Emerging Email Marketing Trends
Presented by Loren McDonaldSilverpop
April 21, 2009
The New Birthday Wish
Email Has Been Easy “Pickens,” Like…
…But Are We Entering the “Slim Picken’s” Phase?
It Is Up To You
• Evolve to address/ take advantage of market changes
Or…
• Do nothing and see your ROI decline
Agenda
• Trends
• Ingredients for Success
• Q & A
6 Trends Affecting Email Marketers
1. Email Volume Has Exploded
Holiday Email Volume Explodes
…and the Volume Increase Continues
Lands’ End: 20 Emails in 22 Days
Free Shipping20% off
$5, $10 off
2. Emails Are Becoming Undifferentiated
Free Shipping, 20% Off – “So What”
Remember the White Flower Day Sale?
• Was every Thursday, or so it seemed• So when did I shop at Macy’s?• They trained me to only shop on Thursday• Study the subject lines/emails of your competitors• How are your positioned differently?
3. Communication Channels Are Exploding
Advertising is about the only thing that isn’t “social”
Twitter, Facebook, et al R Xplding
Everyone is Joining the Fray
Mobile Devices Are the Norm
4. The Changing Inbox…and Role of Email?
My Recent Inbox Snapshot – Nearly Half Are Alerts/Notifications
Only 1 message was opened …
Except…that I read several of the emails on my Blackberry
Web Browser
PC client
Mobile Client
Same Email… May Be Read In Multiple Environments
Social Network RSS Feed
Web Version
5. Attention Deficit Disorder
From 4 Pages …
… to 140 characters…
6. Email Marketing ROI is still #1
Email’s Future Looks Bright
Email Still Top’s for ROI
Email’s ROI in 2008 was $45.06 for every dollar spent on it,
according to the DMA’s Power of Direct economic
impact study.
…And Email Still Rocks for Business Communications
So What’s A Marketer To Do?
A Few Ingredients for Better Engagement
Stop Using the Ketchup on Your Emails
It is all About the Ingredients
#1: Collect the right data and USE it!
My Expectations:• Birthday wish and/or coupon
• Age-based content/offers• Gender-based content/offers
Now for that haircut, I’d Pay More Than $16!
Loren
What I Get
• No birthday wish
• Content does not reflect age
or gender
No Data/Preferences Collected
Logical Personalization?:
• Gender• Marital status• Age ranges on signup• Wedding anniversary• Significant other’s birth date
2. Use Behavioral Data
Cart Abandonment
Cart Abandonment Reminder Campaign
Big Results after One Month:(compared to all previous email
campaigns)
48% lift Click through rate
129% lift in Net Conversion rate
Accounted for 10.4% of the total revenue from email marketing
while representing only 2.7% of the total email volume.
Purchase Data
3. Create New, High-Value Email Streams
Email That Educates & Sells
Community/UGC Aggregation
Productizing of Emails
• Notifications• Alerts• Reminders• Aggregators• Confirmations• Updates• Closeouts• Invoices• …and more
4. Think ‘Shareworthy’
Sharing is Delicious
Email Share-to-Social
What Makes Content Shareworthy?
• Trustworthiness
• Tribal interests
• Simple and obvious
• Ease of sharing
• Social acumen and adoption of subscribers
• Creates value
• Reward/Incentives
• Good content
#5: Get a Personality
We Like Personalities
Jim Cramer – Mad Money
Keith Olbermann – MSNBC
Woot is a Hoot
Personality is the New Free Shipping
• People want to buy from people –Zappos CEO on Twitter
• Talk to ME
• Entertain me
• Reviews – what others bought
#6: Make It Easy for Subscribers
• Select flights right from the email
• Oakland is my preferred departure
airport
• “Book a flight” links
• Search link
Everything You Need, Without the Images
#7: Welcome Subscribers
Questions to Ponder
1. Are you enabling subscriber choice?
2. Are your emails uniquely positioned relative to
competitors?
3. Are you collecting and USING customer data?
4. Do your emails have personality?
5. Are your emails shareworthy?
6. Are you leveraging email for all it can be?
Do your emails need ketchup?
Q & A• [email protected]• Twitter:
– @LorenMcDonald– @Silverpop
• SlideShare: www.slideshare.net/silverpop• LinkedIn:
– http://www.linkedin.com/companies/silverpop
• Facebook:– Search “Silverpop”