You Call That Email?!
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This document provides a framework for effective email marketing. It discusses the email marketing landscape and advantages of email. It recommends knowing your audience and tools like ESPs. Sections cover overcoming hurdles like improving deliverability and optimizing subject lines. The document stresses testing different subject lines, segmenting lists, and making calls to action clear. It also emphasizes cross-promoting content across email and social media. Key takeaways include researching email tools, improving various stages of engagement, using a cross-channel approach, understanding metrics, and listening to your audience.
You Call That Email?!
- 1. YOU CALL THAT EMAIL? A Data-Drive Guide to Email Marketing Strategy
- 2. @SocialCarolina Sr. Digital Marketing Director Marketing Consultant • 15 years marketing experience for Fortune 100 & Fortune 500 Brands • Brand Marketer & Blogger • Mini Schnauzer lover, world traveler, yoga teacher • Favorite social media platforms: Professional – Facebook, Personal – Instagram • Favorite email feature: Real-Time Email Marketing (RTEM)
- 3. Sure, you know what email is – but what impact is it having on your blog/business? Sure, you know what email is – but what impact is it having on your blog/business?
- 4. Are you maximizing your readers’ experience? Are you maximizing your readers’ experience?
- 5. FRAMEWORK • The Landscape • Tools of the Trade • Effective Email Marketing • Cross Promotion • Key Takeaways • Questions
- 7. CONTENT MARKETING Attract • Product • Blog posts • Web content Gather • Email • Webinars • White Papers Interact • Social media • Community management • Optimization Convert • Clicks • Purchases • Affiliate Marketing
- 8. ADVANTAGES OF EMAIL Email is nearly 40 times better than Facebook & Twitter at acquiring customers. - McKinsey & Company Marketers consistently ranked email as the single most effective tactic for awareness, acquisition, conversion & retention. -Gigaom Research Email marketing yields an average of 4,300% Return on Investment. -Direct Marketing Association 91% of consumers check email at least once a day on their smart phone, making it the most used functionality. -ExactTarget
- 9. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE • Which emails do they open? Why? • Which links do they click, blogs do they read, videos do they watch? • Do they follow you on social media? Are your email subscribers a different audience? • Hit the intersection of what you have to offer & your audience
- 10. TOOLS OF THE TRADE
- 11. KNOW THE LINGO • ESP: Email Service Provider • OR: Open Rate • CTR: Click-Thru Rate • CTA: Call to Action • Hard Bounce: Email returned to sender for permanent reasons. Includes incorrect domain name, sending to invalid email address • Soft Bounce: Failed to deliver because of temporary reasons. Includes file being too big, recipients inbox being full • Opt-In: Subscribe • Opt-Out: Unsubscribe
- 12. TOOLS • Most Popular Providers: • ConstantContact • Emma • MailChimp • All 3 Provide: • Pre-designed templates • Sign up forms • Integrations (Google Analytics) • Delivery automation (send trigger emails) • List management & segmentation
- 13. TOOLS • Costs: • ConstantContact: 60 day free trial • Get 10 – 15% off with pre-pay option • Emma: 14 day free trial • Most expensive out of the 3, but gives you unlimited access to all features • MailChimp: Most amount of services for FREE • Pay as you go option • Limited offerings, unless you’re willing to pay much higher price
- 15. There are 94 Billion emails sent per day. 80% of them will be classified as “spam”. There are 94 Billion emails sent per day. 80% of them will be classified as “spam”.
- 16. OVERCOMING HURDLES The Game of Getting • Getting emails delivered to inbox • Getting emails opened • Getting emails read by audience • Getting audience to take action!
- 17. DELIVERABILITY Getting emails delivered to inbox • Sender history, the number of messages you send, is factored into provider’s algorithm for email deliverability aka how reliable an email is. Be consistent in your email messaging • Do you have an email calendar? • Content is a key influence on how deliverable an email (Text, Headers, URLs, Attachments). Make sure your value is clearly communicated • ESP’s provide sent vs delivered metrics, this is how you know you’re in someone’s inbox. Utilize your ESP’s metrics to the fullest!
- 18. DELIVERABILITY Monitoring email metrics will help you determine sent vs delivered ratio, & course correct in order to improve deliverability
- 19. ALL ABOUT SUBJECT LINES Getting emails opened • Subject Lines are the first impression of email, so make it a good one! • On average 50% of email opens happen on mobile devices
- 20. ALL ABOUT SUBJECT LINES Getting emails opened • 60 characters or less for mobile viewing is ideal. A/B test different subject lines with a small sample size first, then use the higher performer for the rest of your subscribers • How subject lines will appear on mobile: http://zurb.com/playground/testsubject • A/B: https://www.kissmetrics.com/growth-tools/ab- significance-test/
- 21. ALL ABOUT SUBJECT LINES • People’s favorite word is their name – are you using personalization in your emails? Use the first name shortcut in your ESP, like ##Firstname## to gain higher Open Rates
- 22. ALL ABOUT SUBJECT LINES Types of effective subject lines • Simple & easy to read • Speak directly to the benefit your audience will gain by opening your email • Curiosity, pique the interest of subscribers without giving away too much info • Offer, who doesn’t like free stuff!
- 23. ALL ABOUT SUBJECT LINES • Urgency, but use sparingly & only when there’s a true deadline, limited quality/availability • Humanity, people want to interact with a human not a brand! • News, keep your audience informed. These often work well when paired with curiosity • Social proof, success stories highlighting how many people already use the product/service
- 24. ALL ABOUT SUBJECT LINES You’re Missing Out on Points, Carolina! (JetBlue) 👗 Free (Cool!) Clothes Alert 👖“ (Clover) “Where to Drink Beer Right Now” (Eater Boston) “What They Eat in Prison” (Thrillist)
- 25. OPEN SESAME! Getting emails opened • Don’t give it all away before they open, they won’t have a reason to read your email otherwise. Teaser Subject Lines & Content Descriptions garner more engagement • Broadcast tailored messages to your target audiences, not everyone is interested in the same thing. If you segment your database into groups, you give yourself the ability to send more targeted communication
- 26. OPEN SESAME! • Susie writes about vegetarian food, fitness, & travel. She created 3 different email groups in her email service provider: Food, Fitness, Travel. Susie asks her subscribers to check what they’re most interested in receiving when they sign up for email • Susie publishes a post about going to her first hot yoga class on Monday • She then blogs about her favorite Butternut Squash soup on Tuesday • Susie shares traveling tips for vegetarians on Thursday What would be the most effective way to let her readers know she has new content, driving traffic to her site?
- 27. OPEN SESAME! Susie sends 4 emails in order to test which gets opened the most, & applies learnings to next email blast. Uses Subject Lines with personalization that are 60 characters or less • Food group: Butternut Squash Soup lead • Fitness group: Hot Yoga lead • Travel: Tips for Vegetarians lead • Subscribers not categorized get all 3 pieces of content, in chronological order She looks at Open Rates 72 Hours after email blasts, & learns: A) If she should include all her content for the week B) Which category of her blog gets the most attention overall & produces more of that content moving forward
- 28. READ ME Getting emails read by your audience • Be Mr./Mrs. Right: Right Content, Right Platform, Right Time. Take advantage of cultural momentum to increase readability of your emails • Email content should be easy to follow & leave you wanting more...with no barrier to entry. Always strive to have one-click landing experience • Utilize your ESP’s tools such as tracking codes for links & buttons & hot spots to optimize your emails. Your audience’s behavior will always lead the way
- 29. READ ME Monitoring email metrics will help you determine what is read, & inform your content strategy for your email & blog/business
- 30. CALL TO ACTION Getting audience to take action • Make the Call to Action short & sweet • Tell people what to do: Look Inside, Buy Now, Go, Share, etc. • Urge them to respond now: Sign up Today, Get Started Now • Have one Call to Action, don’t dilute it
- 31. CALL TO ACTION Getting audience to take action • Make it stand out: Different colors, buttons, fonts – make it clear where they should click! • Repeat the Call to Action, it may take a couple of times to sink in • Make sure they appear even if a subscriber has their images turned off. May email clients still have images turned off by default
- 32. CROSS PROMOTION
- 33. CROSS PROMOTION Getting your message out on multiple channels. Because our audience gets information from various sources
- 34. CROSS PROMOTION Breakdown of how to cross-promote your email content • Create a blog post that’s well written, easy to read, has good visuals • Plan for social. Whatever you plan to cross-promote, think ahead. What hashtag could you use? • Send an email with a great subject line, sticky content, clear call to action
- 35. CROSS PROMOTION Breakdown of how to cross-promote your email content • Share the news on social media. Utilize the right platforms, & share content in ways that will driver higher engagement on each • Use your social channels to grow your database. Make this a part of your publishing calendar • Have your social icons on every email • Place email signup above the fold on your blog/site
- 36. CROSS PROMOTION Breakdown of how to cross-promote your email content • Make it ridiculously easy to sign up for your emails • Gain subscribers & social media followers by sharing content consistently • Measure all of your efforts & learn what your audience wants from you • Apply learnings, continue to evolve with time • Have fun. It shows!
- 37. KEY TAKEAWAYS
- 38. KEY TAKEAWAYS TOOLS Research the best solution for you & invest if necessary. If you’re going to do email, do it right! GET Get your emails delivered. Get them opened. Get them read. Get your audience to engage CROSS Use email to grow your social presence, & use social to grow your subscribers. Create an ecosystem for your blog/brand LANDSCAPE Be aware of email’s role in Content Marketing. Learn how it’s talked about & measured in order to understand the landscape & the results LISTEN Watch your metrics closely, see how your audience is engaging, & tailor your email strategy accordingly
- 39. QUESTIONS?