TractionConf.io 2017. Email is the foundation of a successful customer communication strategy and plays a vital role in driving growth and the bottom line. In this session, SendGrid CMO, Scott Heimes leverages data insights and customer examples to reveal the 5 rules for building a strong and effective email program. He'll also share actionable insights on email deliverability and demystify the art and science behind ensuring your emails get to the inbox.

1. Enabling Digital Conversations at
Scale: 5 Keys to Driving Growth
& Engagement via Email

2. Scott Heimes
CMO @ SendGrid

3. SendGrid is in your inbox.
Every. Single. Day.
We’re the email platform powering customer
communications for your favorite brands...

4. Denver, Colorado | San Francisco, California | Los Angeles, California | London, England
SendGrid Overview and Story
52,000+ customers | 100+ countries | 1.3B+ emails daily | 4 offices

5. Ways to
Send
SendGrid Products
Built for Developers and Marketers
SendGrid Email
PlatformEASY TO
INTEGRATE
ANALYTICS AND
REPORTING
SECURITY EASY-TO-USE
USER
INTERFACE
DISTRIBUTED CLOUD
ARCHITECTURE
FLEXIBLE
APIs
1-to-1 operational, recipient-initiated email
Email Infrastructure
1-to-many promotional, sender-initiated email
Marketing
Ways to
Send

6. Delivering Mail at Scale
Message Deliveries Per Day
20,000,000
28,000,000
500,000,000
509,000,000
1,300,000,000
Email Volume Per Month

7. Email: Gravitational Center of Digital
Communications
SEO
Chat
SMSSEM
Social
Media
Display
Push/
In App
Mobile
Why Email?
● Leading digital ROI (40x)
● Most pervasive digital ID
● Daily email volume 5-10x text volume
● Uniquely built to reach customers
● Secure, regulated for consumers
Sources: DMA, Radicati, Statista, Portio Research

8. Who is using email
to communicate
with customers?

9. Email’s humble beginnings
Then
1st email sent in 1971
1st piece of spam 1978
Webmail started in 1993

10. Email’s not so humble scale
Now
205 Billion emails / day
50%+ are spam!
2.6+ Billion email users

11. ● 4 billion accounts worldwide
● 25% of these are business/work accounts
● ~3 accounts per person
● 20-25% average open rate for marketing emails
● Average person receives 500 marketing messages/
mo.

12. Email is the Leading ROI Channel.
“Average ROI of $38 for every
$1 invested in email”
- DMA Report

13. 5 Keys for Driving Growth &
Engagement via Email

14. Deliverability
Contextualization
Globalization
Content
Design

15. Deliverability
Contextualization
Globalization
Content
Design

16. Call-to-Action
● Design your email
and write your copy
around your CTA.
● Uber offers 3 CTAs
focused on social
engagement

17. Typography,
Images & Icons
● Reinforce your brand
quickly. Make sure your
logo is one of the first things
your subscribers see.
● Use color, imagery and
typography to reinforce your
brand.

18. A/B Test
● Test your designs to find
the most influential one.
● CTA, color, image, type,
font size and placement
can all be driving factors
to help drive the
engagement you’re
looking for.

19. Deliverability
Contextualization
Globalization
Content
Design

20. ● 3 Words Wins Out
● Choose Your Buzzwords
Carefully
● #hashtags perform poorly

21. Make use of your
preheader. It’s
often what stands
between the trash
and an open.

22. Avoid the temptation
to give your users so
many calls to action.
Remember your
purpose and make
it clear.

23. Deliverability
Contextualization
Globalization
Content
Design

24. Hyper-personalization
“Personalizing subject
lines for B2C increases
open rates by 41%”
- Marketing Sherpa

25. ● Timely
● Relevant
● Personal
● Regional

26. Set up triggered
emails based on prior
actions taken by the
recipient

27. eBay sends less
email by changing
the content of the
offer at the time of
open to account for
auctions that have
ended keeping every
email highly relevant

28. Email is once
again ‘interactive’
“CSS3 + HTML5 is
bringing interactivity
back to email”
- Dave Bailey

29. Firms face data consolidation and personalization challenges
Firms struggle to map & learn from the customer journey
Challenges lead to email complacency
Custom Campaign Management Tool model underpins
sophistication
Drivers of CCMT model
+ Thought Leadership Research

30. Deliverability
Contextualization
Globalization
Content
Design

31. ● Localization
○ Language
○ Content
○ Offers
● Commerce
○ Currency
○ Payment types

32. Ensure compliance
with global email
regulations. These
vary by country.

33. Users engage via different
devices across the globe.
India Non-
Mobile
Engagement
74.85%
United Kingdom
Mobile
Engagement
64.08%
Japan
Mobile
Engagement
59%
Canada
Mobile
Engagement
66.59%

34. Global ISPs operate differently
than the Big 4.
*

35. Deliverability
Contextualization
Globalization
Content
Design

36. 21% of legitimate email
never reaches the inbox.

37. Deliverability is complex
Technical
IP Architecture
Email
Authentication
Transport Layer
Security (TLS)
Automated
Bounce
Processing
Automated
Complaint
Processing
Multi-Channel
Integration
Human
Whitelisting
Black List
Remediation
CAN-SPAM
Compliance
CASL
Compliance
General Data
Protection Reg
ISP Relations &
Remediation

38. • Reach
• Conversion
• Opportunity
• Touch
• Engagement
Deliverability Impacts...

39. Know what applies to you:
• CAN-SPAM
• CASL
• German “Opt In” Requirements
• Russian Federalization Law
• Plenty more...
Learn the Email Rules of the Road

40. Be mindful of:
• SPF Authentication
• DKIM Digital Signatures
• DNS/MX/A Records
• DMARC Policies
• DMARC Analytics
Consider Leveraging a Service Provider

41. Be confident in what will be seen
in your campaign:
• Headers
• Subject Line
• Email Message Content
Create Smart Email Campaigns

42. List hygiene starts with avoiding user fatigue.
• Don’t assume everyone wants 3 emails a day
• A/B test every campaign and optimize
• Stop sending to people who don’t open or click in
6-9 months.
• Consider not sending email at all to the oldest and
least active 1-5% of your list.
• Most importantly...NEVER buy email lists!
Healthy Lists Yield Higher Deliverability

43. Set yourself up for success:
• “Warm up” new IPs
• Know your target metrics
• Be able to pivot quickly if
adjustments are needed
Avoid Detours to the Inbox

44. Your great content was successfully delivered!
This is the fun part. See what the mailbox
filters let through and how users liked it.
• Delivery Rate
• Opens, Bounces and Clicks
• Spam Reports
• Unsubscribe Requests
Message Sent & Received:
How’d You Do?

45. Actively Manage Reputation
It can open the inbox, or close it.

46. ● Ask permission and respect it
● Create an email preference center
● Send a welcome message
● Remove unengaged email recipients
● Make it easy to unsubscribe
Basics of Reputation Management

47. ● Are you using a dedicated IP address?
● Are you segmenting your email streams on
different IPs?
● Does your sending domain have an SPF record?
● Do you sign your email with DKIM?
● Have you published a DMARC record?
Infrastructure & Authentication
Checklist

48. ● Design emails with CTAs, branding; A/B test for success
● Create compelling content
● Contextualize for timeliness and relevancy
● Optimize for global sending
● Deliverability is the foundation for success
Key Takeaways

49. Scott Heimes
CMO @ SendGrid
scott.heimes@sendgrid.com
@ScottHeimes
Thank You!