“One to One’s deep experience serving travel-related brands provide us with unique insight into critiquing and designing engaging promotional email,” said webinar presenter Dr. Philip Rhodes, Managing Director for OTOinsights. “In this webinar we’ll be visiting the State Tourism Agency websites for all fifty states and then signing up for email; then offering expert analysis of the emails we receive over the following ten-day period.”

1. August 26, 2010 Promoting America State by State: Email Expert Review of Fifty State Tourism Agencies

2. Dr. Philip Rhodes, Ph.D. Philip holds a Ph.D. in Information Design from the University of Portsmouth. He has extensive research and teaching experience in hypermedia design and information architecture. He speaks fluent Portuguese, having lived and worked in Brazil. Before joining OTOinsights, he worked with US solution providers Rare Medium and Sapient, as Director of Information Architecture. Specializing in offering user-centric online solutions within the banking, education, and telecommunications sectors. He also taught at several universities in Brazil and the UK, and has been widely published. Philip is both the Managing Director and the Director of Customer Experience Research & Design at OTOinsights, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Managing Director & Director of Research

3. Agenda

4. OTOinsights Overview

5. Established in 1997, One to One Interactive is the first global enterprise to assemble a complete solution for brands, agencies, and publishers executing one-to-one marketing strategies. The company employs over 140 professionals in 7 offices located in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. One of the 20 “Hottest Independent Digital Firms” Globally AdAge, 2007 One of the Fastest Growing Private Companies Inc Magazine, 2008

6. OTOinsights OverviewEstablished in 2002, OTOinsights has conducted over 400 research project in over 30 countries.Specialists in neuromarketing and customer experience strategy, research and design.Undertake discrete point-in-time projects and strategic engagements.Experience across all platforms including digital (e.g. web, intranets, mobile devices, PDA’s, i-TV, etc.), call centers, retail environments and physical products (e.g. laptops, printers, etc.)OTOinsights Offerings:Amplifying Engagement

8. Pre-Cognitive Neurological Engagement

9. Cognitive Emotional Tagging

10. Usability Testing

11. Focus Groups

12. In-Depth/Paired Interviews

13. Online Surveys

14. Expert Evaluations

15. Accessibility Audits

16. Ethnographics

17. Research/Tracking

18. Socially Informed/ Multi-Channel Personas

19. Engagement Mapping

20. Cultural Anthropology

21. Trend Spotting

22. User Needs Analysis

23. Information Architecture

24. User Scenarios

25. Behavioral Use Cases

26. Feature Matrix

27. Wireframes

28. Site Maps

30. PART 1 | Context: The US travel landscape

33. US study (July 2010)

34. 1,469 million domestic leisure travelers in 2009

35. 54.9 million international visitors in 2009

36. $610 billion spent by domestic travelers

39. 90 million US residents used the Internet to plan travel in the past year

40. Sites visited include:

41. Destination websites

42. Travel Agency websites

43. Travel company websitesIncreased use of the Internet has led to significant decrease in the number of calls to state and local tourism offices

45. The ‘open rate’ for travel related emails is relatively high (approximately 13%, with click-through date of 3%). More so than e-commerce, insurance, technology and government emails.

48. 2 experienced customer experienced consultants

49. Independently reviewed US state travel sites and e-newsletters

50. Focus

51. Ease of finding link to sign-up

52. Information required to sign-up

53. Timeliness of email response

55. 36/53 sites had a link to sign-up on the homepage

56. 7/53 had links on deeper pages

57. 10/53 had no e-newsletter

58. 23 sent email confirmation

59. Only 3 sent the current e-newsletter within 24 hours

62. Is the sign-up available from the homepage

63. Is it possible to enter ‘sign-up’ details on the homepage

64. No additional information required to sign-up e.g. postal address, annual income, etc.

65. Can the user customise the newsletter to their areas of interest

66. Is there is a clear confirmation page

67. Is the user informed what will happen next

70. Sign-Up Process: The Best

72. Only an e-mail address is required

73. No unnecessary information is requested

74. Users are able to create an account which will provide them with access to further features

76. The user is provided with more information regarding the e-newsletters

77. The look and feel of the confirmation email is consistent with the website, with a clear Texas logo

79. Only name and email addressare required

80. It is clear that the Zip Codeis not mandatory

81. Users are able to select their interests in order to customise the email newsletter

83. Users are informed that they will receive an email confirmation

84. Confirmation email received immediately

86. Users are informed of the benefits of subscribing

87. Ability to enter email address on the homepage

88. The user is able to personalise the e-newsletter by checking the relevant boxes

90. Users informed about thecontent of the e-newsletters

91. The option to unsubscribe is provided

92. Email confirmation sent

93. List of interests selected during sign-up

95. Clear heading on the sign up page

96. Clear indication of frequency of e-newsletters

97. Ability to view archived newsletters before subscribing

100. Clear heading on the sign up page

101. Users are able to select specific interests

102. However these are limited to ‘up to three’ and selection method not intuitive

104. Users provided with a link to view the latest e-newsletter

105. Immediate email confirmation sent

106. However, users are required to confirm subscription by clicking on a link in the email

109. However it is hidden through use of poorly contrasting colours

110. Users are asked a lot of unnecessary questions, including:

112. The user is referred to by the screen name rather than their own name

113. The ‘save changes' link has no purpose for users that have just subscribed

114. Required to confirm via email link

116. However link is hidden due to small font and not accompanied by an icon

117. Account creation required

118. ZIP code is mandatory

121. However, lots of mandatory information required in order to subscribe

122. e.g. address, password required, ‘how did you hear about us?’

124. However a delayed email was received 5 minutes later requesting confirmation by clicking on a link

127. Broken link in the centre of the page – it does not do anything

128. Right column ‘email entry’ field works correctly

129. However there is no confirmation page, just a message which appears in the right column

131. However link is below the fold of the page

132. Once the user clicks ‘subscribe’ they are returned to the top of the page without any indication that anything has changed

133. Only if the user scrolls down will they realise that they have completed the subscription

136. Are links to the site provided and are they clear

137. Are links provided to social networking sites

138. Is the e-mail personalised

139. Is there a specific and catchy subject line

140. Is there an option to unsubscribe

141. Is a real address, phone number or other similar details about the sender provided

144. E-mail Newsletters: The Best

146. The logo is a link to the website

147. The social media links are prominently displayed at the top of the page

149. The images are large and excellent quality

150. Contact information is clearly provided at the bottom of the page

152. The aesthetic is visually appealing and consistent with the main site

153. The social media links are clearly displayed at the top of the page

154. Contact information is clearly provided

156. The ‘play’ icon reaffirms that the link will take the user to a video

157. Consistent look and feel to the website

158. Logo provides a link to the site

160. The unsubscribe option is located at the bottom as would be expected by users

162. Branding is consistent with the site

163. The sections are well divided and the colour contrast aids page scanability

165. There are social media links both to share the newsletter and take the user to the Kentucky Tourism social networking pages

167. The logo is a link to the website

168. The layout and visual style of the newsletter is clean and it is simple to scan through

169. Each of the headings is a link to the related article

173. The link to ‘see online version’ leads to an error page

174. Lack of a visible link to the website

175. No links to social networking sites

177. There is no option to unsubscribe from the newsletters

178. There are no contact details provided

181. ‘In this issue’ links take the user to what appears to be the full version of the newsletter

182. However, ‘hot deals’ leads to a different page

184. The newsletter is very text heavy, especially on the second half of the page

186. There is a link to ‘subscribe’ at the top of the page

187. No links to social networking sites are provided

188. ‘Opt out’ is not visible and another link to ‘subscribe’ is positioned at the front of the footer

190. The option provided to unsubscribe is labeled ‘instant removal’

191. The text ‘instant removal’ does not look like a link

194. Sign up should be located towards the top of the page (at least above the fold)

195. Should be accompanied by an image or icon e.g. an envelope to draw attention

196. Ensure sign-up requires minimal data entry e.g. name and email address

199. Provide a ‘select all’ tick box or ‘general newsletter’ opt in

200. Provide a link to the latest newsletter or an archive so that users know what to expect before subscribing

202. Ideally include a clear, separate confirmation page with different content

203. Include a clear thank you message on this page

205. User should not need to ‘reconfirm’ the subscription

206. Ensure consistency with site i.e. branding and logo, etc.

207. Include information about newsletters e.g. frequency and type of content

208. Include a link back to the website

209. Include a link to unsubscribe

211. Ensure consistency with the site in terms of branding e.g. logo, layout, etc.

212. Include links to the site and ensure that they are clear e.g. logo and url address

214. To share the e-newsletter

215. Links to the states social network site for tourism e.g. Facebook page

216. Ensure that the e-mail is personalised – use of first name, etc.

217. There must be a clear option to ‘unsubscribe’

218. This must not be hidden within text

220. Do not include excessive amount of text

222. Future Webinars from One To One Interactive Join us for our next Webinar on September 23rd at 11 AM Eastern Time: “Search Best Practices: How to Dominate Search in 2011” With Greg Slama, Search Marketing Specialist at OTOi Register at: http://bit.ly/aQd5gv