What is Relevance, Anyway?

September 16, 2009

Ask the experts about email success…

…and they’ll all say

But what is relevance, anyway?

Relevance = Right Message + Right Time

Relevance

Right Time• Wanted• Trusted and Recognized• Expected• Delivered• Timely• Surprising

Right Message• Usable• Personalized• Differentiated• Valued• Humanized

Wanted

Different Levels of “Wanted”

The Reluctant - Opt-In?

The OK, If I have to - Opt-In?

The You Decided For Me - Opt-In

The Incented - Opt-In

The I Really Want It - Opt-In

Hmm, Sounds Pretty Good - Opt-In

Trusted and Recognized

Who the Heck is Presentation Excellence?

I’m sure Mike is a nice guy…

Expected

Weekly - Opt-in Form

Monthly – Welcome Email

Wine of the Day - Cadence

Consistency – Every Tuesday

Welcome Email Ecommerce Example

• Text• Single email• IT Generated• No marketing messaging

• HTML• 2-part email series• Marketing generated• Promotions, education

75% increase in conversions

Delivered

Deliverability is the Top Marketer Challenge

20% of Mail fails to reach the Inbox

52% of marketers cite deliverability as their greatest challenge.

70% say “deliverability features & services” are their most important consideration in selecting an ESP.

Source 1: Pivotal Veracity Q2 2009 delivery benchmarksSource 2: “What are your greatest challenges when conducting email marketing? (select all that apply)” JupiterResearch/E-Rewards Goodmail Email Executive Survey (10/08), n = 202 (email marketers, USSource 3: JupiterResearch/ClickZ eMail Marketing Executive Survey 07. “What are you most important considerations in selecting an ESP.”

Images Not Rendering

Knowing Where to Begin to Optimize Our Campaigns

Declining Response Rates & Campaign Performance

List Turnover - Addresses Churning/No Longer Valid

Deliverability

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

25%

29%

30%

37%

52%

Top Email Marketing Challenges

Source: Pivotal Veracity

Impact of Poor Deliverability

• Inconsistent inbox experience

• Lost subscribers

• Lost revenue

The future of deliverability is

managing reputation at the

individual level

Evolution of Spam Filtering

The progression of spam filtering

Personal Preference

• Consumer Relevancy

• ISPs adopt adaptive learning models and determine delivery based upon consumer preferences – both explicit AND learned

• Reputation

• If you have a good reputation in the eyes of the ISPs your mail will be delivered

Border Patrol

• Authentication

• ISPs use Authentication to help reduce false-positives

Stone Walls

• Blast and Spray

• All emails were welcomed by ISPs and consumers

No Email Boundaries

ISPs will continue to adapt their filters and other technology to mirror end user preferences

• Whitelist & Blacklist

• ISPs incorporate basic spam filtering techniques to thwart spam

Picket Fences

Source: Pivotal Veracity

Customer Level Deliverability

go inside…

Deliverability and reputation tracking at the customer level at millions of B2C and B2B domains worldwide. MailboxIQ is the 1st and only solution in the world to identify the folder disposition of the sender’s real emails to their real customers, giving senders the most accurate and comprehensive view on deliverability ever and empowering them to rapidly diagnose and address filtering and reputation problems at the customer-level.

Source: Pivotal Veracity

Customer Intelligence

Multi-platform rendering intelligence. MailboxIQ enables senders to identify when and on which devices and tools subscribers are reading email – whether on their home PCs, work laptops or mobile phones.

HotmailApplemail/WebkitYahooOutlook 2003/XPiPhone OSAll Other

Timely

Overloaded Inboxes, & New Entrants

Email is Competing for Mindshare

Time Variables Are Endless

Send Time Matters Most…

Because we are all individuals

One Size Fits All = A Failed Approach

The Right Time Of Course Is…

…when each individual recipient is most likely to respond:

The time when they consistently open and act on your emails.

Silverpop Send Time Optimization

Send Time Optimization …

• Analyzes a range of past recipient behavior• Predicts the ideal send time for each recipient• Adjusts for changes in individual behavior• Delivers your email to one or one million

recipients, each at the ideal time• Eliminates time zone challenges for

international senders

Little Tikes

Overview• Regular weekly promotional email• Established open and click rate trends

Results on first send• Open rates increased 20%• Click rates increased 30%• Total revenue generated increased 75%• Average value per order grew 35%

Increased metrics across the board with Send Time Optimization

Using Silverpop’s Send Time Optimization feature has allowed Little Tikes to take a more sophisticated approach to our email marketing with no extra

effort on our end.

- Julie Gibson Email Coordinator, Little Tikes

“”

Across the board• Open rate: 20% to 50% increase

• Click rate: 30% to 50% increase

• Revenue: 52% to 75% increase

• Avg. order size: 35% to 50% increase

Surprising

I could use more emails like this!

Unexpected content

VSL – “discovery”

Cart Abandonment Reminder Campaign

Big Results after One Month:(compared to all previous email

campaigns)

48% lift Click through rate

129% lift in Net Conversion rate

Accounted for 10.4% of the total revenue from email marketing

while representing only 2.7% of the total email volume.

Cart reminder

Usable

Help me Buy

- Use Bullets- Better

images- Cost?- Not clear

sidebar is coffee

- How do I get to $40?

- Deadline is hidden

• Select flights right from the

email

• Oakland is my preferred

departure airport

• “Book a flight” links

• Search link

• “Today, March 27”

• No minimum

• 4-7 Day Delivery

• More details below

Do the Math for Your

Subscribers

- % off - Old price- New price- $ Savings

- People are

motivated by

different “discount”

math

Good Use of Text Navigation & Alt Tags

Text links – key Web site destinationsAlt tags

Mobile Friendly – Header CTA

Personalized

This is not really personalization

This is personalization

Halfway There

No Data, No Relevance

Logical Personalization?:

• Gender• Marital status• Age ranges on signup• Wedding anniversary• Significant other’s birth date

26th Anniversary Friday

Differentiated

Free Shipping, 20% Off – “So What”

Social Network Emails in the Mix

• Your emails are competing with social alerts/conversations

• Negatively affecting opens, clicks and engagement

• Increases need for relevance, personality and social components in your emails

Fun Subject Lines

One-of-a kind content

Valued

What is a Valued Email?

• Engaged recipient• Conversion/Revenue• Shared

Break Through the Clutter With New Message Streams

• Notifications• Alerts• Reminders• Aggregators• Updates• Closeouts• …and more

Incorporating Social Aspects Within Emails

• Comments• User ratings• Top read, top purchases, etc.

Leveraging Member Reviews in Email Content

Social Email is the New Viral

Share to Social in Email

• Share to Social– Increased views, clicks– Reach new audience– Obtain new subscribers– Viral buzz– Increased ROI– Most valuable sharers

Humanized

We Like Personalities

Jim Cramer – Mad Money

Keith Olbermann – MSNBC

…Not Faceless Corporations

Can we talk?

• More than ever, we want to connect with brands via real people– Think Twitter

• We want a personal note, not a direct marketing promotion

A Dash of Personality

• Tone• From a real person• Humor• Employee, customer

stories/comments• UGC• “Relatable”

Woot is a Hoot

Like, Awesome Dude!

• Personal reviews/ comments from staff members

• While not objective, puts real people behind the products and emails

Q & A / Reminders & Contacts

• Loren McDonald– lmcdonald@silverpop.com– Twitter: @LorenMcDonald

www.silverpop.comTwitter: @Silverpop

Thank you!

On Twitter: @Silverpopwww.slideshare.net/silverpop

www.silverpop.com