The document provides tips and best practices for email marketing design and testing across topics such as button language, imagery, targeting content, and social sharing. It also lists ExactTarget design resources and contacts for the ExactTarget design team. Metrics to watch that are discussed include click-through rates for different elements and how ratios of clicks to opens can indicate engagement.
19. Button clickthrough
VIEW MY ACCOUNT: 32.9%
ACCESS MY ACCOUNT: 25.6%
MANAGE MY ACCOUNT: 13.5%
Overall clickthrough
VIEW MY ACCOUNT: 8.8%
ACCESS MY ACCOUNT: 7.9%
MANAGE MY ACCOUNT: 7.3%
27. Topic: Redesigns
• Quick Win #1: Ask! Place an ExactTarget survey at the bottom of your emails asking
your subscribers which parts of your email interest them most. This is an opportunity
both to understand which content is best and to segment your list if distinct audiences
emerge.
• Quick Win #2: Take the “F - Test.” Research proves that the human eye scan email in an
“F” pattern. Do your links, buttons, and calls-to-action land on the “F”?
• New Metric to Watch: “Link Clicks Per Email Quadrant.” This will provide insight into
which quadrants are most engaging for subscribers, and allow you to adjust accordingly.
• (Example: 151 clicks in top left, 110 in top right, 88 in bottom left, 45 in bottom right
“above the fold” links get much more traction)
28. Topic: Targeting Content
• Quick Win #1: Go local. Grab a recent tweet, news story, or photo relating to the county (or city,
state, region, etc. depending on what you can manage) of each of your subscribers and place it
in your emails with ExactTarget Dynamic Content. People are always more interested when the
content is all about THEM!
• Quick Win #2: Use all the information you have—without even asking, you can always capture
WHEN and WHERE a new subscriber joined your list. Communicate differently with someone
who joined at POS versus someone who joined from a link on Twitter. Create an ExactTarget
Landing Page for every signup method you have—one from Facebook, one from PPC, one from
your blog, etc.
• New Metric to Watch: “Click-through rate in targeted emails vs. non-targeted emails.” Try one of
these strategies with a small subset of your list for a few sends, and see if it’s worth your while.
• (Example: 15% overall click-through in targeted email vs. 9% click-through in non-targeted email
66% increase is extremely significant)
29. Topic: Designing for Dynamic Content
• Quick Win #1: Keep a consistent color scheme between your dynamic images so
everything looks natural no matter who opens the email.
• Quick Win #2: Create a test list with fake subscribers who have the attributes of all the
personas you’re messaging. Use the built-in ExactTarget Send Preview feature to see how
your email will look with dynamic content rendered for all of these possibilities.
• New Metric to Watch: “Clicks Per Open Ratio.” This metric will provide insight into how
engaging and targeted you’ve made your content – as this ratio increases, your content is
more targeted.
• (Example: 300 clicks / 500 opens = .6 click/open ratio. If your dynamic content helps
increase this ratio, you’re doing a great job of increasing relevancy!)
30. Topic: Imagery
• Quick Win #1: Use different types of images to see which type of content is more engaging
for your customers (i.e. people vs. products, clip art vs. photo, black & white vs. color).
• Quick Win #2: Move your content with the highest click-through rate “above the fold” to
increase open rates and engagement.
• New Metric to Watch: “Total Opens Per Unique Opens Ratio.” This metric will show you
how many times each subscriber opens your email on average. When this ratio increases,
your subscribers are finding your content more engaging.
• (Example: 10,000 total opens / 8,000 unique opens = 1.25 total / unique open ratio. This
means that your subscribers, on average, opened this email 1.25 times—they found so
much value that they went back and read it again)
31. Topic: Testing
• Quick Win #1: Test your CTA language. Try using different words & phrases on your CTA /
conversion links and buttons and see if you can improve your click-through rate.
• Quick Win #2: Start small. Test some off-the-cuff ideas with small subsets of your audience
—you’ll be surprised with yourself!
• New Metric to Watch: “Before & After Click-Through Rate.” Okay – this isn’t exactly “new,”
but it’s definitely the most important way to understand the results of your testing.
32. Topic: Social Sharing
• Quick Win #1: Add ExactTarget’s Social Forward button to all of your content. People love
to speak their mind, let them do so using your content!
• Quick Win #2: Check out ExactTarget’s research: “Social Profile.” You can identify what
type of audience you have, and market to them more relevantly.
• New Metric to Watch: “Social Shares.” Use ExactTarget tracking to identify how many times
your content is shared and to which social networks.
33. ExactTarget Design Resources
Seven
Design
Principles
That
Will
Eight
Tips
on
Designing
for
Five
Easy
Ways
to
Improve
Conversions
Drive
Customer
Engagement
Outlook
2007
and
2010
Across
All
InteracEve
Channels
34. ExactTarget Design Resources
Email
MarkeEng
Email
Design
CareerBuilder.com
Email
Design
Checklist
Design
&
Rendering:
for
Lotus
Notes
Case
Study
The
New
EssenEals
35. ExactTarget Design Resources
Design
Team
Blog
New
posts
weekly!
blog.exacRarget.com
MarkeEngExperiments
Maximize
Agency
ROI
through
tesEng
TwiRer
@ETDesign
twiRer.com/etdesign
