E-Mail Marketing

1. E-Mail Marketing Angela D’Auria Stanton, Ph.D. E-Mail Lists, Measuring the Effectiveness of Your E-Mail Campaign, Spam, Privacy and Legislation

2. There are only two basic kinds of opt-in lists: • Outside Lists, operated by list brokers like YesMail that sell access to email addresses. These lists are obtained in many cases from consumers that input their interests and sign up on websites to receive relevant promotions. • House Lists, generated internally. It may consist of a customer database, or newsletter subscriber list (if you have a newsletter on your site).

3. And there is another kind of list… • A email harvester is a software program that spiders the Internet and "harvests" email addresses from sites, discussion groups and bulletin boards. Obviously this is not an op-in list. When you see ads for 1,000,000 email addresses for $19.95, this is the type of list they are selling. • How spammers operate (harvesting software):know thy enemy • Email harvesting is big business and software is readily available. Imagine little robot spiders traveling around the web devouring thousands of emails and always looking for fresh addresses. They love newsgroups , web pages, chat logs and guest books.

4. On-Site List Acquisition • Create a Newsletter - this will provide you with an opt- in method of continuously communicating with your customers. You may even be able to sell advertising space in your email publication. • Surveys - By providing a survey on your website and agreeing to send the results to the people that provide their email address, you can provide a good method of building your list. However, if you are going to send additional emails to the recipient (beyond that of the survey report) you will need to get permission. • Sweepstakes - Contests can be an excellent way to build a large email database. However, the biggest problem with using contests and similar promotions is that there is a disconnect between what people sign up for (an opportunity to win the Hawaiin Vacation) and your objectives as a marketer. Sweepstakes-based promotions have the lowest conversion rates in eMarketing. • Order Form - Usually you request your customers email when they place an order at your site. You can also request permission to send material from your company and/or that of your affiliates that would have relevant material for the customer. • Free "white-paper" gift, or software trial - You can offer visitors an opportunity to receive a free report or gift by entering their email and possibly other information. You can then begin to establish a relationship that can lead to loyalty. • Access to a members area - You can get visitor data and email addresses by offering access to a member area or special area that requires a pass code or other authorization. After filling out a form they are sent the proper access codes. • Contact area - this is not particularly good way of building a list but you should have an area where visitors can contact you to ask questions or get more information.

5. Offline Customer Databases • Most companies do a considerable amount of offline marketing. In fact, even though the Internet accounts for about 15% of all advertising impressions, less than 5% of marketing expenditures are for Internet marketing. • Ask for email addresses everywhere and ask for permission to send email. Here are 13 (lucky) potential programs that you can use to build your list: 1. Direct mail order or inquiry forms2. Lead cards or swipes at trade shows3. Guest books or cards at retail locations4. Business reply cards5. Invoices and bills6. Customer service bulletins7. Outbound telemarketing8. Customer service representatives9. Seminars and presentations10. Warranty cards11. Surveys12. Receipts13. Newsletters sent via direct mail

6. E-Mail List Vendors • Processes of list vendors: • Service Bureau - The list vendor receives your email promotion in a HTML and text file and send out your promotion. They do not send you the list for you to email directly. These vendors do list cleaning and merge purge methods to ensure that recipients do not receive multiple emails. • List Brokers -List brokers generally represent a number of companies who rent their lists out for one time use. They will provide lists based on a number of interests and categories. Usually there are hundreds of demographic and psychographics selections possible. • http://www.postmasterdirect.com/marketers.html

7. List Broker Research • All reputable brokers have some things in common: • They can tell you where they got the names on the list • They won't actually hand over the list to you (they will send on your behalf) • They will monitor your message to ensure compliance with the requests of the recipient • The process that brokers use to get names for their databases: • List brokers set up partner sites to invite members into their opt-in database usually by interest groups. • A list member clicks through to the partner site to go to the list broker sign up site. • Members opt in to the list by choosing the topics they would like to hear about. • They continue the signup process, filling out demographic or other information. • They receive a confirmation message via email to authenticate their choice to join the list. • They reply to the confirmation message, which adds their email to the brokers list.

8. Newsletter Example

9. Other Newsletter Examples • Johnston & Murphy – a bad example • NRF SmartBrief • Fidelity Investments • Robert Mondavi Winery • DM Direct • Colloquy • Wind & Weather

10. eZines • Another method of reaching your prospects that may be cheaper and easier than sending out direct email is to advertise on opt in newsletters and ezines (an electronic magazine, whether delivered via a Web site or an email newsletter). These can also be used to test your offer and market segment before investing in a full scale email program. • There are currently around 90,000 ezines being published every month. So whatever you're selling, there's more than likely an ezine that will take your ad straight to the audience you want to reach. • Ezine advertising is not only effective, its cheap as well. A 5-line ad in an ezine that goes to 3000 people will cost you between $5 and $20 per issue.

11. Advantages • It is often less expensive than using an email list broker and sending out a custom program. • It provides targeting and credibility (depending on the newsletter) because you are a part of a relevant and requested publication. • It is fast, you can usually implement a newsletter program within days even hours in some cases. • You don't need to design a complete email promotion, most newsletters confine their advertising to 30 to 100 word modules. • You can test your sites landing page and offer prior to spending a significant amount on a full scale email marketing campaign. • The response rates are generally good for most advertisers. • You do not have to deal with opt out or unsubscribe or Spam issues.

12. Disadvantages • You can select the wrong newsletter or ezine for your offer. • You can advertise in an ezine that carries poor content or too much advertising • You are limited as to the graphics and size of your promotion. • Generally you can only use one or two links in your ad. • The timing of distribution is up to the newsletter or ezine publisher.

13. Measuring E-Mail Response

14. Basic Email Campaign Metrics These are the basic numbers you want to identify for your mailings. • Number sent. The total number of email you sent. This could be different from your total number of subscribers if you're segmenting your list for testing purposes. • Number received. The total number of emails that were delivered. Calculate this by subtracting the number that bounced back from the total number sent. • Bounce Backs. The total number of emails that were rejected and not delivered. Email can be rejected because the email address is no longer valid, because a server filtered it out, or possibly because the receiver's mailbox was full and over quota (this often happens when you send email over the weekend to free email accounts such as Hotmail and Yahoo). • Open Rate. The total number of emails that were opened divided by the total number of emails delivered. These results are only accurate in HTML emails. • Response Rate. The percent of unique readers who clicked on unique links embedded in the email.

15. Response Rate You can calculate a response rate for a unique link in several ways: • The number of people clicking on the link divided by the number of emails • opened. • delivered. • sent. • You can also calculate response rate on a global level using the number of individuals who clicked on any link. It's less important which way you calculate the metric, more important that you calculate it the same way every time.

16. Factors Affecting the Open Rate • Does the recipient recognize the sender? • Does the recipient acknowledge a relationship with the sender? • Is this relationship valuable to the recipient? • To whom is the email is addressed? • To which email account is the email sent? • Does the recipient recognize where the sender got the address? • Is the email personalized in a way the recipient understands and accepts? • Does the subject line matter to the context of the relationship? • Does the subject line tell them something they need to know? • Does the subject line arouse their curiosity? • Does the subject line speak to an emotions-based need? • Has the mail been sent at the best time?

17. Spam, Privacy and E-Mail Legislation

18. Spam and Privacy Which bothers you more? • Direct mail pieces flooding your postal mailbox, with the result of billions of tons of waste and the environmental consequences that go with that. • Telemarketers that call you at dinnertime, interrupting what you are doing to sell you products you don't want or need. • E-mail messages in your electronic in-box that take a few minutes a day to delete.

19. What is Spam? • Spam represents about 25% of all e-mail and is often defined based on an individual’s perception. • Typically viewed as flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it. Most spam is commercial advertising, often for dubious products, get rich-quick schemes, or quasi-legal services. Spam costs the sender very little to send -- most of the costs are paid for by the recipient or the carriers rather than by the sender. • Spam, or junk e-mail, is also defined as unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) or other unsolicited bulk e-mail (UBE), including advertising, chain letters, virus warnings, etc. It usually contains forged return addresses, and often your own address will not appear in the headers. • Mail Abuse Prevention System definition • http://www.mail-abuse.com/support/techfaqs.html#spam_def

20. Spam Examples

25. Minimum E-Mail Guidelines* • Don't let the fear of Spamming, inhibit your legitimate opt-in email programs • Always use opt-in list • Always include your company name and URL in your email • Always provide a way for recipients to opt-out of your email list • Promptly remove any opt-outs from your lists • Adhere to your privacy policy • Never send more than one commercial email a day * From the eMarketing Association

26. E-Mail Privacy Policy Example jjill example • Email Privacy PolicyWe have created this email privacy policy to demonstrate our firm commitment to your privacy and the protection of your information. • Why did you receive an email from us? If you received a mailing from us, (a) your email address is either listed with us as someone who has expressly shared this address for the purpose of receiving information in the future ("opt-in"), or (b) you have registered or purchased or otherwise have an existing relationship with us. We respect your time and attention by controlling the frequency of our mailings. • How we protect your privacy We use security measures to protect against the loss, misuse and alteration of data used by our system. • Sharing and Usage We will never share, sell, or rent individual personal information with anyone without your advance permission or unless ordered by a court of law. Information submitted to us is only available to employees managing this information for purposes of contacting you or sending you emails based on your request for information and to contracted service providers for purposes of providing services relating to our communications with you. • How can you stop receiving email from us? Each email sent contains an easy, automated way for you to cease receiving email from us, or to change your expressed interests. If you wish to do this, simply follow the instructions at the end of any email. If you have received unwanted, unsolicited email sent via this system or purporting to be sent via this system, please forward a copy of that email with your comments to your company.com for review.

27. Legal Issues • So what should you do to ensure that you are in compliance with often conflicting regulations? • Be sure that you are using an "opt-in" list. • Be sure that people can respond to the reply e-mail if they have questionsor comments. • Include an easy way to opt-out of your list and immediately remove anyrequests to opt-out. • Never use misleading or fraudulent offers, enforcement is at an all time high. • Do not send out multiple messages in the same day, spread your campaign out over weeks. • Be aware of legislation and keep up with the current environment to ensurecompliance. Things are changing rapidly. • Spam Laws - http://www.spamlaws.com/index.html