Marty Gilbert discusses the comparative value of email vs alternatives and ways in which to maximize this direct marketing approach as an effective source of lead generation.
3. A few facts about email marketing
• 300 billion emails are sent and received each day worldwide.
– US: About 45 billion daily emails along with 4.1B text messages
• 3.5 million emails are sent each second.
• US workers spend 28% of their day in their email inbox.
• Average email campaign volumes rose 20% in 2012.
• Email brings in $40 for every $1 spent on it (Direct Marketing Assoc)
– SEO = $22; Internet display ads = $19; Social Networks = $13; Catalogs = $7
• Some email advantages vs alternatives.
– Less expensive: no postage cost, no printing cost, minimizes call centers
– It’s viral: easily shared at no additional cost
– Faster to market
– Creates “inspirational” sales
– Feeds the sales funnel
– Drives web traffic
– Easy to measure its effectiveness
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4. Email marketing facts (cont’d)
• There are 220M email users in the US today.
• 20% open rate & 5% click rate are often viewed as successful.
• 64% of B2B firms will increase their email mktg budgets in 2013
• In 2012, over 41% of emails were opened on mobile devices,
up from 27% in 2011– this will exceed 50% in 2014
Mobile
Desktop
Webmail
Top 100 retailers’ email opens by platform
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Oct 2012 Nov 2012 Dec 2012
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
5. B2B vs B2C email marketing
B2B Email Marketing:
• 88% of businesses are using email
marketing today.
• 44% of businesses broadcast an email
at least once a week.
• “Thought leadership” content is the
biggest contributor to best results.
B2C Email Marketing:
• More immediate, more transactional,
shorter sales cycles.
• 30% of B2C marketers spent >30% of
their budget on email.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
SALES CYCLE
B2B
B2C
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COST
or
# OF
DECISION
MAKERS
6. What marketing execs are saying
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Which marketing tactics have the best ROI? Which marketing tactics create enduring &
profitable customer relationships?
Source: DMA, 114 respondents, May 2012
Email marketing is leading the pack
7. How has
Email Marketing Changed?
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8. What’s changing with emails today?
1. Increased importance on building the database
2. Emails can drive the sales funnel process
3. Email marketing has a migration path
4. Drip campaigns are becoming more important
5. Mobile usage is beginning to dominate
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9. 1. Building the database
• Segmenting your list enables greater relevance per email
– Greater relevancy = higher open and click rates
• Offer incentives, whitepapers, newsletters, industry reports to
increase opt-in email addresses
• Create affiliate marketing relationships with other websites
• Post summaries of whitepapers, e-newsletter and reports on
social media sites
• Use QR codes on ads, website and business cards that link to
opt-in forms
• A poor database can destroy a great campaign
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10. 2. Emails can drive the sales effort
Sales Customer
Recognize need
Gather info
Evaluate
Purchase
Qualify
Pitch
Negotiate
Close
Opens
Action
Clicks
Sends
Email Marketing Funnel
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11. 3. Email migration path
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Mass email to a broad database
Targeted emails based on segmentation
Time-based messages
Behavior-based messages
Bto1 individual messages
Marketing
Sophistication
Automated
Manual
Response Rate / Engagement
From broadcast to individual messaging
12. 4. Drip marketing campaigns
• Messages over a prescribed period in calculated intervals
• Maintains awareness & moves customers into active sales cycle
• Drip response rates are almost always higher
• Drip emails require little effort– auto pilot
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Email # Day # Phase
1 Day 1 Value Addiction
2 Day 4 Thought leadership content
3 Day 8 80% Content / 20% Sales
4 Day 11 Creating Stickiness
5 Day 14 Encourage readers to reply, take surveys
6 Day 18
Email # Day # Phase
7 Day 22 Building Rapport
8 Day 27 Reinforce "paid" solution vs DIY
9 Day 32 Provide an offer
10 Day 38 Building Loyalty
11 Day 44 Cross-sales, conferences, webinars
12 Day 48
13. 5. Email marketing has gone mobile
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Mobile
Desktop
Webmail
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Q1/09 Q2/09 Q3/09 Q4/09 Q1/10 Q2/10 Q3/10 Q4/10
Smartphones
PCs
Smartphone sales have exceeded PCs Mobiles account for most email opens
• Opens on mobile devices increased 80% in 12 months
• Tablet sales are expected to grow from 120M in 2012 to 370M in 2016
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M units
14. Mobile platforms have surged
• 36% of all emails are read on a mobile device
• Smartphone owners are more likely to read an email than
make a call
• Mobile emails have grown 138% from 2011 to 2012
• 80% of mobile emails are deleted if they don’t look good on
the screen
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15. Meet the new mouse
• Standard emails are 600 pixels while smartphones are 320
• Big or clumsy fingers can present a challenge
• Few words, shorter sentences, larger type, straight to the point
• Keep it simple
Old Mouse New Mouse
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19. Most important purpose of email program
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20. Most important email metrics
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21. What do you routinely test?
Subject lines:
• Drive open rates.
• Are easy to change & test.
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22. How to improve subject lines
1. Keep them very specific… 35% improvement
– Coming to Chicago: New B2B direct marketing workshop
– Coming to Chicago: New interactive B2B lead generation workshop
2. Promise new information or breaking news
– An exclusive story or opportunity to learn something novel
3. Consider word selection and placement
– Front-load subject lines
4. Stress benefits and value
5. Questions can create intrigue and curiosity
6. Tempt readers with special offers or gift opportunities
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23. The value of email analytics
Actions Email #1 Email #2
Sends 3,500 3,200
Bounces 600 17.1% 200 6.3%
Delivered 2,900 82.9% 2,800 87.5%
Tot Opens/Delivered 630 21.7% 750 26.8%
Unique Opens/Delivered 520 17.9% 440 15.7%
Tot Clicks/Delivered 160 5.5% 180 6.4%
Unique Clicks/Delivered 120 4.1% 80 2.9%
Unsubscribes 90 3.1% 50 1.8%
Spam 5 0.2% 3 0.1%
Total to Landing Page 110 3.8% 130 4.6%
Unique to Landing Page 90 3.1% 100 3.6%
Plus, you get the names & email addresses of each person who opened or clicked… leads!
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These are the kind of analytics I provide with each email campaign.
Sales
Leads
24. Email marketing advice
• Clarify your customer’s pain points-- vertical & horizontal
• Tie pain points to your value proposition
• Segment your email database if big enough
• Target your messaging and develop trust/reduce purchase risk
• Provide relevant info– educate/help audience solve problems
• Leverage the ongoing feedback from your email analytics
• Don’t get hung up on “open” rates-- clicks show engagement
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25. How to measure the value of email
• Return on Marketing Investment
($100K revenue - $5,000 cost) / $5,000 cost = $19 for every $1 spent
• Revenue per Email
$20K revenue on 3K delivered emails = $6.67 per delivered email
(demonstrates the value of growing your email database)
• Revenue per “Triggered” Email
$10K revenue on 2K delivered emails = $5 per delivered email
(automatic emails sent on bdays, anniversaries, abandoned carts, etc)
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