Shine Bright In the Inbox This Holiday Season

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MEET YOUR SPEAKERS

Jessica GrewalCustomer Success, BlueHornet

Emily StrasburgEmail Marketing Manager, BlueHornet

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Email has the highest ROI of the 7 marketing channels studied.

2015 DMA Response Report

In 2014, companies were attributing 23% of their total sales to the email marketing channel, compared to 18% in 2013.

Econsultancy

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In which of these ways do marketing/advertising emails influence your purchase decisions? 2015 Consumer Views of Email Marketing, BlueHornet

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4 KEYS TO HOLIDAY EMAIL SUCCESS

Lay a Firm Foundation

Ensure You Get to the Inbox

Shine in the Inbox

Plan for the Aftermath

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4 KEYS TO HOLIDAY EMAIL SUCCESS

Lay a Firm Foundation

Ensure You Get to the Inbox

Shine in the Inbox

Plan for the Aftermath

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49% of consumers polled said that for the upcoming holiday season they will shop online earlier than they did last year.

Pitney Bowes

PREPARE YOUR CALENDAR NOW Identify key holidays

Work backwards to determine timelines

Allow for testing prior

Determine content

Creative/Design

Offers

Secure needed resources

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2014’S TOP DATES FOR

HOLIDAY CONVERSIONS

Thanksgiving

Black Friday

Cyber Monday

Green Week

National Free Shipping Day

Hanukkah

Christmas Eve

Christmas Day

SteelHouse Holiday Guide 2014

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CREATE NEW HOLIDAYS Get creative

Choose content & offers wisely

Leverage fundamental engagement tactics

Be strategic with timing

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PRIME DAY Sales up 93%

Peak order rates surpassed last years’ Black Friday

More users signed up for the service on Prime Day than any other single day

CNN money

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ADDITIONAL PLANNING Pre-holiday initiatives

Acquisition

Win-back

Custom preference

Loyalty

Disaster planning

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DISASTER EMAIL PREP Website traffic overload

Common customer service complaints

Unforeseen login restrictions

Out of stock

Oops emails

Offer mix-ups

Segmentation errors

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4 KEYS TO HOLIDAY EMAIL SUCCESS

Lay a Firm Foundation

Ensure You Get to the Inbox

Shine in the Inbox

Plan for the Aftermath

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WIN-BACK

WIN-BACK CAMPAIGN Launch 2-3 weeks prior to your

most important holiday(s)

Personalize messages

Educate

Incentivize with offers

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CUSTOM PREFERENCE PROMOTION Product categories

Preferred offers

Special mailing lists

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CONSIDER CHANGES TOEXISTING CAMPAIGNS

Win-back

Reactivation

Cart abandonment

Retargeting/browse abandonment

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Start monitoring in August• Domain reputation• IP reputation • Opt outs • Complaints• Bounces

Use inbox monitoring tools to monitor and manage your reputation from a single dashboard.

REPUTATION-DAMAGING ISSUES Increased sending volume

Increased complaints

Decreased engagement

Segmentation errors

Mailbox provider issues

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RAMPING VOLUME No more than 2x normal volume

Depending on volume, begin ramping several weeks in advance of holiday season

Work backwards from end volume goal and time until your send date

Increase volume gradually and consistently to balance increase in complaints

Throttle volume

Work with your ESP’s deliverability team to monitor and respond to issues with bulking/blocking

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4 KEYS TO HOLIDAY EMAIL SUCCESS

Lay a Firm Foundation

Ensure You Get to the Inbox

Shine in the Inbox

Plan for the Aftermath

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SUBJECT LINE: TEST LENGTH Highest read rate: ~61-70 characters

Little to no correlation between length and read rate

Consider devices and your audience

Desktop view: ~ 60 characters

Mobile view: ~ 25 – 30 characters

Leverage snippet text

The Art and Science of Effective Subject Lines, ReturnPath

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75% of our respondents expect personalization based on online purchases or self-reported interests in their profile.

Consumer Views of Email Marketing 2015, BlueHornet

SUBJECT LINE: TEST PERSONALIZATION

Past purchased products

Today Only: 20% Off On All Crew Neck Sweaters

Browse behavior

Take The Tahitian Vacation You Have Been Dreaming Of…

Gender

Buy Gifts For Him: All Men’s Suits Now 10% Off

Location

Fight The Mid-West Humidity With Back to School Deals Near You!

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SUBJECT LINE: TEST OFFERS Allen Edmonds Flash Sale

Up to $200 Below MSRP

Up to 50% Off MSRP

Up to $200 Off MSRP

Higher performing email across all major KPIs

Open Rate

Click-Through Rate

Revenue

Conversion Rate

AOV

RPD

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CATER TO CONSUMER BEHAVIOR Last-minute shopping

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CATER TO CONSUMER BEHAVIOR Heightened stress

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ADD VALUE Become a holiday advisor

Partner with retailer for sweepstakes

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4 KEYS TO HOLIDAY EMAIL SUCCESS

Lay a Firm Foundation

Ensure You Get to the Inbox

Shine in the Inbox

Plan for the Aftermath

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CREATE A HOLIDAY DEBRIEF Document what worked, what didn’t

Analyze and document promotion performance

Reporting on all standard KPIs, most importantly:

AOV

RPE

Inventory what products were purchased most or returned most from an email

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NON-OFFER-BASED EMAILS Focus on relationship

Do not include offer/incentive

Be playful and fun!

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OFFER-BASED Offer something unique

Offer incentive to redeem gift cards online - get that attribution!

Incorporate what you know about subscribers

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EDUCATE AND UPSELL What else do they need?

Accessories

Next logical purchase

Related products/product lines

What do they need to know?

How To's

Tips

Service & Warranty Info

Brand value prop

Learn more from click behavior

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QUICK RECAP

1. LAY A FIRM FOUNDATION Calendars – Get creative with holidays!

Focus on acquisition

Disaster planning

2. ENSURE YOU INBOX Pre-holiday lifecycle programs

Consider existing campaigns

Manage reputation

Ramp volume

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3. SHINE IN THE INBOX Master subject lines

Cater to consumer behavior

Be interactive

4. PLAN FOR THE AFTERMATH Holiday debrief

Subscriber relationship building

Offers and non-offer based strategy

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