August 26, 2009
Success Metrics for Social Media & Email Marketing
How New Gmail Updates Affect Your Email Marketing Program
Ryan Deutsch, VP, Strategic Services & Market Development, StrongMail Systems
Like many of you, my inbox is filled with the latest research on social media and how it will soon change the world for many email marketers. Unlike some of you, I happen to be a true believer that social media will become a critical part of not only direct marketing but email marketing specifically.
Recently a report prepared by Wetpaint and Altimeter looked at the world's most valuable brands and:
(1) Determined which were most engaged (via social channels) with their consumers.
(2) Drew a parallel to that engagement with financial results.
The report found that companies investing heavily in social media (companies deeply engaged in seven or more social channels like blogs, branded social Web sites, Facebook, Wikis, ratings and reviews, etc.) surpass their peers in terms of both revenue and performance by a significant amount. While the report stopped short of calling the relationship causal, the implication is that deep social engagement with customers is at the very least a characteristic of the most successful brands in the world.
So, the report data (and all the pundits on the planet) suggest that social is the new "new thing," but how do we prove it? What metrics do we track to determine the contribution of social media at a campaign level?
Here are some data attributes that we are beginning to see clients track to determine value and contribution of the influencers within their email database:
Contacts: As email recipients engage with social content in email messages, the most basic sharing option they have is to forward the content onto their networks via email. To facilitate that, many systems give recipients the opportunity to log into their online address books and upload contacts to receive the shared content. Some systems can determine the total number of contacts in address books. These systems do NOT capture addresses, but they can let the marketer know the size of a recipient's network. From an email standpoint, this data is not valuable, but from a social marketing perspective, data around the extent of a recipient's network can be useful.
Invitations shared: Sharing content – via Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or email – is at the heart of every social program. Tracking the number of invitations sent by your email recipients over time gives you a unique view into the potential brand advocates within the email file. While Forward-to-a-Friend never delivered on this promise, new solutions that motivate sharing within a campaign are providing direct marketers the ability to track social engagement via invitations in a scalable way. Understanding invitation behavior lets marketers target potential influencers in new and exciting ways.
Invitations accepted: Tracking activity across multiple generations is even more telling for the direct marketer. Recipients within your email database may have huge personal networks and send a ton of invitations on your brand's behalf, but what if no one (including their close personal friends) cares what they have to say? Understanding what members of your database can drive actual participation within their networks allows for focus and the development of incentives for your most powerful influencers.
Conversions: As with any other email program, conversions are paramount. Tracking those conversions – whether defined as a sale or a subscription – driven by each member of your database from their networks is essential. This, combined with the elements described above, allows the email marketer to develop influencer segments and determine on an individual-recipient level the contribution to the organization.
All of these metrics are based on the fundamental principle that the initial sharing opportunity originated within an email, tied to a database record. As a result, activity can be tracked back to the consumer who "posted," emailed or tweeted about your brand. It is this extremely close relationship with the customer that makes the world's most valuable brands successful. With the right strategy, socialized email can help your brand develop similar relationships with your customers and their networks.
Author Profile
Ryan Deutsch is VP, Strategic Services & Market Development for StrongMail Systems (www.strongmail.com), a leading provider of commercial-grade solutions for marketing and transactional email. Ryan can be reached at rdeutsch@strongmail.com.
How New Gmail Updates Affect Your Email Marketing Program
Alex Williams, Strategist, eROI
Recently, Gmail announced it will display images by default for emails from addresses that are in that person's contact list. It will also display images if you have sent that address at least two emails and that the address in question is authenticating using SPF or DKIM. So, how does this affect your email marketing program?
1. Add Whitelisting Instructions to your Emails
Various studies have noted that about 1 in 5 HTML emails contains whitelisting instructions. If you have put an emphasis on that, you’re ahead of the competetion. You need to put an emphasis on this early in the relationship. Put this right out front early and often.
2. Use a Realistic Email Address and Be Consistent
Readers of this blog or people who have seen me present know my pet peave on this topic. You must use an email address that is both friendly and inviting of reply. They usally have bad beginnings. Here are bad “From” email addresses: donotreply@, noreply@, webmaster@, info@, reply-8779@, etc…. Why would you want that in your contact list? Also, think about how annoying it is to change your own email address. Pick something friendly, branded, and then stick with it!
3. Invite Replies to your Campaigns
Do you invite your subscribers to reply to messages with feedback or comments? Many email users add mailed to addresses to their contact list. Aside from can-spam compliance, this can open up better communication with your subscribers. You might be surprised by how many responses you get. Try asking a question like “What would you like to see in the newsletter? Reply to this email and tell us!”
4. Make Sure You Have DKIM in Place
We have provided instructions for setting up a Domain Key before on the blog. It is SO important for your program to reach the inbox. Return Path has a great post on DKIM today that illustrates the magnitude of this issue. Your Email Service Provider will have SPF handled, and hopefully has setup DKIM as well. If you are unsure or haven’t tested this in awhile, I would reach out to your email or IT team ASAP.
Author Profile
Alex Williams is a strategist for eROI (www.eroi.com) an interactive agency with powerful email marketing, event registration, and ecommerce software. Alex can be reached at Alex@eROI.com.
How Should I Use Email to Promote My Event?
Jack Mardack, Director of Marketing, Eventbrite
E-mail is a powerful marketing tool that can have a huge impact on the success of your event. The following are a few email-related tips to help event organizers ensure that success:
- Don’t be spammy. Be conscious of how people feel about getting unwanted e-mail or too many e-mails from the same sender. Err in the direction of fewer, more thoughtfully prepared messages spaced out over time.
- Start early. Don’t wait until the last minute to begin your event e-mail campaign. Give your invitees time to warm up to your event. Space your e-mail messages out, and use the lead time to build interest by delivering messages at regular intervals. Avoid a long quiet period followed by an urgent “Tickets are going fast!” e-mail.
- Early-bird discounts work. One of the few pieces of information that is almost always welcome about an event is the availability of an early-bird discount. The most successful such discounts reward people who are prepared to make a decision sooner rather than later.
- Think outside the invitation. Use e-mail creatively to share information that will get people excited about your event in advance. Foster a feeling of inclusion among your invitees by letting them know who’s coming, who’s speaking and what the activities are going to be.
- Don’t forget your sponsors. It’s a common mistake to limit the visibility given event sponsors to the day of the event. Include them in your e-mails—and not just their logos. Your sponsors will appreciate the opportunity to have their content exposed in your pre-event, outbound e-mail efforts.
- Put the “what” in your event invitation. More so than almost any other factor, giving your invitees a clear picture of what is going to happen during the event and at what time, drives registrations. People like to know what to expect.
Author Profile
Jack Mardack is director of marketing at Eventbrite, an online events marketplace (www.eventbrite.com). Jack can be reached at Jack@Eventbrite.com.
TREND ANALYSIS: Email Performance Since 2001
MarketingSherpa.com
We’ve been studying email trends for a long time, and this chart goes back to the beginning, tracing the relationship between email practice and email success. In one form or another, we’ve asked the basic question about how well email was performing since our first survey in 2001. This chart highlights some trends and key takeaways.
The Takeaways
- In 2001, it was still easy to get opt-ins. "Relevance" wasn’t our ad nauseum catchword yet, and simply throwing up an email capture field would yield names. We saw a peak in the bursting bubble year of 2002. Then (as now) marketers were looking for low cost ways of reaching their target markets, retaining customers and hitting their quarterly goals.
- Over time, we see that efficacy fell off the high. Email matured, inboxes filled up and other media worked their way into business and personal life. Given the competition for attention, email has held up remarkably well, especially given its yearly obituary at the hands of the latest, greatest tactic.
- In 2004 we see our two groups begin to really diverge. At this point it’s no longer a walk in the park to get new subscribers; marketers are finding that they have to provide value, think about relevance and pay attention to their email programs to see continued increase in its impact.
- Every year the gap grows, as those who fit our ‘best practices’ model (a definition which evolved over the years based on tracked metrics) report stable or improving impact for email, while those still batching and blasting see diminishing returns.