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.

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?

• 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!

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.