Email subscriber engagement is increasingly important as a determinant of inbox placement and positioning. For email marketers, the challenge is to identify drivers of positive engagement, and applying that knowledge to create campaigns that their subscribers consider informational, educational, or amusing. Success is being measured by important new metrics such as “retrieved from spam”, “deleted after reading”, and “marked as not spam” as these metrics increase, so will program performance.

Subject line testing has always been a simple yet highly effective way of identifying positive behavioural drivers. The principle is easy – prior to the main broadcast, create two or more test cells, create different subject lines for a common email creative, identify which one performs best (opens, clicks, conversions), then apply the winning subject line to the remaining subscribers. I’ve regularly seen this approach driving positive uplifts in campaign responsiveness of 33% or more, when benchmarked against the worst-performing alternative.

However, even subject line testing requires a degree of organization that isn’t always available to email marketers, who are notoriously time poor. I’ve often found myself wishing for a tool that would answer those magical questions (“What’s the best subject line length?”, “Which words can’t I use?”, “Are special characters a bad idea?”) without running a load of tests first. Now, to my unalloyed glee, I have such a tool at my fingertips, and I spent a few happy hours last week using it to test (and deconstruct!) some conventional email wisdom.

To provide some context – I have recently worked with email marketing programs in the “Restaurants” sector, so I pulled a 30 day snapshot from our reporting network, comprising 826 discrete campaigns, from a range of casual dining vendors. The key metrics that I evaluated against were “Read Rates” (a highly positive subscriber engagement metric) and “Spam Complaint Rates” (highly negative).

The first test focused on campaign size. I categorized each broadcast as small, medium, or large, with a hypothesis that “smaller” equated with more targeted audiences while “larger” corresponded with more generic audiences. This was spot-on – read rates for smaller campaigns were higher than the sector average, but declined as campaign size increased. Spam complaints for smaller campaigns were below the sector average, but increased as campaign size increased.

I then used the subject lines to categorise emails by message type. A well-understood element of email best practice is to avoid bombarding subscribers with a steady stream of offers, and identifying other touch points to create a more varied subscriber experience. Again, the numbers backed up the rationale – on average, welcome emails generated read rates that were almost 3 times higher than the benchmark, with thank you emails, birthday emails, and anniversary emails all generally twice as effective. Birthday emails also carry an important lesson about relevance – complaint rates for this message type are twice the benchmark, suggesting that for emails where date of send is crucial to success, getting it wrong will be punished.
 
Using ostensibly “spam trigger” words (“Special”, “Offer”, “Free”) all delivered read rates 25% to 50% higher than the sector average. However, there was also a corresponding trend of increased spam complaint rates. Clearly, the use of these words generates something of a love-hate response from subscribers, and marketers need to evaluate whether the upside outweighs the downside for their programs.

Subject line length also demonstrated some clear variations in subscriber responsiveness. I categorised them as: short< = 25 characters; medium <= 50 characters; long > 50 characters. Short subject lines performed best, with a 10% uplift in read rates against the benchmark, while medium subject lines under-performed by a similar measure. Interestingly, responsiveness then started swinging back toward long subject lines. While a short, punchy subject line that doesn’t get truncated would seem the preferred approach, longer subject lines that carry more detail about the email’s contents are also effective.

Lastly, I evaluated the effect of commonly-used special characters on subscriber responsiveness. Top-level results were that using financial amounts is good (read rates up 10%), as is exclamation marks (read rates up 30%), but subscribers clearly don’t like being too challenged – read rates went down by 20% when the subject line posed a question!

All of these findings are a bit of fun, and I wouldn’t want readers to start quoting these numbers as the new industry gold standard. However, there is a serious point to be made – email subject lines represent the point of departure for any journey that leads toward improved subscriber engagement. Email marketing is highly competitive, and smart practitioners are investing time and resource to identify the approaches to which their subscribers will respond most positively. And, as with all competitions, to the victor go the spoils – in the form of improved deliverability, greater subscriber responsiveness, and increased campaign ROI.

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You will hear from leading travel company Opodo and find out what clients really think about email. You will get the answers to many email marketing questions: How important is email to clients? How much of their marketing budget does email account for?

Alchemy Worx, sponsors of the report, will pose the question “Are marketers maximising the ROI in this channel and could outsourcing be the key to scaling up your email marketing programme?”

The morning will round off with a panel discussion where more questions will be asked and you can put yours to our host of experts!

Agenda:

8.30am  Registration and refreshments

9.00am  Welcome from the chair

9.10am  Research findings, Fiona Robson, managing director, Rocketseed and Anthony Wilkey, strategic client director, Emailvision

9.40am  Are marketers maximising the ROI in this channel and could outsourcing be the key to scaling up your email marketing programme? Dela Quist, chief executive officer, Alchemy Worx

10.05am  Email: Still my favourite channel, Olly Beckett, web editor, Opodo

10:35am  Panel discussion Dela Quist, chief executive officer, Alchemy Worx, Fiona Robson, managing director, Rocketseed, Anthony Wilkey, strategic client director, Emailvision, Olly Beckett, web editor, Opodo

10.55am   Closing remarks from chair

11.00am   End

Where: The King’s Fund
11-13 Cavendish Square
London, W1G 0AN
United Kingdom

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Sponsored by

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Register now for this virtual summit and learn all about the latest trends and best practices in email marketing without leaving your desk!

And it won’t cost you a penny/eurocent/dollarcent/… 

The DMA is proud to be a sponsor of this, the very first edition of the International Email Marketing Summit.

Not only will you be inspired by the latest tactics that work but you’ll also take away a list of action items you can implement immediately.

Featured speakers

• Dela Quist, Alchemy Worx
• Dave Chaffey, Smart Insights
• Tamara Gielen, Plan to Engage
• Denise Cox, Newsweaver
• Riaz Kanani, Alchemy Worx
• Kath Pay, Plan to Engage
• Arianna Galante, ContactLab
• Tom Bailey, eCircle
• James Bunting, Communicator

What’s on the agenda?

• Beyond just selling: engaging with your subscribers
• 7 reasons why your subscribers don’t respond
• Tips & tricks for designing emails for a mobile audience
• Inactive Subscribers: Prospects or Problem?
• Creating a successful content strategy for email marketing: 8 Easy Steps
• and lots more…

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As an email marketing consultant working with clients to improve the performance of their email programs, I have spent a lot of time helping brands change the practices that negatively impact their inbox placement and response rates. While this is both challenging and interesting work, it’s also refreshing to shift focus and appreciate some great practices that marketers are using to stand out from the “grey mail” and marketing clutter, target their subscribers using accurate data and provide relevant messaging that drives engagement.

I recently had the opportunity to experience these practices first-hand as an email subscriber when I made the move from London to San Francisco. My first week in my new city was spent running around taking care of the numerous tasks that come with a move, including the essential (buying a couch) and the mundane (learning how to program my new DVR to record my favourite shows). As I simultaneously added and crossed-off items to my to-do list, I found myself appreciating any effort made on the part of the brands I was interacting with to help me stay organized, sane and appreciated as a customer.

Here are three companies that did just that:

• Crate & Barrel – After purchasing furniture online (and visiting my local store to debate the finer points of curtain accessories with a few very patient sales people – single rods, double rods, hooks, clips, rings, anyone?) and receiving my delivery, an email arrived in my inbox a few days later asking me to rate my recent purchases and write a review of my shopping experience. The message included images of each of the items I’d purchased and a customized landing page with related items for my consideration. A few days later I received a phone call from a Crate & Barrel customer service representative asking me if I was satisfied with my recent order. I appreciated the multi-channel outreach, which came across as sincere rather than pushy, and the related product suggestions listed on the landing page enticed me to buy a discounted item that I had forgotten to order previously.
• Verizon Wireless – When I moved to the U.K. from New York City roughly four years ago, I decided to keep my U.S. cell phone and number active for the trips I knew I’d be making back to the U.S. Lots of friends and family members didn’t have international calling plans so it made it easier for them to call me. In addition, I’d had my cell phone number since college and it was one of the few things I stubbornly refused to give up as part of my transatlantic move. When I made the move back to the US in March, I wound up using my U.S. number again constantly. As a result, I racked up some serious overages on a plan that was originally downgraded for less usage. After the increased bill was generated, I received a message from Verizon letting me know that selecting a different plan could save me money. The message listed the overage charges (divided into voice, text and data categories) with a call-to-action to view various plan options and do an account analysis to determine the best one based on my ongoing usage.  The subject line, “See how much you could have saved last month,” certainly got my attention as moving isn’t particularly bank-balance friendly. The process was simple and easy and the new plan was put into place immediately.
• Zipcar – One of the conveniences of living in a big city is not having to rely on a car to get around. However, something inevitably comes up where one is necessary. Zipcar offers the perfect solution. It’s similar to the “Boris Bike” scheme in London, except with cars. Members pay a small annual fee and then an hourly rate to pick up one of hundreds of cars available at their nearest location, which in my case is across the street. Gas and insurance are included and members can choose from multiple models, whether it’s a hybrid, convertible, hatchback or SUV. After retaking my written driver’s test (as required by the state of California), I applied for a Zipcar membership and received a very helpful welcome message. It was personalized with my name, updated me on the status of my application, told me about the next steps in the process, and provided me with information about my local Zipcar office if I wanted to pick up my membership card in person. Once my membership was approved, I received another email letting me know I was officially a member and alerting me to the fact that my card was in the mail. The message also included instructions for activating my card and a link to view frequently asked questions about the process for reserving a car. There were also calls-to-action for a mobile app and information to contact Customer Service and follow Zipcar on Facebook and Twitter.

A large part of my job is helping brands achieve their marketing and business goals through email, while simultaneously providing value for subscribers. It was great to experience first-hand how smart marketers are using the channel to improve their customers’ lives, one relevant message at a time.

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In the last quarter LinkedIn earned $33.3 million from Premium membership subscriptions. That’s 20% of LinkedIn revenues and its grown 87% in the last year.

Persuading more of the 90% of free members to upgrade is a major revenue opportunity for LinkedIn.

LinkedIn are using email to convert members, sending a free one month trial offer. I am a LinkedIn member and after many years still on the free package. As an early adopter of LinkedIn this makes me a target for Premium membership upgrade.

Just as I was putting the finishing touches to a new email copy & creative training deck of 87 slides a LinkedIn upgrade offer dropped into my inbox. It demonstrates several of the principles I’d just covered in the slide deck.

LinkedIn have optimised

What happened next was even better. I found a copy of the same offer from last November in one of my email folders (LinkedIn have tried a few times to convert me).

The difference between the email now and from last November is an excellent case study in email optimisation, so let me share the key elements of what changed and why.

Before

After

Another smart move

Not only is LinkedIn (a social network) smart enough to use email to drive revenue but they also send an urgency based reminder email shortly before the offer is due to expire. A second urgency based email to follow-up on an original offer always improves conversion.

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In this issue of Infobox, there’s a lot more to integrating social media and email than just dropping in a few “share to social” icons. Dave Chaffey of SmartInsights, comes up with some inspiring examples of channel integration from the likes of uSwitch and Mothercare.

Dave Chaffey is among the speakers at a free, virtual International email marketing summit, which takes place on 16 May and is sponsored by the DMA.

Elsewhere in this issue, Simon Hill from Extravision analyses email deliverability across the globe and I reveal why I look forward to receiving e-newsletters from The Innocent Group in Campaigns we like.

Kath Pay, editor, Infobox
Co-Founder, Plan to Engage

PS – want articles like these delivered to your inbox twice a month? Then sign up to Infobox here!

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With the EU e-Privacy Directive’s compliance ‘deadline’ just a month away, the DMA is hosting an event on 2nd May to help ensure you are ready in good time.

As has been discussed in our two recent posts on this topic (here and here), it doesn’t just apply to websites and so the event will look at the following:

• A summary of the DMA 10 step guide to managing cookies
• A closer look at what the regulation means for you and your brand
• An introduction to the DMA email and mobile marketing guidance
• A Q&A with the panel of experts to answer any questions or provide further insight

The DMA is also working with DataGuidance on a short cookies awareness survey. It only takes a minute to complete so please do respond when you have a moment.

The event will also see the launch of the discussion paper on how the Cookie law affects email marketers.

Spaces are extremely limited for this event so please RSVP soon if you would like to attend by clicking here.

Logistics

When: May 2nd, 2012 8:30 AM until 11:00 AM
Where: Osborne Clarke, One London Wall, London, EC2Y 5EB (map)

Event Fee(s)
DMA member (inc VAT) £ 0.00
Non-member (inc VAT) £ 36.00

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