Left to its own devices, email marketing is unlikely to survive. However, if email marketers take responsibility for developing great strategy and execution, we are likely to bring on its evolution.
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In this teleseminar, Netconcepts’ founder Stephan Spencer moderates a panel of email marketing experts, including Chris Baggot, Rok Hrastnik, Eric Kirby, Jim Sterne, and Shar VanBoskirk. The output of which is an insight into email marketing’s true power and potential. Produced by MarketingProfs.com.
Read the Executive Summary: part 1 and part 2
Download the Transcript: PDF (300 K)
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Here’s a startling bit of research, done by EmailLabs and written up in MarketingSherpa, for all of you folks responsible for crafting email campaigns and newsletters:
This [past] fall tens of millions of emails from permission mailers were tested for a brand new metric: actual read time.
Turns out 15-20 seconds was the average. Consider the last email campaign or newsletter you sent. Could a typical reader skim the entire thing, digest the graphics, and decide to click on the best item for them in just 15-20 seconds?
Yes, people. You read that right. The read time of your precious prose is, on average, a lousy 15 seconds… 20 seconds, tops!
You labor so hard over that e-newsletter: spending countless hours writing it, then perfecting it, then testing it, then further refining it… and to what end? The bloody inconsiderate recipient spends a mere 15 seconds absorbing it! How rude!
So, what to do? Email marketers must become masters of the 15-second soundbite. The conventional wisdom in email marketing of short sentences, short paragraphs, placing the call-to-action so it appears above-the-fold in the preview pane, etc. etc. just won’t come close to cutting it any more.
Based on this study, I’ve been totally rethinking how we’re doing our regular “communiques” to our clients & partners. Perhaps we should ditch our current approach of a roughly-monthly, short-and-sharp 400-word e-newsletter? I think we’ll test another approach: where I strive to deliver a single idea or tip that offers real value to the recipient and coaxes that person into engaging in a dialogue with me — within a mere 80 words! (This paragraph, including this parenthetical note, is 80 words.)
Bite-sized chunks of relevant advice, personalized to that individual client’s situation, sent on more regular intervals than our current “communique”… Sound like a plan? (Actually it sounds like an extranet blog, but done less frequently and delivered via email instead of RSS.)
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Catalog Age Webinar — Online
The search algorithms of Google, Yahoo, and MSN power about 95% of all Web search queries, making high-ranking search listings in these three engines a marketer’s dream. With over 70% of search result clickthroughs going to the natural (unpaid) search results pages and the “implied endorsement” that goes with a top natural listing, it’s essential that marketers gain mastery in natural search optimization. Besides, where else can you reach such high penetration to highly qualified prospects at zero cost per click?
While natural search listings deliver untold millions in sales to some of the Web’s savviest online retailers, most Web sites are not properly designed to reach this market. How can you adjust or revamp your site so that the engines will love it?
Join Stephan Spencer, President of Netconcepts, Shaun Ryan, CEO of SLI Systems, and Joan Broughton, VP - Multi-Channel Programs at REI during this rich presentation to learn the essential strategies of putting the search engines to work for your Web site. You’ll learn the secrets of how to:
Join us for an information-packed hour of concrete advice, definitive answers, best and worst practices, real-life examples, and interactive critiques.
Download: MPEG 4 (68 MB)
Stephan Spencer, Founder & President, Netconcepts
Stephan has been helping companies exploit commerce opportunities online since 1995. Clients include REI, Verizon, Gorton’s, Kohl’s, Cabela’s, to name a few. Stephan started Netconcepts in 1995 and grew it from a one-person Internet consultancy to what it now a multi-national interactive agency, specialising in web design and ecommerce with search engine optimization built in.
Dr Shaun Ryan, CEO, SLI Systems
Shaun Ryan combines commercial experience and academic expertise to lead a company that consistently improves the search experience of millions of online shoppers, customers of stores like Etronics, Any Mountain and Harry and David. His commercial background includes positions with NBCi and consulting to organizations like international health technology company Invacare. With a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Canterbury, Shaun was one of the founders of SLI Systems’ unique learning search technology.
Joan Broughton, Vice President of Multichannel Programs/Online, Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI)
Service to REI since 2000. Former executive at Office Depot and America Online. Currently oversees strategy and operations of REI’s Multichannel Programs and Online businesses, including REI.com, REI-OUTLET.com, and REI Adventures. Serves on the boards of the American Hiking Society and Shop.org, an online retailer association. Enjoys hiking and running.
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Circulation and the Internet: Co-hosted by American Business Media and National Trade Circulation Foundation, Inc. — New York City
Gloria Adams, Pennwell - Moderator
Laura Wilson, NEJM - Panelist
Sean Fulton, GCN Publishing - Panelist
Brian Klais, Netconcepts - Panelist
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Most email marketers agree that ethically, email address harvesting and sending unsolicited opt-out messages are taboo and should be avoided. I of course agree. It’s always fun to talk ethics, but let’s bring the discussion to a practical level. I contend that harvesting and opt-out are both impractical for legitimate email marketers.
Let’s look at why…
Harvesting of email addresses from the Web will inevitably pick up “honeypot addresses” that will end up in your opt-out database. A honeypot is an email address hidden in the page somewhere where no one will click on it, but email harvesters will still capture it. Any emails received at the honeypot address will then get the IP address of the sending mail server “blackholed” for a period of time, so that emails to other addresses on the receiving email server will not get delivered.
Frequently the ethical question is posed as to whether the opt-out email is spam if the content is squeaky clean. The answer is an unequivocal YES. It’s still spam because you do not have a prior business relationship with the recipient, you were not granted permission by the recipient in advance, and your email is unsolicited. It doesn’t have to be “bulk” to be spam. Spam is spam to the recipient regardless of whether you sent 100 or a million; it’s immaterial to the recipient what is going on outside of their inbox. And spam does not need to be a sleazy message to be considered spam. A church could “spam” people with donation requests by email if they are unsolicited.
So back to the practicality and repercussions for a moment… Imagine this: you send out unsolicited emails requesting people to opt-in and you have no prior business relationship with them. Some of them inevitably will report you to SpamCop. Your ISP will be notified by SpamCop, and they will need to either give you the boot or justify in a response to SpamCop why you don’t deserve the boot. ISPs take SpamCop very seriously, as they don’t want their SMTP servers blacklisted. More than a couple SpamCop complaints and your ISP is going to be very grumpy with you.
So in all, this whole approach is quite an impractical one. Spammers must be very good at hiding their tracks (e.g. by sending spam out through “zombies” which are PCs compromised by viruses/trojans) or must ‘move house’ constantly. Unless you’re willing to live like that too, you’ll find that the email harvesting and opt-out approaches will burn you.
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It seems a small tick-box is causing a few ructions in the world of Google Desktop. Which tick box you may ask? The one where Google Desktop, by default, indexes secure web pages.
This ‘feature’ of Google Desktop results in GD indexing and caching secure files such as internet banking pages and web-based email pages that are viewed by the user. The index isn’t providing the passwords to access these, but the pages viewed by the user once the password prompt is passed.
These cached files have previously been somewhat buried in windows, but with them easily available to GD there are obvious security concerns. For example, try a search for ‘compose’ on Google Desktop if you have used web-based email recently and you may be surprised at what GD indexes and caches.
While the tech news sites argue over whether this is or isn’t a security threat, it’s clear Google overlooked an obvious user concern when they left that GD option on by default.
It makes one wonder what secrets may be buried deep in the Google web index, just waiting for some intrepid searcher to discover!
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MarketingProfs virtual seminar series — online (webcast)
Imagine an online ad that costs you nothing per impression, guarantees both a local and worldwide audience actively seeking your products and services, and offers 6 times the click-through rate of a banner ad… a search engine listing.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the ultimate targeted, low cost and high return weapon in the e-marketer’s promotional arsenal.
Learn how to maximize your reach through the “organic” (unpaid) results in the search engines:
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When it comes to breaking through to your customers’ email inbox, it’s getting to be less about what you say and more about how you say it. The spam net that i.merchants must circumvent is getting ever more sophisticated and, dare we say, overzealous. In fact, recent surveys indicate that more than one-third of permission emails that consumers want to receive from trusted sources are being blocked by email filters and corporate firewalls.
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DMA Annual Conference — New Orleans, LA
As consumers rely more heavily on spam filters, the e-mail marketer’s dilemma is nearing a breaking point. Soon only 50% of your consumers will receive your e-mails! What are the major factors influencing your own deliverability challenges? This session will reveal ways to assess your vendors’ network reputation, best practices for designing spam filter-friendly e-mails, how to get whitelisted with major ISPs, and where e-mail marketers go from here.
Topics include:
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