Epsilon retargeting june2011

epsilon.com

June 2011

STRATEGY AND ANALYTICS / TARGETING / CREATIVE / TECHNOLOGY / DIGITAL

THE RISE OF EMAIL RETARGETING

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 3

What is Email Retargeting? 4

How Email Retargeting Works 5

Use Case 6

Attributes of Email Retargeting 7

Reinforce the Message 7

Drive Lift in Conversion 7

Acquire New Customers 8

The Future of Email Retargeting 8

Best Practices 8

2 epsilon.com


INTRODUCTION

In the age of instant communication, marketers understand the importance of email marketing. Email plays an increasingly important role in the online media mix. However email does not have to exist within a silo. It can be a critical link that bridges the gap between offline and online communications. That “bridge” helps reinforce triggers from other channels and lets consumers become more deeply engaged in a brand’s message.

As inboxes grow more cluttered than ever before, businesses are searching for relevant ways to reach customers beyond traditional email messages. And now, marketers have a new opportunity to deeply engage with email openers to synchronize the customer experience and data across multiple channels via Email Retargeting.

3 epsilon.com


Your Customer File

IncorporateLearnings

EnhanceProfiles

Prospect withIncreased Knowledge

and Add Scale

TestNew Segment

1. Start with customer files and use the information you have available.

2. Take inventory of the data that might be missing, such as a Zip Code or other demographic information to enhance customer profiles in order to optimize targeting efforts.

3. Test new segments for online display and email retargeting to see what works best for you.

4. Leverage Email Retarget-ing campaign results to find new prospects and increase acquisitions.

5. Incorporate key learnings and repeat the process.

Email Retargeting - Key Part of Evolution of Marketing Process

WHAT IS EMAIL RETARGETING?

Epsilon’s Email Retargeting tool connects email with targeted display ads to consumers who opened an email message, but did not respond. Using Epsilon’s email management platform and a leading-edge digital predictive optimization platform from partner X+1, marketers can leverage customer data and lists from current email campaigns to deliver targeted display media in real-time.

With Email Retargeting, marketers can expand their post email campaign capabilities by targeting customers that are minimally engaged and reinforcing the message behind the campaign.

“Email retargeting and other forms of targeting let marketers reach specific audiences, and only those audiences, with a uniquely relevant message, eliminating waste and driving performance,” said Eric Stein, Executive Vice President, Online Solutions, Epsilon.

“Well-timed and coordinated emails have always been an effective way to reinforce messages to customers when they have performed the marketer’s desired action,” Stephano Kim, President and Chief Operating Officer, X+1, an online targeting platform company, said. “An example would be the thank you email sent to a customer after they have made a purchase or signed up for a service. Email Retargeting enhances both the number and breadth of actions that can be tracked and used as triggers for email follow up. Also, display advertising served as part of Email Remarketing can also provide valuable additional touches to a customer who has engaged with the brand through email.”

4 epsilon.com


http://www.xplusone.com/

5 epsilon.com


HOW EMAIL RETARGETING WORKS

Email Retargeting involves implementing a tag or code into a client’s outbound email before the email is delivered to the recipient. When the subscriber opens the email a cookie is dropped on the browser enabling the marketer to target that person with a display ad.

By placing a cookie on the browser, marketers can identify and reach users with display advertising on the Web. The ads they deliver can either relate to the content of the email, or can be personalized based on the data in the email file.

“Marketers using Email Retargeting can easily reinforce the email message in the display channel by repurposing the creative, creating recognition from one channel to the other,” Mike Lund, Vice President Online Product Sales Specialist, Epsilon, said.

Marketers can replicate images from emails they send to subscribers through email retargeting like in the example email newsletter shown above.

Marketers can repurpose their email creative by dropping a similar banner ad on a webpage to reinforce the messaging like in the example email newsletter shown above.

Or marketers can create a similar banner ad based on the consumer’s preferences, purchase behavior and locality.

6 epsilon.com


USE CASE

XYZ Airlines, a new airline committed to bringing comfort and style to its passengers, builds its brand and markets through two major channels —direct mail and the Internet—approached Epsilon to help drive lift in its online conversion rates.

Epsilon helped XYZ Airlines implement an Email Retargeting program. When a member of XYZ’s email subscriber audience received an email and opened it but took no further action, a cookie was dropped on the subscriber’s web browser. This enabled XYZ to find their customers online while they were browsing the Web and serve them relevant display ads that reinforced the message of the email.

As a result, the Email Retargeting effort created awareness, kept the brand top of mind with email subscribers, and ultimately led to increased conversions.

The Email Retargeting Process

Your Ad Here

When a member of your target audience visits a website, we identify them

and display your ad

Epsilon Inserts Tag Into Email

Email openers have a cookie placed that enables

display campaign

Epsilon places your ad to your target audience

on ad exchange with DSP

1 2 3

ATTRIBUTES OF EMAIL RETARGETING

Email Retargeting offers marketers a number of benefits. In addition to extending the reach of a campaign, the strategy helps businesses increase customer lifetime value to boost ROI for email and display.

Reinforce the MessageEmail Retargeting strengthens relationships with customers after an email is opened and drives transactional revenue. For example, a women’s apparel retailer may devised a two-week-long campaign around spring shoes. That retailer could use existing creative from the email and incorporate it into a display ad and later change the creative with a different image to freshen up the message.

“With core customers, email retargeting helps deepen relationships by reinforcing specific brand messages,” Stein said. “For example, a known consumer may visit a site and perform some behavior that triggers an email. If the consumer opens that email, further demonstrat-ing engagement, the marketer can continue to engage that consumer with a consistent mes-sage though display advertising tied to the message of that email.”

Email Retargeting also helps companies maintain awareness with their core customer base.

“By using email to build a cookie pool over time, a marketer will have a scalable universe of core customers to engage with any message that may be relevant to individual segments of that base or the entire population,” Stein said.

Drive Lift in ConversionWhile marketers struggle to entice email recipients to open a message and spur a sale, standard emails can only go so far to drive conversions. Yet the combination of a well-crafted email and display ads can do wonders to drive lift.

“Email Retargeting gets results,” Lund said. “It’s all about reinforcing your email messages to existing customers and it’s transforming the industry.”

“For example, clients reported an average of a 20% to 40% lift in conversion when using Email Retargeting over email alone,” Lund said. “That’s not all. A financial services company said a typical weekly email-only campaign resulted in a 3% conversion rate. But when layered with Email Retargeting, the email program conversion rate increased to 5% over the same one-week period between email deployments.”

7 epsilon.com


Acquire New CustomersMarketers that use Email Retargeting can use their knowledge of existing customer segments to develop look-a-like models to acquire new prospects. Using its exclusive partnership with X+1, Epsilon can help marketers increase the scale of an engaged audience by targeting new customers based on pre-existing web profile data.

“Time and again we’ve seen marketers struggling to get more qualified customers in the top of the funnel. Their email efforts are effective so they start Email Retargeting and then they ask, ‘What next?’ Look-a-like modeling is the answer,” Kim said. “With modeling you uncover the characteristics of your best customers and can use that insight to cast a wider net in display media to acquire new, qualified prospects.”

THE FUTURE OF EMAIL RETARGETING

While Email Retargeting is in its infancy, Epsilon experts see a bright future ahead. One of the few barriers that remain to its full-scale adoption is determining which department—email or display—should have oversight over its implementation and budget expenses. For now, Lund said the expense is a shared entity.

“Over the next year, Email Retargeting is going to be widely adopted as part of a standard email marketing best practice,” Lund said. “Email Retargeting is transforming the industry. It is a whole new acquisition channel that is relatively untapped at this point.”

BEST PRACTICES

Marketers considering Email Retargeting should review the following best practice tips to ensure successful campaigns:

• Be strategic about your email segmentation and your intended audience.

• Maximize the number of emails you have. If you only have a postal address for customers, append email addresses to expand customer relationships to multiple channels.

• Deliver consistent messaging and content to reinforce the email communication across the display channel and leverage that message across the email, display, and site channels to create a cohesive multichannel approach.

• Get started and build your universe of targetable customers.

• Avoid duplicative, siloed efforts in the display and email channels and get the teams working together on an initial coordinated campaign

For more on Email Retargeting, visit Epsilon’s website.

8 epsilon.com


http://www.epsilon.com/Email_&_Digital_Solutions/Online_Solutions/TargetDisplay_&_Email_Retargeting/p1110-l3

Epsilon Corporate Headquarters4401 Regent Boulevard Irving, TX 750631-800-309-0505

[email protected]

epsilon.com


Epsilon retargeting june2011

Technology