Email and video do s and don ts
Let s talk about 6 things for your emails 5 things for your videos 2 rules to live by for online (a.k.a. 13 things ) 2
Email #1: Is it what you do best? Not the tools, but the core competency. Can you manage: Infrastructure (servers) List maintenance Spam complaints White lists/ black lists Cyber attacks and security Opt-outs 3
Email #2: CAN-SPAM (boring but necessary) CAN-SPAM = Controlling the Assault of Non- Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003 3 key components: unsubscribing, content and sending 4
More CAN-SPAM Component #1: Unsubscribe compliance A visible and operable unsubscribe mechanism is present in all emails. Consumer opt-out requests are honored within 10 days. Opt-out lists also known as suppression lists are only used for compliance purposes. 5
More CAN-SPAM Content compliance Accurate from lines (including "friendly froms ) Relevant subject lines (relative to offer in body content and not deceptive) A legitimate physical address of the publisher and/or advertiser is present. A label is present if the content is adult. 6
More CAN-SPAM Sending behavior compliance A message cannot be sent through an open relay A message cannot be sent to a harvested email address A message cannot contain a false header 7
8 Email #3: Subject lines (now it gets more interesting)
Subject Line Winner(s)! MailChimp study analyzed the open rates for 200+ million emails to find out which subject lines work. 4 15 characters: 15.2% open; 3.1% click 16 27 characters: 11.6% open; 3.8% click 28 39 characters: 12.2% open; 4% click 40 50 characters: 11.9% open; 2.8% click 51+ characters: 10.4% open; 1.8% click 9
>40 characters a study in creativity Sometimes works (but the jury s still out for long-term success): Symbols and Special Characters: it? 40% off! now Re: and Fwd: FW: Get Connected at our B2B Networking Mixer Pleas for assistance or requests for help (is it a scam?) Using numbers: SALE ends soon Up to 50% off! First or last name: Matthew, SNAZZY SHOES wants you back 10
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The final on subject lines Call me Ishmael = 15 characters 12
Email #4: Mobile s calling 13 What are your options when it comes to mobile? Do nothing Create a mobile text version Create designs that are mobile aware (like 14px type) Create skinny templates and single column layout Use fluid layout (widths as a % not a fixed #)
14 On an iphone
15 On the Android platform (like a Samsung Galaxy or LG Nexus)
16 On Microsoft s platform (like the Nokia Lumia)
17 On a BlackBerry
1 thumb and 1 eyeball How should this change your email design? Think: the finger is the new mouse Large buttons Large text Give the design breathing room with simplicity and more white space Put your good content first 18
Mobile fun fact (which means the other 61% are liars) 19
Email #5: Content (how someone reads your stuff) Why you need to F your copy 20
Email #5: Content (how someone reads your stuff) 21 That means Know that your recipients won t read at least they won t read a lot. The first 2 paragraphs matter and the first matters most Make scanning count
Email #5: Content (why someone reads your stuff) "It's not worth sending an email unless there is content worth reading, sharing and discussing 22 A good message should be something your customers want to hear. It s not something that your company wants to say.
Email #5: Content (why someone reads your stuff) Be unique Find your voice. Pick your pony. Deliver on the brand promise of YOUR company. 23
24 Picking your pony
Email #5: Content (why someone reads your stuff) Be consistent Don t start something you can t sustain; regular emails take constant care and feeding. 25
Email #5: Content (why someone reads your stuff) Be obvious Pick one thing you want someone to do and make it easy to understand. 26
Email #6: Testing 27 Reasons to test: 1. You have a theory and you want to validate/disprove it ( my customers care more about price than anything. ) 2. You have a question and want to answer it. ( do my customers want more extras or a great value? ) 3. You can. ( I think adding more graphics makes everything look better. Let s see what customers think. )
Email #6: Testing 28 When you test: Define your objective (you can t measure what you don t know) Understand how/what you will measure (so you can capture that information from the beginning) Don t confuse causation and correlation (are there other factors at play?) Report on your results (even if it s just to yourself) Never test something you won t change (it s a waste of time)
29 Email Q & A
30 Video #1: Define why
Video #2: Choose your tone Find an example of what you think you want and see if that s what you want. 31
Video #3: Pick your music Song 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ycacxihedk Song 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ors_qaaypt8&list=pledd5126a7e48c7cc Song 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exjhi5bybce Song 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijwguuc-one Song 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xef_cjzt-y 32
Video #4: Budget (time and money) X2 33
34 Video #5: Try something new
35 Video Q & A
Online Rule #1: Consume your own work I'm sorry I wrote such a long letter. I did not have the time to write a short one. -- Abraham Lincoln Myth: You ve only got one shot so you better tell them EVERYTHING Myth: Customers read your stuff because they re you re customers (and really, no one reads) 36
37 Online Rule #2: When you want to be inspiring, get inspired
38 Q & A
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