Email Marketing - CASL is all about consent. What about Content, Consistency and Conversion?

Rethink Email Marketing

Presented byMarie WieseJuly 24, 2014

Session Speaker

Marie is the founder of Marketing CoPilot Inc., a digital marketing consulting and execution firm that has helped more than 100 business-to-business companies find customers and keep customers. Marie has developed and delivered workshops across Ontario for early stage companies that focus on turning their websites into their best lead generation and lead nurturing tool.Marie Wiese

@mariewiesePresidentMarketing CoPilot Inc.

What is the goal of your email marketing?

Goals?

• Communicate?• Offer someone something?• Sell something?• Get someone to click through to your website?• Start a relationship?• Evolve a relationship?

The goal of email marketing is not to persuade. It’s to discover, educate and solve.

@mariewiese

Email marketing, when executed as part of overall Digital Marketing Strategy

• Returns $44 for every $1 spent (ROI of over 4300%)• Top email performers spend more time on strategy

than execution• Companies using email marketing effectively have a

well defined email policy and protocol in their organization

Myths of Email Marketing

1. Email marketing replaces cold calling.2. Email marketing by itself can generate leads/sales

(you just need a big list).3. Email marketing is easy. (Once you hit send your job

is finished.)4. Email marketing is cheap.5. Everyone loves receiving email.

To get real results you need 3-Cs

1. Content2. Conversion3. Consistency

What has CASL done to Canadian email marketing?

Pros:• Made us rethink what we send, when we send and to

whom we send.• Made us think about email strategy and policy.Cons:• The people it’s really meant for will ignore it.• Hurts the sales and marketing process and made us

paranoid.

Myth #1

Myth #2

Myth #3

Express vs Implicit

Implied vs. Express Consent

Implied Consent• Existing business relationship• Existing non-business

relationship• Email address was published

or provided to you

Express Consent• Provided to you orally or in

writing (need a record of this)

Express Consent

• Signing up for a blog or email list• Downloading content from someone’s website that

requires providing an email address• Buying something from someone and agreeing to

join their mailing list

Implied Consent

• Meeting someone face-to-face and exchanging contact information

• Attending an event and providing contact information

• Selling something to someone• Meeting someone at a tradeshow

Where is CASL headed?

Since July 1st the Canadian government has provided more specifics and answers to valid business concerns, such as:• What constitutes implied consent• Whether or not CASL will hinder small businesses

This legislation is meant to protect consumers, NOT harm legitimate businesses.

Will CASL be expensive or hinder my small business?

• Businesses that already comply with privacy laws and use common best practices for email marketing should require little effort to comply with CASL.

Source: Government of Canada FightSpam website FAQs

#1 C - CONTENT

Communicating versus Marketing

• When you communicate, there is no action required on the part of the recipient.

• To get results you need to elicit a response or follow through on a call to action or conversion point.

• Your content must have a physical and measurable response in order to know if it’s working and get results.

How do you get personal?

Send the right message to the right person at the right time.

Company versus Customer

1. Content attracts people. Customers are not targets they are people who are interested in solving their own problem.

2. People don’t buy from companies; they buy from people. Content helps build relationships in a transparent way.

3. Marketers worry about their ability to build persuasive copy but persuasion is not authentic. Clarity is persuasion.

The Content Development Success Loop

Now, later or NEVER!

• The goal of email marketing is to elicit a response• You can’t elicit a response if you fall into the NEVER

category

You need to win the battle of priorities…

The Three Categories

1. Do I need to read this NOW?2. Should I save this for LATER?3. Can I delete this and NEVER read this?

Winning the Battle of Priorities

1. FROM – People look to see if email is from a trusted source.

2. SUBJECT LINE – What is this email about and is it relevant to me?

3. TIMING – When the email gets sent makes a big difference between the NOW or NEVER category.

The 2-2-2 Principle

• In 2 seconds do I know who this is from?• Can I understand the email in 2 words?• Why does it matter 2-day?

Frequency

• To engage your audience, you need to understand how often they want to hear from you

• What content is valuable to them• What formats they want to hear from you in (email,

social, web content, reviews, etc.)

What does your buyer care about?

• Benefits• Value• Pricing• Language• Structure• Next step

Content Must-haves• Top 10 questions in the sales process• Problems with your product/service• Pricing• “Best of” list (even if you aren’t on it)• Industry issues and challenges• Product/service updates for 2014 across your industry• Top 10 influential brands/products in your industry• Awards to businesses in your industry• Compare products/services with competitors• Leverage industry news and events

Use a template

• Why are you writing this content?• What is your goal?• Who are you writing for?• Why should they care?• What are the best keywords for this content?• Identify location of links to other content• What is the call to action?

#2 C - CONVERSION

The truth about conversion rate…

>1%

Do the math…

• If you mail to a list of 5,000 people, standard open rate is 15-25% or 1,000

• Of this I,000, 15% will do what is instructed, i.e.: click through to your website

• Now 150 may be on your website and less than 1% will convert based in next step

• That’s 1.5 persons

Find

Convert

Keep

Find

Convert

Keep

Too much $$ goes here

Small % say yes to fill funnel

Spend time and $$ with people you know and your funnel is always full at less $ and time

Old Way New Way

A new model for Lead Generation if you want to achieve more than 1%

1 2 3 4 5

RavingFans

Customers Members

Prospects Suspects Disinterested

Always be aware of people moving from one bucket to the next

List segmentation

The Perfect Customer Lifecycle

Attract people Capture leads Nurture prospects Convert sales Collect cash Deliver and satisfy Upsell customer Get referrals

Build a segmentation map…

Segment• Raving Fans

Content• Industry updates• Event invites• Surveys• Personnel changes• Wedding announcements

Build a segmentation map…

Segment• Customers or Members or

Donors

Content• Product/service news• “How to’s”• Pricing updates

Build a segmentation map…

Segment• Prospects

Content• Value-added content• Comparison charts• Case studies

Build a segmentation map…

Segment• Suspects

Content• Benefits analysis of one

solution over another• Blog posts• Pricing• Guides about how to do

something

#3 C - CONSISTENCY

Business Process

• Identify all of the places that email touches within your organization and the customer journey

• Map out the process for the end user with respect to their journey:– Leave a comment– Click on a link– Click through to your website– Download content or a coupon– Want to communicate with your company

Tie your business process to a consistent program…

• Email marketing is not a campaign; it’s a journey• You need to always be testing• You need to plan out your campaigns• You need to keep it at• It may take 12 months to improve your results; are

you ready to get started?

IT’S ALL ABOUT TESTING…

46

Test 1: Who cares more about a topic in your master list

Experiment ID: Grantek.com Location: Burlington, OntarioTest Protocol: Testing content by audience and topic.

Background: North American B2B systems integration company.

Objective: Start to create list segmentation.

Primary Research Question: Who cares more about safety automation: Senior managers or safety engineers?

Research Notes:

Email Campaign

Conversion Point

Results

CASL Opt-In Process Case Study

Project:• Client sells online continuing education courses to the

financial services industry across Canada • Had 2 main lists representing two distinct brands• Contacts on the list had not previously had regular

communication from client via email• Created a branded email template for division and planned

a 3-email test opt-in program• Process was designed to work around limitations including

no access to the website or original CRM database

CASL Opt-In Process Case Study

Strategy:• We theorized that increasing the incentive to opt-in

over the series of emails would garner the most overall opt-ins throughout the course of the campaign

• This strategy was based on applying previous direct mail expertise

CASL Opt-In Process Case Study

Execution:• 1st email messaging was a simple ask for opt-in• 2nd email messaging offered an incentive to opt-in• 3rd email messaging offered a double incentive to

opt-in

CASL Opt-In Process Case Study

Process:• After each email campaign, opt-ins were pulled and

removed from the subsequent email list• Follow up emails with coupon codes were deployed

to the contacts who opted-in to the incentive-based email campaigns

• Opt-ins contacts were updated to reflect method of opt-in and time/date for CASL record keeping

CASL Opt-In Process Case Study

Results:• At the end of the campaigns 25% of the email lists

had opted-in

Question?

• Would you rather mail to 5,000 you don’t know and aren’t sure if they want to hear from you?

• Or mail to 1,250 who have expressly asked to stay on your list?

CASL Opt-In Process Case Study

Findings:• Planning is crucial to optimal user experience • Clean and correctly segmented lists are the right

starting point for any email campaign• Clearly defined goal from the outset of the program

is imperative

CASL Opt-In Process Case Study

Post Campaign:• Maintain clean opt-in lists and document how/when

opt-in took place.• Opt-in contacts are gold. Make it worthwhile to stay

on the list.• Track and measure the success of your content by

audience type and create ongoing specific content.

CASL Best Practices

1. Create a policy of how your company is going to interpret and comply with CASL.

2. Designate an individual or team to be responsible for being up-to-date with CASL regulations. As time goes on, they have/will change.

3. Put a process in place to document consent – express or implied – that will be stored for the next 36 months as CASL unfolds.

Email Best Practices

1. Decide how you want to sign people up and the protocol for contacting and asking for consent.

2. Use a real name and clearly identify your company3. Segment your email lists so that you can personalize

and adapt emails by audience type.4. Write a compelling subject line. Keep it simple.

Now for the big test!

@mariewiese

Question

You will get real results from email marketing when you do what?

Answer

Make it personal. Send the right message to the right person at the right time.

Question

What is the most important thing you can do with your email campaigns?

Answer

Make sure it elicits a physical and measurable response. To do this you need the three C’s:• Content• Conversion• Consistency

Conclusion

1. Email marketing has tremendous value to a business but having a clear strategy and email policy in your organization is paramount

2. Use yourself as the litmus test for what you like to receive via email and regulate your email program accordingly – now, later, never.

3. Using a proper email marketing tool tied to your business process will make your program successful.

4. Content is hugely important to results.5. Good email marketing doesn’t just happen. It’s planned

and tested.

Get this presentation at…

http://marketingcopilot.com/2014-rethink-email-marketing-workshop/• Connect with us on LinkedIn…

http://ca.linkedin.com/in/marketingcopilot

• Email…[email protected]

• Follow on Twitter@mariewiese

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