind list development) and then to see testing ranked lowest in near-term focus.  There are three explanations I have thought of for this:

1) Marketers do not want to start testing until they have better metrics and measurement in place.  If that is the case, I applaud that effort.  The stronger the metrics and the more closely aligned to bottom line business goals those metrics are, the better a program can be optimized through testing.

2) Testing simply is not that appealing.  Given the focus on strategy, planning, and metrics, this does not make sense.  Even with the best plans in place, those plans need to be verified (see my recent post of Marketers Intuition). Moreover, metrics are only good for two things: a) convincing management that we are doing a good job and, b) improving the program—which requires testing new concepts.

3) Past testing has not resulted in the promised results.  Let me be the first to admit that this does happen.  Marketers run tests all the time that do not result in huge gains.  I have run many AB subject line tests during my email marketing career that left little to be desired.  I have also run tests that have blown the doors off a business.  Sometimes it takes 4 or 5 tests to get the knockout, case-study worthy test results.  Not every idea is a good one, but we can't get the huge improvements unless we are willing to fail now and then.  That is precisely why we test!

Kudos to MarketingExperiments for another great study on why we need to adopt testing.  Last year, they printed one of my favorite studies from all of last year, "Marketer's Intuition Tested".  This week, they put out a follow-up to that article with "Marketer’s Intuition Revisited".

This years study covers a broader array of topics, but these are very basic, yet telling, studies.  First, they poll a group of marketers on which of several options they tested performed better and then they show us the results.  Needless to say, the marketers were wrong... a lot. 

It always astounds me that we can be so wrong so often, and yet it is still hard to get organizations to adopt a testing culture.  Yes, testing is time comsuming, yes it takes effort, yes it is simply a pain in the hind end.  The list of excuses is long and well established.  Nevertheless, if you are serious about improving your program, sooner or later you will need to start validating the "intuitions" (or dare I say "best practices") your program is based on.

If you haven't read the latest case study from CareerBuilder.com, I encourage you to look at that too.  CareerBuilder.com's testing resulted in an 88% increase in conversion.  The kicker, we worked with them for 2 years prior to test our various "intuitions" and we could barely move the needle.  By testing several of the different program components that we had been working with for years into a single, well-designed test, we finally got the results we were looking for.

Testing works.  I promise that a well designed test will improve your program.  If you need help deciding what to test or where to start, drop me a line... I love this stuff!

The idea of sending an opt-in (or “re-opt-in”) campaign to subscribers to verify email permission is not new, but the frequency with which we deal with these campaigns is increasing.  Over the course of the past year, I would estimate that I have personally worked with over 20 email marketing clients on these types of campaigns… and ExactTarget as a whole has run many, many more.  Here are a few interesting things we have learned about how to run these:

1) Be clear in the subject line.  Email subject lines like, “Verify your subscription continue receiving [XYZ]” or “Your subscription will end soon” tend to work well.  Often these campaigns are targeting subscribers who have not responded in a while, so breaking the mold with this type of concise and straight-forward subject lines help get people to open the email.

2) Restate your value proposition. This is a simple reminder of what your email program offers.  A concise restatement of what your subscribers can expect reminds them of what you are all about… and what they will miss if they do not confirm their email subscription.

3) Use YES and NO options. This is huge (read this part carefully)!  The misconception is that if you only offer a “Yes, please subscribe me” option that more people will react positively by opting into the program.  We have tested using a single “Yes” option vs. the “Yes and No” options for at least 6 different clients.  In every instance the “Yes and No” option resulted in significantly more opt-ins!  There is something about seeing both options that drives more people to respond.  Maybe these emails seem like less of a gimmick, more genuine, or more serious. Whatever the reason, the reality is that by including that NO option, you will actually get more people to click YES.  (See the Peppermill Example below)

In addition, this approach to email opt-in campaigns provides you with clear answers.  There are three resulting groups: 1) Those that opt-in, 2) those that opt-out, and 3) those that did not respond (even if they opened the email).  This third group of non-responders will be your target for a second request.

4) Try sending a second request.  There are situations where a second request is not appropriate.  For example, if you are trying to clean a list suspected of containing spamtrap addresses.  However, if you have used the YES and NO options cited above, the non-responders are a prime target for a second request for email permission.  We find that these second requests consistently get nearly the same number of opt-ins as the first, so failing to do so could have a material impact on the success of your campaign.  We have worked with organizations that have tried a thrid request using the same logic, but the dropoff at this points has been substantial in our experience--two appears to be the right number.

Peppermill re-opt-in email example

The Peppermill decided to conduct a re-opt-in campaign to these subscribers and tested the following two emails:

Version #1

Version #2


Which version do you think resulted in the most affirmative opt-in responses?  (Keep in mind that the only choice in Version #1 is “Yes”, while Version #2 has “Yes” and “No” displayed with equal prominence.)  Given the context of this example, I hope you picked Version #2.  It was the winner and the results are statistically significant.

Last week I spoke at the Email Insider Conference in Park City, UT with Matt Day of Agent SILVERFOX on the topic of search and email integration.  One interesting case study Matt presented was related to how email campaigns affect brand search traffic.  So, the scenario is straight forward enough, a customer or prospect receives an email from XYZ Corp and they then go to the web to search for the term “XYZ Corp” or possibly a product that XYZ Corp sells.  This results in a bump in search traffic to the website that is normally attributed to search marketing instead of email marketing.

While working with Matt on preparing the presentation, we came up with a methodology for quantifying this traffic that many at the conference found useful: “search through rate”.  To estimate this lift, compare the average search traffic on days where no email is sent and then compare it to the search traffic on days where an email is sent.  The calculation for this is very straight forward:

This phenomenon is even more significant when emails are sent through partners.  If you partner with a program like CoolSavings.com to send an offer to their client list the search through rate is usually higher than when sending to an in-house list.  This makes logical sense since the people receiving this offer are less likely to be familiar with your brand and may choose to check out your site before proceeding with the offer.  So, it follows that the conversion rate on these searches may be different than typical searches for your brand as well.  Thus, we need to evaluate the conversion rate on these email influenced searches to get a good understanding of impact of these incremental searches.  The calculation for the conversion rate on email influenced searches is:

Where:

• Conversion RateIS = Conversion rate on email influenced searches
• ConversionsO = Observed Conversions for 24 hour period following the email send
• ConversionsA = Average Conversions for 24 hour period with no email send (Can be calculated as Average Conversion Rate off Search times SearchesA)
• SearchesO = Observed Searches for 24 hour period following the email send
• SearchesA = Average Searches for 24 hour period with no email send

The conversion rate on incremental searches should be compared to the average search conversion rates to determine if these email influenced searches are performing consistently with typical searches.  By looking at the incremental conversion rates, in addition to the direct conversions from the email itself, we can get a more comprehensive view of the efficacy of our email campaigns. 

In my experience, many (by no means all) third party email campaigns have had a tough time justifying themselves in terms of direct sales.  However, looking at the influence of email on search and subsequent conversion provides a more comprehensive financial picture by which to evaluate the success of these campaigns.

We already know that the ROI of email is very strong.  By looking at these metrics and adding them into your analysis of email campaigns, either to your in-house list or through third party advertisers, we reallocate dollars that should have been attributed to email all along—demonstrating even more value being driven out of our email marketing programs.

There is a lot of expectation around mobile marketing.  The ability to reach all those people on the move and interrupt them with our messages is oh so alluring.  Yet there are some brutal realities that we need to face.  Friday, eMarketer featured a story, Mobile Marketing Ready for Takeoff, that adds to the expectation.  They did include some wise caveats stating that “delivering something of value to the user is just as important as how a mobile campaign looks”.  But, this is permission marketing 101 and mobile marketing is no different.  Just because the majority of people in industrialized countries own a cell phone… and the capability of pushing messages to these devices exists, does not mean that it is a great idea.  If anything, mobile marketers may be embarking on the toughest direct marketing channel yet.

The challenges with this channel were highlighted in another eMarketer story released yesterday Mobile Users Easy To Annoy?  According to recent research by Web Visible and Nielsen//NetRatings, 92% of respondents say that local business ads sent to their mobile phones would irritate them.  Surprise, surprise.  Mobile marketing, at least when used as push technologies such as SMS and MMS are incredibly invasive.  This study highlights a critical point—there will be significant lashback against companies that invade the personal space of their customers.  Ill-timed SMS messages will be as welcome as a close-talking college professor with bad breath!

I realize that this is not the extent of mobile marketing.  There are opportunities in search, in branded applications, in location-based advertising when leveraging GPS, but the reality is that we are not there yet. As Jordan Bitterman of Digitas stated at OMMA East last month in New York, “It doesn’t have the scale, our marketers are looking for scale.” 

The critical point here is that we are heading for a collision course.  Email marketing continues to struggle with SPAM related issues, and mobile marketing may be heading down a path that could be much worse.  Invade my inbox and I may ignore you.  Invade my phone, and well… remember what happened to telemarketing?  Tread carefully, don’t buy into the hype without knowing the pitfalls.  I say this on the heals of our recent announcement that ExactTarget is launching the ability to send SMS messages as part of our upcoming 119 release.  Yes, I do think SMS will have its place as a direct marketing channel, but not as we have ever known it before.  Before embarking on this new frontier, make sure there is an incredibly valid mobile strategy in place to ensure that messages are not perceived as annoying.

At the ExactTarget Connections07 conference two weeks ago I received a question that continues to stand out in my mind. “As a brand marketer, the trend toward the use of less images in email (due to image blocking, lower response, etc) is a real problem. Do you have any recommendations for dealing with this?”

This is a profound question that gets at the heart of a fundamental change going on in marketing. Questions about changes the internet is having on the way we approach marketing are common and several people addressed different aspects of this during the conference. As such, it seems appropriate to address the question by considering what is going on at a broader level.

The entire concept of “brand” and “branding” is shifting. “Brand” is becoming more about authenticity than it is about image--more about real experiences with your organization than about the emotion we convey through our marketing messages. By giving customers an outlet to respond to our brands, Web 2.0 has started to fuel a grass-roots movement against our “brand” affectations. Consider some of the recent missteps by major companies:

Verizon’s customer service department that can’t do basic math:

Or, the humiliating revelation of Sony’s viral marketing ploy:

In light of the reality that our brand can be destroyed on the internet faster than it can be built, the question becomes, “How do we create a valuable brand experience through email and the internet?” I think the answer is fairly simple. Be real. Be authentic. Set expectations and meet them. Have integrity.

Delivering on your promises goes a long way. Nordstrom says they have great customer service… and then they prove it. Apple claims to be innovative… and they are. WalMart says they are about low prices… they deliver low prices. The happy face logo has nothing to do with why I shop at WalMart. I shop at WalMart because I believe I will find what I want at the lowest price available. Consider Southwest Airlines, their color scheme is a creative director’s nightmare. Their emails don’t look great, but they are functional and they let me know about cheap flights, which is exactly what I expect from them.

So, deliver what users expect! Typically, email subscribers expect content, they expect information, they expect to be treated to special information not available elsewhere. In a few cases, creative is undoubtedly critical. For example, with high fashion brands, image is everything. For them, the issue of image blocking is something that warrants a lot of attention. However, even for brands where image is everything, brand is not just about imagery, it is about living up to your identity and establishing your company as being credible. And credibility does not ever come in the form of an image, it comes in fulfilling expectations. To me, this sums up branding in email.