Posts Tagged ‘email marketing’

Integrating Share-to-Social (S2S) into Emails

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
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Share-to-social (S2S) or Share With Your Network (SWYN) is the process of incorporating widgets into emails or other online content so that viewers can easily share the information with their social network friends and colleagues. According to a study conducted by Silverpop, email social sharing achieves click-through rates several times higher than forward-to-a-friend (which is typically under 0.1%) and adds an additional 1% to open rates. Most people on social networking sites have between 150 and 200 friends. Adding share-to-social widgets into your emails can increase average reach by 24%. Additional source: MarketingSherpa

So, how do you go about incorporating S2S in your email campaigns or newsletters? There are currently two options:
1) Check with your email service provider (ESP) if you use one. Silverpop, for instance, has developed a S2S tool which inserts links to Facebook and MySpace into HTML emails. I imagine more and more ESPs will make S2S a standard feature offering in the coming year.

2) Generate the code yourself. The blog site business.com has a post with code generators for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN and delicious. This code is then customized and pasted into the HTML email.

I tried this myself using the Facebook Share feature – located under the Facebook Advertising section.

Facebook Share Feature

I entered the URL for the December 2009 issue of our KickStart Accelerator newsletter and it generated the following code:

<a name=”fb_share” type=”icon_link” share_url=”http://www.kickstartall.com/documents/KSAdec2009.html” href=”http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php”>Share</a><script src=”http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/connect.php/js/FB.Share” type=”text/javascript”></script>

I pasted the code into Dreamweaver and viewed the result in a browser:
Facebook Share widget

Clicking on “Share” took me to the Facebook login page and after logging in, I saw the following “Post to Profile” screen.

Facebook KickStart Share Example

Just like “Follow us on Twitter” or “Become a Facebook Fan” is commonplace today, you’ll be seeing more Share-to-Social (S2S) in B2B emails in the coming year.

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Dos and Don’ts of Email Marketing

Saturday, October 17th, 2009
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It has been six years since Congress enacted legislation controlling the way businesses can use emails to send commercial messages. And yet, hardly a day goes by that I don’t receive unsolicited email with no Unsubscribe link, in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act. According to that legislation, senders of commercial messages via email must include the option to stop all commercial messages from you.

California’s SB186, enacted in 2003, goes further. It requires that recipients of email advertising must have opted-in, that is, explicitly chosen to receive it. Businesses must either obtain written permission from the recipient or there must be an existing business relationship between recipient and sender.

Maybe there are new marketers who have’t been taught the rules. Or maybe people ascribe to the “ask forgiveness later” rule. Whatever the cause, it simply doesn’t create good will with prospects to send them unwanted emails. When you rent email lists, you’re trusting that the list vendor is following both the letter and the spirit of the law. But even then, you’re probably sending to some people who simply are not interested in your communications.

A more effective way to use email for marketing is to grow your own list organically. Start with existing customers who have given you their email addresses. Then use interesting content and SEO (search engine optimization) to get people to your website, where they may fill out a form to receive something useful and worthwhile — a newsletter or White Paper, for example. Contributing their information on your site establishes them as having contacted you, so add them to your list. Yes, it’s a slower process, but the people you contact will not be irritated when you email them, and they probably have some interest in what you will say. Rather than a scatter-shot approach, use a targeted approach, and use your email marketing resources to reach the prospects that really matter.

And always include:

  • An unsubscribe or opt-out link
  • A physical postal address for your business.

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2009 Email Marketing Trends and Response Rates

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
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I recently attended a BMA breakfast meeting hosted by Laurie Beasley of Beasley Direct Marketing. Laurie shared key trends in email marketing and current response rates from sources such as MarketingSherpa, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and Caslon & Co. which I’ll recap for you.

According to MarketingSherpa’s “2009 Email Marketing Benchmark Guide“, which reported the results of a survey to over 1,700  marketers, marketing budgets are expected to be reduced by 20-25% this year.  Keep in mind that the study was conducted in August 2008 before the economic crisis really kicked in. Therefore, these numbers are likely very conservative. Here are some key findings:

  • Email reigns as the number 1 marketing tactic – due to its low cost and ability to be targeted to both prospects and customers. Email receives on average 16% of the online marketing budget in medium-sized companies and 27% in small companies.
  • The top techniques for gaining B2B opt-ins are eNewsletter subscriptions, sales alerts and opt-ins at trade shows. With trade show attendance down (for vendors and prospects),  29% of B2B marketers plan on increasing spend on rented (3rd-party) email lists for lead generation. In exchange for opting-in, subscribers want marketers to not share their email address and to receive special offers/pricing.
  • Challenges to successful B2B email programs include deliverability issues, competition at the inbox, and the ability of marketers to consistently provide relevant content. Email needs to be designed with the anticipation that many readers will view it with images off and only through their email client preview pane or PDA.
  • The two primary reasons why people unsubscribe are a lack of relevant content and receiving emails too often.
  • Opportunities exist for international email programs (on the radar for 33% of large companies) and for optimization of emails for mobile rendering (73% of marketers are not currently doing this).

Average Response Rates

  • Click-through rates (CTRs) for eNewsletters are staying high, with 26% of survey respondents reporting CTRs between 5.1%-10%; another 24% report CTRs between 2.1%-5%.
  • CTRs for sales-related email blasts are similar, with 26% of survey respondents reporting CTRs between 5.1%-10%; and 26% reporting CTRs between 2.1%-5%.
  • According to Caslon & Co., personalizing email and direct mail can improve response rates by 50-100%. The average response rate for lead generation campaigns is 3.2% according to the DMA. With personalization, Caslon reports a jump to 5%.
  • Caslon also reports that personalizing registration landing pages can improve response rates by 100%  to 130%.

For best success with your email marketing programs, focus on providing relevant, personalized content to your prospects and customers at a reasonable frequency.  Be sure to design the email for maximum deliverability so that content and offers are easily viewable in preview panes and on mobile devices. And as always, integrate your email programs with other marketing mix elements (web, videos, social media, blogs, sales development calls) to increase the chance that your message will be heard. Visit the marketing campaign development blog for tips on optimizing your marcom mix.

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