Naughty or Nice? 10 Keys to Holiday Email Marketing Success

Speakers and Agenda

• Stephen Guerra– Manager-Strategy

Consulting

– Silverpop

• Loren McDonald

– VP, Industry Relations

– Silverpop

• Checklist• Q & A• Wrap-Up and

Survey

Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance

Make informed frequency/cadence decisions

Make subscribing attractive and easy

Check and prepare customer data , integrations, list hygiene

Fine-tune your social-sharing initiatives

Create cart-abandonment and browse campaigns

Offer an unsubscribe preference center

Optimize transactional emails

Create a post-purchase email strategy

Manage expectations with a holiday-themed welcome program

Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and

appearance

• Crowded inbox = less tolerance for design challenges

• Design for recipient behavior path:Open, Scan, Engage, Convert

• Plan design tests now• Review design and functionality on

mobile, web, & desktop clients

What Have You Done?

• Start with last year’s results– What did you do and what worked?– What did others do that seemed to work

better?

• Evaluate offer, subject lines, calls to action

• A baseline for where to start this year's holiday email planning

Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance

Make informed frequency/cadence decisions

Increase in Frequency

• Silverpop found retailers studied sent 22% more emails during Cyber Week in 2009 than they did in 2008

• Record sends were posted during last year’s holiday season

Impact on Opens and Clicks

Opens:• 2008: 15%• 2009: 14%

Clicks:• 2008: 29%• 2009: 25%

Top two unsubscribe drivers: Lack of message relevancy and

high message frequency

- Forrester, The ROI Of Email Relevance, 2009

More Can Lead to Less

You Know You’ll Send More.Set the Stage Now.

• Deliverability relies on sender reputation – check it now

• Develop a frequency segmentation plan

• Monitor tolerance– Establish baselines

now– Determine

thresholds

Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance

Make informed frequency/cadence decisions

Make subscribing attractive and easy

Holiday Email List Considerations

@

Optimize for List Growth

• Value offer for opt-in

• Obtain address & permission immediately

• Review preference forms – test designs

• Include opt-in offer in messages

Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance

Make informed frequency/cadence decisions

Make subscribing attractive and easy

Check and prepare customer data , integrations, list hygiene

Email Infrastructure Check

• Dynamic content• Integrations

– Web analytics– Content

• List Hygiene– Bounces– Non-responders– Data quality

Save Time with Dynamic Content• Improves time efficiency for sending

over individual segment sends• Requires initial time investment• Prepare now

– Content– Template design– Business rules

Relevance through Behavioral Tracking

• 51% of surveyed US email marketers use email click-through behavioral segmentation

• 31% of consumers consider consumer reviews the most important part of site content

- Forrester, The ROI Of Email Relevance, 2009

Be Relevant. Segment.

• Holiday behavior shifts– Review past holiday

periods– Holiday shopper

segmentsEntertainer, Parent, Budgeted

• Simple segments– Open vs. Non-Open– New vs. Old Subscriber

• Segmentation tactic to highly target interest in holiday offers

• By offering option may limit potential audience

Create Special Holiday Lists?

Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance

Make informed frequency/cadence decisions

Make subscribing attractive and easy

Check and prepare customer data , integrations, list hygiene

Fine-tune your social-sharing initiatives

Reach Out Socially

• Fire up Your Social Networking Channels

• Take the time to do it right

Consumers Are In Control

Silverpop’s Social Sharing Study• Facebook dominates among social

networks• The life of a shared message is

about one week• Including sharing links isn’t

enough: 35% of messages generated no sharing

Why People Share• Contributing to the conversation• Self-Interest• Altruism• Validation• Affinity

Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance

Make informed frequency/cadence decisions

Make subscribing attractive and easy

Check and prepare customer data , integrations, list hygiene

Fine-tune your social-sharing initiatives

Create cart-abandonment and browse campaigns

Multiple Opportunities in the Funnel

Recommendations/Abandon Site Email

Early results:

• 40% open rate

• 57% click to purchase conversion

• Earns $2.18 per email deployed

• Earned $127.70 per email clicked

Average cart abandonment rate

71%

Source: SeeWhy

Following up with abandoners by email yields

25% or more conversion rates.

Did You Forget

Something?

A Special Offer To Return

To Tafford

2009 Abandoned Cart Indexed Results…

25% conversion on cart abandoners.

Cart program accounts for almost 1/3 of TOTAL yearly email sales

First and most effective in the series sent within hours after abandonment.

Abandon Cart Emails

Grad Images: Three stage campaign

Immediate

23 hrs after

120 hrs after

“Service” tone

An overt sales message may be counter productive. Service based communications work much better

+ Expectations+ A service email stating their

transaction did not complete+ Use your transaction

confirmation as a model

+ May not be ready to buy yet+ An overt sales message may be

counter-productive

Abandonment Email Takeaways

First email within a few hours

Multiple follow-ups

Start with service tone

Test timing and discounts Automate

Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance

Make informed frequency/cadence decisions

Make subscribing attractive and easy

Check and prepare customer data , integrations, list hygiene

Fine-tune your social-sharing initiatives

Create cart-abandonment and browse campaigns

Offer an unsubscribe preference center

Why Recipients Unsubscribe

• Too Frequent

• Irrelevant Content/Offers

• Also, lack of email address change functionality

Jupiter Research (now Forrester)

Administrative Footer - Obvious

Make sure links are not just

images

Link at Top of Email - Depends

- Use if high complaint rate

- Potentially only with specific ISPs

So What are the Alternatives?

Alternatives

Frequency

Format

ChangeEmail

Profile/Preferences

Channel

OtherEmails

Typical retention is 20-30%

Alternatives at Opt-out?

Silverpop Study of Internet Retailer 500 - 2009

Email Frequency

Change Email Address

Multiple Lists

Interest Preferences

Office Depot

Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance

Make informed frequency/cadence decisions

Make subscribing attractive and easy

Check and prepare customer data , integrations, list hygiene

Fine-tune your social-sharing initiatives

Create cart-abandonment and browse campaigns

Offer an unsubscribe preference center

Optimize transactional emails

Think beyond just this…

Marketing Content in Transactional Messages - Benefits

Decreased Burden on Support

Lower Call Center Volumes

Increased Customer Satisfaction

Increased Brand Recognition

Increased Revenue

0% 10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

% of email Marketers

Graph Source: Jupiter Research “The Transactional Messaging Imperative,” 2008n=200 email marketers, US

Demand from Order Confirmation Series emails grew 41.5% from 2008 to 2009.

Open rates range 45%-50%

Order Confirmation Series

Promotional Content Doesn’t Have to be Customized

Order details

Great HTML Layout

Same promotional content reiterated

Including photos = higher

avg click-

through rate

(7.1% vs 4.7%)

Silverpop’s 2006 study

“email creative that

works”

Main message clearly

communicated in subject line and top of message

Bad Ratio!Pressing Your Luck

LOTS of promotional

content

The majority of content in transactional messages should

be non-promotional

Cross Sell / Upsell

Best Practice:Recommend accessory itemsor complementary items for each product in cart

Recommendations

Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance

Make informed frequency/cadence decisions

Make subscribing attractive and easy

Check and prepare customer data , integrations, list hygiene

Fine-tune your social-sharing initiatives

Create cart-abandonment and browse campaigns

Offer an unsubscribe preference center

Optimize transactional emails

Create a post-purchase email strategy

Pre- to Post-Purchase EmailsPre-Transaction

• Browse abandonment

• Cart abandonment

Purchase Process

• Order Confirmation

• Order status• Shipping notice• Shipment confirmation

• Trip preparation

Post-Purchase

• Satisfaction Survey

• Review request• Review notification

• Recommendation

• Replenishment• Repurchase• Upgrades

Relationship

• Bounceback• Account reminder

• Loyalty programs

• Account status• Purchase anniversary

Right time, right message!

Client Trigger-Email Program

Low Volume, High ROI

59.8 %Batch Campaigns

40.2%TriggeredCampaigns

95.9 %Batch Campaigns

4.1%TriggeredCampaigns

Sales GeneratedVolume of Emails sent

Fred, A Special

Thank-You Offer From

Tafford

Tafford Customer Survey - Tell Us

What You Think

Fred, A Special

Thank You Offer from

Tafford

Fred, A Special

Thank-You Offer From

Tafford

Tafford Customer Survey - Tell Us

What You Think

Fred, A Special

Thank-You Offer From

Tafford

Tafford Customer Survey - Tell Us

What You Think

Fred, Rate the Tafford products

you purchased

Post Purchase Lifecycle Indexed Results

6X+

Better

Surv

ey

perfo

rms

over

20%

bette

r…

Post-Purchase Review

Product Review Email14% of those who click place another order

Second highest conversion rate next to Abandon Cart emails.

Products Review Notification

12% of those clicking on this email go directly to make another purchase.

Thanks!

• 60% Open Rate• Nearly 3X avg

• 18.5% CTR• 3X avg

• 7.5% higher AOV than overall average

• 60% higher conversion rate than overall average

Reminders…almost out of stock

Open, CT and Conversion Rates that are MORE THAN DOUBLE broadcast email rates

Average Order Value is 53% HIGHER

Purchase Anniversary

15% higher conversion rate than average from broadcast messages

Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance

Make informed frequency/cadence decisions

Make subscribing attractive and easy

Check and prepare customer data , integrations, list hygiene

Fine-tune your social-sharing initiatives

Create cart-abandonment and browse campaigns

Offer an unsubscribe preference center

Optimize transactional emails

Create a post-purchase email strategy

Manage expectations with a holiday-themed welcome program

Welcome emails may be the most

important email your company

sends.

Internet Retailer 500

22% send NOemails

Silverpop Study - 2009

Welcome Emails: Goals and Purpose

Goals• Speed up conversion • Minimize list churn• Strengthen brand

perception• Reduce inactivity

Purpose• Educate subscriber• Reward/Incent• Instill/reinforce trust• Enable immediate

“email experience”• Provide administrative

information/tools• Set expectations

Timing / Cadence• Immediate• Suppress regular emails• Transactional OK• Move to a series

Immediate

3-7 days

7-14 days

Immediate

Stand alone

Email # 1

Email # 2

Email # 3

3-part series

Welcome to the Tafford Community

Tafford #1

Three Reasons You Will Love Tafford + A Special

Offer

Tafford #2

Personalize Your Tafford Experience

Tafford #3

2009 Welcome Series Indexed Results…

Welcome #1 Performs 6X Better!

Lastminute.com

Holiday Welcome

• Increased frequency• Frequency options• Change preferences• Reassure simplicity of

holiday shopping experience

• Email-only specials• Information about:

– Shipping promotions and schedules

– How to return items– Gift-card promotions– Call-center hours

Holiday Email Checklist Optimize for best rendering, navigation and appearance

Make informed frequency/cadence decisions

Make subscribing attractive and easy

Check and prepare customer data , integrations, list hygiene

Fine-tune your social-sharing initiatives

Create cart-abandonment and browse campaigns

Offer an unsubscribe preference center

Optimize transactional emails

Create a post-purchase email strategy

Manage expectations with a holiday-themed welcome program

Resources / Q & A

About Silverpop

• A leading email marketing / marketing automation provider

• Email marketing

• Transactional email

• Share-to-social

• Send Time Optimization

• Landing pages

• Surveys

• SMS• API Integrations w/ Web

analytics, personalization, reviews, recommendation technologies

Resources

• Resource Center– White papers– Webinars– Blogs– Case studies– Newsletters– http://www.silverpop.com/marketing-resources/index.ht

ml

• Many presentations on SlideShare– www.slideshare.net/Silverpop

Q & A and Contact Information

• Stephen Guerra, Silverpop

– Manager-Strategy Consulting

– sguerra@silverpop.com

– Twitter:

• @stephenguerra

• Loren McDonald, Silverpop– VP, Industry Relations– lmcdonald@silverpop.com– Twitter:

• @LorenMcDonald

@Silverpopwww.silverpop.com

Thank you!

On Twitter: @Silverpopwww.slideshare.net/silverpop

www.silverpop.com