Some basic principles on email marketing best practice

1. Email Marketing Best Practice ECIF e-Marketing Project July 2010

2. Contents Introduction to Email Marketing Guide to Rules and Regulations Data Management Vendor Options and Selection Maximising Email Delivery Social Media Integration Developing a Campaign Designing Emails That Deliver Results Post Campaign Analysis

4. Immediate

5. Flexible

6. Interactive

7. Measurable

9. Best Practice The ‘Sign Up’ form Organically grown, opt in emailing lists may be smaller but higher quality Above the fold with a call to action (CTA “Sign up for news and exclusive offers”) Explain why it’s a good idea to sign up, what benefits and how often they can expect an email Do have a privacy policy Don’t ask for too much information Asking for more information from subscribers means less will sign up

10. Sign up

11. More Best Practice Instilling the brand Have a clearly branded thank you page and auto response email to thank the recipient for signing up http://www.mail-away.co.uk/newsletter-confirmation Respect Unsubscribers Giving the ability for contacts to unsubscribe is law, but having a single-click, easy to find and administer link is best practice Remember, Quality NOT Quantity is key!

12. Opt-In Data Data Capture Collect email addresses at point of purchase or enquiry Website Sign Up The website sign-up is really important when building a quality list. Add a newsletter sign up form to the site to link direct to the database for easy subscriber management Incentives and Competitions Offering an incentive in exchange for data, a prize draw* is a definite winner but you could also use white paper downloads etc. *Include the statement in the terms and conditions “all winners will be notified by email” to ensure you don’t get any mickymouse@ addresses!

13. Opt-In Data Events/ face to face The incentive schemes can also be used at events to encourage data collection – one needs to be careful about the incentive used and the event at which the data is collected Member Get Member Recipients are likely to know other people similar to them, encourage them to share with a friend, you may get their names added to your list too. Engaging with social media is also an excellent way of doing this

14. Features Checklist Whether selecting a self-service or fully managed email marketing, here is a simple check list of essential and preferable features. Must Have: Schedule messages to be sent at time to suit your needs Import your contacts from almost any file or database Remove duplicate email addresses from your list Full handling of messages that bounce back Compliant unsubscribe links at the bottom of each email Real time tracking to see how your campaigns perform Opens, soft and hard bounces, and unsubs for each message Know who clicked on which link in the message and when

15. Features Checklist Nice To Have: Manage unlimited lists and segments Messages can be personalised across multiple fields Develop auto responders according to customer actions Segment your list based on previous campaign results Integrated micro sites for extra content, competitions or surveys Add a sign-up form to your web site that feeds into your database Professionally designed templates HTML optimised for performance across platforms Checking for content likely to trigger spam filters Tested in range of email services

16. Planning, Strategy & Objective Setting As with any kind of marketing campaign you need to have a really strong idea of what your email marketing is designed to achieve Essentially it boils down to… Who you are you sending it too? What do you want to tell them? Why will they be interested? What do you expect them to do as a result?

17. Types of Email Marketing Email can be used to meet a number of different objectives, from increasing sales and building awareness to running an event Examples of the types of email you could send: Catalogue Newsletter Postcard Brand

18. Example emails

19. Creating Relevant & Engaging Content Although you may have permission to send someone email, the real question is will they want to receive it? Spam is not just a legal issue Put yourself in your customers shoes: How would I feel? Content should reflect the personal nature of email

20. Understanding What Works The general rules of sound web design and usability apply, although there are a certain issues specific to the design of HTML email which you need to consider Size Considerations Image Issues Attachments Other Web Technologies Call To Action

21. Ensuring Consistency Across Platforms Push towards ‘web standards’ Browser compliance is finally improving Email clients (desktop & webmail) long way behind What works for websites won’t work for email The key elements are: Tables for structure Use inline styles, anything else may be removed Make use of online resources, like Email Standards Project Test, test, test - the only way to know your design works

24. Don’t be afraid to ask recipients to become followers/ fans to give feedback on SM

26. Avoid the Filters… The design and content of your email will affect its efficiency in terms of deliverability and effectiveness once received. Some simple tips: Keep the same from address on all the emails – add to address book Be aware of filter trigger words; e.g. Free, Sign up now, Cash, Bonus, Winner and Prize all get caught in Spam filters (as well as the obvious words you wouldn’t think of putting in your emails…) Avoid EXCESSIVE PUNCTUATION AND CAPITAL LETTERS!!! Keep your text to image ratio 60%/40%, any more image and you’re likely to get caught (not to mention look awful in plain text readers). Make sure you have a legitimate reply address

27. Tracking and Reporting Results Email reports contain a number of important terms, which explain the most recent results for each campaign you send Sent Bounced Delivered Opened/Read Clicks Unsubscribes

28. Sent, delivered, opened…

29. Recipient activity & bounces

30. Analysing and Improving Performance A few days after it’s sent you’ll be able to properly review your campaign, analyse the results and decide what lessons can be learned and applied to future activity Low sent % - issues with data quality e.g duplicates High bounce % - issues with data entry/age of data Low open % - quality of content and relevance Low click % - layout and quality of offer Unsubscribes - expected initially - later on an early warning your emails don’t add value - look at content and frequency before you lose your list!

31. Taking Reporting Further Most email marketing software will track the performance of a campaign from an email perspective but: Link in to analytical sales tracking software to see the bigger picture Google Analytics: Widely Used and Free Requires additional code in your email The results are addictive!

32. Google Analytics

33. Traffic sources