MARKETING4 STARTUPS

EMAILwith Susan Su

EMAIL Marketing + Startup Metrics

Acquisition

Activation

Retention

Revenue

Referral

EMAIL MARKETING 4 STARTUPS

email collector is (almost) the top of your funnel

lever to turn site/product signups -> active users

engage users to keep them coming back

the “hard sell”

tell ur friends!

Email

WHAT IS EMAIL MARKETING?

BLAST! Good email marketing:

● extends beyond any single standalone blast

● campaigns that show u know WHO ur subscribers really are, and WHERE they are in their user lifecycle

This email got a 60% open rate:

ANATOMY OF AN EMAIL

5 factors that influence open rates:

1. Subject line

2. Sender

3. List quality

4. Snippet Preview

5. Content

“2015 "Vegas, Baby!" 500 Founders' Weekend”

But Rome wasn’t built in a single email.

EMAIL CAMPAIGNS

Campaigns

Welcome Onboarding / Activation Engagement Reactivation

Transactional

So START NOW:

Welcome — Confirm signup, set the email expectationsOnboarding campaign — multi-installment series that gets subscribers to your activation

thresholdEngagement campaign — emails that get subs to your next activation threshold — from 1st

time to repeat usersReactivation — incentivized wake-up call for dormant usersRetention — event-based triggers aimed at retain users about to drop offConversion — “the hard sell”Referral — tell ur friends (goal: get friends’ email)

EMAIL CAMPAIGNS

EMAIL IS A FUNNEL. Very few people buy at the top of the funnel.

1. ABC: Always Be Collecting

● Persistent across ur site● Popups works● On EVERY staff’s profiles and signatures● Paid acquisition campaigns● Offline works too

GOLDEN RULESOF CONTENT MARKETING

2. Subject lines MATTER.

But they don’t just impact open rates.

They impact a subscriber’s perception of your ENTIRE email.

Subject line testing isn’t just about boosting open rates, but boosting total conversions.

First 10-15 characters MOST important: use action words.

GOLDEN RULESOF EMAIL MARKETING

2. Subject lines MATTER.

GOLDEN RULESOF EMAIL MARKETING

Snooze…!

3. Target and segment

Don’t be random. Some targeting you can do:

● demo● based on previous behavior (open, click, buy)● based on events outside of email (ie, use MixPanel)

GOLDEN RULESOF EMAIL MARKETING

4. Measure what matters

● OPENS. Standard open rate is below 30%.○ Email open behavior secret: every other.

● CLICKS.● CONVERSIONS.● SUBSCRIBES.● UNSUBSCRIBES.

GOLDEN RULESOF EMAIL MARKETING

5. MUST. TEST.

1. Subject line: copy, length, emotion2. CTA: language, size, color,

commitment level3. Content layout4. Content length5. Show prices vs. not6. Simple vs complex7. More vs fewer choices8. Send time / day 9. Personalization

10. “From” name

GOLDEN RULESOF CONTENT MARKETING

PS -- Intuition still matters.

6. The Content REALLY Matters

GOLDEN RULESOF CONTENT MARKETING

● subject line● preview text● IMAGES● body● always have a CTA● include link reminding people

who you are & what you do

7. Mobile First

Over 65% of email gets opened on mobile FIRST.

GOLDEN RULESOF CONTENT MARKETING

● Responsive layout● Content brevity (short paragraphs,

even if u have lots of them)● Subject and preview are mobile-

optimized ● ALWAYS TEST mobile● High open rate but low click rate…?

LOTS MORE!

From hacks to high level strategies

@susanfsu

susan@500.co

Or come to my office hours!