Dressler Advertising - Email Marketing

A Darwinian Approach to:
Email Marketing

Three Things
you absolutely must remember

Don't piss people off
Get the basics right
Iterate, Measure, and Improve
(This is the "Darwin" part.)

1.

Pissing People Off
(don't)

Permission Marketing. Everything they didn't specifically ask to receive is spam.

Keep Your List Clean. Build your own list, maintain your list, manage your list. Don't rely on third party lists if you can possibly help it.

Consumers Don't Know Your Org Chart. Everything everyone in the organization does reflects on you. Consumers don't know or care that they got that annoying email from "a different division."

One Strike and You're Out. A single ill-considered email will get all future emails marked as "spam" by consumers and cause opt-outs from your list.

Content, Content, Content. If you don't provide something of value in your emails, no one is going to want to read them. But make sure your content is personalized and targeted.

Opt In, Opt Out. Make it easy to opt out of email lists. It's the law. Also, never automatically select "opt in." It's not the law, but it is really, really annoying.

Stick to your Schedule. Establish a schedule for when you send out email messages. Then, stick to that schedule. Consumers are more likely to engage with your content if they know they won't be inundated.

[

Wait, shouldn't "the basics" be step 1? Excellent question! But no, with a medium that leaves so many consumers irritated, it is important to remember first to do no harm to your brand through annoying marketing practices.

]

2.

The Basics
(get this right)

When. Different businesses have different suggested schedules. Depending on whether you're marketing B2B or B2C, you may want to take a different approach. Experiment to determine best times.

Single Source. One way to control the volume of messages you are sending out to a single recipient is to have a single email address for all email marketing. Always use a company email.

Spam Filters. Avoid CAPS and exclamation marks!!!!!! These set off spam filters, particularly in a subject line. (Also avoid the list of "Spammy words" below.)

Subject Line. Informative and intriguing. And short enough to fit in the preview window.

Preview Pane. Most people see emails in a preview pane first. Keep important content above the fold, including logo, main message and call to action. No more than 600 pixels wide.

Images. Many email systems require users to "allow" images. So, remember that the alt text should cover your total marketing message.

Landing Page. Match the look. Pay off the message.

[

Words most spam filters know. Sadly, may of the words that you might be most tempted to use in your subject line may actually cause your email to be blocked so that it never reaches your recipient. Be creative, but avoid these dreaded "spammy words."

]

Spammy Words Free - 50% off - You’re a winner! - Compare - Amazing
Don’t delete - Why pay more? - Stop - One time only
Satisfaction guaranteed - Join millions - Special offer
You’ve been selected - Act now - Call now - Discount
Order now - Time limited - Special promotion - No cost
Save up to - All new - Subscribe now - Opportunity
Collect - Buy direct - Please read - While supplies last

3.

Darwin Stuff
(survival of the effectivest)

Bake In Your Metrics. Don't try to figure out how effecitve your email campaign was after it's over. Then, it's already too late. Build your campaign from the beginning so that every aspect of your communication can be tracked and tested. There are three sources of data you should be able to measure on each campaign: email data, website, data and sales data.

Email Data:

1. Delivery Rate =

emails sent - bounce backs emails sent

(Is my list any good?)

2. Open Rate =

emails opened emails delivered

(Does my message work?)

3. Click Rate =

clicks emails delivered

(Is my offer motivating?)

4. Retention Rate =

subscribers - bounce backs - unsubsribes emails delivered

(Am I being annoying?)

Website Data:

1. Bounce Rate
(Am I delivering on my message?)

2. Depth of Visit
(Am I offering a compelling reason to stay?)

3. Action Completed
(Are people doing the "one big thing" I want them to do?)

Sales Data:

But seriously, are people buying?

Iterate, Measure and Improve. If you only put out one marketing message at a time, you have no basis for comparison and your metrics are not as useful as they could be. Much like A/B testing an ecommerce website, email marketing offers us the ability to test multiple messages and then continue to refine our message.

1. Establish a Baseline
Have minimum standards for success. If none of your efforts meet these minimum standards, assume you do not have an effective marketing message and start over.

2. Compare Three Different Messages
By creating three distinct marketing messages and sending them out to different recipients you can track the effectiveness of each message.

3. Establish “Control”
Your “control” is your most successful message. It now serves as the new baseline for success. Your challenge is to beat control in future communications.

4. Iterate “Control”
Create different versions of your control message and see if you can make it more effective by tweaking the messaging. Now send out these new versions to establish a new control.

5. Repeat and Share
Always be trying to beat control by iterating your messages or creating new messages. Share your successes with the whole organization so they can use them as a model for their own control.

This content was created by Dressler, LLC.

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