Marqui's Top 10 Email Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Top 10 Email Marketing Mistakes and
How to Avoid Them
April 29th, 2010

4/29/2010 www.marqui.com 1

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Why is Email Such a Big Deal?

“If email was a country, its 1.4 billion users would
make it the largest in the world. Bigger than China,
bigger than the populations of the USA and
European Union combined.” - Email Marketing
Reports (2009)


Why is Email Such a Big Deal?
A Datran Media survey of CMOs in 2009 found that email was by far the
strongest marketing performer.


Mistake 1: Graphics and Size Aren’t Optimized
• Consider most emails are read in a preview pane
– Less than 600 pixels
• Too many graphics can cause readability issues when the images are
blocked, or not downloaded.

EMAIL FACT # 1:
One in five emails are invisible and ineffective due to blocked
images. - Email Experience Council (Jan 2007)


Solution: Limit Images and Email Size
• Test emails to ensure that they are still readable even if images aren’t downloaded.
• Create emails to be less than 600 pixels so they fit into a preview pane properly


Mistake 2: Un-inspiring Email Copy
• Boring copy, and uninventive subject lines reduce the likelihood your email
will be read.
• Spelling and grammatical errors are unprofessional
• Long, descriptive copy doesn’t engage readers


Solution: Creative and Compelling Copy
• Your email copy needs to engage your audience
and convince them to convert on your campaign
• Compelling, direct, customer-centric language
appeals to readers
• Skimmable copy is easy to read and effective
• Make your value proposition and offer clear
• Placement of calls-to-action
• Have someone proof-read your work EVERY TIME!


Mistake 3: Not Testing for Email Client Compatibility
• Not all templates will look the same in all email clients
• Create test accounts with popular free ISPs to see if your email is
categorized as spam, and how the emails look with pictures on and off
– Outlook
– Gmail
– Yahoo
– Hotmail / Live Mail
– AOL Mail


Solution: Cross-Provider Email Testing
• Test your email for several email service providers to ensure that your
email works properly


Mistake 4: Broken / Misleading Links
• If your links aren’t working, your readers can’t act on your calls-to-action
• If people can’t tell a link IS a link, then they won’t be able to follow it
• Misleading / untrustworthy links or shortened URLs can make your email look
like spam

EMAIL FACT # 2 & 3:
97% of Email is Spam – BBC News (August 2009)

2% of all spam emails use shortened URLs to mask links to suspicious
sites –Message Labs (July 2009)


Spam Emails Love Shortened URLs


Solution: Test Campaigns and Be Transparent
• Make sure your links are in working order
before your campaign goes out
• Make sure your links are formatted so you
readers know where they are (obvious
buttons, underlined, hover states)
• Make sure you use full URLs so your readers
trust your buttons and links and know where
they will go if they click on it


Mistake 5: Weak Calls-to-Action & Landing Pages
• Calls-to-action are not visible, clear or
compelling
• Landing pages aren’t consistent with email
copy or offer
• These issues can lead to bad conversion
rates for your campaigns


Solution: Follow Best Practices and Test
Call-to-action best practices: Simple Landing Pages:
• Compelling and urgent • Make sure it’s consistent with
• More than one is okay the email offer

• Logical next step from the • Keep form fields to a minimum
message or offer • Test landing page variations
• Hyperlink with tracking • Convey your company’s privacy
• Spell out URL in the plain text policy
version

#1


Good Examples
Call to Action: Landing Page:


Mistake 6: Irrelevant Communications
• Irrelevant email messages lead to ineffective campaigns
• Non-targeted emails, poor timing and company-centric language discourage
readers from converting

EMAIL FACT # 4:
75% of respondents say lack of relevance is the biggest reason subscribers choose
to opt out, followed closely by sending too frequently (73%). - Merkle Interactive
Services (2009)


Solution: Segmentation, Timing and Customer Focus
• Segment your email campaigns to reach a more targeted audience
– Helps you be relevant
– Avoids list fatigue
– Better long-term results
• Sending emails out at the right time for your readers can increase
conversion rates
• Customer focused copy can engage visitors more readily


Mistake 7: Not Ensuring CAN-SPAM Compliance
• Not understanding CAN-SPAM legislation is
dangerous and unlawful
• Ignoring these rules can erode your brand’s
reputation:
– A visible and operable unsubscribe is
necessary
– Unsubscribes must be recognized within
10 days
– Accurate from lines with either yourself
or your organization
– Relevant subject lines (relevant to offer in
body, not deceptive)
– A legitimate, physical address of the
publisher must be present

Solution: Know Your Laws and Follow Them
• Deal with unsubscribes immediately (automatically is even better)
• Address spam complaints decisively
• Make sure your content is relevant to your list (segmentation)

EMAIL FACT # 5:
Spam has increased over 141% since March and spam
volumes grow by over 117 billion e-mails a day -Return Path
"Top Email Trends in 2009" (2010)


Mistake 8: Not Making it to the Inbox
• There is more to delivering an email that you think
• Clicking send is only the beginning

EMAIL FACT # 6 & 7:
Achieving strong inbox placement remains a challenge in the B-to-B sector with a
delivered rate of just 75%. - Return Path (2010)

Twenty percent of email in the United States and Canada is still not making it to
the inbox while 3% of email goes to the "junk" or "bulk" folder and another 16%
goes missing. - Return Path (2010)


Solution: Managed Delivery
• White listing / Paced Delivery
• Sender policy Framework
Compliance
• Domain Keys
• Bounce and Read Tracking
• Don’t use “spammy” subject
lines
• Spam Assassin -
http://spamassassin.apache.or
g/

Image by Diorama Sky


Mistake 9: Not Using Benchmark Data
• Not knowing or understanding
benchmark data makes it difficult
to understand the results of your
campaigns
• If you don’t know how you’re
doing, you can’t improve!
• You need to be able to compare
your campaigns to industry
averages


Solution: Get Familiar with the Statistics!
• Some Email Benchmarks for 2010:
– Average Open Rate: 22.0%
Average Delivery Rate: 93.9%
Average Click-Through Rate: 5.9%
Epsilon Q4 2009 Email Trends and Benchmark
(Jan 2010)
• Measure how your campaigns do in comparison
so you can improve


Mistake 10: List Size vs. Participation
• More concern over list size, than audience participation can be
detrimental
• It isn’t necessarily about how big your list is, but how much your
customers are engaged

Image by Uncleweed


Solution: Understand which Metrics Matter
• Understand your click-through, read and bounced rates
• Measure your audience involvement through unsubscribes
• A large house list is good, but if nobody cares about your emails, it’s
useless
• Focus on audience engagement FIRST


Marqui’s Top 10 Email Marketing Mistakes
1. Not optimizing for blocked images and preview panes
2. Un-inspiring email copy
3. Not testing for email client compatibility
4. Broken / misleading links
5. Weak calls-to-action and landing pages
6. Irrelevant communications
7. Not ensuring CAN-SPAM compliance
8. Not making it to the Inbox
9. Not using benchmark data
10. List size vs. participation size


Taking Your Email to the Next Level
• Testing
– Learn what works and what doesn’t and then improve
• Marketing Automation
– Stay front of mind with an automated drip campaigns
– Nurture leads with triggered emails and lead scoring
• Mobile Optimization
– Smaller screen resolutions
– Rendering issues with HTML, images and attachments
– Include a “mobile version” link
– Us mobile internet usage expected to reach 50% by
2013 (Emarketer 2009)


Feedback or Questions?

Follow our blog at http://www.marqui.com/blog

Follow us on Twitter @Marqui_CMS

Richard Sharp, VP Marketing
richard.sharp@marqui.com
604.484.8543

Amberlie Denny, Marketing Coordinator
amberlie.denny@marqui.com
604.630.3712


Marqui's Top 10 Email Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

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