WinM@il-WinBlogger

Best Practices - Inbox Management

My Inbox is my best friend and my worst enemy all in the same.  I click to recieve emails with the anticipation of a child at Christmas, always expecting that new inquiry or happy customer or friendly invitation.  At the same time, it often feels like a spring rain that never stops, like the summer of 1993 in Iowa or the winter of 2008.

What is great is knowing I have a system for managing all of the messages. 

And my system has a lot in common with the manamgent strategy posted at the EEC recently.  For tips on how to better manage large quantities of email in your inbox, visit this list of "Inbox Managment Tips"
http://www.emailexperience.org/resources/inbox-management-tips/

Cool Marketing Resource - ExactTarget Seminar

ExactTarget's Route 1 to 1: The New eMarketing Essentials is heading your way!  More info >>

In addition to informative presentations, top industry experts and analysts will provide one-to-one marketing technology insight, and ExactTarget clients will share real-life examples of B2B and B2C email marketing success.

WinCommunications will be there in Chicago in May.  Look for the latest tips here at WinBlogger soon after the May seminar, and be sure to call 1-866-win-mail if you are interested in learning more about how to incorporate ExactTarget's tool into your marketing plan.

Best Practices - Good Business

I am impressed with the Hilton Corporation.  We are regulars at the Homewood Suites in Chicago and ever since our first stay, I have been an subscriber to the Hilton's email newsletter. What the Hilton does right is customer service, and their style of customer service is no longer surprising - for me it is the standard and the norm.

Of course, if I go online and make a reservation, I get an email receipt.  What's more, if I call in a reservation by phone, I also get an email receipt. 

In the receipt, I find details about the hotel location with a link to a map, as well as the weather and local events.

Their newsletter is published in very digestible size, with manageable frequency.

The hotel industry has other customer service queens - I liked something that the Minneapolis Radisson did for me back in February.  My reservation had been made 6 weeks prior to that visit, and the week before our stay the Radisson emailed me a reminder of my reservation.  That was handy to have, because once again it had the weather report - perfect for our ski trip and no icy roads!

These hotel chains are doing it right with email and customer service.  Take a lesson!

Email Style & Etiquette - Published Again!

I am please to share a terrific article on the fundamental manners of email.  Its author and I have a lot in common!

Read Article Here >>
http://www.marketingprofs.com/8/email-etiquette-use-or-lose-business-towner.asp?adref=znnpbsc238

In a related blog moment, Rick Short of Indium Corporation built on the idea of email etiquette in his recent post.  Short's message adds that everyone in business is an Internet representative for their company - via email, we all wear our business badge and need to remember our mission and our image.  His blog "Rich Short's B2B Marcom Blog" is fun and full of interesting stories and marketing tips.

Highlight of the Week - Trilix Group

I love contests.  I never win, but there's no "quit" in me, and I will keep trying 'til they close the entry box.

Which is why I love the email marketing strategy that includes a well-crafted, relevant and informative contest that is also fun and entertaining.

Trilix Marketing Group developed such a contest using a combination of You-Tube video, sports statistics, their web site, and of course a daily email campaign the weeks preceeding this year's Super Bowl.

The contest comes in with a daily drawing, followed by a grand prize after the Super Bowl Game is played.  And the fun part is the video - ads from previous Super Bowl Games that bring back memories and make me laugh.  What a great idea!

What a great way to keep in front of customers and highlight the agency's strengths.  I would bet they've added a few subscribers to their email list along the way, too.

Highlight of the Week - Educational Opportunities

A host of professional organizations, seminars and conferences have sprung up over the past few years.  Join the Email Experience Council (www.emailexperience.org), read articles at www.Clickz.com, and spend time in training at an upcoming conference: Email Evolution Conference, eTail 2008, Email Summit '08.  Or call me for a one-hour training session on a variety of topics in Internet marketing (866-Win-Mail).

Best Practices - Email Marketing Goals

Email is the perfect way to announce upcoming events and invite our customers to visit and try out our new wines,"- Kristin McClarnon, WinM@il Customer, Summerset Winery

What's the goal of your campaign?  Did you make more money than you invested in your marketing efforts? Did you set and meet your marketing goals? How do you plan to calculate this relationship in 2008?  I am constantly surprised at how often this concept is left in the dust as businesses rush forward with an email, or even an email campaign.

Reports show that email marketing, when done correctly, returns more dollars o n your investment than any other marketing strategy. Results from email marketing are simple to measure.

And remember that the best way to measure results is to track them back to the goals of your email campaign.  What are your marketing goals?  Below are some sample email marketing goals derived from WinM@il customers in 2007:

Goal of Campaign: Raise awareness, develop sense of community, fill and retain properties
Goal of Campaign: Increase web traffic, increase visits to booths at trade shows
Goal of Campaign: Increase registrations of clinics and camps
Goal of Campaign: Increase sales
Goal of Campaign: Increased member retention, increase attendance
Goal of Campaign: Develop loyalty, bring in customers

Creative Strategies - List Building

A good WinM@il customer who oversees the operations of a variety of dining establishments created a holiday email coupon for the subscribers of one restaurant's email program.  That right there is a good idea.

And going one step further, in an effort to share that good news, they sent a promotional email to a nearby property's subscribers encouraging them to sign up for the first restaurant's email program.

This kind of cross marketing works.  It makes more sense, costs less, and drives more business in the door than purchasing a random list of who-knows-who.

Other creative list building strategies include:

1-When speaking with a radio or television reporter, remember to ask listeners to go to your web site for more info and say the address.

2-At a trade show, put your web site address on every banner, hand-out and registration form. Acquire e-mail addresses of booth visitors.

3-Mention your web site and ask for e-mail addresses at every event you attend on behalf of your organization.

4-Partner with a like-minded organization and put an ad at their web site – link it to your web site, spell out your address.

Highlight of the Week - Younkers Gets It!

I don't know exactly when it happened, but the midwest regional retailer Younkers - owned by Saks Incorporated - has finally created an email that works! 

The shift to more effective design includes:

1. more links to choose from
2. more visual motivation to click those links
3. and greater access directly to parts of their web site that interest me.

Now, on the the next step: Personalization!  Perhaps they already have this in the works, but ideally Younkers would send me something more directed to my buying habits.  So many campaigns like this one are created with a one-size-fits-all mentality.  This is surprising - especially for the larger companies spending huge dollars on advertising - that marketing can't figure out the simple task of targeting via email.  This strategy is so available and so affordable that I am baffled it is not more often utilized.

This is not a new issue.  Back in 2005 JupiterResearch was writing about it - read their assessment here >>

Cool Marketing Resource - Clickz Conference

Q: Who reads email and why?

A: From "Beyond Direct: E-mail Branding & Relationships to Build Business," at the Clickz Email Marketing Conference come these facts:

• 81 percent of U.S. executives subscribe to industry e-mail newsletters for product information and business intelligence (Wall Street Journal).
• 60 percent of business decision makers said Internet and email are the best ways for advertisers to reach them (Jupiter Research).

Read more statistics reported at the conference in this Clickz article: http://www.clickz.com/3627305/print

Email Style & Etiquette - Oops, there it is

Ever send an email to a group only to discover that the embedded link was the wrong one? 

Ever email your subscribers about this year's event only to learn later that the info included was for last year?

It is worth repeating, and can never be overemphasized: PROOFREAD your emails before hitting SEND.

If it is a business email, the best idea is to routinely request help from another set of eyes to look at your message, both looking for simple errors and content misperceptions or improvements.

Simple reminder on proofreading >>
http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/proofing.html

Cool Marketing Resource - WDFM.com

I like lists.  They are:

1. Easy to follow
2. Organized
3. Succinct

The email newsletter by Larry Chase called "Web Digest for Marketers" organizes information in a numbered list which is consistent and familiar every time it is published.  The lists are always topic-specific, so I know right away if I am going to want to browse the list or not.

One thing I don't like is how I have to skip past the large advertisement that pops into my preview pane in order to get to the content of the newsletter.  This is an unfortunate misunderstanding of priorities.  I also think it would be helpful to have a table of contents and some back-and-forth navigation.

Still, the information is terrific and I appreciate the lists he sends out on topics like "Top 12 Advance Email Marketing Resources" and "How to Get Email Newsletter Subscribers." 

See more at www.wdfm.com .

Highlight of the Week - American Airlines

As watching videos on the computer becomes more and more common, the idea of adding video and/or audio to email campaigns is becoming more viable and attractive. 

I recently received an email from American Airlines, as I am one of their past customers, and the email is lively and enticing.  It addresses me by name, it reminds me how many rewards points I have, and then it invites me to "Catch the Show"  When I clicked that image, it lined me to a web page that was obviously designed specifically for this email, and it includes some video, some music, and some more choices for me to select.  ( See the related AA web page >> )

I was entice and a little entertained.

It worked!

Best Practices - Worst Practices

Here are ten dead giveaways that tell me a company needs help with their email campaign:

1. I sign up for their newsletter at their web site and nothing happens - ever.
2. I unsubscribe from a regularly scheduled email news publication but I continue to get their news.
3. The email has no automatic unsubscribe option.
4. The same email newsletter arrives to my inbox three or four times.
5. The email "design" consists of nothing but verious fonts in various sizes and colors.
6. The news I receive is redundant, irrelevant, or worse - unsolicited.
7. The most imporant information in the email is at the bottom.
8. The email comes from an unrelated domain.
9. I check the email from my phone and all I see are words like "Mark for Download."
10. The email lacks contact info or physical address.

Any other worst practices?  Sign in and post your's here!

Highlight of the Week - Google Video

Google not only sells their services through completely integrated marketing strategies, they also have a lot of fun!

See this >> http://mail.google.com/mail/help/gmail_video.html

It is a video assembled by their marketing team not doubt, and it is entirely composed from customer submissions.  These are happy Google users made even happier now, while they watch their own video clips at Google.com!

This is a nice reminder that marketing isn't all about survey stats and metrics - it can also be about fun!

Creative Strategies - Edit for cells & pda's

I am a little surprised by the number of companies that do not revise their email marketing content to suit the growing crowd reading emails on their BlackBerrys, cell phones or other mobile devices.

If I only have a few seconds to view an email from my phone, most of the time here is what I see:

"Problems viewing this email?"

"To view this email as a web page go here."

"This email was sent to kt@wincommunications.com by..."

And then I run out of time and I close my phone.  When I am back at my computer, I see those emails I already scanned and I delete them thinking I already read them.

A more effective approach would utilize the tool an email service provider offers you to edit the text version separately from the HTML email. 

Next, decide what ONE THING you want cell phone and PDA users to know before they exit their email screen, and type that at the top of the text version.

More on email rendering for mobile devices >>

Highlight of the Week - Branding

I have never been so excited about branding. 

This is because I spent 4 hours in a strategic planning session yesterday with the Iowa Society of Association Executives and we were coached through some very creative and thought-provoking material by Mike Wagner, author of "Own Your Own Brand" and owner of the White Rabbit Group.

The overall message was "branding is not about branding."  I love that!

So what is branding?  It is about ownership.  And branding is not just a logo and a color scheme, it is a unique identity that speaks without words.  It comes from within and is what makes one company's message more memorable, more identifiable than the hundreds of messages we filter through in a day.

Touching on marketing, Wagner reminded us that the modern media scene is no longer focused on one message to the masses.  "The mass market is dead."

Which means that successful companies and business owners are connecting with very targeted audiences through multiple channels with unique, timely and relevant messages.

This is exactly why email marketing is one of the most effective marketing tools available and essential to any and all businesses and organizations.  Email with permission to a targeted audience with a unique and relevant message that truly represents your brand, and watch this strategy jumpstart your plan for growth.  It is about relationships.  It is about fulfilling promises.  It is about reinforcing your brand.

For more on branding, see "Branding Redux | 3 New Rules."

Best Practices - Above the Fold

Recently a customer asked what "above the fold" meant and why it mattered.

Originally the phrase related to newspapers and it meant the printed material on the top of the page before the paper folds in half.

For email marketers, the same phrase means within the first viewable screen of an email, before any scrolling.  It matters because the content in the email "above the fold" is more likely to be viewed than anything below the scroll.  A few points to consider:

1. A good percentage of people view their emails in a "Preview Pane" (the top 1 1/2 inches of the email), so an ideal design would have the most important information right up top.
2. Often readers are not willing to take time to scroll down in an email.  To avoid having the message lost, an effective email design would have the bulk of the entire contents within one screen, above the fold.
3. For more details, encourage readers to click a link to a web site or an online brochure.  This enables tracking of that activity, which develops a better report on the effectiveness of the message.

Highlight of the Week - Cubs.com

The MLB and Cubs.com really know what fans want. 

Just think, how ideal to be a business that has such loyal and avid customers!

The web site knows what fans want, and they give it to us via news at the web site, contests, ticket ordering, video, mobile notices and downloads, and even pitch-by-pitch coverage via mobile phone! 

And a significant piece of this integrated marketing campaign is an email that follows all the rules.  It begins with my permission, it arrives in a timely manner, and it offers me relevant information and exciting opportunities exclusive to the email audience.

Just imagine - if your business knows your customers as well as the Cubs know their fans, how successful would your integrated marketing become?!

Know your customers.  IT BEGINS THERE.

Cool Marketing Resource - SendOutCards.com

A perfect complement to a targeted permission-based email campaign is an occasional direct mail communication. 

I have discovered SendOutCards.com.  This online tool creates personal and personalized greeting cards, then the company has your cards stuffed, stamped and delivered within 7 business days. 

What is nice is not only do they have huge collection of greeting cards to select from, they also allow you to create cards from pictures on your desktop.

When email campaigns integrate with a variety marketing tools like this one, the results improve. 

"If effectively used, these campaings increase response rates, market awareness and revenue, and maximize profits." - Integrated Marketing Campaigns 101, OnDemandJournal.com

Best Practices - List Building

Regarding "opt-in" email list purchasing or list rental, I most often advise otherwise.  What I have read is that when you rent a list from a list vendor, they do the delivery themselves, and the only email addresses you receive are those of the recipients who have opened the mail or clicked on your link.  Therefore, often the return is small and not worth the expense.  When you purchase a list, that means you would be sending from your own email domain (@yourcompany.com) and sending to an unknown list always results in high bounce rates - and often results in high complaint or unsubscribe rates, both of which can cause problems for future deliveries from your domain.

What I like is the idea of partnering with organizations which are willing to do cross-marketing.  For example, if there is a local department store near your company's restaurant & bar, and that store already has an email loyalty program, investigate the possiblity of putting a link to your web site in their next email promo – make sure then that the landing page at your web site has an email sign-up area.

Or create a mail postcard campaign to a certain geography which includes a pitch for recipients to go online and sign up for your news, perhaps in exchange for an immediate special offer.  For example, a postcard that says – visit YourCompany.com today to receive a 2-for-1 dinner coupon…

Integrate the list-building process into all marketing and sales functions.  This is the best way to grow an inhouse email list.

Best Practices - Permission & Perserverence

Communication professionals using emial to build and retain customer relationships are challenged to gain permission in order to email. 

But the challenge doesn't stop once permission is obtained.  A relationship is built on meaningful two-way messaging, perserverance, and promises kept.

So many times I have signed up for email at a web site and not received any confirmation and not received any emails.  In this case, if I do some day receive an email from  one of these resources, I will have forgotten I signed up for the email, and I'll probably delete it thinking it was unwanted/unsolicited spam.

The point is, as useful as email is at building relationships, it is a competitive and fragile relationship that can crumble without attention, persistance, and the fulfillment of promises. 

If you are collecting addresses at your web site, be sure not to let that relationship die on the line. 

Plan ahead, get permission and then pursue a closer connection. 

Email Style & Etiquette - For Those Who Print

Here's something that I am amazed to find many people do not understand.  When you design an email, or a web page for that matter, the idea is to create online interactive content that maximizes the delivery of your information and faciliates the user's quick understanding of your message.

Email design is not based upon, synchronized with, aligned the same as, or even conceived the same as print design. 

HTML emails and web pages do not have a "Page 1" or a "Page 2."

HTML emails and web pages function with online design in mind, not printers.

So, for those who are inclined to print the newseltter you are creating in HTML and sending via email, one of two things must be understood:

Either

1. The audience is aware that the printed piece may not look exactly like it did on the screen, and they are forgiving of these design descrepencies or
2. The designer includes a link to a print-ready document that will look on paper the way it does in the document on the screen.

Offering a "Print Version" is a nice option when your email has a lot of written information and your list includes readers who print to read.

Creative Strategies - Hilton's Homewood Headlines

I love to read emails from my favorite hotels in my favorite cities around the country. 

I signed up a few years ago for Hilton's Homewood Headlines.  The Hilton's email marketing strategies are consistently direct and relevant and the content is useful and entertaining.  I like the note they include to the right, which is usually very personal in tone and offers a chance to win a prize. 

Here's a fun one:

The magic of a family vacation is in the simple moments you share together. That's why Homewood Suites by Hilton offers your family everything you need to create as many of those moments as possible. Spacious suites with fully equipped kitchens and complimentary high-speed internet access keep everyone comfortable. Complimentary hot breakfast starts each day off right. Now through July 15, 2007, show us a photo of the moment that made your vacation unforgettable, and it might end up on a Times Square billboard.

I didn't enter a picture, but would love to see the billboard they mention!

Best Practices - Practice v Profit

There is an email marketing debate out there today, and the question seems to be based in the argument of best practice vs. most profit.  (See http://www.clickz.com/3626503 and then read http://blog.emailexperience.org/)

Email marketing has a growing list of industry leaders who participate in the ongoing discussion and promotion of best practices in email marketing.  This seems to be in response to two things:

1. The need for standards and a more common set of measurements to determine value and ROI
2. The need to stop abuse of email

Meanwhile, email marketing also has an eager group of leaders who focus on improving profits by integrating this strategy into their marketing mix.  This seems to be in response to two things:

1. The need to increase profits and grow business
2. The need to report positive ROI and meet departmental goals

These two groups are not mutually exclusive.  What's important is knowing how to maintain a positive position in business, both in terms of adhering to and benefiting from industry standards and in terms of turning a profit.

Email marketing pioneer Al DiGuido says that best practices in email marketing do matter (Clickz article Putting the Service in E-mail Service Provider):

"Don't expect an ESP to divulge proprietary information about an individual company's performance or strategy, but do expect the aggregate lessons from assembling best-practice information."

Here, DiGuido points out that marketing professionals who hire an Email Service Provider need to pursue aggressive Q&A.  Adoption of an ESP should depend on how well it can help your business meet financial goals.  The vendor must display a combination of knowledge of best practices and superior functionality of the technology they are selling.

The importance of best practices in email marketing brings us to another point.  In today's email news from eROI, read about a study that points out the descrepency between professionals who preach "best practices" and those who just preach them. 

"Email deliverability and rendering has been a hot topic for a long time, but how important is it to marketers? There is a vast difference between what they say and what they do." 

The eROI study indicates that the two most important elements of an email campaign's success are 1) content and 2) deliverability.  When success in terms of dollars is based on ideas like content and deliverability, it is no wonder they are hot topics often discussed at roundtables and seminars. 

What is interesting is that almost half of the marketers surveyed are not adjusting their email design to the diverse demands of various email applications like the new Outlook 2007.  If deliverability is key, and success is measured on real results from opened and viewed emails, then it would be worth while to pay attention to best practices in HTML rendering.

It's all connected.  Email best practices and increasing ROI on email campaigns are not mutually exclusive. 

What's more, best practices today are different than they were even a year ago, so one global online discussion in the summer of 2007 is not enough.  It is too much to assume that what works today will work tomorrow.  The discussion needs to continue, needs foundation in statistics, and needs proponents.  Organizations like the DMA's eec are filling that bill.

Cool Marketing Resource - EmailStatCenter.com

The relatively new resource EmailStatCenter.com boasts to be "The Leading Authority on Email Marketing Metrics."  The statistics are collected from a variety of sources and sorted by topics, such as "Authentication," "From Lines" or "Trend Reports."  All statics are attributed.

For example, at the category labeled "Creative" are these statistics, among others:

• Most common screen resoltion is 1024 X 768. - OneStat.com (April 2007)
• Fewer than 50 percent of marketers create emails that render appropriately.
  - Email Experience Council, Jan 2007

Highlight of the Week - Email Statistics

Statistics support use of email
A poll of women business owners reported by the National Association of Women Business Owners showed that 81% of respondents either currently use or are considering the use of email marketing for their businesses.

Email marketing continues to be a key component of the marketing mix for businesses. 

Some may say the popularity of email is shrinking.  But the stats are in all around us, and the facts are just the opposite.  Let's be clear, the future of email is strong.  It's the function of email that is changing.

Email is shifting away from a dual-purpose mechanism.  As a social communication tool, email is primarily used by generations X and above.  However, as an article at News.com explains, the younger generation gravitates toward quicker and more customized communication tools with instant messaging, MySpace pages, and texting.  See "Kids say e-mail is, like, soooo dead" by Stefanie Olsen.

But LISTEN UP, young ones!  At work if you only read your email once a week you may be in for a shock.  Most jobs rely heavily on email for official notices, educational information, instructions and requests, and report submisions. 

Business-to-business email has solidified its place in our working world.    And while we are busy keeping up with the pace, a timely, relevant and useful email message from a key vendor or customer is often effective and appreciated.

Top quality email marketing campaigns follow the rules, pay attention to target audiences, key in on subscriber preferences, and prove effective time after time.

Creative Strategies - Thank You Notes

VistaPrint.com sent a thank you note after I purchased some printed postcards.  The note came immediately after I made the online purchase at their web site.  It was more than a thank you and confirmation message, it was a special offer for more discounts. 

And a couple days later they sent another email with more special offers.

This online retailer invests in an email campign geared at driving existing customers to spend even more at their site.  Repeat customers.  Loyalty programs.

A transactional email such as a confirmation message is one of the best places to add some customized direct marketing.  Successful online strategies include marketing via invoices, thank you notes, event confirmation messages, purchase orders.  The key is to make the most of each and every email communication, while staying focused on customer needs. 

Highlight of the Week - To Kill A Mockingbird

I find comfort in repeating this lesson: It's the message, not the medium.

What is remembered is the message.  With all the hype about Mobile Marketing, YouTube, Email, Instant Messaging and now Twitter, it's important to remember the basics of communication.  Great ideas, words with depth and value, images full of life and meaning - these fundamentals build long-lasting messages regardless of the medium, new or old, high-tech or not.

We watched "To Kill A Mockingbird" the other night.  Whether you watch this classic on a video cassette, a DVD, streaming video, clips on YouTube, or even whether you read the original novel by Harper Lee, it's still a classic.  The message still resonates.  Atticus is the hero, but even heros can fail - as he did in his battle against racism. Boo Radley is the misunderstood villian who wins friends in the end.

In email messages that go out to business acquaintances, customers, organization members, or in any capacity, spend an extra minute to make that message meaningful.  Reword your idea for clarity, replace mundane phrases with something more creative and thoughtful.  In the end, you'll be better remembered.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYQOWfMGA_k

Best Practices - Benchmarks for Success

Measuring Success by "Emails Opened"

1. "Opened" only happens when an email application displays the pictures within an email. When a subscriber reads your email with the images "blocked, or "images off," this is not recorded as "opened."  *blocked images: when an email application is set to disallow automatic appearance of all images within the emails received.
2. 59% of online customers routinely block images. – MarketingSherpa (2007) 
3. This means that whatever number of emails are showing up as "opened," there may be half as many more than that who have read the message.
4. Try measuring "emails opened" over time, set a goal to increase the average number.

Expectations for an email campaign should be related to business goals. Just like the sales rep, these goals should be tangible. For example, do a short survey to collect feedback on how well customers like your newsletters. Query conference attendees to learn how many are there as a result of the email announcement. Check sales data to determine the relationship between actual sales and your email campaign. Ask the receptionist how many calls came in the afternoon of an email delivery.

Email Style & Etiquette - Common Writing Errors

A refresher course on writing is always a good idea.  I am treated to a lively discussion of grammar issues whenever I get together with my writer friends.  A few of these friends teach college writing skills, and it is no surprise to me to hear that student writing is often full of errors.

But professional writing, or business writing, should be a cut above the rest.

The resources are out there for learning to edit for errors.  We all remember Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, and there's my favorite, the AP Stylebook for journalists.

Check out "5 Grammatical Errors That Make You Look Dumb" at Copyblogger. 

For a refresher course on common business grammar issues, take the test at BusinessWriting.com's "The Most Common Business Usage Errors."

And here are a few of my own make-my-skin-crawl careless mistakes:

1. It's used as the possessive - the only use for "it's" is as a contraction for it + is.
2. Vague pronoun references - for example, "Send me the book before the weekend, since it is a long one."
3. Good used for well - the word well most often should be used as an adverb, describing a verb.

If you have time, also check out GrammarErrors.com.

Email Style & Etiquette - Scrap Paper Communication

I repeat, all business email is business email.

If an email comes from a business, then it should follow standards related to business writing.

So here is an example of what I call Scrap Paper Communication. This is a reply email from a staff member at a local newspaper consisting of exactly the following, no more, no less:

I think we are a bit to far gone for this year
Sorry, lets look at next year

Here are my first thoughts when I read this in my inbox:

1. What's too far?
2. Who sent this to me again?
3. This sender doesn't care about me as a consumer - not in the least.
4. This sender thinks he/she is texting me to my phone.

And here are suggestions which would make the message more appropriate for business use:

1. Add a greeting, incude my name.
2. Add punctuation.
3. Include a reference to or explanation about the original situation in question to help me recall why I am reading this email.
4. Fill me in on "next year" - who would I contact, when is a good time to follow up.
5. Add a signature, include contact info.
6. A branded design, business logo included.

Feel free to copy the example above and send to your staff.

An article titled "Writing for Business" at About.com elaborates:

"Whether you are writing a sales proposal, an email to your department, or an instruction manual for a software package, there are certain steps you need to follow to create effective business writing. You need to:

1. organize your material
2. consider your audience
3. write
4. proofread
5. and edit your text.

The emphasis on each step may vary, depending on what you are writing, but the steps will be the same." -F. John Reh

A great collection of tips and resources in business writing can be found at Lynn Gaertner-Johnston's blog: http://www.businesswritingblog.com/business_writing/tips/index.html

Cool Resource - EEC White Paper Room

The Email Experience Council does it again. 

In just over a year, this virtual group of professional email marketers has put together an original collection of research and reports specific to our field and intended to improve the quality of email marketing around the globe.

Recently, the new "White Paper Room" appeared with downloadable reports on issues such as:

• "The State of Email Matrics and Bounceback Management"
• "HTML or Text: Practical Advice on Campaign Formatting"
• "Send to a Friend Benchmark Study"

The issues at the core of the EEC are:

1. Deliverability and Rendering
2. Email User Experience
3. Creative that Works
4. List Growth and Engagement

For more on the EEC, go to www.emailexperience.org !

Email Best Practices - Formal vs Informal

On a formality continuum, I believe email falls into place in the middle.  This is where it truly has longevity:

Informal........... Formal..........Most Formal
     |                        |                        |
texting                email                snail mail
cell phone           Internet            postal service

In business, email has a long life ahead as a tool for customer service, customer/member retention, and targeted, anticipated sales.  Effective business email is branded, represents high standards, and targets quality over quantity.  Engage, request and fulfill.

Highlight of the Week - Grand Harbor's "alt" Tags

Are you using your image "alt" tag effectively?

I worry when I see terrific emails consisting of nothing but images.  If an email recipient reads emails withouth the images "turned on," then they won't see any of those bright blocks of color, cool fonts, and expressive photos.

For example, the Grand Harbor Resort sends me updates and specials.  They are full of fun, designed with lots of color and visuals.  And the back-end format of the email is simply one picture stacked on top of another. 

In case you are not familiar, the remedy for missing pictures is the "alt" tag.  For those with systems that do not automatically show images,there is a tool that programmers can use that will enable text to pop into the space where an image should be.  This is called an "alt" tag, and you can include your main point here. 

Amana Meat Shop

If you do allow pictures, you can check to see if an email is making proper use of "alt" tags by letting your mouse hover over a picture in an email, then a collection of words will pop up on top of that picture.  (Try this with the photo at right.)

Most "alt" tags will show up with simple phrases like, "Company Logo" or "On Sale Now."

What pops up behind the pictures in the email from the Grand Harbor Resort is this:

alt="These packages are based on 2 adults and 2 childrem. Additional charges per room may apply Fridays, Saturdays & (Grand Harbor) Holidays. Not valid with any other discount. Price does  not include taxes & gratuities. Not available for groups. Subject to availability. Valid 3-15-2007 through 5-31-07. Grand Harbor Resort & Waterpark is Managed by Platinum Hospitality Group. Located at 350 Bell Street; Dubuque, IA 52001. Phone is 563.690.4000 or toll free at 866.690.4006."

So why not!  It is their entire message, all included in the "alt" tag. 

I am impressed.

Best Practices - Authentication

More on Sender ID and authentication:

Some time ago, I created my own Sender ID record and added it to the SPF (Sender Policy Framework) record that already existed for wincommunications.com.  In order to use SPF, the domain sending the e-mails must establish an SPF record that is published in DNS (Domain Name System) records. 

I believe this has resulted in improved numbers of e-mails successfully delivered to subscribers on my list. 

The process involved simply adding the domain exacttarget.com to my SPF record.  This enables ISP's like Yahoo or MSN to check my record and authenticate e-mails sent by wincommunications.com via the ExactTarget server.

And this is the simple step-by-step guide to publishing your Sender ID record:

How does my organization create a Sender ID record?

1. Visit www.anti-spamtools.org to use the Sender ID Wizard to create a new Sender ID record - you will need to enter the domain that appears in the From Line of your e-mail messages (ie. wincommunications.com).  Click "Start".

2. Scroll down to the "outsourced domains" section of the wizard" and cut and paste your ESP's domain info into into this empty field:  (for example, with ExactTarget it is: cust-senderid.exacttarget.com )

3. Cut, paste and send the entire string of text - this record you just created - to your Technical Contact and request they publish it into your SPF record.  If your SPF record is not currently published, request that this be done.

4. Find the correct technical contact at your organization by visiting www.networksolutions.com or similar site and searching the "whois" record for your domain.

ExactTarget's "Sender ID Implementation Guide" elaborates on why authentication is important:

"Without sender authentication, email users have seen huge increases in email domain spoofing (falsifying the “from” address/domain) and phishing (fraudulent spam that attempts to capture private information or credit card numbers). Sender ID hopes to be the industry standard sender authentication scheme to counter e-mail domain spoofing and to provide greater protection against phishing schemes. This specification is the combined result of Microsoft's Caller ID proposal, Meng Wong's Sender Policy Framework (SPF), and a third specification called the Submitter Optimization. Due to this history, Sender ID is also referred to as 'SPF V2.'"

Email Best Practices - Build a Strategic Plan

Does your web site invite visitors to sign up for your email campaign?  If not, you are missing a major piece of the customer conversion and retention process.  And this is only the first step of a complete email strategic plan.

Joel Book, Director, eMarketing Strategy at ExactTarget organized a fantastic seminar last week called "Becoming a World-Class Email Marketer."  In talking about email effectiveness, Book said that step 1 is to develop a email communications plan.  His plan is start to finish:

1. Lead Generation - Sign up area at web site
2. Lead Qualification - Email confirmation message, request for preferences
3. Sales - Ongoing targeted, relevant email campaign, effective email design
4. Delivery/Implementation - Thank you, confirmation, delievery info emails
5. Product Support - User survey, how-to emails
6. Customer Service - Follow-up emails targeting product & purchase info

I'm guessing most marketers build campains that stop after Step 1 above. 

Assess your strategy, build messages for each step of the communications process, make greater use of your tools and targeting.  Hand-hold your audience from lead generation all the way through to ongoing customer service with a strategic email campaign.

It can be worth it - according to the DMA's The Power of Direct Marketing, October 2006, "Email drove $7.7 billion in consumer sales and $8.8 billion in business-to-business sales in 2005."

Email Style & Etiquette - Not a Problem

Think about this.  A customer service person answered my call about a product I pay for monthly in order to use their service.  I asked for something to be emailed to me explaining an additional service.  The phone rep said, "Not a problem."

Not a problem?  I am paying you.  I am in fact asking if I can pay you a little more.

Not a problem? 

It had better not be a problem.  If it is a problem, then you may choose to reduce your problems by simply cancelling all your customer orders.

This phrase draws upon the worst intentions and portrays the utmost disconcern for true customer service. 

In replying to a customer query, be it on the phone or in an email, stick with, "It is my pleasure" or  "I am happy to help."

Cool Resource - BestEzines.com

More and more permission-based marketing professionals are joining forces.  There are some truly top-notch resources out there, blogs, web sites, newseltters, RSS feeds - it is now a matter of sorting out all the information. 

And there are web sites that do that, too.

One such collection is BestEzines.com where you'll find a collection of titles listed by category.  These permission-based email newsletters have been reviewed, and are constantly being reviewed by visitors to the web site.  It's peer review, just like back in creative writing class! 

Look for our newsletter the WinM@il Business Builder under Internet Business. 

Highlight of the Week - NAWBO Web Site

Last week my photo and bio was posted in a "Member Spotlight" section at the home page of National Association of Women Business Owners! 

In addition, they will use that same info in their monthly newsletter.  This is a great use of repurposed material, and a nice touch to member retention efforts.

Not only that, what at terrific way to draw traffic to the web site.  I can vouch for this, because I told everyone I knew to go look at NAWBO.org and see what they see! 

Email Best Practice - Legal to Link?

Have you ever wondered, is it legal to include links within your email? 

Permission to link to articles may be required if there is a disclaimer at the original page or the original web site.  If not, then generally the assumption is that no permission is needed.

Recently one of our WinM@il customers inquired about this at the US Copyright Office.  The answer was was that it doesn't seem to be a problem to include links to other articles and web pages within an email newsletter.

An article at Clickz.com said this about linking within a newsletter: “It's Not Illegal in the U.S.  The court addressing the Ticketmaster case stated "hyperlinking itself does not involve a violation of the Copyright Act." Linking a reader to another Web site is like using a "library's card index to get reference to particular items... faster and more efficiently." The article points out that lawsuits that have arisen overseas ended in a court order to cease the use of the content.    SOURCE: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3564466

One legal source online said this about using links within a web site – a similar issue: “As a general rule, legal claims are most likely to arise if copyrighted material is modified or if customers are confused about the association between the two sites or the source of a product or service.”  They point out that unless money is being made by the use of the link, then the possibility of a lawsuit is next to none.  SOURCE: http://www.immigration-2-usa.com/lawyer-attorney-8CD796F2-9770-4ECA-B8F2B4F66DB170F1.html

(If this is a major concern, of course I would refer you to your attorney.)

Email Best Practices - Use the Phone

If it is a critical message you need to deliver, use the phone. 

A key piece of information delivered in an email is never certain to be received.  Reasons may include:

1. Incorrect or misspelled email address
2. Local, corporate or host system spam filters
3. Mistakenly deleted
4. Internet traffic jam or temporary shut-down

Some rules of thumb inlcude:

• If you expect a reply, ask for it. 
• If you need something by a certain time or day, make sure you say so. 
• If you don't hear back, call.

For more on email etiquette, check out http://www.emailreplies.com/

Email Best Practices - Unsubscribe or Else

A moment of truth came down for email service providers recently. 

A post at Computerworld.com leads with, "Marketer Yesmail Inc. has agreed to pay a $50,717 civil penalty to settle Federal Trade Commission charges accusing it of sending unsolicited commercial e-mail after recipients asked it to stop. "  Read more >>

Here is what we learn and what need to remember:

1. People may request to unsubscribe via an email, instead of the automatic unsubscribe feature. 
2. Pay just as much attention to email and offline requests. 
3. Check filters to make sure requests such as these are not being blocked from your inbox.

Unsubscribing is perhaps the trickiest piece of the CAN-SPAM Act.  Read, stay up to date, and actively manage this process.

Cool Marketing Resource - Email Benchmarks

Every reputable Email Service Provider collects data on their delivery rates, open rates, click-through rates, and so on. 

Recently I reveiwed a collection of data provided by MailerMailer.com.  This graphic depiction of email benchmarks gives one vendor's experience with their customers' email marekting campaigns.

Notable is their data on which days worked best during the second half of 2005 as well as the first half of 2006.  In the document "Email Marketing Metrics Report," one graph shows that email open and click-through rates actually dip on Wednesday and Thursday.

This question of the best day to deliver will always depend on your audience and your message.  But in a very general way, it might be worth considering Monday afternoon and Tuesday as having better odds, according to this one report.

And during the second half of the year, this could change...

Highlight of the Week - Nielsen BuzzMatrics

Pete Blackshaw of Nielsen BuzzMatrics coined the term "Consumer Generated Media," a.k.a. "Word of Mouth" marketing.  Blackshaw drew a record crowd to the local meeting of the American Marketing Association this week, and his presentation has been the buzz around town since then.

Three key takeaways from Blackshaw's presentation:

1. Blogs influence search engines.
2. Key influencers in this arena are between 45-54 years old.
3. Complaining customers are key influencers.

The idea is to monitor what is being said about your company or your brand, respond to realistic word-of-mouth trends, and even manage the "viral content" affecting your image. 

For more, visit Blackshaw's blog at http://notetaker.typepad.com/cgm/.

Highlight of the Week - Email Your Legislator

I joined a group of women business owners in a meeting with some local state and local representatives.

Here is a bi-partisan important lesson learned: Email, NOT regular mail.  Paper mail is a thing of the past, takes 10 times longer, has to go through security checks before it will ever reach your legislator, and is far less likely to get a response.

Email allows for quick response and poses no physical security threat.

So pitch that hand-written note that you thought would get attention, just email.

Highlight of the Week - Consumer Affairs

I was reading an article by Pete Blackshaw, Chief Marketing Officer, Nielsen BuzzMetrics,and co-founder of the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association.  Blackshaw will speak at the Nov. 1^st meeting of the local chapter of the American Marketing Association. 

Blackshaw writes about “brand feedback interfaces.”  He sends this reminder to marketing directors, consumer affairs departments, CEO's and communications professionals that customer feedback ultimately should rank higher on the proiority list than it usually does.  And the unique value of Internet marketing is its ability to both give and collect information.  Plan to deliver information, and simultaneously build strategies for immediate feedback. 

And more importantly, act on that feedback.

"Marketers consistently give this short shrift or punt it over to the attention-reduction operations department, almost as though consumer empowerment begins and ends with a marketing campaign. We should start to think about consumer affairs as new centerpiece of marketing."
-Pete Blackshaw

After all, if you don't address your customers' concerns, over time you may loose those customers.  And with most of us relying on current customers for the majority of our revenue, we need to make them feel as important to us as they truly are.

Build feedback into your Internet marketing strategy.

Blackshaw's article can be found at his web site: http://notetaker.typepad.com/cgm/

Cool Marketing Resources - A Collection

Thank you to the Digital Arts Group for hosting our session on email marketing!  As promised, here is the list of resources I mentioned:

Articles and Industry News

• Marketing Sherpa
  http://www.marketingsherpa.com
• Clickz
  http://www.clickz.com
• Emarketer
  http://www.emarketer.com

Technical Assistance

• W3C Markup Validation Service
  http://validator.w3.org/

Content and Creative

• The Campaign Monitor Email Newsletter Design Gallery
  http://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/archives/
  email_newsletter_design/
• Best Blogs for 2005
  http://marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2968
  MarketingSherpa
• The Web Style Guide
  http://www.webstyleguide.com

Guidelines

• The Basics of Email Marketing for Nonprofits
  http://www.convio.com/site/PageServer?pagename=rc_emarketing
  Convio
• Email Marketing Best Practices Blog
  http://emailmarketing.typepad.com/bestpractices/
• Top 10 Trends for the Next 10 Years
  http://wdfm.com/toptenmarketingtips.htm

Email Style & Etiquette - Reply to Confirm

On email in general: When you send an important document or message via email, do you ever get left wondering if the recipient ever actually received it?  You assume so.  But wouldn't it be great if that recipient shot back an email as soon as they received that important document or message - just to confirm.

After all, when you send important information via an overnight postal service, it is protocol to have the recipient sign for that document once received.

As a rule, whenever you receive an important document or message via email, reply to confirm its receipt.  If you are really short on time, just click "reply" and write, "received."

If you reply to confirm to a sender who is a prospect, don't forget to include your signature and tag line, perhaps use this opportunity to add value your reputation.

If you reply to confirm to a sender who is a customer or member, don't forget to include a thank you for recent business or membership.

Every message sent from your business email is a form of business communication.  Remember your etiquette, mind your p's and q's, and be professional.

More on email and Internet etiquette: http://www.library.yale.edu/training/netiquette/index.html

Cool Marketing Resource - Blogpulse

Search for the blog topic of your choice, it's easy.  For example, check out Blogwise or Blogpulse, two easy to use blog search tools.  Google will work too, but the blog engines contain all kinds of other info specific to blogs.