How to Use Competitive Intelligence to Understand Email Best Practices

HOW TO USE COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE TOUNDERSTAND EMAIL BEST PRACTICES

March 22nd, 2011

WebinarWebinar

Dial-in telephone: +1 (805) 309-0021Access code: 354-276-474Webinar ID: 651-465-257

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BEFORE WE GET STARTED…

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Today’s webinar is moderated by:

Vicky OxleyVice-President of Services

WhatCounts

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TWEET!Twitter about the webinar using #whatcounts

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@WhatCounts

@eDataSource

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Moving forward as a rebranded WhatCounts using theWhatCounts robust and flexible technology.

We have a much larger foot print, with offices in Atlanta,Washington D.C., Seattle, and Sydney, Australia

Team members will be able provide more resources andopportunities for our clients and partners.

We will be able to better maximize our customers’revenue opportunity while improving production efficiencyand reducing cost.

Union reinforces our commitment to a culture focused oncustomer service and satisfaction

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One of the only ESPs with flexible deployment options includingSaaS, On-premise appliance (Broadcaster), and ManagedServices.

Dedicated account model with a history of commitment toexemplary customer service.

Campaign Production Services – our team members are able tohelp you implement best practices on a daily basis.

Full Video and Social Integration.

Long list of marquee clients include Costco, Alaska Airlines,MSNBC.com FOXNews, Pandora, Virgin America, Ziff DavisEnterprises, AARP & NEA

Proud of its customer focus and 90%+ customer retention rate.

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Speaker:

Carter NicholasCEO, [email protected]@eDataSource

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AGENDA

• Introduction to eDataSource & Competitive Intelligence• Creative Inspiration: Going out on a Limb vs. Tried and True• Frequency and Segmentation: Norms by Market Sector• Opt-in and Preference Center Comparisons• Partnerships in Email Marketing• Email and Social Integration• Q&A

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EDATASOURCE: QUICK INTRODUCTION

• eDataSource (formerly Email Data Source) was founded in2004 and is the leading provider of competitive intelligence foremail and social media.

• We monitor email campaigns, tweets and facebook postscovering 25,000 brands.

• Through EDS Analyst, clients have access to millions of emailcreatives and analytics organized by brand, company andmarket sector

• eDataSource’s panel of 750,000 inboxes provides informationon the reach, inbox placement (and, coming soon open-rates)of campaigns.

• Clients include advertising agencies, email marketers andemail service providers.

• Blog: blog.emaildatasource.com

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Internal resources & my inbox Agency Email Service Provider Competitive intelligence source A combination of the above

What resources do you turn to forcreative inspiration and feedback oncampaigns?

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SHOULD YOU GO OUT ON A LIMB OR STICKWITH TRIED AND TRUE?

• The answer is that you can try new ideas without going out ona limb.

• Email is a very risky medium. There are all kinds of pitfalls.• By using competitive intelligence you can mitigate the risk of

trying new subject lines by seeing what others have done.• You can also look at historical data to determine whether

competitors stick with or abandon campaign ideas.

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EXAMPLE: A “RISQUE” SUBJECT LINE

• Shoe retailer considering using term “nude” in subject line…• Historical search back through 2007 shows 3750 campaigns

with “nude” in subject line– 95% of which are in entertainmentsector

• But brands in the footwear space have used term “nude”

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NINE WEST’S “NUDE” EMAIL CAMPAIGNS

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“St. Patrick’s” “St. Patty’s” “St. Paddy’s” Some other term to reference St. Patrick’s day

If you were to do a campaign onMarch 17, which term might youuse?

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ST. PATRICK’S? ST. PATTY? OR ST. PADDY?

St. Patrick’s –79%

St. Patty’s –16%

St. Paddy’s –5%

Historical search of Subject Lines back through 2004 Shows:

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TRIED AND TRUE CAMPAIGNS: L.L. BEAN

Dec. 26, 2010

Dec. 28, 2010

Dec. 26, 2009

Dec. 29, 2009

Dec. 26, 2008

Dec. 30, 2008

Dec. 26, 2007

Jan. 2, 2008

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TRIED AND TRUE CAMPAIGNS – LANDS’ END

Dec. 26, 2010

Dec. 29, 2010

Dec. 26, 2009

Dec. 29, 2009

Dec. 26, 2008

Dec. 29, 2008

Dec. 28, 2007

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Once a Month Once a Week Every 2-3 Days Every Day Rarely or Never

How Often do you send a singlecampaign to your entire list?

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FREQUENCY AND SEGMENTATION BY SECTOR

• What is the appropriate frequency for sending emailcampaigns?

• Balance between revenue maximization and getting tossedinto junk folder

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RED ENVELOPE INBOX PLACEMENT JAN-FEB

Sudden jumps in frequency of campaigns can overwhelmusers and cause negative reaction from ISP’s

InboxPlacement:

Heart Burn

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SEGMENTATION - VISTAPRINT

• During the last thirty days, 400 campaigns with reach between25,000 and 14 million recipients out of total list size of 19MM

• Shopping cart reminders to personalized offers to major blasts.

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Yes No

Do you have an email preferencecenter?

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RISE OF THE PREFERENCE CENTER

• We searched 100,000 unique email campaigns for keyphrases in January 2010 and January 2011

• Some campaigns use different phrases or more than onephrase, or use images instead of phrases

Phrase 2010 2011 Y-O-YChange

Unsubscribe 52% 64% 23%

“email preferences” 2% 3% 50%

“preference center” 0.2% 0.3% 50%

“update your preferences” 1% 1.2% 20%

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1. NY Times: emailingarticle requiresregistration.

2. USA Today does notrequire registrationto email articles

3. NY Times: at bottomof each article E-mail alerts areoffered, alsorequiring registration

4. USA Today onlyoffers alerts atbottom of web page.

OPT-IN & PREFERENCES – NY TIMES & USA TODAY

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NY Times: Onlyinformation required forregistration is emailaddress and password.

On registration page NYTimes promotes FreeNewsletters.

NY TIMES - REGISTRATION

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USA TODAY – REGISTRATION

USA Today: Requiresmultiple fields:

• username

• gender

• year of birth & zip

• work information

All fields required

Newsletter sign up is aseparate process onlyshown in footer of webpages.

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EMAIL CONFIRMATION – NY TIMES AND USA TODAY

Both NY Times and USAToday require emailconfirmation (doubleopt-in)

This is important to keepinbox placement high

In 2009USA Today didnot require emailconfirmation and had10% lower inboxplacement than NYTimes

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NY Times: My AccountPage also serves asemail preferencemanagement center

NY TIMES – MY ACCOUNT

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USA TODAY – MY ACCOUNT

USA Today: My Accountpage requests moreprofile information.

Email newsletters andpreference center notfeatured.

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NY TIMES & USA TODAY - CONCLUSIONS

• Promoting newsletters at end of each article and with the “sendarticle” feature

• Integrating email preference center into My Account Page• Making registration easy but requiring double opt-in

30 Day EmailReach

Avg. newslettersrec’d per user

InboxPlacement

New York Times 4.86 million 75 per month 83.21%

USA Today 1.03 million 34 per month 87.26%

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PARTNERSHIPS IN EMAIL MARKETING

• Marketers significantlyextend their emailmarketing reach throughpartnerships andadvertising relationships

• Sample email at left showsCNET promotion of Netflixand Amazon.

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PARTNERSHIPS IN EMAIL MARKETINGMarketer Standalone email

reachMost frequentpromoters

Added Reach

Amazon 39.8 MM Cnet, Arcamax,Sony Pictures

19.9 MM

Netflix 28.4 MM Aadvantage,MyPointsDelta

33.6 MM

Reuters .4 MM NY Times,Smartbrief, Slate

8.5 MM

Vistaprint 19.6 MM Arcamax,Geeks.com,MyPoints

30.4 MM

• Not all partners are equal. Bad partners can damage brand anddeliverability.

• Monitor IP reputation and inbox placement of partners.

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SOCIAL MEDIA INTEGRATION

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Advice on email creatives and subject lines Frequency of email sends and segmentation of companies in my sector Reach and inbox placement data for companies in my sector Information on opt-in practices and preference centers Information on who my competitors are partnering with Email and Social Media integration: who is doing what

Would you be interested in hearingmore from WhatCounts andeDataSource about any of thefollowing:

Q & A34 [email protected]

Next Webinar“Sell More With Social”

Tuesday, April 5th

10:30 AM Pacific / 1:30 PM Eastern

Featuring Aaron Biddar,E.V.P. Sales & Marketing, ThePort

More Info To Come Shortly

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Contact Carter Nicholas:

CEO,eDataSource

[email protected]

@eDataSource

212 514-8900

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Contact Us

WhatCounts, Inc.315 5th Avenue South, Suite 800Seattle, WA 98104800-440-7005www.whatcounts.comTwitter @[email protected]

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