While social media continues to be a hot topic for marketers, email is still one of the most effective and widely used ways to reach members and engage with your audience. This presentation covers how to break through the clutter to make sure your messages get read and acted on.

1. EFFECTIVE
ASSOCIATION EMAILS
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
Associa5on
Forum,
July
17
2013
HOW TO WRITE FOR MAXIMUM RESULTS
ASSOCIATION FORUM COMM/MARKETING SIG – JULY 2013

2. THE COMPETITION

5. 2007:
50
million
2008:
87
million
2009:
100
million
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS
2007:
• 50
million
emails
• 8
e-­‐newsleDers
2009:
• 100
million
emails
• 40
e-­‐newsleDers

6. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS
29%
20%
19%
20%
7% 7%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
2008 2009 2010 YTD
Company-Wide E-mailOpen and Click
Rates
2008 - 2010
Average Open Rate Average Total Click Rate

7. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS
We
took
ac5on:
• Two-­‐day
content
summit
• 50
communicators
from
23
departments
• First
day,
presenta5on
of
the
facts,
“recita5on”
by
each
group
of
their
e-­‐
newsleDers,
key
web
pages,
brochures
&
other
communica5ons
• Second
day,
brainstormed
solu5ons
Outcome:
• Combined
almost
all
e-­‐newsleDers
into
a
single,
customizable
weekly
all-­‐
member
opt-­‐out
• Created
an
online
form
for
content
requests
• Worked
with
Exec
Comms
to
create
a
weekly
intro
“from”
the
president

8. http://ebm.enews.realtor.org/c/tag/aBR1GSaB8hVyFB8zptfAAAAAAIn/doc.html?t_params=I_A_MORE=0&I_BUYER1=1

9. BENCHMARKS

11. AVERAGE EMAIL METRICS
FOR ASSOCIATIONS
• 98.15%
delivery
rate
• 32.36%
open
rate
• 21.08%
click
rate
• .051%
unsubscribe
rate
53%
of
emails
opened
were
classified
as
read
(recipients
spent
10
seconds
or
longer
engaged
with
the
email)
-­‐-­‐Informz
2013
Associa5on
Email
Marke5ng
Benchmark
Report

12. SENDER &
SUBJECT LINES

16. SHORTER IS BETTER
Highest
open
rates
were
emails
with
subject
lines
having
fewer
than
10
characters:
51%.
(Informz)

17. CHOOSE THE RIGHT WORDS
Avoid
using
“help,”
“percent
off”
and
“reminder”
because
they
tend
to
trigger
spam
filters.
(Mailchimp)

18. CHOOSE THE RIGHT WORDS
Yes:
Alert
Bulle5n
New
Video
Daily
Weekly
Breaking
(Adestra
Subject
Line
Analysis
Report,
GetResponse)
No:
NewsleDer
Monthly
Forecast
Report
Top
Stories
Free
No-­‐Cost

19. GET CREATIVE
• Use
capital
leDers
strategically
• Share
a
“secret”
• Be
informal
• Use
numbers
• Use
rhymes
or
allitera5on
(GetResponse
blog)

20. TIPS FOR E-NEWSLETTER
SUBJECT LINES
• Use
the
lead
story
headline,
or
the
most
interes5ng
item.
• Consider
using
several
short
headlines,
separated
by
the
“|”
character.
• Don’t
use
the
same
generic
subject
line
for
every
issue.
• Be
en5cing,
but
not
decep5ve.
• Think
magazine
cover
lines.

21. IT’S ABOUT THE
CONTENT, NOT THE
THING

22. FOCUS ON THE BENEFITS
Extract
the
juicy
bits
rather
than
talking
about
the
“container.”
For
example:
• To
get
more
clicks
to
a
report,
highlight
a
key
sta5s5c.
• To
promote
a
mee5ng,
highlight
a
par5cular
session,
speaker
or
aDendee
tes5monial.
• To
gain
more
sales
for
a
new
book,
consider
publishing
a
free
chapter.

23. GOOD BLURBS
• Build
on
the
item
headline.
• Give
just
enough
informa5on
to
make
the
reader
want
more.
• Think
“cliff-­‐hanger.”
• If
you
are
“cura5ng”
content
–
that
is,
sharing
an
ar5cle
from
another
source
–
link
to
a
summary
and
analysis
on
your
site,
then
take
the
reader
to
the
original
source.
• Write
for
the
preview
pane:
Focus
the
main
point
of
interest
on
the
copy
that
will
appear
in
the
preview
pane
of
your
email.
Most
people
decide
if
an
email
is
interes5ng
by
previewing
it
without
opening
it.

26. WHERE ARE THEY
GOING?

27. YOUR EMAILS DON’T LIVE IN
A VACUUM
• “Train”
your
members
that
the
informa5on
in
your
emails
is
worth
clicking
on.
• Good
email
headlines
need
to
link
to
valuable,
well-­‐wriDen
content.
• Choose
the
most
member-­‐centric
content
from
your
website,
podcasts,
blog,
and
social
media
channels
for
your
emails.

28. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MEMBER
NAR
e-­‐newsleDer
analysis
–
most
popular
items:
• They
are
not
press
releases,
do
not
address
something
about
the
associa5on
or
its
workings.
• They
speak
to
na5onal
concerns
that
are
of
interest
to
a
wide
range
of
people
(e.g.,
the
real
estate
bubble,
eminent
domain).
• They
promise
to
teach
a
member
something
(e.g.,
how
to
run
an
open
house,
how
new
laws
affect
landlords).
10
*mes
more
popular
than
the
least-­‐popular
items

29. OTHER OPPORTUNITIES
• Ohio
Landscape
Associa5on
put
its
magazine
online
and
drove
poten5al
members
there
–
maximized
content,
saved
$
on
postage.
• OLA
also
segmented
its
list
to
send
local
event
informa5on
to
the
appropriate
people.
• Retail
Confec5oners
Interna5onal
shares
an
industry
event
calendar.
• Email
lets
RCI
connect
email
opens
to
event
registra5on.
(Constant
Contact)

30. ADD VISUALS

31. WHEN YOU DELIVER INFORMATION
VERBALLY, PEOPLE ONLY
REMEMBER 10% OF IT. IF YOU ADD A
PICTURE, RETENTION IS 65%
-­‐-­‐Carmine
Gallo,
Stanford
Business
School
hDp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drtxj2ih0ai

32. hDp://admin.listpilot.net/mpower/showhtml.do?ac=varealtor&id=85q2cb1_7ce3cc1d

33. WHAT ARE YOU
MEASURING?

34. THINK BEYOND OPENS AND CLICKS
Quan5ta5ve
• Downloads
• Registra5ons
• Program
par5cipa5on
• Renewals
Qualita5ve
• Sa5sfac5on
• Realiza5on
of
value

35. TESTING, TESTING

36. FIND OUT WHAT WORKS FOR
YOU AND DO MORE OF IT
• A/B
tes5ng
• Headlines
• Time
of
day
• Frequency
• Number
of
items
• Surveys

37. Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
BE A CONTENT DJ
CAP
Digital
Team
Retreat,
June
14
2013

38. “MIX” YOUR CONTENT WELL
• Members
want
a
few
topics
(they
won’t
get
bored)
• Repurpose
content
by
thinking
“bite,
snack,
meal”
• Account
for
different
levels
of
knowledge
• Organize
your
e-­‐newsleDer
into
sec5ons/categories
(tech
5ps,
local
news,
money
savers,
take
poli5cal
ac5on,
etc.)
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
hDp://www.slideshare.net/hilarymarsh/become-­‐a-­‐content-­‐dj-­‐how-­‐to-­‐create-­‐a-­‐winning-­‐mix-­‐for-­‐your-­‐content-­‐marke5ng
hDp://ewriteonline.com/ar5cles/2011/11/bite-­‐snack-­‐and-­‐meal-­‐how-­‐to-­‐feed-­‐content-­‐hungry-­‐site-­‐visitors/
CAP
Digital
Team
Retreat,
June
14
2013

39. REDEFINE SUCCESS
FROM “PUT IT UP” TO USAGE
MEASURE SATISFACTION, AS
WELL AS VISITS
Hilary
Marsh,
Content
Company
CAP
Digital
Team
Retreat,
June
14
2013

40. THANK YOU.
hilary@hilarymarsh.com www.hilarymarsh.com @hilarymarsh