Improving Open Rates and Conducting Surveys

Presented by: Michael Clark

2008 Garden Center Fall Conference

Portland, OR

August 19, 2008

Today’s Agenda

The Power of Email Marketing

Why you should care about email marketing

Open Sesame

Tips for getting your messages opened

The Online Survey

Business Intelligence and your customer

The Power of Email Marketing

What Is Email Marketing?

A systematic approach to deliver communications to an interested audience in order to:

establish regular, ongoing relationship

educate

promote identity awareness

stay “top-of-mind” with subscribers

spark immediately action

broaden your audience

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

It’s Cost Effective: Direct Mail vs. Email

Why Email?

For the same response, direct mail can cost 20 TIMES as much as email1

Email marketing returned $57.25 for every dollar spent in 20052

Sources: 1 Forrester Research, Inc.2 Direct Marketing Association

Internal Email vs EMS

Standard Email Programs(e.g. Outlook, Hotmail)

Limited # of emails sent at one time

No formatting control

List break up more susceptible to filters

More complicated to brand effectively

No tracking and reporting of email results

Email Marketing Services 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

Ensure email delivery, tracks results and obeys the law

Internal Email vs EMS

Why Does Email Work?

Because people open emailfrom those they know and trust…

Getting Started

Step 1: Build Your List

Step 2: Convert Leads to Customers

Step 3: Keep Customers Coming Back

Step 1: Build Your List

Collect email addresses and permission at every contact point: Website SignupService or

Sales CallsEvents

and MeetingsEmail Signature

Customer & Prospect Database

In-store Guest Book

57% of those surveyed will fill out a card to receive email alerts when asked to.Source: Transact Media Group

Types of permission

Explicit: Opt in from your website or storefront

“Join our mailing list”

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

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

Be a Trusted Sender

Remind recipients why they are receiving an email from you at the beginning of each message

Include unsubscribe or one-click opt-out line

Immediately handle unsubscribes (CAN-SPAM Act)

Monitor your email frequency

Step 2: Convert Leads to Customers

One-time touch

Unlikely to ReturnInterested (Buy Later)Not Now (Maybe Later)No Interest

Immediate Purchaser Immediate Purchase

Communications Impact

Unlikely to ReturnNo Interest

Capture Interests& Communicate

Interested (Buy Later)Not Now (Maybe Later)

Immediate &Follow-on Purchases

Immediate Purchaser

Ongoing Interaction

Step 3: Keep Customers Coming Back

The Value of a Customer

You’ve already paid for themIt’s 6-7 times more expensive to gain a customer than to retain a customer1

They spend moreRepeat customers spend 67 percent more2

They are your referral engineAfter 10 purchases, a customer has already referred up to 7 people2

Sources:1 Harvard Business Review2 Bain and Company, 2002

Ten Rules of e-Marketing

1. Make it easy for your audience.

2. Integrate your offline and online presentation.

3. Assign an owner to email projects.

4. Email is a vehicle to achieve other goals.

5. More is not better. (Usability)

6. Commit to Test-Refine-Test.

7. Track results

8. Permission & Privacy must dominate.

9. It’s about your audience - not you.

10. People don’t read! (Usability)

Open Sesame!

Getting Your Email Opened

How did you do that?

Opens are counted when the receiver downloads (opens) your message.

Actual counter is a “Web Beacon” image that is downloaded

Counts are not 100% reliable

• User may not download images or is viewing in text-only mode

Still a key indicator of effectiveness and penetration

• Opens from campaign to campaign are comparable

What is a good Open Rate?

Open rates can vary widely by industry

Some markets have better ORs (Religious Orgs @ 33%)

Some markets have lower ORs (Consulting @ 20%)

Even within market verticals, rates vary

Ultimately, Open Rates are driven by several factors that all work together for long-term success…

Source: 2007 Benchmark Guide, Marketing Sherpa

Getting Email Opened

The “From” line

Use a name the recipient will recognize

• Include your company name or brand

• The clearer the better

• Try to obtain a recognizable domain name, in lieu of an abbreviated one

The shorter the better

Be consistent

Is anonymous better than name?

60% of consumers say the "from" line most often determines whether they open an email or delete it.

Source: DoubleClick

Getting Email Opened

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

Include your brand

• Branding in the subject line can increase open rates by as much as 60% (Source: SilverPop)

Capitalize and punctuate carefullyClick-through rates for subject lines with 49 or fewer characters were 75 percent higher than for those with 50 or more…

Source: Returnpath

Subject Line Example

Subject 1:We discovered a great anti-aging product

Vs.

Subject 2:

You can take years off your face with our new anti-aging product

Jill’s Day Spa 5 openings this weekend – 20% savings

Sumatra Coffee Shop What makes coffee bitter?

Financial Planner Inc 2 tips for getting audited by the IRS

John Smith Special Offer for You

Sales Leader Cold Calling Secrets that Really Wok

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

Other Factors in the Open Rate Equation

Frequency

Over communication hurts ORs and raises unsubscribe rates

Time of month/week/day

When are customers likely to be in front of a computer?

– Holidays, seasonal changes in activity, in-school time can all affect ORs

– Tues/Wed/Thurs rank above rest of week

– Most preferred send time is middle of day for adult email reader

– When do you check your email? Do you think your customers follow your schedule?

Quality of content

Over time, poor content will reduce open rates

Revisiting Your Promise

Why do your customers join your list?

Are you delivering on your original promise?

Communicate what your customers want to know versus what you want them to know…

Marketing “Touches” don’t always need to directly promote a product or service

Offer Choices in Frequency

Not everyone is happy to receive ALL of your messaging.

Differentiate between highly motivated customers and the less-motivated

• Main list might be for monthly announcements

– Join our “Keep me informed about weekly specials” list

• Reach monthly recipients with “did you miss our sale?” messages and ask them to update their preferences to receive the weekly updates and stay in the loop.

People are less likely to unsubscribe when they can choose their level of interest.

Change up your content

If your open rates decrease over weeks and months, you may not be addressing the needs and wants of your customers

Look back over past campaigns to spot trends

• What issue had the best OR?

Look at the quality of your content

Two Different Approaches

Get feedback

Ask readers to tell you what they want to know more about

Consider surveys as a path to better BI

Get feedback – Make changes – Communicate those changes

Win a path back to the customer’s attention

Some interesting EM statistics

According to a 2004 Consumer Email Study, consumers increasingly value permission email marketing messages and prefer them to other types of marketing:

54% said they would like email to replace telemarketing

45% said they would like email to replace in-person sales calls

40% said they would like email to replace direct mail

33% would like to see email replace retail offers and coupons.

The study also shows that recipients have become savvier in managing their email inboxes and more particular.

The Online Survey

Business Intelligence and your customer

1. Understand Satisfaction

If you ask… your customers will tell you…

If and why they’re unhappy

What you can improve

If you don’t ask… they may complain with their feet

Only 4% of unhappy customers proactively complain*

54% to 70% will buy again if their complaint is resolved satisfactorily*

They tell 5 people about the treatment they received*

* National Business Research Institute http://www.nbrii.com/Customer_Surveys/Keeping_Customers.html

2. Understand Interests

Challenge: Varied interests

Solution: Survey customers to learn their interests then target your messages & offerings to meet their needs

Ways to Ask

Talk to customers

• Track what you’re hearing

But… beware the squeaky wheel

• Your most vocal customers don’t always represent your most valuable

Surveys solve that need

• Gather feedback from many different customers, not just the ones you speak with directly

Surveys organize broad feedback you can act on

When to Survey

1. Experience Driven

• Events, transactions and engagements

– Satisfaction

– How people found you

• Ideas for immediate improvements

• Ongoing to very specific audiences

2. Planning Driven

• Relationships, overall satisfaction, product direction

• Results drive strategy and planning

• 2 to 4 times per year

Common Approach: Getting Started

Questions

Decision and Action

Knowledge

Data

Measure Satisfaction / Preferred products

Investigate Reasons for coming to store Concerns being addressed?

63% for specific items, already know before coming to store 22% for practical gardening tips / solutions

57% prefer “Gardening Tips” over weekly sales alerts 18% prefer to learn about other customer’s gardening solutions

Sales are dropping because the open rates are falling off. Practical tips are interesting to most

Change email topics Change focus of promotions

A Better Way to Start

Questions

Decision and Action

Knowledge

Data

Define Goals by Asking yourself: What needs fixing? Define the problem. Do you have the resources to fix it?

Ask Yourself: What do you need to know to fix problem? Will the fix improve your business?

Ask Yourself: What needs to be measured? What defines success as an outcome?

Six Steps to Conducting Surveys

Continuous Surveys Periodic Surveys

Define Your Goals

Craft Your Questions

Select Your Audience

Invite Participants

Analyze & Interpret Results

Take Action

Prioritization & Selection

Prioritize & select survey goals

Evaluate your list of goals. For each goal, ask yourself:

Can it be measured?

Can I act on it?

If not, remove it from the list

Crafting Questions

Turning what you want to know into a question

Ask what you need to know, not everything you want know.

– Think about what changes or decisions will be made because of the answer.

Answers should provide what you need to make a specific decision

Questions should cover one topic

– Satisfaction with wait time

– Satisfaction with menu

– Satisfaction with staff

Restaurant Example:

1) Please rate the following wait times while dining.

• To be seated

• To place order

• To get meal

2) Please rate our menu for the following.

• Variety

• Clearly written

• Portions

3) Please rate our staff

• Courteous

• On time service

• Knowledgeable

4) Please rank in order of how likely you are to dine at these restaurants in the next month?

1) Joe’s Bar & Grille

2) Otavios

3) Bayshore Seafood

4) Our restaurant

Crafting Questions

Open Ended Allows answers in their words

Advantages

• Not limited to your choices

• Customer voice

• New ideas

Disadvantages

• Time consuming to evaluate

• Use of too many limits comparison

• Responses from the extremes

Restaurant Example:

1) How did you first learn about our restaurant?

2) How frequently do you dine with us?

3) When do you normally dine with us?

Crafting Questions

Closed Ended Respondents pick from list

Advantages

• Easier to respond

• Easier to analyze

• More useful data

Disadvantages

• Need to be comprehensive

• Need to know what you want

• Details can be missed

Restaurant Example:

1) How did you first hear about our company?

1) Newspaper2) Radio3) Friend4) Other

2) How frequently have you dined with us in the past six months.

1) Once2) Twice3) Three to five times4) More than five times

3) When do you .normally dine with us?

1) Special occasions

2) Weekends

3) Week nights

4) Holidays

Survey Question Best Practices

Organize your questions:

First Question:

• simple & direct and of interest

• Easy to answer, get them “off and running”

Question Flow:

• Important questions up front

• Consistent number of questions per page

• Limit scrolling for respondents

• Use logical order if questions are related

• Get required questions into the first half

• Save demographics until the end

Survey Question Best Practices

Things to Avoid:

Profile/demographic questions

• Save these questions for the end

• Avoid overly sensitive questions

• Explain why you need the information:

– Improved service

– Customized offerings

• Typical Demographic Questions: Marital Status, Age, Education, Income Level

Complex, multiple part questions can increase abandonment

Survey Question Best Practices

Length

Limit the number and complexity of questions according

to the audience

Ask your customers no more than 5 to 10 questions

Five minutes or less

If your surveys are easily completed, you’ll have more

opportunities to ask other questions.

Don’t try to do it all at once

Question Checklist Before Going Live

Clear, jargon-free wording

No acronyms, slang or “insider” terms

Check grammar

Poor grammar can confuse respondents

Have someone else proof your survey

Asking one question per question

Avoiding extreme words like “always” or “never”

Questions not biased by your assumptions

Be very selective with required “must answer” questions

How: Distribution Methods to Consider

Survey Email Invitation Send to your existing

email contact list

Incorporate into weekly purchaser email campaign

Add your survey link to your email signature

Interpreting Your Results

• Referral is best source of new

business.

• Newspaper advertisement is

working but perhaps not as well as

expected

• Should you rethink dollars spent on

newspaper advertising?

Interpreting Your Results

• Rating score shows more

satisfied than not.

• Details show significant

number less satisfied.

• Comments may have clues

on easy short-term

improvements.

Interpreting Your Results

• Lowering prices may not be

necessary to increase sales.

• Reputation is critical to future

sales.

• Your sales staff may be your

biggest competitive

advantage…

Applying Survey Results

Immediate Action RequiredSpecific customer experience feedback

• Rectify any issues

• Thank customer for feedback & if appropriate offer something of value to customer for taking the time to respond

• Let them know what steps you are taking because of their feedback.

Applying Survey Results

General Continuous Feedback

Patterns will emerge and opportunities will be uncovered

• Not reacting to an individual

• Monitoring feedback over time

• Uncovering recurring themes that lead to new opportunities

Communicate new solutions back to your customers

Let them know you listened and took action

• You will deepen loyalty and satisfaction over time

• They’ll be more likely to take future surveys

Additional Resources

Constant Contact Free Trial Free 60 day trial for up to 100 email addresses. Signup form for your website, 150+ templates, free technical support. www.constantcontact.com.

Local SeminarsConstant Contact’s Regional Development Director provides ongoing seminars on a variety of marketing topics. For more information on local seminars visit: www.local.constantcontact.com

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. www.constantcontact.com and click on Learning Center.

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.

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