The email marketing world is definitely still new and not everyone is able to define it accurately, even those who work in the field. The answer may vary depending on what type of business you have, whether it’s retail, advertising, small business or a restaurant. Well here are the top eight answers you can give:
1. “We bring in new customers and keep them loyal and coming back.”
When we send out emails, we have the privilege of having customers’ personal inbox and anything we send will make our consumers feel special. With welcome letters to make our consumers feel special and thank you letters to show our appreciation, we develop a stronger relationship with our consumers more than any other form of communication.
2. “E-mail marketing is our most valuable, targeted, and measurable form of communication”.
It’s the easiest and most efficient form of communication which saves companies money and also helps consumers save with exclusive offers. It also gives valuable information to the consumers to learn what they never learned before.
3. “Our e-mails provide benefits that other marketing channels can't match”.
We are able to reach our audience effectively wherever they are. We can catch them when they’re at work, the gym, the bus, or vacation. We are able to reach them when they are on the go which makes it convenient for them.
4. “We provide the strongest return on investment within our department”.
With emails, ROI is easy to measure with a whole spectrum of details. Number of opens, clicks, clicks to conversion, lead and close rates. It is the industry leading deliverability.
5. “We can keep the buzz going for weeks and weeks.”
When consumers love something, they will never stop talking about it with their friends, families, co-workers, and even strangers. Buzz is a big part of email marketing. Email marketing communications will lead people to talk about your product or services. Consumers love to pass on exclusive deals, news and valuable information to others.
6. “Customers provide companies with insight about what they are interested in and what they are not interested in.”
Companies can see what consumers are signing up for, and what their purchases are to determine their likes and dislikes. They even write reviews on the products, and fill out surveys. Consumers rely on other consumers reviews.
7. “We share information through email to loyal customers and prospects before letting the public know about it.”
Before the public could get their hands on the news and products, emails recipients get it first directly and the fastest.
8. “We keep our consumers connected to our brand.”
We are constantly communicating with our loyal customers who want to be updated on the latest and they never miss a thing. They have a special connection with the brand that makes it personal.
Author: Tiffany Wong
Editor: Courtney Dillsworth
Monday, June 14, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Email Marketing On A Rise
Some people think that email marketing is not effective anymore or that people don’t check their emails as often. However, the technology of new devices such as smart phones and the iPad, are actually increasing the email marketer’s ROI. Consumers who look forward to and purchase these new devices like to try new things, so they are more likely to respond to emails offers. They shop by impulse.
Consumers that are technically aware of the new devices that are coming out to the market, means that they are more likely to be very web savvy and not paranoid about putting their information online. All of these technology fans are daily bloggers, social networkers, online shoppers and more. Being on these sites by using these wireless devices, consumers are more conscious of their inbox. The convenience of receiving emails everywhere you go, on the go, right away.
Now is the time to re-work your creatives. Simplify them – take out all those images, keep the text short and to the point so users tuning in from smart phones or the iPad will be able to get the same, premium email service as those looking from their personal computers. Re-work subject lines to be short, sweet and enticing to lure in those smart device lovers. By tapping into the smart phone/iPad phenomena, you can watch your clicks and opens increase because you’re reaching a huge database of people who may not be checking emails from home.
Now is the time to re-work your creatives. Simplify them – take out all those images, keep the text short and to the point so users tuning in from smart phones or the iPad will be able to get the same, premium email service as those looking from their personal computers. Re-work subject lines to be short, sweet and enticing to lure in those smart device lovers. By tapping into the smart phone/iPad phenomena, you can watch your clicks and opens increase because you’re reaching a huge database of people who may not be checking emails from home.
Author: Tiffany Wong & Courtney Dillsworth
Consumers that are technically aware of the new devices that are coming out to the market, means that they are more likely to be very web savvy and not paranoid about putting their information online. All of these technology fans are daily bloggers, social networkers, online shoppers and more. Being on these sites by using these wireless devices, consumers are more conscious of their inbox. The convenience of receiving emails everywhere you go, on the go, right away.
Now is the time to re-work your creatives. Simplify them – take out all those images, keep the text short and to the point so users tuning in from smart phones or the iPad will be able to get the same, premium email service as those looking from their personal computers. Re-work subject lines to be short, sweet and enticing to lure in those smart device lovers. By tapping into the smart phone/iPad phenomena, you can watch your clicks and opens increase because you’re reaching a huge database of people who may not be checking emails from home.
Now is the time to re-work your creatives. Simplify them – take out all those images, keep the text short and to the point so users tuning in from smart phones or the iPad will be able to get the same, premium email service as those looking from their personal computers. Re-work subject lines to be short, sweet and enticing to lure in those smart device lovers. By tapping into the smart phone/iPad phenomena, you can watch your clicks and opens increase because you’re reaching a huge database of people who may not be checking emails from home.
Author: Tiffany Wong & Courtney Dillsworth
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Less is More
Many email marketers strive for long term goals against short term tactics. However, short term goals are actually more important for long term gain. Think strategically - How can you create your short term tactics that can drive instant results and help the company in the long run?
May I suggest that the first time the user signs up – keep a couple of days between the welcome email and the deal promotion email. Also, for new signs ups, keep your promotional emails to a minimum. For instance, you should consider all new sign ups to be on a short -term subscriber list. You are not sure if the new user may be a long term, loyal consumer or a consumer that may be just testing out your company. New subscribers are quicker to unsubscribe when they’re bombarded with a bunch of new emails and regret that they subscribed. They may even stop using your products or services altogether.
If you are using a curriculum for new subscribers, try scheduling the days in between for a longer period before sending out the next email. For example, once the “welcome” or “thank you” email goes out, schedule the next email to arrive a couple of days after and then increase the duration between emails. Don’t overwhelm your users. The most engaged subscriber is a new user where you’ll see higher open and click rates.
As we all know, the consumer doesn’t spend more than three seconds on each email, so let’s try to keep your newsletters and messages as brief as possible. Highlight only the important content.
Continue Mailing…Sophisticatedly.
Author: Tiffany Wong
Editor: Courtney Dillsworth
May I suggest that the first time the user signs up – keep a couple of days between the welcome email and the deal promotion email. Also, for new signs ups, keep your promotional emails to a minimum. For instance, you should consider all new sign ups to be on a short -term subscriber list. You are not sure if the new user may be a long term, loyal consumer or a consumer that may be just testing out your company. New subscribers are quicker to unsubscribe when they’re bombarded with a bunch of new emails and regret that they subscribed. They may even stop using your products or services altogether.
If you are using a curriculum for new subscribers, try scheduling the days in between for a longer period before sending out the next email. For example, once the “welcome” or “thank you” email goes out, schedule the next email to arrive a couple of days after and then increase the duration between emails. Don’t overwhelm your users. The most engaged subscriber is a new user where you’ll see higher open and click rates.
As we all know, the consumer doesn’t spend more than three seconds on each email, so let’s try to keep your newsletters and messages as brief as possible. Highlight only the important content.
Continue Mailing…Sophisticatedly.
Author: Tiffany Wong
Editor: Courtney Dillsworth
Monday, May 3, 2010
Reinforce Your Company Statement
A major problem has been pointed out in the email marketing industry. Companies are not reinforcing their mission statement to the consumer in their emails. The consumers are not being reminded why they have chosen your company over your competitors. If you are sending a notification email that states the product they purchased is being delayed, or if there is a change in service; don’t forget to have your company’s marketing statement in the message. This statement, of course, should always be the reason why your product or service is better than your competitors. Reminding your consumers why they have chosen your goods is always necessary in every single email you send, especially when there is an issue or change regarding their order.
When there is a change or issue with an order, even a billing statement, it usually associates with a negative discern. Make sure you are reiterating the benefits of your company, to reinforce the positive aspects you possess! Remember, customer loyalty is just as important as bringing in new clientele.
- Keep in mind that product delays are very irritating to consumers who need what they purchased right away. Yes, it’s true many of us are impatient, and we’d all like to have things on time especially when it is scheduled. Due to this, consumers may be asking themselves, ‘why should I have to deal with this company, when the competitor can get it to me faster for a lower price?’
It is essential to sustain brand and customer loyalty. The way to accomplish this is by making sure it’s in everything you send out. Try this simple task. Keep communications going. Let the consumer know that you care about them and haven’t forgotten what they need.
Author: Tiffany Wong
Edited by Courtney Dillsworth & Yasifur Rahman
When there is a change or issue with an order, even a billing statement, it usually associates with a negative discern. Make sure you are reiterating the benefits of your company, to reinforce the positive aspects you possess! Remember, customer loyalty is just as important as bringing in new clientele.
- Keep in mind that product delays are very irritating to consumers who need what they purchased right away. Yes, it’s true many of us are impatient, and we’d all like to have things on time especially when it is scheduled. Due to this, consumers may be asking themselves, ‘why should I have to deal with this company, when the competitor can get it to me faster for a lower price?’
It is essential to sustain brand and customer loyalty. The way to accomplish this is by making sure it’s in everything you send out. Try this simple task. Keep communications going. Let the consumer know that you care about them and haven’t forgotten what they need.
Author: Tiffany Wong
Edited by Courtney Dillsworth & Yasifur Rahman
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Tracking Click Behavior
Consumers that check numerous emails every day see the same phrase and become very passive to "Click Here" verbiage. Let's keep your readers engaged and change around the call to action and give them variations – to make them click through.
If you are giving more choices for call to actions, then you can measure which verbiage is more effective along with a better understanding of the links/phrases that your users are more likely to click on. Take a photography studio newsletter for instance; it is necessary for your campaign to be divided into different types of portraits. Give consumers three (3) different call to actions specified, "Individual," "family" and "pets." By doing, so you have let your users be directly linked to the segment of the site that they are most interested in. It will also assist you in creating new targeted segmentation for your users – provided that you have the ability to capture the user and the segment they are in. The simple differentiation just gave you more targeted statistics, segmented your user base to different categories and has given your user list a more structured form for future emails.
For "follow-up" campaigns – once you collect the data on which users have clicked -- send them a follow-up campaign including a coupon for 10% off to the target segment they have clicked on. This will give rise to higher conversion as you are targeting your promotions to the user that appealed to them the most.
To have your links labeled differently, other than "click here," is just more appealing to the consumer and they are more inclined to click on a link with variety – a link that's labeled with something they want. This is also psychological, with something so general like "click here," consumers might feel like it is a trap, or it will lead to the same old website with the same old offers they are used to. Internet users are wary of all the promotions they get and this is one of the biggest deterrant to conversion for a website. By mixing it up, targeting and segmenting your lists, you are likely to receive higher ROI on a per email send. If your ESP has purchase tracking, like KobeMail does, this is the best way to see the ROI on per thousand emails sent.
Happy targeting!! :)
Author: Tiffany Wong
Edited by Courtney Dillsworth and Yasifur Rahman
If you are giving more choices for call to actions, then you can measure which verbiage is more effective along with a better understanding of the links/phrases that your users are more likely to click on. Take a photography studio newsletter for instance; it is necessary for your campaign to be divided into different types of portraits. Give consumers three (3) different call to actions specified, "Individual," "family" and "pets." By doing, so you have let your users be directly linked to the segment of the site that they are most interested in. It will also assist you in creating new targeted segmentation for your users – provided that you have the ability to capture the user and the segment they are in. The simple differentiation just gave you more targeted statistics, segmented your user base to different categories and has given your user list a more structured form for future emails.
For "follow-up" campaigns – once you collect the data on which users have clicked -- send them a follow-up campaign including a coupon for 10% off to the target segment they have clicked on. This will give rise to higher conversion as you are targeting your promotions to the user that appealed to them the most.
To have your links labeled differently, other than "click here," is just more appealing to the consumer and they are more inclined to click on a link with variety – a link that's labeled with something they want. This is also psychological, with something so general like "click here," consumers might feel like it is a trap, or it will lead to the same old website with the same old offers they are used to. Internet users are wary of all the promotions they get and this is one of the biggest deterrant to conversion for a website. By mixing it up, targeting and segmenting your lists, you are likely to receive higher ROI on a per email send. If your ESP has purchase tracking, like KobeMail does, this is the best way to see the ROI on per thousand emails sent.
Happy targeting!! :)
Author: Tiffany Wong
Edited by Courtney Dillsworth and Yasifur Rahman
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Don’t be shady. Take Permission. Know best practices.
A major issue in the email marketing world is that there are many family brands, parent companies, sister companies or their affiliates that are sharing their email subscribers. Consumers are extremely annoyed with getting emails from companies they did not subscribe to and end up unsubscribing. This action committed by companies is legal but is it ethical? Permission-Based Marketing is IMPORTANT.
Getting straight to the facts: let's be logical. Consumers do not have time to read your privacy policy or the fine print that states that they can use your information for their sister brands because it’s the "same" company as they say. These tactics are viewed negatively by users and is a sure way to make the user disinterested in your products quickly. A consumer's permission should not be treated lightly and should be taken seriously. "Companies don’t fully understand the concept of permission marketing" says Simms Jenkins from Clickz.
To prevent your emails from going into the spam box or losing your subscribers, be authentic and give consumers what they ask for. No more and no less. They are giving you access to them but don't take advantage of it. If you do have many brands under your organization, try
cross-promoting. Maybe introduce your product or service through the brand that the consumer is interested in.
Or while a consumer is subscribing to your brand, make sure at the very end you simply ask whether they are interested in your other brands and if they would like to be subscribed to them. Most will say no, but there are those that will say yes. Therefore, you are asking for permission and it will appear to the consumer that their requests are important to your company.
Making the mistake of passing on the consumers profile can cause the company to lose many valuable customers.
Author: Tiffany Wong
Editors: Yasifur Rahman & Courtney Dillsworth
Getting straight to the facts: let's be logical. Consumers do not have time to read your privacy policy or the fine print that states that they can use your information for their sister brands because it’s the "same" company as they say. These tactics are viewed negatively by users and is a sure way to make the user disinterested in your products quickly. A consumer's permission should not be treated lightly and should be taken seriously. "Companies don’t fully understand the concept of permission marketing" says Simms Jenkins from Clickz.
To prevent your emails from going into the spam box or losing your subscribers, be authentic and give consumers what they ask for. No more and no less. They are giving you access to them but don't take advantage of it. If you do have many brands under your organization, try
cross-promoting. Maybe introduce your product or service through the brand that the consumer is interested in.
Or while a consumer is subscribing to your brand, make sure at the very end you simply ask whether they are interested in your other brands and if they would like to be subscribed to them. Most will say no, but there are those that will say yes. Therefore, you are asking for permission and it will appear to the consumer that their requests are important to your company.
Making the mistake of passing on the consumers profile can cause the company to lose many valuable customers.
Author: Tiffany Wong
Editors: Yasifur Rahman & Courtney Dillsworth
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
UK Consumers Place Confidence in Online Marketplace
During this holiday season, you should pay close attention to users in the UK. Over the past few years, these users have developed a much higher dependency on the World Wide Web than most others. According to recent research done by eMarketer, more than 44 million people are online in the UK, with 70% of homes using a broadband connection. In fact, mobile web users were on the rise as well, with roughly 31% of users confirming they used a mobile device to connect to the internet; compared to 2009, this was an increase of 8%.
The increase of online confidence can be attributed to many factors; personal preference, government policy, and advancements in technology. Nonetheless, numbers clearly show that UK users are purchasing much more online in 2010 than in previous years.
Males are far more likely to access the web using a mobile devise than females. In a study done by eMarketer, users were divided into 3 categories: mobile phone, handheld computer, and none of the above. The number of males was increasingly higher in each category excluding the ‘none of the above’ category (females were at 60%, while males ranked in at 48%).
With all this traffic, UK users can be a very lucrative demographic for online establishments, especially during the always busy holiday season.
In the months leading up to the holiday season, UK consumers have been spending more and more each year. According to Capgemini, in August, gift sales increased 8% year to year, while September saw an increase of 32%. Marketers are launching campaigns months in advance in response to the growing trend.
Internet Retailer reports show all online sectors reported an increase in growth of up to 10%, except home and garden which reported a decrease in 1%. Capgemini and IMRG are predicting online sales in the 4th quarter of 2010 will total $27.37 billion, up 16% from $23.60 billion in 2009.
If you have lists designated for UK individuals only, try to engage and convert these users in different ways than others. Find out how these users are viewing their emails, and what products/services they are more likely to purchase. A better understanding of these already profitable emails will bolster the chance for conversion.
UK consumers have a very high confidence in purchasing online. With this taken into account, you must try to segment and send properly. Males and females are accessing the internet through different mediums – take advantage of this knowledge. If you know that males are accessing the internet through mobile devices at a much higher rate than women, segment these users and send them a separate email that may be simpler when viewed on a mobile device. You should target users as individuals, not as a whole.
Author: Anthony Lee
Editor: Courtney Dillsworth, Peter Schirripa
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