At this Dreamforce 2013 session, Andrew Kordek of Trendline Interactive and DJ Waldow of Marketo detail the secrets and strategies for improving the impact of your email marketing efforts.

1. 11 Secrets to Writing Emails that Get
Opened, Read, and Clicked
© 2013 Marketo, Inc. Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

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© 2013 Marketo, Inc. Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

3. Andrew Kordek (@andrewkordek)
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Co-Founded Trendline Interactive, a strategic full service email
marketing agency.
Lead all strategy for Trendline clients
Past: Groupon. Sears. Quest Software (now Dell)
Inbox Zero Hero: 750,000 emails across 15 inboxes
Right thing vs. Easy thing.
Coffee. Football. Family. Smart A$$. Practical jokes. Thrifty.
Clean. Brave.
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

4. DJ Waldow (@djwaldow)
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Bronto. Blue Sky Factory. Waldow Social. Marketo.
8th grade
Rebel’s Guide to Email Marketing.
The Definitive Guide to Engaging Email Marketing.
“Best practices are those that are best for YOUR audience.”
Lover of beer, coffee, and people.
#GOBLUE
Eva, Cal, K-Dawg
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

5. Look Familiar?
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

6. Don’t suck at your own party
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It starts with trust.
Make it intuitive and fun. Treat them like gold.
Set expectations.
Ask yourself if you really need that data.
Don’t assume and don’t expect.
Audit every quarter.
Find out what works.
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

7. Welcome To The Upworthiest. Turn On Your Images And Buckle Your Seatbelt:
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8. Who are you again?
Flickr: smoovey

9. Can you name
the following people?
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10. Page 10
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11. How many of the following do
you recognize?
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12. Page 12
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13. Do you trust the following
brands?
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15. If I don’t recognize you, if I
don’t trust you, I’m less likely
to open your email.
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

16. Big. Bold.
Obvious calls
to action.
© 2013 Marketo, Inc. Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

17. What’s the call to action?
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

25. Are you HUMAN?
© 2013 Marketo, Inc. Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

31. The Welcome Email Is Dead
• Welcome emails or series tend to be forced content by
organizations
• Most. Some. Hardly.
• Time to let subscriber behavior drive the next email
• Behavior = email, site & offline
• Subscriber drives relevancy
• Investment in technology, people and testing to
achieve optimal results
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

34. Nurture Crawl
•Up to 30 day nurture program
•First 96 hours are the most critical
•Engagement drives subscriber into tailored
program in first 4 days
•A solid messaging and conditional content
strategy must be in place prior to execution
•Responses are tracked in SFDC and reps are
notified to determine “hotness” of lead
•Content must be educational and offer driven,
but with a clear CTA
•Designed with the flexibility for testing and
modifications
•Localization is a key aspect to tailored content
•Any purchases removes subscriber from
nurture
No response. Next email in cadence
Response tracked in XXX/SFDC. Rep notified of
interaction/date and content viewed
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

35. Do your subject lines have C.U.R.V.E.
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

36. 2 of 5
Build subject lines that possess at least 2 of the 5
C.U.R.V.E. elements for the best chance to connect
with today’s subscriber and get them to open an email.
This will help you build sustainable workflows you can
learn from and test over time.
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

37. R or V
1 of the 2 elements almost always is the R. (relevance) or the
V. (value).
You constantly need to test the right subject line/content mix
to connect with today’s busy email subscriber.
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

38. Relevancy
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

39. Revealing Relevancy
Relevancy According To Audience Sentiment
Step 1: Identify Current Quality of Emails
• Ask audience/prospects to rate the CURRENT Quality of the information
contained in the emails they receive
Step 2: Identify Perceived Importance of Topics
• Ask audience/prospects to rank the same list in order of the LEVEL OF
IMPORTANCE (i.e. Relevance and interest) they ascribe to each
Step 3: Assess The Difference
• Step 1: Reflects perceived importance (i.e. relevancy) to COMPANY
• Step 2: Reflects perceived importance (i.e. relevancy) to AUDIENCE
• Step 3: Are there any differences between what the COMPANY delivers (i.e.
quality) and what the AUDIENCE ranks as important
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

40. Where Are The Gaps?
Perceived Importance vs. Current Quality
Topic
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
Topic 4
Topic 5
Topic 6
Topic 7
Topic 8
Topic 9
Topic 10
Topic 11
Perceived Importance
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Quality Rank
2
10
6
7
11
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8
5
9
1
3
Difference
-1
-8
-3
-3
-6
2
-1
3
0
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1. Negative Difference (in red)
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Audience identifies these topics as significant, but believe company is delivering lower quality relative to the ascribed
importance (i.e. Topic 2 &5)
2. Positive Difference
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Audience ranks topics lower in importance, but believe company is delivering higher quality relative to the topics perceived
importance (i.e. Topics 10 &11)

41. Relevancy Confirmed
Analyzing the historic performance of these emails reinforces research findings
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

42. Timely. Targeted. Valuable.
© 2013 Marketo, Inc. Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

46. 101 Things You Could Be testing
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Sender Names
From Address
Name Personalization
Gender Segmentation
Geographic
Segmentation
Other Demographic
Segmentation (Income,
Marital Status, Children,
etc.)
Occupation
Prospect vs. Customer
Loyal vs. One-Time
Customer
Last Open / Click Date
Last Store Visit Date
Intro Text—Content
Intro Text—Copy Style
Body Text—Content
Body Text—Copy Style
Closing Text—Content
Closing Text—Style
Header Image—Present /
Not Present
Header Image—Style
Home City / State /
Airport / Etc.
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
21. Maps
22. Store / Branch / Office
Location
23. Sales Representative
24. Travel Destination
25. Travel Time
26. Recent Transactions /
History
27. Overt Recommendations
(i.e., “You may also
like…”)
28. Subtle Recommendations
(i.e., personalized, but
not overtly)
29. Weather
30. Price Brackets
31. Whitepapers
32. Organized vs.
Unorganized Product /
Article / Content
Categories
33. Ad Unit Placement /
Configuration
34. Ad Unit Sizes
35. Referral Offers
36. HTML vs. Text-Only
37. Mobile-First Layout
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Responsive Layout
Animated GIFs
Embedded Video
Ratings and Reviews
Price Points
Price Strikeouts
Font Type
Font Colors
Headlines
Sub-headlines
Signatures
Personalities (e.g.,
Editor, Author, Sales
Rep, Executive)
Location Shots
Lifestyle Shots
Product Shots
Links vs. Buttons
Link / Button Placement
Link / Button Copy /
Call-to-Action
Icons
Bullet-Proof Buttons
Postcard Layouts
Newsletter Layouts
Horizontal Scrolling
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Event Focus
Polls
Privacy Policy Language
Unsubscribe Copy
Opt-Down
Heavy vs. Light Imagery
Long Copy vs. Short Copy
Phone Numbers (e.g.,
Click-to-Call)
Social Media Buttons
Facebook “Like” Teaser
Copy
Facebook Comments /
Testimonials
Facebook Friends that
“Like” Something
Follower Tweets /
Testimonials
Pins
Local Foursquare Mayor
Taglines
Press Mentions
Limited Time
Last Chance
Social Proof (e.g.,
Number of Likes,
Tweets, Views,
Comments, Etc.)
81. Exclusive Email Offers
82. Editors Pick
83. Number of Products /
Articles / Etc.
84. Teaser Copy Length
85. Staff Favorites
86. Customer Favorites
87. Background Color
88. Background Images
89. Landing Pages
90. Preheader Text
91. Navigation Bars
92. Search Forms
93. Free Shipping
94. Percent Off vs. Money
Off
95. Print Options
96. Versioning by ISP
97. Add to Address Book
98. Time of Day
99. Day of Week
100. Delivery by Timezone
101. Subject Lines

47. Primary Testing Options
Split Testing
Simple Multivariate
D.O.E. (Taguchi)
1 Factor | 2-X Options
X Factors | Y Options
6-15 Factors | 2-6 Options
< 10 Ads Tested
4-100+ Ads Tested
2K-32K Ads Tested
Strengths:
Strengths:
Strengths:
• Simple design & execute
• Easy to understand
Weaknesses:
• One thing at a time
• “Wrong path” potential
Sample uses:
• Subject lines
• Simple creative testing
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
• Simple to design
• Interactions measured
Weaknesses:
• Production capacity
• Complex analysis
Sample uses:
• Offer/ price point testing
• Copy / image testing
• Best “recipe” delivered
• Test lots all at once
Weaknesses:
• Complex setup & execution
• Voodoo factor
Sample uses:
• Newsletter redesign
• Template optimization

48. Case Study
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
• Challenges
– Declining response rates to a key
revenue driving email
– Any creative changes subject to
comprehensive legal and medical
review across multiple companies –
enhancements needed to be
limited to what was already
approved
• Solution
– Designed and executed a Taguchi
test using approved creative
elements
– 10 key factors
– 18 creative versions
– 10,368 theoretical permutations
• Results
– 8 weeks start to finish
– Click through increased 445%!

49. Where do you start?
“We need to have a comprehensive and
cohesive integration strategy between
our social and email marketing
ecosystem” - Someone
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

50. Be Social In Email, rather than how email
integrates with social.
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Moving beyond
the button
Social Email
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Humanization
of the
corporate
identity
Spirit of social
Social graphs
Social proof
Social icons

51. Social Graph
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Spirit of Social

52. Social Proof
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

53. Key Takeaways
• Move beyond the button and bring in the spirit of
YOUR social.
• Sharing and liking is emotional. Give them something
really good to share and like.
• Strategy first. Tactics second.
• Accept that channels must work together on content,
timing and execution for a common goal; the
customer.
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.

54. Be Awesome.

55. What does YOUR order
confirmation email look like?
© 2013 Marketo, Inc. Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

58. All 11 Secrets on one slide.
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Focus on the experience
Build and earn trust
Move beyond the welcome email
Create subject lines with CURVE
Ensure calls to action are big, bold, and obvious
Send HUMAN emails
Achieve relevancy using research
Send timely, targeted, and valuable emails
Move beyond simple A/B testing
Be social in email rather than focus on how email integrates with social
Be AWESOME
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.