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fuelNet Monthly is a marketing newsletter published by The Pohly Co. consulting firm and is a monthly contributor to Kiplinger Recommends.
Ellen Neuborne is a New York-based freelance writer specializing in marketing and business. She is a former editor at BusinessWeek magazine, and her work has appeared in Inc magazine, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal Online.
The economy is shuddering. Marketing budgets are under pressure. Yet attracting and retaining customers has never been more vital. The perfect storm of financial pressures has growing businesses turning to email in droves. And for good reason: It’s trackable, testable, familiar, and relatively cheap. Moreover, consumers check their email religiously. A study by the Columbia, Md.-based database marketing agency Merkle found that 44% of consumers check their primary email account more than three times a day, up 38% from 2005, and 58% said email is a great way for companies to communicate with customers.
Email has become so wildly popular that 75% of companies will boost spending on the marketing tactic in the coming year, according to Eloqua, a consulting firm based in Vienna, Va. But email is also a complex medium, with many choices to be made for optimum results. “Email marketing is a little bit like singing in the shower. Everyone does it, but few do it well,” says Sheldon Gilbert, CEO of Proclivity Systems, a consumer behavior consulting firm based in New York. Experts have cited four top trends in email marketing for 2009:
1. It’s all about interactivity. Smart marketers are tapping email not just to communicate, but to converse with their customers. Bullhorn, a Boston-based seller of recruiting software, took a recent email campaign interactive. Instead of just sending out information to its mailing list, Bullhorn developed Recruiter IQ, an online interactive test for recruiters to assess their own skills and industry knowledge. Embedding this interactive tool in the email gave recipients a reason to not just read, but respond.
The email drew a 17% open rate, a 20% click-through rate, and a 2.2% conversion rate. Joe Cordo, vice president of marketing at Bullhorn, credits the campaign with moving three open deals to close in its first month.
2. It’s a two-screen medium. Today, it’s just as likely your target will access your email campaign via a mobile device. The most successful mobile marketing comes in the form of text messages. Users also respond to surveys and coupons sent to cell phones.
To stand out in the mobile space, email marketers must not only design their campaigns with the small screen in mind, but also emphasize the writing of the message itself, says Michele Harris, CEO of Smarti Solutions, a marketing agency search firm in New York. “Like any good copywriting exercise, headlines are key,” she says. “You’ve got precious seconds to grab someone’s attention, especially if they’re on the go.”
3. Segmenting gets results. Most people go to the Brickery Grill and Bar in Atlanta for the all-American menu. But despite their shared tastes, owner Bruce Alterman decided to treat his customers differently. Working with email software provider Listrak, he segmented his email marketing efforts.
To customers who generally came in for lunch, Brickery offered a free entrée if they brought the family in for dinner. Wine drinkers were invited to special wine-tasting events. Surf and turf fans heard about specials on crab cakes and steaks.
In addition to the segmented emails, the restaurant sends messages to its full list, often to great effect. Take, for example, a 20%-off promotion last year for preferred customers during the traditionally slow Memorial Day weekend. Crab cake sales tripled and steak sales nearly quadrupled during the week of their respective email promotions. “Our permission-based email program has become the most important marketing tool we have,” Alterman says.
4. It’s not a solo tactic. Email marketing, used by itself, can trigger what Eric Cosway, chief marketing officer at Austin, Texas-based QuantumDigital, calls in-box anxiety. “We all have had that moment when we get to our in-box and there’s so much there and we’re saying, ‘How am I ever going to read all of these?’” he says. To combat in-box anxiety, pair email marketing with at least one other marketing tactic, and preferably more.
For one client, QuantumDigital created a three-step campaign, beginning with three jumbo paper postcards, followed by a dedicated Web landing page, and then an email pitch. “We call it companion marketing -- the merging of on- and offline techniques,” Cosway says. “No one tactic is an island.”
Email No-Nos
The kiss of death for email campaigns is the opt-out. Once a subscriber takes that step, the e-door is closed. Why do individuals who once welcomed your emails suddenly say no? When developing an email campaign, avoid annoying subscribers by keeping in mind the most common reasons people opt out, as discovered by researchers at Merkle.
• The emails are not relevant.
• The emails are sent too often.
• The recipient never actually opted in.
• The emails are not what was expected.
• The emails are of poor quality.
This article originally appeared in the customer communications and marketing newsletter fuelNet Monthly. To read more marketing tips from fuelNet,click here.
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