Email Marketing Blog

Get those whitelisting instructions back up there!
Yahoo! (Note that the exclamation point here is intended to be read with emphasis, not as in “Yippee” but as in a scolding.) Listrak’s Product Manager, Brent Shroyer, has notified me that a recent Yahoo Mail interface change has increased the importance of requesting whitelisting from subscribers on your list.

Yes, just when we were so excited to use that valuable, above-the-fold geography of the preheader to promote our call-to-action, we once again need to use this space for whitelisting instructions. That’s right, it is again a best practice to include whitelisting instructions in your preheader, especially if Yahoo accounts for a large percentage of your list.

Yahoo Mail’s new “view from” feature enables users to view e-mail only from their Contacts lists (all the addresses they’ve whitelisted by clicking the “Add Sender to Contacts” icon in the header field) or their “Connections” (a new social-networking feature based on the Contacts list) lists. This feature is definitely user friendly, and you can expect that Yahoo Mail users will use it to organize their inboxes and prioritize the mail they read. So, get working on modifying your preheader today.

Be Creative With Space
Consider placing the whitelisting instructions on the second line of the preheader, continuing to use the very first line for your call-to-action. And, by all means, keep the whitelisting instructions in the footer as well for people who may have missed them in the preheader but were interested enough in your message to read through to the footer.

The Gift of Whitelisting
Remember that once a subscriber has whitelisted you, most email clients will then automatically display the images in your email even if images are turned off by default. That makes it worth putting the whitelisting instructions back in the preheader.

To learn more about email marketing strategies, contact one of Listrak’s email marketing experts today.

“Studies by leading management consultancy, Bain & Company, show that a five percent increase in customer retention can increase a company’s profitability by 75 percent.”
– Megan Ouellet, Listrak Director of Marketing

This week, Listrak’s Director of Marketing, Megan Ouellet, released a white paper focusing on how to boost subscriber retention. If you have not yet read this paper, I will share a few key points in this blog. You can download the full white paper here.

LIFECYCLE EMAIL COMMUNICATIONS
BOOSTS SUBSCRIBER RETENTION:
RELEVANCY IS THE KEY TO ENGAGED SUBSCRIBERS
Studies by leading management consultancy, Bain & Company, show that a five percent increase in customer retention can increase a company’s profitability by 75 percent, reinforcing the sound business sense of paying attention to subscriber retention. Building on-going relationships with your email subscribers may be one of your biggest opportunities to contain costs.

However, while most marketers are familiar with the generally accepted mantra that it costs 5-7 times more to bring in a new customer than to sell to an existing customer, some are still not taking the time to fully understand their subscribers and to communicate with them, rather than at them.

Attempting to calculate and compare the exact cost to market to a lead via email versus the cost to acquire an online lead is extremely difficult. Is the lead a “generic” sales lead or a “brand specific” marketing lead? How qualified is the lead? Did they simply sign up to get a free offer, or were they a referral lead from a partner company perhaps with little or no real interest in your company or products? Clearly retaining a customer that has opted- in to receive your email or that has a history of opening your email messages, or may already have a purchase record, costs far less than acquiring a new one.

Businesses that are doing all they can to protect and grow stronger customer relationships are building a competitive advantage in these challenging times.

If you have not downloaded your copy of this whitepaper yet, you can download the full version here.

To learn more about email marketing strategies, contact one of Listrak’s email marketing experts today.

Last month I began receiving a new category of email from Neiman Marcus – promoting “Mid-Day Dash,” a two-hour sale where certain items were marked down significantly.  When the first Mid-Day Dash email arrived, I expected it to be a once-in-a-lifetime event.  Imagine my surprise when another followed the next week.  Pavlovian shoe-lover that I am, now each Wednesday I am waiting for that email from Neiman Marcus to see what might be on sale. 

When you see big established players like Neiman Marcus sending email with offers that are unique in comparison to what they sent in 2008, it’s time to take a closer look at what is happening.  First, investigate what the big players are doing.  Second, take a critical look at your own strategy to identify areas for change. 

Follow the Leader

The top three competitors you benchmark: follow them even more closely right now.  If you see an interesting trend, research it thoroughly. Keep an eye on industry reports as well.  In an April 2009 study Luxury Interactive found that 80% of participants agreed with this statement:

“I am thoughtful when I shop:  I am thinking more about whether I really need an item or just want to buy it on impulse.”

Pam Danzinger, who writes the Luxury Insights Newsletter for Luxury Interactive, summarizes this behavior, “They are thinking about purchases more carefully, looking to make purchases based upon need rather than desire. Essentially they are putting reason ahead of emotion when they shop.”    

Acknowledging a behavioral shift such as the one that Luxury Interactive has identified is important when crafting your offers and messaging.  By the way, the Mid-Day Dash email from Neiman Marcus is sent in addition to their standard daily message.  And, do I find this intrusive?  No.  Mildly irritating?  Absolutely not.  In fact, if you are listening Karen Katz and Ken Downing, keep on sending me email messages when you have mark down pricing! 

Critique Your Strategy

If you watch any reality television you know that these days, even sweet 16 gets a costume change half-way through the party.  Yes, I offer this tv tidbit as consolation for those of you who are committed to writing a marketing plan and sticking to it.  Change can be uncomfortable, but it can be good, especially now. 

1.       Compare your message stream against the companies you benchmark.  Note similarities and differences to identify area for improvement.

2.       Question the cadence of your deployments.  Can you, like Neiman Marcus, profit and strengthen relationships by adding in an additional deploy each week?   

3.       Continue to encourage your subscribers to use their preference centers so that you can send them targeted, relevant messages that they will appreciate. 

To learn more about email marketing strategies, contact one of Listrak’s email marketing experts today.

I’m happy to announce that today we launched Listrak version 4.5 with a number of new powerful features that can help you in segmenting your email marketing campaigns.

Three of the new filters available focus on contact engagement. They include “Last Open Date”, “Last Read Date” and “Last Click Date”. Of course, you could previously generate these segments manually by using dynamic profiling in the contact reports, but now, these filters are automated. They make it easy for any Listrak user to filter based on your contacts last activity.

The power of the engagement filters is in the capability to easily target those contacts that are the most active on your list. They also allow you to target those who haven’t taken action within a period of time and send them a “re-engagement” campaign. If no further action is taken by those contacts, you could choose to segment them off of your messages going forward. Megan wrote a great whitepaper on this subject a while back called “Email Marketing Best Practices: Inactive Subscribers – Re-Engage or Remove”.

The three other new filters are based on Listrak’s IP location based Geo tracking data. Listrak users have been able to report on this data and even visualize the Geo location of their contacts on a map thanks to our Google Maps integration. Now, this data is automatically available within the profile system. You can now filter on Country, Region, or Postal Code based on the contacts IP address.

Another new feature built into the Postal Code filter allows you to segment your contacts within a radius of a specific postal code. So, if you have multiple retail chains across the US and you wanted to target those subscribers that are within 50 miles of each store, you could easily generate those segments.

Of course, you can always get as complex as you need to with the profile filter using multiple joins and groupings of filters. For instance, if you collected geo data from your contacts, but do not have country, region, or postal code data for some of the contacts on your list, you could use the custom data by default and fall back on the automated Geo data for those contacts that do not have the custom values.

Also, remember that you could go beyond using these filters for individual messages and use the Dynamic Content engine in order to generate multiple versions of your message that are targeted to your contacts based on the filters set. As an example, you could have a section of your message that is based on the subscriber’s region data or you might have an offer that is different for your most active contacts using the engagement filters.

If you are a current Listrak user, be sure to check out the release notes for a full list of updates that have gone live with this launch. There are several video tutorials available as well that are linked from both the help system and the release notes area.

Lastly, I wanted to thank the hard working Listrak developers who have made this launch possible!

If you have any questions on the new features, you can email Listrak support at support@listrak.com.

“A woman wearing the right stiletto is a force to be reckoned with.”

- Nina Garcia, style expert -

It almost goes without saying that when it comes to making a first impression, one should always put his or her best foot forward.  In the world of email marketing, making the right first impression is extremely important in gaining consumer confidence.  While you may be programmed to think that the welcome message is the first email impression, that only holds true for consumers who sign up for an account or communication.  There is a second, possibly more valuable opportunity for you to make a first impression:  the order confirmation email. 

Herald your arrival

The order confirmation email is THE first email that people who do not subscribe to your communication or who do not have an account, but who make a purchase from you, will receive.  Do not overlook the power of this message, or the opportunities if offers.     

To make a good first impression

Make certain that the order confirmation email is:

1.       properly authenticated

2.       designed in concert with your brand

3.       includes all items pertinent to the order just placed

To make a great first impression

Shelve  that “well-worn tennis shoe” of an order confirmation email in favor of a stiletto.  Let’s take a moment to consider the infamous four-inch heel.  While the height of the heel seems dangerous, when made by a professional like Christian Louboutin, YSL, or Manolo Blahnik the shoe can actually be comfortable.   Style expert Nina Garcia explains, “The stiletto helps to define the curvature of a woman’s leg, and offers height, confidence, and sass.”   Your order confirmation email should be just as powerful!  Items to include that will get your order confirmation email to the next level:

4.       Personal greeting (you should have a first name for the customer at this time. Use it.)

5.       Customer service details including live chat information, contact emails, toll-free telephone numbers, and hours of operation

6.       A link to your website. If the initial order was placed over the telephone in response to a direct mail catalog, radio or tv ad, the consumer may not be aware of your website.   

7.       Related products that the consumer may be interested in and may have not found while shopping  (Had I known there was a scarf to compliment that jacket, I would have purchased it!)

8.       Additional product lines and services you offer that the consumer may have missed during the first shopping experience

9.       Set up an account with personalized settings if the consumer checked out as a guest. 

10.   A discount or gift with purchase on the next order placed

11.   Links to your social sites – enable the customer to, in a click, follow you on Twitter or subscribe to your Facebook page.

12.   A genuine “ thank you” for choosing to shop with your company. 

If you have any questions or need help improving your Order Confirmation email, contact one of Listrak’s email marketing experts today.

The race for Mother’s Day dollars has already begun.  The big day is May 10, and, no, retailers are not reaching out earlier this year.  According to Chad White at The Retail Email Blog, the first Mother’s Day communication in 2008 was on March 10.  If you have not yet written your email marketing strategy for Mother’s Day, today is the day.  Here are two possible approaches to consider:

STRATEGY 1:  Reach out to Past Purchasers

This is the easy approach, I know.  Past purchasers already have a relationship with your brand, a level of trust in the security of your online store, and if you’re lucky, an established account that makes checking out quick and painless.  When reaching out to this audience, use all the data available to you to make the purchasing experience as personal as possible:

1.       Use a personal greeting.  If possible and appropriate, use the subscriber’s first name.  Be certain to set an appropriate default value so that if the first name is not available, a suitable greeting is displayed.

2.       Refer to previous purchases.  Use dynamic content to fill your message with items that were purchased in the past 12 months.  If you have the data and can select items that were purchased around Mother’s Day last year, use those items.  For example, if there was a purchase of fragrance in late April last year, this year suggest the same fragrance, as well as the complementary body lotion. 

3.       Include an offer.   Reward loyalty.  In this competitive market, it can’t hurt to put forth a strong offer to thank repeat customers for their business.    

STRATEGY 2: Communicate Value 

Everyone is doing this right now, but that does not mean you should take a different approach.  In this market, follow the wisdom of the crowd.  As of the posting of this blog, the National Retail Federation has not yet posted their predicted spend for Mother’s Day 2009, but I don’t expect it to be greater than the 2008 spend (which was $138.63).

1.       Know what the NRF predicted spend will be, and promote items within that price range.  In 2008 I worked with a client who intentionally promoted four products in each Mother’s Day email with a range of prices and always included at least one item priced under $50.  Unless it is against your brand policy, this is a good year to list prices.    

2.       Understand that value is more than a price point, it is a subjective quality that satisfies a want or need.  The ultimate significance or importance of an item is determined individually.  There are, however, outside influences that add value to the perception of a brand or product.   For example, products that make Oprah’s list of favorite things may become more popular with people who appreciate Oprah’s opinion.

3.       Include an offer.  No matter how compelling your message, in a tough economy cost will win.    

If you have any questions or need help improving your email marketing strategy, contact one of Listrak’s email marketing experts today.

Whether you are new to email marketing or are a seasoned professional, it is a good practice to step back and objectively review the elements of your design to identify areas for improvement.  Arguably one of the most important elements of your email is the Call-To-Action (CTA). 

Your CTA must stand out to succeed.  It needs to be inviting, not intimidating, and ultimately encourage readers to click from the email onto your website.   Employ design elements with thoughtful copy to achieve a CTA that is distinctive and drives clicks.      

THOUGHTFUL COPY

1.       Communicate Clearly  Use concise action phrases like “click here.”   Avoid passive phrases.  Short, punchy words will get your message across quickly, and enable you to use a larger font.  

2.       State Benefits. State clearly the value for the click.  A few examples:   

a.       Special Savings - Click now to save 15% 

b.      Exclusivity – not available in stores, for club members only, etc. 

c.       Gift With Purchase – Free T-shirt with purchase

3.       Incite immediate response.   Including a timed deadline or an inventory limit enforces the need for the reader to act now.   

DESIGN ELEMENTS

1.       Positioning – The CTA must be positioned above the fold.  This means in the top 300 pixels of the email. You do not want readers to have to scroll down through your message to find the CTA.   Cushion your CTA with appropriate white space so that it shines as its own element on the page.

2.       Color – there is no “magic” color.  Use a color that compliments your overall design, yet stands out and draws the eye of the reader.  This may mean using a contrasting color, or simply using a more intense shade of color.  The CTA needs to stand out visually from the background of the page.  Your eye should perceive it as being it’s own element on the page.  The rule with color is always the same: don’t be afraid of color, but use it carefully and correctly.

3.       Font – Always focus on readability and never sacrifice function for form.  Sans-serif fonts are preferred over serif fonts. 

4.       Shape – Use shape to your advantage and to help the CTA pop off the page and draw the eye of the reader.  If everything on the page is squared off with clean straight lines, a circular button may be the correct visual pop for the CTA.  In this example, merely rounding the corners may be too subtle to be detected, and may make the design look sloppy (some rounded corners, some straight.)  Style is personal – think about shape and realize it can be used to your benefit.  If appropriate consider breaking out with a whimsical shape that compliments your brand. 

5.       Shadowing – Can help reinforce the CTA popping up off the page.

6.       Size – The CTA does not need to be the largest element on the page, but it needs to be large enough to draw the reader’s attention. 

After the click

After investing all this effort in the design and placement of your Call To Action, be absolutely certain that you link to the correct landing page … and that the design of that page is, itself, optimized to convert the sale.  Time is a luxury for people.  If you do not take them directly to the information your email advertised, do not expect people to surf your site trying to find it.  Take people to the right place or be prepared to lose them.   In Listrak’s next webinar, Tim Ash will present “Avoiding the Seven Deadly Sins of Landing Page Design.”   It’s free to participate, but space is limited so register early.

If you have any questions or need help improving your Call To Action, contact one of Listrak’s email marketing experts today.

We just published a new case study on the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  Here’s an excerpt:

“We were fully authenticated in about 3 or 4 days. Listrak’s communication in this process was very professional. I got answers quickly that I needed to provide to the host of the website, and I got them in language I could understand. This made working with our hosting company painless.”

To read the entire case study, visit http://www.listrak.com/university/BSO-Authentication-Case-Study/

If you have any questions on email authentication, contact us today.

Ross Kramer joined Kerry Murdock on Practical eCommerce’s weekly podcast eCommerce Conversations. They discuss the benefits of email geo-tracking for targeting segments of your audience with relevant messages.

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/podcasts/episode/863-Listrak-CEO-on-Email-Geo-Tracking

Matt Elliott, our director of client services, has been asked to present a session at OPERA America’s national conference in Houston next month.  His session, “Six Steps for a Successful Email Marketing Strategy,” is an overview of what direct marketers need to do to engage their audiences through email marketing campaigns.  It’s easier than you might think.  Just be DIRECT.

D – Data

Collecting data should be an ongoing process and you need to collect as much subscriber data as possible from every touch-point.  List acquisition is just the beginning.  If you follow list acquisition best practices, build your own list, ask for permission, validate addresses with a welcome message, etc., you’ll have the right data that you need to begin a conversation with each subscriber.  But that’s only the first step.

The second step is list hygiene – correcting misspellings, managing bounces, removing invalid addresses, auditing your lists, etc.  This will help you ensure that your lists are accurate and up-to-date.

The third step is reporting and tracking subscriber data through your ESP.  Be sure to track the metrics that matter, click-through, conversion, etc., as it will help you figure out the ROI for your campaigns and you’ll know the value of each subscriber.  You should also use tools like dynamic profiling to capture each click a subscriber makes in your email campaigns as you can use that information to build a detailed profile of your subscribers likes and dislikes.  This will help you speak relevantly to your audience.

I – Inbox

Deliverability remains one of the biggest concerns for email marketers.  Are you doing enough to protect your reputation?  Are your emails authenticated, accredited, and certified?  Do you know how ISPs even measure reputation?  ISPs look at the number of complaints and bounces your email deployments generate over a certain amount of time.  They also factor in the length of time the domain has been operating, the volume and size of messages, certain mail server settings, third-party reputation lists (white lists, black lists, etc.), the configuration of the emails’ headers, links, images, content, etc., and whether the sender is authenticated, accredited, and certified.  It can be complicated at first; but once you know what to look for maintaining a good reputation is easy.

We have published several white papers and hosted a webinar on this topic. Our online resource center is full of information that will help you reach your subscribers’ inboxes. 

R – Relevancy

In his latest webinar “Factors that Impact Deliverability,” Matt mentioned that it’s time to remove the phrase “email blast” from your vocabulary.  Nothing kills your audience faster than sending unwelcome, uninteresting, and unneeded emails to your subscribers so stop blasting out the same message to everyone on your list!

Instead of trying to come up with a generic message that appeals to everyone, or, gasp, sending a message out to your whole list whether the information is relevant or not, take a few minutes to segment your list.  Profiling doesn’t have to be complex. Even simple segmentation works well.

E – Email Design

Like deliverability, email design is one of our more popular topics in our resource center.  When planning your email strategy, there are several design factors that you must consider as design effects deliverability, usability, and conversion.  Be sure that you use a designer who is familiar with the differences between email marketing and web design.  Email has a completely different set of rules and errors in the code may cause your emails to render incorrectly.  It’s also important to be aware of the differences of each email client.  Your email might look fabulous in Outlook but horrible in Gmail. 

For a full list of design do’s and don’ts, download our white paper “221 Email Marketing Best Practices.”

C – Calls-to-Action

This one is for those of you who are new to email marketing.  Important messaging and calls-to-action must be kept above the fold, or in the top 300 pixels of the email.  If these items are lower, they might not be visible without scrolling.  Your calls-to-action should be clear, concise, and quick.  “Download Now” might work better than “Click here to download more information.” 

Also, your calls-to-action should link to specific, targeted landing pages.  If someone clicks on a button in your message expecting to download a white paper, they shouldn’t land on your homepage.  People don’t have time to search for the information on your site so if you’re not taking them to the right place, you’ll lose them.

On our next webinar, Tim Ash will present “Avoiding the Seven Deadly Sins of Landing Page Design.”   It’s free to participate, but space is limited so register early.

T - Test

It is imperative that your email strategy includes testing your campaigns prior to deployment.  You should test every part of your campaign…subject line, graphics, calls-to-action, offers, From address, deployment days and times, frequency, personalization, etc.  However, for the most accurate results you should stick to an A/B split test where you’re only testing one item at a time.  Multivariate testing allows you to test two or more items at once but unless you’re testing two completely different emails it’s difficult to measure the results.

If you have any questions or need help planning your email campaign strategy, contact one of our experts today.