Amazing Emails: Getting members to open your messages

1. Amazing Emails: Getting members to open your messages Avenue Z Writing Solutions

2. Session Overview • Email trends • It’s all about your audience • Ads, announcements and eNewsletters • Best practices for increasing open rate • Track and KNOW! Email Statistics • Improve your subject line • Improve your layout and look • Learn how much is too much (or not enough) • Q&A

3. Introduction • Beth Ziesenis, Owner, Avenue Z Writing Solutions • Education Director for the International Erosion Control Association • Multimedia Education Manager for conference recording company • Journalist, educator and writer for more than 20 years • Newsletter creator before newsletters were cool

4. Email Trends • Your competition • Company Email plans for 2008, compared to 2007 (Source: Datran Media, January 2008): • 82.4% to increase use of email marketing • 15.3% to stay the same • 2.4% to decrease email marketing expenditures • ROI will hit $45.65 for every dollar spent in 2008, more than twice the ROI of other marketing media

5. Your Reading Habits • How many emails do you get a day? • How many newsletters? • More than 8 a month • Read less than 2 • Do you have some you always open? • Do you have some you always delete?

6. It’s All About Your Audience • Take a minute and jot down three messages that you think your audience needs to know • We’re having a conference • We need you to call your legislator • We need more volunteers • Please donate to the ACC PAC • Take another minute and jot down three messages that your audience may say they want to know about • What recent clinical trial results do I need to know about? • How can I manage my investments? • What industry regulations might affect my practice?

7. Think About Your Audience First • Case Study: dezinegirl • Case Study: Yugma • Case Study: Get To The Po!nt

8. Ads, Announcements and ENewsletters • Ads: California, Michigan • Promote a product or service • Includes call to action; may give away something to entice • Announcements: Georgia • For ACC Chapters, perhaps a call to volunteer, a legislative update or announcement, a new benefit, the new board of directors • Similar to an electronic press release • ENewsletters: Florida • Generally meant to create a relationship • Informative and focused on how to make readers’ lives easier

9. ENewsletter Trends • ENewsletter Preferences

10. ENewsletter Trends • ENewsletter Dislikes • Long articles, long newsletters, too much text • Too much graphics • Old or irrelevant content • Text-only format • Too many ads/promos disguised as news • Links that don’t work

11. Track and KNOW! • How are you sending things out? • What can you learn? • How many people “open” • How many people click something • What they click • What they don’t click • Best measurement for your email communication! • Stats: Behind the Scenes ACC Chapter Stats

12. About Your Subject Line • Jot down your last couple of subject lines • Topic • Branding • Length • Results: • How many characters are in your subject line? • Do you have branding? • Did it list a topic?

13. Benchmarking/Improving Open Rates • Stats • Some on survey • http://bronto.com/stats/ • Improving your subject line • Add branding • Give content – what do your people care about • Keep it short • 49 characters – short enough to be seen in a preview line • Case study: Fish Story • What’s your fish story?

14. Segmenting Your Email List • How does your database break down? • Number of years as members? • Member demographics: location, age, field of study? • Type of member: FACC, CCA, FIT, practice administrators, vendors? • Go back to the exercise where you wrote down three things your members might want to know about • You probably answered for your largest demographic • Are there universal topics or things you can target, or do you need to segment to increase interest in your messages? • How to test waters with subject lines, etc • Something replicable/measurable

15. Best Practices for Layout and Look • Case Studies • Carlsbad Marathon • Constant Contact • GrokDotCom • The Well-Fed Epub • ASAE • AAP • PAII

16. Characteristics of Good Layout • Clean • Table of contents • Two-column layout • Highlights in the column • Short summaries with graphics • Read More • Graphics • Meaningful • Consistent look • Think about “above the fold”

17. Overall Look • Font Size? Color? Style? • Under 10 point is cruel and unusual • Black and white for most text • Some color highlights • Don’t go nuts with the font – simple is best • Graphics • Load well • Are clear and consistent • Nice sizing • Don’t “jump” • Always work!

18. How to Find Your Look • What do you like? What do you read? • Collect as many examples as you can • Ones you get and actually read • Ones you get and DON’T read – why not? • Your colleagues • Ask your audience for examples of what they like

19. How long, how often • Depends on purpose • Frequently once a month for newsletters and as needed for others • Are you keeping in touch? Or are you informing of latest developments? • What do people click on? • How long? • More than three scrolls? • How many links? • What do your stats say? ACC Chapter Stats

20. Additional Resources • Beth Ziesenis • 619 231 9225 bziesenis@avenuez.net • Free eNewsletter evaluation • Content and eNewsletter services • Avenue Z Survey: October issue of FourWayStop • FourWayStop archives and other resources • Improving Open Rates • Constant Contact • Opt-In News

21. Thank You! Beth Ziesenis Avenue Z Writing Solutions www.avenuez.net bziesenis@avenuez.net 619 231 9225