1. White Paper
10 Steps to Effective
Email Marketing

2. White Paper
10 Steps to Effective Email Marketing
Table of Contents
Page 1 Introduction
Page 1 Putting Deliverability into Practice
Page 1 Current Email Marketing Practices
Page 1 10 Steps to Effective Email Marketing
Page 2 About Alterian Dynamic MessengerTM
Page 3 About Alterian

3. White Paper
10 Steps to Effective Email Marketing
Introduction legitimate - 'Dear Customer' is likely to look like an attempt at
Email has emerged as a cost-effective, efficient, real-time 'phishing'. Remember, spammers won't send personalized
marketing channel defiantly challenging the traditional methods content, as their business model doesn't support the cost of
of customer contact. No other medium – offline or online – implementing database marketing methods.
provides marketers with such a direct, personal, interactive and
measurable customer communication capability, and Marketers 2. Be relevant
are increasingly demanding e-execution capability within their Ensure your email content is personalized and relevant so your
marketing toolkit. readers will want to receive your emails and will look forward to
reading the content. It’s also important to keep in mind that
Putting Deliverability into Practice relevance is in the eye of the customer, so always strive to send
As with any new channel, email marketing brings with it its own them content and information that is of interest to them, not
set of potential pitfalls and commercial challenges. One of this simply what you want to tell them! In return you will get
year’s hot topics in email marketing is deliverability. Vendors are increased revenue and profit as a reward. Remember, spammers
promoting new delivery capabilities, and you can read a different won't send personalized content, as their business model
article about it daily. However, when put into perspective, it doesn't support the cost of implementing database marketing
becomes clear that email marketing is no longer about getting methods. Always consider if the subject of your email is going to
your email to consumer inboxes – it is about keeping it there. be pertinent to the recipient - don't risk frustrating your valuable
Consumers respond to about one in ten emails they receive each customers by blindly sending them every single campaign you
day. They are also deciding which email stays in their inbox and run.
what gets filtered or unsubscribed. Organizations that succeed in
establishing and maintaining customer relationships using email 3. Follow the law
will have a competitive advantage. Many countries have laws that govern online behavior and user’s
experience. Be responsible; educate customers about email laws
Current Email Marketing Practices and relevant privacy issues. Spam, security issues and what you
The good news is that few of your competitors have changed are doing about it. Tell them about the new practices and
their email marketing practices in the past five years. They still technologies you have implemented to make them safe and
send non-personalized, bulk email. Studies vary, but it appears show them how to change their preferences or opt-out of lists.
that only two out of ten do even basic personalization, such as
salutation. Less than one out of ten has implemented 4. Select your vendor wisely
sophisticated programs leveraging CRM data and dynamic Beware of cheap email products. It is easy to use an email blaster
content. product, the market is full of them and you can’t beat the price.
Unfortunately, many of them lack even basic opt-out ability and
10 Steps to Effective Email Marketing provide marketers with minimal visibility of delivery rates,
1. Identify yourself frequency control and other advanced features that enable
Clearly identify yourself by knowing your customer better. With organizations to implement responsible email practices
‘phishing’ attacks on the rise, consumers can’t assume the email
they get from you is in fact you, despite what the ‘from’ and 5. Integrate online and offline channels
‘subject’ lines say. You can ask recipients, for example, to add Multi-channel programs are a process, not an event. We will have
your email address to their address book to prevent 'over- succeeded when email becomes part of an integrated multi-
zealous' spam filters preventing your email from being delivered. channel dialogue we have with customers. Use offline
In addition, ensuring that you address your customers by their communications to make consumers aware of your online
name in the email will help them to realize your email is practices and the benefits of signing up. Don’t speak to your
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4. White Paper
Building the Business Case for Operational Marketing
customers just using email. Get to know them better than that 9. Manage the frequency
and watch your conversations increase and opt-outs drop. Consumers ultimately control frequency. It is important that you
know exactly how many emails your enterprise is sending to a
6. Authenticate your emails customer. Ensure no individual receives too many emails as a
Support email authentication initiatives and ensure your email result of different departments using the same lists of having the
complies. Spam is a problem because it is too easy and cheap to same individual on multiple lists. Consumers expect you to be
send email. While new techniques like DomainKeys and SPF more sophisticated that that, so if you don’t control the
won’t stop the more sophisticated spammers, they do help. They frequency, they will.
also raise the cost of spamming, the other key driver of spam.
Look for new email authentication solutions to come that also 10. Shape the customer experience
raise the cost of sending email. If what you say, and when you say it, is always relevant then you
are doing more than informing a customer about your product –
7. Explore your customers’ preferences you are helping to create a customer experience. Those
The starting point for customer preference management is companies that fail to take the importance of the customer’s
ensuring that you send email only to recipients who have opted- emotions into account will not be able to interact with them
in to receive your communications. Following the opt-in process, effectively, regardless of product strength, brand and market
implement a customer preference page and ensure every email category or market size
has a link to this page. Preference pages give recipients the
opportunity to select the frequency, format and type of About Alterian Dynamic MessengerTM
communications they wish to receive. This ensures your Alterian Dynamic MessengerTM empowers marketers to fully
communications are appropriate, relevant, compliant, and will be leverage the marketing database as a single
read. And get creative with the page itself, it’s a great way to source of customer insight with analytics, reporting and email
gather additional information – ask customers for feedback, do marketing execution capabilities. Marketers are now able to think
surveys, display survey results, pitch new services and include beyond lists and emails to full database marketing and multi-
offline preferences. Interactive newsletters, for example, are a channel capabilities. Outbound email campaigns can now be
great way to stay in touch, gather information about your enhanced by incorporating landing pages, truly dynamic and
customers' preferences and make yourself accessible to them. If tracked RSS feeds, pURLs, microsites, surveys, coupons and
you ensure you keep your newsletters interesting and relevant to registration forms.
your customers they will view them as a way they can
communicate regularly with you. Dynamic MessengerTM is a comprehensive online marketing
solution that incorporates analytics, campaign management,
8. Segment your audience email deployment, content management and online response
In terms of audience segmentation, email is no different from management. It has sophisticated permission-based user
direct marketing communications through any channel. The opt- management that accommodates multiple levels of access for
in process and preference pages are the starting point for email varied user roles and provides a centralized platform for capturing
segmentation and utilizing additional segmentation strategies and reporting on campaign and activity data.
based on data such as campaign history, purchase history, RFM
analysis, or demographic data offers the ability to build timely, For more information about Dynamic MessengerTM and the
relevant communications. Sending a blast of emails to your Alterian Marketing Services Platform please visit
entire database and hoping some of them reach those customers www.alterian.com or email us at info@alterian.com.
who are actually interested in your product or service is now a
thing of the past.
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5. White Paper
10 Steps to Effective Email Marketing
About Alterian
Alterian (LSE: ALN) empowers marketers with an integrated
marketing software platform combining database, online and
operational marketing applications on a shared data
infrastructure. The Alterian Integrated Marketing Platform makes
it practical and cost effective for marketers to use actionable
insight to execute an integrated marketing strategy across online
and offline channels.
It is the unique integration of analytics, content and execution
through Alterian’s industry leading tools, such as the Alterian
Messenger email platform, and the award winning Alterian Web
Content Management solutions, which enables marketers to
drive a seamless, multi-channel customer experience.
Alterian’s analytically-led software is delivered to approximately
1,000 marketing departments, across 26 countries, and an
international network of more than 100 business partners,
including marketing services providers, agencies and systems
integrators. Its partners, such as Accenture, Acxiom, Allant
Group, Cap Gemini, Carlson Marketing, Experian, Epsilon,
InfoUSA, LogicaCMG, Merkle, Ogilvy One and Euro RSCG
Worldwide, deliver Alterian software alongside their own domain
and services expertise to help market leaders such as Princess
Cruises, General Motors, Zurich, Astra Zeneca, HSBC, Limited
Too, AEGON, Avis, Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment, Dell,
Amnesty International and Vodafone integrate marketing
processes and drive competitive advantage. For more
information about Alterian, products within the Alterian
Integrated Marketing Platform or our Partner Network, please
visit www.alterian.com.
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6. White Paper
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