Brand Interactivism

Best Time to Send Email

I love seeing studies like this one from MarketingSherpa which gives quantifiable and significant evidence that the best time to send an email blast is right around 9am.

"An eretailer wondered how much of a difference they could make by testing the time of day to send their blasts. Turns out a lot -- clickthroughs increased 15.63% and revenue jumped, too."

According to the study, clickthrough rates for emails sent at 9am performed more than 15% better than those sent at 4pm. Of course you need to also consider the timezones of the people in your list, but it's still interesting to note the habits of people at work and when they are most receptive to receiving emails.

Marketing Opportunity in the Bacn?

There's a new name circulating for the email you get that isn't quite spam, but isn't from somebody you personally know. Bacn is email you get confirming the transfer you just made from savings to checking, or the e-ticket for your trip to Naples, Italy.

A report from the email marketing company Silverpop states that people really like getting bacn - even to the point where they don't mind marketing messages that are contained inside.

Amidst the noise, sophisticated email marketers have discovered that transactional messages—those that confirm a purchase, notify customers of shipping dates, deliver warranty information, account status messages, etc.--are the kind most eagerly anticipated by recipients. In fact, eMarketer has reported that six out of 10 consumers say they don’t even mind if a sender tucks in a marketing message alongside their transactional information in an email.

According to Silverpop, JupiterResearch is estimating that by including promotional elements within bacn, companies can add as much as $500,000 in annual revenue. Such a precise number seems silly to me, but needless to say that the concept makes sense.

It's important to think about every communication you have with your customers - even things like newsletter signup confirmations, "forgot my password" emails, etc. Every single touchpoint is an opportunity to promote yourself or communicate the value of your brand.

Guess What? Email Marketing Works

The American Association of Advertising Agencies commissioned a survey that showed that nearly 60% of Internet users have responded to a promo or coupon they received through an email. My own experience with many of our clients has shown how effective email marketing can be. That said, there is a fine line between an effective email campaign and spam, and it is important to walk that line intelligently. Companies spend huge sums building and protecting their brands. Email marketing can be a great boon, but done poorly, can hurt consumer trust in a brand.

How the Internet Fundamentally Changes Communications

Many traditional marketing and advertising agencies (even ones that claim to be "online experts") treat the Internet as just another medium to broadcast a marketing message (the way the SuperBowl was handled certainly proves that!) These agencies see email blasts as a cheaper form of direct mail or banner ads as a somewhat more efficient type of television advertising. And while others recognize that the Internet can help support sophisticated one-to-one relationships with customers through online CRM programs, such efforts are only a good first step. While such programs can certainly be of benefit, the best opportunities on the Internet are fundamentally different from those in traditional media. The traditional worldview limits the possibilities of what can be accomplished.

By its very nature, the Internet is a highly complex system. Extremely small actions can have major consequences online. A single comment on somebody’s blog can spread via syndication technologies like RSS to millions of people within seconds of being posted. This dynamic has helped to make marketers feel unsure in this brave new world. How does a company market itself in a medium where the customers are in control -- where they can easily exchange information about pricing, customer service, or product quality? And where a single negative comment is archived forever to be found by the masses on Google?

Issues like these don’t just apply to corporations. For example, how important is it for a politician to make sure that empowered constituents stay “on message”? How can a not-for-profit organization leverage the Internet in ways to give it influence, visibility and a reach that would have been impossible just a few short years ago?

Emergent online communities form and grow every day, and it is in helping to nurture and empower these communities where opportunities lie for marketers.

An important question for any online marketer is, who controls your message? Success online is rooted in relinquishing control of your message to those you are trying to reach – your customers. Allowing them to speak, rather than speaking down to them, is the first step. Marketers must remember that the Internet is made up of empowered individuals who do not want to be treated as a mass consumer or a demographic. The ease and immediacy of communications from anyone to anyone is what makes the Internet so different from traditional media. Broadcast and narrowcast marketing each implies that the source of the message is in control, but this is not how the Internet works. The organic power of online entities like message boards, chat rooms, blogs, podcasts, RSS, grassroots communities, expert opinion sites, mobile smart mobs, and viral emails change the equation dramatically.

While marketers cannot hope to control the Internet, successful companies work to empower their natural communities to sit up, interact, get involved, take action and tell others.

Individuals respond well to organizations that are perceived as being encouraging and supportive of their communities, and brand loyalty is what results. The desired effect is the exponential power of positive word-of-mouth.

How Do You Communicate With Your Customers?

Your company has fans. Some of them are BIG fans.

They are the people who buy your product or service, again and again.

They are the people who tell their friends about you. They are your best sales people, really. Are you taking care of your fans? With all of the choices in the world today, they won’t stick around forever if you’re not.

Are you aware that they talk to each other? In fact, the Internet is making it easier than ever for them to communicate. Are you participating in these conversations? Are you inspiring them? What do they want to talk about? What are they saying about you? What are they saying TO you? Do you listen? You can be sure that other people are listening.

 And when you speak to them, do you mindlessly spew the standard corporate-speak? Or do your communications have a true, personal point-of-view? Do you provide your fans with what they ask for? Does your organization empower real people to speak their minds? They’re going to anyway.

Does what you are saying have emotive power? Can you inspire passion? Get people to sit up, interact, get involved and take action?

Do you help your fans forge relationships with other fans? Are you aware of how powerful that is?

Ultimately, the goal of any marketing strategy is to help facilitate profitable relationships. Abstract Edge brings a unique point of view to online marketing campaigns. We feel that the best kind of outreach occurs when your customers are the ones promoting your brand. There has never been a better medium for empowering customer brand evangelists than the Internet. It is the ultimate grassroots marketing channel, and a huge competitive advantage for organizations that take advantage of its full potential.

10 Email Best Practices

Our friends at EmailLabs has published a list of 10 best practices for email marketing. Among the highlights:

• Segmentation: Don't send the same email to every individual. People have different needs/wants/desires. Segment your database in intelligent ways to provide compelling offers.
• Redesign for the current inbox: Many email clients block images.
• Focus on the right metrics: Don't worry so much about clickthrough rates. Who cares if people click on an offer if they don't do anything past there. Focus on what REALLY matters - did people sign up for the promotion or take some other action you desired?
• Integrate email efforts with search
• Test and improve: A successful campaign MUST include testing and incremental improvements. Otherwise you're shooting in the dark.

Google Fundamentally Changing Email Content

Google, with their GMail service, is in effect adding content to emails. This has a pretty big impact on the ability of companies to control the information in their email communications. Once again, the Internet is acting to make it impossible to ever control information.

Steve Rubel points to an example where Apple sent him an email promotion for the new Intel-based iMacs. GMail puts "related pages" links to the right of the email itself. In this case, the related pages included consumer-generated and mainstream media news stories that Apple is discounting the older iMacs by $200. Apple might not have wanted that informattion right there in the fact of the potential customer of the newer product line. Apple didn't approve of that information being, in essence, part of the email itself.

I'm guessing that some big companies are going to have a big fight with Google over this sometime in 2006.

eCards Are Back

Apparently, eCards are gaining in popularity again, due in part to higher quality. Really good eCards can be extremely viral.

Good Tips on Writing Email Subject Lines

Karen Gedney at ClickZ presents a primer on writing good email messages. As she puts it:

"E-mail advertising is a relatively recent phenomenon. As a result, many very experienced copywriters are inexperienced in crafting e-mail messages."

AOL's New Method for Email Certification

If you send a lot of email to AOL members, you might want to consider getting certified with Goodmail, an email certification service. AOL just cut a deal with Goodmail that will make Goodmail the de facto gatekeeper for AOL certified email. Being certified on AOL means that images and links in your email will be automatically live. Without such certification, images and links are blocked from users.

What's Coming in 2006?

ClickZ has brought together a number of luminaries from different parts of the interactive spectrum to weigh in on what 2006 will bring. Predictions are written about:

• Creative
• RSS (syndication)
• Video
• Search
• Abuse
• E-mail
• Mobile

While there is certainly some hype and buzzwordiness here, it's worth a read.

You Say Po-tay-to, I Say Po-tah-to

Are you a spammer? No? Are you sure?

Send Email on Friday

A couple of interesting trends. Email open rates dropped in the 4th quarter, and Friday is the best day to do an email campaign.