No man is an iland

February 25, 2009

After 2,250 posts, it's your turn. Tell me how I can do more for you. What kind of content do you want to see more of? How can I help you better?

It would be great if you could find a few seconds just to tick the boxes that tell me where to invest more effort.

Multiple answers allowed. Feel free to list specific topics or requests using the "other" answer field or by adding a comment to this post. Thanks - appreciate your input!

(If the poll doesn't display in your feed reader or inbox, click here for the website version.)

And if the poll isn't displaying on the web page (3rd-party services!), go here...sigh. Thanks!

February 24, 2009

The famous level playing field is sloping precariously. If you're an SME with a small email marketing budget, the prospect of competing for inbox attention with the corporate behemoths is intimidating. What can you do?

Lots, as it turns out. Particularly if you take the inherent advantages of being smaller and apply them to your emails.

In the final part of this series, our panel of experts describes how to best compete with big retailers or service providers in a fatigued inbox...

Use your own voice and be authentic

It's harder for a large company to use the kind of human, personable voice that resonates well with readers. Especially when trying to conform with corporate and brand communication guidelines. So this is an area where smaller businesses can prosper.

The key, says Michael Katz of Blue Penguin Development, is to sound like a human being in your communications. He adds:

"I know, it sounds obvious, but one of the biggest built-in weaknesses of large companies is that so much is written/approved by committee. Good communication has nothing to do with how well financed you are... focus on authentic communication and you'll stand out every time."

Justin Premick, Education Marketing Manager at AWeber, echoes the point, suggesting you write the way you would speak to a customer, friends or family in real life.

What your emails might lack in terms of 'marketing polish' is "...more than made up for by the credibility and likability that they promote."

Focus on substance

Many large companies underperform at email marketing because of the inevitable implications of scale. There is a temptation to focus on style more than substance, image more than content.

SMEs can win by reversing that approach: substance over style, content over image.

Raj Khera, CEO of MailerMailer, emphasizes the point:

"...over time, most people value content over style. We have numerous cases of clients with simple, very basic-looking newsletters getting extraordinarily high open and click rates because of the richness in their content. Deliver something valuable and your recipients will keep their fingers off of the delete button."

Get genuinely personal

As Justin Premick puts it:

"Large companies sell products with their emails; SMEs sell themselves."

If you've had personal contact with the people on your list, use that connection. Dan Forootan, CEO of StreamSend notes:

"...having the message come from a real person helps distinguish the sender from a large institutional mass mailer."

Exploit your knowledge

This closeness to customers gives the typical SME a solid understanding of the offers and information that people want: knowledge you can put into your emails.

Steve Adams, Vice President Marketing for Campaigner says:

"The best email communications are highly personalized. This is where small businesses have an advantage. For example, an independent bookseller can send highly targeted emails to individuals based on their stated preferences, with the email coming from the store owner - a name the customer will recognize."

Janine Popick, CEO of VerticalResponse is even more forceful:

"The larger retailers tend to communicate in a "one size fits all" fashion, but you have the luxury of maybe even knowing your customers face to face! Put some attitude and personality in your emails and your recipients will want to hear from you..."

On a small list, SMEs can handcraft individual emails to the best customers. Or use the tools provided by their email marketing service or software to better match content, offers and subscriber preferences (see Part 3).

Many people don't realize that even the very value-priced services now offer the kind of tools and features only large corporate accounts could have accessed a couple of years ago (see Derek Harding's recent ClickZ article for more on this).

Build 2-way communication

A smaller list means you can more easily enter a dialogue with individual subscribers. And use that dialogue to build a stronger relationship and learn lessons for future emails.

Raj Khera observes:

"Our email marketing metrics reports consistently show that smaller lists have higher response rates. This is usually due to the fact that owners of smaller lists have stronger, tighter relationships with their recipients."

Steve Adams says:

"Don't just sign up customers to join your list and then leave it at that. Stay in touch and get closer to them by continually asking what their current interests and needs are and basing all of your email promotions on their feedback."

And Justin Premick adds:

"Use a real address in your from line instead of a "Do Not Reply" address and actively encourage subscribers to contact you. Large companies view email replies as a cost to be avoided, while SMEs view them as an opportunity to overcome objections, build trust and close sales."

Get the basics right and learn from others

The assumption that big resources equals better email doesn't always hold true. Fact is that a lot of your competitors aren't applying some of the proven, basic tactics that underpin a successful email marketing program.

Get the basics right and you already have a head start.

Equally, large businesses do a lot of great things with email and not every concept requires specialist tools or big investment to reproduce. As Steve Adams says:

"I would suggest signing up for competitor newsletters and doing some ghost shopping to see how they handle upsell, loyalty and onboarding (welcome) messaging. This will help you see what they do well and how you can do it better to make your email messages stand out."

More on the basics of email advertising | Tags: email marketing, small business

February 23, 2009

A month ago I joined Twitter. Here the main lessons, observations and opinion so far...

(Unlike an astonishingly large number of people on Twitter, I do not have "social media expert" in my bio, so read this critically.)

Most alarming observation

Other people's lives - especially their food intake and recreational habits - are much more exciting than mine. I'm hoping they are lying and assuming they have fewer children than me.

Is it worth it from a business perspective?

Not a question I can answer for anyone but myself. As with a blog or email list, you (individual or company) need to be clear on why you're doing it and how you measure success.

It's easy to become a numbers addict and focus on the number of followers (aka the size of your list or the number of feed subscribers), because that number is easily found.

But getting a bigger list is not a fundamental reason to Twitter, blog or email. The challenge is to find those metrics that truly measure success and post, write, Tweet, blog, publish to improve those numbers.

(And stop if the costs of doing so - particularly in time - aren't worth it.)

Interaction with other human beings may be the only justification you need at a personal level, but if you spend business time on Twitter, you need a business justification. It can be a seductive time suck. Even just following a handful of people is barely manageable. As Twitter grows, it will be a challenge to sort the wheat from the chat.

Potential benefits

As such, I see more potential in Twitter first as a broadcast (!) medium for business: another channel to get a message out to that part of your audience that prefers Twitter over email, blogs, Facebook etc.

And second, as a selective conversational medium for business: following those who have meaningful things to say and using search and other tools to focus on particular topics of conversation (such as feedback on your brand) or to receive direct questions from, for example, customers and prospects.

I see no value in following hundreds of people (anyone care to correct me?)

In my case, anecdotal evidence suggests there is some cannibalization of blog readers (not email subscribers), but much of the Twitter audience is a new one. As a consequence, Twitter participation is driving decent (repeat) traffic to the website.

Tip: if you're posting URLs in your tweets, use a URL shortening service that also provides stats on clickthroughs. I use idek.net.

More importantly, a non-monetary goal for me is to help others by spreading word of useful content. Through the new audience, Twitter works for that.

The big advantage

It is educating and inspiring to see the bios and websites of people who follow you. This is a big advantage compared to, for example, email or feed subscribers.

In email marketing, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that behind every email address is a warm-blooded human being (mostly). Since Twitter is more transparent, you are reminded that "people" are listening and this challenges and encourages you to provide more value. A good thing.

Networking value?

The networking value is strong if you see "Twitter relationships" as reinforcing or initiating broader, more intensive contact at, for example, meetings or local events. Otherwise, I tend to subscribe to Seth Godin's perspective.

You build relationships through what you contribute to that relationship. Twitter is simply another means of facilitating that contribution and not an end in itself.

There's also a danger (as with any network) that you immerse yourself in a like-minded community that can devolve into safe, self-congratulatory conversations.

It's emotionally reassuring, but can cocoon you from different perspectives and ideas. That's not a fault of Twitter, but how you use it.

Finally, two articles I thought had good ideas on integrating Twitter and email:

Send & Track an Email Campaign Through Twitter
10 Tips for Using Twitter And Email Marketing for B2B

Well, so far, so good...what do you think?

More on Web 2.0 and email | Tags: twitter

February 20, 2009

Last week I raised the issue of ESP tracking URLs looking downright ugly and potentially depressing your CTR.

Some kind readers/vendors commented or wrote in with their alternatives. All of them are an improvement on URLs like this...

http://www.esp2v.net/dfg35465788883777458885866888g

If your ESP is a nominee for Ugly Tracking Link 2009, show them this post and see what they can do for you.

Use a branded subdomain of the ESP's tracking domain

Here, the ESP creates a subdomain of their tracking domain for each sender. So the above tracking URL can now look like this:

http://mycompany.esp2v.net/dfg35465788883777458885866888g

Use your domain with Javascript tracking at the destination page

This technique comes from AWeber. They give senders a bit of web analytics code (Javascript) to add to their website pages. Links in emails pointing to the sender's domain then get a query string added to the end, so they look something like this:

http://www.mycompany.com/page.html?aw_m=123457&aw_l=09875

You get to keep your original link URL and the analytics script on the website takes care of the click tracking.

AWeber's Justin Premick told me, "They're still longer than if you weren't using tracking at all, but at least they're at your domain and not an ESP one."

"While it only allows you to do this for pages of your own site (not any 3rd-party sites you may link to in your emails), it's a step up from the standard ESP-domain tracking link."

Let the ESP use a subdomain of your domain

This is how my own newsletter works and was proposed to me by Pure. You setup a subdomain of your own domain for use in your marketing emails. In my case:

news.email-marketing-reports.com

Then modify the nameservers so that the ESP is in control of that subdomain and can use it for tracking purposes. My "news" subdomain is associated with my ESP's nameservers, who then modify the A, MX and TXT records appropriately to allow tracking and authentication. (I don't understand that but your ESP or IT staff will.)

All the links would then look something like this:

http://news.mycompany.com/link.php?mId=A83096916&tId=7744870

Let the ESP use a dedicated emailing domain

A variation on the above is to actually create a domain solely for sending email from and put that under the ESPs control so they can use it for tracking.

A separate domain and sending infrastructure for marketing emails is sometimes done for deliverability reasons anyway.

Any delivery problems caused by your marketing efforts (even the most ethical programs can end up on an occasional blacklist) don't impinge on your normal business email.

So your links might look like this:

http://www.mycompanynews.com/link.php?mId=A8309&tId=7744870

Put the tracking code in the subdomain?

All four of the above are practical solutions available at at least one ESP. I've not seen this last alternative anywhere, but it was suggested to me by a friend.

Instead of a named subdomain for the ESP's use, you use a wildcard so that any subdomain not specifically defined by yourself (like www.) is now controlled by the ESP. Then the ESP uses the alphanumeric link tracking code as a subdomain.

The advantage is that you can now display the full URL of the landing page, like this:

http://ASD439868.mycompany.com/100_dollar_coupon_here/

This doesn't look good if the alphanumeric tracking code is too long, but my friend assures me that relatively short codes still offer enough variations to cope with even the largest database requirements (and that longer codes are simply down to technical inefficiencies, not need).

Any technical folk care to comment on the viability of this technique?

Any more suggestions or comments on this topic and the pros and cons of each URL approach are most welcome.

More on design | Tags: email marketing, url design, CTR, landing pages

February 19, 2009

So you know why you want to do email marketing and you've grasped some basic requirements.

Now let's explore some of the low-hanging fruit that doesn't require big buck investment. In particular, can you target your message better without getting into "advanced dynamic content" and expensive "database solutions"?

Our panel of experts offers some answers...

1. Just do it and stay committed

As Justin Premick, Education Marketing Manager at AWeber so eloquently puts it:

"The lowest-hanging fruit is getting an email campaign together in the first place."

The point is to start and not to wait until you have the world's most comprehensive email marketing system in place.

Michael Katz of Blue Penguin Development suggests an initial focus on your existing relationships:

"Worry less about getting the world to pay attention and first make sure you're in regular contact with your colleagues, customers, clients and others with whom you have a connection."

Dan Forootan, CEO of StreamSend continues the connection theme:

"Focus efforts on connecting with customers, rather than pushing products or services. Ask the customer to communicate back. After all, email is one of the few marketing channels that offers true two-way communication. Using surveys, sending newsletters, or highlighting special events help customers feel more connected to an organization."

Even those competitors who are exploiting the potential of email often let things slide. Which is an opportunity. Steve Adams, Vice President Marketing for Campaigner, notes:

"Make a calendar of campaigns and stick to it."

And he receives vocal support from Raj Khera, CEO of MailerMailer, who adds:

"Be regular: don't send a newsletter now and then wait six months before sending something else."

2. Look to simple opportunities to expand your address list

As Janine Popick, CEO of VerticalResponse notes:

"You can always improve upon a campaign, but if the number of recipients is dwindling, it doesn't really matter."

So while working on what you send is paramount, don't forget to cover all obvious sources of new subscribers. Which means a sign-up opportunity on every page of your website.

But don't stop there. Justin Premick reminds us that anytime there's an interaction with a client, customer or prospect, there's a potential list building moment. So keep paper sign-up forms handy at checkouts, meetings and events.

3. Include a web version

Justin also notes that "...many Email Service Providers can host your emails on a page of their site." This lets you put a link to the "web version" right at the top of your email.

Why do this?

Email software, mobile devices and webmail interfaces can do strange things to an email's display. The "web version" is a safe alternative any reader can turn to if need be.

Also put up archives of your emails where the information is relatively evergreen. It makes good site content, attracts search engine attention and provides evidence of the value of a subscription for those wavering about submitting their email address.

4. Targeting

Obviously you want your emails to be as relevant as possible to recipients. But the cost of expensive targeting tools sometimes intimidates business folk, who then abandon the idea of targeting entirely.

You don't need expensive tools to begin sending more relevant emails to your list.

As Justin says:

"There's a lot of ground between untargeted "spray and pray" emailing and dynamic, tightly segmented campaigns."

Here some alternatives that even very basic email marketing software or services should let you do...

4a Targeting - treat new subscribers differently

Each new subscriber should get an automatic welcome email before the regular emails begin arriving. Justin suggests taking that concept a step further:

"New subscribers often need more education about your company, your products and how you differ from competitors than established subscribers do."

"A well-developed "welcome series" of emails can educate and qualify subscribers before you go for the sale in your "regular" promotions."

4b Targeting - treat inactive subscribers differently

Your campaign reports let you see who never appears to click on your emails. It's worth isolating those addresses and thinking how you might recapture their attention.

Justin offers an example:

"A simple email to non-responsive subscribers that asks if they have any questions that you can answer stands out from the all the promotional content they (apparently) breeze past in their inboxes...just be helpful and try to find out what you can do to create better campaigns."

Janine Popick agrees and also suggests turning the concept around to reward the active subscribers:

"If you've got access to your openers and clickers from recently sent campaigns, those are people who in general have more interest. Target those recipients with your offers. Conversely if you've got people that have never responded, give them your best offer ever, and target those specifically."

4c Targeting - use sign-up information and your reports

A simple targeting technique is to split your main list into smaller lists, where each sublist (segment) shares an important common characteristic. Then you use that knowledge to send relevant emails to each group.

Raj Khera explains:

"For example, a retailer who sells both men and women's clothing might send different coupons based on the recipient's gender."

"You can also target messages geographically. If you hold events in various regions throughout the country, send your message to recipients who live within a 50 mile radius of the venue's zip code."

"Segmenting your list this way is fairly simple and only requires you to ask one or two questions when the subscriber signs up"

Steve Adams agrees, noting:

"No matter what business you're in, gathering subscriber profile information beyond name and email address from the get go and then using that information to segment your lists is one of the easiest ways to improve campaign performance."

Dan Forootan adds:

"Using data such as age, gender, geographic location, previous purchase can all help the sender to target its content to smaller groups who are more likely to welcome the message. "

The data you use to build you segments need not only come from the info you collect in sign-up forms. Steve Adams suggests you ask for additional information periodically, through email surveys or questionnaires:

"Keep asking, listening closely and getting to know your customers better - then give them what they want when they want it."

He also suggests you look closer at the campaign reports your software or service produces. You can build like-minded segments by grouping folk according to the kind of links they tend to click on.

However, Raj Khera warns that not all low-cost ESPs offer such segmentation tools, "...so you should shop around for one that does."

See Part 4, which discusses how your emails can have more impact and drive more responses than those sent by the well-funded corporate giants.

Tags: email marketing, small business

February 18, 2009

An unspoken rule on this blog is to stick to the matter in hand. But the occasional blogging milestone draws out something a little different (this is the 2,250th post). So...

When I was young(er), the online world was relatively simple. Now it's a heaving mass of channels and technologies...all requiring their own tactics, techniques and specialist knowledge.

Most days I feel like this.

My first website went up in 1997 and I sold it four years later for enough to put a downpayment on an apartment. Now it's about to go public. What might have been? Certainly a bigger apartment.

Despite a few missed opportunities and failures, 12 years survival in online business inevitably means I get regular questions on what works. For example:

• How do we get more people to open our email?
• How do we get better rankings at Google?
• How do we get more email subscribers?
• How do we get more website visitors?
• How do I improve my personal brand?
• How do we get more incoming links?
• How do I get more followers?
• How do we get more blog subscribers?
• How do we get a viral success?

I have no secret sauce or special experience. But the answer I give and follow myself is this:

Quality content.

The test of everything produced, whether an article, email, Tweet or text message is...

When people finish reading this, will they be glad they took the time to do so?

The answer needs to be yes for as many people in the target audience as possible. It's not easy. But if you constantly strive for that yes, a lot of the above takes care of itself.

Obviously it's not the only answer to successful online marketing, but if you can only do one thing and one thing well, that gets my vote.

It's a focus and approach that has survived more "paradigm changes", technological advances and Internet bubbles than I care to recall.

February 16, 2009

In a previous post I noted how you might exploit the fact that not everybody opens every email. Adding links to articles or offers from the previous email might catch a few bonus clicks from those who missed the original.

The concept worked well in one newsletter issue, but there were still three outstanding questions:

• is the CTR boost sustainable across multiple emails?
• do "old" links cannibalize clicks from the rest of the email?
• how can we get even more out of this tactic?

I looked at the results from my last three newsletter issues to help find answers.

Each issue featured a "What you missed..." section down at the bottom of the current issue with short links to the last issue's landing pages. (See an example.)

Does the CTR boost hold up?

How many extra clicks did we get on each link by featuring it in the next issue's "Missed" section:

Jan 12th newsletter:
Article 1: +6%
Article 2: +33%

Jan 26th newsletter:
Article 1: +1%
Article 2: +8%
Article 3: +2%
Article 4: +23%

Feb 9th newsletter:
Article 1: +24%
Article 2: +18%
Article 3: +18%
Article 4: +117%

Looks like the click boost is holding up.

Are these links stealing clicks from newer links?

Only a proper A/B test would tell us about cannibalization of clicks from elsewhere in the email. But if these "missed" links are genuinely producing additional clicks, then we'd expect the average number of links each recipient clicks on to rise. Let's see...

Before implementing the "what you missed" section, an average 0.47 links would be clicked for each recorded open. The equivalent figure for the three issues featuring this section? 0.61.

Looks like we are getting additional clicks out of this.

How can we exploit this tactic better?

The best results came from Feb 9th. Interestingly, the Jan 26th issue had some deliverability problems.

It's obvious when you think about it. The more people likely to miss a particular email, the greater the value of featuring links from that email in your next send.

So you might use this tactic in the next email sent out after a deliverability problem (assuming you solved the problem). Or following any email that got an unusually low open rate. For example, it went out the same day the President got inaugurated - when people weren't paying attention to their inbox.

Is there a footer effect?

Note that the very bottom link always gets the best click boost in each of the three cases.

If people scroll down the email and don't find anything to click on, do they then "leave" your email by clicking on the last meaningful link you offer?

Something to think about. And this would tie in to the idea that your email needs a clear call-to-action at the top and at the bottom.

Is there a more links = more clicks effect?

Another issue to consider: are "links you might have missed" nothing more than a particular application of the idea that the more links you offer, the more clicks you get?

Here's a graph showing how the number of unique links clicked on per recorded open matches up with the total number of links in the emails (for the last ten newsletters):



Perhaps some correlation between the two, but not a huge one?

There's likely a tradeoff. More links means more choice means more chance people find something they like. But...more links means more clutter and content and the more chance people give up and move on to something else. There's a sweetspot somewhere I suspect, depending on your email model and audience.

Three final points:

1. This tactic works for me. It doesn't mean it will work for you...test it out first.

2. Analysis is good. Dig into those numbers: there's so much your campaign reports can tell you.

3. At the end of the proverbial day, all the above is just icing on the cake. You want more clicks? Target better.

Tags: metrics, email marketing, email newsletters

February 12, 2009

[This is an essay on thinking differently about targeting. It's long, as I need to carry you through the same thought process that I went through getting there. Not really web-friendly, but then it's good to be contrary sometimes.]

The one thing that really bugs me about email marketing is the NCTR. The No Clickthrough Rate. Benchmarks tell us CTRs are typically 7%. So the average NCTR is 93%.

93% of recipients are not clicking on an average marketing email. Think about that.

At this point we all chime in with words like targeting, relevancy, trigger email, segmentation, lifecycle campaigns...all great stuff which can lift responses 50%, double them even. Let's say you even get a threefold lift.

Now your NCTR is 79%.

Hang on, we have some fantastic targeting going on and still most people are not interested enough to click.

That bothers me. All those lost opportunities. And every non click has the potential to turn into a spam complaint.

The problem is we can target by context or behavior, but we can't easily target by state of mind.

(I love those kind of academic-sounding sentences.)

In English...we can send people an offer relevant to a past behavior (like a purchase) or what we know about a subscriber (like a declared interest), but we're still hoping that the email arrives when the recipient is in buying / downloading / reading mode. Or at least in a position to quickly switch to that mode.

And mostly they are not.

99.9% of my time online is spent working, learning and laughing. Not contemplating the particular need you want to address. Or even willing to contemplate it before your email gets shunted off the screen.

The window of opportunity for any email is actually narrow. The message can be as targeted as you like, but if I'm not in the right state of mind, it likely gets ignored. Hence high NCTR.

Instead of struggling to get email to the recipient at the right time (which you can rarely know), we want to flip the concept around.

When the subscriber does have a need we can fulfill, we want them to immediately think of us. This is a wider business goal associated with branding, loyalty, customer relationships etc.

How can email fit in?

Well, staying top of mind, loyalty, relationships...hang on, doesn't that remind you of the basic premise behind informational email newsletters?

In fact, the email newsletter approach is popular among service companies specifically because most people getting their emails are not - at that moment - ready to shell out for a professional service.

The newsletter is a statement of position, a showcase for expertise, a wave from across the road that says, "...when you do need what we offer, remember us."

If you accept the NCTR argument, then this concept deserves wider application, since most people are not ready to give the response you want at the time your email arrives. Whether you're selling consultancy or cat food.

So there's our start. You publish useful information, build a reputation and relationships, and when people are ready to buy, they go to you. Email as brand experience and brand builder.

But let's go beyond that...

Emails designed for direct responses now use a range of super tools and tactics to ensure the offer presented is as relevant as possible.

Why not apply that same ingenuity to the email newsletter concept? Why not target with content in the same way we target with offers or promotions?

Some examples of what I mean...

If I buy a digital camera from an electronic retailer, I likely get subsequent emails that feature offers on camera accessories, newer models and alternative models.

They put me in the "digital camera" segment and market accordingly. Which is right and proper and works to a degree. But we still have the NCTR problem.

What if those emails also featured (or at least linked to) targeted content, such as:

• maintenance tips for my exact camera model.
• usage tips for that exact model.
• advice on digital photography techniques (beginner tips for lower-end models, advanced tips for expensive SLRs).
• reviews of useful online tools for digital camera users.

Wouldn't that make me feel good about the retailer? Wouldn't that boost trust, loyalty and all the other things that contribute to a state of mind that says "when I buy my next camera, it's going to be here".

If I just bought Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" off a music download site, I might get a nice receipt with a sidebar along the lines of "If you liked this song, you might like Leonard Cohen, etc. etc."

Targeted cross-sell opportunities dynamically embedded through a funky (that's a technical term) transactional email system.

Which is, again, great, but...bang...the NCTR problem. I'm done with music buying this week. Or I don't actually know WHY I should spend time listening to excerpts of Cohen songs.

What if that transactional email also included content with:

• the top 5 Hallelujah covers, as voted by our visitors
• the Jeff Buckley legacy
• an interpretation of the Hallelujah lyrics

Now the BIG argument against this approach is the cost of developing all that targeted content. Especially when the benefits are likely long-term. Though we already see case studies where content, rather than sales pitches, can increase immediate responses and sales.

Well...

• a lot of content might be suited to a user generated approach. Drawing on customer reviews and submissions, for example. This might tie in to a broader Web 2.0 strategy.
• you might licence stuff from some of those specialist, even hobby, content sites that are desperate for revenue. Or reuse material from fan blogs etc. (with permission of course).
• how many hours do you spend designing the pretty creative that accompanies the promotion? What if you spent that same time crafting a useful article on the same topic?
• a lot of that content may already be in your possession: in your print newsletters, customer service documentation, manufacturer's documentation, resource pages, FAQ etc.
• you might simply link to other websites where this information is available (if you're self-assured enough)
• you can start small. Any digital camera purchaser would likely value a few short reviews of some useful online tools. Takes you two hours to write.

The real message here is that it's not about promotions versus content. It's about thinking of more ways to add value to your email program. And the value you give, you will get in return.

Now the hybrid promotion/content model is not new (see what REI do with their wool email here) and it follows a current Internet meme that we are all publishers now. It's a logical extension of much that already goes on in the more enlightened corners of the email marketing world, but I can't promise it works.

But does it make you think? Have you seen companies pursuing this approach to this level of detail? Would it work for you?

February 10, 2009

There is some argument out there on whether sending deals, discounts, free shipping, coupons etc. makes long-term sense for any email marketing program.

One side says you're simply training recipients to buy at discount rather than full price. The other side says, yes, but if it brings more sales and profits, who cares? At this point, arguments about price theory and branding break out.

But there's a bigger problem here.

Two of the key questions for your 2009 email efforts are:

• What do your emails offer that people can't get from any other email list?
• If a competitor started offering the same content or similar offers, why would subscribers stay with your list?

Deals and discounts don't address either of those questions. They are not a competitive advantage in an increasingly competitive inbox.

The widespread use of discount offers by everyone else diminishes the value of your emails to the recipient. But it also makes it difficult to abandon such promotions, since you would then lose sales to all the others that stay with discounts and special offers.

Equally, many email programs attract subscribers specifically because they promise access to special offers and discounts.

So you're in a dilemma. Unless you happen to have a unique product or service or a particularly strong brand, you need discounts to compete. Even though they don't make you competitive (very Zen!).

If you don't want to send ever deeper discounts (in a never-ending arms race with your competitors), what can you do?

The trick is not to get lulled into the complacency that comes from sending simple promotions and getting enough sales to wave wonderful ROI figures in the face of your bank manager or boss.

That underexploits the potential of your list and is no safeguard against competition.

Ask yourself two questions:

• what other ways can I add value to an email subscription?
• how else can I persuade people to join the email list and stick with it?

For example, subscribers to a retail email list might get...

• Earlier or priority access to new products
• Subscriber-only products (or special, limited-edition subscriber-only versions)
• Sneak peeks at future developments
• The chance to participate in future product development through subscriber-only feedback channels
• Advance notice of offline sales, with the option to reserve products in advance
• Extended warranties
• Their own dedicated service hotline
• Supporting content (how-tos etc.)

I'm sure you can add many more to that list.

Another alternative is to promote sales by stopping selling. I explore that concept here.

Tags: email marketing, pricing strategy, coupons, discounts

February 06, 2009

OK, Part 1 of this series explained why email marketing is worth exploring even if you have a challenging financial situation (i.e. no cash for marketing).

But those looking to jump in and grab the benefits often fall victim to misplaced expectations and crucial knowledge gaps. Our panel of email experts identify four key points to grasp for the SME entering the path to email marketing success...

Be patient

The strong promise of email marketing is a double-edged sword. Although the good returns attract interest, they also tempt newcomers into setting their expectations way too high.

The message from our experts: be patient.

Justin Premick, Education Marketing Manager at AWeber, says that... "SMEs need to understand that email is a long-haul strategy, and that to make it work, they need to take a long-haul approach."

Steve Adams, Vice President Marketing for Campaigner, adds:

"Like anything, effective email marketing is a skill that you hone over time."

The first campaign report (and open rates in particular) often prove a shock to those expecting every outgoing email to be seen, read and responded to by every recipient.

Janine Popick, CEO of VerticalResponse notes that when reports show 40% of recipients 'open' the email...

"...small businesses are surprised at that low number. When we tell them that's a great open rate many are perplexed."

"I think what they need to understand is that just like them and all of us, we don't open everything. There's no time and sometimes no interest in the subject line."

Raj Khera, CEO of MailerMailer continues:

"Do not expect all of your readers to open your message, even those you have a very good relationship with. Keep at it, sending your newsletter regularly."

This idea of consistency is echoed by Popick, who adds:

"Marketing shouldn't stop after the first email is sent."

This long-term approach also plays to the idea of email as a relationship builder, not (just) a one-off message seeking to gain a quick sale or three.

Many SMEs in the service sector, for example, use informational newsletters to keep in touch with clients and prospects over time, building a reputation and image through the quality and helpfulness of that information.

That process takes time and phones may not start ringing as a result for a few months.

Give as well as take

This brings us to the issue of value. Email marketing is often reduced to the idea of sending out an offer via email, watch sales pour in, send out another offer, watch sales pour in, etc.

This short-termism is eventually self-defeating.

Justin Premick explains:

"Some SMEs struggle with the concept that email is not a short-term sales lifter."

"They send out an email promotion, they see sales go up, and they get an 'email high' that they want to reproduce by sending out another promotion ASAP."

"Of course, like any other addiction, that high gets harder to reproduce as subscriber fatigue sets in."

Long-term success depends on recognizing that an email is a two-way exchange. If you want attention, loyalty and, yes, sales, then you have to offer value in return.

Dan Forootan, CEO of StreamSend confirms this, saying:

"...email marketing is a very effective tool when reaching out to an established customer base by sending email messages with true value."

As well as special offers, promotions or discounts, Dan suggests including industry news or trends, asking customers for feedback through surveys or adding their product reviews.

Steve Adams continues the theme, advising SMEs to provide value by...

"...engaging your audience with tips and information they can use. Email is great for special promotions, offers and sales, but you also want your readers to get something out of it - not just a hard sell."

"That's one of the biggest knowledge gaps all marketers face - how do I engage my audience and offer value while also letting them know about my products, services and expertise? Taking time to answer that question for yourself will help you execute winning campaigns."

Build a list respectfully

Of course, any benefits can only accrue if you have people to send your emails to. Not just any people, but those who explicitly asked to receive them (those who opt-in).

As Steve Adams puts it:

"The first step is building your email list and making sure everyone has opted-in."

Too many SMEs are seduced by ads selling thousands and millions of email addresses for a few dollars. Unfortunately, there is no quick route to building your address list.

Raj Khera has some particular warnings on this issue...

"Never buy an email list. There is no such thing as an opt-in list that you can buy. Think about it: would you ever put your name on a list and give someone permission to resell it over and over, thereby flooding your email address with unsolicited offers? No, and neither would anyone else."

(For more on this, see here.)

He also advises strongly against borrowing lists:

"What if you attended a trade show and the trade show management provided you with a list of all attendees, including their email address. Is it okay for you to email them? Not unless each recipient agreed that it was okay to pass their name on with the understanding that they would be receiving email offers. Most likely, the answer will be no."

His rule of thumb?

"...unless a recipient wanted to hear from you (or your company) specifically, do not email them."

As Dan Forootan reminds us...

"The key to success has always been in sending to a list with quality email addresses."

This means (again) patience as you build your list.

Get specialist help

Of course, all our experts would suggest you use specialist software or services to manage your list and emails (all sell such services). But they're absolutely right.

A temptation for those new to the field is to send out marketing emails using Outlook or similar email software. A mistake.

These were not built for that job, and for just a few dollars you can get specialist tools that take away the pain of managing address lists, help get your email delivered effectively and give you useful reports on just who clicked on what link in your emails.

(For more information on that, see this article.)

See Part 3, which expands on some of these issues and looks at some simple things SMEs can do to make more of their email marketing.

Tags: email marketing, small business

February 04, 2009

One of the wonderful things about email is the ability to track who clicked on what. If you send out your email via an ESP, for example, they will typically take your landing page URL and turn it into a tracking URL with a unique tag for each recipient.

All fine so far.

So let me ask an impertinent question. Does this tracking reduce clickthroughs?

Say this is my landing page:

http://www.markscompany.com/10_dollars_off/

Once in an email, this attractive looking URL often gets turned into something that looks like this...

http://www.esp2v.net/dfg35465788883777458885866888g

...a click on that link redirects to the landing page, but not before the service provider collects a nice record of the click and which email (and recipient) it came from.

Privacy issues aside, this is generally considered a "GOOD THING." The tracking gives you insights you can use to send better, more targeted email next time around. No arguments there.

But (my favorite word)...some people will look at the URL as they hover over the link with their mouse. Which of the two URL alternatives above is likely to have the greatest positive impact on the decision to click or not?

Intuition says the first one.

Consider, especially, how people are trained to be careful about clicking on strange URLs. Check out this consumer advice from a Microsoft article entitled Recognize phishing scams and fraudulent e-mails:

"The string of cryptic numbers looks nothing like the company's Web address, which is a suspicious sign."

Has anyone done A/B tests to see if the look of the link URL in an email affects clickthrough rates?

I'm not aware of any (please comment if you are).

I'm guessing it might make a difference, especially if you're in a sector plagued by phishing attacks or where you've yet to truly establish trust through your email program.

And I'm also guessing you've never given a moment's thought to this issue until now.

If you think there could be a few extra clicks to gain from good-looking URLs, check how your tracking links display, and work with your service or software provider to see if there are better-structured alternatives.

For example, a little tinkering* with DNS records might let your ESP use a subdomain of your own domain for tracking. So the tracking link would look like this:

http://enews.markscompany.com/dfg35465788883777458885866888g

...which is already an improvement.

If there are no alternatives, at least you tried. And the value of tracking is still worth the loss of a few clicks. But if you can get your URLs looking attractive, so much the better. Every little bit counts.

* a technical term which means I know it's possible because I did it for my own newsletter and ESP, but damned if I can remember the details.

See also: Forget email design, what about URL design

Tags: email marketing, url design, CTR, landing pages

February 02, 2009

This is the first of a small series of posts which covers email marketing from the perspective of those lacking the resources to simply copy the email tactics of a big retail chain or multinational IT corporation.

The insights come from an interview panel of email marketing folk who work closely with customers in small- and medium-sized businesses. They kindly consented to share their expertise with us through this blog.

We'll cover false expectations, knowledge gaps, quick ways to improve, how to compete with the big boys and delivery issues. [Rubs hands at the prospect.]

But first, let's begin with a fundamental issue...why should an SME stick scarce resources into email when times are tough?

We know email marketing works, but where's the particular pull for small businesses and marketing departments on a budget?

1. Costs

Though the industry is at pains to avoid labelling email marketing a "cheap" method, fact is that email is something you can do without breaking the bank.

More to the point, you can test the email waters without committing too many resources and you can start off simply. As Steve Adams, Vice President Marketing for Campaigner notes:

"The cost of sending email through an email marketing service is very low, with many plans starting for as little as $25 per month."

2. Success

The DMA regularly ranks email top for return on investment (ROI) among direct marketing tactics. Raj Khera, CEO of MailerMailer adds...

"Even if this ROI decreases due to the recession, it still blows all other direct response methods out of the water."

Dan Forootan, CEO of StreamSend reinforces the point:

"When times get tough and wallets get tight, customers also sometimes need a little added incentive to buy. Email marketing can be the perfect vehicle to provide that incentive."

"Because an email can easily be targeted and personalized, marketers can persuade their customer base to purchase with special offers and value-added services specific to an individual." (We'll look at some simple targeting ideas later in the series).

Low costs obviously make it easier to get a good return on your investment. But there's no denying that email marketing - done appropriately - brings in the money. The important words there are "done appropriately."

Email marketing ROI gets a lot of good PR. But that won't save you from poor results if you don't know how best to use marketing emails to further your business success.

Equally, the focus on ROI neglects the value of email as a long-term relationship builder.

Many small businesses rely on the personal touch and customer service to sustain business. And regular contact wtih customers and clients through email newsletters and campaigns has much to offer there.

3. Measureability and flexibility

Of course, down economies encourage more careful use of scarce dollars, which also plays to another email advantage: measureability.

As Dan Forootan notes, once your program is up and running and your list established:

"For as little as twenty dollars a month and five person hours, a SME can reach 2,000 customers and easily track and measure the success of the campaign."

Steve Adams quips:

"There's an old advertising saying that goes 'I know I wasted half my advertising budget, I just don't know which half.' With email marketing, you won't fall victim to that costly cliche."

The value of that measureability is improved by your ability to react to the numbers. Justin Premick, Education Marketing Manager at AWeber says, "...to me, it's not about saving money. It's about being agile."

Agile?

Email can tell you how well your campaigns worked in terms of direct responses, plus (as Justin explains):

"You can zero in on WHY it worked (or didn't) faster. And as you learn more about your audience, you can adjust your marketing accordingly, faster."

So, are SMEs seeing value in email?

Janine Popick, CEO of VerticalResponse told me:

"From what we've been seeing, email marketing as a retention vehicle seems to be the last thing SME's are pulling from their budgets. Customer acquisition seems to be where they are chopping...understandably, when you pay $15 to send out an email campaign and you get $3000 in sales, you're going to keep your retention programs over anything else."

Raj Khera confirms the trend, saying:

"We are seeing many companies cutting back on traditional, more costly marketing methods like print or trade shows and putting their marketing dollars into email."

He adds:

"A recession is a great opportunity for smart individuals who know how to capitalize on an opportunity to do really well and surpass those who are retreating."

See Part 2: where are the biggest expectation and knowledge gaps? What do SMEs need to understand about email marketing as they invest in this tactic?

Tags: email marketing, small business

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