No man is an iland

August 07, 2008

There's something reassuring about watching your email list grow. Every new email address is a cause for celebration. Growth is good.

Most of the time. (But not all of the time.)

Because it's not just subscribers who might feel remorse after handing over their email address. Not every new email address is a welcome one for the list owner, either.

Spam traps are an obvious example, a topic already covered here.

As are addresses from people who never asked to be added to your list: they'll (rightly) shout spammer when they get your message.

But even a list built on an "opt-in" basis can end up with email addresses that cause real or opportunity costs to your business.

Let's talk about permission slaves, focus spreaders, bargain hunters and trigger chasers...

Permission slaves

Permission slaves are what you get when you lack emotional permission. You got some kind of opt-in, a sort of an opt-in...to something...and now it's yours to use and abuse. (And then lose.)

This is where you twist the meaning of "getting permission" to fit your list growth needs, with the result that people end up on your list who don't really want to be there. And that puts them on the slippery slope that ends in clicking the "report spam" button.

Permission slaves appear, for example, when you:

• ...take subscribers from one list and add them to another list you've decided is equally relevant to their interests. This kind of assumed permission suggests you're omnipotent in knowing what subscribers want. You aren't. It's not an opt-in.
• ...pre-check opt-in boxes or otherwise sign someone up because they didn't actively opt-out when given the opportunity. Not opting out is not the same as opting-in.
• ...buy an email list.
• ...assume getting business cards or an attendee list at a trade show means you got new subscribers. It doesn't.
• Hide the opt-in in the small print.

Don't do it. (The practices mentioned for avoiding subscriber's remorse will in turn help prevent permission slaves, too.)

Focus spreaders

We talk about relevancy a lot in email marketing. Delivering relevant messages to your email subscribers. But what about reverse relevancy: is the new subscriber relevant to you?

An unhealthy obsession with list size rather than list quality means some email programs are pitched to a wider audience than your well-defined target audience.

This leads to problems.

First, if you then produce content for your target audience only, everyone else can get turned off...spam reports are the logical consequence.

Second, if you then produce content for the wider audience, your target audience might get bored and move on. And you start to focus your email efforts and resources on the wrong people.

The best email programs have a perfect match between the subscriber list, the contents of the program and the needs of the sending organization. If you attract subscribers that do not match either the program's contents or your organization's needs, then the resulting imbalance hurts your bottom line.

Bargain hunters

In discussing audience development, Kevin Hillstrom cites the example of one email marketer who:

"...developed an audience that only responds to free shipping. He cannot get away from free shipping unless he develops a new audience."

Here we're getting into pricing strategies (not my field) but when the pressure's on, it's seductively easy to use email to send out a constant stream of discount offers, coupons and deals. Rather than more considered branding and promotional campaigns.

If that's a deliberate strategy, fine, but beware of cultivating an audience of bargain hunters unless you're sure that works best for your business.

Trigger chasers

Trigger emails in response to website behaviors (abandoned shopping carts, "browsed but didn't buy" etc.) hold much promise but...

This is the Internet. If you always send an emailed coupon the day after a checkout process is left uncompleted, people will place items in their cart and then wait 24 hours. And word will get round. If you use incentives to get people to complete a purchase process, test carefully to see their value.

Consider reminder emails that feature no coupon or deal. Retailers have reported success with cart abandonment emails that simply remind people they haven't bought a product yet.

Just as deals and coupons via email educate people to wait for deals and coupons before buying, so simplistic, incentive-based and regular rewards for website behaviors will encourage exactly those kinds of behaviors.

Any other unwelcome guests on an email list (and how do you avoid them)?

Tags: email marketing, list building, list growth, spam traps, permission marketing

August 06, 2008

I was lucky enough to have a small involvement in the Truth About Email Marketing book project, so was able to persuade author Simms Jenkins (pictured left) to talk with me about strategic problems for email marketers, quick fixes and the industry as a whole.

Simms is CEO of email marketing services firm, BrightWave Marketing, the brains behind EmailStatCenter.com and a columnist for iMediaConnection. He has a particularly strong understanding of organizational and strategic issues. So it pays to listen when he talks...

So, Simms, who should be reading your book?

I think the book will really appeal to a wide range of readers. Everyone from high level marketing professionals trying to get a better read on what makes a good email marketing program...to novices and small business owners...to email marketers in the trenches looking for additional insight (and maybe even validation for what they do!)

The great thing about the book is it can be used as a guidebook in building or improving your email program, or be read on the plane where the reader should come away better educated on how to improve their email efforts.

The title implies there are a lot of misconceptions around about email marketing. What do you feel are the most damaging?

I think there are two main misconceptions. The first one is the cloud that always hovers above what we do for a living: spam. So I really think that cannot be overlooked in addressing the email channel.

I try to clearly spell out what permission email marketing is all about, and this needs to be revisited by even the most experienced marketers. This may seem basic, but one of the biggest challenges is educating people about permission email marketing.

Whether it is educating our peers, our executives, or friends and family...we all have to continue to clarify that all good email marketing is connected to permission.

The second misconception is that email is easy.

Great email marketing campaigns require a lot of hard work, knowledge and strategy. Because of this perception, low distribution cost and (at times) email's strong success, many executives assume email should be easy to execute. We know that this is rarely the case and this perception does a disservice to all in the space.

The book begins with a focus on organizational and strategic elements. Is that something you feel deserves more attention?

Absolutely. Without the upfront planning and executive buy in, email marketing will never reach its potential. I think because of some of the aforementioned issues, email doesn't get the strategic attention it deserves in terms of, for example, budget and resources, proper measurement or the broader impact on the business.

A big part of the constant challenge we see for email marketers is that because of the nature of email campaigns (that next campaign is always around the corner), teams responsible for email often don't get the chance to set and measure goals, optimize campaigns and align best practices.

It isn't easy being an email marketer for sure. However, I encourage all email marketing pros to step back at least once a quarter to reevaluate their plans and make changes needed to improve. Or at the least test some new things.

When we talked a couple of years ago you noted, for example, how few companies set adequate goals for their program. You just mentioned goals again. So is this still a problem?

It sure is. Many companies continue to only measure their performance and impact in terms of opens and clicks. While these can be helpful, we see real benefits from setting goals beyond simple email responses: evaluating how email improves other areas like revenue, customer loyalty, frequency and conversions, to name a few.

For example, one client had doubts on whether or not email was a valid communication channel for them.

We helped develop a scorecard that framed their successes and opportunities, and tied in the overall value of these efforts in terms of revenue generated from email and other areas. These are numbers that CEOs and CFOs care about.

So they went from "should we kill our email program" to "our email program is worth X dollars for our company." That is pretty powerful.

Another strategic problem for email marketers is justifying further investment in what you said is perceived to be a "low cost" channel. Given that budgets are likely to get tighter, how DO you justify such investment?

I have been doing a lot of speaking on how and why email marketing works in a recession and that is certainly top of mind for all marketers, regardless of the direct impact this economy is having on their business.

Email distribution is low cost, but to manage a strategic email program that delivers relevant and unique messaging you have to invest in it. That can mean resources, vendors, testing etc.

One of email's most important strengths is the ability to measure the success (or failure) of such campaigns.

Forrester Research, for example, has some new information about how many marketers are investing more in targeted and measurable channels like interactive during this economic downturn. The ROI measurement is of course an important one in justifying a greater investment.

Another thought is...if you removed your email communications, what would it cost in alternative media/marketing to communicate with a captive audience like your email subscribers?

We also are seeing marketers realize that email is about more than driving revenue, leads and website traffic. It is a great cost reducer on things like employee communication, catalogs and other direct mail efforts. And it can drive your users to interact with other low cost media, like social networking.

One client, for instance, is considering moving their employee newsletter to email, which would result in substantial cost savings. So changing the mindset that email is just a transactional tool is key: email is a relationship builder that can accomplish many different goals.

Of course, if you don't properly measure and connect the dots on your email program, you will have a hard time justifying more resources, much less your own existence.

Are there any "quick wins" (i.e. easy to implement) in terms of improving your strategic and organizational approach to email marketing?

I will give you and your readers' three things that most companies can do that won't cost you much but will deliver a big impact:

1. Optimizing your creative to deal with the very real issue of image suppression is crucial. After all, if half of your audience has images turned off, you cannot risk them receiving an email with a red x and no messaging, branding or links.

2. Testing subject lines is something that gets overlooked by many, yet has a major impact on the response rates of your emails.

3. Using LinkedIn, Facebook and other social networks to grow your email database and provide an additional messaging vehicle is something we have seen done to great success with minimal resources required.

I have used this technique to build interest (and sales) for my book, so I see this as a great supplement to email, which of course is one of the central promotional strategies for marketing the book.

The book goes on to cover best practices in list building, content, targeting etc. Why is it that so many organizations fail to implement even the basics of successful email marketing?

I truly think it is because most email marketing teams are overtaxed and underappreciated. Therefore, they often have little time (and sadly incentive) to make the major strategic optimizations needed to continually enhance their email efforts. We have that validated on a daily basis when talking to the people responsible for their email marketing program.

How do you think industry blogs, sites and organizations can do a better job of promoting those best practices?

I think our industry does a fantastic job of proactively educating and evangelizing our craft. I have not seen many other industries where so many high-level, passionate and smart people spend a great deal of time on offering suggestions, trends and opinions for anyone to see.

The number of blogs and free resources out there can really be beneficial for email marketers. Finding the time to read them and adopt some of these findings can be difficult though. I know I rely on my peers and get some great ideas that we can test out for clients and cite in our presentations, speeches and research.

Thanks Simms!

[Simms is offering blog readers a special 25% discount on his book, plus free shipping (US only). Purchase the book through the FT Press store and enter the discount code Emailmark07 during the checkout process.]

More on strategy | Tags: email marketing strategy, Simms Jenkins, BrightWave Marketing, the Truth about Email Marketing

August 05, 2008

A recent post floated a few ideas on the criteria that might be used to define spam in the future. Criteria that consider how people interact with your emails.

If you rejected those concepts as the mad ramblings of a man who left his bag of reality on the bus...think again.

A couple of deliverability experts (example) have confirmed that webmail services are indeed taking a closer look at such "measures of email engagement" as a way of distinguishing between "good" and "bad" email.

But let's go straight to the source and take a closer look at public comments made by Yahoo! Mail's Anti-Spam Czar at a recent workshop (see here for access to the transcript).

1. Marking email in the junk folder as "not spam" gets noticed:

"The effect of clicking "not spam" on a message is that it sends a powerful signal to our systems that we've made a mistake. That's one of the best ways we can learn, both to ensure that we don't block messages from that sender in the future, and that our systems shouldn't block similar messages next time."

Would your readers bother to look for and then "unspam" your messages if they landed in the junk folder?

2. Adding the sender's email to their address book gets noticed:

"If you add a sender to your address book we'll try to ensure that those messages always go to your inbox."

If your users aren't email marketing experts, do you encourage them to add you to their address book?

3. Not paying attention to your email gets noticed:

"We recommend commercial e-mail senders ensure they're sending mail that Yahoo! Mail users want to receive. This means following recommended practices like confirming - and even periodically re-confirming - that users want to be on their mailing lists and proactively removing anyone who doesn't read their mail." (my emphasis)

Do you have a strategy in place for inactive addresses?

The underlying trend seems clear...

Sending valuable, quality, engaging email used to be seen as the way to improve email responses.

It still is.

But it's also becoming a precondition for getting your emails delivered in the first place.

More on deliverability | Tags: yahoo mail, email deliverability, spam, anti-spam

August 04, 2008

One of the messages to come out of Return Path's recent Reputation Benchmark Report is that sending email to spam traps is bad news:

"We found a 20 point difference in delivery rates for IPs with just one spam trap hit."

That spam trap hit might be an indicator of other poor practices that are dragging delivery down. But we certainly know that emailing spam trap addresses is one criteria that ISPs use when deciding if your mail should be given harsh treatment.

No problem, I thought. Email addresses only get added to my list if the owner clicks on a confirmation link in an email sent out after they sign-up (i.e. closed-loop or double opt-in).

Spam traps can't click on links. So...no spam trap address goes on my list.

Hurrah!

But wait...

If I send a confirmation email to a spam trap address, doesn't that count as a spam trap hit, too?

Won't the ISP label me a spammer because I sent an email to that address? Even though I used a system specifically designed to prevent such addresses making it onto my list?

I asked Return Path's George Bilbrey, VP & GM Delivery Assurance Solutions, if he could clarify the situation. Here's what he told me...

"Spam trap hits do hurt deliverability. They are one of the major ways that ISPs and filtering companies detect spam and spammers.

"Most of the systems that use spam traps use a more nuanced approach than 'This IP address hit one spam trap, I'm going to block this IP.'

"Typically, spam trap hits are one of several factors considered and it requires more than one spam trap hit for there to be major deliverability issues. Unfortunately, some systems aren't that nuanced.

"As you noted, closed loop opt-in doesn't mitigate the risk of hitting spam traps with welcome/confirmation messages. There are some techniques that do mitigate the risk:

"1. Use a different mail server with a different IP for confirmation messages. There are two benefits from this approach.

"First, if you do hit spam traps, the damage is limited to your confirmation messages.

"Second, it is easier to make a case with an ISP/blacklist to take action if you run a closed loop opt-in service and that can show that a low(er) volume of only welcome messages come from that IP.

"2. Check the email addresses for obvious malicious entries. Scan for addresses with trap, honeypot, abuse, *master, and other keywords that might lead to trouble.

"3. Check for (and prohibit) mass additions of email addresses from a single IP. At Return Path, we have run various services over the years with email sign up forms. We have noted that when we see a mass submission of addresses from a single IP, that is usually followed by hitting a spam trap.

"Note that there are some cases where there are good reasons to see a lot of submissions for a single IP or a small range of IPs."

More on delivery reputation | Tags: email marketing, email deliverability, spam traps

August 01, 2008

...how would you define unwanted email...?

What would you consider a potential indicator of a "bad" sender? Not a traditional spammer, but a sender who simply isn't producing email that people want to receive?

How about:

• recipients never click on a link in the email
• emails are never moved to a folder or archived ("trash" or "junk" folders don't count)
• recipients delete the email
• the emails are never rescued or opened when delivered to the junk folder
• recipients never scroll down the email
• recipients don't forward the email
• recipients don't use the interface's print facility
• recipients over-use unsubscribe links
• recipients never unblock images or add sender to address list

I'd measure these behaviors, compare the results to those for other bulk senders and then stop delivering email from senders that fall into the bottom X%. Whether opt-in or not.

Now imagine an email future where all the above contributed to an individual spam score for each sender and for each recipient, allowing the webmail service to define "unwanted" at the individual inbox level...

This isn't just an intellectual exercise.

If you construct such a list, it will help you focus on producing emails that are wanted.

Equally, the history of deliverability tells us that the new spam isn't just email that stimulates a "report spam" response. It's email that fails to produce a positive action or which encourages a negative one.

I'd place good money on the above scenario becoming real: filtering or blocking of emails that fail to engage. Recipients already do this subconsciously.

(Deliverability gurus: please step in and tell us how much of this is already done or planned.)

Even if it remains theory, what would YOU put on that list? And how would you minimize your "spam" score?

Tags: email marketing, webmail, email deliverability, sender reputation

Today sees the official publication date for the Truth About Email Marketing book by Simms Jenkins. Watch out for an author interview in the next few days.

I'm often asked for recommendations on useful print books for both budding and existing email marketers. So here's the list I hand out...

(Disclaimer: Assume I have some kind of relationship with all of these. Either I worked in an editorial capacity on the book, know the author(s), or am affiliated in some way with the publisher/seller. Or all three.)

Particularly for beginners

Email marketing kit
I'm surprised this publication never got more attention from the industry. Jeanne Jennings did a super job of building a huge, high-quality print resource that covers just about every stage of your email marketing campaign: from planning and strategy through to analyzing results.

Perhaps the price (currently $197) put people off?
More info or read my review.

Email marketing for Dummies
You know email marketing has become accepted when it makes it to a Dummies book.

John Arnold lays out a basic primer for those new to the field. More info or read my interview with him.

For everyone

Truth about Email Marketing
The fact that the Financial Times Press is publishing this new book says a lot about how far the industry has come. Simms Jenkins covers the main issues that support successful email marketing strategy and execution.

Particularly valuable for those in larger corporate marketing departments, but it's for the rest of us, too. More info.

Email Marketing: an hour a day
I've not read this yet, as it doesn't appear until November. A little early for a recommendation, then? Possibly, but the authors (Jeanniey Mullen and David Daniels) are big names in the email marketing world, so it promises much. More info.


MarketingSherpa Email Marketing Benchmark Guide 2008
Definitely not for beginners at the price. But an essential reference for pretty much everyone else. More info or read my review.

Sign me up!
Email marketing by the numbers
The complete guide to e-mail marketing
These are books I've not read, but deserve a place on the list for the positive reviews they've got at Amazon.

If truth be told, there aren't that many email marketing books out there. And a lot of them cover similar ground. There's certainly no value to buying all of the above. If you have the spare cash, get Jeanne's kit, as this has both the overview as well as details to guide you with implementation.

If you haven't, try Simms' book and any one of the others to ensure you have the topic more or less covered. Once you understand the principles and issues involved, you can then search online for the in-depth practical details or get appropriate vendor help.

Enjoy reading.

July 30, 2008

There is no undo function on a "subscribe" button.

Except there is. It's called "report spam."

Just like some buyers regret the purchase right after paying, so some subscribers regret the sign-up before you've even had a chance to prove your emails' worth. An unsubscribe or spam report follows.

This new article over at the main site details eight tactics you can use to prevent subscriber's remorse.

Got any other suggestions? Just post them in the comments...

Many strive for glory. The mountain conquered. The battle won. The race decided.

My goal is smaller. To wake up one day, switch on the PC and see no spam.

I switched on my PC this morning, checked my oldest email account: no spam. So I checked the junk folder and it was...empty.

Imagine.

J.D wrote in a comment on why your open rates improved:



Which is one of the many reasons why it will always be in the best interests of email marketers and the associated industry to support any venture, project, action, law or technology that makes life harder for spammers.

Even if it raises the standards required of permission-based emailers. There is much more to gain than to lose.

July 29, 2008

Nobody ever removes the bulb. Unless it's been inactive for more than six months.

None. The light bulb can change itself using a preference center.

Two. One to change the bulb, and one to point out the excellent ROI compared to other ways of lighting the room.

Two. One to change it and one to get the appropriate permission from the owner of the socket.

Two. One to fit the new bulb and one to design it so it works as intended in whatever socket it goes into.

Three: One to change it, one to design it to work in all sockets, and one to complain that the lightbulb still doesn't work in rooms built by Microsoft.

Five. One to change it, two to work out the best day and time of day to make the change, one to ensure the new bulb will meet user expectations, and one to monitor how many people subsequently flick the light switch.

Got any others?

More email marketing humor

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