Best Practices in Email Marketing

Copyright © 2009 Constant Contact Inc.

Best Practices in Email Marketing

Len BruskiewitzApril 1, 2009

Copyright © 2009 Constant Contact, Inc. 2

Your Presenter

■ Len Bruskiewitz, Sr. Director, Partner Programs

■ Managed relations with partners ranging from Intuit to local web designers/marketing consultants for past 3 years

■ Spent nearly 12 years in leadership roles at Intuit

■ Ran management consulting firm for 2 years


What is Email Marketing?

■ Ongoing communication between two parties based on permission from the recipient

■ Provides the recipient with something valuable (typically information) in return for access to their email inbox

■ Allows the sender to reinforce the value of his/her offerings

■ Is trackable by the sender in order to customize future messaging

■ Allows the recipient to opt-out of future messages at their discretion


What Email Marketing Is Not

■ A “first touch” acquisition tool

■ A means to market to email addresses you bought, rented or “scraped” from a website

■ Effective without a well thought-out strategy in place to develop and execute your message


Why Email?

Because almost everyone your business needs to reach reads it:

■ 91% of Internet users between the ages of 18 and 64 send or read email

■ An even higher number of users ages 65 or older do the same

■ 147 million people across the country use email, most use it every day.

Sources: eMarketer


Why Email?

It’s Cost-effective: Direct Mail vs. Email

■ For the same response,direct mail costs 20 TIMES as much as email 1

■ Email ROI is the highest when compared to other internet marketing mediums 2

1 Forrester Research, Inc.

2 Direct Marketing Association


What can it do for Your Business?

"Our revenue from return customers has increased about 30% since we began

sending out our 'New Arrivals' email campaign, and we've found that a number

of customers who have never purchased from us before, will buy after we send

out an email campaign."

Bijoux Mart International

Boost Repeat Business

"Within a few weeks of using Constant Contact our number of subscribers grew more

than 15 percent; it's tripled in less than two years. And we recently won a national

award from our professional Episcopal Communicators group."

Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta

Create & Increase Awareness

"We started small, asking the contacts I had in Microsoft® Outlook® if we could

add them to the list. Also, everyone in the firm asked their friends and colleagues

if they wanted to be added, and many did. Our email newsletter has played a

critical role in our revenue growth.”

Communiqué Public Relations

Drive Revenue & Profit


Using an Email Service Provider

Email Service Providers automate best practices

■ Provide easy-to-use templates

■ Reinforce brand identity

■ Email addressed to recipient only

■ Manage lists – adding new subscribers, handling bounce-backs, removing unsubscribes

■ Improves email delivery, tracks results and obeys the law


Email Marketing Best Practices


Permission – What is It?

Types of permission Explicit: Opt in from your website or storefront

■ “Join our mailing list” feature

■ Single vs. Double Opt-in

Implicit: Requests for information / registration forms, existing customer relationship

Note: Always make sure to ask for permission when collecting information


Getting Email Opened

The “From” line

■ Use a name the recipient will recognize

■ Include your company name or brand

■ Your name if it is well-known

■ The shorter the better

■ Be consistent

The “Subject” Line

■ Keep it short and simple

■ You have 3 seconds or less

■ 30-40 characters including spaces (5-8 words)

■ Incorporate a specific benefit

■ Capitalize and punctuate carefully

80% of recipients will mark an email as spam based on subject line and sender alone.

Source: ESPC Survey (Email Sender & Provider Coalition), March 2007


Example: Typical spam “From” and “Subject” lines

The Don’t Dos

The words: free, guarantee, spam, credit card etc.

ALL CAPITAL LETTERS

Excessive punctuation !!!, ???

Excessive use of “click here”

$$, and other symbols

No “From:” address

Misleading subject lines


Getting Email Read

The Email “Body”

■ Make sure the branding reflects your business

■ Provide relevant and valuable information

■ Be clear and concise

■ Use appropriate graphics

■ Use white space effectively

■ Include “Call to Action” links

■ Create sense of urgency

■ Capitalize and punctuate carefully

■ Proofread


“The fact that [some people] want to help, for no other reason than because they like to help, turns out to be an awfully effective way of getting someone’s attention.”

Malcolm Gladwell - The Tipping Point

Focus on the content■ It’s not about you

■ It’s about what you know and how that is important to your readers

Look Professional■ Keep your design clean and uncluttered

■ Don’t rely too much on graphics

■ Ensure that the most relevant messages are at

the top of the page, above the “fold line”

Trade useful information for attention■ Will they talk about it when out with friends?

■ Will they look forward to your next communication?

Narrow your focus■ Be an expert

Relevant & Valuable Information


Frequency/Send Times

Frequency Guidelines

■ At least 1 message per quarter but typically 1 message per month

■ Create a communication calendar to map messages throughout the year

■ Event-specific

■ Save the Date – 1 month prior

■ Register Now – 2 weeks prior

■ Only a Few Spots Left – 1 week prior

■ Reminder – 1 day prior

■ Thank You/Sorry We Missed You – 1 day after

Send Times

Business Audience – Tuesday through Thursday, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

■ Consumer Audience – When they are likely to be at their computers


Open/Click-Through Rates

Open Rates■ Business to Consumer: 10-20%

■ Business to Business: 20-30%

■ Non Profit to Member: 30-40%

■ Constant Contact Overall Rate: 37%

Factors Impacting Open Rates

■ Text-only readers (BlackBerry, Treo) do not count as opens

■ Email clients with graphics blocked do not count as opens

■ Scrolling past a message in preview may count as opens

Click-Through Rates Business to Consumer: 2-5%

■ Business to Business: 5-10%

■ Non Profit to Member: 10-15%

■ Constant Contact Overall Rate: 7%


Additional Resources

■ Constant Contact Free Trial Free 60 day trial for up to 100 email addresses. Signup form for your website, over 300 templates, free technical support: http://intuitqb.constantcontact.com

■ Local SeminarsOur Regional Development Directors provide ongoing seminars on a variety of marketing topics. For more information on local seminars visit: http://www.constantcontact.com/learning-center/local-events/

■ Constant Contact Learning CenterFrom live and recorded webinars to daily live product tours, the Constant Contact Learning Center is the place to find all the resources you need get started or take your email marketing to the next level.

■ ConnectUp! User CommunityMeet others - like you - to share and gain insights on email marketing and other topics you care about. Read and post to the discussion boards on issues that matter to you.

■ QuickBooks Community

Keep checking in to the QuickBooks Community for lots of great information on how to start and grow your business.

http://intuitqb.constantcontact.com/

http://www.constantcontact.com/learning-center/local-events/