The Definitive Guide to Email Marketing

1. The Definitive Guide to
Email Marketing
Presented by Tyler Garns
Director of Marketing, Infusionsoft
@tylergarns

2. Housekeeping
• A/V Check
• You’re all on mute
• I’ll launch a few polls to make this interactive
• Ask questions through GoToWebinar - I’ll handle
them at the end, Quick survey when you leave
• This is not a demo of Infusionsoft
Go to: http://www.infusionsoft.com/demo
• Feel free to tweet if you like the content
• How to get on the list for “the Guide”
@tylergarns

3. Context
• Many suggest that email marketing is dying
and social is the new medium for marketing
- Blog post on SmallBizTrends: Social Marketing
vs. Email Marketing: Is it War? - Top 10 post -
#SMBChat - Sept 8th @ 8pm Eastern
• Declining open/click rates over the last few
years
• People are looking for alternatives to email
• People are sending more email to try and get
more response
@tylergarns

4. What influences site visits?
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5. Email is still the “inner sanctum”
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6. The majority would rather not
be pitched in social media
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7. The Value of Email
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8. 15 Essentials of
Email Marketing
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9. First, a poll:
• Would you consider yourself a:
- Expert email marketer
• Been doing this over 3 years, I have a substantial list
and I mail to it often
- Intermediate email marketing
• I’ve been doing email marketing a bit, I have a small
list, I’m not super consistent in my communications
- Email marketing beginner
• I’m a noob. I’m attending this webinar to learn the
basics
@tylergarns

10. 1
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Open Rates

11. Open Rates
• Open rates are RELATIVE, not ABSOLUTE
• Use open rates as a gauge of improving or
declining effectiveness
• How are opens tracked?
- Transparent image
- When email clients are set to not show images,
the open isn’t tracked
- Mobile phones often just show text (no open
tracking)
@tylergarns

12. Factors in Open Rates
• Factors that play into open rates
- “From” address (perhaps the most important)
- Subject line
• Tip: Subscribe to popular magazines to analyze &
“steal” their headlines (tested & proven)
• The first sentence
- Preview mode on cell phones, Gmail, Outook
alerts, etc will show the first line
• Personalization - use the person’s name
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13. Personalization
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14. 2
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Click Rates

15. Click Rates
• Clicks measure the effectiveness of the email
body
• Click rates are ABSOLUTE
- But beware the differences
• Total clicks vs. unique clicks
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16. Click Rates
• What is included?
- Any click in the email?
- Even the opt-out link?
• Clicks/opens vs. Clicks/Sent
• Clicks/opens is best for most situations
@tylergarns

17. Shelf Life of Links
The mean half life of a link via ‘direct’ sources such as email
or instant messaging clients is 3.4 hours.
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18. 3
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Bounce Rates

19. Bounce Rates
• What is a “bounce”?
- When an email server is unable to receive the
email being sent, it “bounces”
• The mailbox does not exist (hard bounce)
• The mailbox is full (soft bounce)
• Or when the email server does not exist
(general bounce)
- Your bounce rate is an indicator of the “health” &
“freshness” of your list
@tylergarns

20. What to do with bounces
• Filter out hard bounces
• Try re-engaging with soft bounces at a later
date
• Try & engage with hard & general bounces via
direct mail, phone, recorded messages, social
@tylergarns

21. 4
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Text vs. HTML

22. Text Only emails
• Can’t track open rates (no images)
• Can’t use anchor text in your emails
i.e. click here
You have to say:
click the following link: http://www.ibm.com
• Myth: text only emails get better response
than HTML emails
• Myth: text only emails don’t get caught in
spam filters as often as HTML emails
@tylergarns

23. Text-Only Emails
• Even though you can’t “format” plain text, you
should still “format” your plain text emails
• Use special characters to “frame up” the
content
• Wrap text at 50-60 characters for easier
reading
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24. Text Formatting
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25. HTML Emails
• Approx 600 pixels wide
- Needs to fit in email client window & be easy to
read
• Some clients strip out <HTML> & <BODY>
tags - this effects styles set in the <HEAD>
section as well as body background color
• Keep CSS simple, use inline CSS for
compatability
• Can’t embed video or scripts
@tylergarns

26. HTML Emails
• For video, include an image screenshot of the
video that is linked to the page with the video
• Use “alt” text for images - many clients don’t
show images by default
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27. Images in HTML
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28. 5
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Email Campaigns

29. Email Campaigns
• Newsletter Campaign
• New Lead Campaign
• Discount Campaign
• New Customer Campaign
• Referral Campaign
• Upsell Campaign
• Advertising Campaign
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30. The Purpose of a “Campaign”
• The purpose of a campaign is to:
- create awareness
- educate
- create interest
- present a clear call to action
- create urgency
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31. 6
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Layout

32. Email Layout
• Keep it simple
• People browse through emails quickly - give
them what THEY want - make it easily findable
• Be consistent in your layout of “series” emails
like newsletters
• Don’t have multiple competing calls to action
• Don’t get too fancy with design
• Test layouts for conversion
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33. Additional Layout Thoughts
• Long copy vs short copy
- Generally long copy can be used more effectively
with your list who knows you. Short copy is often
better for people you’re trying create initial
engagement with
• When you’re advertising via email, keep your
layout clean, no distractions from your CTA
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34. Advertising Layout
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35. 7
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Lead Nurturing

36. Lead Nurturing
• Email autoresponders allow you to automate
scheduled communications
• Use autoresponders to show responsiveness
& care, not just consistency
• Use pattern interrupt
• Use your sequence of emails to lead people
through your sales process
• My hokey, but powerful method for writing
copy: http://bit.ly/mountainmanmethod
@tylergarns

37. 8
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Segmentation

38. Segmentation
• One of the many reasons email has declined in
effectiveness is because more people are
adopting it every day and doing it wrong
• Loading up a list and blasting is NOT
EFFECTIVE
• “Batch & Blast” or “Spray & Pray” are not
effective tactics because when you don’t
segment, you can’t be specific and relevant in
your messaging
@tylergarns

39. Segmentation
• Segment your email list on these 3 factors at
minimum
- Lead Source
• You know where they came from & what message
they responded to
- Demographics
• Age, sex, income, geographics, etc.
- Behavior (most powerful)
• Which emails they clicked on, which forms they filled
out, which products they’ve purchased, which pages
@tylergarns

40. 9
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Email Newsletters

41. Email Newsletters
• Be clear about what they’re signing up for
• Be consistent in sending but vary the
message
• Keep it fresh or you’ll train people to ignore
(use pattern interrupt)
• Make sure the main content they want is
readily available and always in the same spot
• Regularly check in to allow people to set their
preferences (frequency, content, etc)
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42. Relevancy in Newsletters
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43. 10
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Conversion

44. Conversion
• What is conversion?
• Depends on the situation
• Make sure you are clear on what conversion
means (what’s the purpose of your campaign)
- Purchase?
- Further opt in?
- Request for more info?
• Make your calls to action CLEAR
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45. One Clear Call To Action
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46. 11
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SPAM Compliance

47. CAN-SPAM Act
• Don’t be deceptive in your headers,
messaging, or opt-out links
• Always provide an opt-out link (don’t try &
hide it with a bunch of returns)
• Unsubscribe must work for at least 30 days
after the email is sent
• Must remove unsubscribers within 10 days
• Must include physical email address
@tylergarns

48. Avoiding SPAM
• Get EXPLICIT permission
- Double opt-in is best practice, but doesn’t
protect you
- Purchasing “opt-in” lists is a no-no
• Set clear expectations
- Frequency & content
• Continue to earn permission
• Continue to get permission
@tylergarns

49. Avoiding SPAM
• Allow people to set preferences
@tylergarns

50. Avoiding SPAM
• Getting through the SPAM filters
- Content
• Avoid spammy words
• Don’t try and game the SPAM filters by writing things
like F.R.E.E. That’s even worse
• Keep image to text ratio balanced - spammers use
one big fat image - don’t do what they do
- Sender reputation - that’s your email service
provider’s responsibility
@tylergarns

51. Unsubscribe/Opt Out Links
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52. 12
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Testing

53. Testing
• Testing should be a constant part of your
email marketing strategy
• Test subject lines
• Test layouts
• Test calls to action
• Use random split tests to get accurate results
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54. 13
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Dealing With Old
Lists

55. Old Lists
• If you haven’t communicated with your lists in
a while:
- And a “humble apology” email, asking for
permission again, and giving an obvious opt-out
option
- Ask people to double opt-in
- Use phone, direct mail, & social to re-engage and
regain permission
@tylergarns

56. 14 Dealing With
Declining Response
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57. Declining Response
• If you communicate with your list regularly, but
response is declining:
- Scrub your list
• Remove hard bounces
• Ask for updated email addresses from non-
responders (70% or so change within 1 year)
• Reach out to consistent non-responders - give them
an opportunity to opt-out
- Change your tactics
- Provide value first
@tylergarns

58. 15
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Behavior-Based
Relevancy

59. Behavior-Based Content
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60. The Definitive Guide to
Email Marketing
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61. Framework for Strategy:
The Perfect Customer Lifecycle
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62. @tylergarns

63. All-In-One
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64. Would you like more information
about Infusionsoft?
• Yes
• No
• I’m already a customer
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65. Call your Infusionsoft rep
or 866.800.0004 Ext. 1
http://infusionsoft.com/demo
Questions?
@tylergarns