Are you interested in starting an Email Marketing program for your school or group? If so then let me take you through the "things you need to know" and then we can work on creating you an email marketing program that will surpass all your wildest expectations.

1. What You Need to Know Marketing Paul A. Prewitt, BSBA ’04 Electronic Communications Coordinator Arkansas Alumni Association Presented On: July 17, 2008

2. What is E-Mail Marketing? Definition by wikipedia.org: E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a means of communicating commercial or fundraising messages to an audience. In its broadest sense, every e-mail sent to a potential or current customer could be considered e-mail marketing. Are You Using E-Mail Marketing? E-Newsletter E-Appeal E-Invite E-Announcement E-Promotion E-Thank You E-Mail Communications

3. What’s in the MIX? GOALS GOALS The Audience World Wide Web Design or Branding GOALS GOALS Message & Action Statistics

4. The Audience Likely to be the most important ingredient in the mix; after all without the audience we have no one to send to. Segmentation is very key. Although we could send the same message to everyone, should we? Example: ask a member to join or ask them to upgrade or donate. Personalization is a sub part of segmentation. Talking on a one-to-one level increases the user’s feeling of connection, but be careful as the younger generation is able to quickly pick up on a mail merge style e-mail. GOALS: the goals will help to determine the audience and develop the expected ROI.

5. Using the Audience Segmentation Faculty & Staff Only Student Expired Members

7. See The Difference Living In NWA Living Outside NWA Call To Action

8. Design or Branding This is probably the part everyone likes the most (besides seeing success). Commonly referred to as the “fun part”. There is a Size Limit! So perhaps you can make the e-mail scroll and scroll forever, but take great caution with this as e-mail readers skim and don’t always scroll. “Design above the Fold!” ~eROI.com Keep it FRESH! Make it FUN! No one likes to read the same thing over and over nor do they like to look at the same old graphics & layouts. If it is not fun or energetic, often it will be overlooked. Fun is “relevant” so trial and error is the only way to go. TEST! TEST! & TEST! Some more! You’ll be surprised when it comes to rendering but testing is always a good thing. GOALS: let the goals control the design while keeping the branding in mind.

9. Keeping the Brand Fun Stationery Benefits List www.arkalum.org/momentsintime Video Trailer

10. Statistics What is actually important? Is it the Open Rate, Click-Through? Think Return On Investment! Keep an Eye on the ROI! So maybe we are not doing a pay for event or join online, but engagement is worth something isn’t it? Open Rate = Render Rate: a new concept by the E-mail Diva is to consider open as render since not all emails will be rendered with images thus the Open Rate will not be 100% accurate. Click-Through Rate: the click through rate will help you continue your tracking outside the e-mail tool. This will be some of the page views you get which can then be used to help get ROI. GOALS: using the original goals and the stats you should be able to determine the ROI. If you need a cost use .01 cent per intended recipient.

11. Rendered Halfway Marker 43% GOAL & ROI ?? Negative Influence Set Time Span

12. What is the ROI? Get the Answers in the Session Number of Intended Recipients: 2176 Cost Per Intended Recipient: $.01 Total Cost: $21.76(Number Intended * Cost Per Intended) Number of Renewals: 7 Total Cash Value for Renewals: $180 ROI: 827%(Total Cash Value for Renewals / Total Cost) Sent on: June 25, 2008 Reported for: June 9, 2008 Get the Answers in the Session Call to Action Not Tracked

13. World Wide Web What the heck, why is this here? Well believe it or not the WWW is the backbone for E-mail Marketing and vice versa. E-mails are HTML 1.0 web pages. It is always a good idea to have an online version, too. You’ll need someone to help code them to get started but message editing can be done later with templates. Action = Web Links! Ok so you can have different actions like call 1-888 or something but please try and keep a URL link for the action. Think about “How Do I Track The Results!” CAN-SPAM ACT 2003? Why not use it, it will increase your deliverability if you stop sending to those who don’t want it. If they don’t get it, they cannot mark it as SPAM.

14. Looking to the Future Campaigns Definition: “A systematic course of aggressive activities for some specific purpose” done via e-mail. ~dictionary.com

15. What’s Wrong with Blast E-mails? E-Solicitation Open Click yes yes 100% Return no no No Return 50% Return What & Where is the Goal? What about those people who don’t get it? So they didn’t open it, are you sure they got it? Why didn’t they click?

16. We Get More Out But Less Return More Email = More Recipients Unsubscribe

17. Using the Campaign Model E-Solicitation yes Bounced Print no Goal Open Click Action yes yes yes no no no No Return 25% Return 50% Return Filter New E-Solicits TIP: Set a Max Solicit per Campaign before you start.

19. It’s Time to Play Tips & Tricks

20. Some Helpful Hints Best Date & Time is a Myth! There is no “best time” or “best day” to send e-mails. If there were, everyone would send on that date & time and your inbox would be so full you’d avoid it. Mix it up and play around with the dates and times. Plus, look for trends within your results. Video & Audio E-mails are Fake! Currently there is no way to develop e-mails that can show videos in the users inbox. Think “click to play” when designing these features for e-mail campaigns and you’ll get much better results. The only broadly accepted animation in e-mail inboxes is a GIF file, but it still doesn’t always end up going through the animation sequence.

22. Some Helpful Hints View it as a web page links! Believe it or not the view it as a web page links do actually get used. Perhaps not all the time, nor are they always used for their intended purpose but they do get used. Every time we’ve added a View it as a web page link it has gotten a 5% click through rate or grater. Unsubscribe Options Are Your Friend! This option not only helps you keep a good list and positively affects your deliverability but can be your true friend, too. The Unsubscribe Option is the #1 place where a user will go simply to change/update their e-mail address. A well developed Unsubscribe page will also help you learn why and prevent future subscribers from leaving your list. Unsubscribing Doesn't Have to Mean Goodbye!

23. Resources Sites The Email Wars is a helpful blog on email marketing best practices and helpful tips and tricks.http://theemailwars.com/ Email Insider is the inside line on email marketing.http://blogs.mediapost.com/email_insider/ Blog High Ed is all Higher Ed, all the time.http://www.bloghighed.org/ Draft Motif is all me!http://www.draftmotif.org/