Guide to Marketing

Transcription

1 Guide to Marketing

2 Stats to Guide Your Way 1. 47% of recipients open based on the subject line (Invesp) 2. 78% of consumers unsubscribe from s because brands were sending too many s. (HubSpot) 3. Welcome s have on average 4 times the open rate of a standard marketing campaign. (InboxArmy) 4. Personalized subject lines lift open rates by 29.3%. (MarketingSherpa) 5. Tuesday is the best day of the week to send s followed by Thursday. (Coshedule Research) 6. The best times to send an are 10 a.m. and from 8 p.m. to midnight. (Coshedule Research) 7. More than 21% of all messages are opened within the first hour of sending. (GetResponse) Connecting with your community

3 Successful Marketing Starts Here Delivery - What You Can Do 4 Subject Lines and Pre-Header Text 6 9 Tips to A/B Testing 8 Re-engage those Inactive Subscripers 10 Measure your Success - Reporting 12

4 Delivery - What You Can Do On average, less than half of all s reach the recipient s inbox! That s an awful lot of s that aren t contributing towards your marketing goals. On top of that, there are several simple mistakes that could be negatively affecting your campaigns. In this article, I address eight factors that could be affecting your delivery, but first, an overview into what the providers (known as Internet Service Providers or ISPs) are measuring. Delivery Depends on your Score Most ISPs are following the customer-experience approach set by Google (Gmail), so it s becoming increasingly difficult for marketers s to navigate their way into the inbox. As many of you will know, Gmail uses filters within the inbox to determine Primary, Social and Promotions s, and if your s are not landing in the Primary filter, they have little chance of being read. Today, it s not just about avoiding spam filters. To be worthy of landing in the Primary inbox, a score is associated to the various factors. As marketers, we don t know what the overall score is, but it s in our interest to create an strategy around these factors. Continuously Opened: If the recipient stops opening your s regularly, the s will drop out of their primary filter. Refer to page 7 for tips on improving your open rate by using the subject line and pre-header text. Scrolling: You want users to scroll down through your , so it s important to have engaging content throughout. Unique Clicks: providers will score you on unique clicks within the . Multiple Clicks: providers will also score you on multiple clicks within the (clicking on different links - not just the same link multiple times). Frequency of Engagement: This is about whether the recipient opens and engages regularly with s from the particular sender. To conclude, the content does affect the deliverability to an extent, but it s not the only factor. The score of the sender is a big contributor, too. 8 Things You Can Do To Improve Your Delivery 1. Opt-in: Your s will perform better if the recipient actively opts-in to your s. For that reason, it should be the first thing you think about with your strategy. You should: A. Create an opt-in page, which clearly outlines what the recipient is signing up for and what they can expect from your s. 2. The First Don t wait too long before sending the first . We recommend you set up an automated Welcome that is triggered to send when the recipient signs up. This provides you with an opportunity to start developing a valuable relationship from the very beginning. 4 I Guide to Marketing Connecting with your community

5 Delivery - What You Can Do 5. Positive & negative engagement There are two types of engagement and, as a sender, you are trying to increase positive engagement and reduce negative engagement. A. Positive: Opens, Unique Clicks B. Negative: Spam Complaints, Blacklists, Hard Bounces Note, unsubscribe is not listed as negative engagement but spam complaints is. If a recipient doesn t want to receive your s anymore, it s much better for you if they unsubscribe rather than submit a spam complaint. 3. Bounce Management Review your campaign reports and you ll see there are two types of bounced s: A. Soft Bounce This is when the address is temporarily unavailable, for example, the inbox is full or the server is not available. B. Hard Bounce The address is incorrect and recipient will never receive the . You should remove all hard bounce s from your list because they will have a negative impact on you as a sender. You should also review the soft bounce s consistently throughout the year. If you have repeat offenders, you should remove these s from your list, too. Depending on what tool you are using, the bounce management process could be automated. 4. Role-related addresses: It s best-practice for you to remove role-related addresses (for example, marketing@url.com.au) from your list, but I appreciate that sometimes it s a necessity. Keep an eye on the activity from role-related addresses and remove them if you can afford to. 6. Provide an unsubscribe link If your marketing doesn t include an unsubscribe link, it will go straight into Spam/Junk - if the is received at all. 7. Stagger your send When you review your recent s, you will see some of the recipients are a lot more engaged with your s than others. Tools like Mailchimp will score the list for you. It will benefit you by splitting the list into two list 1 to include your most engaged recipients and list 2 to include your lesser engaged recipients. Send your to list 1 around 30 minutes before list 2 and your overall results will improve. This is because your sender score will increase due to the high number of positive engagement from list 1. Think of it as warming up your account, like a runner who always performs better when they are warm. 8. Your IP address: If you have suffered a lot of negative engagement, your IP address could be affected, which will have a negative impact on your deliverability. For example, you may get blacklisted. I recommend checking your IP Address via Sender Score Guide to Marketing I 5

6 Subject lines and pre-header text We put so much time into the content but that content often doesn t realise it s potential. A simple reason - because the is not opened. There are many reasons why the might not be opened, but the Subject Line is one of the most important aspects, which should be supported by engaging Pre-Header Text for the best possible results. Subject Line Pre-Header Line The subject line should vary depending on your goal behind the campaign. For example, a shorter subject line (less than 50 characters) may improve your open rate, but may have a negative effect on your click-through rate and conversion rate. 6 I Guide to Marketing Connecting with your community

7 Subject lines and pre-header text 5 Tips for Your Subject Line Be Clear and Truthful 1 Explain exactly what the recipient will get from the ensuring there are no hidden surprises when it s opened. Not only will this appeal to your target audience, it will improve the click-through and conversion rates. It can be tempting to sex up or exaggerate your product to increase the open rate. This may meet your short-term goals of a high open rate, but they are false promises. It will result in unsubscribes and spam reports, which will have a negative impact on your next campaign. Clickthrough and conversion rates will be low, too. TO DO: be clear, concise and explain what the user can expect. For example, 5 tips to improve your marketing NOT TO DO: Unclear and exaggerate. For example, Create the world s best campaign Tip 1: Clear, concise and truthful subject lines will improve your open rate, click-through rate and conversion rates, while reducing the unsubscribe rate. Length of the Subject Line 2 The length of the subject line depends on your intended outcome. If you want the recipient to open your , with no intended call to action, a shorter subject line is better. If your goal is for clicks through to your website, conversions, or inbound enquiries, a longer subject line will be more effective, as it allows you to add more context to the . We want the user to open the with a goal or intent in mind. Tip 2: Subject lines over 70 characters improves conversion rate. Subject lines under 50 characters improves open rate. 3 Personalisation Personalising your subject line depends on the quality of your data. If you are able to personalise your subject line, it will improve your open rate, click-through rate and conversion rate. Your relationship with the consumer will improve, too. You can add personal data by using the merg tag functionality within your tool First name Company name Location Tip 3: Personalisation improves open, click-through rate and conversion rates, as long as the data is accurate. 4 Testing Remember - the golden rule of marketing, your opinion is not always right. Experience will teach you a lot, but you should make best use of your reporting data to ensure that you are appealing to the majority. Test which words and terms work best for your company. This includes A/B testing with two different subject lines to databases no smaller than 1,000. But you need to have two subject lines to start with, right? To get your shortlist, brainstorm 10 different subject lines and ask your friends and colleagues to choose their favourite one. The most popular two should make your A/B test. Tip 4: Test to improve - not to prove other people wrong. Trust everyone s opinion within your company and trust the findings. Pre-header text 5 The pre-header text is the line of text that appears at the very top of the , usually in the same line as the view in browser link. This line of text is getting more prominence in campaigns - especially when received on a mobile or tablet. Use it in to complement your subject line, providing more context to the . Note, it should not simply repeat the subject line. Here are three examples, depending on your goal: Subject Line: 5 tips to improve your marketing Pre-header text: Watch this 5-minute video Subject Line: 5 tips to improve your marketing Pre-header text: No technical experience required Subject Line: 5 tips to improve your marketing Pre-header text: Advice on subject line, content, reporting, lead generation and automation Tip 5: The pre-header text complements the subject line to ensure the is opened with intent. You should be able to read the subject line and pre-header text together, with it making perfect sense. Further Help We suggest you subscribe to specialist providers who have a wealth of knowledge, research and experience behind them. Here s one of our favourite articles about subject lines: Hubspot: Guide to Marketing I 7

8 9 Tips to A/B Testing Marketers common downfalls with marketing is not A/B testing, or not A/B testing effectively. The idea of A/B testing is to work out which variation of your works most effectively. Then you can determine the best-performing version to send to the majority of your database. Use samples within your database to test the different elements. It sounds simple, but there are some common mistakes that can have a negative effect on your results and your ROI. Test the important elements for YOUR business 1 It s easy to fall into the trap where you try to test everything and things that don t really affect your business. Identify the most important elements within your and only test them. 9 Best Practice Tips When A/B Testing Test one element at a time 2 Businesses may have three of four different elements of the that they want to test, but you should only test one element at a time. Otherwise, the results become subjective and the conclusion lacks validity. Scenario A kitchen company has a strategy to generate leads through phone calls or enquiries from their campaign. You want to know for sure which version of each element is most effective, so if you are testing the call-to-action button, ensure the subject line and content is identical. The measures of success for this are: Open rate Phone calls replies There is no need to start testing the social media buttons to see how many recipients click through to the social media* pages. *Some kitchen companies may have a strategy around driving traffic to their social media page, but in this scenario, it holds little value for the business. Standardise the time of the day 3 When it comes to marketing, the time of the day has a massive impact on results. For that reason, you must send all versions of the at the same time. If one goes out 30 minutes after another one, that could skew your results considerably. Sample size 4 Industry best-practice is to test each variation within a samples size of at least 1,000. Any smaller and the numbers are too small to produce an accurate conclusion. 8 I Guide to Marketing Connecting with your community

9 9 Tips to A/B Testing Example A beauty salon wants to test the positioning of their callto-action button within the . This means at least 1,000 contacts need to see the call-to-action button, which means that over 1,000 contacts are required to open the . If the beauty salon has an average open rate of 20% (1 in 5) they will need to send each variation of the to a sample list of 5,000 contacts, based on the assumption that 20% open the and 1,000 contacts view the call-to-action button. Split the list evenly 5 When A/B testing, it s important you split the lists evenly. Most marketing tools offer an A/B testing option today that randomly splits the list evenly. Test your Call-To-Action (CTA) 8 The call-to-action is commonly the most valuable element of your as it generates the positive engagement and response. It s important you test the best position for the CTA button, taking into account your open rate on your mobile. You may find that the CTA appearing above the fold (on view when the is opened) has very different results to a CTA appearing below the fold (requires the contact to scroll down through the ). Example 1: Place the CTA towards the top of the . This is so the CTA gets the most prominence within the . 2: Place the CTA towards the bottom of the . This is so the contact sees the CTA after engaging with the content, which could provide some substance to the product. A list B 9 Testimonials Testimonials are designed to generate trust between the businesses and consumer, validating the service being offered. Run an A/B test on the inclusion of a testimonial within your , it could improve the conversion rate. Consolidate the results 6 It s easy to do an A/B test one month and then not document those findings, so they are not easily accessible next month, next quarter or next year. We suggest you create a simple report that clearly outlines the following: Elements tested Variations tested Results Winning variation Test the subject line 7 The most important A/B test to improve your open rate is to test the subject line. We recommend you test personalising the subject line. Example 1: Here are our 9 top marketing tips 2: David, here are our 9 top marketing tips Further Help Remember, small details matter when it comes to marketing. You may have concluded the CTA works most effectively when it appears above the fold, but you can also test the colour of the CTA to see if that improves it further. It may sound like a needless test, but it can have a big impact on your bottom line. Guide to Marketing I 9

10 Re-engage Those Inactive Subscribers You spend a lot of valuable time and money getting people to subscribe to your list, so it s a problem when they stop engaging. Plus, those inactive subscribers drag down your open rates, click-through rates, deliverability, and sender reputation. In this article, I provide an overview of an Inactive subscriber, provide four reasons to re-engage your inactive subscribers and give you six tactics on how to re-engage your subscribers. The definition of inactive subscribers depends entirely on your organisation s strategy. If you regularly your list (say two to three times per week) an inactive subscriber might be someone who hasn t engaged in the past 90 days or 6 months. If you send s monthly or quarterly, an inactive subscriber might be someone who hasn t engaged in a year or more. Either way, these people have been active in the past, either by showing intent, engagement, or making a purchase. What is an Inactive Subscriber? Reasons to Re-engage To extract maximum return on the time and money you ve spent attracting their attention in the first place, it s worth trying to re-engage those subscribers. In fact, according to Experian, thoughtfully planned reengagement strategies can deliver 14 times the lift in -influenced revenue. Since the cost of acquiring a new customer usually outweighs the cost of keeping an existing one, you should do everything possible to re-engage inactive subscribers or customers. To wake them up, run reengagement (or reactivation) campaigns. Re-engage that Inactive Subscriber 6 Tactics to Re-engage The tactics or strategy will vary depending on your business and what you offer as a service or product, but here are 6 ideas for you; 4 reasons to run a reengagement campaign 1. Re-engage those who still want to hear from you 2. Determine who doesn t want to hear from you 3. Clean up your lists 4. Capitalise on existing relationships to keep customer acquisition costs in check 1 Offer An offer is a great way to get someone s attention. They have felt compelled enough to subscribe or purchase off you previously, so a discount offer could be the perfect way to grab their attention again. Even if it s a simple 10% off one of your products. 10 I Guide to Marketing Connecting with your community

11 Re-engage Those Inactive Subscribers 2 Survey There could be a fundamental reason why the subscriber has stopped engaging with your s, so run a survey to see if you can collect some valuable feedback from them. This feedback could be strong enough to warrant changes within your company if there are some common answers. This also provides you with an opportunity to capture more personal information about them, to create a more detailed profile of the subscriber. 4 Competition Give your subscriber a chance to win something and you will have a great chance of recapturing their interest. Be warned though, you want to be able to keep them interested so it might be worth combining the competition with the updating preferences idea ensuring that you are capturing information about the subscriber. For example, Update your preferences for the chance to win a voucher Past Experience 5 The subscriber joined your list for a reason, so remind them of that reason if you have data available to you. For example, Remember those <insert brand> trainers you bought from us last year? Check out this season s selection. If you can add in accurate images or personalise the even more, do it. It helps emotionally engage the subscriber. Update Preferences 3 Subscribers may stop engaging with your s for the simple reason that they are no longer interested in your products and services. Invite them to update their preferences to make the s more relevant to them. For example, a subscriber may have signed-up to a retailer s list because they want to know about kids clothing. Now the kids have grown up, the kids clothing isn t of interest, so the parent could update their preferences to receive womens or mens clothing. The subscriber may indeed decide to opt-out instead, which isn t necessarily a bad thing because it will clean your data and improve your open rate as a result. Reinforce Benefit 6 If your company has a really strong benefit to the subscriber, which is relevant to the majority of your subscribers, your re-engagement strategy may be to reinforce that benefit. You could also add in new benefits that have developed over the last year or two. For example, at Active Networks, we own the website Think Local. Our re-engagement could be, We still offer at least 50% off restaurants, cafes and beauty salons across the Northern Beaches and North Shore. Check out the latest offers online. 50% OFF Guide to Marketing I 11

12 Measure Your Success - Reporting Reporting None of us like to admit it, but that s arguably the most important part of the campaign, and that s why at Active Networks we use every report to shape our next campaign. 7 simple ways to measure your success: 1 Set your goals Before sending your , decide what you want to get out of the campaign. Your goals will enable you to measure the success of your campaign. Your goals could include: Delivering information or getting your read (open rate) Lead generation (click-through rate) Conversions (purchases, downloads, data capture, attending an event) Standardise your KPIs 2 It s one thing to get a snapshot of each campaign, but you want to be able to develop a bank of historical data from the reports that will enable you to identify obvious trends over time. Not all providers offer this within their reporting package, so it s a good idea to create a spreadsheet or use your CRM to measure the trends. To do this effectively, you must ensure you are consistent with the key factors you are reporting so that positive and negative changes are obvious to you. At Active Networks, we measure the following metrics after 24 hours, 48 hours and seven days to ensure consistency and trends: - Day (of send) - Time (of send) - Open rate - Click-through rate - Conversions (number) - Conversion value - Average conversion value - Unsubscribe rate - List size Not all of these measures will be relevant for your business, work out what are, measure and be consistent. After four campaigns, you will start seeing trends within your reports, and from then on, you can tweak the campaigns to see if it results in a measurable change. 3 Open rates can be misleading The open rate is usually the first metric to look at, and provides the most basic performance measure. Industry averages vary considerably but the higher the open rate, the more people opened up your that s obvious. However, while the open rate is always worth recording, it can sometimes be deceiving - particularly if the subject line and pre-header text is vague or misleading. You can read more about the affect of subject line and pre-header text on open and conversion rates in a previous article. There is also another metric that could contradict the open rate the number of unsubscribes. The key is to increase the open rate while maintaining a low unsubscribe rate, which results in great success. 12 I Guide to Marketing Connecting with your community

13 Measure Your Success - Reporting Here are three elements to consider before you draw conclusions on your open rate:??? Was your subject line specific or vague? If the answer is vague, or even slightly exaggerated, the open rate could be impressively high but will ultimately provide poor results. What is the unsubscribe rate? If the unsubscribe rate is unusually high, your open rate could be a false reading. Why? Most likely because you have tricked people into opening the or annoyed them. Does the open rate affect your end goal? If the answer is yes, the open rate is a key indicator of success. If the answer is no, look beyond the open rate to your click-through rate or conversion rate. Click-through rate 4 The click-through rate (CTR) is generally a great indication of success, and it provides insight into activity beyond just the opening of the . But, like all metrics, they can be contradicted by other reports. Your goal is to see your click-through rate increase at the same rate as the conversion rate. 5 Conversion rate Is the conversion rate your key indicator? If so, you should ensure you are tracking your conversion rate, which may require some help from your website expert. The conversions may not always be coming from the channels you expect. For example, a purchase may take place two weeks after an campaign, but may still have been a direct response to that . Your report should tell you that. If you are seeing a good open rate but the conversion rate is lower than you expected, try varying some of the following elements: Day of send Time of send content Call to action 6 Unsubscribes Often underestimated or brushed under the carpet, the unsubscribe rate should underline your success. You want all of your key metrics to be high, except your unsubscribe rate. Here are 3 things to consider when it comes to the CTR: Do not compare your CTR to other industries. Instead, you want to compare it against your past and future campaigns. An insurance company may be providing information and looking for a reply to the , not clicks. Compare that to a retailer who may have over 50 links in their . The retailer would have a higher CTR, but that does not mean their was more successful that comes down to the conversion rate. Is your CTR a key indicator? If so, you should see who clicked on your link. If your goal is to generate leads for sales, and the link was your rate card, your list of recipients who clicked on your link is your list of leads. After clicking on your rate card, the leads are likely to know the following information, and now it is time for you to qualify them: Price expectations, lead time and minimum commitment Does your conversion rate increase with your CTR? If the answer is yes, the two metrics working together prove success. If the answer is no, you should delve deeper into the following: A Look at the link that is being tracked to ensure it is working correctly B Review the destination page or download to ensure the content is relevant, concise, clear and engaging C Ensure the page is mobile-friendly 7 KPIs Taking all of the above into account, to maintain a healthy list and business success you should be looking for the following: Increased open rate Increased click-through rate Increased conversion rate Reduced unsubscribe rate There is a wealth of valuable information sitting in your report, take the time to assess the data and adjust your campaigns. There is a pot of gold just waiting to be found. Guide to Marketing I 13

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