1. Brunch & Learn:
Mapping Out Your Email Calendar –
How to plan ahead so you can send the right
message at the right time for maximum results
January 29, 2014
A special thank you to:
Thank you for joining us – we will be starting at 12:30 PM ET/9:30 AM PT
If you are unable to hear music at this time, please make sure that your computer speakers are turned on and that
your system has not been muted.
#DMIQWebinar

2. Tips for Webinar Attendees
• Technical difficulties? Let us know by using the “Q and A” box, or
trouble-shoot by clicking the “Help” widget below
→ Quick tip: Common problems (like loss of sound and/or stall in the slides)
can often be fixed by a quick refresh of your browser.
• Have a question for today’s speaker? Submit via the “Q and A”
box
• Please disable pop-up blockers
• See what this console can do! Click on the “Tips for Attendees”
widget for the complete rundown.
Don’t forget to “share” this webinar!
#DMIQWebinar

3. Today’s Speaker
Reggie Brady
President
Reggie Brady Marketing Solutions
Moderator
Peggy Hatch
President/Publishing Director
Direct Marketing IQ
#DMIQWebinar

4. bit.ly/Email2014

7. Agenda
•
Why calendars are a valuable to increase relevance
•
Frequency –how many emails do I send?
•
Getting to relevance – beyond batch and blast
•
Subject lines and relevance

8. Why do I need a calendar?
•
A calendar is a vital planning tool
-
-
Helps you to organize the upcoming themes, products or categories
of products to be featured
Allows you to shape the flow of your email program
•
A calendar ensures your program has variety
•
A calendar allows you to plan for the introduction of new products
and services
•
And, a calendar makes sure you take advantage of seasonal
holidays
Image source:http://www.clarkisit.com/dates-remember-2014-holidays-events-

9. Calendars – holidays are important
Transaction rates on holidays vs. regular mailings
Experian – 2011 Digital Marketer Benchmark and Trend Report

10. Calendars as a planning tool
•
Map out at a high level your upcoming plan


Just bullet points
Include those elements that are important to you
-

•
Sales
New product launches
Direct mail/catalog drops
Seasonal merchandise to be promoted
Include any holidays or special events
Be clever

11. Take advantage of events
Superbowl tie-in
Subject line: Get Ready for the Big Game
with these Big Deals from HP

12. Take advantage of events
Inauguration tie-in
Subject line: Mrs. Obama and
Barneys LOVE...

13. Take advantage of events
Daylight savings tie-in
Subject line: Don't Be Late! Daylight
Savings up to 30%
DisneyShopping takes advantage of
their characters
Like the promo code DAYLIGHT

14. Take advantage
of events
Daylight savings tie-in from Brookstone
Subject line: Never worry about Daylight Savings
Time again!
Nice tip at bottom – a good example of value-added
content

15. Take advantage of events
Oscar tie-in
Vivre – an upscale fashion retailer featured
Oscar de la Renta items to past Oscar de la
Renta buyers – good segmentation!
Opens: 38.2%
Clicks: 15.9%
Conversions: 8.9%
MarketingSherpa 11/19/06

16. Take advantage of events
Geo-targeting to let subscribers know about
a heavy snowstorm expected
Subject line: Heavy snow is forecasted in
your area – be prepared

17. Take advantage of events
April Fool‟s Day tie-in
Subject line: Runner! New INVISIBLE
Running Shoes Are Outta Sight!

18. The Frequency Conundrum
There is no perfect answer

19. Frequency
how much is too much?
5 times a month
12 times a month

20. What’s the Potential Impact of
Over-Mailing?
The positives
Activity/Metric
5X
12X
500,000
500,000
Emails delivered per year
29,931,600
89,769,000
Email revenues
$ 6,584,952
$ 14,363,040
Revenue per email
$ 0.22
$ 0.16
Unique buyers
23,466
36,553
Subscribers at start of year
Arthur Middleton Hughes Internet Retailer – October 2008 – Finding the right email frequency for maximum profit

21. What’s the Potential Impact of
Over-Mailing?
The negatives
Activity/Metric
5X
12X
Monthly Unsubscribe Rate
0.74%
1.87%
Monthly Spam Complaint Rate
0.05%
0.64%
Monthly Bounces+Unsubs+Complaints
1.54%
3.44%
12 months List Churn
13.7%
46.2%
Lost subscribers
68,400
231,000
$957,600
$3,234,000
$1,257,000
375,000
19.1%
2.6%
Cost to replace lost subs @$14
Annual profits from email
Profit %
Arthur Middleton Hughes Internet Retailer – October 2008 – Finding the right email frequency for maximum profit

22. Frequency
is a reason for opt outs
Exact Target - 4-11

23. Unsubscribe Best Practices
Opt-down
This practice is used by
many email marketers
that mail more than
once a week.

24. Frequency
the flip side of the coin

25. Testing the impact of frequency on
engagement
A company that sent a monthly newsletter tested increasing
frequency in a 4-way test to equal groups
Newsletter
& resend
Twice monthly
& resend
A 3-month picture
Source: Dela Quist – Alchemy Wokrx 3-13

26. Testing the impact of frequency on
engagement
A look at percentages for opens and clicks
Based on percentage analysis the once a month strategy wins by a
large margin!
Source: Dela Quist – Alchemy Worx 3-13

27. Testing the impact of frequency on
engagement
And a look at the numbers
Group 4 (bi weekly + resends) had the lowest overall open rate … but
the highest total opens. Different people open at different times.
And Group 4 had the highest purchase rate
Source: Dela Quist – Alchemy Worx 3-13

28. One idea on frequency
•
•
Send more frequently to those who have opened and
clicked in past 90 days
Send once per week to those who are less active

29. Another idea on frequency
Subject line: Want
to receive fewer
emails?

30. Frequency is OK with relevance
injected

31. Relevance
Make each customer feel special
Image source - http://getittogethermedia.com/one2one.html

32. Relevance
Preferences and purchase history
Motorcycle Superstore
•
Segment on type of bike
•
•
interest
Purchase history
Click activity
Results
• Opens went from 18.5% to
38.6%
• CTR from 6.2% to 20.6%
MarketingSherpa 3/26/08

33. Relevance
Personalized content
Localized content – shows
closest locations based on
where the subscriber
opens the message
Movable Ink

34. Relevance
Geographic content
National Hockey league
•
•
•
800,000 fan database
Segment on zip & favorite team
60% of fans don‟t live in the city of their
favorite team
A Boston Bruins fan living in Boston receives
an email with Bruins imagery and the Bruins
first 7 home games
A Bruins fan living in Philadelphia receives
Bruins imagery, but the game schedule only
has info on games in which the Bruins were
playing the Philadelphia Flyers in
Philadelphia.
The NHL believes this system increased
single ticket game sales by 31%
eDialog 7-10

35. Relevance
Email behavior
American Meadows sends a weekly email.
Now they send an additional email 3 days after main email.


Those who click on a product receive an email with a call-toaction based on the product clicks
Those who did not click receive an email based on the most
popular product
Results:
•
Behavioral segmentation increased revenue by 14%
Bronto website

36. Subject lines

37. Stand out in the inbox overload
Image source: http://www.compliancesolution.com/ComplianceSolution/Web%20pages/Subpage%20Unsafe/Overloading.htm

38. Subject lines
Shorter may be better!
• As a general rule of thumb, 8 in 10 will read the subject
line and From line
• That means you have to spend time on your subject line
• Some copywriters believe you should spend ½ your time
on this
Epsilon – 1/09

39. Top 15 most used words
Source: Experian The 2010 Digital Marketer: Benchmark & Trend Report

40. Impact of words
Green means that
the word has a
positive impact on
results
Red means the
word has a
negative impact
on results
Source: 2013 Adestra Subject Line Report

41. Impact of words
Green means that
the word has a
positive impact on
results
Red means the
word has a
negative impact
on results
Source: 2013 Adestra Subject Line Report

42. Which test won?
Which subject line got better deliverability?
A. Free Guide – plus 3 mentions of the
word free in the email
B. SEO Guide – and no mention of the
word free in the email
MarketingProfs: Email – 10-24-12

43. Which test won?
Which subject line got better deliverability?
A. Free Guide – plus 3 mentions of the
word free in the email
Version A was delivered to 99.3% of
recipients
Version B was delivered to 99.2% of
recipients
However, Version B had a 17% higher CTR.
Free won‟t harm delivery rates … but make
sure it resonates with your audience.
MarketingProfs: Email – 10-24-12

44. Which test won?
Which subject line increased opens and engagement for B2B services
company?
A.
Live today: Next Generation Desktop
Summit
B.
Live tomorrow: Next Generation Desktop
Summit
Which Test Won – Email Testing Gold Award 2012

45. Which test won?
Which subject line increased opens and engagement for B2B services
company?
A.
Live today: Next Generation Desktop
Summit
Version B had more clickthroughs and
opens, but Version A had more
completed registrations.
This test was run on 2 different lists, a
home grown list, List 1, and an acquired
list, List 2. „Live Tomorrow:…‟ won in
opens and clickthrough for both List 1 &
List 2.
However, “Live Today:…” increased
registrations on List 1 by 232% and
increased registrations on list 2 by
121%.
Which Test Won – Email Testing Gold Award 2012

46. Which test won?
Which subject line increased opens for an email services company?
A.
Improve Deliverability in Two Simple Steps
B.
Amanda, Improve Deliverability in Two
Simple Steps
Which Test Won – Email Gold Award 2012

47. Which test won?
Which subject line increased opens for an email services company?
B.
Version B increased opens by 5.13% and
increased CTR by 17.36%.
Amanda, Improve Deliverability in Two
Simple Steps
In order to eliminate the chance that the
content reflected in the email affected
open rates, AWeber ran this test on 7
different blog emails. All emails used the
same email templates and directed users
to the new blog posts.
Which Test Won – Email Gold Award 2012

48. Subject line personalization
•
•
Expedia tested personalization in the
salutation and had the email come
from Cathy Cruiser
Results:



•
•
0.5% higher opens
23% higher clicks
Less likely to unsubscribe or report
as spam
Then they tested subject line
personalization - "Dave, Your 7 Day
Alaskan Cruise Awaits.“
Results:

10% increase in opens
Email Sherpa – 5/26/12

49. Take aways
•
Use a calendar
•
Frequency – monitor your metrics and look at both numbers and
percentages
•
Getting to relevance – go beyond batch and blast
•
Strategically use subject lines

50. Questions?
Reggie Brady
President
Reggie Brady Marketing Solutions
Reggie Brady
reggie@reggiebrady.com
(203) 838-8138

51. Question & Answer Session
If you haven‟t done so already,
please take this time to submit
questions to our speakers using
the “Q&A” box on your console.
Enjoying this webinar? There’s so much more where this came from!
Click the publication widget below to sign up for a FREE subscription to
Who’s Mailing What! Report.
#DMIQWebinar

52. Thank You
Thank you for taking the time to attend our Webinar today.
For additional information about our Webinar series,
check out the following Website:
www.directmarketingiq.com/webinar
Please take a moment to fill out our
feedback survey.
(It will open in a new browser window/tab momentarily!)
#DMIQWebinar