7 Best Practices for Email Marketing Success

Joe Keenan

Managing Editor

Retail Online Integration

About Me

Managing editor of Retail Online Integration, a trade publication devoted to helping cross-channel retailers tackle industry challenges and discover opportunities to grow their businesses in new and profitable ways. ROI publishes a bimonthly print issue and daily e-newsletter, as well as hosts live and virtual events, including webinars and conferences.

About Me (cont.)

Managing editor of eMarketing and Commerce (eM+C), a web-only brand that covers the online marketing and commerce industries. eM+C publishes a daily e-newsletter, eM+C Daily, as well as hosts a number of live and virtual events, including webinars and conferences.

Agenda

• Introduction to Retail Online Integration, eM+C• Reasons why email marketers are leaving

money on the table• A list of seven ways that marketers can optimize

their email marketing programs• Contact info for follow-up questions/comments

About Retail Online Integration

• A trade publication devoted to helping brick-and-mortar retailers, online merchants, catalogers and brand marketers tackle industry challenges and discover opportunities to grow their businesses in new and profitable ways.

• Publishes a bimonthly print magazine and daily e-newsletter, as well as hosting live and virtual events, including conferences, webinars and Retail Roundtables.

Email is Alive and Well

• 77% of online consumers prefer to receive permission-based marketing messages via email. Direct mail was the closest channel at 9%. (ExactTarget, 2012)

• 67% of marketers said email had the best ROI of any channel, with online marketing next at 38% (Direct Marketing Association, 2012)

… Yet Marketers Aren’t Taking Full Advantage

• Incomplete or inaccurate subscriber data

• Nontargeted content• Lackluster creative• Unclear calls to action • Not mobile optimized• Not integrated with

other marketing channels

How to Optimize Your Email Program

• A seven-step process, from deliverability to managing opt-outs — and everything in between

1. Ensuring Your Emails Reach Their Intended Destination(i.e., your subscribers’ inboxes)

Actions to Improve Deliverability Rate• Use seed lists — i.e.,

addresses that you add to your email list and measure their placement — to monitor your inbox placement rates in real time.

• Monitor your sender reputation score, which is affected by metrics such as complaint rate, unknown user rate, spam trap rate and mailing infrastructure

Deliverability Tips• Segment your database

based on activity (e.g., sending more email to only your most active subscribers.

• Remove inactive subscribers (i.e., those who haven’t opened or clicked on a email in the last six months to 12 months) from your list.

• Prompt users to add you to their address book.

Deliverability Tips (cont.)• Set up a feedback loop

between the ISP/webmail provider and your ESP or in-house server so that emails reported as spam are removed from your list in the same way bounced emails are.

• Use an inbox preview tool to see how your email templates will render in different ISPs’ inboxes, especially those where images are turned off.

2: Create a Compelling Subject Line That Gets Opened

Words to Use in Subject Lines …

• Apply• Opportunity• Demo• Connect• Payments• Conference• Cancellation

Words Not to Use

• Confirm• Join• Assistance• Speaker• Press• Social• Invite

Short and Sweet• Between 35 and 50

characters is recommended as consumers quickly scan their inboxes

• This is particularly important when considering emails read on mobile devices, where lengthy subject lines can be rendered meaningless when cut short.

Say Something Controversial

• “Eat all you want and still lose weight!”

• “Work less, earn more”

• “The cheapest flights you’ll find”

Numbers Work

• Teasing subscribers with a numbered list (e.g., 10 Tricks to Losing Weight, 6 Tips to a Perfect Garden, Top 10 Games of the Year) have proven effective at driving opens.

Ask a Question

• Asking a question (e.g., Looking for the perfect holiday gift?) forces the subscriber to think about the answer and piques their interest, leading to higher open rates.

3. Optimize for Mobile Devices

Do Your Research• Find out how many

of your subscribers are opening your emails on a mobile device.

• It’s likely more of your emails are being read on an Apple device (iPhone or iPad)

Design for Mobile Viewing• Limit subject lines to 25

characters or less• Limit number of navigation

choices to 3• Use HTML (most email clients

default to disabled images)• Increase font size to 14 pixels

or more for body text and 22 pixels for headlines

• Add padding between links/sections to account for bigger fingers

Design for Mobile Viewing• Design whole sections to be

clickable• Use bold colors for links• Create larger buttons and

links• Implement a single or

double column design layout • Have a higher contrast

between content to make images and text more legible.

Design for Mobile Viewing

• Link to your mobile website or landing page to create a seamless transition for users

• Test how your emails are displaying across the variety of mobile devices available today

4. Integrate With Other Channels

Tips to Lead You in the Right Direction • Ask your email subscribers

to share your content and connect with your brand via social media

• Send a dedicated email asking your email subscribers to Like you on Facebook, follow you on Twitter, etc.

• It’s a two-way street: Ask for email sign-ups via your social platforms

• Highlight a particularly powerful, insightful, humorous tweet, Facebook post, YouTube video, etc. in your email campaign.

• Add an email opt-in form on Facebook (the social media site allows you to embed this as one of your apps)

Drive Offline Sales With Email Marketing

• Segment your list by geography to target sales and events at your store locations to nearby customers.

• Add maps and other directions to your nearest retail store in your emails.

• Offer exclusive discounts to email subscribers that are redeemable in-store

Acquisition Sources

• Collect email addresses via QR codes on in-store signage or on printed receipts.

• Have store associates acquire email addresses at the point of sale.

5. Segment Your Subscribers

Variables to Segment

• Geography• Age• Gender• Past purchases• Buying frequency• Shopping cart

abandoners• Preferred shopping

channel

Benefits of Email Segmentation

• Your reputation improves

• Your results improve

So why aren’t more email marketers segmenting?

• Because it’s challenging. You can slice and dice an email list thousands of ways looking for sweet spots.

• You need content (i.e., offers) to be relevant to your targeted subscribers. Content creation takes time — often lots of it.

Why Email Segmentation is More Important Now Than Ever

• More and more of your subscribers are reading your emails on mobile devices with dramatically different email client capabilities.

• Improvements in email filtering has made it much easier for subscribers to tune out messaging that’s not relevant to them.

6. Use Triggers

Implementing a Trigger Program• Work in stages• Start simple• Get your timing down• Use an offer with a

deadline• Personalize

Implementing a Trigger Program• Don’t waste lots of time on

creative• Use call-to-action-buttons• Build your list so your trigger

program is more effective• Track results

Triggered Emails Work

Consider the following:

Triggered email messages had 96% higher open rates and 125% higher clickthrough rates than “regular” emails(Email Experience Council, Epsilon)

7. Protect Your List

Email Security Best Practices Implement an archiving system that can recognize email that’s consistent with your corporate culture, regulatory requirements and industry.

Email Security Best Practices

Pay attention to your IP reputation

Email Security Best Practices

Be wary of subscribers’ whitelists

Email Security Best Practices

Protect your company with policy management

Thank You!

Feel free to contact me at jkeenan@napco.com with any

questions or comments.