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Email marketing is one of the most
cost effective forms of marketing.
It can reach a large quantity of people
in a short period of time, and
provide real-time results.
the Subscribermail
Email 109 Guide
is a brief, hands-on
guide to the core components of a successful email marketing
program and how Subscribermail offers the services and
technology to meet those needs. From list building to email
delivery, Email 109 provides essential information on the
9 most critical aspects of email marketing.
1
Email Strategy2
Permission and List Building3
Segmentation4
Email Creative5
Email Delivery6
Reporting7
Email Automation8
Analysis9
IntegrationEmail strategy is built around the idea of
creating a comprehensive plan of attack
that ties every element of an email program
into a focused, goal-oriented approach.
Subscribermail offers strategic services and
consulting to help clients develop successful
email marketing strategies.
.
A good
strategy
provides
the foundation for an effective
email marketing program
how
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ubscriber
m
ail
answers
this
need
SErvicES
u Strategic consulting – SubscriberMail’s
consulting services provide the knowledge and experience to help develop effective email strategies. We can develop customized email strategies or work with you to improve existing strategies.
u SubscriberMail’s strategic services can help
grow opt-in email lists, provide in-depth trend analysis to improve overall campaign results, and everything in-between.
u SubscriberMail can help you determine what
email services you really need and then work accordingly to help reach your email goals.
u There is a difference between email tactics
and an effective email strategy.
• Before the process of assembling and deploying an email takes place, objectives and methods must be clearly defined. • Email strategy should constantly be
evolving along with your marketing plan.
u An effective email strategy addresses the
following areas:
• Objectives – What specific business objectives are we trying to achieve? • Audience Segments – How will audiences
be segmented and organized?
• Data Opportunities – What data should be collected and used?
• Message Types – What types of messages will we be sending to different segments? • Message Frequencies – How often should
messages be sent, and in what sequences? • Key Metrics – What defines success, and
how should it be measured?
• Technology – What technology integration is required and how will it be leveraged?
key
areas
to
consider
why
strategy
is
important
u Email strategy helps senders maximize
message impact.
• A strategic approach produces the type of relevant, targeted email messages that recipients are more willing to engage with.
u Email is a reflection of the sender’s
organization.
• A “batch and blast” approach to email marketing can leave recipients with a negative impression.
3
u A strong, healthy list strategy is essential to
the success of an email marketing campaign.
• SubscriberMail does not rent or sell lists so it’s important to create a strategy of opt-in techniques to grow email lists properly. • Operating in the “grey area” when it
comes to list building can result in spam complaints that will affect future messages.
u A permission-based approach to list building
results in a more qualified group of recipients.
• Sending to people who did not request emails often leads to “inactive recipients” that negatively impact percentage-based metrics such as conversion rates.
As email has grown from a one-to-one
communication vehicle to become a staple in
the marketing mix, the industry has fought
against marketers who choose to send
unsolicited mail (SPAm.)
While some marketers would
like to believe recipients are overjoyed to receive email from them, the
reality is that unsolicited email is more often viewed as an intrusion.
We define an email “opt-in” as “the point of email address collection
at which a person has affirmatively requested to be included on an
email list to receive commercial email.” It is Subscribermail’s policy
that we only work with opt-in email marketers—in other words, we
only want our clients to be sending email to recipients who have taken
steps to request those messages.
why
permission
and
PErmISSIon
&
lISt
BuIldIng
u Make effective use of the website
opt-in process.
• Feature an email opt-in prominently on websites.
• Only request information that will definitely be used—only require information that is absolutely essential. • Consider your segmentation strategy – is
a ZIP Code needed for geo-segmentation? Do you want to collect their birthdate? • Preferences – Consider asking subscribers
how often they want to hear from you, and what sort of content they would be most interested in.
u An opt-in has been captured – now what?
• To avoid “accidental opt-ins,” send a confirmation message to new subscribers asking them to reiterate their desire to receive mail (i.e., double opt-in).
• Use a welcome message to make a good first impression, and make clear to new subscribers what they can expect to receive.
u Good content is key to building a strong list.
• Good content makes people more likely to forward a message to a friend or colleague, creating viral growth opportunities.
how
s
ubscriber
m
ail
answers
this
need
SErvicES
u List development – SubscriberMail provides
consulting services that can help build a permission-based email list.
• We can help determine the best place for opt-ins and what information should be collected based on your program’s overall strategy.
u Strategic consulting – SubscriberMail offers
strategic consulting to help develop an email strategy and the appropriate methods to create healthy email lists.
TEchnoLoGy
u opt-in code generator – Our opt-in code
generator automatically creates custom code to place on your website to collect signups.
• This code ensures that opt-ins are properly collected in your SubscriberMail account.
u List imports – SubscriberMail’s technology
allows you to upload lists quickly and securely.
• Duplicate addresses, previous opt-outs and FCC-mandated wireless domains are automatically removed so that a list is clean.
u Unsubscribes are automatically removed.
• We suppress previous opt-outs when sending to lists.
• We can mark email addresses as “global unsubscribes” so they are removed from all lists within your account.
• Recipients who mark a message as spam/ junk are automatically removed from lists.
u Welcome messages can be automated and
sent immediately after someone signs up for a list.
key
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to
consider
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u Segmentation allows you to send targeted content
and messages to the people who really want to receive them.
• Messages can be customized for specific segments
u Segmentation provides valuable audience insight.
• Segmentation can be used to gather important information about how subscribers like to
receive email, when they like to receive it, and the kind of information that interests them.
u Segmentation can lead to measurable
increases in response.
• Recipients are more likely to engage with messages that hold interest for them.
If they’ve been split to receive just the information targeted to their interests,
they will be more engaged than they would with generic content.
Segmentation
is used to divide members of
an email audience into smaller groups based on
pre-defined criteria.
marketers’ ability to segment their
email audience is limited only by the amount of data and technology at
their disposal, making it possible to identify very narrow groups. this
allows email marketers to manage their programs more effectively by
moving away from the “mass” mindset.
Subscribermail’s segmentation technology allows clients to create
data fields assigned to each individual and customize filters based on
those data fields, thereby providing several automated methods to
segment lists.
u There are multiple ways to segment a list,
and all data fields can be filtered. Audiences may be segmented by:
• Geography • Demographics • Job title and function • Purchasing frequency • Monetary spending
u Determine an appropriate sample size
so you’ll avoid over-segmentation or under-segmentation.
key
areas
to
consider
how
s
ubscriber
m
ail
answers
this
need
SErvicES
u Strategic consulting – SubscriberMail can
help determine what data fields can yield the highest results and assist in the creation of filters for segmentation.
• SubscriberMail can segment based on any personal data, recipients’ email activity or historical information.
• The results from those filtered messages can be used to suppress subscribers who are not opening messages, to do A/B split testing for subject lines or creative, or to send specific information to readers who clicked certain links.
• SubscriberMail and its dedicated support team can also recommend and implement segmentation strategies to meet your goals.
TEchnoLoGy
u Geo-segmentation – SubscriberMail’s
geo-segmentation feature groups subscribers together based on their proximity to a
specified ZIP code.
u Filters – SubscriberMail can filter any data
field or historic email activity (open, click, etc.), and combine those filters to create a custom filter.
u Samples – SubscriberMail technology allows
for filters to be customized so that a specific recipient sample can be taken.
• Lists can be split into even segments. • A specific percentage of a list can be split
off to provide an exact sample size. • A sample of subscribers from a certain
ZIP code can be taken to determine buying habits in that area.
• The sender can take advantage of A/B testing for measuring subject line or message performance.
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u Email recipients (on average) keep only eight
brands in their inbox at one time. if you don’t have a strong visual appeal, or content that is relevant to your readers, your messages are more likely to be deleted.
• If your message is being deleted because it isn’t relevant to your subscribers, you are missing opportunities for sales and to further grow your email list.
urecipients receive and view messages in many
different ways.
• From Gmail to Outlook, full screen to preview pane, and with or without images blocked, email must be designed to appeal to a wide variety of recipients.
making email messages stand out has never
been more important, as more companies
venture into the email marketing space.
the typical recipient is dealing with an increasingly crowded
inbox, and might scan an email for a mere 1 or 2 seconds (if at
all). to overcome these challenges, marketers must focus on each
element of
email creative in order to produce messages of the
highest quality. By working with Subscribermail’s team of email
experts, clients can learn the best practices to make the most of
their message creative.
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u Email creative is more than just pretty
graphics. Email creative includes:
• From name – Make it clear to recipients that your message is from an organization they trust.
• Subject line – This is the single most
important factor in whether or not recipients view the content of your message.
• Pre-header – This is the content that displays above the body of the email message—it’s especially valuable when sending to recipients who use a preview pane and/or block images. It is also how many people initially view messages on mobile devices.
• Branding – Making sure your organization is represented appropriately in your messages.
• Design – Using images effectively in a well-constructed layout can make your messages stand out.
• Call to action – Entice recipients to take a desired action as a result of your messages. • Landing pages – Drive email traffic to pages
that reflect the email content that was clicked, and make it easy to take the next step.
u it’s important to determine what is right
for your readers.
• Is there previous data available that gives insight into what they are looking for? If so, implement that information into current creative strategies to increase reader engagement.
u other areas to consider are viral opportunities
and rich media/video.
• Are all of these methods working effectively to create a better reader experience?
key
areas
to
consider
9
how
s
ubscriber
m
ail
answers
this
need
SErvicES
u creative consulting – SubscriberMail creative
consulting is available for assistance in every aspect of the email creative process. We can recommend best practices, tests, template designs, and other consultative services that can help ensure your email creative is working.
u EmailcoMPASS – A SubscriberMail
EmailCOMPASS report can help identify strengths and weaknesses in your email creative.
• An EmailCOMPASS report can help boost recipient engagement by providing actionable insight into why an email message’s creative aspects are not working to your advantage.
TEchnoLoGy
u Templates – SubscriberMail offers custom
master templates that have been designed to comply with best practices and CAN-SPAM regulations while still meeting your needs. Our design team can add visual appeal that will engage readers and create more opportunities for the recipient to connect with your brand.
• We offer the opportunity to create content modules for quizzes/polls, special offers, photos, sign-up forms, and banner ads.
u WySiWyG interface – SubscriberMail
makes it easy for users who do not know HTML to create eye-catching messages using our “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) interface.
u inbox Preview – SubscriberMail can provide
why
delivery
is
important
Even the most well-designed
messages will yield little in the
way of results if recipients never
see them. When
email delivery
is properly
monitored and managed, it can yield huge
dividends.
the cost of undelivered email is enormous and can
result in lost prospects, ineffective and inconsistent marketing, lost
transactions, and lack of communication. Subscribermail maintains
relationships with all major ISPs in order to help resolve client delivery
issues, while placing an emphasis on educating clients on how they
can remain a trusted, reputable sender.
u Delivery is imperative to the success
of your email program.
• If an email is flagged as spam, or doesn’t get delivered, it is a missed opportunity to connect
with customers.
u Poor delivery can negatively impact the
long-term success of email marketing efforts.
• If delivery is not being monitored, there is a lot of damage that could be done to a
sender’s reputation without them being aware of it.
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dElIvEry
how
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ubscriber
m
ail
answers
this
need
SErvicES
u Delivery management – SubscriberMail
handles delivery management so you don’t have to. We provide automatic bounce handling to keep lists clean, and we use the latest technologies for strong ISP relationships.
u Delivery team – SubscriberMail’s delivery
team monitors mailings to identify any potential risks and ensure high deliverability, in addition to monitoring the latest
technologies to continually update our sending system.
u Proactive monitoring – SubscriberMail
monitors your email reputation and alerts you to any changes that may have occurred.
TEchnoLoGy
u Bounce handling – SubscriberMail
automatically removes email addresses that produce a hard bounce, in order to keep lists clean. We can report on all bounces.
u Spamchecker – SubscriberMail is able able
to check messages against several prominent spam filters to identify potential delivery issues prior to deployment.
u Authentication – Recipients and ISPs
use authentication methods to make certain an email message is truly from the origin identified (in order to prevent “spoofing”). SubscriberMail recognizes and accommodates all three major authentication methods:
• Sender Policy Framework (SPF) • Sender ID
• Domain Keys Identified Mail
u Delivery reporting – SubscriberMail provides
comprehensive reporting on delivery activity including bounces and unsubscribes.
u Email delivery is multifaceted and complex.
• ISP or corporate filters could block a message based on poor sender reputation, an unauthenticated From address, and other factors.
• Recipient email clients such as Gmail could block a message based on questionable content or an unfamiliar sender.
• Recipients themselves could block a message based on spam-connected words in the subject line or simply because a message seems irrelevant.
u reputation is king.
• Following reputable email marketing practices is the best way to avoid delivery issues.
key
areas
to
consider
rE
Po
rt
In
g
Email technology provides significant feedback
and data that helps marketers determine the
level of success achieved by their campaigns.
Reports
can
provide information on who is opening email
messages, what they are clicking on, how
results have changed over time, and more.
Subscribermail offers a large number of standard reports, as well as
the ability to build customized reports for measuring all areas of your
email initiatives.
u reporting is used to not only measure the success
of individual campaigns, but to gauge the overall performance of an entire email program or strategy.
• Reports can be combined to show multiple sets of data within a certain timeframe or among
different email segments.
u reporting provides information that can be
utilized to improve results.
• Reports show what people are interested in and as well as what they are not clicking on. • Since they show what is being utilized
and what interests readers, they offer the information that can help build
rEPortIng
u reporting is most effective when email
messages have been optimized to produce reliable, relevant data.
• Be sure all links point to active web pages, and that web analytics have been set up to measure referred email traffic to the point of conversion.
u it is important to look at trends—
not blips—in reports.
• Decisions about email strategy should evolve from what happens over time, not just one instance. Changing an entire email strategy for a one-time occurrence will not be effective in the long run.
u reports can show you what to test in
the future.
• They provide details on what subject lines are more effective, what content is clicked and what calls to action get the best results.
u reports can identify segmentation
opportunities.
• Segment audiences based on open and/or click activity.
key
areas
to
consider
how
s
ubscriber
m
ail
answers
this
need
SErvicES
u consulting and trend analysis –
SubscriberMail strategic services can help you determine the significance of your results, and recommend a proper course of action.
u custom reports – SubscriberMail can create
custom reports to your specifications to get specific information you may be looking for.
TEchnoLoGy
u time reports – SubscriberMail has
real-time reports that get the data you are looking for within moments of a mailing.
• Real-time reports are ideal for reviewing A/B split tests to see various responses.
u Reporting data for important email metrics.
• Total/unique clicks, total/unique opens, hard/soft bounce rates, clicks per
individual link, percent of opens who also clicked a link, and more…
u historical data – SubscriberMail retains
reporting data for all clients for the life of their contract, allowing for easy long-term comparison and trend reporting.
u Automated messages based on user criteria hold
very high relevance to recipients.
• Marketers can deliver timely, valuable communications to recipients who recently
took some desired action.
• Recipients have a higher likelihood of becoming engaged in an email when it is
tailored to them specifically. They allow for recipients to feel that the sender has
a greater understanding of who they are and what they want from their email
messages.
u Automation can assist with list cleansing.
• Reaching out to inactive subscribers at regular intervals can help determine if they should be excluded from future
campaigns.
u Automation allows for potential
sales growth.
• Follow-up email messages can be sent with product offers to
recipients based on their prior
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u Email automation doesn’t mean that you
should be sending messages to recipients more often.
• Messages should be used to build a better relationship with a client and provide information that they want, when it’s most appropriate.
• Recipients are used to receiving emails after they’ve taken action on a site, but marketers must still exercise good judgment.
u Automated does not mean “out of sight,
out of mind.”
• Treat automated message creative with the same care you would give a monthly newsletter—monitor message performance and optimize accordingly. • Check often to make sure any website
changes (pages removed, images renamed, etc.) have not caused issues on automated messages.
key
areas
to
consider
how
s
ubscriber
m
ail
answers
this
need
SErvicES
u Strategy consulting – SubscriberMail can
recommend what automated campaigns are right for your overall goals, and then assist in implementing those campaigns.
• Our client support staff has substantial experience in building automated campaigns for highly successful results. • Strategic consulting can help identify
cross-sell and up-sell opportunities, ideal for automated, behavior-based campaigns.
u Full Service Management – Allow
SubscriberMail to manage your email automation in its entirety.
u custom projects – SubscriberMail can
develop a customized automated email campaign to meet your specific needs.
TEchnoLoGy
u campaign triggers – SubscriberMail’s
technology allows you to set up parameters so that specific recipient actions
automatically send out an appropriate email response.
u Drip campaigns – A series of automated
messages can be set up in the
SubscriberMail platform to deploy to specific recipients at various intervals, such as an event promotion deployed 90/60/30 days prior.
A
n
A
ly
SIS
Analysis
of email marketing
performance is important for
growing and building the overall
program. By taking a deeper
look at the results and trends of messages
over time, you can determine opportunities
for cross selling, list segmentation, content
changes, and other opportunities.
Subscribermail
believes strongly in the short- and long-term benefits of continually
analyzing email strategies and campaigns. doing so allows for
new goals to be developed, and makes it possible to assess where
previous goals were met.
u Analysis allows you to pinpoint trends.
• Reviewing your data can show you the areas of your program that aren’t producing.
• Reviewing also shows the success of an email campaign and where to spend marketing dollars.
u Analysis allows you to discover better
ways to engage recipients.
• The objectives of any long-term email strategy must include a commitment to make changes based on audience response.
u Analysis can be the backbone for further
strategic development.
AnAlySIS
u Take appropriate action based on
insights gained through analysis.
• Just analyzing isn’t enough; you actually need to take that information and do something with it. Changes to message frequency, further segmentation efforts or modifying message creative are just a few examples.
key
areas
to
consider
how
s
ubscriber
m
ail
answers
this
need
SErvicES
u Strategic consulting – SubscriberMail can
help review data collected and analyze email metrics to determine what is working and identify opportunities for improvement. We can then work to further develop efforts to include automated campaigns, creative testing, list cleaning, and implementation of best practices.
u Full service management – We can
eliminate the guesswork by handling data analysis in its entirety on your behalf.
u EmailcoMPASS – A SubscriberMail
EmailCOMPASS report provides a detailed analysis of an email message to create the most effective mailings.
• This in-depth analysis looks at every aspect of an email message; from creative to delivery. An overall score, followed by a personalized strategy session, provides valuable insight into your campaigns.
TEchnoLoGy
u Web analytics integration – SubscriberMail
easily integrates with popular web analytics platforms by appending special tracking parameters to links within emails.
• This allows marketers to analyze the trends and behaviors of the traffic driven to their website(s) via email campaigns. • This practice is ideal for setting up
conversion funnels to identify where in the email-to-conversion process visitors might be dropping off.
u real-time reporting suite – SubscriberMail
displays campaign results almost immediately to allow for instant analysis.
Subscribermail offers several ways for
clients to connect their email program
with other existing sales and marketing
tools in this manner, allowing them to
incorporate systems and functionality
they are already familiar with while
increasing the breadth of their email
program.
the typical email marketer uses a variety of
technologies in their marketing efforts, so
having the flexibility to use these different
technologies in tandem is very important.
Integration
allows different systems—such
as Subscribermail and google Analytics—
to “talk” to and work with one another rather
than operate as separate entities.
IntEgrAtIon
u “Integration” can mean many things to
different people, groups, or technology systems. It’s important to ask clients what exactly they are looking to do, including all different technologies/platforms they are looking to integrate with email.
u Integration makes it easy for members of
an organization to manage elements of an email program without requiring access to the SubscriberMail interface, protecting accounts from inexperienced users.
u Integration with web analytics allows for
true conversion tracking.
key
areas
to
consider
how
s
ubscriber
m
ail
answers
this
need
SErvicES
u Strategic consulting – SubscriberMail can
assist in determining where integration may be possible and most beneficial based on your needs.
u SubscriberMail strategic services can
develop custom workflows that help automate multi-touch and integrated marketing programs.
TEchnoLoGy
u Sophisticated APi (Application
Programming interface) – The
SubscriberMail API allows for outside systems to have a very well-defined protocol by which you can access SubscriberMail’s system functionality.
u Analytics integration – Track visitors to your
site referred by your email campaigns, and gauge the effectiveness of campaigns and identify areas for improvement.
u Social media – SubscriberMail integrates
with AddThis, making it easy to include a share-to-social button within messages. This allows recipients to share message content on a variety of social media networks, such as Facebook and Twitter.
u integration allows for more efficient,
organized email processes.
• CRM systems can be used to manage email subscribers, deploy messages, and view recipient activity.
• Web analytics platforms can be set up to display separate web activity reports for traffic referred from email campaigns.
u integration can be used to enhance
email capabilities.
• Incorporate social media into your campaigns.
• Synchronize data between independent systems.
why
integration
is
important
u Significant expertise and experience
– email industry thought leaders
u Intuitive technology to create and
manage campaigns
u Exceptional customer service and
unlimited phone/email support
u Consulting and strategic web
services – more than just email technology
u Easily integrate into other channels
(through our sophisticated API – Application Programming Interface)
u Proactive approach to ensuring
client success
