Tom O

1
Tom OLeary
Whose feet have tread this path Im on? Whose
eyes have seen the sights I see? Where have all
their spirits gone? What will become of me?
New York, Mexico, Florida, Alabama, Italy,
Ireland, Bellingham!
2
Email Marketing Building Relationships One
Message at a Time

• Tom OLeary
• VP Sales, Infacta Ltd
• February 28, 2007

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Technology Comes Full Circle!
4

• Over 1 Billion People
• Use the Internet Today

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• 91 of them
• use the Internet
• to send and receive email

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Pew Internet
http//www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Women_and_Men_
online.pdf
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Proof in the Tesco Pudding

• TESCO, the leading supermarket chain in the UK
  orchestrated an impressive 44 email marketing
  campaigns in October 2005 alone - up to 20
  million emails sent to customers each month
• Tesco.com sales were up 31 at 401m in the first
  half of this year. It deals with about 170,000
  orders per week, compared with its nearest rival,
  Sainsburys.co.uk, which gets about 38,000. They
  are set to hit 1bn in sales for 2006
• http//www.messagingtimes.com/blog/?p69language
  EN

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Leveling the Playing Field

• Even small companies
• can be GIANTS online!
• Email creates equal opportunity to reach the
  masses.
• small is the new BIG.
• Read http//www.group-mail.com/asp/common/article
  s.asp?id168

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Small Giants

• I asked Reba if she wanted to share any secrets
  to success she gained from her years in business
  and she said, "Your mailing list and newsletter
  is the biggest money maker you could have. When I
  was running wholesaling business, it was the ONE
  thing that kept my customers coming back time
  after time. My list had 17,000 names and I
  published my newsletter once a month
  simultaneously with my monthly special. The sales
  that came from the emailing of that newsletter
  were instantaneous."
• http//www.internetbasedmoms.com/business-success-
  stories/reba-collins.html

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How is Email Used?

• According to Forrester Research, email marketers
• structure their campaigns around the following
• Promotion or discount - 66
• Newsletter - 48
• Product announcement - 34
• Advertising/Marketing - 28
• Alerts/Reminders - 24
• Market Research - 8
• Other - 4

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What Consumers Want

• A survey of email users opinions about how
  Permission
• Marketers could improve their campaign results,
  found
• 42 - Less frequent messages
• 35 - Better prices and offers
• 24 - More relevant, targeted messages
• 18 - More Control over email options
• 18 - Time savers and convenience
• 17 - Exclusive e-mail offers
• Q1 2002, Quris/Greenfield Online, May 2002

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The Evolution of Email

• Ensures privacy of recipients
• Personalizes messages to your audience
• Allows you to measure efforts
• Gets there faster
• Highly targeted

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Permission Email Commandments

• Can-SPAM Act 2003
• Thou Shalt Have Permission to Send Email
• Thou Shalt Not Be Deceptive
• Thou Shalt Have a Reply-to Address
• Thou Shalt Allow Recipients to Opt-out
• Read http//www.group-mail.com/asp/common/article
  s.asp?id173

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Its All About Permission!
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Getting Started Strategy

• Would you build a house without a blueprint?
• Set measurable objectives
• Design subscription methods
• Create content structure
• Schedule frequency of contact
• Select necessary tools
• Incorporate your brand
• consistency! templates!
• Read http//www.group-mail.com/asp/common/article
  s.asp?id198

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Part of a Comprehensive eMarketing Strategy
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Getting Started Tools

• Subscription form
• Contact database
• Group email program
• Tracking utility
• Website

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Tools Subscription Form
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Subscription Forms

• http//www.restaurant-hospitality.com/newsletters/
  20060630
• http//www.parkplacehg.com/
• http//www.hotspring.com/index_spas_hot_spring.htm
  ltop
• http//www.ghotw.com/spa.aspx
• http//www.fourseasonsrestaurant.com/index2.htm
• http//www.cietours.com/
• http//bellingham.org/
• http//www.email-marketing-reports.com/
• http//www.tompeters.com/
• http//www.marketingforsuccess.com/
• http//news.bbc.co.uk/
• http//www.copyblogger.com/

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Opting-in

• Consider Double Opt-In Confirmation Because
  anyone can subscribe another to receive email
  from a site, it is important to confirm
  registration by sending an email requesting
  confirmation from the subscriber. Spamhaus calls
  this Closed-loop opt-in and defines it as The
  Recipient has verifiably confirmed permission for
  the address to be included on the specific
  mailing list, by confirming (responding to) the
  list subscription request verification. This is
  the standard practice for all Internet mailing
  lists, it ensures users are properly subscribed
  from a working address and with the address
  owner's consent.

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Opting-out

• Provide an Opt-out Facility All recipients of
  your email should be able to easily discontinue
  receiving future messages by opting-out of your
  list. Make opting-out easy to do and ensure that
  the recipient is removed immediately when they
  opt-out. Normally, an opt-out or unsubscribe link
  is placed at the end of the email. Remember
  though, providing the link is only worthwhile to
  the recipient if it actually works. I have
  personally unsubscribed to countless email lists
  only to continue receiving them after doing so. A
  legitimate, compliant business will actually
  remove emails from their list when the recipient
  opts-out.

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Tools Contact Database

• The backbone of successful email marketing
• Name
• Email
• Additional information as desired (i.e.
  birthday)
• Compatibility with email client
• Read http//www.group-mail.com/asp/common/article
  s.asp?id203

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Tools Group Email Program

• Desktop Application (In house)
• Web-based Hosted Solution (Outsourced)
• Read http//www.group-mail.com/asp/common/article
  s.asp?id142

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Tools Tracking Utility

• How effective are your email campaigns?
• Email tracking measures
• open and click-through rates.

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Tools Tracking Utility

• According to the Harte-Hanks Postfuture Index of
  comparative e-mail metrics for January-June 2006
  among 13 industry categories, restaurants enjoyed
  the best open rates at 167.7 (open rates
  exceeding 100 occur by way of pass-alongs, and
  reopened e-mail) as well as the best
  click-through rates at 57.5. Retail had the
  lowest open rate (35.3), while the automotive
  sector had the lowest click-through rate (5.7).

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Tools Tracking Utility

• The 13 industries mentioned in the study (in
  order of descending click-through rates) are
• Restaurants (57.5)
• Publishing (55.6)
• Pharmaceutical (23.8)
• Travel and hospitality (23.4)
• Conference events (14.2)
• Financial services (11.0)
• Technology (10.9)
• Government (9.5)
• Insurance (9.5)
• Consumer packaged goods (8.6)
• Entertainment (8.1)
• Retail (6.0)
• Automotive (5.7)
• Among all sectors for all purposes of e-mail
  combined, the average delivered rate stands
• at 91.2 -- with an average open rate of 78.8 of
  those e-mail delivered, click-
• through rate of 18.4 of all email delivered, and
  an opt-out rate of 0.4 of all e-mail

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The Problem with Metrics!
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Tools Website

• Subscription form
• Content Library
• Landing Pages!!

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Getting Started Building and Maintaining Your
Lists

• Website subscription form
• On-site registration
• Co-registration (tourism website)
• http//www.group-mail.com/asp/common/articles.asp?
  id200
• Incentives!
• Consider Form Fatigue!
• Remove bad addresses and opt-outs
• Segment when possible
• Read http//www.group-mail.com/asp/common/article
  s.asp?id200

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Getting StartedWriting an Effective Message

• 3 Lines of Success
• Subject
• Call-to-Action
• Unique Selling Proposition
• Read http//www.group-mail.com/asp/common/article
  s.asp?id179

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Writing Effective Messages

• Keep it brief (subject line and body)
• Focus on one offer
• Make your call-to-action clear
• Motivate the action by differentiating yourself
• Dont bury your links (remember the preview pane)
• Direct to an effective Landing Page

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Microcontent

• http//www.messagingtimes.com/blog/?p174language
  EN
• http//www.copyblogger.com/titles-that-tell-a-whol
  e-story/

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Getting StartedManaging Your Campaigns

• Identify Audience (groups)
• Create relevant message(s)
• Test your copy using mulitple clients
• Send your message
• Analyze your results
• Modify your campaign
• Clean your list(s)

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Emarketing Considerations

• Build Effective Landing Pages
• Often, successful email marketing is thwarted by
  ineffective landing pages. Theres a big
  difference between a click and a conversion.
• Deliverability
• ISP Limitations, Bounces, Client Filters, Image
  Suppression, Clients
• Preview and Test Your Message
• Consider optimum dates and times for delivery
  (Tuesday-Thursday benchmark eroding)
• Fulfillment and Support
• Can you react effectively to a better than
  expected response?
• Are you willing to invest the time in email
  relationships?
• Emerging Trends in the Industry
• Behavioral targeting

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Case Study
Hotel Pre-Opening A plush, boutique hotel in
Texas will open its doors to the public in mid
October 2002. Management initiated a weekly email
campaign to the most robust travel agent email
database available in the US. The campaign gets
the hotel name in front of both corporate and
leisure travel agents, and allows them to come
and visit the promo hotel site, review Web-only
specials, and register for a sweepstakes, thus
initiating an important interactive relationship
between hotel and travel agency community. From
hospitality.net
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Case Study

• Hypothetical 200-room hotel
• A U.S. hotel with 200 rooms has an occupancy rate
  of 62. The
• average number of adult guests per room is 1.3
  and the average stay
• is for 2 days for either business or leisure. The
  total number of guests
• for the one-year period would be 29,383 guests.
  If 60 of them use
• the Internet (average Web usage in the U.S.), the
  customer email list could be
• 17,630 strong within 12 months. A smartly done
  email broadcast to the entire
• list could produce a 5-10 response rate, i.e. a
  minimum of 882 people will
• click a URL link in the email and come to the
  hotel website to see a Web-only
• special or promotion. Experiences show that 3-5
  of these qualified
• respondents will book i.e. minimum 26-35 people,
  which represents revenue of
• 4,420-5,652 based on 1.9 night average stay and
  85 per night ADR.
• From hospitality.net

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Case Study

• Distressed Inventory
• A Las Vegas hotel casino blasted an email
  promotion to an existing
• customer base. The message included a video
  insert and link to the
• booking engine. The hotel experienced a 30 boost
  in occupancy
• within 12 hours of the campaign.
• An Orlando hotel blasted an email promotion that
  included room
• nights combined with local attractions. The hotel
  included a "Forward
• to Friend" button that expanded the initial
  database. The campaign
• helped the hotel generate some 40 of total
  bookings online during
• that test month.
• From hospitality.net

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Creating Conversations, Building Relationships

• Email is an efficient application. Dont be
  efficient with your message! Find your authentic
  voice and communicate it appropriately to your
  audience.
• Consumers today want authentic relationships with
  product and service providers. Act small on a
  large scale.
• Relevance is Priority Number One!
• Optimize automated opportunities for marketing.
• Trusting relationships take time to build, dont
  rush.
• Make it easy in every way!
• Design is Devine
• Get Interactive!

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Demos

• Desktop Email Marketing
• GroupMail
• http//www.group-mail.com
• Web-based Email Marketing
• Constant Contact
• http//tutorials.constantcontact.com/

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Resources

• Essential Guide to Email Marketing
• a free 64 page Guide to Email Marketing by DM
  News
• http//www.dmnews.com/cms/lib/6683.pdf
• Email-marketing-reports.com
• Dr. Mark Brownlows blog about email marketing
• http//www.email-marketing-reports.com
• The Messaging Times
• eMarketing served fresh daily
• http//www.messagingtimes.com
• Getting Started with Email Marketing
• a 4-part series that provides an overview of
  email marketing
• http//www.group-mail.com/asp/common/articles.asp
  ?id212
• Developing a Total Emarketing Strategy
• a good article on Hospitality.net by Jason Price
  and Max Starkov

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Oh, yeaPollDaddy
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Thanks for coming!

• For a 25 Discount on GroupMail Personal or
  GroupMail Business Edition, just send an email to
  martin_at_infacta.com mentioning this event. Hell
  be happy to look after you.