Transcript Advanced e-Mail Marketing Strategies eMarketing Association Conference Redondo Beach, California September 5, 2002 Gabriela Linares L-Soft international, Inc. www.lsoft.com [email protected] 301-731-0440 800-399-5449  2002 L-Soft.

Advanced e-Mail
Marketing Strategies
eMarketing Association Conference
Redondo Beach, California
September 5, 2002
Gabriela Linares
L-Soft international, Inc.
www.lsoft.com
[email protected]
301-731-0440
800-399-5449
 2002 L-Soft
Steps for an e-Mail Marketing Plan
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Defining e-Mail Marketing Objectives
Determining Effective Strategies
Reaching your Target Audience
Designing e-Mail Content
Evaluating Results
Selecting a Solution
 2002 L-Soft
Defining e-Mail Marketing Objectives
Common e-Mail Marketing Objectives
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Build brand awareness
Acquire new leads/ registrants/ customers/ clients
Drive immediate sales
Enhance customer retention
Build stronger relationships with existing
customers/clients
Provide company or product information
Increase revenues by up-selling to existing
customers/clients
Post-order targeted e-mails
As part of an integrated marketing strategy
 2002 L-Soft
e-Mail marketing campaign response
rates by campaign objective
Conversion
CTR
Awareness
Sales
6.80%
5.60%
Leads
Source: IMT Strategies, September 2001
7.90%
17.10%
15.20%
15.30%
 2002 L-Soft
Acquisition versus retention
Acquisition
Retention
Search engine positioning
94%
6%
Banner ads
91%
9%
Referral/viral programs
85%
15%
Affiliate programs/ sponsorships
75%
25%
Incentive programs
51%
49%
E-Mail Marketing
37%
63%
Conversion Costs for Retention and
Acquisition Goals
Acquisition
Retention
E-mail
$57.10
$2.50
Direct Mail
$25.00
$60.00
Banner ads
$140.00
N/A
Source: IMT Strategies, September 2001
 2002 L-Soft
Determining Effective Strategies
Popular e-Mail models
 Sales Promotions
 Transaction
confirmations
 Account status e-mails
 Recommendations
from friends (viral
marketing)
 Scheduled corporate
newsletters
 Customizable
information updates
 Time-based reminders
 Rewards program
 E-mail discussion
groups
 Product updates of
interest
 Independent media
newsletters
 Entertainment (humor,
film clips)
 E-Mail education
series
 Contests for address
 2002 L-Soft
Reaching your Target Audience
E-mail overload: Number of e-mail
marketing e-mail sent in the US
2001
289
2002
430
2003
549
2004
674
2005
796
2006
939
0
Source: Forrester Research, August 2001
500
1000
 2002 L-Soft
Response to permission e-mail versus
unknown senders
Eager to read
1%
Curious to read
13%
12%
Indifferent
Open but annoyed
Delete
49%
15%
6%
29%
21%
3%
0%
Unknown senders
52%
20%
40%
Permission e-mail
60%
 2002 L-Soft
Opt-in, opt-out, double opt-in, spam:
Preferred e-mail marketing methods
1%
4%
31%
64%
Double Opt-In
Opt-in
Opt-out
Spam
Source: Opt-In News, May 2002
 2002 L-Soft
CTR and Conversion rate of US e-mail
marketing campaigns – for permission
based lists
Clickthrough
17.80%
Net
conversion
7.00%
7.80%
Bounce
Unsubscribe
2.10%
0%
Source: IMT Strategies, Sept. 2001
5%
10%
15%
20%
 2002 L-Soft
US Consumers’ Privacy concerns
Sharing info
with third
parties
75%
Transactions
not secure
70%
Hackers will
steal info
66%
69%
68%
70% 72%
74%
76%
Source: Harris Interactive, February 2002
 2002 L-Soft
US E-Mail users’ preferred e-mail
marketing privacy and customer-support
practices
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Unsubscribe option in all e-mails
Explicit no-share-address policy
48-hour e-mail support answers
Editable personal preferences page
Provide phone numbers in e-mail
Explicit privacy policy
Double opt-in confirmation
Unchecked default opt-in box
Third-party privacy seal in e-mail
 2002 L-Soft
Most Important e-Mail Marketing trustbuilding factors among US users
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Secure sign-up form
Trustworthy reputation
Loyal customer
Well-known brand
Friend recommendation
Trusted site referral
Relevant offers
 2002 L-Soft
Why customers would give personal info
 Guarantee that the information will not be
misused
 Eligibility to win a prize in a sweepstakes
 Regular e-mail updates on products they are
interested in
 Access to more or better content or
information
 Affinity points
 Receive targeted ads they’re likely to be
interested in
 2002 L-Soft
Building Customer Intelligence
 Harness your Customer Database
 Effective personalization and targeting
 Common Segmentation Factors:
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Purchase history
Location/zip code
Demographics
Lifestyle/hobbies/interests
 2002 L-Soft
Building your lists
 Subscriber form on web site
 Sponsor lists of sites with a similar
demographic
 Send to a friend button – viral marketing
 Ask for permission to customer base
 Maintain list hygiene
 E-mail appending…
 2002 L-Soft
Creating the Content
E-Mail Message Content
 Subject Line – getting recipients to open mail is half the
battle
 Creativity
 Personality and dynamic content
 Keep it short and use links to draw reader to your web
site
 Keep it fresh – don’t re-use the same content
 Relevance – the more you understand your customers,
the more targeted and relevant messages will be
 Frequency
 Test messages
 2002 L-Soft
Email users’ preferred e-mail marketing
personalization models
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Communication Control
Self-select content
Name recognition
Personal events & reminders
Geography
Account History
Lifestyle
Purchasing Behavior
 2002 L-Soft
Evaluating results
How to measure the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns
 Click-through rates
 unique and sum of events & comparisons
 Unsubscribe rates
 Open rates
 Conversion rates (website tracking)
 Click-stream analyses
 E-mail pass along rates –viral marketing
 Coupon codes
 Unanimous tracking to respect privacy
 2002 L-Soft
Response time and cost per unit, e-mail
vs. direct mail
 Be prepared to handle responses
E-Mail
Direct Mail
Response
Time
3 days
3-6 weeks
Cost per unit
$0.25
$1.25
Source: DMA, Forrester Research, Gartner Group, 2002
 2002 L-Soft
To Outsource or not to Outsource
Maintain your server
 Hardware/computer
network
 Dedicated Internet
Connection
 Software for e-mail
management and delivery
 Best for large loads and
those with experience
 More cost-effective
 Flexibility to create
campaigns on the fly
Outsource your list hosting
 Reliability and experience
 Redundant servers and
delivery capacity
 Flexibility to maintain
company Internet presence
 Ability to move from
hosting to in-house when
ready
 More expensive
 Rely on company’s
schedule
 2002 L-Soft
Evaluate Options
 Evaluate software product or hosting service before
purchasing
 Determine if solution provides appropriate features
 Decide what reporting features you need
 online real-time reporting, compatibility with other
software you employ
 Differentiating levels of privacy tracking
 Campaign manager to organize jobs
 Integration with your database and other applications
 Handle bounces
 2002 L-Soft