How to cope with unexpected opportunities and problems
I'm part-way through "The Black Swan", where the author explores the "impact of the highly improbable".
There are lots of uplifting messages about our ignorance, wilful self-delusion and inability to make any meaningful predictions about the future.
Anyway, it got me thinking about the related topics of complexity, the unexpected and the unpredictable in email campaigns.
The main problem with dealing with the unexpected (apart from the obvious one*) is the issue of timing. When something goes wrong that needs corrective action, then that action typically needs to be taken fast.
Equally, the quicker you react to an unexpected opportunity, the better you can exploit it.
This need for fast action often conflicts with the reality of campaign planning and execution in email marketing, which can take days, weeks, even months, depending on your organizational setup and…
4 methods plus examples of integrating email and social media marketing
Integrating your email and social media initiatives can boost email revenue by as much as 400 percent according to industry studies, and the latest research continues to show that email and social can work together for the benefit of both. So how do you effectively link email and social together?
Here are a few statistics that show the benefits from integrating email and social media marketing.
Evangelists spend 13% more than the average customer and refer business equal to 45% of the money they spend
On average a Facebook fan spends $71.84 more than a non-fan
Of Facebook users who “like” at least one brand, 17% say they are more likely to buy after “liking.”
The percentage of active social media users across ALL age groups is growing year on year
So if social evangelists spend more than your average customer and then help refer business…
Basic tactics for building trust in your brand: Part 2
Part 1 of this article outlined the role of familiarity, transparency and accountability in building trust in and through your email program.
It also mentioned another set of appropriate "trust" tactics: demonstrating quality and consistency.
Well, yeah....you mean keep subscribers happy with worthwhile content or top deals on a regular basis? You might have heard that advice before.
Actually I don't mean (just) that.
Quality here refers to more than just "valuable content and/or offers". It also covers the quality of the whole email experience, which doesn't just depend on the actual nature of that content or offer, but also on its presentation and context. Here are four examples...
1. Email design functionality
We can argue long into the night about what makes an aesthetically pleasing email. But equally important is ensuring your email retains its functionality and clarity of communication at all times. Specifically:
How does…
Establishing familiarity, transparency and accountability
People with pollen allergies are 23% less likely to click on yellow links.
Amazing, no?
Well, it would be if I hadn't just made it up.
But you might have believed me, given the stat is published at a site that enjoys a trustworthy reputation.
The role of trust in evaluating and responding to advice, information and offers can only grow as online choice becomes overwhelming.
So how do you build trust through your email program?
Wearing my consumer hat, I can pick out three groups of basic tactics that influence my perception of an email and its sender:
Build and exploit familiarity
Establish transparency and accountability
Demonstrate "quality" and consistency
I'll review the first two areas in this article, the third in Part 2.
Build and exploit familiarity
One of the things we do when reviewing email is to identify who each message comes from.
A clear sender identity is itself a contributor to trust, but by ensuring you're quickly recognized,…
New infographic shows what your email must deliver to keep subscribers
All email marketers are keen to keep their unsubscribe rate a minimum, although it will never be zero.
Here's interesting new data on the reasons why unsubscribes happen in this infographic from Litmus. It's down to Relevance and Frequency as you'd expect. The main learning for me, is suggesting how you should go beyond the email broadcast stats and finding what your audience want from your content and their preferred frequency. That means asking them through focus groups or additional
I always think "spam is in the eye of the beholder (ouch)" - if you're not relevant, then a subscriber will think you're a spammer, even if you're an established brand.
The infographic also takes a look at engagement filtering behaviors for Gmail and Hotmail which is increasingly an issue for getting your emails in front of your audience…
New survey reveals swing in attitudes among marketers
Most proponents of email marketing have the letters R-O-I tattooed provocatively across their foreheads.
Email's remarkable return on investment has always been the key defence used by industry voices against suggestions that social media marketing or other channels have relegated email marketing to a dusty corner of the Museum of Internet History.
This ROI argument has its downsides, though.
In particular, the associated tendency to focus entirely on immediate, direct response can cause marketers to neglect the many other roles email might play in achieving marketing goals such as brand-building, relationship-building and encouraging advocacy.
A new survey of marketers from the UK's DMA and sponsor Alchemy Worx on the performance, value and use of email marketing suggests attitudes are changing though.
Throughout the whole DMA National Client Email Report 2012 is the sense of a channel that has settled into a strong and mature marketing role. For example:
Over…
Kath Pay interviews Dela Quist about why he thinks "more is more"
Hands up those who have always been told that “less is more” when it comes to sending emails? Well I had the opportunity to interview the often-controversial Dela Quist of Alchemy Worx to ask his thoughts on the “how much is too much?” question that vexes email marketing, or, as he sees it, “how little is too little”?
Of course, this advice comes with a disclaimer – commonsense needs to be used and as Dela puts it ‘Muppets’ shouldn’t be following this advice dogmatically without the input of logic and commonsense. But none of us are Muppets are we?
It’s a matter of applying Dela’s advice to your database, watching the results and determining the correct frequency based on the response of your database – Have conversions increased? Has it helped you to meet your KPI’s?…
By
April 23, 2012
A golden rule to rule them all
I grew up being taught the golden rule that one should always do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
It’s thought which is beautiful in its simplistic wisdom. We've all thought about how much better and brighter this world would be if we all followed this golden rule.
I suppose this could be a problem if you’re masochistic, but let’s assume most of us aren’t...
Email Onto Others as You Would Have Them Email Onto You
It’s not stretch at all to revise this rule to:
"email onto others as you would have them email onto you"
Isn’t that the best place to start? Let’ s put aside all the rocket science and just think of how much better and more effective email marketing would be if we all kept that golden rule front of mind.
Email…
Including the 5 "must-know" lifecycle segments
I work in client services for one of the UK's fastest growing email service providers. Although I deal with numerous different organisations and people at various levels on a daily basis, in most cases the range of email topics we discuss is broadly the same.
Email FAQs
The re-occurrence of similar client issues and questions means I invariably end up saying the same kind of things to different people in response.
Here are some of the questions clients most frequently ask:
Is email marketing ‘on the way out’ and social media where we should now be investing?
How can we work more effectively with our email technology?
How can we optimise and save time while increasing our email activity?
How can we ensure we are giving our customers what they need at each lifecycle stage but…
Ideas for increasing your responses by using a more human approach...
What would you say if I was to suggest you take account of your target audience when designing your email program?
Actually, you'd probably say nothing... just roll your eyes and find fresh reading material.
It's not exactly groundbreaking advice.
However, the nature of digital marketing seduces us into thinking of the "audience" as a collection of data or unfeeling robots.
So we have segments, samples, cells and clusters...where each email address is a set of numbers, a sequence of letters and a few database fields.
Of course, each email address also represents a human being (gasp!).
Not a shocking concept, I'll admit, but one we often neglect in the way we design emails and email systems. Yet a recognition of human foibles and limitations helps build better emails for better response.
Here are some examples showing…
