Email Marketing No Brainer
October 24, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Recently I reviewed our Email Marketing services page - updated the text, added a new image, and soon to be adding some fresh client testimonials. Did a Google search for “Email Marketing Ireland” and we came up on the first page - good - but what I noticed when I reviewed the competitor offerings for email marketing is that we are the only ones who are not trying to hawk our own in-house software onto clients.
What does this mean for Irish businesses who want to introduce email marketing to their communications mix?
All internet marketing agencies will sell you on the advantages of email marketing. That much is true. But most will try to sell you a license to use their software. You’ll find yourself paying out for training in how to use that software and no doubt will hear all about the robustness and excellent deliverability of their systems - but after that, you’ll be pretty much left to get on with it yourself.
I strongly disagree with this. And let’s call it what it is - companies pushing something onto unsuspecting clients that delivers the best return for their balance sheets, and not necessarily the best result for the client.
I’m a big believer in email marketing; in fact it’s my favourite! I believe in it so much that I’m happy to provide training to clients in how to do it themselves. But what I’ve known to happen is that training can be delivered, but when it comes to getting the email out, it’s a big stress on the client.
Doing it yourself eats up loads of time.
Testing takes ages and this drives up the cost. When you’re trying to get an email out, 100% perfect, on time, and it’s not your core area of expertise, it can be really stressful. It’s not surprising that many businesses start out with high hopes of doing regular email marketing and over time, they let it slide because it becomes too much hassle.
When I deliver training in email marketing - it’s about more than just how to use a piece of software.
- It’s about planning the messaging, who you’re communicating with, what you have to say.
- Putting in place an email marketing content plan so that you know what you have to write throughout the year.
- And most importantly of all, how to analyse the statistics.
- All that plus advice on list building, and of course design of beautiful and effective email templates.
If you’re interested in learning all about that, our last public training course of 2008 is on 27 November. Find out more… But know this - DIY Email Marketing is only for you if you’re comfortable using software and have the time to devote to managing your campaigns.
When we do email marketing for our clients, we sit down with them and work out messaging, frequency, list building, and design.
But after that we look after everything leaving them free to get on with running their business.
What this means is that our clients know that every email communication going out on their behalf reads great, is professionally designed, and is delivered using the best web-based software developed by companies whose sole focus is this. Not some two-bit piece of kit that was knocked out by the techies back when the ‘agency’ added email marketing to its list of services.
Then, one week after send, our clients receive a report detailing all the user interactions with the email and with recommendations on how future email content and offers can be targeted to get better results.
We’re about making our money by providing advice and best practice delivery. Not by selling software. It’s an email marketing no-brainer.
An Hour A Day Can Change Your Life
October 7, 2008 at 12:34 pm
One of my favourite sites to work on was the one I did some years ago for James Sweetman. He’s a business coach who I turn to myself when I need a bit of direction. What I admire the most about James however, is his utter diligence and never losing sight of the bigger things in life.
He religiously sends out a great email newsletter every month. Unlike myself, he never sends it a day or two late. This month’s newsletter has a really inspirational article on how, if we set aside just 1 hour a day to do something, we’ll get there. Reading this article has inspired me to set the alarm clock 1 hour earlier - starting tomorrow - and get that really big goal that I’ve carried around in my head for so long - started.
Read on to find out how you can too. And good luck with it!
Email Non-Responders
September 30, 2008 at 10:43 am
The autumn edition of Walking the Talk went out last week and response rates amongst those who opened it were very good. However, we do have a number of non-responders which I always keep an eye on.
Non-responders are people on your list who do not open the email or click any links. It used to only raise an issue about deliverability - ie. are the emails getting through spam filters to reach them in the first place?
But now it also begs the question of how many subscribers are using mobile devices. Given that my list is mostly business users, and not so much to my iphone adoring peers, it’s likely that this is not such a big issue at present, but definitely one that needs to be addressed for the future. So the next edition of Walking the Talk is going to have a separate mobile friendly version. A little extra work perhaps, but an evolving best practice for email marketing I think.
In the meantime, how to deal with non-responders?
What I do is compare lists of non-responders from the last edition and this edition. Any name that appears on both lists I will contact directly from my personal email address to inform them that Walking the Talk went out last week, and to ask them to add the email address to their trusted senders so that they might receive it in the future.
Tone of voice is very important. You don’t want to come across as too bossy. You also don’t want to seem too snoopy - ie. that their every move is being watched.
If this action is successful, it will mean that some of the non-responders will take action and hopefully receive the next edition of Walking the Talk into their inbox. There will always be some who do not do anything, but that’s OK because a) it’s their choice not to and b) I don’t want to be contacting people who do not wish to hear from me.
Email List Building Techniques That Work For Ireland
September 10, 2008 at 10:07 pm
There’s no point in having a beautiful design and interesting content for email newsletters if you’ve got no-one to send to. This post is about the steps you can take to build your email list. There are lots of articles around about this, but these tips are ones that have worked in my experience for the Irish market.
Build or Buy?
Don’t ever buy an email list. Apart from being illegal, it’s a total waste of money - the money you spend on the list, the money you spend on getting the email out, and the disappointment when you don’t get the results you want.
If you received an email from an unknown source, would you act on it? Or would you send it to the same steaming pile where mails from hawkers of Viagra, Cialis, Rolex, reside?
9 Tips For Online List Building In Ireland*
- Add an opt-in form to your website. Position it somewhere visually prominent. And even better, put it on every page. That’s what we do.
- Don’t be too greedy in what you ask for! Just because your marketing department would like to know the county, car registration number, and birth date of would-be subscribers doesn’t mean you should ask for them. The less information you ask for, the more likely people will subscribe. So start off by asking for name and email address only. If you ask for name, use it – and personalise your emails. If you’re not into personalisation, ask for email only. You can always ask for more later – when you’ve earned it.
- If you’re a start-up, make sure you have a teaser opt-in. Here’s a good example of one - see how they ask for what they’re about, they’re coming, and only ask for an email address.
- Next, include links to the opt-in form on all your communication. Add a link to email signatures, so every email leaving your company is seeking permission to market. Look at every touchpoint that customers have with you – add opt-in’s to invoices, delivery dockets, back of business cards. Follow up sales to customers with an email inviting them to join the email newsletter list.
- Build a process around asking permission of everyone you meet. After attending business networking events, follow up with a short email saying “nice to meet you and I’ve added your name to our email newsletter list’. Tell them they can unsubscribe at any time. And you know what? Irish people hate to think they’re missing out on anything so they never really do!
- Or go the lazy way – run separate lists. Include one for all new people you have recently met. Send an email to new people saying “here’s a sample of our email newsletter. I think you might find it of interest. If you don’t want to receive it, you can unsubscribe here.” This is playing on the fact that the law around email and spam in Ireland is a bit grey. You can get away with an opt-out email of this nature, provided you always respect people’s wishes to unsubscribe.
- Data mining. If you’ve got the time or resources, it can be worthwhile to run extracts from your database to see what customers/clients you’ve got email addresses for. New contacts can often be added to the database by your sales team who do not have an objective to increase the email marketing list. It can be useful to run this exercise once a year. If you haven’t done so already, add a field for opt-in to email.
- Bounces. When we’re looking at reporting for email newsletters, it can be easy to focus on the open and click rates. But you should also act on bounces and non responders. Check bounces for typos against your main database. Telephone the contacts if you have the time to find out if the contact is still there. Often this can yield results and provide an opportunity for a re-introduction, or simply to remind customers that you’re still around.
- Non responders are those contacts on your list that haven’t opened your email. This can be for any number of reasons – maybe they’re not receiving, it’s ending up in their spam. Sometimes they are getting it, but just deleting, or giving it a quick scan in the preview pane before deleting. I find that generous but ballsy strategies can work in awakening non responders from their reverie. Send a special offer with a closing date. Send a reminder, tell them you’re going to remove them from your list. And when the time comes, remove them. If they’ve been non responding for some time, they’re distorting your results and you’re better off without them.
Think of yourself – maybe you signed up for an email newsletter when you were planning that trip around the world or a wedding. Now you’re back or married, the last thing you want is constant reminders of where you’re not going… so lose ‘em.
* Would love to have 10, but couldn’t think of 10 that work!
In my experience, online list building in Ireland is not enough.
It takes time to build up lists of substantial size, so to really give your list building a push, you’ve also got to bribe them! That’s where we bring in ….
Offline List Building
- I find postcards work really well, for all business types. Design a postcard with a great offer or competition on the front. On the back, include your address with a FREEPOST address and a space for them to fill in their email address and name. Then blitz ‘em. Give them to all your sales team to distribute to everyone they meet. Front of house people should have them. They should go out with every mailing (invoice, brochure, delivery docket).
This doesn’t have to be expensive. With print costs coming down every day, and amazing offers like these from Moo Cards from €13.79 and Vistaprint, the only real cost is in the competition. Spa weekends are always attractive. Weekends to European cities – you just don’t have to say in the competition details that flights are with Ryanair!
When you get the postcards back and have updated your mailing list, be sure to keep them. Data handling requirements are that you must keep them for 3 years.
Building a list is an ongoing project.
It’s not something you can ‘get done’ in a week. It’s a state of mind.
I’ve seen many examples of businesses that really get it and work to ensure that list building is a central party of their activity.
And they get the results.
Think of it - if you speak to 1 person per day, that’s about 360 email contacts a year. Times that by the number of people on your team and the multiplier effect kicks in.
If you would like to have a chat about how you can bring in email marketing list building to your operation, just get in touch. You may be a well-established business that has been issuing an email newsletter for several years, or you may be starting out and wanting to put in good practices from the word ‘go’. All of these activities have worked time and time again in Ireland. There are more things you can do, but they’re quite specific. Just contact us and find out!
Save Money - Register for Etag
August 27, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Now before you think I actually support the money-grabbing b’stards that run our crappy ‘flooded when wet’ motorways, I’m don’t. I am only telling you this because it will save you some money. And if you’re going to the Electric Picnic this weekend, take double note because you could be liable for fines.
From this Saturday, August 30th we now have to pay more to get past the toll plazas. This is for all motorways that toll.
Register online now for a video account and you’ll be good to go this weekend. If you don’t register, and you pass the toll bridge, you’ll be charged €3 to cross.
But the real sting is that you only have a day to pay - if you don’t you are charged double - €6. What do they think we are? Made of money?
For anyone planning on going to the Electric Picnic this weekend - register now - as I’m sure the last thing you’ll want to be doing when you get home after the festival is remembering to pay your toll fine!
The punitive payment system goes on - if you don’t pay after 14 days, you’re fined €40. And after 56 days, €100 is the fine. Could make for a very expensive nip out to the shopping centre.
[Another stealth tax brought to you by our wonderful government, the same ones who brought you "HSE Nightmare Scare" parts I, II, and III...and of course the unforgettable "Online Voting Machines for the 21st century"]
There are a number of providers, I registered with Eflow - awfully annoying site that keeps updating while I was filling out the form… reminded me of an over earnest child swallowing mouthfuls of spit while relating a longwinded story. AA Roadwatch has a nice clear explanation as to what’s what and who’s who.
10 Things Customers Would Tell You If You Asked
June 26, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Great talk by Eric Reiss. Someone should get him to Ireland to talk on customer service. Passionate, engaging and very very entertaining.
- Don’t tell me how great, be great
- Go the extra mile
- Don’t get in my way when I’m trying to shop
- If I know what I’m looking for help me find it
- If I have questions, I want answers, not sales talk
- Tell me you’re looking for my size, don’t just turn and leave
- If you expect me to buy something tell me what it costs
- Are your own affairs so important that you feel justified in ignoring me?
- Don’t make me feel stupid
- If you make a mistake admit it
He goes through wine.com as a case study of the above being done badly. I’m thinking - he’d have a field day going through the Golden Spiders nominees!
If we do not demand good service we are never going to receive it.
People of Ireland are you listening?
Addendum in September
In the last three days, I’ve been helpful to 3 different people and in every case I did not receive a thank you for my help. The first was in the supermarket when an Eastern European couple dropped €200 in cash on the floor. I picked it up, ran after them and gave it to them. They didn’t say thank you, their faces remained impassive. I stood there waiting for some sort of interaction and they thought I wanted money!! They tried to pawn me off with €10. How insulting. Not having command of the language is no excuse. I can say thank you in 8 languages, I’m sure they can say it in 1.
Today I noticed a prominent website that had a prominent typo on the home page. I was on to their Head Office about something anyway, I told the receptionist about it, and she was quite rude about it. I know it’s not her job to look after the website, but it is her job to be the voice of that organisation and at the very least placate an old spelling nazi like myself. For God’s sake is she thick - if you’re just about to put someone through to the MD, surely you’d have the cop on to be polite to them?
Lastly, I’ve just bent over backwards for a client. Delivered more than was required and way more than is being paid for. This client hasn’t said thanks to me once. They simply take and don’t give the slightest thanks back.
I’m feeling a bit disillusioned. Representing Brightspark I try so hard to do points 1 & 2 above. Yet people’s rudeness throws it back in my face and makes me question why I bother trying at all. As a customer I consistently do not experience point 10 and that really irritates.
Ireland - you’ve lost your manners. Dunno how or where, but they’re gone.
We are not France
June 18, 2008 at 9:04 am
Located on the north western corner of Europe, our climate and our customs are not the same as our mainland European brothers and sisters. So I’d just like to point out Ireland doesn’t close for the summer. We don’t all migrate to the south for August. And not for July either.
I’m working crazy hours right now to deliver to many clients for the end of June. I think they think we’ll all be sipping cognacs in Cork or something come 1 July. But I’d just like to inform everyone, I’m here in July and in August and am happy to take on work.
On a related note, can I suggest to anyone planning their email calendar to consider August?
Marketing Managers around the world plan post summer emails for September. Retailers all do a blast in early November - they think they’re getting the pre-Christmas rush, but when all of their competitors are doing the same, messages can get lost in the noise. If you’re smart, you’d be sending an email in August and because we’re all not in France at that time, it’ll probably get read!
Image Suppression - How It Impacts You
May 18, 2008 at 8:35 pm
There’s no doubt that we all prefer image-rich emails over plain text, but thanks to the proliferation of scumbag spammers (the ones who send ‘adult’ themed emails to kids), most ISP’s now block images as a default. Apart from the visual, here’s why you need to know about image suppression:
- This impacts on Open Rates because open rates are calculated when an invisible graphic pings your server. So when you’re not getting the graphic, there’s no ping, and no reporting. But I wouldn’t be getting too hung up on Open Rates as a key measure of Email performance; they’ve not been the most reliable of metrics ever since the invention of the preview pane.
- Image suppression can make your email look awful. You have to go back to in-line styling for design, something we’ve been at for quite some time, but have only just applied to our own template. This is a crucial point; have a look at your email delivered to a gmail address and you’ll see what I mean.
- Because many people are visual and not verbal, image suppression of your super duper offer is going to hurt your response rates. Visual people are more likely to delete your email without a second thought. That is why punchy headlines, super sub-headlines, and an awareness of how to get your message across in a teeny-weeny space is a must. Learn more about writing for the online environment here.
In a nutshell, how can you deal with this brave new world?
- Design a new email template (talk to us about layout and other features)
- Don’t be hung up on open rates; focus instead on trends such as who’s reading regularly,who’s forwarding, etc.
- As always, content is key. Write well. Don’t oversell. And you’ll be grand!
Charity Campaigns
March 5, 2008 at 9:26 am
While I’m working myself up to having a VENT about PAYPAL, my new Most Despised, I thought I’d mention two campaigns that came by my inbox in the last 3 days. What I like about both of them is that they make it easy for me to take action. In just 2 clicks, I’ve done my bit for climate change and for a stateless Palestinian.
- Trocaire: loving their recent work both online and offline. Last year they courted controversy with the ad that was banned. This email is executed brilliantly. From the attention-grabbing subject line “Be a climate change journalist” to the nifty “2 clicks and you’re done” email to John Gormley or Hillary Benn in the UK, it’s very impressive. In an era of donor fatigue, it’s not asking me for money, but succeeds in getting something way more valuable - my attention and my time. Now go and do it.
- Amnesty International: part of their fabulous Unsubscribe-Me campaign, they have created an international action page for people like you and me to get involved in the campaign to get Maher Rafat al-Quwari repatriated to a safe country; to anywhere but Guantanamo Bay. The one downside of this action page is that it links you to the US Army website where you’re supposed to be able to work out for yourself which part of the army you should direct your request to. It scores highly in that they give you the text to use. But I didn’t want to get my head around the US Army website, so I hit the contact us button on the unsubscribe me site on Saturday asking for help. Let’s see how long it takes them to respond. I really hope that Amnesty isn’t an all gloss, uber designed campaign with no follow up. View recent post on lack of contact us.
Golden Spiders Still To Pay
January 9, 2008 at 11:25 am
Shocking news. The Golden Spiders, aka Business & Finance Magazine, have not yet paid the €500 they agreed to pay to a charity of my choice for their blatant and multiple spamming. View post. The agreement was made on 11 December and the people at Daisyhouse were delighted at the prospect of this windfall before Christmas. Unfortunately this was not to be.
I ask you - what is €500 to a large and cash rich organisation like the Golden Spiders? They get that for filling part of a table. And spare a thought for the difference that kind of money could make to the people who benefit from Daisyhouse’s services.
Do they think this is going away? Surely they can’t be that stupid. I brought it to the attention of the Data Commissioners before Christmas, and seeing as I haven’t heard anything back, I followed up with a phone call this morning. My contact there is going to call the Golden Spiders people and remind them today.
More on this when I hear. But in the meantime feel free to link to this post about what a miserly shower the Golden Spiders are. All the inbound links to the post about the fine have pushed this subject onto page 1 of Google when you search for Golden Spiders! Thanks to everyone.
** Update on 16 January **
Every day I reminded the Data Commissioners to ask Golden Spiders/Business & Finance people to get the skids on and pay up. Yesterday I said I’d had enough and was taking it to my solicitor to enforce payment. Lo and behold, yesterday the €500 was paid to Daisyhouse. So thank you Business & Finance, and here’s hoping I never hear from Golden Spiders again. Because if I do…ah ah… you know what’s going to happen!!
