What Everybody Ought to Know About Email Marketing By Jason Koertge - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

What Everybody Ought to Know About Email Marketing

By Jason Koertge

CYber SYtes, Inc. CYSY.com Facebook.com/CYberSYtes October 13, 2010

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About Me

• Founded PCBDaily.com
• Successful Email Marketer
• Successful Social Marketer
• Director of New Media at CYber SYtes

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About CYber SYtes

• Custom Web Design Firm
• Clients Large and Small
• Government and Oganization Sites
• Small and Large Businesses
• Email Marketing Consulting
• Social Marketing and Consulting

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• Why email marketing
• Tips for how to get started
• Picking an ESP
• How to build your email list
• Designing your email template
• What to send
• Welcome email
• Regular newsletter
• Subject line best practices
• Personalization
• CAN-SPAM Act
• Integrating with your social networks
• Examples

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• 1.4 email users worldwide
• 90 trillion emails sent in 2009
• 248 emails sent per day
• 12 trillion emails not spam - lol

Why Email Marketing

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How to Get Started

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How to Get Started

• RatePoint
• MailChimp
• Constant Contact
• iContact
• Blue Sky Factory
• Aweber
• Exact Target
• StreamSend
• Vertical Response
• Benchmark Email
• Get Response

Picking an ESP (Email Service Provider)

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How to Get Started

• Analytics and Reporting
• Simple Subscription Management
• Instant Send (no throttling or waiting)
• Advanced Features
• Social Integration
• Scheduling
• Auto-responders

How to Get Started

Why an ESP vs. Doing it In-House

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• Customer Service
• Features
• Who are their clients
• Reporting capabilities
• Do they have A/B testing
• Cost and terms of service

When Choosing as ESP

How to Get Started How to Get Started

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How to Get Started

• Opt-in form on every page
• Sign up form should be catchy
• Add opt-in form to social profiles
• Brick and mortar businesses
• Ask for email at checkout
• Business card with short url to form
• Service-based business
• Always ask for email address

How To Start Your List

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How to Get Started

• Don’t harvest/scrape from web
• Don’t buy email lists
• Don’t send to people without their

permission

• Don’t blanket add everyone that

emails you, unless you ask permission

Email List DON’TS

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How to Get Started

• Most ESP’s offer a great variety of great looking email templates
• Test the designs to be sure they look right in different email clients
• Make sure the design is easy to navigate and read
• If you can’t find something you like, we can build you a custom one
• Should be less than 650 pixels wide
• Make sure key elements of newsletter are “above the fold”
• Balance image-to-text
• Keep content brief, linking to website for more information

Designing Your Email Template

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What to Send

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What to Send

• Should thank them for their subscription
• Explain what to expect from the newsletter
• Explain how frequently it will be sent
• Offer a call to action for your business
• Offer them a gift, coupon, useful information

Welcome Email

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What to Send

• Map out what you’ll regularly send
• Specials, deals or offers
• News about your business
• Industry-related news and information
• Website or blog updates
• New inventory or services
• Pick a time interval and stick to it (weekly, bi-monthly, monthly, quarterly)
• Be consistent (this is the most important)

Regular Newsletter

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What to Send

• More important than anything
• 6 seconds to capture their attention
• 35 characters or less
• Don’t use spammy words
• Don’t use all caps
• Avoid deceptive subject lines
• Be descriptive but catchy

Subject Line

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What to Send

• [COMPANYNAME] Sales & Marketing Newsletter
• Eye on the [COMPANYNAME] Update (Oct 31 - Nov 4)
• [COMPANYNAME] Staff Shirts & Photos
• [COMPANYNAME] May 2005 News Bulletin!
• [COMPANYNAME] Newsletter - February 2006
• [COMPANYNAME] Newsletter - January 2006 [ *|FNAME|* *|LNAME|* ]
• [COMPANYNAME] and [COMPANYNAME] Invites

You!

• Happy Holidays from [COMPANYNAME]
• ATTENTION [COMPANYNAME] Staff!
• ATTENTION [COMPANYNAME] West Staff!!

Subject Line Examples

Examples from the MailChimp blog.

See something in common?

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What to Send

• Should be recognizable
• Should include company name if relavant, or
• Owner name if recognizable
• Should be consistent always and NEVER change
• Monitor replies to “from” email
• Shouldn’t use donotreply@companyname.com format - personal is more memorable

From Line

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What to Send

• Use first name, if possible at beginning of email
• Write in personal language, like you’re talking to one person
• Increases click through rates
• Increases brand loyalty
• Make suggestions
• Be helpful

Personal is More Memorable

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What to Send

• Don’t use false or misleading header information
• From, To information must not be deceptive
• Don’t use deceptive subject lines
• Identify message as an ad if it is one
• Tell recipients where you’re located
• Physical address in footer is acceptable
• Provide clear opt-out capability
• Honor opt-outs promptly – don’t send to them again

Ensure CAN-SPAM Act Compliance

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Social Network Integration

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Social Integration

• Ask social network followers to subscribe to email newsletter regularly
• Remind them you have an email newsletter
• Provide email newsletter opt in forms on social profile pages if possible
• Facebook will allow you to embed sign up forms (we can help you with this)
• Use your email newsletter list to share your social profiles

Use Social to Grow Newsletter List

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Examples

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Thank You.

Jason Koertge jason@cysy.com Twitter: @cybersytes Facebook.com/CYberSYtes Presentation online: www.cysy.com/email-marketing-presentation

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