Definitive Guide to Engaging Email Marketing (Part 2)
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Definitive Guide to Engaging Email Marketing (Part 2)
- 1. PART 2
- 2. Your Speakers #DG2EEM Jon Miller VP Marketing, Marketo @jonmiller DJ Waldow Waldow Social @djwaldow
- 3. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Today’s Topics: Part 2 • Building and Maintaining a Quality List • Conversations, Not Campaigns • Coordinated Across Channels / Email and Social • New Metrics for Email • Trends in Email Technology: Moving Beyond ESP
- 4. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Quick Housekeeping • Chat box is available if you have any questions • There will be time for a Q&A at the end • We will be recording the webinar for future viewing • All attendees will receive a copy of the slides/recording • Twitter hashtag: #DG2EEM
- 5. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 6. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow 1. Trustworthy 2. Always Relevant 3. Conversations, Not Campaigns 4. Coordinated Across Channels 5. Strategic
- 7. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow TRUST: BUILDING AND MAINTAINING A QUALITY LIST
- 8. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow another secret to email marketing
- 9. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow TRUST
- 10. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow If you haven’t earned your subscribers’ trust, they won’t open or click your email #DG2EEM
- 11. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow I opened [your email] because I knew it was your weekly email and I wanted to see inside -- the subject had no influence. That’s what happens when you become a trusted resource or an expected one. --Meryl K. Evans, “Content Maven for Hire””
- 12. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow • Timing • Frequency • Types of Content • Branding • Naming and subject lines TRUST comes from setting and maintaining expectations
- 13. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Single? Double? Confirmed? Welcome Email? Implicit? Explicit? Opt-In Types
- 14. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow AHHH!!
- 15. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Pros Cons Implicit Opt-In • Low effort • No place for a subscriber to drop the ball • Quickly leads to a big list • Consumer has not asked to receive email communications • Lowest trust and engagement • May be illegal Explicit Opt-In • Consumer explicitly requests communications • No dropped balls • Time delay between subscribing and first message • Risk of spambots Explicit Opt-In With Welcome • Provides opportunity to engage and set expectations • If email bounces, you know to filter out that address • Less effort from subscriber may equal less engagement Double Opt-In • High engagement – they really want your email • Filters out spambots • Subscriber may miss confirmation email = lost subscribers • They want your email, asking again might annoy them
- 16. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 17. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow The key to getting opt-in is to show the subscriber ‘What’s In It for Me’ (WIIFM) #DG2EEM
- 18. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow List Building Tactics
- 19. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 20. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Maintain Your List (by giving choices)
- 21. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 22. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 23. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 24. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Maintain Your List (by keeping it CLEAN)
- 25. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 26. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 27. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Email deliverability today is about Reputation and increasingly Engagement #DG2EEM
- 28. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Provider’s Responsibility Sender’s Responsibility • Use up-to-date technology • Cultivate relationships with receivers • Provide tools to segment your lists • Build your list responsibly • Maintain your lists over time • Determine what you send and to whom it’s sent
- 29. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow CONVERSATIONS, NOT CAMPAIGNS
- 30. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 31. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow When it comes to email marketing, nobody wants to get blasted #DG2EEM
- 32. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Hi, are you ready to buy? Hi, now are you ready to buy? Hi, how about now? Hi, you must be ready to buy? Hi again, are you ready to buy? What about now? Seriously, not ready yet? Hi, are you ready to buy?
- 33. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow What is an engaging conversation? • Listens and adapts • Communications flow one to the next
- 34. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Email Website Social Campaigns Transactions
- 35. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Welcome! Here’s what to expect Check out this article Here’s a cool video See our latest offering Share this with friends Here’s what others like! Download our new book Happy birthday Hi, are you ready to buy? More cool content Join us at our event You like X, check out Y Fun ways to learn more Take this survey You haven’t bought yet, here’s a 10% discount
- 36. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow OK, why aren’t more marketers doing this?
- 37. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 38. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 39. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 40. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow This #%@& is way too complicated.
- 41. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 42. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Drag and drop new content
- 43. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 44. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow When it comes to email automation, flow charts don’t flow: they’re confusing, error- prone, and inflexible #DG2EEM
- 45. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Conversations at scale
- 46. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow COORDINATED ACROSS CHANNELS
- 47. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 48. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 49. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow When really you want to make sure someone gets your message, you send an email, not a tweet #DG2EEM
- 50. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Email and Social are like Batman and Robin • Social Connecting: Use email to grow your social followers. • Social Sharing: Use email to extend the reach of your message through social channels. • Social Promoting: Use social media to grow your email list and promote your email marketing messages.
- 51. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Social CONNECTING
- 52. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Social SHARING
- 53. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Test & Tune With Social Funnel Metrics • 13% of participants shared • 363 incremental registrations • 16% increase in registrations • 45 qualified for sweepstakes Social SHARING JumpStart Tour Referral Results
- 54. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Social PROMOTING
- 55. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Social PROMOTING
- 56. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Reach&Engagement SocialLift SocialLift SocialLift SocialLift SocialLift Landing Pages Website Facebook Pages Online Ads Email SocialLift Events Get The “Definitive Guide to Social Marketing” http://marketo.com/DG2SM
- 57. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow STRATEGIC: THE NEW METRICS FOR EMAIL
- 58. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 59. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow • Open • Click • Unsubscribe • Bounce • Etc.
- 60. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Italian Workspace Joe Smith: Acme Inc. Community Help Search… + Search… + Recently Updated Practical B2B Lead Generation Added Mar 30, 2013 Sent 12,105 82 Thought Leadership Edited Mar 25, 2013 Sent 12,105 70 Lead Scoring Best Practices Edited Mar 22, 2013 Sent 12,105 55 Lead Management Best Practice D… Added Mar 18, 2013 Sent 12,105 35 Lead Scoring Best Practices Edited Mar 10, 2013 Sent 12,105 9 Engagement Over Time Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May 100 80 60 40 20 0 Summary 1.5% Unsubscribe 65 Engagement 55d Next Cast Members In Track Exhausted Paused 3,450 50 35 Mar 18, 2013 Engagement: 60 2013 Marketo’s Secret Sauce Definitive Guide to Events Lead Nurturing Lead Scoring Best Practices Lead Management Best Practic Practical B2B Lead Generation Thought Leadership Email Performance Report Program Performance Lead Nurturing Streams Setup My Tokens Members View: Dashboard ▼ Streams: All Streams ▼
- 61. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Importance of various factors in measuring the value of email marketing programs
- 62. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow A subject line is only as good as the revenue it generates. You don’t just want Opens; you want actual sales. #DG2EEM
- 63. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Why Measuring Return is Hard • Multiple touches. Seven touches needed to convert a cold lead into a sale • Multiple influencers. Typical buying committee has 5-21 people
- 64. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Track All Touches Across People Screenshot: Marketo Revenue Cycle Analytics
- 65. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Source: Marketo Revenue Cycle Analytics, June 2013 * Percentage of all programs in channel that achieve MT Ratio > 5 Nurture Email - CTA Nurture Email Paid Online (PPC+Email) Nurture (New) % Above Min* N/A 52% N/A 39% 79% 46% N/A 38% N/A N/A N/A 29% 38% 52%7.6
- 66. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow GRADUATING FROM ESP TO MARKETING AUTOMATION
- 67. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 68. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 69. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 70. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 71. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 72. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 73. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Marketing automation is a • Technology that streamlines and automates marketing tasks • powered by a marketing database, workflow engine, and rich analytics • so companies can • increase operational efficiency and • grow revenue faster
- 74. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow What Is “Automation”? Send Event Invitation Wait 3 Days If Not Registered, Send Reminder Wait Until 1 Day After Event Send Different Follow-Up to Attendees vs. Non-Attendees
- 75. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 76. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow
- 77. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Marketing Automation
- 78. #RevEngine #DG2EEM @jonmiller @djwaldow Tweetable Takeaways plus Q&A 1. Engaging email is trustworthy, relevant, and conversational 2. If you haven’t earned your subscribers’ trust, they won’t open or click your email 3. Trust comes from setting and maintaining expectations 4. The key to getting opt-in is to show the subscriber ‘What’s In It for Me’ (WIIFM) 5. When it comes to email marketing, nobody wants to get blasted 6. Flow charts don’t flow for email: they’re confusing, error-prone, and inflexible 7. Email is the digital glue that holds multi-channel communications together 8. When really you want to make sure someone gets your message, you send an email, not a tweet 9. A subject line is only as good as the revenue it generates. You don’t just want Opens; you want actual sales 10. It’s time to graduate from traditional Email Service Providers to Marketing Automation @jonmiller @djwaldow #DG2EEM
Hinweis der Redaktion
- My name is Jon Miller, VP Marketing and co-founder at Marketo, and author of the DG2MA.Today, I’m thrilled to be joined by DJ…I’m @jonmiller, and DJ is @djwaldow, so please feel free to engage with us during or after the presentation on Twitter using #DG2EEM
- Please note that today’s webinar is being recorded. It will be available on-demand soon after the conclusion of the webcast.We will conclude today’s event with a Q&A session. Please feel free to submit your questions throughout and we will get to as many of your questions as we can. You can enter questions by typing your question in the box on the left-hand side of your screen. <pause>
- Think about it: you probably pay the most attention to emails from friends, family, and colleagues, people with whom you have genuine, trusted relationships.Sure, the relationship between a brand and a consumer is never exactly the same as the relationship between friends and family, but marketers can narrow the gap.Brands can enjoy some of the benefits of a trusted relationship by marketing to the buyer in a natural, non-marketing-speak way that truly engages him.The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing at all.------------The answer: our communicationsmust be more trusted, more relevant, and more strategic. It must be more engaging. Traditional batch and blast feels like shouting, engagement marketing feels more like a natural conversation. Notice how these women are engaged in conversation. There’s talking, but also listening going on. And the conversation, at least by the looks of it, seems to have a flow to it. [Refer back to this throughout the presentation: how important it is to effectively listen to online body language.]
- Short history of email:Commercial email first evolved from a traditional direct mail mindset: lists, promotions, offers. Big campaigns. Send the same message frequently and rapidly to many. 1-2% response rates. Sent on your schedule, not theirs. One of email’s biggest “benefits” was its low cost compared to direct mail. But email was too easy. When companies combined the ease of sending large quantities emails with the low cost of doing so, it resulted in a recipe for a sender's dream but a receiver's nightmare. “Batch and blast” was off and running.But the problem was this: Nobody wants to get “blasted”.Think of the word blast....what do you imagine? It's a shotgun. Wide pattern, random spread, unfocused (for the most part) and an imprecise tool whose end result is one that sometimes leaves more damage than any benefit you might have gained. .. It hurts. Casualty of war.Terms like “hit the database” or “e-shot” are just as bad.
- This is what it sounds like when done wrong.It beats an incessant drum for subscribers. And does not engage them or enthuse them to open in future,
- Every interaction is a link within the context of a communication supply chain.Don’t look at each discrete message, or even each campaign, as a unique event. Marketing is not a candy machine.
- ----“'Sense and respond’ communication in the digital world requires automation that monitors for explicit and implicit behavioral cues, captures that data (senses) in a rich behavioral database, and then uses the data to customize a valuable response (responds). ----------------------A romantic date goes badly if all you do is talk about yourself. The same holds true for marketing conversations. If you don’t listen — really listen — to your prospects and consumers, you’ll never earn the chance for a “second date,” let alone a long-term commitment. To start a two-way conversation, you must provide content relevant to a consumer’s interests. Then, you must be willing to adjust your content based on how that consumer responds. It’s great to automate workflows that map to a buyer’s journey, but they can’t be static workflows; you must be willing to adjust them as you observe how your buyer actually navigates across channels. Here’s how to listen and adapt in email marketing:Use behavioral filters to target. As discussed in Part 3, behavioral filters ensure relevance in your email marketing. So, start a conversation with a smart subset of your contact list based on unique profiles and behaviors. Then, continue to watch your subscribers’ behaviors as the campaign progresses and your conversation with each recipient diverges down its own unique behavioral path. Trigger messages and adjustments based on behaviors.When a prospect does something meaningful on your website, in social channels, or offline (such as making a purchase at a physical store), you need to be able to respond with a relevant, timely email. When you automatically send a prospect a message based on an action she took (or didn’t take), you allow for the message to be delivered at the moment your brand is on her mind. You are communicating with her on her terms, not yours. But if you miss these triggers, and simply blast emails to your entire list as your promotional calendar dictates, you ignore your potential customers and their buying signals.
- This is more like what you want your communications to be….
- You think it’s easy, draw a simple diagram on the whiteboard
- But the real world is not that simple. Real conversations are not that simple. Buyers do things you don’t expect. You can’t “script out” the buyer’s process, or the entire conversation. You wouldn’t show up at a cocktail party with everything you were going to say scripted out into simple “if-then” branches. You quickly see that “flow chart” like solutions are inflexible, and difficult to setup and manage. Lots of use cases to worry about.What is prospect does something?---Hard to use: The complexity makes them usable only for serious technical experts. As David Raab, marketing technology expert and consultant says, “I never saw a flow chart interface that actually did a good job handling complexity. So I've reluctantly concluded that flow charts are only suitable for serious technical experts.”Less agile. When you need to rewire complex flow-charts, it can take seemingly forever add or change the content in tracksError-prone, harder to be intelligent. The complexity of spaghetti makes it error prone. Too easy to send expired content, duplicate content, or too much content. “Why are you still sending me an invitation for a webinar from last week?” “I just downloaded this off your site 2 days ago, and now you’re sending it again!” “Do you guys realize how much you send me each day? I’ve had it!”Difficult to see who is where. It can be hard to know how many people are in any track at any given point, and even harder to see how many consumer have reached the end and “exhausted” the track. As a result, consumers may end up not getting any content unless you catch this!As a result, marketers using traditional solutions are limited in their ability to have an interactive, dynamic and customized dialog with prospects and customers. Quote: “My own opinion is quite firm: flow charts don't work. They look good in demonstrations and can lay out simple processes quite nicely. But they get impossibly convoluted once you try to do something complex.” - David Raab, marketing technology consultant and analyst
- Automation Makes Personal Conversations ScalableHaving a conversation with one subscriber at a time is easy, and you can even do it manually. You could probably even manage dozens of consumer conversations manually, in fact. But there is a real scalability issue when your subscribers start to number in the hundreds, thousands, or millions, because you still want to have relevant, personalized conversations with each and every one.Some companies try to implement these processes using the wrong tools. Remember the “I Love Lucy” episode in which Lucy took a job working at a candy factory? She could handle packaging when it involved just a few chocolates, but as the volume increased, things got messy (and funny!). When your subscriber volume increases, it’s as if your conversations are on a fast-moving conveyer belt. Without the right technology to keep you up to speed, your marketing could become a mess, and no one will find humor in that! That’s why automation is critical to customer engagement — there is no other way to have one-to-one conversations with your customers on a large scale. Automation allows you to be relevant to each and every one of your customers, and let them feel listened to and respected. Remarkably, in this new digital era, we’re back to the good old-fashioned business ethic of putting the customer first!\
- Today’s consumers move seamlessly across digital and offline channels. According to a recent Experian QAS® survey, 36 percent of U.S. organizations interact with customers and prospects in five or more channels.In retail banking, 61% of consumers use three or more channels each month (e.g. branch, phone, online, and mobile – in addition to email). However, Companies Not Prepared to Deliver Integrated ExperiencesQUOTE: “Fewer than 10 percent of brands are executing true cross-channel communications informed by one view of the customer.” - The 2013 Digital Marketer, Experian = Big opportunity to increase relevancy.Organization silos:Traditionally, marketing organizations are made up of either product or channel teams. Within this structure, each team works hard to optimize their siloed marketing efforts — and, in most places, have gotten really good at delivering their individual marketing programs and defending their individual marketing budgetsTechnology silos: Many of the tools are focused on a channel — email, mobile, catalog or Web. The big challenge for marketers is that message delivery within channels almost always happens via disparate platforms. Especially a problem with ESP. Email “grew up” with companies using stand-alone email service providers (ESPs) and outside agencies. This legacy hangs over email today. Traditional email service providers (ESP) = not multi-channel, not channel agnosticThe modern, digitally-empowered consumer doesn’t think in terms of channels and doesn’t care about your silos.Uses whatever device they have in the moment… web, mobile, tabletSo, companies shouldn’t expect the consumer to adapt; companies should adapt. This means moving from channel- or promotion-centric marketing plans to customer-centric marketing plans, and enabling those plans with marketing technology that is ready to deliver.
- Email is the digital glue that holds all these new channels and communication forums together. In an omni-channel scenario, email is the anchor channel — the one channel that all the other channels refer back to and rely upon. This is good news for email marketers, because it means they’re leading the evolutionary march toward true cross-channel coordination. When it comes to carrying the customer relationship across channels, email messages have two advantages:Proactive, reaching out to consumers at the right time and with relevant messages.Everywhere. Thanks to the rise of mobile, email is accessible on any device at any time, and from virtually any location.
- Like Batman and Robin, email and social media have a symbiotic relationship. If email marketing is Batman, then social media is Robin.Batman is the “Caped Crusader.” He’s always around when Gotham City needs him. He’s trustworthy and dependable. When the bat signal goes off, Batman swoops in to save the day. Like email, he’s awfully powerful by himself, but he’s sometimes even more effective with a little help. Robin is the Boy Wonder. He helps Batman fight evil and get the job done! Like social media, he’s young, full of ideas and enthusiasm.Like the Dynamic Duo, email and social media are most effective when they cooperate. Your social media followers tend to be less committed than your email contacts at first. When you successfully transition social media followers into email subscribers, your email marketing list gets bigger, and your subscriber loyalty grows. And when you drive your email subscribers to your social feeds, you create deeper engagement. You and your success metrics will agree that both channels benefit.
- Another example – these roadshows!!
- By the time we’re done, it will be ~240 incremental registrations – just for $500PS: pretty good odds to win $500!
- Social plays an increasingly large role in the cross channel experience.We believe social is just a channel. Don’t do social campaigns… make every campaign social.
- Many marketers are perceived as a cost center. You can’t expect your organization to place value on something you’re unable to quantify. But when you do use the right metrics and processes, there is nothing more powerful to help marketing earn it’s rightful seat at the revenue table.Here I show you how Marketo does it.
- Some basic metrics. Test for what works for you! (DJ talks about this also.)But… doesn’t really tell you what’s causing engagement. If you’re like most marketers, you’re likely wading through many different email performance metrics trying to determine the impact of your content…. Email A got opened, but email B was clicked, and email C drove conversions… which is best?
- Engagement Score enables marketers to quickly judge how effectively each piece of content is engaging prospects and customers over time. This proprietary metric takes many factors into consideration, and outputs a single number that gives marketers a fast, apples-to-apples method of measuring content performance…See trend over time, how updates to program improve engagement.
- Step 1: Important to track all touches
- Here we see what works for Marketo over the last 12 months to generate prospects. Explain columns…Website+Blog = 38% of all oppsBut I’d be a bad stock picker if I put all my money in one stock, and I’d be a bad marketer if I bet all my prospect generation on one source. The reality is you need a portfolio of prospects and channels to achieve the best results. In fact, Marketo runs an average of 40 different Prospect generating programs each and every month across all these sources.
- ESPs came onto the scene in the mid-90s as email became mainstream and companies realized they needed to be able to send consumers large volumes of marketing messages. But as email marketing has become more sophisticated, ESPs have struggled to move beyond their original batch and blast origins. Some ESPs have tried to evolve, but they are constrained by their very nature. Their databases are simple and lack easy integration with other enterprise systems. They were built for rapidly sending the same message to many, not for orchestrating intelligent one-to-one conversations, and are destined to always view everything through an email-centric, not omni-channel, lens.
- Not relevant. EPSs rely primarily on targeting audiences based on demographics and flat “subscriber” files. However, this kind of targeting ignores valuable information about buyer behavior that can be obtained by examining a buyer’s actions, or lack of actions, as they engage with content and trusted sources online and offline. Connecting to behavioral systems requires technical skills and complex queries, making traditional ESPs blind to valuable buyer behavior and, therefore, unable to build meaningful relationships with consumers.
- Not conversational. ESPs don’t have the functional ability to allow one-to-one conversations over time. They send mass emails to an entire list at once. Sure, they can customize emails, but they aren’t built to facilitate evolving and customized two-way conversations between a company and each individual consumer. Marketers stuck using traditional ESPs waste an incredible amount of time manually simulating dynamic conversations with their various lists — valuable time that they could be using to optimize their marketing strategy and create fresh content.
- Not multi-channel. Today’s buyer shifts rapidly and continually across channels, engaging with email one moment and with social media the next. But traditional ESPs were designed around one function: email marketing. Traditional ESPs have made modest attempts to integrate other capabilities such as social media, but without the backbone to support true cross-channel marketing, their small fixes don’t address the bigger problem. They are still BLIND to multi-channel interactions. Traditional ESPs simply cannot comprehensively capture all the online and offline behavioral patterns that give marketers real insight into how their customers tick, and they cannot effectively or in a timely manner trigger action in other parts of the organization such as sales or call centers.
- Not strategic. ESPs only provide email marketing metrics. They can’t track and measure the impact of marketing spending on revenue over time. Without a comprehensive and unified view of how spending is affecting revenue, marketers cannot compare relative effectiveness of their investments. As a result, marketers are challenged in how to allocate and re-allocate resources to the channels and methods that have the greatest positive impact on revenue.
- Callout: “Given the situation with today's buyer, standalone email is insufficient to produce or effectively judge engagement. In fact, email can be worse than inadequate. Instead of engaging buyers, improperly managed email can push buyers away.” – International Data Corporation (IDC) Workbook: Graduating from Email to Engagement: Using Marketing Automation to Achieve Success with Today's New Buyer, June 2013Enter Marketing Automation. Marketing automation platforms succeed in all of the areas in which traditional ESP solutions fail, particularly when it comes to personalized, targeted marketing.
- Let’s begin with a definition…