http://www.exacttarget.com/subscribers-fans-followers/social-breakup.aspx?intID=SFFHero_SocialBreakup

To make your emails stand out consider three things: deliverability, design and content.

1) Deliverability – Many small businesses today have opted to use inexpensive emails service providers (ESPs) such as Constant Contact and I-Contact. While the cost of these “do-it-yourself” tools is low, they might be rolling the dice when it comes to getting emails delivered. The most important determination of why something gets labeled as spam is the “sender score” of the sender. That score combines the IP address of the sending server (ESP) with the sending domain name (you@yourdomain.com). This score factors in the percentage of opens as well as the authentications that tie the domain with the sending address. Simply put – if your ESP has a low sending score and a low open rate, your emails have a greater chance of being marked as spam. The low-cost, do-it yourself email service providers typically don’t offer a deliverability team to optimize your sending success and alert you when there is a problem. Many small businesses tend to get overwhelmed by technology and are in denial of this problem.

2) Design – While “do-it-yourself” software makes it easy to create your own emails, it’s essential to understand how your emails are seen. The fact is that many emails are designed as images, however an estimated 30% of business-to-consumer email users never download images. (This rate can jump to 50% among business-to-business email users, and can be even higher when users are looking at emails on mobile devices, which are not typically image-friendly.) Even when images are downloaded, the challenge of having your emails render correctly across hundreds of different software platforms further complicates the design process. Failure to understand and implement these best practices of email design compounds the likelihood that your messages will be ignored, leading to fewer openings, which impacts your sender score.

3) Content – Having remarkable content is the key to great marketing. But what’s remarkable for one customer might be unimportant to another. The key ingredient of remarkable content is relevancy – getting the right message to the right person at the right time. So how do retailers have more relevant content? I recommend segmentation. Email marketing is the ideal tool to make this happen. The platform we use for our clients says it all in their name: Exact Target. They’ve adopted a marketing philosophy called “Subscribers Rule”.

The subscriber-centric philosophy is built upon three simple tenets:
o Serve the individual
o Honor each individual’s unique preferences with regard to communication, content, frequency, and channel
o Deliver subscribers timely, relevant content that improves their lives

Correctly segmenting customers so that they receive more targeted emails will result in higher opening rates and decrease the likelihood that your customers will ignore your messages.

Here are a few ideas for segmenting customers to build more targeted lists:

1) Have recipients segment themselves using preference options when they subscribe to your email list

2) Offer multiple email lists to opt into. (Example – in addition to the “Email Update list – offer a “Deal of the Week” list that only members of that list will receive.)

3) Encourage occasional updates to preferences by linking to your preference page in emails or sending an occasional survey

4) Merge relevant demographic data such as gender, age and location to include or exclude specific subscribers to receive a message

5) Turn POS data into marketing information. Brands, classifications and sizes can all be relevant in targeting a customer for a specific mailing

6) Use dates to automatically trigger emails. Examples:
a. Automatically trigger an email for a birthday offer on someone’s birthday
b. Send a “Thank You” email to customer a few days after their recent purchase
c. Send a ”We Miss You” email to customers whose last purchase dates has been a year ago

7) Use “Click-thrus” for your call to action by making recipients “click to print” for an offer, “Click to RSVP” for an event, or “Click for more information”. This provides measurable data that can tell you the effectiveness of your campaign. In addition, this creates a qualified segment of interested subscribers or leads – perfect for a follow-up email or phone call.

All of these tactics are much less complicated than they sound, especially if you have the help of a savvy email service provider. Start small, focusing on your deliverability, and designs and then start segmenting your email lists. It will pay off in terms of opening rates, and ultimately, sales.

For more information, check out Exact Target’s “Subscribers Rule!” website, which is filled with great tips on how to rev up your e-mail marketing: http://subscribersrule.com/

Consider this –

We did a multi-channel campaign for a dozen high end menswear specialty stores this fall.

Example of Post Card with an Online Landing Page Call to Action

All offered a generous gift to their customers to come into the store and shop. While the campaign details varied from store to store, they had one thing in common: they required the customer to sign up for his “deal” online. Depending on the list size, the results ranged from 2% to 10% response on the landing page. But the significance is that they were able to determine which of their customer viewed their offer as “trash” and which ones valued it as “treasure”. By collecting emails as the call to action on the landing page, our goal is to identify who are active, motivated buyers for these stores and to go forward using only cost effective email marketing as the retention component of their marketing.

In the book “Inbound Marketing: “Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs”, Brian Halligan redefines the way people shop. Outbound marketing- where we look to get in front of people who we think might be our customers- is out – and inbound marketing – where customers find us- is in.

My hope is that the budget dollars saved from transitioning their direct mail to email can be transferred to a search strategy designed for new customers to  find them using inbound marketing.

My advices… take out the trash and focus on marketing to the treasure.  Identify who your customers are and let them help you market your brand to the customers looking for you…

Stay tuned for our success stories of our clients using social media blogging.

Digital Overload: Your Brain On Gadgets

“My name is John Fell and I’m a screenaholic….”

Screen addiction anyone?  How about everyone who spends their day going from mobile device to computer and back again.

This NPR interview with  New York Time technology journalist Matt Richtel speak to us who are constantly multi-tasking while we’re working or driving or even out to dinner.

You are in denial if you think this is a good thing.  After listening to this interview- I decided to change will you?

(it’s about 30 minutes – and if you check your email, look at a web site or make a tweet while you’re “listening” – then it’s aimed at you!)

What You Don’t Know Will Kill Your Success With Email Marketing

The agency team at E-Mail Logic works with over 100 clients, implementing marketing campaigns that include emails that we design simply to be “the best in the inbox”.  We not only pay close attention to design, we also make sure that the email follow the “best practices of email marketing“.  We comply with CAN-SPAM, we format our html so that the emails will render correctly in emails clients and mobile devices. But what our clients want appreciate most is the “wow effect” that the design says about their brand.  We help our clients opt in their lists and establish true permission.  But one component of our email marketing strategy that our customers and leads seem to be dis-interested in is our efforts to insure our clients get the best deliverability.

We have a niche of specialty retailers many of them are high-end luxury stores who have great relationships with their customers.  Their email lists while not large are the perfect example of permission email lists as their customer do want to hear from them.  In some cases, the store staff knows each of the list members personally.  They trust us to get their emails delivered, so we partner with the best source for ESP to get emails delivered, Exact Target.  So, it blows my mind when I see a store who I have coveted to have as a client that is doing their own marketing in-house or uses a competitive agency sending out emails that end up in the spam box.  I look at the sender and I guess we lost that deal because we might put a value on email deliverability that made us too expensive.  You get what you pay for.  If you want to get your emails delivered then there are no shortcuts.

You can design the greatest emails and have the highest opted in list but if your emails don’t get delivered – your response will be low.

Does the Agency you work with understand email deliverabilty? Who do they partner with to send out your emails. What is the sender score of the IP address they’re sending your emails from.

If you’re doing email marketing in-house not only must you consider your technical partner, but also make sure you understand the components of what is involved to get emails delivered.  Many things can go wrong after you hit the send button.

If you want the highest R.O.M.I. (Return On Marketing Investment) from your email marketing you might want to think about partnering with the best – not the cheapest.

Ignorance is a form of denial.  If you don’t take the time to learn and understand about email deliverability you risk not getting your emails delivered.

Check out this report to get permission and deliverability tips straight from the experts themselves.
Inside this report, you’ll find advice from a variety of industry experts on a range of topics including:

• The importance of your subscribers: their permission, preferences, and unsubscribe requests
• The key to building your brand reputation
• Why less is more when it comes to list size and subscriber acquisition

DOWNLOAD Letters to the C-Suite: Getting Serious About Permission and Deliverability

via College Students Annoyed by Mobile Ads – eMarketer.

How does a brick and mortar business leverage interned marketing? For high end restaurateur Mortons – it’s in the steak , not the sizzle.

E-mail and Social Media: Everyone has a Job to Do – DMNews.

Jake Fell and John Fell at the Exact Target Partner Summit

Day 1 was a good learning experience about Social Networking, Co-Tweet and more.  We did some “old fashioned” social networking at the Andretti Motor Sports.  The Exact Target Indy Racer is very cool – but the E-Mail Logic Smart Car is cooler.