The value of email marketing in New Zealand has been growing steadily over the years. Not surprisingly email marketing and online communications are the most popular media of choice now, particularly email marketing.

Email is a powerful marketing tool and it integrates well with traditional media. It spurs immediate action, thus generating direct sales, registrations, growth of database and more. It is also more cost effective than paper-based direct mail and achieves greater ROI. However, it is wrought with challenges. And with the passing of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act, it’s important for organisations to ensure compliance whilst developing their marketing plans.

Integrated Email Marketing and Online Communications takes a practical approach to ensure continued acquisition, growth and retention of customers through targeted, robust, tried and tested strategies to help lift your email marketing strategies. To help you gain the upper hand over your competition, the course also covers some popular online communications tools that you could implement to supplement your email marketing strategy.

DAY ONE
Digital Communications — Email Marketing, Online and Offline Media
Customers today have more choice available than ever before of how they are communicated with. Customers ultimately want to control the frequency, the content and how they receive their communications. This session covers how email fits within the full marketing mix and how it integrates with other online and offline media.

• What are digital communications?
• How do digital communications fit within the full marketing mix?
• Marketing through email, RSS, blogging, txt, websites
• Platforms – desktop computers, mobile devices
• Integration with other online media
• Integration with offline direct marketing

Developing an Email Strategy
Many companies spend a lot of time, effort and budget acquiring email addresses, but neglect to develop an effective communication strategy once they have them. You’ll learn to develop strategic communication plans to maximise the potential for robust marketing strategies through this session.

• Developing the digital communication strategic plan
• Objectives, strategies and tactical elements
• Understanding the email marketing and digital communications
  process
• How to integrate email marketing into other online and offline media

The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act: Your Legal Obligations
Understand and ensure that your organisation meets the requirements of the Electronic Messages Act 2007.

• Definition of spam
• Definition of permission levels
• Permission vs. memorable permission
• Industry guidelines and best practices
• How will the Act affect your marketing plans?
• What are the penalties and costs associated with breaches?
• How tight is the current legislation – what are the ways around it?
• How to ensure compliance
• International spam laws – do they apply to companies in NZ?

Data Management: Building and Maintaining a List
Data is at the heart of any form of direct marketing including “email”. It pays to identify the data that you need to collect in order to personalise communications and provide effective reporting.

• Structuring your database – what type of data do you need?
• What are the reporting data requirements?
• “Quantity” vs. “Quality” – retaining the active subscriber
• Cleaning and maintaining data – changes, adds, deletes, fixing misspellings
• What is “provable permission” – recording and time stamping of permission received
• “Offline permission” – how to record permission granted through the call centre, trade shows, network meeting and face-to-face sales activity
• Managing permission across an organisation

In-House or Outsource – Assessing Email Service Providers
Finding the right email service provider is a critical choice for any company. You will explore and learn ways to find the right vendor and technology to manage your campaigns now and into the future through this session.

• How to assess your needs
• Questions you should be asking
• Assessing email service providers in NZ and overseas
• Liaising with your email service provider

DAY TWO
Winning Creative Strategies & Execution for Email
Create email messages that stand out, get read and get the response you plan for.

• “Memorable permission” – planning content your subscribers actually want to read
• Exploring the 19 creative elements (the from line – email brand value, the subject line, the preview pane, position of logo, ratio of text to images, design layout, number and type of links, navigation bar, inclusion of photography, feature offers, location of call-to-action, the words you use and personalisation etc.)
• Email mandatories
• What are the technical specifications?
• Designing effective landing pages and forms
• Use of rich media – video and audio
• Eyetracking and multivariate testing

Increasing Conversion Rates
This session covers how to use data to improve conversions such as open rates, click rates, inquiries and sales.

• Reporting data
• Behavioural targeting
• Event triggered campaigns

Deliverability, Filters and Rendering
Learn techniques to avoid the dreaded “spam” folder and “report spam” button.

• Data collection and tracking
• Filters and list management
• Deliverability reporting codes – messages sent back from ISPs
• About false positives
• Whitelisting – how to get your message delivered every single time
• Image suppression – what’s getting delivered?
• Authentication and reputation
• Rendering your message in email readers

RSS – Spam Free Communications
Is RSS the holy grail of online communications? Lean how to send communications that are completely spam free.

• What is RSS and why use it?
• What are some of the popular RSS readers available?
• iRSS – individualized RSS, sending personalised communications just like email
• Content distribution and syndication

Blogging – Participating in the Ongoing Conversation

• The New Zealand and international blogospheres
• Starting a blog - how to choose a theme
• Posting content – what, how, when
• Dealing with comments
• Making friends – increase your presence in the blogosphere
• Integrating your blog with email and RSS
• Use of video (vlogging) and audio (podcasting)
• Reporting on performance

As an email marketer you are responsible to ensure that any ‘electronic messages’ sent are not considered spam. According to the act, failure to comply could mean a fine of up to $500,000 plus additional compensation and damages costs!

So, what is considered to be an electronic message?

Any commercial message either sent in single or bulk, promoting goods, services, land and commercial website links in the following media types:

• Emails
• Instant Messaging
• SMS
• Multimedia Message Services
• Other Mobile Phone Messaging

Even if your company website link is present in an email signature of a personal message it would be deemed as a commercial message.

3 Steps To Comply

Step 1: Consent

You are only able to send messages when you have obtained at least one of three following consent types:

• Expressed Consent: a direct indication from a person stating that it is okay for you to send messages through filling in a paper form, ticking a box on a website form or phone or face-to-face conversation. It is advised that a record of such consent received is recorded in all instances. This is called “provable permission”.
• Inferred Consent: is limited in its application. It is when a person has not directly instructed you to send them a message, but there is a clear expectation that you will. E.g. a subscriber has provided their electronic address when purchasing goods and services and expects ‘highly relevant’ follow-up communication.
  This does not mean however consent is inferred if a person has been on an existing address list and has not physically unsubscribed themselves. If you are unsure of the type of consent received, it is recommended to undertake a “re-permissioning” campaign.
• Deemed Consent: is when a person makes their work-related electronic address public such as on a website, brochure or magazine. You can only send messages if there is a strong relationship between the message and the recipient’s business. However, consent is not deemed if the publication states that the person does not wish to receive unsolicited commercial electronic messages at that address.

Step 2: Identify

Your business must be clearly identified within the message. Both the name and contact details must be provided so that recipients know how to contact you.

Step 3: Unsubscribe

A clearly presented and easy to use functioning unsubscribe facility must be made available from all commercial messages. As part of a “provable permission” practice, it is recommended that unsubscribes are also recorded.

FAQs

What is considered spam?

A message is considered to be spam if it is electronic, commercial in nature and unsolicited (meaning you have not gained any form of consent from the recipient you send messages to).

What media is affected by the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007?

Media such as emails, instant messaging, SMS, multimedia message services and other mobile phone messaging are affected by this act. The act does not include however voice or fax.

What does a commercial message actually mean?

A commercial message is one that is marketing or promoting goods, services or land or directing people to a destination where a commercial transaction can take place. Even if you display a website link in a personal email, the message can still be classified as commercial.

Which messages are not deemed to be commercial?

• Responses to a request for a quote or estimate
• Messages that facilitate, complete or confirm a commercial transaction that the recipient previously agreed to
• Warranty information, product recalls and safety and security information about goods or services uses or purchased by the recipient
• Factual information about a subscription, membership, account, loan or similar ongoing relationship
• Information directly related to employment or a related benefit plan in which the recipient is currently involved.
• Messages delivering goods and services, including product or upgrades that the recipient is entitled to receive under the terms of a previous transaction.

Am I able to insert promotional messages into transactional type messages?

If the main purpose of the message is transactional in nature, small relevant commercial messages can be displayed without requiring additional consent.

What do unsolicited messages mean?

These are messages that are sent without the expressed, inferred or deemed consent from individuals.

Do I need to ask for permission from all my subscribers again?

If you are unsure of the type of permission that you have received from your subscribers and the consent has not been recorded you will need to undertake a “re-permission campaign”, unless one of other forms of consent apply.

What are the penalties for not complying with the act?

There are a number of options available to enforce the legislation including formal warnings, infringement notices and court actions. If a business is to be found in breach of the act, it may have to pay a penalty of up to $500,000 plus and additional victim compensation and/or damages up to the value of the profit generated as a result of sending spam.

What are the 3 levels of consent?

Consent is categorized into 3 levels: Express, Inferred and Deemed.

What is Express Consent?

Express Consent is granted when a person directly indicates that you are able to send them commercial messages such as filling in a paper form, ticking a box on a website or a phone or face-to-face conversation.

Do I need to record consent received?

It is advised to record granted consent either electronically or in paper form. Under the act, it is up to the sender that consent has been received. It is quite easy for people to forget that they have granted permission, therefore it is necessary to record when, how and what people have given consent to receive.

What is provable permission?

Provable permission is where you have electronically recorded consent received. Details recorded can include:

• Date and time of permission granted
• Place of where permission was granted (a website form check box, trade show, call centre, etc)
• Type of information that permission was granted for

What is Inferred Consent?

Even though a person has not directly provided consent for you to send them messages, there is a reasonable expectation that messages will be sent. Inferred Consent is granted if you swap business cards with people or if you provided an email address when purchasing goods and services with an expectation that there will be follow-up communication.

Even if a person has been on your existing address list and has not unsubscribed, it does not mean that consent can be inferred.

As a business owner you need to be careful of what “reasonable expectation” means. If a person purchases a product from you and provides their email address, does not necessarily mean that you can send a message 2 years after the purchase date for example. Permission does eventually expire if after an amount of time, it is no longer reasonably expected that communication will be sent.

If I have received “inferred consent”, can I send any information that I want?

No, you are only able to send messages that are highly relevant to the relationship in which you have with the recipient.

What is Deemed Consent?

Deemed Consent is where a person makes their “work related” electronic address publicly available in a website, brochure or magazine for example. However, consent cannot be deemed if there is a statement within the publication requesting that the person does not want to receive unsolicited electronic messages at that address.

Deemed Consent can only be granted if the message you intend to send is highly relevant to the recipient’s business.

Do only messages sent in bulk apply to the act?

No, both bulk and single commercial messages are covered by the act.

Do we need to identify who is sending the message?

Yes, you must always identify your business as the organisation responsible for sending commercial messages along with details of how you can be contacted.

We use GravityMail or another 3rd party system to send our commercial messages, so who is legally responsible for sending these messages?

Even when you use a third party system such as Netconcept’s GravityMail, your business is the legal sender of your commercial messages. Netconcepts must work with you to ensure that your business name and contact details are displayed within the message. Your contact details must be accurate for at least 30 days after the send date.

How do we fit all of our information onto a text message?

Even text messages need to include your business name and a way for people to contact you whether this is a phone number, email address, website address, etc.

What methods of “unsubscription” are allowed for within the act?

Recipients of commercial messages must be able to unsubscribe from your mailing list when they choose to at no cost to them. Both automated and manual unsubscribe functions are allowed for within the act, but they must be reliable. These include:

• An automated unsubscribe link – a one-step-click link that can be clicked upon that automatically unsubscribes the recipient from receiving further communications. No further action is required.
• An automated unsubscribe reply – a person can reply to the message with the word “UNSUBSCRIBE” written in the subject line. Your system automatically unsubscribes that user.
• A manual unsubscribe reply – a person can reply to the message with the word “UNSUBSCRIBE” written in the subject line or within the body of the message stating they wish to be unsubscribed. You must honour this request within 5 working days or subsequent messages will be regarded as unsolicited.

Can I hide the unsubscribe function at the bottom of my commercial message?

No, the unsubscribe function must be clearly presented and easy to use within the commercial message.

What other laws are connected with sending commercial electronic messages?

In addition to the “Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007”, you must also comply with the Privacy Act 1993 which covers 12 Privacy Principals. Passing on personal electronic addresses to another organisation or business, without permission, may breach the Privacy Act.

The Privacy Act also states that you must allow individuals on your database to be able to review and modify their information upon request without any cost to them.

What are the 12 Privacy Principals?

1. You can only collect personal information that is relevant to your business.
2. Personal information can only be collected directly from the individual except when the information is publicly available or you are authorised by the individual to collect it.
3. You must make the individual aware of the following:
   • That information is being collected
   • The purpose in which the information is being collected
   • Who is going to receive the information
   • Name and Address of the organization collecting and holding the information
   • The individual’s right to access and correct any information
4. Information shall not be collected by unlawful or unfair means and shall not intrude to an unreasonable extent upon the personal affairs of the individual.
5. Information must be protected against loss, unauthorised access, misuse and modification. Every organisation who holds personal information must appoint a Privacy Officer who will be responsible for compliance.
6. Individuals are entitled to obtain from organizations confirmation of whether or not personal information is held and to access the information about themselves. You should establish, document and implement procedures to handle enquiries from individuals and to provide information requested.
7. Individuals have the right to request correction of their personal information.
8. The agency holding personal information must not use that information without taking steps to ensure it is accurate, up-to-date, complete, relevant and not misleading.
9. Personal information shall not be kept for longer than required for its lawful use.
10. Personal information shall not be used for any purpose to that for which it was obtained unless the source of the information is a publicly available publication or the use of the information for another purpose was authorised by the individual concerned.
11. Personal information shall not be disclosed unless the disclosure is directly related to the reason for which the information was originally collected, or the source of the information is a publicly available document, or the disclosure is authorised by the individual concerned.
12. You should not assign a unique identifier to an individual unless it is necessary to carry out the lawful functions of your business.

More information about the privacy act can be found at www.privacy.org.nz/privacy-act

Checklist

• I have received either expressed, inferred or deemed consent from my subscriber database
• I have included accurate information about our company (the sender) within the message
• I have included clear details of how recipients can contact our company
• I have included a functional way for people to unsubscribe from our communications (e.g. an unsubscribe link)
• I have included the reason why the recipient is receiving the message. (a reminder that they have provided consent)
• I have included a method for recipients to be able to access and modify their personal information.
• I am recording all instances of permission granted by subscribers, unsubscriptions and history of messages sent to individuals.
• I have an electronic process in place to confirm verbally granted consent
• I do not use electronic address harvesting software to create mailing lists
• I do not purchase or use mailing lists that have been generated from harvesting software

For more information on complying with the ‘Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007’ go to:

www.antispam.govt.nz
www.antispam.govt.nz/Pubforms.nsf/URL/BusinessGuide.pdf/$file/BusinessGuide.pdf
www.marketing.org.nz/cms/Important_Notice/3727

Jacqui Jones is the Lead Consultant and Search and Online Marketing Specialist of search engine optimization agency Netconcepts and e-mail service provider GravityMail.

Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) is a leading retailer of specialty outdoor equipment and clothing, with revenues reaching close to $1 billion a year. REI is also seen as a leader in multi-channel strategies, offering a consistent sales and brand experience to their members and customers — whether through the 70+ retail stores, REI.com, or their catalog business.

Problem

While REI.com had developed a successful online store, they knew their limited search engine visibility represented a key missed opportunity to drive additional traffic and sales. REI.com didn’t rank well in search engines for many of its top products and the majority of its web pages and products weren’t getting indexed, resulting in greatly reduced visibility. UJ Cha of REI Online said: “it was a problem we wanted to address right away”.
While REI has a great range of products, its website suffered from several problems that were causing many of these products to never appear in search engine indices. The dynamic URLs that were used across REI’s online catalog were a big part of the problem, resulting in the site never being fully spidered. Their natural search visibility problem was compounded by small but significant issues with page titles, site structure, page content and link text, for example.
Understanding they had a problem, REI chose to work with Netconcepts to address its natural search challenges.

Solution

Netconcepts produced an audit report on REI’s website listing the problems and making recommendations on how to optimize the site. Realizing that this task involved a significant amount of work, REI engaged Netconcepts to help make the changes. We began by simplifying the URLs to make them more accessible to search bots and then worked on refining the REI site. As UJ Cha states, “The site in general needed optimizing for search engines” and work was undertaken to ease navigation, focus on keywords and make the site more search engine friendly.
Along the way Netconcepts took the time to help REI’s staff learn more about SEO best practices. As REI changes and updates their website, this training will help them keep REI.com search engine optimal. Netconcepts continues to work with REI to assist with seasonal keyword targeting and further SEO refinement.

Results

UJ Cha comments: “Netconcepts’ work has been very helpful, so far we have been very happy with all the work we have done together in 2004. We have been able to achieve full indexing in Google and we have had a measurable natural search traffic and sales increase.”
UJ Cha continues; “We received more than a 200% gain from overall natural search sales and more than a 250% gain in “non-branded” natural search sales since the start of the engagement with Netconcepts. Having a successful natural search strategy nicely complements our already successful paid search campaigns”.
In fact, the full indexing by Google means thousands of REI’s products are now visible to web consumers that were never visible before. REI’s site visibility has increased by 1000%, increasing overall natural search sales.
“We have decided to renew our contract with Netconcepts for 2005. Netconcepts has opened our eyes, not just on the importance of many of these elements but on specifically how to implement best practices.”

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figleaves.com, is the global leader of multi-brand intimate apparel etailers. The figleaves.com website features 250 brands and more than 30,000 items of lingerie, swimwear, sleepwear, activewear, menswear and hosiery. Brands range from designers such as La Perla and Andres Sarda to basic Playtex and Wacoal. Additionally, figleaves.com provides quality service to over 70 countries worldwide.

Challenge:

After establishing a headquarters in the United States, figleaves.com came to the realization that if they wanted to compete in the global market, they would need an expert SEO company. They had already engaged another search marketing company to help them with aspects of SEO, but figleaves.com wasn’t reaping the benefits that they expected and were starting to experience a decline in natural search traffic. figleaves.com was seeing moderate traffic for a variety of keywords but not seeing the natural search conversion they expected. They wanted to increase natural search traffic to the most relevant pages without making visitors dig through pages of results.

Solution:

Knowing the reputation of Netconcepts and the work of their president, Stephan Spencer, figleaves.com chose to consult with Netconcepts to complete a Natural Search Audit of their E-Commerce site. “Netconcepts’ audit process showed us all the areas of our site that needed attention, and helped us understand how to prioritize them to achieve a search optimized site,” stated Richard Brooks, Search Manager at figleaves.com. Netconcepts prescribed an initial focus on resolving structural barriers like URL structure, linking, and navigation before moving on to content optimization and other SEO tactics. “Netconcepts really helped us to clarify what our priorities should be,” stated Richard Brooks. “Netconcepts’ expert analysis and prioritization of our SEO issues helped us rally the support we needed in our organization to make some real SEO progress.”

Results:

Netconcepts provided the SEO methodology and program structure figleaves.com lacked internally to fully capitalize on their natural search potential. Within the first months of implementing Netconcepts’ recommendations, figleaves.com had already experienced a 40% increase in their natural search traffic. “We now rank on page one on Google for three of our most important keywords: “swimwear,” “underwear,” and “bras,” stated Richard Brooks. One of the most important influences in increasing rankings is the acquisition of back-links. Already, figleaves.com has more than doubled their number of back-links. Indexation alone has risen over 15% across Google, Yahoo, and MSN to top 300,000. Ed Bussey, Senior Vice President and Head of figleaves.com US had this to say, “We got great buy-in during our discussions and have seen great results from your recommendations. When we want to improve our SEO strategy further, we will come back to Netconcepts.”

Headlines are a primary focus for print marketers. “Good” headlines can catch the reader’s attention and pull them into the article. However, “good” happens to be in the eye of the beholder. Clever and witty headlines may catch reader’s attention but search engines are not so easily persuaded.

In this article, Netconcepts Founder and President, Stephan Spencer, is sought out for his SEO and content optimization expertise. “The headline itself doesn’t necessarily have to be modified if you know how SEO works,” stated Spencer.

Read this entire article and learn how to find your happy medium between catchy and functional copywriting.

In the last decade, technology has fundamentally changed the way companies and customers communicate and interact with one another. Consumers have 24/7 access to almost limitless information and can easily investigate a global network of options. And companies can readily tap into an amazing breadth and depth of information about their customers and prospects.

But as many companies are learning, new information and resources don’t necessarily lead to more productive relationships or effective marketing solutions.

Overwhelmed by the variety of interactive marketing tools and data? We can help. With the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Interactive Marketing program.

During this intensive three-day seminar, our industry experts will teach you how to create an effective blend of online and offline marketing to reach your customers and increase sales and productivity.

Interactive Marketing will teach you to:

Optimize your online efforts
After more than a decade of online marketing, companies are still struggling to find the best ways to use the web to promote themselves and build relationships with their customers. Our proven, practical tips will help you to get higher search engine rankings, make your e-mails filter-friendly — yet compliant! — and deliver relevant customer-focused website content.

Integrate online and offline media for maximum ROI
Combine the science of direct marketing with the technology of new media and you’ll link the efficiencies of mass promotion with the immediacy of one-to-one. Learn why the seamless integration of sales, marketing and distribution functions is crucial, and how to strategically coordinate your on- and offline efforts.

Identify how an interactive media campaign can strenghten — or threaten — your brand
Infinite opportunities to reach your customers and prospects means an equally infinite number of opportunities to dilute or damage your brand. Learn how to create an appropriate balance between branding and demand creating to protect your long-term brand equity while driving curent sales.

Who should attend?

This course provides excellent insights for directors, managers and executives involved in:

• Digital and Interactive Marketing
• Marketing, Sales and Advertising
• Communications
• Business Development
• New Media Planning
• Product and Brand Management
• Strategic Planning
• Customer Acquisition/Retention
• IT and website development

Here are the top 5 reasons you should attend this course:

5. There is no sales pitch for any product or service.
4. You will be provided with cross-functional perspectives on interactive marketing.
3. You will learn there is life after SPAM and CAN-SPAM.
2. Your customers will be happy with the web improvements you make.
1. The increased effectiveness of your integrated marketing campaign will make you a hero.

I have had the privilege of reviewing Gerry’s upcoming book Creating Killer Content; It is unquestionably one of the best books I have read on writing copy for the web — accessible yet packed with practical advice. Gerry knows how to bring together disparate concepts and weave them into a cohesive strategy, including readability, usability, search engine visibility, conversion and online sales.

Gerry has pioneered a powerful technique for online marketers called Customer Carewords. His clients who have used this technique successfully read like a Who’s Who: Rolls Royce, BBC, Wells Fargo and Tetra Pak.

Gerry is an incredibly entertained public speaker with an enchanting Irish accent. I’ve had the pleasure of hearing him speak live in person and via webcast. As a professional speaker and a consultant, Gerry sells his time at many thousands of dollars per day, which I can say in all candor is an excellent investment. I have been a long-time reader of Gerry’s weekly email newsletter “New Thinking.” Each issue delivers hard-hitting advice. Subscribe here.

Without any further ado, my interview with Gerry McGovern…

What is the biggest mistake that companies make in regards to their website content?
Thinking that customers care one little bit about the company. Customers care about themselves (their loved ones and their community). They hate websites that are organization-centric. How do you know if you have an organization-centric website? If any of your sentences or headings begin with the name of your organization. Stop talking about yourself. The customer knows who you are. They’re at your website, for crikes sakes. There’s a big, fat logo at the top of the page screaming out your name. You’ve already got their attention. Now it’s time to give them some attention.

What’s the best way to be customer-centric? Talk about benefits. Use second person–YOU. Paint a picture for the customer. Speak their language. Use their words. Stand where they stand, feel what they feel. Forget you’re part of the organization and think like the customer.

You ran an agency with over 100 staff. You have also been a solo consultant. What was the greatest lesson that you have learned from each of those two experiences?
The first lesson I learned was that I should have cashed out earlier. I was part of the whole dot com craze and had a company valued at $200 million at one stage. 12 months later it went bust. Seriously, what did I learn? Patience and focus. I’m a slow learner. I make a lot of mistakes, but I’m persistent. Sometimes I hate to learn so I have to work hard to keep my mind open. I think you need a long term plan. Even in an age of major change I still think you need a vision.

When I started on the Web around 1994, I felt that content was going to be really important. I stuck with that idea, and began to research how to create quality web content. It may sounds obvious now, but it was hard to sell the quality content concept during the Nineties. So many people bought into the idea that all you needed was some content management software and that then–magically–quality content would get produced. Without any management. And with little or no cost. Doesn’t happen that way.

Who are the people who most influenced you in your career choice?
I don’t mean to sound arrogant but I was pretty much self-motivated because I had to be. I come from a very rural part of Ireland. The idea of going to college was pretty new around where I lived. I chose marketing, and I really didn’t have a clue what it meant but I knew that it sounded different.

Peter Drucker would be a major influence now. He wrote in such a simple, clear manner, and he was so incredibly insightful. One quote I keep coming back to from him is that we have spent the last 50 years focusing on the T in IT, and we’ll spend the next 50 years focusing on the I.

Why have you dedicated yourself career-wise to website content? What is so special about that, that it has become your passion?
I always wanted to be good at something. I think someone once said that they had failed their way to success, and I certainly feel like that. There were so many things I found I wasn’t that good at–or that I found that I couldn’t really excel at. However, all along I was–in one way or another–working with content. And when I saw the Web the first time, it looked like this World Wide Web of Content. And it also was this huge opportunity. It was new. It was vast. It still is full of the smell of adventure. And I liked that. So I got up on my horse and headed out West to the new lands that content was building.

There is so much content on the web already. I get stressed surfing the web trying to keep up with the blogs in my industry because there is so much content. It is just exploding. The content is already out of control. Our brains can’t take it. Where is this all heading?
It’s a good question. I’m reading a book at the moment on how the mind works. It estimates that we are exposed to 11,000 bits of information a second, but that we are only conscious of 40 of them. (The word ‘bit’ being a technical measure of information.) Whatever the measure is, we’re exposed to a lot more today that we were 10 years ago.

But I think we’ll be fine. We’re going through a period of flux now as we move from an industrial age society to an information age one. The essence of what we need to know remains reasonably stable, in my opinion. Wisdom is not about volume. Quality does not always come with quality. There are long term trends at play. There are core patterns beneath the hum of noise.

First and foremost, we need to manage the content, not be managed by it. We have to stop being email slaves. Being constantly busy is not productive, and it’s certainly not good management. We need to focus more now on what we’re not going to do, on whose blog we’re going to stop reading this week because they’re repeating themselves. And ironically, in an age of content we need to get out more and talk to people–particularly our customers.

Consultants often talk of going after the “low hanging fruit” — the easy stuff that yields the biggest impact. What do you think is the lowest hanging fruit for companies with an online presence today in regards to their website content?
That’s a tough question. I think a lot of websites suffer from a belief by management that all the fruit is low-hanging. That if they just buy this fancy technology they get this amazing ladder that makes all the fruit low-hanging. Unfortunately, I think that if you visited a lot of websites today, you’d find a lot of rotting fruit lying around.

Basically, it’s time for management. The Web has been around long enough for a typical organization to be able to answer this question: Has the Web the potential to deliver real value to our organization? For a lot of organizations, the answer will be no. The website will deliver a little value, but will have negligible impact on the bottom line. For some organizations, the Web has the potential to deliver substantial value. And in that situation, it’s time to get serious. Time to manage, not administer.

Quality content is hard work. I’m sorry. I’d love to say otherwise, but it’s just not the case. But quality content can deliver significant return on investment on the Web.

I notice that you haven’t started a blog. Do you think this whole blogging trend really has something to it? Or is it all a bunch of hot air? Do you encourage any of your clients to blog? Is blog content too ephemeral?
You’d never know I might start one yet! In fact, because of your constant prodding, I’m talking with a group of my partners about starting a joint blog. I think blogging is amazing, and such a positive reflection of an open, inquisitive, questioning culture. There will always be a role for the book but the blog is the conversation where the next book might just be born.

Everything in its place. Let’s not get carried away. Blogging is a new form of conversation; a rough and ready way to share knowledge. It’s a form of research, a way of getting down and dirty and digging into the roots of an idea. To watch a brilliant thinker and writer blog is very illuminating. But I find that quality blogs–that I can go back to time and time again–are pretty hard to find.

I have so far not encouraged any of my clients to blog. Most of my clients–and they include some very large organizations–are still mastering the basics of how to manage content professionally. Blogging may seem simple, but it’s quite a sophisticated strategy, and it requires a very open, sharing culture.

Great content can persuade the reader. What should a company do to convince its website visitors that it is a responsible corporate citizen, one that gives back to the greater community and the greater good?

I buy a lot from Amazon. My sons keep telling me to use play.com because it’s cheaper, but I’m a loyal Amazon customer, and it would take a lot to make me change. The reason I’m a loyal Amazon customer is because I actually genuinely believe that they care about me. Every time I’ve ever had a problem, their response has been simply fantastic–every single time.

There’s so much bullshit in marketing. So many organizations spinning that they love the environment or whatever just as some “branding” exercise. There are organizations out there that I detest because of the way they treat me as a customer. Citizenship begins at home. Organizations should treat their customers right. Show you actually, genuinely care about your customers. If we all did that, I think we’d make society a better place.

According to studies, fully one-third of permission-based e-mails are not even delivered. If you’re lucky enough to reach the recipient’s inbox, you still have to worry about getting your e-mail opened and read.

For most recipients it is a split-second decision whether or not to delete your e-mail — a decision based almost entirely on the From line and the Subject line. And if that doesn’t sound harrowing enough, there are plenty of other hazards in the design and layout of the e-mail.

WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY

So many designers of e-mail campaigns make the fatal mistake of designing the e-mail to be viewed in its entirety. E-mail doesn’t work like that. E-mail is scrolled through and in very small windows.

If you design the e-mail to look like a Web page and allocate valuable screen real estate at the top of your e-mail to masthead graphics and branding messages, you relegate the key messages to reside “below the fold” of the preview pane.

If your recipient doesn’t get your key message from what displays immediately in the preview pane, they probably won’t invest the effort in reading your e-mail or taking your desired action.

Cut to the chase. The first paragraph should be very easy to scan and should be a good overview of the key messages that you are trying to impart. The From line and the Subject line is where your branding goes — the From line in particular — rather than in gratuitous graphics.

Decide what is the one point that you want to get across and make that point in your Subject line. A Subject line of “September edition of ABC Company’s e-mail newsletter” is not compelling, as it offers no value proposition or clue as to the e-mail’s contents.

Scrolling through five screens within the preview pane is too much to ask of your recipient. If you have a lot of copy, move most of it to one or more landing pages. If your e-mail is full of images, move those to landing pages as well. People are not nearly as tolerant of slow download times in their e-mail clients as they are in their Web browsers.

PICTURE PERFECT?

Making life even more difficult for e-mail marketers, some e-mail clients like Outlook 2003 and Web mail services like Gmail don’t display images by default.

Thus, any important content locked up within images won’t be readily accessible to many recipients, particularly if the image doesn’t include an “alt” attribute (alternate text that displays when image loading is turned off).

Likely, the image height and width attributes were not defined, because if they were, the image placeholder box would take up an unnecessarily large amount of screen real estate.

Then there are the campaigns that don’t look “designed” at all.

These are the e-mails that could have been created by the office assistant using Microsoft Word. If the e-mail has too many conflicting styles — too many different font faces and colors and a lack of consistency in their use — then it will look like spam.

If you don’t have the resources to design a properly formatted, professionally designed e-mail campaign, don’t try to muddle through it. Rather, refrain from any formatting more extensive than bolded headings and bullet points.

Even able designers shouldn’t try to get too sophisticated with CSS (cascading style sheets), because some e-mail clients won’t be able to display them properly.

CSS is fine for setting font faces and sizes, but trying to lay out the page with CSS would be a mistake. Use tables instead. I know that is a very ’90s thing to say, but for e-mail marketing that is what you need to do. Try to use as few tables as possible, and avoid the use of nested tables.

Every graphically rich e-mail needs to have a message at the very top stating something to the effect of “If you can’t read this message, click here” which will take the recipient to a Web page containing a properly formatted version of the e-mail.

There is no point having such a message five lines down into the HTML code, because your recipient isn’t going to scour the HTML code looking for the link.

TEXT CONTEXT

Including within your e-mail a plain text version (using “multi-part MIME”) isn’t just good for recipients running e-mail clients incapable of displaying HTML. It also makes your e-mail more palatable to the spam filters. That’s because many spammers don’t bother making multi-part e-mails.

Within the HTML “part,” aim for a high ratio of text copy to HTML coding. Spammers often rely on images to hide text that will get picked up by the spam filters — phrases like “free access,” “best rates,” “big savings,” “call now,” “full refund,” “guaranteed,” “incredible” and “opportunity” — resulting in a low text to HTML ratio. Crafting an e-mail that will get past the spam filters is not straightforward.

Thankfully, spam-scoring tools exist, such as the free tool at www.gravitymail.com/spamscore.php (excuse the plug, please). It will run your e-mail through SpamAssassin, one of the most popular spam filters among Internet service providers, and generate a report detailing the penalties that you racked up.

Never send a campaign out before scoring it first.

ADDRESS MATTERS

As previously stated above, your From line should, in most cases, include your company name or brand name. Only include a personal name in the From line if the recipient is going to recognize that name.

If, for example, you are a hotel sending out a campaign to previous guests and your e-mail is “From” your general manager, nobody is going to know who that is and your e-mail will be deleted.

Oh, and by the way, don’t forget to include your physical address at the bottom of the message for CAN-SPAM compliance.

E-mail is a very different medium from the Web, and it requires a different approach. If you don’t see to its exacting demands and the seeming minutiae, your campaign will fall short.

You can’t just hire a Web designer to design you an e-mail template and expect them to do a good job. Nor can you simply bang out an e-mail in WordPad and expect it to get past the spam filters.

Welcome to e-mail marketing’s second epoch.

Stephan Spencer is president of search engine optimization agency Netconcepts and e-mail service provider GravityMail, both Madison, WI. Reach him at .

This online catalog site is powered by our GravityMarket ecommerce platform which means it is search engine friendly out of the gates, with an intuitive feature rich website for customers and a powerful administrative interface for our client. Among other things, the site supports “EZ Ordering” by SKU or item number. They are also embracing the concept that “markets are conversations,” having just started a blog.

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Visit the site: Emergency Medical Products

Even if your message gets past the filters, it doesn’t mean your email will be opened. Your recipients are brutal when it comes to slashing through the commercial messages clogging their inboxes. A split second decision will decide your email’s fate, based squarely on your From line and Subject line, and to a smaller extent, what’s visible in the Preview pane. After navigating these deliverability and openability hazards, you still have to get the recipient to comprehend and act on your message. A pretty tall order nowadays.

This virtual seminar is going to get “hands on” with reviews of actual email campaigns submitted by seminar attendees. Not all will be chosen, so give yourself the best chance of having your campaign critiqued: submit your entry early. Stephan is one of the most popularly and highly acclaimed MarketingProfs seminar leaders.

If you’ve ever wondered what you were doing wrong with your email marketing, or wondered what you could be doing better, then this is the seminar for you.

You will learn:

• How to write messages that are opened and read
• How to create subject lines that are the best they can be
• Best practices for your call-to-action and value proposition
• How to balance text and images
• When to use Text or HTML
• Whether your email is compliant with CAN-SPAM legislation
• Whether your messages will get past spam filters

The 90-minute seminar will include an extended Q&A.