1. Email >>
Cut Through the Clutter
& Get Better Results
Presented by:
Penny Greening

2. 5 things you want to know
about this presentation…
1. 45 minutes (including Q&A)
2. Send your questions through GoToWebinar
at any time during the presentation
3. We will answer timely questions during the
presentation and save the rest for Q&A period
4. If we run out of time, additional questions can
be answered through our blog post
5. After the webinar, we will send you a link to the
recording + a PDF of slides presented

3. Marqui’s approach to email
1. Each campaign should support business goals
2. Use analytics to improve future campaigns
3. The rules of email are always evolving,
stay on top of industry standards

4. What We’ll Cover Today
• 3 Reasons To Revisit Your Strategy
• Permission Marketing, List Collection Best Practices
and Spam Reduction
• Writing Subject Lines that Cut Through the Inbox
Clutter (1 of 7 characteristics of an effective email)
• Deeper Segmentation >> Better Customer Relations
• Maximizing Viral Growth >> Email & Social Media
• A/B Split Testing for Improved Campaign Success
• Basics of Campaign Metrics

5. 3 reasons to revisit your
Email Marketing Communications Strategy
Campaign
Growth
Non-Revisited Email Campaign

6. 1 customers own their inbox and are
increasingly less tolerant of “time-wasters”

7. 2 just because email is low cost
it’s only effective if you’re tracking
the customer’s response
Creative is perfect, but results are saying something else?
Ask yourself:
• Are we using campaign metrics to measure success?
• Are we benchmarking against industry standards?
• Did we OFFER something tangible to the customer for
their efforts?

8. 3 you may have lost track
why you’re using email in the first place
“If Search is the Key to Acquisition,
Email is the Queen of Retention.”
Quoting eMarketer Digital Intelligence

9. Customer Retention
through Direct Email
The customer gave you permission to build on your reputation
with them “one-to-one” when they signed-up. You can create
the perception of one-to-one through segmentation. Don’t blow
it with “batch & blast” email tactics. Find ways to segment to
your niche markets.

10. Campaign Success is…..
Reaching & Engaging your Target
• HOW? compelling and relevant subject line, design and
landing page that speaks to the PREFERENCES of your LIST
• WHAT is a LIST? Individual PEOPLE with Thoughts, Feelings
and Needs (remember?)
• WHY care about PREFERENCES once you have their email?
Because the consumer told you what they wanted when
they signed-up and THEY are the masters of their inbox.
• ME-mail

11. What is
Permission Marketing?
It’s a process, not an event.
Marketer’s Assumption:
“They opted-in! Now I can send what I want.”
Reality: You need to ask their permission
• “How often would you like to receive email?”
• “Which one of our (niche) offerings do you want to hear/read about?”
Provide tools to allow for personal preference changes.

13. How Marketer’s see
the Clutter
Web Site In Store
Promotions Promotions
Email Newsprint
CAMPAIGN
Social Media Radio
PPC Mobile TV

14. How Consumers see
the Clutter
Fun &
Health & Fitness
Obligations
Leisure
Work
Friends LIFE
School
Pets
Children Spouses Parents
Housekeeping
Vacation
(Bills, Chores etc.)

15. How is
Permission Marketing
Relevant?
It forces you to ask:
• What does our customer want to know about
our product or service? (VS. What do we want
to tell them?)
• How can we deliver what they want in a way
that’s meaningful to their lives?

16. How Marketer’s Can Use Permission
to Cut through the Clutter
Marketer’s Consumers’
Campaign Preferences
(I asked for that – you listened.)
Channel = Message =
Direct EMail Specific Offer
Relevant to
MY LIFE

17. Permission
Improves response rates and conversions
based on a more
personalized approach

18. List Collection
Best Practices
• Email segmentation begins with
understanding customer preferences
• Remember to provide multiple options with
choices the customer will remember
– Think of Category Subsets you can offer
– Ask their preferred Email Frequency (weekly, bi-weekly)
• Once you have the email, don‘t batch & blast

19. If the consumer doesn’t recall signing up,
they’re more apt to flag your email as SPAM or
assign it to their JUNK FOLDER.
Be memorable and specific to their needs.

20. Timing Isn’t Everything
But It Helps
Day of Week
Monday (now more popular over Tuesday and Thursday)
Time of Day
8am - 10am or 4pm - 6pm
(Avoid high volume times between 10am & 2pm)
Frequency
Follow customers' expectations . Don’t try to guess this.
Remember – it’s a Consumer-Centric ME-Mail space. If you don’t
know, survey them to find out.

21. List Collection
to Reduce Spam Flagging
Opt-In = single click sign-up
Double Opt-In = enhanced permission
based sign-up

22. Canada’s FISA
Bill C-28
FISA | Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act
By September 2011 Bill C-28 is expected to be passed into
Legislature. It requires senders of email within or into Canada to
have, or to obtain, explicit permission from their intended
recipients. Protect your business with proper opt-in and
unsubscribe procedures.

23. The funny thing about
Communications and People
(About understanding Target Audience Needs)
“ Men won't read any email from a woman that's over 200 words long. ”
- Douglas Coupland
(About writing a better Call-to-Action)
“ I don't believe in email. I'm an old-fashioned girl. I prefer calling and hanging up. ”
- Sarah Jessica Parker

24. what does “cut through the clutter”
look like in action?
How do we influence ACT NOW?

25. 7 Characteristics of
an effective email
1. understand & respect target audience needs
2. respect the list
3. subject line has a clear call-to-action
4. compelling content | design best practices
5. test on multiple email ‘clients’
6. enhance tracking with landing & goal pages
7. measure and improve when needed

26. 1. Understand & Respect
target audience needs
Provide subscribers with detailed sign-up
options so they have a clear idea of what they
will receive. Sometimes subscribers drive
complaints because they aren’t receiving the
content they wanted or expected.

27. 2. Respect the list
Don’t “Batch & Blast” and you’ll:
• Build a sense of mutual respect
(Brand Marketer: I understand you… now will you love me back?)
• Lower unsubscribes
• Reduce spam complaints

28. 3.Subject Line has a
clear call-to-action
Ways to Get Noticed
1. Write a compelling Benefit Message
(It’s ME-Mail – think like the consumer)
2. Write a clear Call-to-Action
3. Include the name of your brand
4. Personalize, using first name, whenever possible

29. Email inbox competition is heavy and
consumers OWN their Inbox.
Make the Benefit Message crystal clear in your
Subject Line to optimize your chance of getting
noticed.

30. 4.Contains
compelling content
• General Rule of Thumb | Keep it Simple
• Email creative must align with subject line
• Write for the Customer| What’s the benefit message?
• Is there a sense of urgency in the headline?
• Does the campaign creative embed your overall brand
creative?
• Avoid SPAM triggers: include unsubscribe link and
company contact information
• Add any relevant social media icons and links

32. 5.Test on
multiple mail clients
• Not all email clients display the same
• Test your email for Google, Yahoo, Hotmail,
Outlook (2003, 2010) & Apple Mail
• Be sure to preview the email as it appears
with images turned ON & OFF

33. Outlook Hotmail
Gmail

34. 5.Test on
multiple mail clients
DO DON’T
• Preview email client window panes • Forget you can’t control email client
with images turned off AND on resolution. Vision challenged
• Test multiple email clients customers always have the ability to
“zoom in” and break the layout , but
fortunately as they are causing the
zoom effect, they typically know they
are the cause of this visual effect.

35. 6.Enhance tracking with
landing & goal pages
• Real lead nurturing happens beyond the “read”
• Landing page metrics are more reliable than reads
• The Landing Page is a place used to collect more data
(eg. through forms)
• The Goal Page is a place where the end-goal
transaction occurs (eg. sign-up for other offer, download or
commit to sale)
• A good CMS allows you to connect all of the above into
one campaign and accurately measure the campaign
from release to transactional response metrics

36. 6.Enhance tracking with
landing & goal pages
DO DON’T
• Ensure consistency. The landing page • Collect data on the landing page with no
should apply same call-to-action apparent reward
(copy & design) as email creative • Collect more data than you need or that
• Ideally, make the only clickable area the the consumer will perceive as
call-to-action itself (and the logo “unnecessary” (builds trust)
to return to “home”)
• Supply the opportunity to capture more
data in return for the offer on the
landing page
• Ensure the goal page delivers on the final
offer (free or paid download, etc.)

37. 7.measure & improve
when needed
If you don’t have a benchmark it’s difficult to
measure success.
Improve existing results incrementally:
Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Repeat

38. Deeper Segmentation
• In email marketing relevance drives success
• Smaller, more targeted lists perform better
• Tap into your data sources
• Making your emails more relevant allows
customer to feel heard and drives engagement
• If you don’t segment your data now, think about
ways you CAN

39. Deeper Segmentation
Campaign
Batch & Blast Method Segmented Method
Personalized / Unique
Generic Message
Messages
(to: single list)
(to: various sub-lists)
MY Preferences were
Less Relevant to ME
considered

40. Deeper Segmentation
through Drip Email
• Helps you to further classify your segment based
on actions & preferences which they aren’t
TELLING you about, but they’re DOING
• Allows you to automate campaigns based on
intervals:
– Timed
– Specific response (eg. Click-through activity or web downloads)

41. Drip Email & Lead Nurturing
Automated through Marqui
Email Campaign
Email #1 Landing Page Goal Page
Customer
Ideal
Call-to-action Action Taken Conversion
Ready to Convert Complete or Ready
for Opportunity
Funnel
Nurturing
Customer
Requires
Email #2 Email #3
Reminder after They abandoned the
1 week campaign at the
landing page and
didn’t convert…

42. Maximizing Viral Growth
eMail & Social Media
“The combination of social and e-mail is significantly
more powerful than either channel on its own.”
- Kristen Hersant, Director of Corporate Marketing, StrongMail,
in an interview with eMarketer, February 2010
Referencing eMarketer Digital Intelligence, White Paper
on “Maximizing the E-Mail/Social Media Connection”

43. eMail & Social Media
• 63% of social media users used the same email address
for permission e-mail and social network sign-on.
• Even though there are practical and conceptual
differences between the two marketing channels, there is
a direct link in the minds of consumers.
Referencing eMarketer Digital Intelligence, White Paper
on “Maximizing the E-Mail/Social Media Connection”

44. Social, Email or BOTH?
• Consumers need e-mail to use social media sites as this is
where they receive notifications. Frequent social network
users tend to be more frequent e-mail users. These same
inboxes, in most cases, are the ones Marketer’s are trying to
reach.
• Promote your social media presence in your e-mail marketing,
by including Facebook or Twitter logos that link directly back
to your profile page, or ask e-mail recipients to become fans
or followers.
Referencing eMarketer Digital Intelligence, White Paper
on “Maximizing the E-Mail/Social Media Connection”

45. A/B Split Testing
for Improved Campaign Success
• Classic Direct Mail tactic to test variables of a
marketing piece to determine what’s working
and change what’s not.
• Variables tested focus on design elements:
call-to-action placement | images | colour | layout

46. A/B Split Testing
for Improved Campaign Success
WHICH TEST WON?

47. The Basics of Campaign Metrics
STARTS
Open/Read Click-Through
Goal Page Landing Page
(Converts to Sale,
Download, Survey
Response, etc)
ENDS

48. Types of Open Rates
Each Email Service Provider calculates OPENS
based on different settings. The basic
differences are:
• % opened based on # of emails delivered
• % opened based on # of emails sent
Some calculate open rates only after REMOVING
emails that bounced.

49. What does Open/Read REALLY mean?
• ESP’s use an invisible tracking image
• If Recipient’s browser or email client displays
the email on the screen, even if only for an
instant, it’s labeled a READ by tracking
standards
• Thus, it’s not a true measure of engagement
with your email
• Click-through’s and Conversions are more
authentic and reliable metrics

50. What’s a Good Click-Though Rate?
For Email Campaigns 10%
• With proper opt-in, email should be at least 10% CTR
• The most successful campaigns are those that are
highly targeted and can see results of 20% CTR
• Direct to consumer mailings are typically lower than
direct to business customer CTR’s
• CTR is not a game that one wins, but one that
requires constant work and improvement.
Source: Friedbeef.com

51. Calculating Cost-per-Click
For 10,000 emails sent in 1 campaign
HUMAN COST
Web Editor |1 hour at $60/hour = $60
Graphic Designer | 3 hours at $75/hour = $225
Total Human Cost = $285
TECHNOLOGY COST
Hosting (Landing Page), CMS License + Email Delivery = $542.50*
CAMPAIGN COST = $285 + $542.50 = $827.50
CPC =
If your 10,000 emails received 1,000 clicks (CTR of 10%)
your Cost Per Click is $827.50/1000 or $0.83
*Technology Cost sample pricing based on Marqui Campaigns Express. $13,000 annually /26 campaigns a year
(with a campaign delivery rate, for this particular campaign, once every 2 weeks) = $500/campaign. PLUS
100,000 emails/month package at a rate of $425/10 = $42.50. Thus: $827.50.

52. Summary of “Cut Through the Clutter”
• Revisit Email Marketing Strategy (Quarterly or Bi-Annually)
• For Better Response Rates:
– Understand customer needs
– Get permission before you send
– Personalize content (starting with the Subject Line)
– Segment your list by
• Preferences (which they share with you on sign-up)
• Actions (which can have automated “custom” responses)
• Incorporate Your Social Media Channels
• Test Your Assumptions About What Works (A/B)
• Use Campaign Metrics to
– Gain Insights
– Increase Value of your Email Marketing Spend

53. Thank You! Web Design Trends
Summary of 2011
1. HTML 5 andblog at http://www.marqui.com/blog
Follow our CSS 3
2. Using typography as a design element
Follow us on Twitter @Marqui_CMS
3. Editorial-style layouts
4. Minimalist layouts and color schemes
5. Large and interactive website headers
Contact me!
6. Link-rich footers
PennyMobile compatible websites
7. Greening, Key Account Manager
8. Wide layouts
penny.greening@marqui.com
9. Full image backgrounds
604.484.8541