3 Steps to Effective E-mail Marketing

3 StepstoEffective Email MarketingCONVERTING FROM BROADCAST TO PERSONAL

Today’s leading marketers know how to balance

creative campaign strategy and

technical execution to prove ROI from their email marketing

2 | 3 STEPS TO EFFECTIVE EMAIL MARKETING

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BEYOND BATCH AND BLAST

For too long marketers have taken the easy way out: emailing every campaign to their

entire database. While simple to execute, a “batch and blast” approach no longer works

in a world where each email competes with thousands of digital, mobile, and social

messages. Against this backdrop of marketing noise it can be nearly impossible for your

email to stand out and get noticed.

But there’s good news: You can cut through the clutter by creating email campaigns that

are relevant—even irresistible—to the people you are trying to reach. In this guide, you

will learn how to adopt new strategies and techniques that allow you to “convert from

broadcast to personal,” completely transforming the way you look at email marketing.

HOW TO GET THERE

Personalizing your email marketing can be game changing for your business and revenue

expectations. Research shows that relevant emails drive 18 times more revenue than

broadcast emails. And according to the Aberdeen group, personalized emails improve

click-through rates by 14%, and sales-conversion rates by 10%.

So where do you start? In this guide, we’ll describe three crucial steps to take before

launching your next email campaign.

Boost your marketing effectiveness This guide will help to maximize the

effectiveness of your marketing by

creating personalized and relevant email

campaigns using these three steps:

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR DATA

SEGMENT YOUR AUDIENCE

DEFINE CAMPAIGN SUCCESS

of marketers said email was their primary channel for lead generation According to Forrester Research


Take Control of Your Data

Step 1:

WHY DATA IS IMPORTANTAlthough data is hardly a sexy topic, the truth is data is the backbone of your company’s

growth strategy. Data is essential to maximizing sales effectiveness, amplifying your

marketing messages, and driving increased customer engagement.

In Bluewolf’s annual report, we found that the second biggest business challenge—“what

keep executives awake at night”—was data (see page five). There is too much data out

there, it’s untrustworthy and quickly becomes outdated, and produces redundancy across

siloed systems. The longer you wait to take control of your data, the more inaccuracies

you’ll encounter, and the more costly it will be to your organization.


Q What keeps you awake at night? Responses fell into one of four groups.

• • •

Hiring the right people

Increasing adoption

Communicating change

• Reducing bad data

• Data security/compliance

• Trusting data

• • •

Increasing sales

Customer engagement

Rapid expansion

• • •

Integrating systems

Budget allocation

Ensuring security

one

peopletwo

datathree

revenuefour

revenue


Get a Handle on Your DataStart by taking an inventory of what data and content you can actually access and

measure. Your marketing, sales, and customer service departments may maintain different

lists which pull from different applications and databases including CRM systems, manual

sales entry forms, and list buys and imports. To be an effective marketer, you need to

know how data comes into your organization.

Remember that different kinds of data are important for different parts of your

organization. For your sales teams, customer phone numbers and addresses drive their

outreach efforts. Customer service cares more about the number and types of cases and

complaints submitted. If you’re a marketer, you worry less about phone numbers and

more about what channel they used to find their way into your database.

The most efficient and effective organizations have full visibility across their marketing

automation and CRM systems. In addition to this integration, they also consider their

social data: where it’s being tracked and how they are responding to it. When all of your

tools and systems are consolidated into a single view, it fosters a natural alignment and

better communications between sales, marketing, and customer services—leading to

greater customer satisfaction.

three Ways to Clean Your Database

Research shows that companies that employ consistent data hygiene generate seven

times the number of inquiries and four times the number of leads. Here are three ways

that you can clean up your database, normalizing unruly contact lists, and creating a solid

foundation for effective email marketing.

Research shows that companies that employ consistent data hygiene generate:

7xthe number of inquiries

4xthe number of leads


HERE ARE FEW WAYS TO TACKLE DUPLICATE DATA:

SMART FORMS

These can be used to pre-populate the

data you already have of that person,

thus avoiding duplicate entries and

data-entry errors.

CHECK BOXES

You can also add a checkbox option on

your forms that asks, “Has your email

address changed?” This alerts your

marketing team to check duplicates for

that record and update accordingly.

THIRD-PARTY TOOLS

Also consider third-party software, such

as RINGLEAD or NETPROSPEX,

which detect when duplicate records

are being entered into the system.

Use these tools on a regular basis to

reduce duplicates and to run spot

checks whenever you update

your database.

2

1

25%

OF B2B CUSTOMER DATA BECOMES INACCURATE WITHIN A YEAR

think data is underutilized

use their data systematically50%

STANDARDIZE FIELDS & VALUES

For marketer, successfully tackling data can seem like an uphill battle. Teradata’s reports

that nearly 50% of marketers agree that data is the most underutilized asset in their

organization, with less than 10% saying they currently use what data they have in a

systematic way. One way to simplify things is to normalize data into clearly defined buckets.

For example, if your database has multiple titles for the same person, it can make figuring

out who you want to talk to an onerous task. Consider standardizing the data using the

fields of “Function” and “Role” rather than highly variable fields like “Job Title.” Doing this

brings consistency to the contact list by normalizing around single-defined values.

DE-DUPLICATE YOUR DATA

Research shows that up to 25 PERCENT of B2B customer data becomes inaccurate

within a year. Duplicate information is a big part of this, undermining effective customer

communications.

10%


Syncing Marketing and Sales Data

Drive alignment in the data your sales team wants versus what data your marketing team

uses. Be aware of all the ways data is coming into your system. Drive home consistency and

agreed-upon dropdown menus, data entry, and fields captured. Q

A

Do you use the same required

fields in your customer landing

page forms as you do when a

salesperson creates a contact

in the CRM system?

The answer should be YES if

you want consistent, accurate

data across different channels.

ENFORCING CONSISTANCY


3

Once you’ve cleaned up your database, be sure to standardize and normalize your data

on an ongoing basis. For example, make sure that your white paper downloads and trade

show registration forms share the same database fields. If you have a CRM system, ensure

that data from your marketing and sales groups are flowing in both directions. Both sets

of data need to sync to provide an accurate and current view of the customer.

Ultimately, database maintenance should be the responsibility of your entire organization.

That means enforcing a consistent data governance program across your business and

making it a regular part of staff onboarding and training. You’ll want to meet regularly

with your sales, service, and IT teams to make sure that you continue to capture the most

important data for each department. Learn how your sales teams are organized. Do they

sort leads by region, by company size, or by revenue? The type of information that you

capture will need to match these priorities. Bear in mind that these priorities will change

over time as your business evolves, so consider holding quarterly meetings with your

department heads to stay current with the latest vision.

The bot tom lineMARKETERS need to engage every line of business to find out how and where they’re

getting new data. ALL EXECUTIVE STAKEHOLDERS need to agree on a consistent,

company-wide process for uploading and updating customer data.

CASE STUDY

MEDIAMATH ACHIEVES A CLEAN DATABASE

MediaMath offers technologies and

services enabling online, digital

marketing and media to help their

global customer-base execute

effective data and metric driven

digital marketing decisions.

By integrating Netprospex into

their marketing automation tool and

CRM, MediaMath saw great results in

both sales and marketing.

Increased SAL (sales accepted leads)

to 30% from just 5% previously.

Decreased duplicate records from

20% to zero duplicate records.

Gained ability to proactively manage

data cleanliness including hard

bouncebacks and duplicates.

DUPLICATES

30%

EMBED DATA QUALITY IN YOUR PROCESSES

Database maintenance should be the responsibility of your ENTIRE organization


KELE CLEANS UP ITS CONTACTSKele, a leading provider of building automation products, was hampered by

overlapping and mismatched customer data, specifically around job function and titles.

Originally, the company was dealing with more than 30 different job function values –

many that were redundant, irrelevant, or not being used.

Bluewolf helped Kele create a consolidated Function field containing 11 well-defined

values that mapped to all possible versions of a job title. With this normalized mapping

of fields in place, Kele reduced the number of blank Function fields by 10%. By putting

the data through this “washing machine,” Kele could create 11 clearly defined customer

personas and establish clarity around how to market to these groups.

HOW DATA NORMALIZATION CAN WORKData normalization promotes simplicity and consistency in contact lists. Here’s an

example of how it works.

New “Function” field Job Title field contains

MarketingDemand Gen Content Marketing Social Media CMO Product Marketing Lead Generation Advertising Brand Database Manager Editorial Digital, Automation

SalesSales Manager Sales Ops Product Manager Account Manager Account Executive

Regional Manager VP Sales VP Of Sales Sales Enablement

ITTech Help Desk Cloud Systems Develop CRM VP IT VP Information Technology Technology Innovation Technical

Administrator Director Of IT

CASE STUDY

REACHING MORE PEOPLEAfter revamping its email marketing, Kele

increased its reach by more than 50%, increasing its touch from 40% of its

customer database to more than 60%

50%INCREASEDREACH

40%

INCREASEDTOUCH FROM

TO

60%


Implement a Data Governance Strategy

Align your marketing with sales and customer service to understand why data

inconsistencies are happening. Find the root of data issues before changing processes.

THE RISK OF BAD DATAStudies show that if your database

contains more than 10% duplicate

information, or if your data is less than

70% complete, your campaigns are

at risk of underperforming.

!at risk

>10%DUPLICATES

<70%INCOMPLETE


Q What Data Fields Will You Collect? Remember the best way to increase the health of your database is to start at the point of data collection.

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Segment Your Audience

Step 2:

THE KEY TO PERSONALIZATIONSegmenting data enables you to group people with similar characteristics such as job

function, buying habits or geography. This allows organizations to craft unique messages

and offerings that speak to the specific interests and concerns of each customer group.

Driving personalized, relevant marketing will help you improve customer response rates,

boost customer loyalty and trust, and ultimately capture more revenue.


Segmentation Reaps Rewards Email marketers that practice list segmentation see...

better open rates lower opt-out & unsubscribe rates

better email deliverability, increased sales leads,

& greater revenue

39%

28%

24%


Slicing and DicingThere are hundreds of ways to segment your audience, corresponding to business

objectives, specific products or services, B2B or B2C, global or regional markets—the list

goes on. See right sidebar for just a few of the most popular and effective grouping

Another useful way to segment your database is by buying cycle, which looks at your

customers’ purchasing habits across the three variables below.

bluewolf tipRemember, there’s no single right way of segmenting that fits every customer base. The

best method will depend on your particular business, your unique sales cycles, and your

marketing goals.

10 examples of audience groupingsHere are just a few of the most

popular and effective groupings:

GEOGRAPHY

AGE

GENDER

JOB FUNCTION

INDUSTRY

SENIORITY

CONTENT TOPIC

EDUCATION LEVEL

IN-STORE VS. WEB VISITORS

RECENT WEBSITE ACTIVITY

RECENCY

When was their last purchase? Is this a

new or repeat purchase?

FREQUENCY

How often did they purchase over a

defined period of time?

MONETARY VALUE

How much are they buying, and what is

their ultimate lifetime value?

VARIABLES IN CUSTOMERS’ BUYING CYCLE


Get to Know Your Personas

Segmenting is all about targeting a specific type of customer. It’s important to understand

the various personas that make up your customer base. Flesh out effective personas

by getting in the mind of that customer type. Do a hypothetical “ride along” with your

customers as they interact with your brand during a typical day and encounter the pain

points and promises that go with it.

Carve out audience segments that match the different personas you’ve created. For instance,

you can map buying cycles to each persona and create content that’s relevant during

specific cycles. You may want to consider “cross-segmentation” by combining existing data

categories, such as job function and geography or buying frequency and gender.

CASE STUDY

HOW KELE SEGMENTS ITS CUSTOMERS

Kele chose to sort its customers according

to their purchasing habits, placing them

into distinct buying cycle segments. By

tailoring messages to each group, Kele

increases email relevance, marketing

effectiveness, and revenue.

EXAMPLES OF KELE’S BUYING CYCLE SEGMENTS

NEWBIES Purchased for the first time

CATCH-ONS Purchased 3-5 times in the last 3 months

PROMOTERS Purchased 6 or more times in the last 3 months

WIN-BACKS Suddenly have gone at

least 3 months without buying

ONE-AND-DONES Purchased 1-2

times, but have not bought since

DROP-OFFS Have not purchased in over a year

WHITE-SPACE Have never bought before but are in database

WIN BACKNEWBIE

PROMOTER

CATCH ON


Define Campaign Success

Step 3:

BENCHMARK YOURSELFOnce you’ve cleaned up your data and decided on persona segmentation, review your

past email-marketing campaigns and set benchmarks to help you define what a successful

email campaign will look like.


Identify which past campaigns have generated good results, which have fallen short, and note

any trends you see with different types of buyers. Look at your key email metrics, such as:

OPEN RATE

How many unique people “viewed” or “opened” your email. A healthy open rate should be

in the neighborhood of 25%.

CLICK-THROUGH

How many recipients took the additional step of clicking on CTA links in your email. High

click-through rates are a good sign that your audience finds your offer interesting.

CONVERSION RATE

How many recipients “raised their hand” by taking action on your email, such as a filling

out a form or signing up for a sales meeting or webinar.

UNSUBSCRIBES

A few of these are expected and good for database hygiene, but watch out if you see a

jump in unsubscribes or email opt-outs. Generally, unsubscribe rates should average about

half a percent and rarely exceed 1%.

DEFINE WHAT METRICS TO MEASURE

Decide what metrics to track and be

consistent on measuring these each time

you execute a marketing campaign. Track

trends and identify ways to increase

metrics and engagement.

is a healthy email open rate25%

maximum unsubscription rate

examples of measurable dataHere are just a few of the metrics

that you should be tracking:

EMAILS SENT

EMAILS DELIVERED

EMAILS OPENED

EMAILS CLICKED-THROUGH

TOTAL FORM SUBMISSIONS

FORM CONVERSION RATE

TOTAL BOUNCEBACKS

FORM ABANDONMENT RATE

TOTAL UNSUBSCRIBES01%


Define Success Ask yourself who you want to target and what you want to accomplish with your emails.

Your objectives might include things like nurturing promising leads, encouraging new

customers to buy more, reinforcing the loyalty of your best customers, or all of the above.

Then make sure you’re targeting these groups with the right message. Certain audiences

respond better to particular types of content, such as webcasts, thought-leadership

pieces, event invites, or a basic discount offering.

Ramp UpRemember that it will take time to reach your goals, so set reasonable expectations based

on past performance. Even after you’ve cleaned up and segmented your database, don’t

expect your open rate or other stats to improve 10% overnight. That will happen as you

continue to clean your data, refine your segments and personas, and deliver trustworthy

and relevant content over time.

Track PerformanceTo know if you’re hitting your goals, you should have a good system for tracking campaigns

over time. The best marketing automation solutions come with built-in reports that give

you a holistic view of your campaign, including performance measures like revenue and

profitability. You can also create customized dashboards that let CMOs and other executives

track marketing effectiveness at a glance and make fast course corrections.

MEASURE CAMPAIGN EFFECTIVENESS

Leading marketers measure campaign

engagement, analyze the results and then

iterate on both the positive and negative

trends that are identified.

CAMPAIGN ANALYSISOveral l activity from IP

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Form Conversion (%)

FormAbandonment (%)

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Define DisengagementAt a certain point, if people aren’t opening your emails you need to re-evaluate your

approach—before your emails turn into spam. As part of your email strategy, define what

you consider a disengaged contact. Typically this could be after six months or a year

of not opening your emails. Review your previous campaigns for clues to why certain

people (or personas) lost interest and consider launching a relevant and educational (non-

sales) re-engagement campaign, possibly including special coupons or offers designed

specifically for this group.

Exercise caution when you do these re-engagement campaigns: Be sure to define your

segment properly, include truly relevant content, and expect more than the usual number

of bounce-backs. The goal is to generate “opens” and pull these people back into your

regular campaigns. But if this effort fails to spark a response, it may be time to remove

them permanently from your email strategy.

The goal is

to generate

“opens” and pull

people back into

your regular

campaigns

IS IT WORKING? TRY AN A/B TEST

What types of emails do your contacts

like? Are they more responsive to

product-focused emails? Would they

prefer case studies, or are they drawn to

coupons and discounts?

Find out by conducting an A/B test:

Compare the response rates between

emails with coupons against coupon-

less emails, or against an email with

lots of helpful product information.

It’s a time-tested technique that yields

measurable results and builds greater

insight into what your customers want

to hear from you.

A/B TEST

VS

Coupon Campaign


Measure Database Engagement When your marketing efforts are relevant and effective, your database engagement should rise steadily over time. Measure engagement and define disengagement as you build new trust with your database.

1009080706050403020100

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Active contact engagement increased over time%


Are You Ready? Before Launching Your Next Email Campaign, Here is a Checklist:

Email Personalization Checklist

SEGMENT FOR SUCCESSIdentify the business objectives of your

email campaigns

Implement the right segmentation

strategy to meet your business goals

Establish a process to capture

segmentation white spaces, continually

improving your segmentation strategy

DEFINE SUCCESSSet a baseline by benchmarking past

email campaigns

Create a set of ramped targets for

future campaigns

Communicate program results to

executive management

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR DATACreate a 360 degree view of all

customer data sources

Standardize data fields and values to

ensure data consistency

Establish data de-duplication best

practices across departments/systems

Implement data normalization best

practices to deliver accurate and

timely information


LEARN MORE

ABOUT BLUEWOLF

Bluewolf is a global business consulting firm. Companies across the world choose

Bluewolf to help them engage their customers and drive more sales. As the first

global business consulting firm born in the cloud, Bluewolf’s strategic consulting,

implementation, training, and cloud management services drive business outcomes in

weeks, not years.

ABOUT ORACLE ELOQUA MARKETING CLOUD SERVICE

Eloqua’s innovative solutions power the success of award-winning marketing teams

worldwide. They target prospects, easily execute campaigns, send leads to sales in real time,

convert more deals, and demonstrate measurable ROI. Transform the way you market in the

digital age while delivering an integrated and highly personalized customer experience.

SOURCES

Bluewolf, The State of Salesforce, 2013-2014

Salesforce, 5 ways to Improve Sales Leads with Marketing Automation, 2013

HubSpot, All The Marketing Statistics You Need

IBM, From Stretched to Strengthened, Insights from the Global Chief Marketing Officer Study

Teradata, Data-Driven Marketing Survey, 2013

SilverPop, Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study, 2013

Lyris, Annual Email Optimizer Report

TAKE ACTION

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bluewolf.com/marketing

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and prioritization of your marketing

initiatives. Walk away with a strategy

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3 Steps to Effective E-mail Marketing

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Transcript of 3 Steps to Effective E-mail Marketing