How to Use Competitive Intelligence to Understand Email Best Practices
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Transcript of How to Use Competitive Intelligence to Understand Email Best Practices
HOW TO USE COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE TOUNDERSTAND EMAIL BEST PRACTICES
March 22nd, 2011
WebinarWebinar
Dial-in telephone: +1 (805) 309-0021Access code: 354-276-474Webinar ID: 651-465-257
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BEFORE WE GET STARTED…
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•Everyone will receive a link to a recordingof the presentation and a copy of the slidedeck within 1 to 2 business days
Today’s webinar is moderated by:
Vicky OxleyVice-President of Services
WhatCounts
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TWEET!Twitter about the webinar using #whatcounts
Follow:
@WhatCounts
@eDataSource
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Moving forward as a rebranded WhatCounts using theWhatCounts robust and flexible technology.
We have a much larger foot print, with offices in Atlanta,Washington D.C., Seattle, and Sydney, Australia
Team members will be able provide more resources andopportunities for our clients and partners.
We will be able to better maximize our customers’revenue opportunity while improving production efficiencyand reducing cost.
Union reinforces our commitment to a culture focused oncustomer service and satisfaction
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One of the only ESPs with flexible deployment options includingSaaS, On-premise appliance (Broadcaster), and ManagedServices.
Dedicated account model with a history of commitment toexemplary customer service.
Campaign Production Services – our team members are able tohelp you implement best practices on a daily basis.
Full Video and Social Integration.
Long list of marquee clients include Costco, Alaska Airlines,MSNBC.com FOXNews, Pandora, Virgin America, Ziff DavisEnterprises, AARP & NEA
Proud of its customer focus and 90%+ customer retention rate.
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AGENDA
• Introduction to eDataSource & Competitive Intelligence• Creative Inspiration: Going out on a Limb vs. Tried and True• Frequency and Segmentation: Norms by Market Sector• Opt-in and Preference Center Comparisons• Partnerships in Email Marketing• Email and Social Integration• Q&A
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EDATASOURCE: QUICK INTRODUCTION
• eDataSource (formerly Email Data Source) was founded in2004 and is the leading provider of competitive intelligence foremail and social media.
• We monitor email campaigns, tweets and facebook postscovering 25,000 brands.
• Through EDS Analyst, clients have access to millions of emailcreatives and analytics organized by brand, company andmarket sector
• eDataSource’s panel of 750,000 inboxes provides informationon the reach, inbox placement (and, coming soon open-rates)of campaigns.
• Clients include advertising agencies, email marketers andemail service providers.
• Blog: blog.emaildatasource.com
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Internal resources & my inbox Agency Email Service Provider Competitive intelligence source A combination of the above
What resources do you turn to forcreative inspiration and feedback oncampaigns?
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SHOULD YOU GO OUT ON A LIMB OR STICKWITH TRIED AND TRUE?
• The answer is that you can try new ideas without going out ona limb.
• Email is a very risky medium. There are all kinds of pitfalls.• By using competitive intelligence you can mitigate the risk of
trying new subject lines by seeing what others have done.• You can also look at historical data to determine whether
competitors stick with or abandon campaign ideas.
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EXAMPLE: A “RISQUE” SUBJECT LINE
• Shoe retailer considering using term “nude” in subject line…• Historical search back through 2007 shows 3750 campaigns
with “nude” in subject line– 95% of which are in entertainmentsector
• But brands in the footwear space have used term “nude”
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NINE WEST’S “NUDE” EMAIL CAMPAIGNS
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“St. Patrick’s” “St. Patty’s” “St. Paddy’s” Some other term to reference St. Patrick’s day
If you were to do a campaign onMarch 17, which term might youuse?
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ST. PATRICK’S? ST. PATTY? OR ST. PADDY?
St. Patrick’s –79%
St. Patty’s –16%
St. Paddy’s –5%
Historical search of Subject Lines back through 2004 Shows:
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TRIED AND TRUE CAMPAIGNS: L.L. BEAN
Dec. 26, 2010
Dec. 28, 2010
Dec. 26, 2009
Dec. 29, 2009
Dec. 26, 2008
Dec. 30, 2008
Dec. 26, 2007
Jan. 2, 2008
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TRIED AND TRUE CAMPAIGNS – LANDS’ END
Dec. 26, 2010
Dec. 29, 2010
Dec. 26, 2009
Dec. 29, 2009
Dec. 26, 2008
Dec. 29, 2008
Dec. 28, 2007
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Once a Month Once a Week Every 2-3 Days Every Day Rarely or Never
How Often do you send a singlecampaign to your entire list?
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FREQUENCY AND SEGMENTATION BY SECTOR
• What is the appropriate frequency for sending emailcampaigns?
• Balance between revenue maximization and getting tossedinto junk folder
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RED ENVELOPE INBOX PLACEMENT JAN-FEB
Sudden jumps in frequency of campaigns can overwhelmusers and cause negative reaction from ISP’s
InboxPlacement:
Heart Burn
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SEGMENTATION - VISTAPRINT
• During the last thirty days, 400 campaigns with reach between25,000 and 14 million recipients out of total list size of 19MM
• Shopping cart reminders to personalized offers to major blasts.
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Yes No
Do you have an email preferencecenter?
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RISE OF THE PREFERENCE CENTER
• We searched 100,000 unique email campaigns for keyphrases in January 2010 and January 2011
• Some campaigns use different phrases or more than onephrase, or use images instead of phrases
Phrase 2010 2011 Y-O-YChange
Unsubscribe 52% 64% 23%
“email preferences” 2% 3% 50%
“preference center” 0.2% 0.3% 50%
“update your preferences” 1% 1.2% 20%
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1. NY Times: emailingarticle requiresregistration.
2. USA Today does notrequire registrationto email articles
3. NY Times: at bottomof each article E-mail alerts areoffered, alsorequiring registration
4. USA Today onlyoffers alerts atbottom of web page.
OPT-IN & PREFERENCES – NY TIMES & USA TODAY
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NY Times: Onlyinformation required forregistration is emailaddress and password.
On registration page NYTimes promotes FreeNewsletters.
NY TIMES - REGISTRATION
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USA TODAY – REGISTRATION
USA Today: Requiresmultiple fields:
• username
• gender
• year of birth & zip
• work information
All fields required
Newsletter sign up is aseparate process onlyshown in footer of webpages.
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EMAIL CONFIRMATION – NY TIMES AND USA TODAY
Both NY Times and USAToday require emailconfirmation (doubleopt-in)
This is important to keepinbox placement high
In 2009USA Today didnot require emailconfirmation and had10% lower inboxplacement than NYTimes
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NY Times: My AccountPage also serves asemail preferencemanagement center
NY TIMES – MY ACCOUNT
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USA TODAY – MY ACCOUNT
USA Today: My Accountpage requests moreprofile information.
Email newsletters andpreference center notfeatured.
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NY TIMES & USA TODAY - CONCLUSIONS
• Promoting newsletters at end of each article and with the “sendarticle” feature
• Integrating email preference center into My Account Page• Making registration easy but requiring double opt-in
30 Day EmailReach
Avg. newslettersrec’d per user
InboxPlacement
New York Times 4.86 million 75 per month 83.21%
USA Today 1.03 million 34 per month 87.26%
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PARTNERSHIPS IN EMAIL MARKETING
• Marketers significantlyextend their emailmarketing reach throughpartnerships andadvertising relationships
• Sample email at left showsCNET promotion of Netflixand Amazon.
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PARTNERSHIPS IN EMAIL MARKETINGMarketer Standalone email
reachMost frequentpromoters
Added Reach
Amazon 39.8 MM Cnet, Arcamax,Sony Pictures
19.9 MM
Netflix 28.4 MM Aadvantage,MyPointsDelta
33.6 MM
Reuters .4 MM NY Times,Smartbrief, Slate
8.5 MM
Vistaprint 19.6 MM Arcamax,Geeks.com,MyPoints
30.4 MM
• Not all partners are equal. Bad partners can damage brand anddeliverability.
• Monitor IP reputation and inbox placement of partners.
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SOCIAL MEDIA INTEGRATION
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Advice on email creatives and subject lines Frequency of email sends and segmentation of companies in my sector Reach and inbox placement data for companies in my sector Information on opt-in practices and preference centers Information on who my competitors are partnering with Email and Social Media integration: who is doing what
Would you be interested in hearingmore from WhatCounts andeDataSource about any of thefollowing:
Q & A34 [email protected]
Next Webinar“Sell More With Social”
Tuesday, April 5th
10:30 AM Pacific / 1:30 PM Eastern
Featuring Aaron Biddar,E.V.P. Sales & Marketing, ThePort
More Info To Come Shortly
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Contact Us
WhatCounts, Inc.315 5th Avenue South, Suite 800Seattle, WA 98104800-440-7005www.whatcounts.comTwitter @[email protected]
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