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An Experian white paper Smart strategies for email marketing
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Smart strategies for email marketing - Experian · 2013-04-18 · Back-to-School email best practices ... Influencer School prep Peer influence Teens Books ... Back-to-School countdown

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Page 1: Smart strategies for email marketing - Experian · 2013-04-18 · Back-to-School email best practices ... Influencer School prep Peer influence Teens Books ... Back-to-School countdown

An Experian white paper

Smart strategies for email marketing

Page 2: Smart strategies for email marketing - Experian · 2013-04-18 · Back-to-School email best practices ... Influencer School prep Peer influence Teens Books ... Back-to-School countdown
Page 3: Smart strategies for email marketing - Experian · 2013-04-18 · Back-to-School email best practices ... Influencer School prep Peer influence Teens Books ... Back-to-School countdown

Back-to-School countdown 2012

An Experian white paper | Page 1

Table of contents

About this paper ..................................................................................................................2

Rules of thumb for Back-to-School email marketing....................................................3

Back-to-School email campaign timing ..........................................................................4

Timing and revenue .....................................................................................................5

Timing by category ......................................................................................................6

Back-to-School email best practices ...............................................................................7

Sample Back-to-School emails .................................................................................8

Amplify your Back-to-School email campaigns with display ads ............................10

Sample email with display ads ................................................................................ 11

About Experian ..................................................................................................................12

Page 4: Smart strategies for email marketing - Experian · 2013-04-18 · Back-to-School email best practices ... Influencer School prep Peer influence Teens Books ... Back-to-School countdown

Back-to-School countdown 2012

Page 2 | Back-to-School countdown 2012: Smart strategies for email marketing

About this paper

As we noted in 2011, to a large degree, success in Back-to-School

email marketing comes down to timing. When is the best time to start

your promotions?

The answer, we’ve found, lies in what you sell, the age groups your products

are designed for, as well as the student’s geography. The first campaigns can

launch as early as May or June, and then really take off in July!

To write this paper, we studied the Back-to-School email campaigns of 99

brands, grouped into Apparel and Supplies categories. The Apparel category

includes apparel, accessories and department store brands; the Supplies

category includes books, school supplies, furniture and room décor.

We mined through the data and creative executions to identify and share

with you key and emerging trends, compelling strategies, tried and true best

practices, as well as new techniques that can help you amplify your email

marketing efforts.

.

Page 5: Smart strategies for email marketing - Experian · 2013-04-18 · Back-to-School email best practices ... Influencer School prep Peer influence Teens Books ... Back-to-School countdown

Back-to-School countdown 2012

An Experian white paper | Page 3

Rules of thumb for Back-to-School email marketingBack-to-School programs target parents of children entering kindergarten, all the way up to college students.

Age group Products of interest Role in purchase Precipitation purchase

Children (age 6–10)

Books School supplies Apparel

Influencer School prep

Tween Books School supplies Apparel

Influencer School prep Peer influence

Teens Books School supplies Computers Apparel Décor

Influencer/Purchaser

School prep Peer influence

Coeds Apparel Books School supplies Computers Furniture Room décor

Influencer/Purchaser

Moving to school

Observations:

•Start of school varies by region, and nationwide spans a full calendar month. For instance, the 2011–2012 school year began around Aug. 8 for public schools in the South, and around Sept. 8 in the Northeast. Back-to-School promotions, therefore, should have rolling schedules by geography.

•The academic calendar at the college and university level begins earlier than most public schools, making July the better time to market apparel and supplies to coeds.

•In regions where school begins after Labor Day, many families vacation the last week in August. While high out-of-office rates may make the week leading up to the start of school less ideal for some categories, the increased use of mobile marketing, both on phones and tablets, may lead to more shopping during vacations than we have previously seen.

•Retailers report a marked spike in apparel sales after start of school, indicating the influence of peers.

•Emails with offers in the subject line have stronger transaction rates than those without offers. The 2011 transaction rate with offers was 21 percent higher compared to subject lines without offers (0.075 percent with offers and 0.061 percent without offers).

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Back-to-School countdown 2012

Page 4 | Back-to-School countdown 2012: Smart strategies for email marketing

Back-to-School email campaign timingIn 2010, we reported that Back-to-School mailings had started earlier, as evidenced by a greater percentage of mailings delivered in July 2010. Back-to-School transaction rates in 2010 were highest in August, however, so the timing of Back-to-School mailings shifted once again. This time, the percentage of July mailings fell below those last seen in 2009.

More telling, August 2011 mailings accounted for 70 percent of the total email campaigns, a hefty 25 percent increase over August 2010.

August is the month for Back-to-School mailings

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

SeptemberAugustJuly

28%

66%

55%

70%

34%

22%

6%11%

8%

2009 2010 2011

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Back-to-School countdown 2012

An Experian white paper | Page 5

Timing and revenue

Taking a closer look at the timing of the Back-to-School mailings, we found that the first half of August is a critical time period for marketing to parents and other Back-to-School purchasers. The proof is measured in both volume of mailings sent and the revenue those mailings received.

Why the first half of August? Success could be related to a number of factors, including:

•In regions where school begins after Labor Day, families may opt to shop prior to their end-of-summer vacations.

•In regions where school begins in August, brands may be benefiting from the peer-group influenced spike in shopping (children see what peers are wearing and ask their parents for similar items).

This information can be used to drive your messages and offers.

Back-to-School mailing volume and revenue peak in the first half of August

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

2nd half

of

Septe

mber

1st h

alf of

Septe

mber

2nd half

of

August

1st h

alf of

August2n

d half

of July

1st h

alf

of July

4.4%

24.2%

42.7%

0.1%

20.0%

6%

8.6%

% of volume % of revenue

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Back-to-School countdown 2012

Page 6 | Back-to-School countdown 2012: Smart strategies for email marketing

Timing by category

The charts below compare the time of Back-to-School campaigns for the Apparel and Supplies categories.

Both groups launch the bulk of their email campaigns in August. However, the Supplies group launches 9 percent more campaigns in July than Apparel brands. The increase is largely driven by book sellers and companies focused on room décor in response to the earlier start date of universities and colleges.

Apparel Back-to-School volume by month — 2011

July17%

August76%

September7%

Supplies Back-to-School volume by month — 2011

July26%

August66%

September8%

Page 9: Smart strategies for email marketing - Experian · 2013-04-18 · Back-to-School email best practices ... Influencer School prep Peer influence Teens Books ... Back-to-School countdown

Back-to-School countdown 2012

An Experian white paper | Page 7

Back-to-School email campaign best practicesContent

Combinations of style and special offers deliver great results, especially when combined with photos of hot-selling and popular items. Expiration dates on the offers can help to motivate parents to purchase sooner rather than later, and free shipping is always a strong incentive.

Subject lines

References to style and offers are popular in Back-to-School subject lines and can help to generate high transaction rates. Subject lines that delivered strong transaction rates in 2011 include:

•Sneak Peek — Go Back-To-School In Style!

•Reading, Writing, Arithmetic & Shoes!

•FREE Shipping — Today Only! Get Your Back-to-School Shopping Done Today!

•Up to 40 percent Off Just in Time for Back-to-School!

•Back to School: Try a free sample pack on us!

Comparing Back-to-School campaigns with and without offers in the subject line, we found that campaigns with an offer had higher transaction rates than those that did not include an offer.

Back-to-School campaigns with offers in the subject line had 21 percent higher transaction rates

0.00%

0.02%

0.04%

0.06%

0.08%

0.10%

With offerWithout offer

0.06%

0.07%

Page 10: Smart strategies for email marketing - Experian · 2013-04-18 · Back-to-School email best practices ... Influencer School prep Peer influence Teens Books ... Back-to-School countdown

Back-to-School countdown 2012

Page 8 | Back-to-School countdown 2012: Smart strategies for email marketing

Sample Back-to-School emails

Subject Line: Kids Footwear — up to 75% off + Exclusive 20% off Coupon!

•Shoes for both boys and girls let this email hit the spot with both sales and style.

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Back-to-School countdown 2012

An Experian white paper | Page 9

Subject line: Back to School: Try a Free Sample pack on us.

•Well-timed in the first week of August, Keurig notes that it’s not just students who are returning to school. This email entices students, parents and teachers with a free sample pack of coffee to start the school year.

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Back-to-School countdown 2012

Page 10 | Back-to-School countdown 2012: Smart strategies for email marketing

Amplify your Back-to-School email campaigns with display adsNow that your email strategy is set, we suggest introducing another highly effective marketing channel: online display advertising.

Research has shown that the mix of email and display campaigns can boost

Web traffic by a factor of four.1

Structure your marketing campaign to reach your customers and prospects via multiple channels, including email and display. This will significantly improve your reach and increase the effectiveness of your marketing budget. Targeting platforms, such as Experian’s Audience IQSM, can help you accomplish this in a seamless manner.

How does this work?

•Utilize your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) file to determine which segments receive which ads.

•In the meantime, the consumer either: (a) reads your email or (b) doesn’t open your email.

•The consumer receives a display ad while they are surfing online.

(a) If they read your email, the display ad reinforces the campaign message.

(b) If they didn’t open your email, you’ve connected with the consumer via a display ad instead.

1http://www.eyefortravel.com/social-media-and-marketing/comparison-email-and-display-advertising-how-best-spend-online-budget

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Back-to-School countdown 2012

An Experian white paper | Page 11

Sample email with display ad

Integrate the same creative within email and display ads to reinforce your brand’s message. The email conveys the two main messages of “sale” and “backpack” and the display ad reinforces the “backpack” theme.

Left: emailBelow: display ad

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Back-to-School countdown 2012

Page 12 | Back-to-School countdown 2012: Smart strategies for email marketing

About Experian Marketing ServicesExperian Marketing Services is a global provider of integrated consumer insight, targeting , data quality and cross channel marketing. We help organizations from around the world intelligently interact with today’s dynamic, empowered and hyper-connected customers. By coordinating seamless interactions across all marketing channels, marketers are able to precisely plan and execute superior brand experiences that deepen customer loyalty, strengthen brand advocacy and maximize profits.

For more information, please email [email protected].

About Experian Audience IQExperian Audience IQ is a display advertising platform that allows advertisers to seamlessly integrate consumer data to drive targeted advertising. As a full-solution provider of advanced advertising, we enable cost-efficient audience targeting that goes beyond simple demographic and contextual targeting.

With Experian Audience IQ, advertisers don’t need to sacrifice audience quality for reach because we improve advertising effectiveness by reliably delivering an online addressable audience that exceeds millions of consumers. For more information, please email [email protected].

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Page 16: Smart strategies for email marketing - Experian · 2013-04-18 · Back-to-School email best practices ... Influencer School prep Peer influence Teens Books ... Back-to-School countdown

Experian Marketing Services955 American LaneSchaumburg, IL 601731 866 626 6479www.experian.com/marketingservices

©2012ExperianInformationSolutions,Inc.•Allrightsreserved Experian and the Experian marks used herein are service marks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc.

Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

04/2012