WRITING TIPS TO IMPROVE EMAIL RESPONSE RATES EmailMarke+ng - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

WRITING TIPS TO IMPROVE EMAIL RESPONSE RATES

Page 1

Mark Feldman NetProspex VP Marketing mfeldman@NetProspex.com (781) 290-5714

@markjfeldman blog.netprospex.com

Craig Stouffer Pinpointe On-Demand cstouffer@pinpointe.com (408) 834-7577 @pinpointe

www.twitter.com/pinpointe www.pinpointe.com/blog

Email
Marke+ng


Wri+ng
Tips
to
Improve
Email
Results


Page 2

What
Affects
Email
Responses
?


 Sending
Reputa+on
(Email
Marke+ng
201):


• Proper
email
sever
configura2on

• Emails
Server
IP
address
reputa2on

• Complaints
against
your
domain,
IPs

• Bounces
(list
quality),
spamtrap
hits

• Correct
sender
header,
etc


 Readability:
Content
(Today’s
Webinar):


• Once
it’s
delivered
–
make
sure
it’s
read!

• Avoid
“Spam‐like”
content

• Effec2ve
image
use

• Effec2ve
wri2ng
style
and
content
structure


Page 3

Email
Wri+ng
Tips


Overview


 Focus
on
B2B.

Guidelines
also
apply
to
B2C
  Where
do
these
2ps
apply?


• Offer
(e.g.
download
whitepaper)

• Event
Invita2on

• ‘Stay
in
touch’
campaigns

• Business
update
‐
newslePer

• Everywhere!


Sources:
Pinpointe
analysis
of
millions
of
emails
/
hundreds
of
 campaigns


Page 4

Email
Wri+ng
Tips:
Break
it
Down


Focus
on
each
part
of
the
email:


 Subject
+
From
  Saluta2on
  Introduc2on:
“Think
Above
the
Fold”
  Body
  Signature
  Links
–
Effec2ve
Use


Page 5

5

Takeaway:
Op+mize
for
Mobile


 Shorter
Content
  Call‐to‐Ac2on
earlier


Mobile
and
Email


Page 6

The
Subject:
Importance


 “At
60
miles
an
hour,
the
only
thing
you
hear
in
the
new


Rolls
Royce
is
the
?cking
of
the
dashboard
clock”


 …David
Ogilvy
re‐wrote
this
104
2mes!


 40%
of
reader’s
decision
to
open
is
based


• n
the
email
subject
+
‘send‐from’


 69%
of
recipients
decide
whether
to
report


email
as
spam
based
on
the
subject
(source:
ESPC)


Page 7

Email
Subjects,
Con+nued


A
Few
Guiding
Rules:
 The
50/50
Rule:



 Spend
50%
of
your
2me
on
the
subject
+
Intro
  50%
on
everything
else
(including
design)


The
80/20
Rule
of
Email
Subjects


 8
of
10
people
will
skim
the
email
subject
line
  <
2
in
10
will
read
the
rest
/
take
ac2on


Page 8

9
Best
Performing
Email
Subjects


• 1. MyCompany Sales & Marketing Monthly Newsletter
• 2. MyCompany Newsletter – Jan 2010: Teaser Subject/Topic
• 3. [Webinar]: N Tips to Improve Email Responses
• 4. MyCompany Webinar: Case Studies - Join Us Feb 15
• 5. Webinar Topic - Webinar Slides Available
• 6. This Week’s Phone Call / Meeting (personalized from sales rep)
• 7. 8 Customer Service Tips that Work
• 8. Reminder: Storage Survey - Your Input
• 9. Invitation - Breakfast on Specific Topic

* Source: Pinpointe analysis of several million customer emails

Page 9

9
Worst
Performing
Email
Subjects


• 1. Join
Us
for
a
FREE
Webinar
on
April
2
2011!

• 2. Shop
Early
and
Save!

• 3. Register
to
Win
Your
FREE
iPod!!

• 4. Security
Spending

• 5. Post‐Trade
Show
Webinar:
Expert
Insights
Into
the
Key
Trends
and


Observa2ons
from
the
Trade
Show
Floor
Last
Week


• 6. European
Lakefront
Elegance

• 7. First‐name
‐
(Company)
Announces
Partnership
with
(Company2)

• 8. Product
Launch:
New
“Widget”
Available


• 9. Full
Press
Release
Title
[…
and
email
contains
only
the
press
release]


Page 10

Words
in
Top
Performing
Subject
Lines
(>5%
clicks)




Survey,
weekly,
newslePer,
specific‐date,
issue,
 bulle2n,
edi2on,
2ps,
monthly,
join,
video,
headlines,
 latest,
updates
 Words
Most
Likely
to
be
Reported
as
Spam




Confirm,
Raffle,
requested,
rewards,
10%,
coupon,
 discount,
savings,
offer



Think:
“Rela+onship”
vs.
“Date”
 Ongoing
Communica+on
vs.
“1
+me
deal”


Subject
Line
Phrases


Page 11

GOOD




Short,
concise,
specific,
relevant,
benefits




Offer
value,
resources





Non‐hyped




Oren
indicates
date
or
sequence
 BAD




1
Time
vs.
Sequen2al





“Take
vs.
Give”




Non‐descript
/
vague


Subject
Lines
–
Take
Away


Page 12

Tes+ng
Subject
Line
Length



Objec+ve


 Does
subject
length
impact
response
rates?


Email
Subject
Varia+ons
tested:
(Short,
Long)


 Case
Studies
Webinar:
Using
Split
Tes2ng
to


Improve
HTML
Email
Response
Rates
(Feb
4th)



 [Webinar]
Split
Test
Case
Studies
(Feb
4)



Page 13

Subject
Length
vs.
Click
Rate


Page 14

Subject
Length
Take
Away


Short
outperformed
long
by
4x
 Ideal
subject
line
length
:
45
~
55
 Characters
*
 Stay
Relevant,
Specific


*
Based
on
analysis
of
thousands
of
Pinpointe
customer
campaigns


Page 15

 Send
from
someone
they
will
recognize
  Reinforce
“1
to
1
rela2onship”
  Legi2mate
/
valid
email
address
(!)
  Consider:
person
as
send‐from
+
company
in
subject


GOOD:


 “Craig
Stouffer”
cstouffer@pinpointe.com
  “Steven
Smith,
Pinpointe”
ssmith@pinpointe.com


Usually
BAD:


 “info@company.com”
<info@company.com>
  “Do
Not
Reply”
<Prospect_list@company.com>


The
Email
From
Field


Page 16

Comparing
Impact
of
‘From
Field’


Page 17

Send
from
someone
they
will
recognize
 …
Or
someone
they
think
they
will
 know
(Common
name)


Email
From
Field
Take
Away


Page 18

The
Opening:
“Above
the
Fold”


“FOLD or JUMP”: Subject + First 2 ~ 3 lines

 You have email subject + 3 lines to get attention…  … Use it wisely!

Consider:

 Can your opening sentence stand on its own?  Think: “The 3 + 30 approach:”  Tell the 3 second version of your story first  … Then tell the 30 second version

Page 19

Above
the
Fold
‐
Examples


WORKS: DOESN’T WORK:

Company

Page 20

WHAT:
(In
this
order)


 The
offer
(or
the
main
point
/
objec2ve)
  Main
benefit
  Response
instruc2ons


HOW:


 Divide
key
message
into
sec2ons
  Short
and
concise
  Links
to
landing
pages
with
suppor2ng
details


The
Body
‐
Structure


Page 21

Do
mul+ple
links
improve
results?


 Compared
20
newslePer
campaigns

(*
Mark
Brownlow)
  Analyzed
‘teaser’
/
intro
text
with
1,
2
links

  2
Example
newslePer
intro
paragraphs:


Using
Links
Effec+vely
in
Email


Results (Average across 20 campaigns):

 Average CTR for campaigns with 1 link: 6.8%  Average CTR for campaigns with 2 links: 8.57%  Improvement: Extra link = +25% * Source: Mark Brownlow www.email-marketing-reports.com

Page 22

Take
Away:
Use
More
Links!


Click
Rate
vs.
#
Links


Page 23

Stay
CAN‐SPAM
compliant‐


 Always
include
a
signature
  Don’t
forget
physical
address
  Unsubscribe
link
  Contact
email
address


TIP:
OK
to
‘adver2ze’
below
signature:


 Links
in
footer
–
2nd
highest
click
rate
overall
  Social
links
(e.g.:
TwiPer,
Facebook,
Blog)
  Text
+
link
to
special
offer
  Offer
for
free
demo
/
trial
/
etc


The
Signature


Page 24

For
Today’s
Amendees


 Pinpointe:


• Free
‐
1
month
Pinpointe
Subscrip2on
Service

• $49
‐
$550
value

• www.pinpointe.com/get‐started

• Coupon
code:
PPTNPW100


 Netprospex:


• Free
NetProspex
trial
account
with
100
contacts

• Access
to
19
million
business
contacts

• Verified
email
/
phone

• Email
hello@netprospex.com
to
get
started


Page 25

Other
/
Upcoming
Webinars


 Email
Wri+ng
Tips
(This
one)
  Case
Studies:
Split
Tes+ng
to
Improve
Results
  Email
Marke+ng
201:
How
a
SPAM
Filter
Works
  Geong
Social
with
Email


Page 26

About
Us.


Page 27

• 19
million
decision
makers

• User‐generated
contacts


• Verified
+
guaranteed

• Hard‐bounce
replacement

• All
job
2tles
&
industries

• Thousands
of
new
contacts



per
month


• Title,
email
address,


direct
dial,

social
media,
URL


• Buy
or
trade


What
Sets
NetProspex
Apart?


www.NetProspex.com

hello@netprospex.com 888-826-4877

Page 28

Recycling:
Fast,
Easy,
Free!


Page 29

What
Sets
Pinpointe
Apart?


• “Constant
Contact
on
steroids!” –
Pinpointe
customer

• The
Most
Feature
Rich
Email
Marke2ng
Solu2on

• Enterprise
version:
5‐250+
users,
high
volume

• 6,000+
companies
using
Pinpointe
pla}orm


Page 30

Tracking
and
Repor+ng


Page 31

Contact
Informa+on


Goto
www.pinpointe.com/get‐started
 Use
coupon
code:
PPTNPW100 (through 2/28/2011)
 Join
us
for
future
webinars
 For
ques2ons,
or
to
request
a
trial
account,
please
contact:
 Pinpointe
Sales
(Email
Marke+ng)
 sales@pinpointe.com
 (408)
834‐7577,
Op2on
#2


www.twiPer.com/pinpointe

 www.pinpointe.com/blog


Mark Feldman NetProspex VP Marketing mfeldman@NetProspex.com (781) 290-5714

@markjfeldman blog.netprospex.com