How marketing is changing in the digital era, with perspectives on how consumers and buyers interact with brands,the shifting role of social media and some considerations for the future. As presented at Marketing Week Live in London in June 2014.
6. Why Email (Really!) Matters
3.6 billion email
accounts
(forecast to
reach 4.3 billion
by 2016)
66% of
marketers say
the ROI of
email is ‘good’
or ‘excellent’
Sources: Econsultancy, Adestra
Email (done well)
is unobtrusive,
easy to consume
and allows
asynchronous
response
Powerful,
granular
controls
through ESPs
Simple and
affordable
7. Email Valued Through The Buying Process
Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit, Mind The Marketing Gap Report 2013
8. Email: “Bringing in The Business Since 1971”
Source: Custora analysis of 72 million people buying from 86 US retailers, Q2 2013
PLUS
Customers acquired
through email
marketing have a
lifetime value 12%
higher than average
13. Case Study: Microsoft Office Lifecycle
Source: Adapted from ExactTarget Contact Strategy Presentation
Welcome emails, new user off-limits to other marketing
Supported by tailored ‘how to’ advice through first five months
presented by Microsoft employees
Targeted online ads encourage ongoing use
RESULTS: Open rates 50% above avg
CTR x22
63% video completion
14. Email Preview Tools
Screenshot: Litmus Email Previews tool
Your email service provider
can verify that your email will
render correctly on all common
devices and browsers, check for
code issues and give
recommendations to help you
prevent your email being caught
in spam filters.
Test drive an email
rendering tool like
www.litmus.com
(7 day free trial)
Check Render and Spam
16. Five Levels of Email Personalisation
1 None
2 Format
3 Salutation
4 Content
5 One-to-One
Broadcast / spam
Text / HTML
Dear Kandi,…
Tailored to preferences, interests,
attitudes and behaviours
Uniquely tailored, dynamic
personal message
17. Creating Dynamic, Custom-Built Emails
NAME EMAIL PET
FOOD
BRAND
DISCOUNT
Charlie
Brown
goodgrief@peanuts.
com
dog Pedigree 5
Dr. Claw
nexttime@gadget.co
m
cat Iams 10
Jim
Henson
jim@muppets.org frog Reptil 15
Shaggy
Rogers
zoinks@scoobydoo.
com
dog Bakers 7
Walt
Disney
walt@disney.com mouse FortiDiet 20
Mike
Tyson
mike@punchout.co
m
cat Iams 10
Data Email Template
Image source: http://teachtofishdigital.com/
19. We Use Mobile When We Are
Source: comScore, Mobile Future in Focus, August 2013
Share of Browser-Based Page Traffic by Hour by Platform
20. Email Clients Are Getting Smarter
Screenshot: Gmail’s tabbed inbox
Your goal should be
to ensure your email is
classified correctly by
the recipient or
automatically by their
email client. If your
emails deliver genuine
value they are more
likely to stay out of the
junk or ‘read later’ pile.
Stay in the right folder
21. Tools like Unroll.me Break The Rules
Screenshot: Unroll.me subscription editor
Unroll.me is a free email subscription
manager that can collate all non-
essential emails into a single, regular
Rollup email and allows 1-click
unsubscribe. It works with email
clients including Gmail, Outlook.com,
Google Apps, Yahoo! Mail and iCloud.
Try it free at www.unroll.me
Alternatives:
Explore other clever email
management apps like Unsubscriber
at http://www.otherinbox.com/
Email Management v2.0
22. How to Stay Out of the Promotions Folder*
Create great content that recipients will be expecting
Focus on the most engaged contacts and target intelligently
Create an email series e.g. How to Save Money, Part 3
Send time-sensitive offers (or use other scarcity drivers)
Educate recipients so they know how to keep receiving your emails
* although staying in the
Promotions folder might
be better for you
23. Gmail’s New Grid View (in field trials)
Screenshot: Gmail’s new grid view
Join the field trial at https://g.co/gmailfieldtrial
Ensure your featured image is
at least 580px x 400px, keep
sender name short (<20
characters) and subject line
brief (no more than 75
characters, but 28-39 is
optimal).
Use Google’s approved markup
to specify which image should
be featured or use your
company logo or avatar from
your G+ Page.
How To Look Great In The Grid
24. Time of Open Personalisation
Early bird offers
Countdown clocks
Day of Week offers
Real-time stock levels
Time of Day promotions
Tailored to device in use
Live A/B/C/D… testing of images
Location aware, e.g. travel time to nearest store
Latest social content from an account or hashtag
News or weather contextualised recommendations
25. Which Channels Influence When?
Cool Free Tool!
The Customer Journey
to Online Purchase
http://www.google.com/think/tools/
customer-journey-to-online-
purchase.html
http://bit.ly/mwljtop
Learn how different digital channels
influence buying behaviour.
Filter data by Industry and Country
(UK, USA, Brazil, France, Canada, Germany,
Japan)
26. Consider this…
Real permission is different from presumed or legalistic
permission. Just because you somehow get my email
address doesn't mean you have permission. Just
because I don't complain doesn't mean you have
permission. Just because it's in the fine print of your
privacy policy doesn't mean it's permission either.
Real permission works like this: if you stop showing
up, people complain, they ask where you went.”
“
Source: Seth Godin, Permission Marketing
27. Love Your Unsubscribers!
People who pay no attention to your
mails have no value to you…
People who no longer want your mail
would rather not receive it…
People who never asked for your mail
are never going to buy from you
Make it really easy for anyone to
unsubscribe, no barriers, just one-
click, no fuss
Actively encourage unsubscriptions,
at least annually
Use your unsubscribe confirmation
page intelligently
“
”
28. Smart Campaign Scheduling
Create a simple flow
chart showing how
one email contact
point leads to
another
This flow defines
your contact
frequency and timing
rules
Develop this for
every campaign, and
overlay broader
business campaigns
to avoid conflicts
WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4
FIRSTEMAILSEND
Open, click,
subscribe
Open, click
Abandon
subscribe
Undelivers
Non open
EMAIL2–EXTRAINCENTIVE
Open, click,
subscribe
Open, click
Abandon
subscribe
RESEND
Unsubs &
Undelivers
Non open
EMAIL3–EXTRAINCENTIVE
“LIMITEDAVAILABILITY”
EMAIL5–LOYALTY
EMAIL4–SURVEY
DM
TELE
SALES
Open, click,
subscribe
Open, click
Abandon
subscribe
Unsubs &
Undelivers
EXAMPLE: RECRUITING NEWSLETTER SUBCRIBERS Source: Adapted from Smart Insights
Note: organic search not shown on chart as off the scale
Org Search LTV +54%, CPC +37%..... Twitter -23%
e.g. Email on Acid gives previews in 81 devices/browsers
e.g. Email on Acid gives previews in 81 devices/browsers
90% of commercial emails go to the ‘Promotions’ tab
>100k subscribers to Unroll.me, >100million emails diverted from Inboxes
Some debate that educating people is not worthwhile…
(it’s like Pinterest for your Inbox!) -> arguably, the image is now more important than the subject line!!!
Infinite scrolling means people will scan through images and emails very speedily
Join the field trial at https://www.gmail.com/intl/en/mail/help/fieldtrial.html
(same grid now in use on Twitter new design pages)
Collect feedback on why people unsubscribed, promote social media presences, say thank you, be polite