Don't Blast. Target.
Should email marketing be more mature by now? Some industry experts think so. But many marketers are still drawn to the ease of blasting to a broad audience, instead of targeting for maximum impact among those most likely to respond.
At a recent Responsys customer summit I had the opportunity to chat with several executives who are focused on the latter. Here's a bit of what they had to say:
How do you break through the clutter?
Rick Heffernan, Manager, Internet Sales Strategy, MetLife Auto & Home - The first impression you make with email is a welcome email or a first transactional email. It needs to answer the question, "What's in it for me?" In other words, what's the value for the recipient? If I can answer that, then that makes the case for the customer to open the next email. It also makes open rates exponentially higher.
David Wauters, Director of Marketing, Bare Necessities - The days of email blasts are gone. Emails need to be targeted. We use dynamic subject lines and custom content; every slot changes based on the customer segment, for example, luxury shoppers versus men's. Each will also see different navigation [to different parts of our site] in their email.
What approach are you taking to increase response rates?
Yehchun Lee, New Media Manager, Audience Development, Hanley Wood Business Media - We inserted a recommended house plant into what was a cookie-cutter email and saw a 16 percent increase in click-throughs. That gave us insight into the preferences of those customers. We also tracked customers' browser activity, and sent triggered offers based on that. This generated 25 percent click-through rates.
Scott Olrich, CMO, Responsys - There's a major shift in targeting because companies can learn by customers click-throughs and website use what they're in market to buy.
Are there still channel conflicts?
Heffernan - Customers will respond [via the channel] most convenient for them. Only the results can change the minds of direct marketers, who are worried about their own response rates. It's overall lift versus one channel taking response away from another channel. It's important to get the right reporting and the right people in the process early on.
Olrich - Attribution is a big deal. You need analytics to show the connection between channels. Multichannel today means linking touchpoints into a customer dialog, and then considering whether the whole program creates the desired action.
What's next?
Wauters - Get out there and test different types of campaigns and messaging. Good is good enough. Don't wait for perfection.
Olrich - Are marketers becoming obsolete? We need to keep changing and keep up with market changes. How do we create an experience unique to our company and articulate that through marketing? You have take risks as channel preferences and availability shift.
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