The Email Wars

I wrote this article for iMediaConnection the other week. Thought you might like it.

Article Overview:

National Geographic asks for your preferences, your profile, your desire for each email type, and, most importantly, your permission
Timberland’s emails stand out due to brand consistency, large calls-to-action, clarity of messaging, and easy-to-measure creative tests
Banana Republic has stepped into its own in testing, experimenting, and being different
Rethinking “best practices”

What is “right”? Is there a correct way? Do best practices always work?
The answer to these and almost every other question in email marketing is, “It depends.” I know it’s a cop-out of an answer, but in all honesty, there is no right answer. There’s no global best practice that makes your campaign stats jump, no design layout that wins every time. It takes constant trying, tweaking, analyzing, and risk-taking. Calculated and meticulous risk-taking, I might add. And yes, in the end there is no “right,” only good job, mission accomplished, and what’s next?
Yet over the years of not just observing thousands of email campaigns but also creating them, I have weeded through the good and the bad to find those brands that are marketing in ways that move audiences and drive results. This isn’t about presenting you with empirical campaign data. This is about what works for me, and why.

Here are seven brands that are doing it right.
Read the full article

What Lohan got arrested? Hilton in another bikini? Bret Micheals hospitalized? All this and more is content that many need faster than they can get it. And that is where clients of ours like OK! Magazine comes into to make sure that content is in your inbox to keep you in the know.

We have had the pleasure of working with OK! Magazine  and a host of other magazine publishers and I wanted to share with you how some of them our email marketing automation engines to gather content, produce a newsletter and get it out to their subscriber bases in record time.

Knowing from years of writing, producing and executing on email marketing newsletters and campaigns, we developed a platform extension a few years back that helped us to focus on the content production. After all the creation of the content is often the thing that holds back a newsletter or campaign from getting out the door on time. When you can place your energy on your job in publishing of updating the content so that you are the first to publish and not worry about the curation of the content in order to produce the email you can have more time to do your job.

We went to the drawing board a few years back with first RSS and then a Wordpress plugin that allowed content producers and publishers to continue to spend their time writing and curating on their sites, blogs and web properties while our engines grabbed the content, arranged it, moved it into custom email layouts and distributed it automatically to their subscriber lists. Sounds easy right and a no brainer. But it took a little work to get it right.

Content always has formatting issues and images sometimes blow up in emails, so taking the time to make sure that these engines could grab and format HTML and text versions (and now even mobile versions) took a little testing and fine tuning. We put all the work on our shoulders so that clients that work with us need not to worry about it. These two engines can effortlessly grab content from custom feeds, regular RSS feeds, or even from posts and assets tagged in the Wordpress engine to build beautiful and timely communications.

We have our team working on some new engines that you might see in the coming months that will add even more integration with other platforms, CRM systems, social media platforms, ecommerce engines and more. So keep your eyes out if you are looking out for ways to make your job easier and the email you send out work for you and your subscribers instead of you or your team working to produce them.

I am sharing this story as a way to encourage all of you to step back and find new approaches to common challenges; to go after success by breaking down conventional barriers. This particular story centers around the very common RFP process, and how we here at eROI took a nonconventional approach to a response. Now this could be for any type of RFP as the overall process is something that has simply been used over and over again and it is time for a change. Change is not going to come from companies (except in this case) but it is going to be driven by you.

How many times have you either submitted a RFP or received a RFP to answer? We all know the drill right?

Client Side:

Gather the troops, accumulate the collective needs, frame the problem, identify the questions you need answered in order to make an informed decision, narrow the list, begin the courting process.

Agency Side:

Receive the RFP (if it was sent to you somehow these people feel you are qualified either from work, past relationships, or the word of others), review it, decide if your company is suited to respond, spend 40-100 hours answering questions, prepare work samples, foolishly create new work or ideas to give away, pray you make it to the selection round, cry when you do not make the cut OR begin the courtship ritual.

These are such antiquated rules, and both sides complain equally about the process, so why have we all continued to be bound by it? Simply because it’s mandated by prior experience or by archaic corporate guidelines? Are those really good enough reasons to keep this painful process in place? In my option, absolutely not. It’s time for a change; time to take this process in a new direction.

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So I wanted to “share” with all of you a new study we just released covering some clients we work with and how we went through the process of creating mobile versions of their website as opposed to building an app (for that). We love apps but sometimes they do not fit the need NOR does everyone need an app. See how we approached it and delivered an experience via a mobile version of the website content that was important.

I would also cite this article as reasons for our approach to this change in content consumption from Read Write Web.

eROI Whitepaper: Leveraging the Mobile Web

Are you ready to build a mobile web presence?

Get a look inside the mobile website projects of 3 unique brands, and see how digital strategy and technology come together to achieve results.

Wacom Technology Corp. uses their mobile website as a key part of an integrated marketing campaign for Bamboo Touch.

Banfield Pet Hospital has a mobile version of their main corporate site, complete with mobile-specific content.

Moonit.com uses the mobile web as the most cost-effective way to make their compatibility tool available on the go.

See how they did it!

Funny but I think a nice honest call out is in line with those of you that might not know that you can stay in the loop in real time with this blog via Twitter. It has been like this for a long time as we just celebrated 2 years on Twitter last October 26 (2007)(and will celebrate our first celebratory Tweet February 5th, 2008. With the constant stream of information coming at your it is nice to have some interaction in a few places. By following eROI on Twitter you will get not a Trifecta – but a heaven sent – nougharty awesome flavored olestra free experience. What does that mean? Well you will see our 5 blogs from the different parts of the eROI team, news we stumble across that is relevant, event news, and access to more of our studies and guides.

Now how can you resist? Join us. We swear it won’t hurt… too much.

If you want to follow the writer of this blog, aka me @dtboyd, (on Twitter since July 26, 2007) you can do that do, yet it will not be all email marketing related. That account is more  personal and digital marketing related – and private. But please request some friendship as I rarely say know, just  like to know who is following (I know my 3rd grade teacher Mrs Plath is out there still looking for retribution.) It is more like gravy, unicorns and smurf trivia actually – so if you like that (and who doesn’t) jump on in.

All the best and hope we can connect in ways that are relevant while providing you with meaningful insights – and humor.

Moving into my 14th year in interactive marketing I took some time to look back at some things I have learned. January is always a time of reflection, planning and charting new directions – as well as learning from past lessons/wins/mistakes – and I wanted to share some of these with you.

1. Patience: Nothing that gets rushed works out well. Having the time to plan, create and fine tune always works better.

2. Failure is imminent – Learn from it. Nothing works 100% of the time perfectly. That is one of the beauties of the internet and digital marketing. As soon as something goes live we can learn from it, study it and change it. Learning from mistakes or ideas are the key way to grow and do better.

3. Who is Invested? Not everyone on a project, even a client is 100% invested or committed. It is a hard lesson to learn but even “we” can be our own worst “client” at times. People have so many distractions, commitments and other balls in the air that often it takes someone steering the ship. Heck it can even be an intern to keep the ball in play. Learn to be flexible and understand the commitments everyone involved in a project might have outside of the project. Once you can see all the other factors at play you will have a clearer understanding and be able to do your best job.

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Sitting on a fresh start for 2010 we have been looking hard at our own email marketing efforts to see what we can do ourselves to step it up a notch. We spent a lot of 2009 fine tuning our campaigns, welcome streams, and newsletters to focus on performance and cross platform/device rendering. We found out a lot of new things that we were able to try from as simple as mobile versions, pre headers, and subtle changes to button colors/placements that made some impact. Everything we tested gave us lots of ammo for 2010. So what are we going to do with it?

We took it upon ourselves to remap our own communication plan around email and leveraging our systems to hopefully make a larger impact on open/reads as well as clicks and conversions. It has been a large undertaking that took some time due to the fact that as a marketing and software organization we have a lot of systems and tools we use… just like many of you and the clients we work with. So as we move into this year look for a host of new things to be entering your inbox in a new manner.

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Funny that here we are 365 days later thinking about the whirlwind of a year we had and looking forward to so many good things on the horizon for 2010. I wanted to sum up a little about the year, reflect back on all the wonderful things we have been fortunate to be apart of, and give a shout out to all those who were involved.

For all the events we attended, spoke at, and participated in this year, we are thankful. We had the opportunity to meet so many friends and industry peers at SXSW, EEC, OMMA, OMS, Email Insider, Inbound Marketing Summit, Dreamforce, Portland Ad Fed, AMA PDX, OEN, OSA, AOTA, Innotech, NYC Tech Meetup, DMA NYC, DMA Annual, Internet Strategy Forum, Kickapps Seminars, Ignite NYC/PDX, and so many other events. Wow, we touched down in many cities this year from NYC to Chicago to Denver to LA to Austin to SF to Seattle to Minneapolis to Washington DC to Boston etc etc etc that it is nice to have a few weeks to sit back and reflect on all of those wonderful moments with old and new friends along the way. To those we met and enjoyed great conversations and shared knowledge with, we thank you. Meeting and talking with you makes the time at 35K feet worth it.

To all the customers and partners we have the pleasure of working with, we thank you as well. We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to work with great people who strive to produce the best customer experiences and drive the greatest results. Because of wonderful partners at companies like CBS, Zinio, Sears, Banfield, Wacom, Quest, Grand Sierra, Star Trek, Papa Murphys, Dessy, Maxium, OK Magazine, OSHU, Alima, Moonit, Icebreaker, Ivars, Modern Luxury, Fast Company, Inc Magazine, Mediapost, Travel Oregon, POVA, WCVA, Sonos, Sunstone, Bridgecity Tools, and hundreds of others, who are open to testing, trying, experimenting, exploring and trusting us, we are given the oppurtunity on a daily basis to do the things love and do best. You are the people who make it worth while each and every day and we are looking forward to doing great work for you in 2010.

To everyone on the eROI team between Portland and NYC, you are the best. You have all worked tirelessly on new ideas and pushed the envelope through nights, weekends, good times and bad in order to make great things happen. You really are an amazing group of minds in all areas. Looking ahead at 2010 I know we will push the bar even farther, drive work that is even more amazing and acheive results that are even more outstanding.

To all of the email industry minds and partners out there, I thank you too. It is amazing to work in an industry that is so open to sharing ideas, best practices, and tips in an effort to push ourselves and others to give the experience, respect and engagement that we would all desire in our own interactions with brands, businesses, and people. We are happy to think of you all as friends and partners even when we happen to cross swords on the battle field of business.

To all the media and publishers that continue to share our studies, articles, thoughts and work, thank you. We are always excited to see the work we put so much into be celebrated and shared in the community of our peers. You bring with us so many learnings from peers we truly respect and we hope that we can continue to give back by regularly sharing great thoughts of our own.

To Portland, Oregon and New York City where we make our homes, you are amazing. We could not be any more fortunate to work and live in places that encourage and celebrate creativity, uniqueness, art, work, technology and the culture and lifestyle that drives creative minds to new levels. Without the surroundings that great cities like you provide, we might not have the opportunities that we are presented with each and every day.

In the end, as hard as 2009 has been on the global business community, we are incredibly thankful for the trust, opportunities, and friendship that you all have given us at here eROI. We hope in 2010 that we can continue to pay you back with campaigns, sites and ideas that make you happy to work, partner, and take this crazy ride on the interwebs with us.

Keep your eyes on us as, after some time with our close friends and family this holiday, we will be coming out of the gates with guns blazing. There are some exciting things on the horizon for 2010 and we hope to see you around the US, on the web and, if we are lucky enough to have the oppurtunity to work with you, in project meetings. Trust me that 2010 will be an amazing ride full of twists, turns and loopy de loops that make your heart race, stomach turn, eyes shut and in the end cause the thrills to shoot out of every pour of your body.

Here we are at the end of another year. And what a year it has been. In light of all the bad news out there we thought some light heartedness was the best way to approach the holidays with you. We wanted to take some time to share some fun with you from the whole eROI team in PDX and NYC.

After some thoughts about how to best say thank you to so many great clients, partners and friends we came up with a fun little montage sharing our cheers with you.

I hope you take some time to roll over and discover all of the great people that make eROI a wonderful place to work and get some insight on the folks that work so hard collectively to make great things happen.

Thank you to all and we look forward to working, talking, and being here for you in 2010.

All of our best to you and yours.

Cheers.

eROI Case Study: Online Strategy for a Successful Product Launch (Get the full study)

To support the launch of the Intuos4, Wacom Technology Corporation worked with eROI to put a new twist on the product launch with an effective integrated online campaign. This case study outlines the integrated online strategy used by Wacom, including results of the multi-pronged campaign; email, microsite, and offline channels working together to seamlessly promote the unique aspects of the new Intuos4 tablet.

Enjoy exploring the site and learn how it all came together to support the introduction and sales efforts.

“We’re absolutely happy with the number of visitors. We believe we’ve received a 70% awareness of our target audience. I mean, that’s really good. Not many companies are going to achieve that kind of awareness for a new product launch.”

~ Marketing Director, Wacom

Get the full study

No this is not going to be a post about travel emails. It is not going to be a diatribe about thoughts for doing better. This is simply a post letting you know that I am going to be checking out for some IRL (In Real Life) for about a week.

Time to unplug for me and to spend some time away and offline. For those of you that know me, you know that I will still be plugged in but I will not be posting, unless something truly worthy pops up.

So consider this not only a vacation for me, but one for you as well.

All the best and see you back here in a week. Until then make sure to check out our other blogs like ReturnOnSubscriber.com or WeLikeItFresh.com for some good posts. There is a great 8 part series on the Fresh blog going on right now about 8 Development Rules on How to Fail Less that you might like.

See you in a week.

In our last eROI study, Use of Analytics in Email Marketing Campaigns, we showed email marketers how important metrics are in making decisions and proving campaign ROI. One major opportunity to improve metrics and strengthen brand positioning with potential customers is to optimize email campaigns through consistent, careful testing.

GET The Full Study as a PDF >>

In this, our latest study, we reveal how 623 email marketers are currently using, or not using, testing to improve their email marketing efforts. On the heels of our last study, where we learned nearly one in five are not recording the metrics of their campaigns, it’s not too surprising that this study showed over 1/3 of marketers are not testing campaigns – but why aren’t they? And for those that are testing, what elements are being tested and what can we learn from them? With 73% of marketers planning to increase email as a priority in their future marketing plans, these are the important answers we set out to discover.

TO TEST, OR NOT TO TEST?

WHY YOU SHOULD AND WHY SOME DON’T

A 2006 MarketingSherpa article by Anne Holland proved, through survey results, that testing increases ROI. The responses show that “in every case more than 50% of marketers improved ROI (even if only moderately) by testing.”

The results of eROI’s email testing survey show that 37% of email marketers do not test their email campaigns. With what we know from the MarketingSherpa survey, this is essentially saying 37% of email marketers don’t care to improve the impact, and ultimately, revenue, of their email campaigns. We know that not a single good marketer would purposefully think like this, so we uncovered some of the main reasons for not testing.

Read the Full Study NOW >>

This is a self promotion post. I have warned you.

I wanted to salute the eROI team on continuing to drive the ball forward with the inclusion in the Inc. 5000 list for a third straight year. We are all very happy to continue the growth of our email marketing and full service interactive agency services for all of the wonderful clients we have the opportunity to work with every year.

It is awards like this that make us all realize how all of the late hours, hard work and new ideas continue to contribute to not only the growth of our company but also to the amazing campaigns, site, strategy, and creative that our team is able to bring to life for our clients.

Thank you to all of you that have honored us by selecting us to work for you and giving us the ability to push forward to come up with ideas that drive ROI across the board.

Now we don’t know where we finished yet for this year in this list, but we are excited to see the August Inc magazine to learn where we rank. Now wondering if we can just keep the energy and intensity up for years to come.

Thank you.

After a long road of building a new platform for eROI for future application development of our existing products we finally launched the first live release of our eROI Event on demand software event registration platform. Now you might be thinking what does this happen to do with email marketing? Well I will get to that but understand that it ties right into engagement campaigns. What is so awesome about our new event registration software platform is that it is completely open to build on.

Many of you might have used simple things like Evite or EventBrite and those have a place out there, but what they don’t have is the APIs and the ability for a team to rapidly build, write business rules, apply theming, and deploy and event for a company or group in little time that does not feel like someone else’s site. Those have always been my personal dislikes of these event software applications, the non-ability to make it mine. After all it is my event and my brand, not that of the provider that throws ads, upsells and data collection in place that does not benefit me but them. And with eROI Event you even get open data exporting to take the data you collect into your own systems, CRM, ESP or something as simple as Excel if that is what you need. It’s yours not ours and you have control at your fingertips. Take a look at all the features here.

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Our constant travel schedule is keeping our team on the road this year. We have already logged NYC, Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle, Denver, Scottsdale, LA, SF, Eugene, PDX and DC on our US 09 Tour. But coming up you can find us in a few more cities at different events.

June 25 (SFO), June 29 (PDX), July 1 (SEA) – yes we live by airport codes now.

Designing Your Email Program From Online Outreach to the Welcome Message

So often the basics are missed at creating an experience from the point of engagement of your email practices to the relationship building process. Come learn about how to properly set expectations, develop relationships, and onboard your new subscribers in order to maximize the efforts your online search, campaigns and programs deliver to your online marketing efforts. Learn from real world examples from leading consumer and business to business companies that are doing it right.

You can find Alex Williams in SEA and PDX and Dylan Boyd (me) in SFO. Love to see you there.

Other events we know of through the summer months will be close to home in PDX. In the fall we will be jumping back on the road so stay tuned if you want to meet up with our team.