No man is an iland

As I close down for the holiday break, I though I’d leave you with some lighthearted statistics about email. Something to impress the relatives with.

Ready?

	1. According to Google Trends, email is more popular than Elvis, the Beatles, chocolate, beer, Justin Bieber and Harry Potter…but not sex.
	2. Say you printed out each non-spam email sent in the world on a single piece of standard A4 copy paper: One day’s worth of emails would produce a stack of paper 2,159 times taller than Mt. Everest It would take just over 20 days for the stack to reach the moon In just under 2 hours, you would have enough paper to cover the continental USA Around 4 days later, you could cover the earth’s entire surface area
	3. If email accounts were people, the email population would be: 2.3 times the size of China 9.9 times the size of the USA 38 times the size of Germany

Happy holidays and thank you so much for blessing me with your attention in 2011. See you next year!

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• Channel: Email marketing statistics

Spiders, scorpions, snakes…and popups.

Improvements to browser security largely killed the popup window, but the fear and loathing remains.

As a result, email marketers have been reluctant to use “in your face” website sign-up forms that in any way resemble those popups of the past.

But times and technology have changed.

Is this reluctance to consider more brazen approaches to sign-up forms still relevant and reasonable?

With marketers reporting huge sign-up lifts from using them, what are the impacts on user experience?

Are there any recommended techniques in this field?

I have no idea.

So I put together a panel of experts to answer a few questions on the potential and practices behind successful “popup” subscription forms. Here’s what they told me…

Popovers, lightboxes, sliders, hovers etc.

First of all, these sign-up forms are not popping up as new windows or browser tabs.

They appear as a box that fades into view or slides in from one side of the screen, usually overlaying a central part of the current web page.

This format is commonly known as the “popover”. If the page being viewed is darkened to highlight the popover box even more, then people often talk about a “lightbox”.

You can see demonstrations of these concepts here.

You’ll find other terms used, too, but let’s stick with these two.

Bottom line – are popovers leading to higher sign-up rates?

Interruption has become a dirty word in marketing, but as Martin Weigel wrote in a critique of “engagement”:

“The difference isn’t between stuff that interrupts and stuff that doesn’t. The real difference is between stuff that’s a relevant (i.e. useful and/or entertaining) and timely interruption, and stuff that isn’t.”

Normal inline subscription forms and links are easily glossed over. The premise behind the popover is that its “sudden” appearance draws attention to the subscription offer.

If relevant and timed right, it can become a useful and successful interruption.

Justin Premick, Director of Education Marketing at AWeber says:

“A visitor who overlooks your inline form (scrolling past it, for example, to read the on-page content) may be inclined to subscribe when presented the opportunity in a more forward way.”

But does it actually improve sign-up rates?

Obviously a lot depends on context and application (when doesn’t it?) but our experts report many websites seeing significant sign-up rate increases after implementing a popover.

Ernests Vaga, Product Chief Developer at Mailigen, has seen clients getting 200% to 400% increases, noting:

“Results are different from case to case, but the positive difference is obvious in all cases.”

Mac Ossowski, Director of Education at GetResponse, cites recent FMCG clients who were unhappy with sign-up rates from simple inline forms or an opt-in at checkout.:

“After implementing popovers on the home pages, the average subscription rate increase was between 250% and 300%.”

AWeber’s Premick has seen anything up to a nine- or ten-fold increase. He adds:

“…even a “mere” (by these standards) doubling of the number of interested subscribers added to your list per day would make most email marketers’ year.”

Premick also notes that the popover is a complement, not a replacement, for inline forms. After all:

“…a visitor who immediately closes a popover (as many claim to do) should still be given an opportunity to subscribe.”

So where’s the downside?

Well, there’s clearly a balance to be found.

Our fourth expert, Jim Davidson, Manager of Marketing Research at Bronto Software, says popovers can be very effective at list growth, but also “an intrusive and unexpected interruption breaking the fourth wall and blatantly exposing your marketing efforts” for the site visitor.

As a result:

“Popover implementation should be controlled, calculated, and used with caution.”

Managing that balance is the key to accelerated list growth without negative side effects. That begins with defining scenarios where popovers are particularly effective.

What scenarios are they best suited to?

Bronto’s Davidson highlights  the popover as a quick start mechanism for new lists:

“New brands or companies that are just launching an email program will commonly use popovers to quickly grow their subscriber lists. Sweepstakes are often combined with a popover form softening the blow of interrupting the user’s shopping experience.”

The idea that the interruptive nature of the popover needs compensation through a sizeable sign-up incentive is echoed by GetResponse’s Ossowski:

“I’d say popovers are suitable for every scenario in which the party that’s capturing the data can offer a tangible incentive for leaving the email address.”

He cites coupons and discount codes as good examples.

Another popular option is using popovers with search engine traffic. In particular, given the costs of pay-per-click search engine advertising, it makes sense to capture email addresses on landing pages to market to those who don’t convert immediately.

Mailigen’s Vaga has found popovers perfect for search visitors to sites that regularly publish fresh content.

If they’re looking for topical information, the option to receive content updates is a strong one:

“Popovers are a little like squeeze pages and work well if the content is worth returning for…places like blogs and news sites are perfect places to use the popovers.”

Premick suggests popovers as an approach for capturing the address of any engaged visitors before they leave the site. The caveat is that your emails must be relevant to the pages they were actually engaging with.

Equally, the popover is perhaps unnecessary if visitors are already getting a clear opportunity to subscribe anyway, such as when purchasing or registering online. And he warns against using popovers to try and compensate for a poor website or email program:

“…popover forms are a way to improve an already effective list-building and email marketing program. They will not make up for shortcomings in your traffic generation, landing pages, or email campaigns.”

He also cautions against using popovers as soon as a visitor arrives, before they’ve “…had an opportunity to read or watch the content on your page.”

Which leads us to the critical question: just when should a popover sign-up form appear on the page?

When should a popover display? How often?

The challenge is to find the point of time when a popover is most valuable and least disruptive. For example, you don’t want to distract visitors from completing an important website task.

So the right timing is, inevitably, dependent on context. As Premick says:

“The specific conditions that should trigger a popover form will vary for each business and require consideration of what your form will offer, who it will make that offer to and when is an appropriate time to do so.”

So testing is going to play an important role when implementing a popover for specific pages on your site. Nevertheless, our experts highlight good approaches to take as a starting point.

For content sites, visitors first need a chance to grasp the value of the content. So the popover should not appear immediately. Vaga recommends trying a 10-30 second delay, saying:

“…if it appears too early, the visitor wouldn’t have yet familiarized himself with the content and may not be as highly motivated to sign up for updates.”

For those wondering where to start, Premick suggests a pragmatic approach based on the average amount of time visitors spend on the page in question. Then:

“…set your popover form to appear shortly before the average visitor leaves the page – for example, if your average visitor leaves the page after 45 seconds, you might trigger your popover to appear after 40 seconds. From there, you can split test shorter and longer delays.”

Alternatively, you can use display criteria other than a time delay.

Premick suggests, for example, triggering the form when visitors scroll to a particular page location. This was something Ossowski did on GetResponse’s own blog:

“…the popovers were displayed to users that spent at least 30 seconds reading a blog post OR scrolled down to the very
bottom of the page.”

For retail sites, time delays make less sense, because they can then interfere with the buying process. Davidson explains:

“Delaying the popover means that a visitor could have already started to digest the content on your site and is prepared to shop or has already clicked through to a product page and is further down the purchase funnel.”

If they’ve started the purchase process, then the popover would get attention, but:

“…likely result in frustration rather than enthusiasm about signing up for an email program.”

He suggests displaying the popover form immediately upon arrival to your homepage for a new visitor. Equally:

“Avoid using popovers on product landing pages or interior pages of your site.”

It’s also important to avoid over-soliciting the sign-up.

A typical implementation would see a popover appear once per visit and repeated on subsequent visits if enough time has elapsed in the meantime. The definition of “enough time” depends on the average frequency and regularity of visits.

Vaga, for example, broadly recommends displaying the popover every 14 to 30 days:

“If the sign-up form appears too often, it may interfere with the regular site visitors…the month long interval would be advisable to re-invite those who refused first time, but are still returning and reading your content.”

Davidson also makes a key point:

“Definitely deactivate the popover for any links coming from your emails.”

Alternatively, deactivate popovers for existing subscribers. After all, they’re already signed up.

Inevitably, there are still going to be some visitors who find the popovers overzealous or unnecessarily intrusive. Rules on frequency rely on cookies, for example, which can be deleted or rejected.

But is this a serious issue, assuming you’ve taken care with your implementation?

Are there negative impacts?

There are actually two issues here: the impacts on website behavior and the impacts on list quality.

GetResponse’s Ossowski tells us:

“I have a quite solid hands-on experience with implementing popovers and I have to say that I never noticed any significant drop in the number of visitors, time spent on a website or a soaring bounce rate.”

Intelligent implementation keeps negative responses down and he suggests the wariness about such responses is largely historical:

“I really think there are many myths surrounding popovers that go back to 1998 when they were not only aggressive, but also stood on the verge of blackhat gimmicks (we all remember pop-ups jumping right in your face making it nearly impossible to leave a website).”

Mailigen’s Vaga agrees:

“Testing a popover lightbox that is easy to close in case the visitor doesn’t want to sign up has not shown any negative behavior from users”

But he recommends testing how the popover, display frequency and “time delay before displaying” affects visitor stats before committing.

And list quality?

AWeber’s Premick says he’s not heard any marketer using popovers claim that list quality declined after implementing them.

“It seems to me that if you’re providing valuable emails to subscribers, and setting expectations properly, a popover form will lead to similar quality subscribers as any other on-site form would.”

If you’re concerned about list quality, Bronto’s Davidson recommends adding subscriptions obtained from a popover form to a separate list or creating a new source associated with an existing list:

“…monitor their performance over time to create baselines for their performance, including bounce rates, abuse complaints, and unsubscriptions as well as the standard performance metrics like opens, clicks and conversions.”

If the popover relies on sweepstakes to collect addresses, then higher unsubscribe rates are likely. Davidson suggests using a series of welcome messages tailored to this specific audience to:

“…help to communicate additional information about your brand and the value of being part of the email program. This will be important since the limited space of popovers provides little opportunity to communicate this value initially.”

Which brings us to another issue…form design. Any advice from our experts?

What about the popover form itself?

The popover form needs different treatment to a standard inline form.

First of all, you need to allay the potential fear that the popover form has taken people to an unrelated destination. Bronto’s Davidson says:

“Make sure your brand name is still visible when the popover is displayed so visitors know they are on the right site.”

Since you can determine how big the form is, you typically have  a little more space to work with than an inline form. Mailigen’s Vaga says:

“It’s like a mini landing page.”

But he warns that time is not on your side:

“…it should be possible to understand the offer and be able to sign up within few seconds”

As Premick says:

“As with any opt-in form, a popover should clearly communicate the benefits of subscribing.

The onus on the marketer to do this succinctly is higher for popover forms than for a typical inline form, since popovers are by nature interruptive and will cause many visitors to react by looking for the “close” button before reading anything more than a few words.”

Vaga recommends a banner or image supporting the content, a title or call out text, a couple of bullet points and a simple form requesting no more than email and name.

Davidson echoes this advice on not asking for too much information in the popover itself:

“Popover forms should be succinct, easy to read, and require minimal effort to complete. Remember, these forms are better suited for list growth and not customer profile data.”

Both Vaga and Davidson suggest you collect more details later via welcome emails and subsequent communications, if they’re not already available in a customer database.

Ossowski cautions against the trap of using aggressive copy to match the interruptive nature of the popover:

“I believe that transmitting a positive message in the pop-over also has a big impact on it’s eventual success rate.

So, instead of yelling at the visitor: “Give me your email address”, tell them gently: “You are the chosen one! Here’s your coupon, we’ll just need your email address”.

Popovers are technically aggressive in comparison to inline sign up forms, but their CTAs don’t have to follow suit in tone.”

Davidson also has detailed advice on layout and copy, particularly for commerce sites:

Final thoughts

I’m kind of convinced and will start testing popovers on certain areas of Email Marketing Reports in 2012. As Premick says:

“If you have created an effective email program and are looking for ways to accelerate your list growth, popover forms are an avenue worth testing.”

The key is in the testing.

What do you think?

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• Channel: Building an email list

So in a terrifying moment of weakness I found myself saying:

“It would be nice to get 3000 Twitter followers by the end of the year”

Oh dear.

Why 3000? Why by the end of the year? Why focus on THAT metric? Why, Mark, why?

I’m only human. The seductive appeal of using a random number of followers, likes, +1′s or subscribers as your measure of success is a tricky one to resist.

But the mistake led me to ask whether I’ve learned anything over the past 13+ years of online and email marketing.

Cue a brief period of panic…followed by a longer period of reflection.

Here’s what popped out: six approaches and principles that have stood the test of time.

1. Understand the true meaning of value

Well, it didn’t take me long to come up with the principle of “delivering value” as an email must.

You have to give to get: give value and it comes back in return…as opens, clicks, conversions, loyalty, word of mouth etc.

But there are three traps we commonly fall into.

Avoid one-way value

It’s important to ask how different email approaches, content and offers might address business needs.

But the result depends on the recipients reacting the right way.

And their reaction depends on how these different email approaches, content and offers contribute to their needs.

So the real question to ask is how email can help our subscribers, and in doing so help us.

Don’t over-estimate value

We’re all (probably) passionate about our products and services. Readers usually aren’t quite so excited.

Our enthusiasm can blind us to the true value of what we offer through email, leading to unrealistic expectations of response and sending email to people who maybe shouldn’t be getting it.

Don’t misunderstand value

So what is “value” anyway?

Yep, for a lot of people it’s discounts, coupons, savings, free shipping, or a bonus lollipop if you register by Friday.

But it’s also helpful information, feeling appreciated, feeling understood, a story, entertainment, humor, a sense of community or just a simple reminder that the sender is still open for business…

I’m not a psychologist, but the potential value you might deliver via an email message covers a lot more than “20% off your next purchase”.

2. Be willing to tweak and change

Once something works at least reasonably well, we’re reluctant to change anything.

The fear of making things worse often overwhelms the prospect of making things better.

This inertia is combatted by testing: you can make changes without “exposing yourself” to the whole email list. If it makes things better, great. If it doesn’t, no harm done.

Equally, it helps to understand that most readers aren’t evaluating your emails with the intensity of a marketing blogger. When you change the colour of the “shop now” button to blue, readers are unlikely to storm your headquarters in protest. (Unless they’re Liverpool fans.)

Each new email is an opportunity to test a tweak, and each tweak can have surprisingly positive impacts:

• Subject line tests that double open rates over time
• Changes in link wording that produce over 50% more clicks
• From line tests that pull over 20% more clicks
• Link format tests (button vs text) that increase clicks 67%

The flipside is that sustainable, long-term improvement needs more fundamental or innovative change to email design, tactics and strategy. Morgan Stewart once wrote:

“If the best idea your creative and/or testing team can come up with for improving your creative is to test the color of your links, then fire them.”

3. Respect the basics

Much of the media and event talk around email marketing focuses on the new and cool: tactics that can be difficult (or expensive) to implement for many (most) marketers.

We don’t all have customer databases that can easily integrate with 87 different types of trigger email. We can’t all serve thousands of list segments with on-the-fly customization.

Nor do we have to.

Fact is, professional basic email marketing is still a winner. If you set expectations correctly at sign-up, then your subscribers should have enough in common so that “one size” of email can still “fit all”.

Of course advanced tactics will improve results. But don’t focus on what’s next before ensuring you have the basics covered.

Forget the thought leaders and experts for a moment and dig into the FAQs and introductory articles that lay out some of the email marketing basics. For example:

• A recent survey found that 60% of top UK retailers don’t send welcome messages to new subscribers. There’s an easy win for a start.
• When you ask people to sign-up for emails, do you give them a compelling reason to do so? If not, why should they?
• Are you using the cheap, but effective, design preview tools to make sure what you send is what people actually see in their inboxes?

4. Be unique

Valuable content and offers, permission, creative design, relevancy, timing, personalization, customization etc. are important factors that can take your email marketing amplifier all the way up to 10.

What takes it up to 11?

What makes your emails irreplaceable?

What makes them immune to the vagaries of delivery demands, soporific subscribers and the claws of the competition?

What do people get from your emails that they can’t get from anyone else’s?

Uniqueness can come through what you send: the unique nature of your content or offers. Or you can achieve it through how you say and present it (voice, style, creativity and personality).

Personality, in particular, turns words and pictures into communication. It helps avoid the natural drift to mediocrity. And it compensates for offers or content that can’t compete so well in their own right.

5. Use common sense

There’s a lot of great information out there on email marketing, but a moment’s thought tells us it can’t all be true all the time. For example:

• Those producing information are all “biased by their biases”…by overt and subconscious agendas, by beliefs, by personal experience.
• There are many issues in email marketing that are by no means clear cut.

Much advice also needs adapting in the light of personal and organizational circumstances: business goals, target market, industry sector, etc.

Making sense of information can be a challenge, but you can go a long way with common sense and a healthy dose of critical thinking.

For example, everyone preaches that you should avoid sending emails that are essentially one big image.

How’s your work-of-art going to look when the image is blocked (the default setting for many email software clients and webmail services)? And spam filters don’t like them much, too.

That’s the official line, anyway. So why are they used by, for example, large multinational fashion retailers with decades of email marketing experience behind them?

Because it works for them: some offers work better with the visual impact of a large image. Learn to distinguish between best practices and safe practices that can be broken in the right circumstances.

6. Dig deeper into the numbers

Perhaps the most tedious and underestimated marketing skill is analytical.

The online marketing world is drowning in data and driven by data. But data without wisdom is just stamp collecting.

Don’t take things at face value and don’t assume your preferred explanation is the right one.

Some examples:

• The last campaign got the highest open rate ever. Hey, our subject line was a winner! (Or maybe you just solved a deliverability problem that was seeing half your emails dumped in spam folders. Or one of a dozen other factors.)

• Most people who open email on a mobile device are using iPhones. Hey, our audience is full of Apple fans! (Or maybe it’s because the iPhone displays images by default – including the tracking image that records an open – while Android devices block them. Android smartphones actually have three times the global market share of the iPhone.)

For more inspiration on intelligent analysis, look at Kevin Hillstrom, the Ad Contrarian and others who avoid bandwagon explanations and approaches.

OK…anything you’d add to the list?

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• Channel: Email marketing basics