Email Marketing Best Practices

MGH & Blue Sky Factory Email Benefits & Best Practices February 2011 Baltimore, Maryland

About Blue Sky Factory We are here for you: Employee Spotlights: Client Services Our director of deliverability, Ken Pfeiffer, monitors all email traffic that goes through our Publicaster system to ensure compliance and email delivery, assists our clients in following email best practices, and maintains ISP relations. Deliverability Creative DJ Waldow, the director of community, oversees all BSF social media interaction and engagement. DJ helps us, and our clients, keep a finger on the pulse of the social media industry. Software Development Social Media & Strategy As VP of strategy and innovation, Chris Penn is responsible for helping BSF set and execute its strategies, and for building our market presence and strength. Chris also develops strategies to help us and our customers be more effective in email and social marketing. Support, Education & Training 2

Blue Sky Factory Education General Education Publicaster-Specific Education http://www.blueskyfactory.com/subscribe.php 3

Blue Sky Factory Education https://learnpublicaster.groupsite.com 4

Introduction Why Email? People unfamiliar with email marketing often wonder what all the fuss is about. Didn't spam kill email as a marketing vehicle? And if spam didn't kill it, what about blogs, Twitter and all the other clever ways we can communicate online? Isn't email outmoded? The simple truth is, when done right, email just works. ,[object Object]

It builds relationships, loyalty and trust

It supports sales through other channels5

1 Why Email? It’s Desired A Best Practices Discussion. 6

Why Email? Permission based email marketing, addressing only those subscribers who have expressly indicated their interest in your message, outperforms all other direct marketing channels. According to research conducted by the Direct Marketing Association, permission based email marketing generated an ROI of $43.62 for every dollar spent on it in 2009. The expected figure for 2010 is $42.08. 7

Opt-In Form - Placement A bigger list leads to bigger ROI potential so why hide the sign up? Many email marketers place the link to their email sign-up page in a discrete location (like the footer). Make this call-to-action easy to find and present on every page of your website. 8

Opt-In Form – Active Opt-In Client List The first step in building up a List is building an opt in form. Only send emails to subscribers who give explicit consent by checking a box. Email addresses that are collected for other means should not be added to your email distribution list unless the user is given a clear decision to: receive updates and offers via email (by checking a box) or b. be left off the list and receive only transactional communication (leave box unchecked) Give the user the choice and require that they check the opt in box themselves (do not pre-check the box). 9

Opt-In Form – Campaign Explanation Client List Include information on the types of campaigns they will be receiving. Whether it’s an enlargeable example of a campaign or a simple explanation of what the email will include, it is important to inform your subscribers and manage their expectations appropriately. 10

Opt-In Form - Privacy Client List Guarantee to not share their address with other companies. Potential subscribers will see your privacy pledge clearly stated at the bottom of the opt-in form. 11

Opt-In Form – Easy Connect Client List Accelerate List Growth With Social Tools Like Facebook Connect. During sign up, users can avoid some data entry with two simple clicks. Facebook Connect also allows you to share the code: put it in a tweet, in a press release, in your email, anywhere a regular web link can go. 12

Social Media – Opt-In Via Facebook Tap into an already-engaged customer base – add an email opt-in form to your Facebook page. Get instructions on how to add an email sign-up form to your Facebook page here: http://tinyurl.com/34x9uhv 13

Offline Channel –Other Options Client List Encourage email sign-ups via offline means such as: ,[object Object]

Traditional MediaInclude a link to your subscription center on: ,[object Object]

SMS – Subscription Via Text Message Client List Offer subscription via text message to newsletter. Let prospective customers subscribe to your lists via short code (e.g. text your email address to 41411) and capture them on the spot. This is especially effective when people are standing around for a bit (at an airport, at a bus stop, at an event). 15

What’s Next?– Subscription Via Bar Code Client List Tailor your opt in experience to match the sophistication of your audience. With Publicaster’s New Landing Page Feature, you can attach the url of your opt in form to a barcode and imbed your opt in in the middle of a subscriber’s experience. 16

2 Why Email? It’s Data Driven A Best Practices Discussion. 17

5 Metrics to Monitor Client List Delivery Rate Demonstrates the amount of subscribers who successfully received the email. Delivery is calculated by subtracting the number of hard and soft bounces from the total number sent. Blue Sky Factory looks to see a delivery rate above 98%. 18

Act on Your Findings - Poor Delivery Client List Poor Delivery If your bounce rate is increasing, it is important to evaluate the following aspects of your program: 1. Authentication. Are your Sender ID and SPF records set up properly? These important measures can help you communicate your legitimacy to the ISPs (Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, Gmail, etc.). Go here for a full explanation: http://bit.ly/SPFrecords 2. Make sure you are adhering to the expectations you set for your subscribers originally. Once you begin straying from the expectations you originally set, the complaint rate typically begins to rise and blocks can occur. 3. Age of list. As subscribers change jobs or email clients, their email addresses often change therefore old lists often contain many inactive addresses. Sending to an old list with many inactive (no longer actively used) addresses can lead to a high bounce rate. 19

5 Metrics to Monitor Client List Clickthrough Rate Measures the number of recipients that clicked one or more links in an email. In addition to clickthrough rate, it is also valuable to monitor clickthrough performance. This showcases the links in the email, the total number of clicks, and the unique number of clicks for each link. A clickthrough rate equal to or greater than 3% for a given campaign is preferred. 20

5 Metrics to Monitor Client List Conversion Rate Percentage of subscribers who clicked through to a page on your website that is being tracked for conversions. 21

Act on Your Findings - Low Clickthrough/Conversion Rate Client List Low Clickthrough Rate To address a decreasing clickthrough rate, implement the following: 1. A/B split testing- Test calls-to-action used and call-to-action placement, as well as overall messaging used. 2. Segmentation- Send more targeted emails to increase user engagement (e.g.- include products subscribers have historically shown interest in by clicking or purchasing). 3. Stronger calls-to-action- Consider changing the verbiage used to generate interest/action (e.g.- instead of ‘Click to Purchase’ use ‘Sale Ends Today, Buy Now’). To visibly make the callouts more noticeable and attractive, consider replacing links with HTML buttons. 4. Creative check up- Check with your Email Service Provider to ensure that your design is up to current industry best practices. For a copy of Blue Sky Factory’s basic design guidelines, go here: http://www.blueskyfactory.com/resources/bsfemaildesignguidelines.pdf 22

5 Metrics to Monitor Client List Open Rate Conveys the number of subscribers who viewed the images in the email. An open rate greater than 15% is ideal. Blue Sky Factory recommends adding ‘View in Browser’ clicks and ‘View Mobile Version’ clicks into overall open rate. 23

Act on Your Findings - Low Open Rate Client List A low or decreasing open rate is typically indicative of the following: 1. Lack of testing- Blue Sky Factory recommends A/B split testing the subject line for each campaign to garner the highest open rate possible. 2. Poor engagement- Poor engagement is often a result of untargeted campaigns. To increase your recipients’ desire to open each email, make sure the content is relevant to them by segmenting based on subscriber data and previous reporting metrics. 3. Ineffective subject line- A poorly constructed subject line increases the chances that your subscribers will pass over without opening. Use a subject line structure that seems to work for your specific list (which can be revealed through A/B split testing). And follow these best practices: Keep it 35 characters or less; Avoid “spammy” words and phrases; Per the CAN-SPAM Act, avoid deceptive subject lines; Make it actionable by providing a sense of urgency and call-to-action (think verbs!). 24

5 Metrics to Monitor Client List Opt-Out / Unsubscribe Rate Percentage of subscribers who clicked the ‘Opt-Out’ or ‘Unsubscribe’ link to be removed from future mailings. These subscribers are no longer able to receive emails. Blue Sky Factory encourages clients to begin evaluating program if opt-out rate begins to exceed 1%. 25

Act on Your Findings - Rising Opt-Out Rate Client List Rising Opt-Out Rate Similar to complaint rate, the opt-out or unsubscribe rate may increase if you do not stick to the expectations originally set for your subscribers. According to actual consumers, here are the top 6 reasons they choose to unsubscribe from email campaigns:

Act on Your Findings - Rising Opt-Out Rate Client List Re-Engagement Campaigns Strategically emailing inactive subscribers (have not opened or clicked), asking them to confirm their desire to continue receiving communications, and opting out those who don’t. Run a re-engagement campaign every 6 months to: ,[object Object]

Ensure subscribers on your lists are active and positively contributing to your email results.27

3 It’s Social Ask current subscribers to share with their friends 28

Sharing – ‘Forward To A Friend’ Forward to a Friend with a Subscribe Link can lead to new email sign ups. Your subscribers are your best advocates, make it as easy as possible for them to share your emails. Basic ‘Forward to a Friend’ functionality plus option for forwarder to add comments and recipient to have option to opt-in. 29

Sharing – ‘Share With Your Network’ Use ‘Share With Your Network’ features to make it easy for recipients to share your email content with their social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Be sure to clearly define areas and call outs to distinguish between Connecting and Sharing via social. Note: Content posts to recipient’s page. The Sender does not need to have a presence on any of these social networks in order to feature SWYN call-outs. 30

Sharing – ‘Share With Your Network’ Posts summary copy and a link to the email on the subscriber’s page on a given social platform. Reporting allows sender to see how many times and on what networks an email was shared. 31

Sharing – ‘Facebook Like’ Facebook Like allows viewers to "like" the email in Facebook and expand a campaign’s reach to a new viewing audience. Posts a link to the email on a subscriber’s Facebook page and records as a “like” in the count on the email. 32

4 Why Email? Builds Relationships, loyalty and trust A Best Practices Discussion. 33

Get to know your Subscribers better Client List Subscriber Preference centers allow you to collect further information for future segmenting: Consider linking to one of these from your email campaigns. This will allow recipients to update their preferences and information at any time. This is also a good place to cross-promote any other email offerings available to the subscriber. Note: This is separate from the opt-in form and should also be integrated directly with email marketing platform Enlarged Versions: http://www.bsf01.com/creatives/ramblers/subscriberpreferencecenter1.jpg& http://www.bsf01.com/creatives/ramblers/subscriberpreferencecenter2.jpg 34

Be on a first name basis Speak to your subscribers directly by personalizing emails. There are several forms of personalization, some more basic than others, but each offers a personal touch that will keep your subscribers engaged. Static Personalization: Insert information into email that is always available via your email marketing platform (subscriber’s email address, current date, etc.) Dynamic Content: Dynamic Statements (specific coding dependent on ESP) allow for extensive customization of the email, including using If-Then statements to insert content dynamically based on the field data for subscribers (e.g.- give subscriber certain block of content based on past purchase). 35

Increase your message relevancy Segment your list in order to send more targeted, relevant emails to your subscribers. Targeted emails lead to higher engagement and, ultimately, conversion. Segment by list attributes (information contained in your list) or by reporting analytics. Personalization from List Data: Pull content from subscriber’s record in the list (areas of interest, purchase history, etc.) 36

Make their Day Birthday Email ,[object Object]

Should be set up to send automatically based on date (birth date)

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