Scott Heimes - CMO / SendGrid at SaaStr Annual 2018 5 Keys for Driving Growth & Engagement via Email

1. Enabling Digital Conversions at
Scale: 5 Keys to Driving Growth
& Engagement via Email

2. Scott Heimes
CMO @ SendGrid

3. SendGrid’s
Origin
ABOUT US
Eight years ago, three
developers set out to
build a better way to
send email.

4. OUR CUSTOMERS
Powering the engagement strategy for the world’s
leading digital brands

5. WAYS TO SEND
SendGrid Email
PlatformEASY TO
INTEGRATE
ANALYTICS AND
REPORTING
SECURITY EASY-TO-USE
USER INTERFACE
DISTRIBUTED CLOUD
ARCHITECTURE
FLEXIBLE
APIs
WAYS TO SEND
1-to-1 operational, recipient-initiated email
Email API
1-to-many promotional, sender-initiated email
Marketing Campaigns
Expert Services and World Class Support
EMAIL DELIVERY
SERVICES
ONBOARDING SERVICES ONGOING EXPERT MANAGED SERVICES
SENDGRID PRODUCTS
Built for Developers and Marketers

6. Denver, Colorado | Redwood City, California | Orange, California | London, England
SENDGRID SNAPSHOT
58,000+ paying customers in 100+ countries
1 trillion emails processed | 4 offices

7. SEO
Chat
SMSSEM
Social
Media
Display
Push/
In App
Mobile
Why Email?
● Strong ROI ($38 for every $1 invested)
● 3.7 billion email accounts worldwide
● Uniquely built to reach customers
● Secure, regulated for consumers
Gravitational Center of Digital Communications
EMAIL

8. Who is using email
to communicate
with customers?

9. Email’s humble beginnings
Then
1st email sent in 1972
1st piece of spam 1978
Webmail started in 1993

10. Email’s not so humble scale
Now
125 Billion commercial
emails / day
67% of consumers b/w
ages 13-50 believe email
is essential to their lives

11. Email is the Leading ROI Channel.
“Average ROI of $38 for every
$1 invested in email”
- DMA Report

12. SendGrid Research:
Email & the Future of Digital
Communication

13. THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL COMMUNICATION EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1 /
2 /
3 /
Email is essential, important and entrenched in the lives of people
today across Generation Z (19 and younger), Millennials (20-36) and
Generation X (37-52).
Over the next few years, Gen Z expects to increase their email
usage the most of all generations.
There is an overwhelming preference for email over all other
communication forms when it comes to B2C interactions.
4 /
Email is the channel where business is done from interactions inside a
company to interactions between businesses and consumers to interactions
between businesses.
5 / All personality types examined use email meaning it’s a nearly universal
channel. That isn’t the case with other communications and social media tools.
+

14. +
Fast Facts
Email is a staple form of communication
today regardless of age or life stage.
85% / 89% / 92%
Of consumers use email at least
monthly today.
THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL COMMUNICATION EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Gen Z Millennials Gen X
+
◤
FEMALE, GEN X
“Email isn’t personal, it should
be for business and retailers.”

15. +
67% of people view email as essential and/or important to their lives!
CURRENT CATEGORY ENGAGEMENT
Q3A/Q4A / Which of the following forms of communication that you use is essential/important to
your life?
40%
said that email is
both essential and
important
14%
Said email was essential only
13%
Said email was important only
33%
Said email was
neither essential
nor important
THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL COMMUNICATION EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

16. 5 Keys for Driving Growth
& Engagement via Email

17. DeliverabilityContextualization Globalization
ContentDesign

18. DeliverabilityContextualization Globalization
ContentDesign

19. Call-to-Action
● Design your email
and write your copy
around your CTA.
● Uber offers 3 CTAs
focused on social
engagement

20. Typography,
Images & Icons
● Reinforce your brand
quickly. Make sure your logo
is one of the first things your
subscribers see.
● Use color, imagery and
typography to reinforce your
brand.

21. A/B Test
● Test your designs to find
the most influential one.
● CTA, color, image, type,
font size and placement
can all be driving factors
to help drive the
engagement you’re
looking for.

22. DeliverabilityContextualization Globalization
ContentDesign

23. ● 3 Words Wins Out
● Choose Your Buzzwords
Carefully
● #hashtags perform poorly

24. Make use of your
preheader. It’s
often what stands
between the trash
and an open.

25. Avoid the temptation
to give your users so
many calls to action.
Remember your
purpose and make
it clear.

26. DeliverabilityContextualization Globalization
ContentDesign

27. Hyper-personalization
“Personalizing subject
lines for B2C increases
open rates by 41%”
- Q1 2015 Experian Marketing Services
Report

28. ● Timely
● Relevant
● Personal
● Regional

29. Set up triggered
emails based on prior
actions taken by the
recipient

30. eBay sends less
email by changing
the content of the
offer at the time of
open to account for
auctions that have
ended keeping every
email highly relevant

31. Email is once
again ‘interactive’
“CSS3 + HTML5 is
bringing interactivity
back to email”
- Dave Bailey

32. DeliverabilityContextualization Globalization
ContentDesign

33. ● Localization
○ Language
○ Content
○ Offers
● Commerce
○ Currency
○ Payment types

34. Ensure compliance
with global email
regulations. These
vary by country.

35. Global ISPs operate differently
than the Big 4.
*

36. DeliverabilityContextualization Globalization
ContentDesign

37. Only 80% of wanted email
reaches the intended
recipient.

38. Deliverability is complex
Technical
IP Architecture
Email
Authentication
Transport Layer
Security (TLS)
Automated
Bounce
Processing
Automated
Complaint
Processing
Multi-Channel
Integration
Human
Whitelisting
Black List
Remediation
CAN-SPAM
Compliance
CASL
Compliance
General Data
Protection Reg
ISP Relations &
Remediation

39. • Reach
• Conversion
• Opportunity
• Touch
• Engagement
Deliverability Impacts...

40. Know what applies to you:
• CAN-SPAM
• CASL
• GDPR
Plenty more...
Learn the Email Rules of the Road

41. Be mindful of:
• SPF Authentication
• DKIM Digital Signatures
• DNS/MX/A Records
• DMARC Policies
• DMARC Analytics
Consider Leveraging a Service Provider

42. Be confident in what will be seen
in your campaign:
• Headers
• Subject Line
• Email Message Content
Create Smart Email Campaigns

43. List hygiene starts with avoiding user fatigue.
• Don’t assume everyone wants 3 emails a day
• A/B test every campaign and optimize
• Stop sending to people who don’t open or click in 6-
9 months.
• Consider not sending email at all to the oldest and
least active 1-5% of your list.
• Most importantly...NEVER buy email lists!
Healthy Lists Yield Higher Deliverability

44. Set yourself up for success:
• “Warm up” new IPs
• Know your target metrics
• Be able to pivot quickly if
adjustments are needed
Avoid Detours to the Inbox

45. Your great content was successfully delivered!
This is the fun part. See what the mailbox
filters let through and how users liked it.
• Delivery Rate
• Opens, Bounces and Clicks
• Spam Reports
• Unsubscribe Requests
Message Sent & Received:
How’d You Do?

46. Actively Manage Reputation
It can open the inbox, or close it.

47. ● Ask permission and respect it
● Create an email preference center
● Send a welcome message
● Remove unengaged email recipients
● Make it easy to unsubscribe
Basics of Reputation Management

48. ● Are you using a dedicated IP address?
● Are you segmenting your email streams on
different IPs?
● Does your sending domain have an SPF record?
● Do you sign your email with DKIM?
● Have you published a DMARC record?
Infrastructure & Authentication
Checklist

49. ● Design emails with CTAs, branding; A/B test for success
● Create compelling content
● Contextualize for timeliness and relevancy
● Optimize for global sending
● Deliverability is the foundation for success
Key Takeaways

50. Scott Heimes
CMO @ SendGrid
scott.heimes@sendgrid.com
@ScottHeimes
Thank You!