This document provides best practices for email marketing. It discusses using email to communicate with target audiences in a personal way and lists the key stages of an email marketing campaign from awareness to loyalty. It outlines best practices for permission-based emails, subject lines, segmentation, personalization, content and design. It also addresses deliverability challenges, regulations like CAN-SPAM, and optimizing emails for mobile. Key recommendations include consistent sending, authentication, unsubscribe options, and parameters to measure performance.
2. An Introduction to E-mail Marketing
• A digital marketing tool
• Communicate on a personal level with the TG
• Cheaper and faster medium
• Evolved from mere communication tool to a marketing toolAwareness>>Reminder>>Conversion>>Loyalty
5. Send mails only to those who give consent
Unsolicited
Permission
Based
Opt-in
Double
Opt-in
6. ‘From’ Names & Subject Line
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Recognizable and consistent „Sender‟ name
Subject Line:
– Should indicate what the message is all about
– Avoid ALL CAPS, punctuation symbols
– Less Characters (preferably between 20-50)
– Certain Set of Words to be avoided
Free
You are a winner!
Double your income
Discount
Earn Money
Get Paid etc
Don‟t Delete Stop
You have been selected
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8. Segmenting and targeting
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Building your list of subscribers, prospects and customers
(Events, Prospect calls, Lead forms on web, Point-of-sale sign up forms etc)
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Personalization can be done by inserting mail-merge fields into the message
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Targeted mail with valuable and relevant content works the best (it starts at stage
if sign up)
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Relevance and Frequency of sending mails
9. Mail Body
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Focus on „above the fold‟ i.e. top of the mail
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Cover main message in the 1st scroll
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Avoid including any attachments, flash or video
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Content should not be image dependent
– Use ALT tags to describe the images (in case images don‟t load)
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Maintain good balance between text and images
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Use commonly supported fonts
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Design should reflect your corporate identity and branding
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Links should always be underlined and highlighted in different color
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Social Media Links to be included upfront
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Rounded buttons/gradient to be avoided
10. Email design – Main Components
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Branding
Main Message
Social media links
CTA
Web links
Unsubscribe Link
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13. HTML or Plain Text or Both?
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Plain Text- no formatting
Rich Text- Can format text and allows access to web links
HTML
With an internet standard called MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extensions), messages can go in ‘multipart’ format
Always create a text version of every newsletter that is sent out. Without a text version, the
message will either show up blank or show up as garbled HTML code for the percentage of
recipients who cannot view HTML messages
18. How to avoid Spam
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Get added to Recipient‟s Address Book
To ensure receipt of our emails, please add something@yourcompany.com to your Address Book. Thank you!
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Understanding SPAM, anti-spam legislation, blacklisting
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Maintaining an „opt-out‟ list is of utmost importance
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Keep your IP Address off the black-list
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Use ESPs– Send through their white-listed servers
– Enhance inbox placement
19. Key Provisions of CAN-SPAM
1. The email message must not have misleading of falsified header information.
2. The message must not have a misleading subject line.
3. Senders must remove all unsubscribe requests within 10 business days.
4. Commercial email must display the physical postal address of the sender.
5. Any unsolicited emails must clearly identify that it‟s an advertising message, and
contain a prominent notice that gives the recipient the opportunity to decline
further emails from you.
20. Bouncing mails
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Reasons:
– The recipient inbox is full.
– The recipient email address does not exist or is spelled incorrectly
– The mail server at the ISP of the end recipient is temporarily down or
unreachable
– The mail server is blocking the message due to content-based spam filter or
blacklist-filtering
21. How to Reduce Bounce Rates?
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Includes subscription management links in your emails and encourage subscribers
to update their information if it ever changes
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Use the mail or phone to update the email address of anyone who is repeatedly
bouncing.
22. ISPs
Whitelists- List of IP Addresses those have maintained email standards
Blacklists- Lists of domains and IP addresses that have been reported or
accused of sending spam
Feedback loops- Set up with Internet Service Providers. Once a feedback loop
is set up, the ISPs will contact you and ask you to deal with the complaint. If a
feedback loop is not set up, the ISPs may blacklist you without giving a chance
to defend yourself.
23. SPAM Control by some leading ISPs
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AOL- Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records
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Microsoft: (MSN / Hotmail)
– Sender ID Framework (SIDF)
– SmartScreen- content filtering technology
– Brightmail to filter junk email
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Yahoo
– SpamGuard.- Content Filter SpamGuard
– “Spam” button located above the message that members can use to manually
report spam messages.
24. Challenges Faced
ISPs
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Does not provide feedback loops
Has list-unsubscribe header
No Whitelist
Does not disclose use of public blacklists
Uses its community of users to determine whether email is spam or not
25. Recommendations
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Consistently send from the same IP address(es)
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Use the same “From:” domain based on the type of email
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Authenticate sending domains with DKIM and SPF
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Gmail advises the best way to reach the inbox is by complying with their Bulk
Sender Guidelines
– Publish an Sender ID record and sign with DKIM
– Have an Unsubscribe link prominent
30. Gmail users have the ability to influence how messages are labeled by:
• Starring a message
• Right-clicking and selecting the desired tab from the
• “Move to tab” menu
• Dragging and dropping a message into the primary folder
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Microsoft‟s patented SmartScreen anti-spam filtering technology
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Sender Reputation Data- filters the spams on the basis of SRD Network (votes from
selected user telling whetehr e-mailer is spam or not)
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Junk Mail Reporting Progra m (JMRP) – A Feedback loop service to alleviate false
complainers from the list
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Microsoft does not maintain an internal proprietary whitelist
32. • Unsubscribe methods
1. Similar to gmail- Unsubscribe header
Too many newsletters? Unsubscribe.
2. If the List-Unsubscribe header is not included
3. Sweep Feature- unsubscribe from the mail in question
33. Other Features
• Scheduled Cleanup:
Scheduled cleanup allows users to set rules to automatically delete old emails,
and only keep the latest from a sender. Thus senders that send multiple times a day, a
different From: addresses for each mail stream
may be needed.
36. Optimize your email for mobile
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With use of Mobile specific CSS, design skinnier layout that lacks visual clutter
With CSS
Without
stylesheet
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Shorter, more concise emails+ narrow layouts specifically designed
(max width 500-600 px)
Avoid single column layout as zooming in on text on a mobile device can be tricky.
Big thumb friendly clickable social media icons
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Adding progressive disclosure (for heavy content)
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Building fluid layouts
Applies a percentage width to elements that gracefully adapts to the width of the viewport
http://preview.smartfocusdigital.com/go.asp?/mPJSB64F/bEST001
39. Parameters to gauge E-mailer Performance
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Open Rate- Number of mails opened
Bounce Rate
Click Through Rate- number of customers clicking on links in the mailer
Un-subscription Rate