Not too long ago, I was a marketer who was a slave to a to-do list and a "get the thing out" mentality, rather than a slave to my client base.  I was trapped in a continuous loop of - "this is a great idea but how can I ever find the time or budget space to do a full-on marketing campaign?" As I listened to marketing expert after marketing expert discuss how to optimize your eMarketing program at the first stop on ExactTarget's Route1to1 City tour in Atlanta this past Tuesday, it became clear that the answer to my question was to a change my mindset and finally put off the to-do list and put on a truly integrated, engaging campaign.

Here were my wake-up call email marketing moments that made me say - "Wow, I was doing it wrong for so long."

• "Your website can no longer be a digital brochure, it has to be an engaging place where you can drive conversion," said Joel Book, ExactTarget's Director of eMarketing Education.
  
• "It's time to stop reacting and start taking a pro-active approach to your marketing campaigns," said Jeff Rohrs, ExactTarget's Vice President of Agency and Search Marketing.
  
• "If I receive an email and I don't know who it is, I immediately delete it, so why would we expect our customers to be any different?  I received an email from Continental on my phone that was mobile friendly and I was able to check-in just by replying to a text message - now that's engagement," said Jeanniey Mullen Founder of the Email Experience Council (eec) and Global Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Zinio Systems and VIV Magazine.

The highlight of the day for me was listening to Nick Godfrey, from Customer Portfolios (an email marketing agency partner with ExactTarget) discuss how his company utilized ExactTarget's email marketing software to build Dunkin' Donuts' loyalty program from the ground up.  He talked about the unique challenges of creating a 1 to 1 marketing customer loyalty program. 

A Dunkin' Donuts customer can receive rewards depending on how many times they visit a specific Dunkin' Donuts store each week.  As an example, if I go in Mondays and Wednesdays, the system is smart enough to trigger an email to that patron offering them a $1.00 credit towards the loyalty account, encouraging a third visit  This type of email marketing tool removes the time and budget burden most marketers are facing.

Shrinking budgets have led many marketers to search around for the best way to drive customers to their web site, but after attending this seminar, I realized that your marketing campaign must be engaging, and compelling, giving users a reason to come and stay on your site.  There is too much information out there for your message to get lost. 

My top four takeaways from Route 1 to 1:

• No more digital brochures - they don't work
• Give them a good reason to engage with your brand
• Truly powerful marketing will treat each customer as a unique individual, who has unique need
• Discussing Dunkin' Donuts leads to binge eating on my part

If you are a marketer like me, who knew what they wanted to do, but weren't sure how to do it, you really should think about coming to the ExactTarget Route 1 to 1: The new eMarketing essentials event.  Coming up next are Chicago and Cincinnati...its time to stop being a slave to our to-do lists. 

Gotta run, Dunkin' Donuts just opened here in Indianapolis and I want my free dollar. 

Todd McCall, PR Manager

So I just had a rather troubling realization: I'm officially a blog hog. When I hopped onto our blog today to read Ashley's new post about triggered email, I scrolled down and saw about the last 17 posts in a row...were mine.

Well, friends, here's #18. Take that.

As our InSight readers know, this month we're focusing on triggered email. Though many people assume triggered email only applies to marketing (like eNewsletters or sales reminders), that's just the tip of the iceberg. Triggered email can encompass everything from eBills and account notifications to shipping confirmations and abandoned cart remarketing messages.

But how many of you marketers out there are using the same email system as your operations or account services teams?...*crickets*...

Well you're in luck -- we're hosting a webinar May 1st that'll help you (and anyone else using email at your organization) understand how triggered email fits into your overall business strategy. A combined effort from our own thought leaders and client Danskin, this webinar will give you a new outlook on triggered email.

So register for The New Breed of Triggered Email Marketing Webinar and see what all the fuss is about. And bring that developer from upstairs -- and your favorite customer support rep -- and maybe even your account services director too, just for good measure. Plus, I'm working on a cool new deliverable for attendees -- so you'll hurt my feelings if you don't come!

...*crickets*...

Yeah, I'm needy like that.

Nicole
Marketing Communications Associate

Q: Do I need to be concerned about my sender reputation when sending triggered email messages?
 
A: Absolutely.  Good sender reputation is critical whether you're sending transactional emails or commercial emails, and whether you're sending messages via ExactTarget's triggered email interactions or sending a traditional campaign to a list of subscribers.
 
Regardless of whether email is triggered to an individual subscribers or sent via a marketing campaign to many subscribers, senders with a good reputation get their mail delivered to the inbox, while those with a poor reputation find their mail in the junk folder…or worse.
 
Sender reputation is typically most affected by complaint and bounce rates. It’s no surprise that if you get too many complaints or have too many bounces, and you'll damage your sender reputation. You can avoid complaints by sending mail that subscribers have asked for and are expecting to receive, as well as mail that subscribers find relevant.  Triggered emails are often the most anticipated and relevant messages you can send; however, overwhelming a recipient with unrelated promotional content or an envelope field that doesn’t represent your brand can increases the chance they may complain about your message.
 
Bounces can be mitigated by building in a method of address verification into your address capture process.  Often, asking users to enter their address twice to verify that both entries match will eliminate typos.  And, ensuring that your content is compelling will help ensure users give you a legitimate address to begin with.

Phil Schott
Sr. Deliverability Consultant

Question: What are tips for designing a triggered welcome email?

Answer: Welcome emails are a great example of a triggered marketing message. When a subscriber signs up for your communications, sending them a welcome email shortly after signup can be very beneficial.

Welcome emails often have higher open rates than your typical campaigns (due to being highly anticipated by new subscribers) so it is important to take advantage of the increased “face time” you have with your audience.

As such, you want your welcome email to make a good first impression and effectively set expectations for the future communications a subscriber will receive. Here are a few tips to get you pointed in the right direction:

Include your brand name in your subject line.
Aside from the “from name,” the subject line is the second most important factor in getting your subscriber to open your email. Seeing your brand name will help them recognize that this as a communication they’ve asked to receive.

Be honest and upfront about mailing frequency.
If you’re going to send a weekly email, make sure new subscribers know this (and that they aren’t expecting to only hear from you once a month!).  Sending to your subscribers more than they expect may cause them to unsubscribe or mark your email as spam.

Re-emphasize the benefits of being a subscriber.
Communicate your value proposition with a short paragraph of text or a bulleted list. This should be the focus of your message placed in the upper left portion of your email to optimize for preview pane viewing.

Keep it short and simple.
Your welcome email should include concise and relevant copy. Don’t include elements that detract from the primary message and make your email unnecessarily long.

Use images wisely.
Since the majority of email clients block images by default, it is important to use HTML text for your welcome email copy. You want this information to be seen by as many people as possible, so only use images for your company logo and supplemental imagery.

Tell them what to look for in the future.
New subscribers should be reminded to add your email address to their address book or safe senders list. This will help to ensure inbox delivery for future communications and in many cases by-pass image blocking.

Tim Siukola
Senior Email Marketing Designer

With tax season at its annual April 15th climax, my attention has naturally been focused on one thought, and one thought only: I hope TurboTax got the math right, because frankly it would stink to be audited.  Never having been audited, I picture the process being about as enjoyable as an evening singing Alvin & The Chipmunks karaoke…with Celine Dion.

There is one type of audit, however, that I can whole-heartedly support—the email marketing audit.  I conducted my first email marketing audit on behalf of a client back in 2003, and honestly, neither the process nor the tremendous ROI upside has changed that much since then.  In a nutshell, to conduct an email marketing audit, you:

• Identify & map the different types emails that are being sent to customers, prospects, partners, and other constituents
• Interview internal staff and external partners who play any part in creating or delivering emails to your various audiences
• Document the systems—ecommerce, CRM, ESP, etc.—through which these messages are being sent
• Document the points of current integration between these systems, if any
• Document the email creation, broadcast, and reporting process
• Analyze the creative being used across all of the different message types
• Analyze any available performance data for the different message types
• Make prioritized recommendations on how to improve performance and streamline processes based on your findings

Does this email marketing audit process require a significant investment of time and effort?  Absolutely.  Is the ROI worth the investment?  Yes—but only if your organization is committed to turn the audit recommendations into reality. 

A thorough email marketing audit uncovers all sorts of “low-hanging fruit” opportunities for marketers.  The quick wins often range from improved design to verifiable delivery to the holy grail of one-to-one marketing—a consolidated view of all enterprise messaging at the individual subscriber level. 

Even more importantly, triggered emails that were once the shadowy purview of IT or e-commerce developers now appear clearly on the marketing team’s radar for review and optimization.  Examples of such triggered emails include:

• Welcome emails
• Automated replies (from customer service, HR, product, and other inquiries)
• Order confirmations
• Shipping alerts and confirmations
• Abandoned shopping cart notices
• Account alerts
• Registration confirmations
• Event reminders
• Membership confirmations
• Service notices (including those relating to service disruptions)
• Account expiration notices

If you know your organization is sending out any of these types of triggered emails—but your marketing department lack visibility into the creation, design & deployment—then it may be time to don your best blue suit and start auditing.  You’ll be surprised by how quickly you’re able to identify opportunities for improvement.

For more information on ExactTarget’s extensive email marketing audit services, please contact us.  For a more ideas on how to set up and conduct an email marketing audit on your own, check out Marketing Sherpa’s Email Marketing Audit Kit.   

Q: I want to trigger a welcome email for people who opt-in on my website, and I also want to email that subscriber X number of days afterwards. What’s the easiest way to do it?

A: Triggering a welcome message and then a follow-up message is a great way to use triggered emails, and it’s easy to do with ExactTarget.

With ExactTarget Triggered Sends and Marketing Programs functionality, it’s very simply to set it up.

The first step is to set up a “triggered send definition” and select the list you want to add your new subscribers to and which email you want to send them.  When the subscriber signs up on your website, simply pass over an API call to that triggered send definition, and the subscriber will be added to the list and the email sent.

Now for the second step – the follow up email.  When passing over the subscriber information, I’d recommend you also pass a date attribute, such as “sign-up date'.”  This date can be used to set up a “relative date” based group.  The group will look for subscribers who fit the particular date range you query from the list, and with ExactTarget the query can be set up as a program that will automatically refresh each day (or week, month, etc. – whatever time you define.)  After you start the program, you can “set it an forget it,” as the group will refresh and send the email automatically.

This process can be repeated with several groups for several dates if needed, which creates an easy way to trigger relevant email sends.  If you’re using any of these features in a unique way (or want to learn more about them), let me know!

Jessica Koch
Integration Consultant

There, I said it.  And I’ll say it again: triggered email is only as good as your data.  I know, I know…now I have to back that claim up.

If you’re sending triggered emails in response to one-time events (for example, welcome emails, website confirmation downloads, etc.) then chances are your data is pretty good.  Someone does “something” (subscribes, purchases, downloads, etc.) and you trigger an email in response to whatever that something may be.   

These are often the most easy-to-implement triggered messages, which is why so many marketers have started to not only use, but optimize them.  Like many of you, we here at ExactTarget have made leaps and bounds in our triggered emails over the past year, including:

• Defining what the “somethings” that result in a trigger are
• Capture those “somethings” and feeding the data into our CRM database of records
• Triggering an email out of ExactTarget using our triggered email interactions
• Tracking the holistic performance of the triggered emails
• Making adjustments on the fly (without involving our web developer, which makes him very happy) for maximum performance.

Typing the list above makes it seem easy.  Get the data, then trigger an email.  We’d like for all our email messages to be sent using the process above.  But what about the following, more complicated, scenarios? 

• The “something” event is comprised of multiple data points
• The data lives in multiple systems
• Your data isn’t clean

Not so easy.  At least, not for us (and I’m guessing that means not for you, either).  Take, for example, a satisfaction survey we’d like to send 90 days before a customer is due to renew their contract with us, followed by a reminder email if they haven’t yet completed it, or a thank you email if they have.

In theory, this would be an easy series to trigger:  Send #1 = Renewal date – 90 days.  Send #2 = Triggered thank you upon completion OR reminder email 7 days after survey invite sent. But…

• We have multiple (sometimes hundreds) subscribers stored per account in our CRM system.  Not all contacts should receive the message.
• The data about what is due to renew / when it is due to renew is stored in a separate area of our CRM system, with no easy way to tie a subscriber to the renewal opportunity.
• Because we don’t delete data from our CRM system, the subscriber may no longer work at the company.  This information is often manually typed in to a data field (i.e. “Patricia NO LONGER THERE.”)  Look familiar?
• The extensive survey is hosted by a third-part vendor, which means there is no real-time visibility into whether someone has completed the survey within our own system.

The list goes on, but suffice it to say that there is a lot of manual data cleaning that goes into pulling a satisfaction survey list and sending the series.  So while this seems like an ideal campaign to trigger, it’s just not easy.  And I’m guessing that we’re not alone in this challenge.

While I don’t have a solution to the overall data issues that impede implementing more triggered / automated emails, I can tell you this – understanding what data is needed, where it lives, and what obstacles stand in the way of easily getting that is a huge first step in the right direction.  As the old saying goes, not knowing is half the battle.  So if you’re looking to automate or optimize your triggered email marketing and have found yourself in a similar situation, understanding your data is a good place to start.

Cheers,

Ashley Sales
Manager, Marketing Communications

Default productivity level: 4
Productivity level with Jack Johnson music: 17

Exaggerate? I do not.

Recently a correlation developed between my work efficiency and Jack Johnson. For some reason, I just get more done when Sleep Through the Static is jamming through my headphones. Can't explain it.

But the point is, my love for this beach-loving guitar-star drove me to the Jack Johnson website last night to investigate. "Join the Mailing List" links don't usually grab my attention...but as The Horizon Has Been Defeated drifted through my room, I couldn't help but click.

OK, fine. Maaayyybe I clicked because the only thing I'm more obsessed with than Jack Johnson is email marketing. Shhhh.

An email verification message automatically appeared in my inbox to make sure I really wanted to hear from Kokua Hawaii Foundation -- which helped me know my subscription had gone through. Well done, Jack.

Overall, a painless process that left me looking forward to hearing from the genius behind Banana Pancakes.

Nicole
Marketing Communications Associate

ps -- The Jack Johnson Tour is coming to Indiana this summer!

pps -- Jack's record label, Brushfire Records, has gone green -- awesome idea, so definitely check this out.

It's not often I bask in the glories of admiration for the US Postal Service, but yesterday was an exception.

As previously mentioned, I'm in the process of moving. And it's kind of a pain, considering the 192 change-of-address notification I need to make in the next two weeks. Last night, I decided to start with the US Postal Service because they offer a simple online form (with a $1 credit card charge).

After inputting the standard info, I had the chance to get special "new mover" discounts from national retails like Lowe's and JC Penney. Surprised, I happily ticked a couple boxes and submitted my form. Their system automatically triggered an email confirmation, so I popped into my Gmail expecting a half-baked, text-heavy, government-esque email.

Oh contraire.

A professional-looking HTML email awaited me instead with the necessary confirmation details. As I browsed the rest of the message, however, I realized they'd prepopulated the special offers I selected for Lowe's and JC Penney. I clicked through on the Lowe's offer and arrived at a nice landing page offering me a "new mover discount of 10% on my next purchase."

And here -- I'm proud to say -- I converted.

Yup, I filled in my info and landed on a Lowe's confirmation page which included an optional survey asking which areas of my home (*cough) I was interested in improving. My guess is, if I'd actually ticked any boxes -- my offer email would have included some specialized info for those rooms. Regardless, they had decided to use confirmation page real estate to learn more about their new subscribers.

By this point, I was pretty impressed with the entire experience.

So I went back to explore the rest of my US Postal Service email. At the bottom, they thought to include links to other places I needed to change my address -- like the IRS, car registration (which was automatically redirected to the appropriate state based on my new address), and voter registration. It was a welcome helping hand for someone trying to make sure she's thought of everything!

Well, enough swooning over the US Postal Service. Let me just finish with two observations: 1) I think about email WAY too much, and 2) It's possible to really impress your subscribers by offering a clean, cohesive, simple email experience.

Kudos, USPS, kudos.

Nicole
Marketing Communications Associate

I don't know anyone who likes moving. So either I have "half glass empty" friends, or the world has figured out that moving is a royal pain in the...anyway.

Here are some of my favorite things about moving:

1. Running out of packing bubbles and wadding 923 Kleenex together to cushion your box of dishes.
2. Calling utility companies, the BMV, and the U.S. Postal Service with your change of address.
3. Painting your old place back to "eggshell" (best practice: 5 coats).
4. Paying nearly a month's rent to hire movers to cart your Kleenex-Corelle, furniture, and clothes to avoid shamelessly abusing your friends who are unlucky enough to drive pick-up trucks.
5. Scouring apartment guides online, scheduling walk-throughs, and juggling 15 "in the works" living options.

You guessed it -- I'm moving. And I'm super excited!!! Not.

At least I wasn't until I found some apartments doing their part to make my life easier. How? They let me set preferences through their websites (# bedrooms, move-in date, price...) and sign up for SMS or email alerts.

Here's one pitch:

"No need to constantly check back to see if an apartment you want has become available. Be notified automatically by email and/or cell phone text alerts when there are new matches based on your apartment criteria."

Now instead of trying to juggle everything on my own, the most relevant information can be delivered to my figurative doorstep through the channel I prefer. Love it.

And the result? I'm signed, sealed, and delivered in under two months.

Welcome Home.

Nicole
Marketing Communications Associate

Time. Wouldn’t it be great if we all had a little more? What would you do with an extra hour in the day? Would you…

A.) Spend it with your best friend?
B.) Take a walk in the woods?
C.) Get lost in the latest bestseller?
D.) Dine at your favorite restaurant?
E.) Read more email?

Call me crazy, but I’m guessing that option “E” wouldn’t be at the top of your list. It’s not at the top of mine, either.

So, email marketers and designers, what should you do to grab a little piece of my time? Engage me. Immediately.

Like the average email reader, I’m only going to give you a few seconds before I hit the “delete” key. (No offense.) But if you create an email that is instantly recognizable, renders correctly, and catches my eye, I just might spend a little time with you. (And trust me—I’m a marketer’s dream. My husband will attest.)

Take for instance, an email I received from “Life is Good” yesterday. It was clean, simple, and instantly recognizable. The subject line read, “Here comes the sun. See what Life is Good has in store for Spring.” On a damp, dreary Indianapolis day, I couldn’t get my finger on that “download pictures” button fast enough. And, oh! What a delight when I was greeted with a fresh palette of pastel colors and a graphic titled, “Here comes the sun.” Aaaahh. I clicked through to the website, bought a couple of shirts (I told you I was a marketer’s dream), and am anxiously awaiting the FedEx arrival.

So, what’s the moral of the story? The email I received was designed with rendering in mind. My images were automatically turned off, but when I read the subject line and the text, I knew exactly what was waiting in store for me behind those little black letters.

Rendering for different email clients is a tricky proposition. If it’s a concept you’re struggling with, be sure to check out our latest whitepaper on email design. It’s loaded with practical tips for both email marketers and designers. Then you, too, can entice me with your tempting text and your promises of what’s to come. Just like my friends at “Life is Good.”

Dear Friends, you had me at “Spring.”

Warmest Regards,
Katrina Willis
Copywriter

When speaking with ExactTarget clients about integration, it’s rare that we discuss email design best practices.  Typically, our focus is on how, why, when, and where to integrate ExactTarget with other business processes.  In general, I leave the email design questions to our talented Design and Strategy teams! 

However, there is one situation I’ve encountered where email design enters the integration conversation: the question, “What has to be done for me to change the email that is being sent out via an automated process?” 

In the past, there were two solutions for this situation.  The first was to stop the existing automated process, which had to be completed by a developer.  Then, the marketer could modify the existing email and work with the developer to start the process up again.  This was cumbersome for most companies, because developer resources are typically scarce and it takes too long to coordinate the effort. 

The second option was to create a new email (producing a new unique email ID) which was then provided to the developer to update the automated process code.  This second solution was usually the path clients took in order to get the switch scheduled at the correct time.  While the solution worked, it was certainly not ideal – especially to the marketers, whose changes are typically time-sensitive.

ExactTarget listened to the pain this situation caused and solved it with our triggered email interactions.  Triggered emails are typically the emails that are automated and they’re usually the emails that change frequently.  To address this issue, we give creative and automation change control to the marketer. 

After the initial API call is written and in production, the developer has completed his/her part of the process.  With triggered send interactions, the marketer has the ability to pause, modify, and restart their automated email sends – all within the ExactTarget user interface.   Here’s the beauty of the solution that developers will appreciate: while the email is paused and being modified, the API calls are queued up so no email sends are lost. When the definition is started again, the queued API calls are processed and sent using the new email creative, and any incoming API calls also send the updated email. 

In other words, this entire modification / redesign process can be completed without any development resources. This allows marketers to focus on email design and not have to worry about coordinating time with a developer in the process.  As you can imagine, this solution makes marketers and developers extremely happy!

Jessica Koch
Integration Consultant

Building a better list and the quality of your email address are inevitably intertwined.  A recent change at Comcast / Roadrunner may be affecting your deliverability bounce rates. 

Adelphia was a national cable broadband provider that went out of business way back in 2005. Comcast and Time Warner (Roadrunner) bought the assets and split them up between them.

Since then, Comcast and Roadrunner have been slowly transitioning users off of the adelphia.net domain, region by region.

Comcast/Roadrunner are not notifying ISPs or senders when these changes take place. They do notify end recipients whose email addresses are changing with about a month's notice, and encourage them to notify people that their email address is changing.

Comcast is now fully transitioned off of Adelphia, and the Adelphia.net domain will no longer forward mail for Comcast users. That means that you're going to see a higher than average number of bounces at adelphia.net for the few mailings, until these addresses move to undeliverable automatically and scrubbed from future mailings. The ExactTarget system will handle these bounces properly and automatically.

Road Runner, the current owner of the Adelphia.net domain, continues to support email for a large number of users in the Adelphia.net email domain. They have not announced plans to retire the Adelphia.net domain at this time.

Note that for the many email addresses that were just "retired," it's not possible to translate them into comcast.net email addresses, as their username (and therefore the left part of their email address) has likely changed.

Hats off to ExactTarget agency partner, Customer Portfolios for the terrific work they are doing to help Dunkin’ Donuts roll out its new Dunkin’ Perks™ customer loyalty program.

As reported by Amy Johannes in the January 23rd online


As reported by Amy Johannes in the January 23rd online edition of PROMO P&I, Dunkin’ Donuts will use permission-based email to keep customers enthused, engaged, and most importantly . . .  coming back to its stores and its website to take advantage of special offers.

In the article, Joahannes notes that customers who opt-in for the Dunkin’ Perks program will receive e-mails twice a month with product news, store locations and special in-store and online offers. Members get offers throughout the year specific to their local market.

David Tryder, Dunkin’ Donuts manager of interactive and relationship marketing said, “We want to continue building relationships with our customers by sending them targeted communications and offers.”

Localized Promotion

One of the things I like about this program is that many of the promotions Dunkin’ Donuts sends will be specific to the Dunkin’ Perks™ member’s geographic location. I think franchise owners will love this! As I am reminded when I click on the “Perks FAQs” menu item (See My Perks Profile page below), “It's the easiest way for Dunkin' Lovers to keep up to date with everything happening at Dunkin'.”

 

And just in case a consumer needs help finding a Dunkin’ Donuts store where they can get their DD fix, a handy store locator makes it easy for me to find one.

The Dunkin’ Perks™ program was piloted in Albany, NY last year and went very well according to Nick Godfrey of Customer Portfolios.

As to how the one-to-one marketing program works, Godfrey said, “As customers use their Perks card, all transaction data is captured so we know what they are spending per visit, how often they are visiting their Dunkin’ Donuts store, and at what time of day they are visiting. This enables us to target customers with relevant, just out of reach offers. When customers change their behavior, they are rewarded. Everyone is happy. To that end, we consistently see over a 50% open rate for Perks’ emails!”

Godfrey added, “To ensure customers become accustomed to receiving and recognizing their regularly scheduled Perks email, all emails carry the same subject line: Dunkin' Perks Alert.”

The Agency Behind the Dunkin’ Perks™ Program

Customer Portfolios is the agency behind successful database marketing programs for many brands including Johnston & Murphy, Hat World/Lids, Unicef, World Travel Holdings, and Baskin-Robbins.  The firm’s “Lights-Out Marketing” solution enables organizations to execute highly targeted and triggered email marketing programs that are based on such specifics as the customer's segment, life cycle stage, and purchasing behavior.

The number one thing a marketer can do to ensure maximum email deliverability is maintain a good reputation. The vast majority of ISPs decide which mail to accept based on the reputation of your sending IP address. If you are sending mail to names outside of permission; if those recipients don’t expect to hear from you; if you’re continually mailing the same, tired old list for years; these and many other factors can drag down the email reputation of your IP address, increasing the chances of your mail going to the bulk folder (or being blocked outright).

What you’ll find new on this front in 2008 is that ISPs are clamping down more than they’ve ever done before. They’re automating their spam filtering and becoming faster on the trigger. They’re now blocking more quickly, and declining to unblock more often. They’re outsourcing more of their mail delivery choices to third parties. For example, comcast is working with Return Path.  And Yahoo now uses the Spamhaus blacklists.

That’s why it’s becoming more important than ever to proactively ensure maximum deliverability through adherence to permission. If you don’t, you could easily find yourself trapped in a deliverability quagmire that you can’t easily resolve – even though it’s a practice that you received no negative feedback about previously!

ExactTarget has excellent technical tools to help you maximize your deliverability. Our automated feedback loop processing, bounce mail management, and mail server fine-tuning all work together to get as much as your mail to the inbox as possible. Our dedicated deliverability services staff stands ready and waiting to reach out to ISPs as needed to help resolve issues. But, even with all of those steps, reputation and permission remain the true, primary governors of email deliverability success.

It was the 1990s, and a young Angel Morales had just created an integrated email strategy for one of the nation’s largest direct-to-consumer enterprise solutions (Sigma).  I was so proud of it: my solution included integrated merchandising, automated remarketing, graphical transactional emails, etc.  It was an outstanding set of features…but little did I realize that it wasn’t a “solution.”  That was a lesson I learned the hard way during my first pitch…
 
Terrifying doesn’t begin to describe sitting across from a hardened CMO with two decades of direct marketing experience, who at the conclusion of my “super cool flash presentation” said “Yeah, all that technology is great but tell me how…”

• I can drive my highest value catalog customers to the website instead of the call center
• I can extend the lifecycle of my customers by 10%
• I can bolster my average order value and engineer my high value customer into brand champions
• I can recognize my at risk customers and retain them
• I can extend the value of my loyalty program into email
• I can leverage data appends to prospect new segment within my existing house file

THAT was the day I realized the value of email wasn’t in the technology, but in applying the technology to traditional DM principles.  While working at Sigma over the next seven years, I learned from the best… companies like Sears, Eastbay, specialty merchants like Zip Products, Chaparral Racing, Nancy’s Notions, Woodcraft Supply Corporation, and countless other merchants.  These companies – whose direct business was far more substantial than anything “online” – made me adjust my thinking and my approach to email.  And it was, quite frankly, a humbling experience. 
 
So fair readers, before we dive into ExactTarget’s new transactional eMail, mobile messaging, and other valuable (and cool) technology, let’s take a step back to basics and MAKE SURE we are using our rich customer data (such as RFML) to its fullest extent. We all have this data, but whether or not we use it is another matter…

• Are you deploying dynamic content/promos to reduce costs of retention?  Remember that not every customer needs / deserves our best offers!
• Are you using segments to target and send to disengaged customers?
• Are you using previous purchase activity to align successful historic promotions to new promotional emails (I respond better to free shipping than 5% off)
• Are you using dynamic subject lines in conjunction with dynamic content to align the message to the micro-masses?

Not only is this the foundation of direct marketing, it’s also the foundation for next-generation web analytics strategies. In other words, we all have to build from the basics.
 
Remember, yesterday’s challenges are today’s excuses – and that’s largely all they are.  With ExactTarget’s Fall 2007 Release, we made it easier than ever to integrate.  WE host the data store, WE manage the import process, WE can automate data updates…all you need to do it to throw a file out onto an FTP directory (something a good “geek” can accomplish in a few hours!)
 
Executing on direct marketing basics will result in sizable program impact.  Interested?  LET’S TALK!  Send me an email and I can quantify program impact using the metrics you already have in house.  So let’s see how “going back to basics” bolsters your bottom line.

When integrating email marketing with other applications, the first step towards success is to make a plan.  I advise clients to use the old journalism “5 Ws and an H” as your guide: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.

Who is going to code / program the integration?  Usually, this resource is an internal developer; but due to time and budget constraints, sometimes this work is contracted out to make a deadline.  Regardless, the “who” decision needs to be made first so the proper developer can be included in the planning process and provide developer-specific details or suggestions if needed.
 
What are your needs for the integration? Is it to automatically send emails based on an action, or is it to pull back tracking from your email application to your database of record or CRM system?  With an open API like ExactTarget’s, there are so many options of how and what to integrate.  Getting a clear sense of everything you want to accomplish from the beginning will help your organization determine whether all of the initiatives should be put into one integration project, broken up into smaller projects in order to keep a timeline, etc.
 
When does the integration need to be deployed?  It is essential to have (and communicate!) a release date so everyone working on the project knows what the schedule is.  Keep in mind that for successful integration, you should build in time to develop and time to test, and make sure to take both into consideration when developing your schedule.  Also, it is good idea to find out what other projects people have on their plate.  While you may want to have an integration running by the end of the month, the developers and / or testers may not be able to keep to that timeline due to other deadlines.

Where will the integration be hosted?  Integrations are typically hosted on a server your company owns, but it needs to be decided if the proper resources (hard drive space) have been allocated to run the project.
 
Why are you integrating? This is similar to the what are your needs, but it goes a little beyond that.  Think big picture: once the integration is setup, how will you utilize it in your business process?  I’ve had experiences where companies want to integrate email with other applications, but do not understand why the integration is important to their business.  What are the ultimate goals you are hoping to accomplish?  Establishing the “why” will help you secure internal buy-in on the investment and measure whether or not the integration is successful in the future.

And don’t forget the “H”…
 
How will the integration be implemented?  In addition to the decision of who will actually implement the integration, you should also determine what the contingencies and risk factors for implementation are as well.  For example, what are you going to do if something doesn’t go as planned?  Identifying and planning for the unexpected factors from the beginning will help ensure your integration gets up and running smoothly.
 
Quite essentially, solid planning is key before starting any integration project.  So remember your 5 Ws + 1 H, and contact ExactTarget for more information.

Jessica Koch, Integration Consultant

We've recently learned that the following domains have been retired by RoadRunner: jam.rr.com, midsouth.rr.com, mn.rr.com, se.rr.com, sport.rr.com, swfla.rr.com, ucwphilly.rr.com and houston.rr.com

Users at these domains have been transitioned to Comcast. In the transition process, users were able to choose a new email address. Meaning, it's not possible to simply convert an email address in your list from the old domain to the new domain – the username part of their email address has likely changed.

If your lists contain users at these domains, you'll see mail to them start to bounce as of January 7th, 2008. The ExactTarget system is handling these bounces properly and you should notice addresses at these domains being turned to “undeliverable” status. We're marking these domains as “dead” in our system, and very soon you will find them automatically removed at import time, via our List Detective.

Additionally, the domain adelphia.net belongs to a defunct ISP. Assets of the defunct cable provider Adelphia were purchased by and split between Comcast and RoadRunner, way back in 2005. Some users transitioned to <something>.rr.com email addresses, and some transitioned to comcast.net email addresses. For a long time, adelphia.net addresses were forwarding on to the recipient's new email address, but it appears as though mail to this domain is starting to bounce. The system is handling these bounces properly. We'll wait a short while, to confirm our suspicion that this transition is permanent. If so, we'll also mark this domain as “dead” in the system.

I am seeing more and more examples of how smart marketers are using email for customer service. And with today’s generation of APIs (Application Program Interfaces), it’s easier than ever to integrate email technology with database technology to deliver fully automated customer service messages – that are personal and timely – and require no human intervention.

Why more companies do not use email to deliver subscription renewal, billing reminders and other “alerts” is beyond me. It’s just good customer service. And for those companies that do, it is becoming a huge competitive advantage. I don’t have the metrics to support my opinion, but I believe we are getting closer to seeing just how important email is in building relationship equity which in turn builds brand equity.

Here’s a good example.

Last week, I received an email from my 23 year old son, Chris, who is typical of today’s “digital media” consumer who prefers the speed and ease of email. His recent experience with an insurance company serves as a good example of what can go wrong when email is not used to alert customers when their policy is about to expire. Here’s his story:

“I came into the office this morning and realized that my car insurance expired on December 23rd. No email was sent to me from (my auto insurance company) alerting me to the fact that my policy was due to expire and inviting me to renew. This caused me to think about how great it would have been to receive an email with anything in the subject line alerting me to my policy's impending expiration.

This leads to two conclusions about email, one fairly obvious.

1. Subject lines are more important in 2008 than ever. We are inundated with email, and subject lines are being skimmed more and more. There's no longer the necessity to entice the recipient with subject lines, you now must communicate the gist of the message in the subject line.

2. This leads me to my second and slightly less obvious point. No longer is it a perk for us to receive emails alerting us to special offers or information that is timely (like policy expiration alerts)…we now expect it. I have paperless billing for everything. I now expect that when I need to be alerted about something -- of interest or importance -- that I will be informed of via email. In fact, I have come to expect this.

Those of us who work in the field of online marketing understand that today, it’s all about ROI. Is there a better way to generate positive ROI than by retaining an existing customer? For two cents - or whatever the going rate is for email - (my auto insurance company) could have made $960 (I can't wait until I'm 25 for cheap insurance!). I'm not a math wiz, but spending two cents to generate a $960 insurance renewal seems like a pretty good ROI!”

Lots of thought has been given to triggered email marketing in recent articles. What I’m referring to is primarily triggering based on a customer activity (purchase, site visit, cart abandonment, email open, click, etc.), or a subscription or time event (birthday, subscription end date, card expiration, etc.). Why the buzz? These emails are effective.

 

One of the main reasons these emails are so compelling to customers, often achieving opens and click rates far above average, is that these communications by their very nature are relevant. In David Baker’s article, "Triggered Messaging 101," he points out that “Customers do appreciate good messaging, creative thought and timing that is appropriate.” Why is that? It is because we’re responding to customer behavior and information we have to drive the best possible message, the most valuable message, to a customer at any one time. Why, then, are so many marketers ignoring customer events and behavior when sending messages?  This holiday season seems to be the worst on record for email promotion uber-frequency.

 

Retailers are especially guilty of driving emails far too frequently, often far above the expectations expected by their subscribers—leading to higher unsubscribe and complaint rates, as well as a higher "ignore rate." The ignore rate, a stat I just made up, may be the most important driver to email campaign success. It means a large percentage of subscribers begin to ignore you, treating your email like BACN (email they wanted at one time, but don’t have time for any longer). The ignore rate can be detected by the declining open and click rates these retailers are likely seeing as they begin to pummel their once loyal subscribers with a thrice weekly email during the holiday season. It hurts me to watch the carnage they are unknowingly inflicting upon their response rates.

 

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not an idealist. I have been the marketing guy on the hook to meet quarterly sales numbers. I know there is immense pressure to make sales numbers, especially during the holiday season. Unwittingly, however, by focusing on only short-term sales these marketers are actively reducing the value of their biggest asset…their subscriber list.

 

That’s why we’ve developed reports enabling our clients to more easily analyze customer engagement. Engaged customers open and click on your emails. Non-engaged customers don’t do anything. They just ignore you.

Happy Holidays!