WRITING TIPS TO IMPROVE EMAIL RESPONSE RATES EmailMarke+ng - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

WRITING TIPS TO IMPROVE EMAIL RESPONSE RATES

Email
Marke+ng
 Wri+ng
Tips
to
Improve
Email
Results 
 Craig Stouffer Mark Feldman Pinpointe On-Demand NetProspex VP Marketing cstouffer@pinpointe.com mfeldman@NetProspex.com (408) 834-7577 (781) 290-5714 @pinpointe @markjfeldman blog.netprospex.com www.twitter.com/pinpointe www.pinpointe.com/blog Page 1

What
Affects
Email
Responses
?
  Sending
Reputa+on
(Email
Marke+ng
201):
 ◦ Proper
email
sever
configura2on
 ◦ Emails
Server
IP
address
reputa2on
 ◦ Complaints
against
your
domain,
IPs
 ◦ Bounces
(list
quality),
spamtrap
hits
 ◦ Correct
sender
header,
etc
  Readability:
Content
(Today’s
Webinar):
 ◦ Once
it’s
delivered
–
make
sure
it’s
read!
 ◦ Avoid
 “ Spam‐like ” 
content
 ◦ Effec2ve
image
use
 ◦ Effec2ve
wri2ng
style
and
content
structure
 Page 2

Email
Wri+ng
Tips
 Overview
  Focus
on
B2B.

Guidelines
also
apply
to
B2C
  Where
do
these
2ps
apply?
 ◦ Offer
(e.g.
download
whitepaper)
 ◦ Event
Invita2on
 ◦ ‘Stay
in
touch’
campaigns
 ◦ Business
update
‐
newslePer
 ◦ Everywhere!
 Sources:
Pinpointe
analysis
of
millions
of
emails
/
hundreds
of
 campaigns
 Page 3

Email
Wri+ng
Tips:
Break
it
Down
 Focus
on
each
part
of
the
email:
  Subject
+
From
  Saluta2on
  Introduc2on:
“Think
Above
the
Fold”
  Body
  Signature
  Links
–
Effec2ve
Use
 Page 4

Mobile
and
Email
 Takeaway:
Op+mize
for
Mobile
  Shorter
Content
  Call‐to‐Ac2on
earlier
 5 Page 5

The
Subject:
Importance
  “At
60
miles
an
hour,
the
only
thing
you
hear
in
the
new
 Rolls
Royce
is
the
?cking
of
the
dashboard
clock”

 
 …David
Ogilvy
re‐wrote
this
104
2mes!
  40%
of
reader’s
decision
to
open
is
based
 on
the
email
subject
+
‘send‐from’
  69%
of
recipients
decide
whether
to
report
 email
as
spam
based
on
the
subject
 (source:
ESPC)
 Page 6

Email
Subjects,
Con+nued
 A
Few
Guiding
Rules:
 The
50/50
Rule:

  Spend
50%
of
your
2me
on
the
subject
+
Intro
  50%
on
everything
else
(including
design)
 The
80/20
Rule
of
Email
Subjects
  8
of
10
people
will
skim
the
email
subject
line
  <
2
in
10
will
read
the
rest
/
take
ac2on
 Page 7

9
Best
Performing
Email
Subjects
 1. MyCompany Sales & Marketing Monthly Newsletter 2. MyCompany Newsletter – Jan 2010: Teaser Subject/Topic 3. [Webinar]: N Tips to Improve Email Responses 4. MyCompany Webinar: Case Studies - Join Us Feb 15 5. Webinar Topic - Webinar Slides Available 6. This Week’s Phone Call / Meeting (personalized from sales rep) 7. 8 Customer Service Tips that Work 8. Reminder: Storage Survey - Your Input 9. Invitation - Breakfast on Specific Topic * Source: Pinpointe analysis of several million customer emails Page 8

9
Worst
Performing
Email
Subjects
 1. Join
Us
for
a
FREE
Webinar
on
April
2
2011!
 2. Shop
Early
and
Save!
 3. Register
to
Win
Your
FREE
iPod!!
 4. Security
Spending
 5. Post‐Trade
Show
Webinar:
Expert
Insights
Into
the
Key
Trends
and 
Observa2ons
from
the
Trade
Show
Floor
Last
Week
 6. European
Lakefront
Elegance
 7. First‐name
‐
(Company)
Announces
Partnership
with
(Company2)
 8. Product
Launch:
New
“Widget”
Available

 9. Full
Press
Release
Title
[…
and
email
contains
only
the
press
release]
 Page 9

Subject
Line
Phrases
 Words
in
Top
Performing
Subject
Lines
(>5%
clicks)
 Survey,
weekly,
newslePer,
specific‐date,
issue,
  bulle2n,
edi2on,
2ps,
monthly,
join,
video,
headlines,
 latest,
updates
 Words
Most
Likely
to
be
Reported
as
Spam
 Confirm,
Raffle,
requested,
rewards,
10%,
coupon,
  discount,
savings,
offer

 Think:
“Rela+onship”
vs.
“Date”
 Ongoing
Communica+on
vs.
“1
+me
deal”
 Page 10

Subject
Lines
–
Take
Away
 GOOD
 Short,
concise,
specific,
relevant,
benefits
  Offer
value,
resources

  Non‐hyped
  Oren
indicates
date
or
sequence
  BAD
 1
Time
vs.
Sequen2al

  “Take
vs.
Give”
  Non‐descript
/
vague 
  Page 11

Tes+ng
Subject
Line
Length

 Objec+ve
  Does
subject
length
impact
response
rates?
 Email
Subject
Varia+ons
tested:
(Short,
Long) 
  Case
Studies
Webinar:
Using
Split
Tes2ng
to
 Improve
HTML
Email
Response
Rates
(Feb
4th)

  [Webinar]
Split
Test
Case
Studies
(Feb
4)

 Page 12

Subject
Length
vs.
Click
Rate
 Page 13

Subject
Length
Take
Away
 Short
outperformed
long
by
4x
 Ideal
subject
line
length
:
45
~
55
 Characters
*
 Stay
Relevant,
Specific
 *
Based
on
analysis
of
thousands
of
Pinpointe
customer
campaigns
 Page 14

The
Email
From
Field
  Send
from
someone
they
will
recognize
  Reinforce
“1
to
1
rela2onship”
  Legi2mate
/
valid
email
address
(!)
  Consider:
person
as
send‐from
+
company
in
subject
 GOOD:
  “Craig
Stouffer”
cstouffer@pinpointe.com
  “Steven
Smith,
Pinpointe”
ssmith@pinpointe.com
 Usually
BAD:
  “info@company.com”
<info@company.com>
  “Do
Not
Reply”
<Prospect_list@company.com>
 Page 15

Comparing
Impact
of
‘From
Field’
 Page 16

Email
From
Field
Take
Away
 Send
from
someone
they
will
recognize
 …
Or
someone
they
think
they
will
 know
(Common
name)
 Page 17

The
Opening:
“Above
the
Fold”
 “ FOLD or JUMP” : Subject + First 2 ~ 3 lines  You have email subject + 3 lines to get attention…  … Use it wisely! Consider:  Can your opening sentence stand on its own?  Think: “The 3 + 30 approach:”  Tell the 3 second version of your story first  … Then tell the 30 second version Page 18

Above
the
Fold
‐
Examples
 WORKS : DOESN’T WORK: Company Page 19

The
Body
‐
Structure
 WHAT:
(In
this
order)
  The
offer
(or
the
main
point
/
objec2ve)
  Main
benefit
  Response
instruc2ons
 HOW:
  Divide
key
message
into
sec2ons
  Short
and
concise
  Links
to
landing
pages
with
suppor2ng
details
 Page 20

Using
Links
Effec+vely
in
Email
 Do
mul+ple
links
improve
results?
  Compared
20
newslePer
campaigns

 (*
Mark
Brownlow)
  Analyzed
‘teaser’
/
intro
text
with
1,
2
links

  2
Example
newslePer
intro
paragraphs:
 Results (Average across 20 campaigns):  Average CTR for campaigns with 1 link: 6.8%  Average CTR for campaigns with 2 links: 8.57%  Improvement: Extra link = +25% * Source: Mark Brownlow www.email-marketing-reports.com Page 21

Click
Rate
vs.
#
Links
 Take
Away:
Use
More
Links!
 Page 22

The
Signature
 Stay
CAN‐SPAM
compliant‐
  Always 
include
a
signature
  Don’t
forget
physical
address
  Unsubscribe
link
  Contact
email
address
 TIP :
 OK 
to
‘adver2ze’
below
signature:
  Links
in
footer
–
2nd
highest
click
rate
overall
  Social
links
(e.g.:
TwiPer,
Facebook,
Blog)
  Text
+
link
to
special
offer
  Offer
for
free
demo
/
trial
/
etc
 Page 23

For
Today’s
Amendees
  Pinpointe :
 ◦ Free
‐
1
month
Pinpointe
Subscrip2on
Service
 ◦ $49
‐
$550
value
 ◦ www.pinpointe.com/get‐started
 ◦ Coupon
code:
 PPTNPW100 
  Netprospex :
 ◦ Free
NetProspex
trial
account
with
100
contacts
 ◦ Access
to
19
million
business
contacts
 ◦ Verified
email
/
phone
 ◦ Email
hello@netprospex.com
to
get
started
 Page 24

Other
/
Upcoming
Webinars
  Email
Wri+ng
Tips
(This
one) 
  Case
Studies:
Split
Tes+ng
to
Improve
Results
  Email
Marke+ng
201:
How
a
SPAM
Filter
Works
  Geong
Social
with
Email
 Page 25

About
Us.
 Page 26

What
Sets
NetProspex
Apart?
  19
million
decision
makers
  User‐generated
contacts

  Verified
+
guaranteed
  Hard‐bounce
replacement
  All
job
2tles
&
industries
  Thousands
of
new
contacts
 
per
month
  Title,
email
address,
 direct
dial,

social
media,
URL
 www.NetProspex.com  Buy
or
trade
 hello@netprospex.com 888-826-4877 Page 27

Recycling:
Fast,
Easy,
Free!
 Page 28