Digital Marketing Analytics: Driving Hotel Success (2016 May report)
How mass emails work or rather How mass emails could, should, or are supposed to work
1. How mass emails work
or rather
How mass emails could,
should, or are supposed
to work
2. Who am I?
Jim Freer
Non-Profit Systems Consultant | Method Works
Consulting
P: 250-508-0619
E: jimf@methodworksconsulting.com
methodworksconsulting.com
Co-presented with Maanit Zemel, Miller Thompson LLP
3. New CASL in a nutshell.
(for emailers)
A Couple of Considerations
Send clear emails…
o Clearly identify yourself and your
organization
o Make sure you include an opt-
out, so people can unsubscribe
instantly and easily
Send with consent…
o Only send messages to people
who have requested them (i.e.,
opted in or otherwise consented)
o Or when the email contains
specific allowed messages
4. What are the expectations?
1
You must be able to prove that the recipient of an email has
either explicitly consented to receive it (i.e., opt-in) or has
an implied relationship with your organization
2
You have made it easy and obvious for message
recipients to opt out (or withdraw their consent).
6. Opt-ins must be provable
This means
• No „drive-by‟ or ad-hoc email list additions
• You can‟t assume people have opted in
• Each email recipient needs a consent „paper-trail‟ (a
record of who consents to what, how, and when)
7. Emails have to pass inspection
This means
• Someone at your organization needs to be responsible
for managing outgoing mass emails (or CEMs)
• You have a consistent tool that you use to send mass
emails; No messages to BCC‟d lists from Outlook!
• Every email template you use has been checked for
compliance with CASL regulations
8. Opting out has to work
This means
• When someone unsubscribes from all emails, you will
not send them more emails until they change their
consent
• Your process for list building does not override their
consent
• You accommodate phone/mail/and in-person opt-outs
(within 10 days)
• If you offer unsubscribe options (i.e., e-newsletters,
event invitations etc.) make sure you stick to your
categories
10. Two main parts
Database
(CRM)
Email System
The Email System
• Sends emails
• Logs unsubscribe requests
• Often adds new subscribers
to the list
The Database
(CRM)
• Stores online and
offline constituents
• Stores donor,
member, and
volunteer records
• Helps you manage
your constituent
relationships
11. The gaps
Database
(CRM)
Email SystemHow can we
identify implied
relationships?
How do we
store constituent
consent?
What do we do
with the post-
campaign data?
How do we
get consent?
What happens
when someone
phones in an
unsubscribe?
What do we do
when the email
records differ
from the CRM?
12. Address the gaps with
process
or
Building a better email
workflow
13. The basic flow
Plan deployment
Create email list
Filter list
Send email
Process
opt-outs
Report on
success
15. Plan your deployments
Plan deployment
Create email list
Filter list
Send email
Process
Opt-Outs
Report on
Success
Planning out your emails is the first step in sending compliant
and effective messages:
• Identify a clear goal for the message – are you trying to acquire
new donors, engage current constituents, inform them about
your organizations activities? This is normally the “Primary
Purpose”.
• Based on your goals who should receive your message?
• When is the message being sent, are there critical groups that
you need to establish consent for and do you have time to do
that before you send?
• Can you take what you‟ve learned from previous messages and
improve this message?
16. Building your lists
Plan deployment
Create email list
Filter list
Send email
Process
Opt-Outs
Report on
Success
Build your email list through your database
(CRM) based on groups of constituents that
are meaningful to your organization, but
ensure:
• You track, on each constituent or
individual person, what they have
opted in to and when
• You develop a standard set of queries
or criteria that comply with CASL‟s
implied consent criteria
17. Filtering your list
Plan deployment
Create email list
Filter list
Send email
Process
Opt-Outs
Report on
Success
Building your email list creates a baseline of
people who have opted in, and by extension
filter most of the people who have opted out.
Now just before sending we filter again,
directly within the email system, to ensure
self-service opt-outs are captured.
• To be effective the master opt-out list
should be maintained in the system
that sends the emails
• All electronic unsubscribes should be
added to this list
18. Send your message
Plan deployment
Create email list
Filter list
Send email
Process
Opt-Outs
Report on
Success
All of your planning is done, now write the email message and send it.
Ensure that you have all the crucial information:
• You‟ve identified your organization and whom the message is
sent on behalf of
• Current mailing address
• Phone, email address, or web address (that‟s valid for at least
60 days after sending)
• An unsubscribe mechanism
19. Process your opt-outs
Plan deployment
Create email list
Filter list
Send email
Process
Opt-Outs
Report on
Success
After the message is sent you can generally
expect to see a few unsubscribes, remember
that they must be processed within 10 days
of sending. Generally we suggest
• Updating your opt-out information on
the email system first
• Make sure you are flagging peoples
accounts that they have opted out, do
not delete them! This is an important
record
20. Synchronize your data
Plan deployment
Create email list
Filter list
Send email
Process
Opt-Outs
Report on
Success
Your plan identified some goals, it‟s important
to review them as well as the general
performance of your message. As well this is
a good opportunity to update your
constituents in your CRM
• Build an import/synchronization
schedule for regular updates
• Track usable metrics in your
database, and evaluate your message
and identify any lessons learned for
future deployments
• Use your opt out list to update your
CRM
• Note, the opt-out data in the CRM
should be used for analysis and
review, not for filtering your lists as it
will always be slightly out-of-date.
21. Putting the parts together.
Database
(CRM)
Email System
The Email System
• Filters unsubscribers from
mail deployments
• Sends emails
• Processes unsubscribes
• Entry point for web signups
The Database
(CRM)
• Stores constituents
• Records opt-in
information
• Used to establish
• Used to build
deployment lists
Synchronization
• Moves opt-out information from the email
to the CRM records
• Leads (online signups) submitted to CRM
• Unfiltered email deployments moved to
email system
22. Avoid complacency
• Anti-spam regulations in general and CASL in particular
will be a feature of the landscape for the foreseeable
future
• Failure to comply with regulations will expose your
organization to risk
• By implementing a solid process you not only mitigate
much of your risk, but your organization will benefit from
consistent data entry and decision-making
People who have said yes. Opted in or have a pre-existing relationshipMake sure that there is a quick easy way to unsubscribe, Using email replies and links to a page.Must identify sender and the organization.
CRM needs to contain records that prove relationship and opt in’s and outs. Web opt in/out pages Email addresses.
We are talking a lot about using Business Process to mitigate exposure, and create habits that better target and message the correct people that want to receive your messages.
You know, when your ED or director of development has a couple of names to add to the list?Collecting business cards, or random contacts won’t workYou should be able to pinpoint when and how each member of your list consented to receive messages and what kind of messages, or you need to be able to verify that you have an implied relationship (i.e., membership records, donor gift records, volunteer time-sheets)
Someone needs to own the process, there are a lot of moving parts so it’s critical that someone be the final word on CEM complianceCASL compliance requires clear processes, some members of the organization may find it onerous or hard, but ultimately any time you allow exceptions to the process you’re opening the organization to risk.Build a compliance checklist or have your templates redesigned so that compliance is part of your brand: address, contact, opt-out, clear title/message Needs to be part of design and proofing process.
Unsubscribing from electronic communications may be reachable through other channels. A change of consent may be an implied relationship i.e., someone unsubscribes but then donates (you need a business rule for that)? Unless you’re using one tool to track online and offline constituent relationship and send emails then you need to clearly understand the dataflow and make sure that older data isn’t overriding newer. In addition to the required unsubscribe linkIf you remove a category of unsubscribe you need to look at how it touches all of your current opt outs/ins on constituent records.
Your email programYour constituent database
We fill the gaps with good business process and data flow.
Processes for CRM in GreenEmail System in Blue
The more vague your email the less effective it becomes, and the more likely you are to blur the email ‘type’ (like “Enewsletter”). Clear messaging is part of CASL compliance, and leads to higher conversion rates. Sending messages to disinterested individuals is a sure-fire way of getting unsubscribes. Don’t try to be sneaky, people don’t like being fooled and in the face of complaints the CRTC is unlikely to be swayed by ‘clever.’Tailoring your audience to your message or vice versa also leads to more effective messages, in web design we call this user-centric messaging, in fundraising it’s donor-centric messaging. Also by knowing your audience at the outset you can determine if you have the appropriate consent from that group to send your messages.What were the take-aways from your last message with similar goals? Can you better focus messaging, the segmentation? What did you learn that will enable better achievement of your goals
Many systems allow you to flag whether or not someone has unsubscribed, or requested no contact. This is a useful part of tracking consent but is normally insufficient for the sort of tracking that CASL requires.Depending on the system there are a number of different ways to flag individuals as having expressly consented, or of building database queries that match donors with last donation datesConsistency is key to making this work, develop business rules around how you track consent and stick to it, you may run into situations that seem complicated or make you unsure of whether someone has consented or not. To avoid risk exposure we recommend a blanket “if you’re not sure or can’t prove it, then the person hasn’t consented” rule.
The master opt-out list (sometimes called the kill list) is the last compliance tool – it includes people who have explicitly opted out of the message you are about to send.Some organizations have multiple opt-out lists that consist of people who have explicitly opted out of everything as well as people who have opted out of specific messages. For example an Enewsletter Opt Out List might include:People who have opted out of everythingPeople who have opted out of enewsletters, andPeople that the director of development is contacting directly
The unsubscribe mechanism must be in the same format as the message (e.g., you can’t force people to phone to unsubscribe when you’ve sent an email). For emails it means your ‘reply to’ address should be valid and monitored for unsubscribe requests, and ideally that you include a link to your website that allows people to automatically unsubscribe themselves.Are you planning a change to your website? Do you have any email links that are out there on CEMs that need to stay active past the changes?
By maintaining opt-out information on the email system it lets you control the synchronization without risking unauthorized messages going out. Integrated systems will synchronize automatically, but commercial systems (such as Mailchimp or Constant Contact for example) track by email address and so do not require a constituent record in your database
Integrated systems do this automatically, however often disparate systems will require a manual import process. This can be challenging, so we recommend doing this on a regular basis (or on a contingent schedule – such as download records immediately before building the new list).By clearly distinguishing the two systems you will have a solid process without any gaps. People will not be emailed in a uncompliant fashion.