Effective Email Marketing Campaigns
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Demand MetricEffective Email Marketing Campaigns
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Demand MetricEFFECTIVE
EMAIL
MARKETING
CAMPAIGNS
HOW-TO GUIDE
Effective Email Marketing Campaigns
HOW-TO GUIDE
This report has been designed to provide practical advice for building an effective email
marketing campaign.
Read this brief report to learn how to:
Identify the benefits & risks of email marketing
Build a business case for an email marketing initiative
Improve your delivery rates
Track key email metrics
Follow email marketing best practices
Read this report and avoid the common mistakes and pitfalls of email marketing.
Email Marketing Defined
E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing that uses electronic mail as a means of communi-
cating messages to an audience. This term usually refers to emails that are being sent over the
internet and can include:
Sending e-mails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current
or old customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business.
Sending e-mails with the purpose of acquiring new customers or convincing old customers to
buy something immediately.
Adding advertisements in e-mails sent by other companies to their customers.
Other Important Definitions:
Unique Opens: a single open by a single user.
Unique Clicks: a single click by a single user.
Hard Bounces: a permanent failure due to a non-existent address or a blocking condition by
the receiver that returns the email to the server that sent it.
Soft Bounces: a temporary failure due to a full mailbox or an unavailable server that returns the
email to the server that sent it.
2 EFFECTIVE EMAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS HOW-TO GUIDE
Open Rate: the total number of emails opened divided by the total number of emails delivered
as a percentage.
Click Through Rate (CTR): the percentage of those clicking on a link out of the total number
who see the link.
Click To Open Rate (CTOR): the ratio of unique clicks as a percentage of unique opens.
Conversion Rate: the number or percentage of visitors who convert casual content views or
website visits into desired actions.
Benefits of Email Marketing
Many companies have been able to reduce their marketing costs by running effective email
marketing campaigns. According to the Direct Marketing Association, email will deliver $45.56
in sales for every dollar spent in 2008. Although this indicates a steady decline in the ROI associ-
ated with email marketing in recent years, the tangible and intangible benefits of email marketing
can’t be ignored.
Most companies are using email marketing for the following reasons:
Lower Cost: email marketing provides a very inexpensive way of communicating with your
target audience.
Increased Sales: not only can a permission based email campaign increase your sales conver-
sion, but it can also help to generate repeat business and cross/up sell existing customers.
Faster Delivery: email provides a faster medium than traditional forms of marketing (i.e. direct
mail) because it reaches your audience almost immediately.
Build Relationships: email allows you to make your customers happier by keeping them “in the
loop.” It also provides the opportunity to raise brand awareness by reaching out to customers
while positioning yourself as you would like to be seen in the market.
Go Green: email is an environmentally friendly way of reaching out to prospects and customers.
Save Time: emails are quick to create and allow for more frequent contact.
Measure Results: email metrics are displayed almost immediately. By tracking and monitor
campaigns, email marketers have the ability to improve and refine their strategy over time.
3 EFFECTIVE EMAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS HOW-TO GUIDE
Email Marketing Risks
When it comes to email marketing you need to be aware of all the legislation restricting the use
of email before beginning any campaign – regardless of your intentions. In the United States, the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is authorized to enforce the CAN-SPAM Act. This act also gives
the Department of Justice the authority to enforce criminal sanctions for the improper use of
email. Click here for more information on the CAN-SPAM Act.
The bottom line is that this law has 4 main provisions:
It bans false or misleading header information
It prohibits deceptive subject lines
It required that you give recipients an opt-out method
It requires that commercial email be identified as an advertisement and include the sender's
valid physical postal address.
The penalties for not complying with this Act are severe and can include hefty fines. Not only can
an illegal email marketing campaign hurt your company financially, SPAMMING can also damage
your brand, hurt relationships with customers/prospects, and make you appear desperate.
Email Delivery Best Practices
As discussed above, email marketing can tarnish your brand if it’s not done correctly. Follow these
simple guidelines to ensure your next email marketing campaign will provide you with a solid ROI.
Send Email only when it’s Relevant: send emails based on what you know about the recipient
(i.e. where they are in the buying cycle, what content they have requested, etc.). It is also
important to make sure you show respect for recipient’s time by sending emails at the frequency
the recipient asks for.
Establish Credibility: the consistency and timeliness of communication has an impact on your
brand. By maintaining consistent communication and delivering content that is valuable to the
recipient you will improves your brand image and create longer customer relationships.
Include a Privacy Policy Link: ensure that prospects and customers know what you plan to do
with their personal information by creating a privacy policy that is easily accessible.
Make Unsubscribe Easy: make sure the unsubscribe link is easily noticeable, clearly defined
and easy to use.
Have a Clear Call to Action: don’t send an email unless the required action is easy to under-
stand and will provide value to the recipient.
4 EFFECTIVE EMAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS HOW-TO GUIDE
Personalize the Email: include the recipient’s name and ensure the spelling is correct.
Monitor and Measure Campaigns: it is critical that metrics are identified well in advance and
improvements are made over time.
Include both Plan Text and HTML: it is important that the formatting is done properly. Emails
should be tested to ensure they can be seen properly on different screen sizes, with different
browsers and on Blackberry’s.
Subject Line should be Clear and Concise: as a general rule of thumb, try not to include a
dollar sign, the word free, or multiple exclamation marks as they increase the likelihood of
being identified as spam. Use a subject line that actually speaks to what is in the email.
Keep the Sender Consistent: make sure the sender is well known and well respected. Use
someone from the company instead of a generic email account.
Clean your List: keep your list of subscribers clean by asking receivers to update their informa-
tion on an ongoing basis.
Monitor and Classify your Bounces: this will help to ensure your lists are clean and up-to-date.
A review of your bounces will also help you understand why emails are undeliverable (ISP,
Domain, etc.) and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Use Email Marketing as part of an Integrated Marketing Plan: email alone will not allow you to
achieve your desired end result. Read Demand Metric’s “Design a Lead Generation Scorecard”
for practical advice on how to use email as part of an integrated marketing plan.
Benchmarking & Metrics
Depending on your objectives, there are many metrics you can monitor. The most popular
performance based metrics include:
Open rate Referral rate
Click-through rate Subscriber retention
Click to open rate Number of orders, transactions,
Bounce rate downloads or actions
Delivery rate Total revenue
Unsubscribe rate Conversion rate
5 EFFECTIVE EMAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS HOW-TO GUIDE
Action Plan
STEP 1 - Business Case
1 Business
Case Build a Business Case
Consider these Best Practices
2 Select for creating an effective email
marketing campaign.
Use Demand Metric’s
Business Case Template
3 Develop to provide an opportunity
overview and document
objectives, requirements,
scope, timelines, budget and
4 Build Lists benchmarks.
5 Create
6 Test Business Case Template
VIEW RESOURCE
7 Launch
8 Review
6 EFFECTIVE EMAIL MARKETING CAMPAIGNS HOW-TO GUIDE
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