No man is an iland

January 29, 2009

So 2009 has settled in...wearing shoddy shoes and a stained shirt, and unlikely to win any awards for outstanding economic achievement. How will a new year impact your email marketing?

The answer depends on who you read and what the author is trying to sell. (An early victim of the recession was marketing subtlety.)

Reviewing dozens of posts, publications, articles and opinions, I jotted down some key questions to ask of any forward-looking email marketing effort.

Not the questions we ask all the time, but those that address the new challenges and opportunities that await the innocent marketer in a nervous and changing online business environment.

See what you think...

2009 Challenge #1 Coping with even more competition

Everyone agrees that budgets for email marketing will benefit from economic uncertainty. Which means more emails and more competition. So...

1. What do your emails offer that people can't get from any other email list?

"If you are not providing any kind of exclusive offering to your email subscribers, you need to before it's too late."
Simms Jenkins

2. If a competitor started offering the same content or similar offers, why would subscribers stay with your list?

"Which newsletters and promotional emails do you anticipate, open as soon as they arrive and value the most? I'll bet that most of them have distinctive personalities."
Loren McDonald

3. The value of an active email subscriber grows in direct proportion to the clamor for their attention. Do you recognize that and give long-term subscriber retention at least as much focus as short-term results?

"Sending too frequently just to win a king of the inbox battle with your competitors is not a net positive for you or your brand."
Nate Romance

4. Is the value you offer and image you project the same as last year? (If so, they are diminishing in relative terms.)

"Maybe it is time to refresh your email layouts and designs."
Dylan Boyd

5. If emails need to deliver value, is that same objective shared by everyone in your organization who sends emails to customers or prospects?

6. And are all those emails projecting the kind of image or brand associations you'd like them to?

7. The more choices and voices out there, the more people gravitate to those they trust. As you look to boost returns, does that come at a cost in this trust?

"...we cannot trade short-term revenue for long-term customer mistrust."
Kevin Hillstrom

8. We've all heard the targeting mantra. But what concrete steps are you taking to target better?

"The single most important way you can improve your email performance is to increase relevance through greater use of segmentation and dynamic content"
Loren McDonald

2009 Challenge #2 Facing fatigue

More emails and more communication channels means more recipients edging ever closer to information overload and message fatigue. Which is why this year will see greater focus on the role of email frequency.

Given the risks of email overload...

9. Are you controlling the number of emails your subscribers get (not just from you, but from everyone in the organization)?

10. Do you think declining responses are best reversed by sending more emails or by building a better email program?

"One fashion retailer recently increased its promotional emails from five to 15 per month and learned to its detriment that unsubscribe and undeliverable rates increased so much that their gross profits actually dropped."
Simone Barratt and Arthur Middleton Hughes

11. Have you investigated ways of letting users guide frequency?

"We need to look at how often we are mailing our subscribers and give them the ability to control frequency and what types of messages they receive. And just as importantly, we need to change our focus from being primarily promotional to lifecycle-focused..."
Aaron Smith

12. Or ways matching frequency to engagement or some other recipient characteristic?

"There is not a top-down X emails per month number that you can manage to. Instead, you need to understand your audience in terms of how much you have communicated to them and, more importantly, how engaged they are with you, and use that to guide communication frequency"
Steven Woods

2009 Challenge #3 Sign-up skepticism

With message overload growing, people won't be throwing themselves at email lists and are more likely to suffer from subscriber remorse...

13. What innovative techniques are you using to draw attention to the benefits of your email list?

14. Have you subscribed to your own emails to see what kind of experience the new recipient goes through during and after the sign-up process? Where is there room for improvement?

15. What tools are you giving recipients to spread the word about the value of your emails?

2009 Challenge #4 New tactics and technologies

Each new year brings its fair share of novel ideas, innovations and technical improvements. But...

16. Are you implementing new tactics because some Englishman in Austria with a blog said they worked or because they make intrinsic sense for your list, audience and email model, or because you tested the ideas and found them beneficial?

"A particular danger is that excited marketers start using videos in email because they can, and not because they should."
Me

17. Are your emails taking advantage of authentication?

"I was shown a message about Sender ID and phishing that appeared to indicate that the Office Depot email was flagged because it failed Sender ID and phishing tests"
Chad White

18. Do you have a strategy in place for mobile email? (Even if your strategy is to have no strategy.)

"Mobile's biggest challenge will be in forcing you to cross the final frontier in your email-marketing program to make it completely customer-centric"
Stefan Pollard

19. If you modify your design for those who might use a mobile device, how does that change the impact of your emails on the (majority) not viewing using a mobile device?

2009 Challenge #5 Making more of metrics

Email marketing is still focused on metrics that grew out of the needs and technologies of a different millennium. Moves are afoot to change that, led by such folk as the EEC's Measurement Accuracy Roundtable and bloggers like Kevin Hillstrom.

20. Have you considered the email impacts that don't show up in standard campaign reports?

"The impacts of email marketing are more measurable than for most other forms of marketing. But let's not delude ourselves that we're measuring everything."
Me

21. When you get an unusually bad or good result, do you shrug and move on or do you search for the lesson and apply them to future emails.

22. A lot of practical advice talks about the benefits of following one "best practice" or another. It's heresy, but do you give equal consideration to the costs of achieving those benefits?

"...the clothing retailer could have saved untold creative resources by injecting more standardization into its welcome emails and landing pages."
Chris Marriott

2009 Challenge #6 Web 2.0 and multichannel thinking

23. Do you think of email as a standalone channel whose budget needs protecting from "competing" channels and technologies, or do you look for synergies with those channels and technologies?

"The fact is that twice as many people log on to Facebook every month as watch American Idol."
Jason Baer

24. How does your Web 2.0 strategy change when email itself becomes part of the social media world?

"We are calling this next generation of Yahoo! Mail the smarter inbox."
Yahoo! Mail blog

25. You want people to repost your email content to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter etc., so are you producing the kind of content that people will want to share with others?

"The best way to get people to spread your message is to create messages worth spreading."
Me

26. Are you exploring Web 2.0 tactics because of all the media attention it gets or because it's the right fit for your audience and business?

2009 Challenge 7# Challenge yourself

27. What's the tough question you need to ask yourself for 2009? Share it in the comments...

Tags: email marketing, web 2.0, mobile email, multichannel marketing

January 27, 2009

Every now and then I have a bad day. In this case thanks to difficulties understanding why Postini might dislike my closed loop opt-in email newsletter. This is my therapy...the future of email marketing in a galaxy far far away...

More in this series: Voldemort | Sauron

January 26, 2009

In a post on preheaders, we saw how centered text might "disappear" when recipients view them using a vertical preview pane. As with this Amazon example:



Then I found some emails where centered preheaders displayed fine in the vertical preview pane.

Eh? What devious coding trick is at play here?

Unfortunately, my HTML skills are firmly rooted in the 1990s. But a bit of investigation revealed at least one simple answer.

Here's a test email with a centered preheader in a horizontal preview pane:



Here's that test email showing the problem in a vertical preview pane. With only the left margin showing up in the preview, the preheader all but disappears:



Here's the same email, again with a centered preheader, but this time it shows up fine in the vertical pane:



In the first "problematical" version, the preheader text is center aligned inside the "table" tags used to control the layout of the email:

<body>
<div align="center">
<table border="1" width="550" cellspacing="6" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td>
<div align="center">This is the centered preheader text</font><br /><br /></div>
</td>
</tr>

In the second email, the preheader text precedes the table:

<body>
<div align="center">
This is the centered preheader text<br /><br />
<table border="1" width="550" cellspacing="6" cellpadding="0">

With no predefined table width to worry about, the preview for the second version simply centers the text in the available column space.

This seems an elegant solution to the problem, though I only tested it in Thunderbird and Windows Live Hotmail. And I suspect there are other design consequences of putting the preheader text outside the table layout.

Perhaps any coders and designers out there can step in and add their thoughts?

One danger I see is that a large preheader could then look a little messy. As in this example:



Still, more food for thought as we look to optimize every part of the email.

More on design and copywriting | Tags: email marketing, preheaders, snippet text

January 23, 2009

I joined Twitter today.

For those fed up hearing about Twitter, move on quickly before your head explodes.

For those who just want my Twitter page: Profile. I am MarkatEMR.

For those wondering if it's worth following me, here's the plan...I will use Twitter primarily for five things:

• put out short insights that aren't detailed enough to deserve a blog post
• link to articles/tools/sites I think email marketers should see, but which I won't be blogging about
• contribute humorous asides on marketing and life
• alert you that a new blog post is now online
• join the conversation

As with the blog, the guiding principle for Twitter updates will be value. Less quantity, more quality.

Then we'll take it from there.

Since I just set up some Facebook ads for another project, I'm feeling very Web 2.0 today. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. Wish me luck.

January 22, 2009

There's plenty of great info out there on what to put at the very top of your email: the preheader area which typically features one or two lines of text in small font.

So rather than rewrite the wheel, let me invite you to reflect deeper on how you can use that space better.

The very top of an email matters. It matters a lot.

For example, it caps the preview pane that many people use to assess an email's worth. And it's displayed in the actual inbox itself by certain email applications, such as Gmail.

So it deserves more thought that we typically give it...

Text alignment

Nearly all preheaders you see come nicely centered on the page. Is that because this brings the best results, or is it simply a nod to tradition or a desire for aesthetic symmetry?

I ask because some email software packages (e.g. Thunderbird) and webmail services (e.g. Windows Live Hotmail) allow recipients to use a vertical preview pane. So the preview displays the left hand side of the email and centered text might fall out of view.

Here's an Amazon email in a horizontal preview pane:



Here's the same one in a vertical preview pane:



Note how the two preheader messages don't appear in the second case.

It certainly seems worth testing different preheader alignments and layouts to check on effectiveness.

Think beyond the "web version" link

The vast majority of preheaders contain only one item: instructions on how to access a web version of the email should the message fail to display properly.

This makes intuitive sense, given the trouble we have with blocked images and a lack of standards in how email software and webmail services handle HTML email.

But, again, is it effective?

Or do we have it there because, well, we've always had it there?

The "web version" link in my own newsletter's preheader typically gets less than ten clicks. Not enough to justify dominating the entire preheader space.

Additional options for the preheader are other functional items, including:

• "Unsubscribe" link
• "Edit preferences" link
• "Forward to a friend" link
• Permission reminder
• A request to "whitelist" the sender (add the sender to the recipient's address book)
• Link to a mobile version

There are good arguments for each, but functional or administrative information grows stale with time and is easily glossed over.

So how else might you use the preheader?

As Stefan Pollard writes in a detailed introduction to the topic:

"You can use this valuable real estate to build value, interest and excitement in your message"

A strong option for informational newsletters is a quick headline alerting the reader to the mail's content. Like marketing agency eROI do (note also how this snippet is left-aligned!):



For more promotional emails, consider a quick summary of the offer and a call to action. Bronto's DJ Waldow writes on this very subject:

"Click-throughs on the clear call-to-action in the preheader have shot through the roof"

The final mix of information / promotion / functionality you use in your preheader depends on your audience and email model, of course.

A preheader needs to be short and succinct, otherwise it becomes the actual message, not the preheader. So cherry pick the options that make most sense to you and experiment.

Fewer words, same impact

The preheader is not the prologue to an 800 page novel. Yet many preheaders read like this:

"If this email does not display properly, then click here to view the web version"

That doesn't leave much space for anything else. Does it need to be so long? In some cases, where the audience is not particularly web savvy, maybe it does. In others, you can shorten it...

"Email not displaying correctly? Click here"

If your audience is very clued up when it comes to online life, how about just:

"Web version"

The shorter you can keep each preheader element, the more elements you can include. Or the more space you can dedicate to more useful features.

Make changes through time

If you have an established preheader format, nothing says you have to keep this constant through time.

For example, some like to top an email with a reminder of why the recipient is on the list:

"You are getting this email because you signed up for it at the ABC website"

How long do you need to keep that message there? After delivering ten weekly issues to an address, could you move that message to the email's footer and free up the preheader for more impactful messages?

Perhaps the initial emails to a new recipient can contain that lengthy, but clear, "If this email does not display properly, then click here to view the web version" message.

After, say, the fifth email to that address, might we shorten that message to the simple "web version" link, saving space and attention for other purposes?

Dynamic preheaders?

Advanced email marketing systems change content according to what they know about the recipient. Can we apply the same logic to the preheader?

For example, suppose a reader has one of the common webmail addresses and registered an open on each of the last five emails you sent them. We can assume they have unblocked images for your mails and likely see your message pretty much as you intended.

Might the system tag such individuals and suppress the "if you can't read this email..." message, releasing the space for something else?

If recipients don't register an open, might you then insert a "whitelist our address" message in the next email, since appearing in a recipient's address book commonly means images are then displayed automatically in your emails?

And can you serve a different "whitelist" message depending on the domain of the recipient? So @gmail.com addresses get whitelisting instructions specific to the Gmail webmail interface?

Expand the concept to other emails

If you accept the value of the preheader, why limit this to your standard marketing emails? Why not use preheaders in transactional emails, too?

OK, let's stop there. I have no evidence to hand that any of the above is yet an established best practice. But all are thoughts worth exploring as you work to optimize that critical piece of email real estate.

What do you think? What have you learnt from your own preheaders?

More on design and copywriting | Tags: email marketing, preheaders, snippet text

January 20, 2009

As use of mobile email spreads, we discover the need to link to a "mobile version" from our HTML email. It makes intuitive sense: the mobile design challenge solved in one swift link.

But do we give enough thought to its execution? Are we, in fact, making a complete pig's ear of it? In some cases, yes.

There are two distinct issues with mobile devices and how an email displays.

The first is that they have a much smaller screen than your PC or laptop. The second is that not all mobile devices can render HTML email appropriately.

As a result, we actually have three main mobile email scenarios:

1. Device handles HTML email fine

This user might value a link to a web version of that HTML email...a version optimized for a small screen.

2. Device displays the text version of the email only

This user might value links to mobile-friendly web versions of both the plain text and HTML email.

3. Device displays the original HTML source code or a simplified rendering of the HTML version

This user might value a clearly visible URL (the link typed out in full) to follow at the top of the HTML code, so they, too, can view a more appropriate version online with their mobile browser.

(For screenshots of all three kinds of email rendering, see Gregg Oldring's post.)

Given those scenarios, here some common mistakes I see:

No link in the plain text version

First, the link is only in the HTML part of the email: there is no mobile link in the plain text version (seen by devices in scenario 2). The assumption is that plain text is, well, plain text. Where's the problem for mobile users?

Plain text emails commonly have hard returns at the end of each line to ensure readability. Line lengths are typically set at 50-70 characters, depending on your taste.

On a mobile device, this text can end up looking like this:


Additionally, who says the recipient wants to see plain text email only? That display format is not usually a user choice, but is enforced by the mobile operating system.

Oversimplified "mobile versions"

Second, clicking on the "mobile version" link in the HTML email commonly takes you to a plain text version of the email confined within a narrow PDA/SmartPhone-friendly column. Which seems sensible.

But...those able to see that link easily (scenario 1) are, by definition, used to a fuller HTML experience. The link delivers an unnecessarily dumbed-down text version of the email.

(You could argue that bandwidth issues mean text-only versions are likely more acceptable to mobile device users.)

Buried links

Third, a "mobile version" link is buried several screens down when a simplified version or (particularly) the original HTML code is displayed (scenario 3). It never gets seen by the very people who most need the link.

Solutions

So, if you're going to have a "mobile version" link (another debate entirely), what should you do? Best practices are still to emerge, but consider these possibilities:

1. Add "mobile" URLs to your plain text version OR set the line length in this plain text version to a mobile-friendly number of characters (for scenario 2).

2. Offer a nice link to a "small screen" version in your HTML email (for scenario 1).

3. Make it easy for those with poor HTML email rendering (like Blackberry devices on older operating systems) to find and follow the "mobile version" URL (for scenario 3).

"Easy" how? Here I wonder if it's enough to top your HTML version with a typed link, similar to this MarketingProfs example. Anyone got some good ideas? Any of you clever code people have some elegant solutions for ensuring that link is easily seen and followed, even when the HTML displays messily?

If nothing else, some reflection on the "mobile challenge" reveals that simply suggesting "you add a link to a mobile version" isn't enough. (I've been as guilty as anyone in issuing that banal advice.)

The saving grace is that each passing day sees a greater and greater proportion of mobile devices fully capable of rendering HTML email. One day soon we'll laugh about some of these problems. Possibly.

More on mobile email to come in future posts. The more I learn, the more confusing it gets...

Tags: email marketing, mobile email, wireless email

January 16, 2009

One of the little secrets in email marketing is that it's not the same people opening your emails each time. Even if your open rate stays relatively constant, a closer look reveals that it's (usually) different people opening each time.

Which means some people seeing the latest email didn't see the last one.

Maybe they didn't see the last one because they weren't interested in the subject.

Or maybe they didn't see it because they were away, busy, sick, tired, drunk, swamped by email, or they just plain missed it there in the inbox.

Might you consider a link to the previous email in each new email? As a way of capturing some clicks from those who missed out last time even though they might have valued the content.

I've raised this prospect before, suggesting you subtly include a reference to a previous email or newsletter issue in later copy, when you know that that issue was particularly popular with those that did see it.

On Monday, I took the concept a step further and added a new section to my newsletter, headlined "Did you miss?"

It sits unobtrusively at the bottom of the email and has brief links to the previous issue's content:



The results?

A click-to-open rate of over 3% just for the links in that section. Not hugely impressive, but that's a bunch of clicks that might never have happened otherwise. Including boosting the total clicks through to the animated gifs article by 27%.

So I'm keeping it in there.

This technique seems best suited to informational newsletters, where you can link directly to landing pages for last issue's teaser content.

But it might find application anywhere where the content or offer from the last email is still relevant and timely. Though there might be implementation issues where "the last email's content" is customized on-the-fly for each recipient.

Still, food for thought on a slow Friday? What do you think? Have you used this tactic? Would you use it?

More on email copywriting

January 14, 2009

For those left glassy eyed by 6-part series and scrabble analogies and the thousands of column inches of advice on the topic of subject lines, here's a quick 10-point "better practice" checklist...

1. Say what is necessary to encourage subscribers to take a closer look

2. Do this in as few words as possible

[In other words, keep your subject lines as short as possible. But don't sacrifice on important words that can boost response just for the sake of keeping below an arbitrary number of characters in your subject line.]

3. Put your most important words (the top response drivers) at the beginning of the subject line

4. Analyse your campaign reports and test as much as you can to discover the hot "response" words, phrases and copywriting approaches for your emails and audience.

5. In particular, consider the value of adding the name of the recipient, sender, newsletter, brand or business in the subject line (see personalization and branding)

6. Include a clear, concise, specific description of the email's contents OR

7. Use a question, add a deadline, appeal to the emotions...any of the copywriting techniques that you know encourage your audience to explore the email further

8. Ensure your subject line style reflects your brand and audience

9. Find out what local anti-spam laws require of subject lines and comply with the requirements

10. If your subject line looks like something a spammer might write, then rewrite it

Anything I missed?

[For all the details, examples and research studies, see the posts and articles listed here.]

Tags: email marketing, subject lines

Back in November we had a six-part series on subject lines. But it's already time to reprise the topic in light of some new research.

So shorter is better (or not)? What?

Studies on subject line length tend to put all the emails with a particular length of subject line together and calculate the average response. Then they repeat the process for other subject line lengths. Then they compare the averages to draw out conclusions on the best length.

A problem is that most such studies aggregate numbers across different senders, industries and email marketing models. This can introduce bias and mask more nuanced insights.

Instead of asking whether short is better than long, we should really be asking..."When is short best? When is longer better?"

New research from Epsilon tackles some of these limitations by reviewing data on length and responses (open rates and click rates) for individual companies in single sectors.

The general conclusion: shorter subject lines are correlated with higher responses.

But because the research looks at single companies, it also identifies some of those desirable nuances. Notably:

1. The strength of the association varies from company to company (i.e. length is more critical for some companies than for others.)
2. In some cases, the correlation is reversed (i.e. longer subject lines work better for some companies.)

Thane Stallings, Senior Analytic Consultant at Epsilon, told me:

"The research does show a correlation between subject line length and both open and click rates, albeit a small one. So shorter subject lines do work better, but to say that the length of a subject line is all that's important is to say that short pamphlets make for better literature than long novels."

"The correlation between length and response is small enough, however, to indicate that other factors are at play, but I can only conclusively say that length has a negative impact on response and hint at what I think the other influencers are: word order and word selection."

The Scrabble theory

So what's going on here? Why are some (most) people finding short subject lines work best, while others find the opposite? How can that happen?

As Thane points out, while subject length does matter, other factors can override its impact. Enough to make longer subject lines work better in special circumstances.

Scrabble offers an explanation. In Scrabble, each letter tile has a point score. You put the tiles together in a word and add up all the points for a total. If the word is in the right place on the board, you get a multiplier bonus thrown in, too.

A word or phrase in a subject line has a point score, related to its likely impact on response. So "Free shipping" has a high point score. "Available in different sizes" probably has a lower one.

Putting all the words together gets you a points total for the subject line.

But there are multiplier bonuses to be won. The nearer the word is to the beginning of the subject line, the bigger points bonus it gets.

Why?

Partly because words at the beginning get more attention. And partly because subject lines are truncated in many email clients and webmail interfaces, so the words at the back are more likely to get cut off.

Anyone playing subject line scrabble puts their high scoring words at the beginning. Thane, again:

"I think the realization that most consumers see truncated subject lines is an important one and may explain why shorter subject lines perform better. A marketer who works to keep her subject lines short displays more restraint and discipline."

"If she keeps her subject lines to 45 characters (or so) then there's a 100% chance that all consumers can read the subject line in its entirety from their inbox. But longer subject lines may lack the discipline of having the most important information first: the whole front-loading or 'pole positioning' strategy."

However, our Scrabble theory suggests we should just keep adding point-scoring words, so longer subject lines would always outpoint shorter ones (i.e. get more response).

Now throw in a penalty for each additional word in your subject line. And increase that penalty as the line gets longer.

Now you have a balancing act. Adding a word or phrase to your subject line gets you more points, but also incurs a length penalty.

So you only keep on adding words/phrases until the positive impact is outweighed by the negative.

For most situations, you don't have enough good point-scoring words to justify a long subject line. But in some situations, you do. Which is why shorter is mostly better, but not always.

For a typical, single offer promotional email, once you've mentioned the item, discount and free shipping, nothing much else you can say is likely to boost interest enough to outweigh the subject line length penalty. So shorter works better.

But...if an informational newsletter covers different topics in one issue, each additional topic listed in the subject line engages another group of recipients and boosts response. Perhaps enough to make longer subject lines work better than short ones.

The trick...the skill...the art of subject line writing is knowing which words, phrases, items, topics, questions, branding elements or personalization give you the best response boost.

Only then can you know the right words to use (and how many).

Most important of all, the response value of each word or phrase depends on your email model and your audience (and even on the other words in your subject line - and their order!) Which is why experts place so much emphasis on subject line testing.

Confused? Here's the simpler alternative.

More on email subject lines | Tags: email marketing, subject lines

January 13, 2009

I've outlined the options for using video in your email campaigns (which doesn't always mean using video in your actual emails).

But a missing element has always been a definitive and detailed review of exactly what video-playing technologies work in different desktop email clients, webmail interfaces and mobile email applications.

Missing no more.

Campaign Monitor just released a report on the current state of video in email which fills this gap near perfectly.

I only say "near perfectly" because we're still waiting to learn how for-fee certification programs may open up certain ISPs to allowing streaming video to work in emails in the future.

Until then, it seems we're still looking at an image linking to a video at a website as the best option for most people, with animated gifs running second. Any "video email" services wishing to beg to differ are invited to comment...

Regarding the animated gif option, the Campaign Monitor report also discusses some pros and cons, and take a look at Justin Premick's post for some more thoughts on that alternative.

Oh, and one more thing.

I increasingly see services and press releases referring to "video email".

While most of us think of video email as "videos in email", these references often take a broader view.

On closer inspection, they commonly mean video production or hosting/analytics tools for use in combination with email campaigns, i.e. where the video does not play in the email itself.

All fine and legitimate, of course. But just be careful with terms and definitions in any discussion of video email...blog posts included ;-)

More on videos in email | Tags: video emails, animated gifs

January 09, 2009

B2B marketers do their fair share of email marketing. And not all the accepted tactics for retail email apply in that marketing environment.

I talked with Anthony Green of Concep to get some insights on what best practices are out there, particularly for those building relationships as a precursor to sales, rather than looking to sell direct via email.

See what he has to say here. Topics covered include budgets, CRM, brand control, frequency, format, Web 2.0 and deliverability...

"When I meet that guy, when I play golf with that woman, I can bring these topics up in conversation. That can mean million dollar deals..."

January 07, 2009

Kevin Hillstrom reminds us that there's more to email marketing ROI than you think, and uses email's impacts on paid search costs to highlight his point.

Cue cogs and wheels to start spinning.

You send out an email campaign with a dedicated landing page. And you track how many recipients bought the item or service in question.

That gives you a pretty good picture of how your email performed, no?

But what about all the other impacts (good and bad) on the actual performance of your emails?

Does your evaluation take into account, for example, other responses stimulated by your campaign? Such as causing the recipient to...

• visit other parts of your website and purchase other items and services
• visit your offline store and make a purchase
• do a search on Google, visit your site and make a purchase
• do a search on Google, visit your site through your paid search ad and make no purchase (incurring a cost)
• do a search on Google and buy the same product from a competitor (lost future sale)
• check out competing offers from other sites and buy from a competitor (ditto)
• do nothing, but they are now more likely to buy from you in the future thanks to the email creating a positive brand impression
• do nothing, but they are now less likely to buy from you in the future thanks to the email creating a negative brand impression
• mark you as spam and hurt your deliverability on your next campaign
• buy an item from the landing page they would have bought anyway (email was not responsible for the purchase and might even have reduced revenue if a discount was offered)
• buy an item, but only because they saw the offer several times already in your other communications (can email claim all the credit?)

And do you account for when recipients...

• forward your email to others (repeat all the above)
• post details of the email/offer on their blog, social media page, twitter etc. (repeat all the above)

And have you considered the opportunity cost of the time and resources you invested in the campaign? What else might you have done instead?

The impacts of email marketing are more measurable than for most other forms of marketing. But let's not delude ourselves that we're measuring everything.

Indeed, you can't measure many of these performance impacts. But that's not the point.

Once you start to consider the "lost numbers" and the wider implications of your email efforts, it changes the way you think about those efforts.

And the way you plan, design, implement and evaluate your campaigns.

And the way you think about email's relationship to other marketing endeavors.

What are you doing to evaluate and encourage the positive impacts and measure and minimize the negative ones?

More on metrics | Tags: email marketing metrics

January 05, 2009

And so we emerge into the bright lights of a new year, brimming with fresh ideas and fresh energy. (Hopefully.) What will 2009 bring? Video email for one. (Possibly.)

[New: you'll find the latest updates on current practices at the main video email page.]

Back in September, I reviewed the pros and cons of the three options available for putting videos in email:

1. Embedding code that causes a remote video stream to download and play.
2. Embedding the actual video file in the email.
3. Including an image or "video still" and linking that to the video at a website.

The general consensus is that option 3 is the best: the original post has all the details, reader comments and relevant links. However, two new developments have changed the video email landscape for us.

Option 4: Animation as video

In December, Chad White highlighted a progressive email from Sears that included a video. One that displays fine inside the email itself, just about regardless of the webmail service or email software you use to view it. Goodness!

Some suggest the "video" might be clever use of a "simple" animated gif. While the service powering the video disputes this (see Chad's post), the suggestion is intriguing.

Notwithstanding image blocking issues, animated gifs are displayed fine by all major email clients and webmail interfaces bar Outlook 2007: see this recent post for details.

So can you put together an animated image that looks more or less like a video (just without sound)? If you can, "video email" becomes a realistic tool which anybody with reasonable video and graphic editing skills can use. (So not me.)

And the answer, it seems, is yes.

Anna Yeaman gives us an impressive step-by-step example of how to do exactly this using common design tools.

Certification

The utopian vision of video email is embedded code: a small piece of script in the HTML that calls up a remote video file and allows the user to view it inside the email in all its high-quality visual and audio glory.

This hasn't worked to date because webmail services and email software tend to disable this kind of script for security reasons (protection from viruses etc.).

In theory, then, if an ISP could be assured of the provenance and good standing of an email and its sender, they would have no problem allowing such scripts to work.

Assurance of the provenance and good standing of emails and their senders is, by definition, what email certification is all about. So, theoretically, ISPs could allow "video code" in emails whose certification they recognize.

While this hasn't happened yet, it would be a logical development. And one email certification agency (Goodmail Systems) has already announced "Certified Video" functionality for this year.

The future

These two developments suggest the pressing "how" issue is increasingly solved for video email. However, the more important question is not how to put videos in email, but whether you should put videos in email.

A particular danger is that excited marketers start using videos in email because they can, and not because they should.

What works? What doesn't? When are videos the right email tactic to use? That's the new video email debate for 2009. Your thoughts most welcome...

More on videos in email | Tags: video emails, animated gifs, goodmail

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