This presentation was delivered as part of the PA Economic Development Corporations technology webinar series in October 2009.

1. Implementing a Successful
Email Marketing Strategy
Tin Cans Unlimited, LLC

2. Welcome

3. Why E il?
Wh Email?

4. • Email remains TOP Internet activity with
74% of all adults using email – up 5%
from 2008.
» Pew Internet & American Life Project

5. • 42% of nearly 1 000 business leaders
1,000
polled plan to increase their email
marketing budgets in 2010
g g
• No signs of slow down
• Spending expected to increase at
double-digit rates for the next five years

7. Why Email?
If email was a country, its 1.4 billion
users would make it the largest in the
world. Bigger than China, bigger than
the populations of the USA and
European Union combined
combined.

8. • 247 billion emails are sent each day.
That s
That's one email every 0.00000035
seconds.
• In the time it takes you to read this
sentence, some 20 million emails
entered cyberspace.
• 181: the number of marketing emails it
would take to produce enough revenue to
buy one share in Microsoft.

9. 83,689,738,832,367: the number of
marketing emails it would take to produce
enough revenue to pay the US National
Debt.

10. Why Email?
• It’s inexpensive
It s
• It’s effective
It s
• It’ immediate
It’s i di t
• It’ measurable
It’s bl
• It’s easy

11. Inexpensive
• Stretch a tight marketing budget
• No production, materials or postage
production
costs
• Many self-service solutions
• More cost effective than direct mail at
possibly less than .01 per piece
01

12. Effective
• Proactively communicate with existing
customers and prospects
• E il t
Easily target messages by source,
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interest or list
• Enhances both lead generation and
customer retention
• Permission based – contacting folks who
want to hear from you!

13. Immediate
• Self service tools allow anyone to create
and send messages quickly
• Email marketing generates immediate
response
• Call to Action is clear
• Initial campaign response generally
occurs with 48 hours of send

14. Measurable
• Easy to measure results
– Opens
– Clickthroughs
– Track throughs
– AB Testing
• Email open rates increased 18% in the
last three quarters
» BtoBOnline

15. Easy
• Many web based email marketing tools
web-based
available.
• If you’re comfortable using MSWord,
you re
you’re more or less ready to go – little
technical knowledge needed

16. Best Practices 2009
• Make registration easy
• Create an effective promotional strategy
• Be actionable
• Offer opt-out alternatives
• Be
B more th relevant; b ti l
than l t be timely
• Less is more
• Nothing is free
N thi i f
• Content is king
• Lather, rinse, repeat

17. Make registration easy
• No barriers – don’t make user register for
don t
a full account if not necessary
• Place contextually relevant sign up boxes
throughout your site
• Allow folks to subscribe to specific
content
• Keep it simple
p p

18. Create an effective strategy
• Who do you want to reach via email and
why?
• How often do you want to reach them?
• Create content of value – don’t just send
sale items or coupons

19. Be actionable
• Every message must have a clear call to
call-to-
action
– Use the Rule of 3
• Specific call-to-action (reason for message)
• General call-to-action (link to your site)
• V l call-to-action (li k to more specific content)
Value ll t ti (link t ifi t t)

20. Offer opt out alternatives
opt-out
• Make it exceedingly easy for folks to opt
opt-
out
• Too many opt outs? Give subscribers
opt-outs?
alternatives:
– Select more highly targeted messages
g y g g
– Decrease the frequency of messages
– Make it easier to change settings than opt-
out
– Allow for feedback

21. Be timely and relevant
• Send emails not just based on your
marketing calendar, but based on
customer behavior
• Customize messages to the sales cycle

22. Less is more
• Keep your call to action simple and
concise
• Avoid long-winded jargon
• Avoid too many choices

26. Less is more…part deux
• Take it easy on visuals
• Avoid prolonged download times
• M
More junk = more chances message will
j k h ill
end up in junk folder
• Always include a text version

27. Less is more…part trois
• Assume mobility
– More and more business
professionals are reading
email on mobile devices
– Always allow for text only
– Add mobile devices as part
of your browser detection
package
k

28. No such thing as a free lunch
• Do not ever use the word “free” in either
free
your copy or your subject line – number
one word programmed into spam filters.
p g p
– Better choices:
• Complimentary
• N
No-cost
t

29. Content is king
• Offering links to content of value almost
always draws more click-throughs than
discounts – particularly for B2B:
p y
– Whitepaper downloads draw better than
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heavily discounted products or demo
requests
– Offer your expertise … offer something to
make their job easier
j

30. Lather, rinse, repeat
• All campaigns must be integrated
• Message should be similar across all
media
• Don’t make users wonder “if they clicked
on the right link when they get to your
link”
web site
• Don’t forget to say “thank you”

31. Integration
• All forms of media must support one
pp
another!

38. Developing your list

39. Developing your list
• House list is ALWAYS best!
• Offer customers and prospects the
opportunity to sign up:
– Web site sign up form
• Often adds them directly to your list
y y
– Fishbowl
– Special promotions

40. Developing your list
• Always get permission!
• Always have a privacy policy!
– You can literally do whatever you like with the
names on your list – re-sell them, email them
every ten minutes, etc. – as long as you
inform them in advance of your intentions
and they agree.

41. Developing your list
• List buying
– A gray area at best
– Spam at worst
– Only use reputable list buying services
• Use firms that will allow you to ‘rent’ the list but
send it using your email client
d i il li t
• http://www.usdatacorporation.com/
• http://www.infousa.com/
• http://www.usadata.com/

42. Crafting your message
• The basics:
– Personalization
– Branding
– Call-to-action

43. Crafting your message
• Personalization
– Customized salutations
– Base message on recent user activity
– Tone

44. Provide content of value
• Newsletter formats work well and have a
high response rate

45. AB
A-B Testing
• Email marketing is a great way to test
messages and subject lines
– Split your list and send each half a modified
message
– Results will show you which way to go

48. Crafting your message
• Branding
– Every message must incorporate your brand
in some wayy
– Logos
– Customizes signatures
– Tag lines
– Each message should be immediately
associated with the sender

49. Crafting your message
• Call to action
Call-to-action
– Every message must guide the user toward a
specific action
p
• Buy
• More information
• FAQ
• Solicitation
• Fan us on Facebook
• Follow us on Twitter

52. HTML vs. Text
• Ideally BOTH with browser detection
– Some companies block HTML messages
– Many mobile devices block HTML messages

53. Playing by the rules
• Can Spam rules must be obeyed!
– Do not simply apply to bulk mailers
– It covers all commercial messages, which the
law defines as “any electronic mail message
the primary purpose of which is the
commercial advertisement or promotion of a
commercial product or service,” including
service
email that promotes content on commercial
websites.
– The law makes no exception for business-to-
business email. That means all email – for
example, a message to former customers
p , g
announcing a new product line – must
comply with the law.

54. Playing by the rules
Each separate email in violation of the
CAN-SPAM Act is subject to penalties of
up to $16,000, so non-compliance can be
costly.
tl

55. The rules are fairly simple…
• Don’t use false or misleading header
Don t
information.
– Your “From,” “To,” “Reply-To,” and routing
From, To, Reply To,
information – including the originating domain
name and email address – must be accurate
and identify the person or business who
initiated the message.

56. The rules are fairly simple…
• Don’t use deceptive subject lines.
– The subject line must accurately reflect the
j y
content of the message.

57. The rules are fairly simple…
• Identify the message as an ad.
ad
– The law gives you a lot of leeway in how to
do this, but you must disclose clearly and
conspicuously that your message is an
advertisement.
d ti t

58. The rules are fairly simple…
• Tell recipients where you re located
you’re located.
– Your message must include your valid
p y
physical ppostal address. This can be yyour
current street address, a post office box
you’ve registered with the U.S. Postal
Service,
Service or a private mailbox you’ve
you ve
registered with a commercial mail receiving
agency established under Postal Service
regulations.
l ti

59. The rules are fairly simple…
• Tell recipients how to opt out of
receiving future email from you.
– Your message must include a clear and
conspicuous explanation of how the recipient
can opt out of getting email from you in the
future.

60. The rules are fairly simple…
• Honor opt-out requests promptly.
– Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process
opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your
message.
– Y must honor a recipient’s opt-out request within 10
You th i i t’ t t t ithi
business days.
– You can’t charge a fee, require the recipient to give you any
personally identifying information beyond an email address
address,
or make the recipient take any step other than sending a
reply email or visiting a single page on an Internet website
as a condition for honoring an opt-out request.
– Once people have told you they don’t want to receive more
messages from you, you can’t sell or transfer their email
addresses, even in the form of a mailing list. The only
exception is that you may transfer the addresses to a
company you’ve hired to help you comply with the CAN-
SPAM Act.

61. The rules are fairly simple…
• Monitor what others are doing on your
behalf.
– The law makes clear that even if you hire
another company to handle your email
marketing, you can’t contract away your legal
responsibility to comply with the law Both the
law.
company whose product is promoted in the
message and the company that actually
sends the message may be held legally
responsible.

62. So…who i d i a
S h is doing
good j b?
d job?

71. Q&A

72. About Tin Cans Unlimited
• Our decades of experience in
communication management, public
relations and publishing extended to
p g
Internet development more than 25 years
ago, with some of the nation’s first
commercial, media and non-profit
websites.

73. String Theory
• Visit our blog, “String Theory,” at
blog String Theory
www.tincansunlimited.com for the latest
thoughts and concepts on marketing in
g p g
the digital age.
• Visit us on Facebook
• Follow us on Twitter @tincansllc
• Connect with us on LinkedIn

74. www.tincansunlimited.com
@tincansllc
Facebook
• laura@tincansunlimited.com
laura@tincansunlimited com