No man is an iland

September 30, 2005

(Case study) Hotel Chain's Program is B-to-B and B-to-C
An overview of the different email newsletters sent out by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, plus the thinking behind them.

Nothing particularly new, but a good reminder of a solid approach to very basic segmentation. And there's also some insight into gauging the success of newsletters.

One small criticism - the last line compares open rates for rich media, html and text emails. But do the relative numbers reflect our (in)ability to record an open with those different formats, rather than any inherent differences in open behavior?

(Case study) Behind-the-Scenes Discoveries from HP's Email Segmentation Tests
HP managed to get between 3 to 10 times their previous response rates by improving targeting through segmentation and by simplifying messages and processes.

Anyone involved in B2B marketing using email is going to find some food for thought in this case study.

We don't all have HP's resources (they were able to do usability lab testing on their newsletters) but we can still borrow from their experience.

September 29, 2005

(Misc) Book review and blog resource
Ye gads Robin, it's still possible to turn up incredibly useful websites you've never spotted before.

The link is to a review of the email marketing book, "Sign me up!" I've no idea how people find the time to write such comprehensive reviews, but let's just be glad they do.

More importantly, look around the site for swathes of email marketing and e-newsletter advice and insight, wrapped up in blog postings from the folks at BeTuitive.

(List mgmt) Collecting and Confirming Trade Show Email Addresses
Vendor EmailLabs has some advice on getting newsletter sign-ups from visitors to your booth at trade shows.

The issue is that you can't just assume that when you get someone's contact details, you can add them to your house list. Either you get explicit permission to do so at the event, or you get it through follow-up calls, visits or emails.

The article suggests various processes you can implement to make the most of the possibilities.

(List mgmt) What Will That E-mail Audit Turn Up?
My favorite dynamic duo of Popov and Mcdonald discuss the main problems some of the reputation services find when they investigate an email marketing program, including loose definitions of permission, inconsistent policies, and subscription management errors.

They also point out how to mend your ways if you're guilty of similar transgressions.

My favorite gripe is the "implied permission" issue. "Since you signed up for newsletter A, we thought you'd like to get newsletter B too, so we added your name to the list." Erm...no thanks.

(RSS) Publishing E zines via RSS
Rok Hrastnik is one of the view RSS cheerleaders who doesn't view email as competition. Quite the opposite in fact.

In this article, he explores how you can use RSS to get more value out of your e-newsletter. By announcing new issues via an RSS feed or by putting the content directly into this new format.

(State of industry) Making the most of the email marketing tool
Long feature article at InternetRetailer which collects opinions and advice from various dignitaries in the email marketing world.

It looks at how we've moved on past worries about legislation and even deliverability and then considers where the industry is heading.

The focus there is on the permission and relationship aspect of email marketing, the growth of database marketing and channel integration, and the combination of email with web analytics.

But as the article notes, the problem isn't so much knowing what to do, but whether you have the resources and/or skills to do it.

September 28, 2005

(Tactics) For E-Mail Marketing, What's the Best Day?
eMarketer examines the age old question of which day to send your email. They cite a few studies which show how the answer changes with time and depending on whether you look at open rates or clickthrough results.

The summary - it's still a moving target and like many aspects of this game, what's good for one audience may not be good for another. So yet another thing to test.

(Strategy / tactics) Strategies for Email Success
Vendor SubscriberMail takes a step back from the day-to-day grind and provides a quick review of the main elements and thoughts that go into your overall email marketing strategy.

So there's brief advice on such aspects as branding, compliance, segmentation, metrics and testing. Not a bad overview to cast an eye over now and then to check you haven't missed something.

(Metrics) Anatomy of an E-mail Report
While developing new creative and coming up with new ways to boost subscriber numbers is fun, it's often the boring stuff that makes the long-term difference.

Melinda Krueger describes all the things that go in the report you could (should) write every time you send out an email marketing campaign.

This is particularly important if you need to share experience, insight and intelligence with colleagues and successors.

One caveat - what worked then might not work now. Once you have enough evidence to make an assumption about what works best, don't forget to re-test that assumption a little later down the road.

(RSS) Learning to Love RSS
Nothing fantastically new there, but the article makes the key point about the potential of RSS; the fact that your average consumer doesn't understand what RSS feeds are or how they work is irrelevant.

The key is coming up with tools, web services and desktop software (as happened with email) that makes it easy and intuitive to benefit from them.

So the big RSS push comes when the new browser versions and new operating systems have RSS capabilities built in.

(Layout / list mgmt) 25 Quick Tips to Boost Email Marketing Usability
After philosophising on the idea of usability and email marketing, Loren McDonald launches into a series of suggestions on improving both the usability and success of your email marketing procedures and output.

The areas covered include sign-up processes, email headers, format, content and subscription management. Most of the advice would take only a moment or two to implement so you're sure to pick up some quick value from the article.

September 27, 2005

(Surveys) Email provider data
Print this one out and keep it for reference - it's an evaluation of market share between the top providers of email domains. So you can compare the market dominance of Yahoo, Gmail and Hotmail, for example.

More to the point, it shows you the places where you should be getting test addresses and monitoring how your email looks when delivered by the associated service (and whether it gets delivered at all).

The article includes a fair bit of advice on how to benefit from the data.

(E-newsletters) Nine Ways to Shorten Your E-Newsletter
MailerMailer suggests how you can shorten newsletter length, improve quality and get better responses as a result.

Don't forget though to monitor the results of any changes you make - newsletter audiences can be very individual in their tastes sometimes.

(Deliverability) Six Steps to Avoid Spam Filters
Wendy Roth of Lyris has six basic deliverability tips to help raise your results. Includes permission practices, authentication, whitelisting, email headers and similar.

September 23, 2005

(Deliverability) The Broadband Slow Down
Al DiGuido delves into the complex world of cable and DSL, and the implications for your email messages.

He describes how broadband providers have work to do to match the anti-spam capabilities of other ISPs, and so you can expect changing delivery issues to relevant addresses.

The article ends with a checklist of steps you can undertake to stay on top of the problem.

The real problem with open rates
Chris Baggott of vendor ExactTarget hits the email nail on the marketing head in this post at his blog.

He addresses the suggestion that open rates are falling as the proportion of older names on house lists grows. The argument being that list fatigue gets worse, the longer you're on a list.

Chris's argument is that it doesn't have to be so - list fatigue only sets in if you're not sending relevant material to recipients. And he uses an example to illustrate his case.

As opportunities to receive email increase as more and more companies switch on to the potential, the email overload problem isn't going to go away, even if the spam problem is resolved.

Relevancy through database marketing is one critical solution to the problem for marketers. For now. I would still argue that even that won't be enough in a few years time.

September 22, 2005

(Basics) All you need to know about e-newsletters
By chance I happened to re-read the last edition of a newsletter that I wrote two to three years ago (though it feels longer).

In it there's this quote about the "secret" to success with email newsletters. It still holds true even now, despite all the changes we've seen with email marketing practices, online behavior, email infrastructure, legislation and spam.

So much so that I'm repeating it here for posterity...

Give readers information they can use or enjoy (take their perspective) and wrap it up in a human, personable writing style. Then deliver it professionally through solid list distribution and management.

There you go...just saved you a few thousand dollars in consultancy fees.

(Basics) My E-Newsletter & Me: The Journey Begins
If you're a small consultancy or entrepreneur thinking of setting up an email newsletter for your clients and prospects, you may find solace in the experiences of Karen Gedney.

In this article she describes the thought processes and steps she took to begin the process of publishing. She also has some advice on newsletter basics, such as schedules and content.

(RSS) RSS with advertising in the feeds - the backlash begins?
This post over at AdLand cites the growing trend towards ads in RSS feeds, spots some related rumblings of discontent among readers, and asks whether such ads will go the way of pop-ups; intriguing at first...then disliked...then near-eliminated with blocking technology.

There we have parallels with email marketing frequency and content. Send too many ads, or too many ads with no relevance or value to the reader, and you create the incentive to unsubscribe from the feed or block the ads.

With email we're finally learning that striving for short-term gain at the expense of a long-term reader relationship isn't the way forward. Will we apply that lesson to RSS? If mankind's capacity to learn from the past is anything to go by, probably not. Enjoy RSS while it lasts...

September 20, 2005

(Survey) New MailerMailer email marketing metrics report
Hot on the heels of the DoubleClick equivalent comes a new metrics overview from MailerMailer, reporting on results from the first half of 2005 and comparing them with 2004.

In summary, open rates and CTR have stabilized after a relatively large drop from H1 2004 to H2 2004. Open rates are highest for emails sent on the weekend and Monday (though this of course depends on your audience - don't start sending B2B emails on Saturday without some serious testing first).

The best CTR was achieved by emails that were HTML (rather than text) and personalized (rather than non-personalized).

Care needs to be taken here though - it might be that marketers savvy enough to use personalization and good HTML design might also be better at segmentation and other tactics that boost CTR. Causality and correlation are two different things.

Some other interesting numbers - 10.7% of those who would eventually open an email did so within one hour of it being sent. 50% did so within 9 hours of send. And 75% within 28 hours of send. But fresh opens still appear 10 days after send and later...so don't take down those landing pages too quickly.

For those interested in the details, you can download the full report with industry breakdowns for many stats if you sign-up for MailerMailer's newsletter at the above link.

(Misc) Email: Don't Walk the Privacy Line
G. Simms Jenkins touches on an important subject often ignored - the privacy policy.

It's not sexy, it's not cool and it doesn't generate immediate sales from people clicking on a link. But it's a crucial contributor to the long-term success of your brand, email program and, particularly, the relationship you have with the many customers who take privacy extremely seriously.

Jenkins explains the need for a clear privacy policy and suggests 10 important things to consider when writing one.

(Tactics / strategy) Beware the E-Mail Marketing Blinders
Jeanniey Mullen reminds the reader that consumers see your marketing, transactional and service emails as all part of the same thing.

Accordingly, she offers some advice on how to take account of this in the way you approach email marketing.

Specifically, she suggests incorporating the "non-marketing" emails in considerations of mailing frequency, using them as vehicles for marketing messages and ensuring they match your brand messages and efforts.

September 19, 2005

(List mgmt) Email marketing services
Just to let you know of a revamped services and solutions section at the Email Marketing Reports website.

The companies mentioned provided details of their products, services, and customers, and offered some words on why they're the right choice for you. I've put them up unedited.

The section will expand as more companies are invited to participate.

Interestingly, five large companies (including household names) failed to respond at all to my media inquiries as I built the section. One even provides an email address for their press and media department, but if you send email to it, it bounces back as "User unknown." Tragicomedy.

September 16, 2005

(List mgmt / metrics) Build Your House File
Heidi Cohen lays out strategy and tactics for building a house list of both email and postal addresses. It's effectively a checklist of things to do, beginning with how to get email addresses and what to ask for at registration.

She them moves on through the registration follow-up process, making use of the list to build revenue and what you should be measuring to gauge the success of your efforts.

(Layout / design) Small changes that make a big impact
Karen J. Bannan picks the brains of Agency.com and AMD to get some insights into how you tinker with your email newsletter to get better results.

They cover such issues as content and link placement, saving real estate for co-marketing offers, calls to action, and matching overall design to brand and website themes.

(Case study) Email Test Results & Tactics
A look at the email marketing of clothing retailer J.Jill. The article covers their approach to the whole concept, with a focus on segmentation practices.

There's also insight into their testing methodology and the results from a couple of specific tests regarding shipping offers and the layout of a promotion.

The broader conclusions to take away from the numbers are that testing is a must, test results can sometimes surprise you and you need to look at all the different success metrics to decide on a winner.

(E-newsletters) Don't Forget About E-Zine Footers
Some wise words on how to make best use of the space at the bottom of your newsletter, including a checklist of things that could and should go in there.

The footer is the place for all that admin stuff. But as the article authors point out, it doesn't mean you can't use it to further a few business goals as well.

September 15, 2005

(Case study) Publicist Serves Clients and PR Pros with E-Zine
This is the classic story of how an email newsletter combining useful content and a little personality can help one-person service providers grow their client base. Kind of a poster child for the whole e-newsletter concept.

In the article you'll find insights into some of the various problems, benefits and issues that go with the medium, as well as suggestions on how said one-person businesses can boost their subscriber numbers.

The very last quote is critical..."The more interaction I have with people, the more likely I am to build a relationship to make the sale...they know me, they trust me and they feel I won't cheat them."

(Deliverability) Experiences with DomainKeys, Sender ID and SPF
Bill Nussey of Email Service Provider Silverpop reviews his company's experiences with some of the new email authentication techniques promoted by the likes of Microsoft and Yahoo.

Two messages come out for me.

First, it's clear that there is a long way to go before the kinks in the system(s) are ironed out. Nussey highlights a couple of problems with, for example, the ability of DNS providers to apply some of the requirements.

Second, what might the danger of authentication be for small businesses?

Using your own domain as the "from" address is a best practice as it encourages people to recognize and open your email. But it seems this places authentication burdens on your domain information that I suspect many individuals and others without IT expertise will struggle to deal with.

None of the web hosting services I work with, for example, offer appropriate DNS management tools.

September 14, 2005

(Survey) E-mail Trend Report Q2
The latest report from DoubleClick makes interesting reading. As usual, email's performance in a marketing sense is holding up, but that masks a few important trends.

In essence, it seems people are opening less email, but responding better to the email they do open. The two trends balance each other out, of course.

The decline in open rates is, apparently, only partly due to image blocking (which prevents an "open" being recorded).

DoubleClick say it's also because the proportion of older, less responsive, names on house lists is growing. That emphasises the need to keep on top of acquisition. And people are also simply getting more picky about what they do and do not read.

September 13, 2005

(Tactics) Segmentation: Learning From Best Buy
Jeanne Jennings examines the new approach to in-store marketing at Best Buy and explores the lessons for email marketers.

In particular, she discusses the implications for segmenting your reader base according to more than just type of product purchased. In doing so, she addresses the main constraints cited by marketers choosing not to segment and explains why the excuses don't hold up.

There's a wider lesson here, too, which is to keep an eye on marketing approaches outside of email marketing and see if you can't transfer a few ideas to your own promotions and newsletters.

(State of industry) The permission economy
An excerpt from a new book by Mike Adams of Arial Software. In this article, he describes how marketing is transitioning from the old interruption model to the new permission model.

Email, of course, is a central tool in that transformation, since it suits the new demands of a permission-based marketing economy in a way that billboards and other ad vehicles don't.

September 12, 2005

(Strategy / tactics) The real challenge for email marketing

There's a super Asian restaurant chain in Vienna that delivers orders taken online. Their website is great and the ordering process simple and efficient. They always deliver quality meals, on time, at a decent price. And they send me a regular email newsletter, too.

The emails are rubbish.

They're not rubbish for all the usual reasons. They're beautifully designed, seamlessly integrating with the colors and flavor of the website. They look good in my email client. They address me by name and they don't send too often or too little.

They're just boring.

They send me a copy of their current menu. That's about it. You could argue that the emails are relevant, which is the big buzzword of the moment in email marketing (why just now?). But, frankly, they could save the fancy graphics and simply send me a line of text saying, "Just wanted to remind you that we still exist and still sell food."

That's actually not a bad start - keeping them top of mind. But I don't look forward to their emails. If a competitor could match their product and service, but did a better email, they'd probably get my custom.

Now email marketing may be potty-trained these days, but it still has a lot of growing up to do. The bad news for you is that an awful lot of small businesses are (still) yet to catch on to the value of email as a marketing tool. But they will do so eventually.

Soon every customer relationship an individual has with a business is a potential email promotion or newsletter subscription. A crazy level of competition for inbox attention.

And you can be sure that a lot of your competitors in that inbox (which is everyone sending email to that address) will get the mechanics right, just like my Asian restaurant chain.

They'll have an Email Service Provider that does a halfway decent job of delivering properly-formatted emails to readers, while ensuring the sender follows best practices on things such as opt-ins and list hygiene.

Those kind of mechanical best practices will just get you on the starting grid. But to win the race for your customer's attention, you're going to have to do much more.

Assuming you don't have the benefit of being inherently unique, which takes the pressure off, you're going to have to offer more value, more relevancy, or more entertainment than the rest.

Even then, advanced technologies, automation and third party services will see to it that a lot of emails are relevant and targeted, just like yours.

So I think you're going to have to dare to be different. Either by being way, way ahead of the competition in the value your emails offer, or by catching people's imagination. With wit, personality, innovation, whatever it takes.

The bad news about that is that nobody can give you a template, book or checklist which shows you how to do it.

But perhaps a first step is a step back. Get out of the daily grind, the business ritual, the herd mentality and think a little. Think about how your emails can be different enough and interesting enough to warrant priority attention from a busy reader already swamped by useful, relevant information.

Not easy.

Just how does the Asian restaurant keep me interested with its monthly newsletter? How about amusing tales from the kitchen, to show me how much thought and effort goes into the creation of the stuff I order?

Some dietary pointers so I know which meals to pick if I'm watching my weight?

Some advice on what to drink with different meals?

An indication of the proper presentation and table decoration for classy Asian food?

A bit of jocular banter from our crazy chef?

Some interesting stories behind the meals or their ingredients? What makes Mongolian crispy lamb so very...Mongolian?

That five minute brainstorm threw up enough ideas to start finding content that gives me a reason to open the newsletter rather than automatically hit the delete button.

And they can still include their latest menu.

September 10, 2005

(Misc) The seven deadly sins of email
This advisory article by Robert Ashton is actually aimed at improving accountants' use of business email, but is worth anyone's time to read.

First, it's a reminder of several best practices to bear in mind when communicating with colleagues, bosses, your staff, and other business folk.

Second, there's some basic email stuff which applies just as well to customer service emails and other one-on-one customer communications. (Remembering that email marketing isn't just about mass mailouts.)

There's also a wry paragraph about unsubscribing to newsletters you never read...

September 09, 2005

(Tactics) No Medium an Island
Hard not to mention an article that quotes the same poem that contributed to this blog's name.

Here Derek Harding points out the value of email as part of an integrated marketing strategy.

He then continues with a wide selection of tactics you can use to exploit this value. From alerting customers to the imminent arrival of a catalog through using email as a testing ground for direct response communication elements.

(Misc) The Million Dollar Homepage
I've been working in or covering online business for getting on for a decade and it never ceases to amaze me how people can turn the web to their financial advantage.

Soon-to-be student Alex Tew from England is looking to finance his college expenses by selling a million pixels on a website at $1 a piece.

The idea is fantastic for two reasons. First, its eccentricity is its basis. It's such a madcap idea, it gets publicity, which gets visitors, which gets advertiser interest, which gets money: $3900 last time I looked. It develops its own momentum (of which this report is another example).

Second, it's the ultimate first-to-market example. I bet Alex makes more than enough to enjoy life as a student. But the person who tries it second probably makes less than the price of a new pair of shoes (or a new pair of socks, which is another of Alex's stated reasons for seeking to raise money).

Look at the FAQ, too, while there. The friendly, open style knocks socks (ahem) off most corporate help pages.

Alex doesn't need to go to college - he's already graduated with honors.

Oh yes, he has an email list, too.

September 08, 2005

(E-newsletter) It's all in a name
Marcos Menendez has some sage advice on choosing an appropriate name for your email newsletter.

This is a subject I best keep quiet about, since "No man is an iland" doesn't resonate too well as an indicator of a blog or newsletter about email marketing.

(Basics) New Rules for Using E-Mail Correctly
Bill Nussey of Silverpop follows a reminder of email's value and potential as a marketing tool with a list of basic best practices.

He covers list management concerns, success metrics, and targeting / frequency issues.

As in his other articles, Nussey bases his approach on the idea of using email to build or reinforce trust, loyalty and brands - the holistic approach to email marketing which sees the medium as much more than just a series of advertisements by email.

September 07, 2005

(Deliverability) Deliverability: Are Your Email Messages Trusted?
Joshua Baer skims over the basics of what you need to do at a macro level to improve the number of emails that get through to the intended destination.

His solution involves a holistic approach, including such topics as authentication and reputation, delivering the right content, whitelisting, using a decent email service provider and similar.

(Spam) Is unsubscribing from spam enough?
David Berlind over at ZDNet describes his experiences dealing with a Can-Spam compliant sender of unsolicited email.

It's a classic example of why the law is largely a side-issue in the eyes of the recipient - the real issue is whether you practice permission-based email marketing or not.

It's still exasperating to see how bad some email marketing is in terms of basic best practices. Or maybe it's just we notice the mediocrity and inefficiency that pervades most business more when it comes to email.

September 05, 2005

(Deliverability) Could Microsoft lose IETF backing for Sender ID?
Handbags at dawn in the email authentication world. Seems the people behind the SPF approach are egging on the IETF to revoke their approval of the SIDF approach used by MS.

Don't you just love a hearty breakfast of acronyms to start off the week?

Translating all that - email authentication is still involved in standards and adoption issues. So watch this space.

September 02, 2005

(Tactics) Using e-mail to build your brand
Karen J. Bannan picks the brains of various email experts to draw out a series of tips on how best to use the email medium for branding purposes.

To the list I'd add the simple measure of observing best practices, especially when it comes to permission and privacy.

All the lovely logos and taglines aren't worth a fridge in a blizzard if you're abusing that email relationship.

(Misc) Email Response Times Lag still
Coreen Bailor reports on the issue of customer service via email, with some harrowing news for business.

Surveys show that anything up to half of incoming emails get no response at all. And those that do respond often provide inaccurate or incomplete answers.

Possibly forgivable for one-man businesses with lots on their plate (OK, I'm trying to find an excuse for myself, here), but certainly not for larger companies with brands to worry about.

As one quoted analyst notes, if you can't service people properly by email, then don't give out an email address.

September 01, 2005

(State of industry) Why E-Mail is Broken - And What to Do About It
Dave Lewis casts an eye over email and suggests that the biggest problems for marketers are a loss of consumer trust in the medium and the inadequacy of the email delivery infrastructure.

He uses this evaluation as a rallying call for supporting authentication and reputation approaches to spam control and upgrades to email technologies.

This would leave us with a medium suited to all the clever things you can do with email marketing, and a group of recipients ready, able and willing to read your emails.

(List mgmt) Can You Pass an E-Mail Reputation Audit?
The A word is always guaranteed to send a chill up your spine. Kirill Popov and Loren McDonald describe some of the reputation services you can now use to get a seal of approval (assuming you pass the audit) on your email practices.

A seal that can get you whitelisted at various ISPs and other guardians of people's email addresses.

They also suggest their own collection of questions about your email marketing practices. And your answers will tell you an awful lot about where you need to improve.

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