50+ email marketing hacks that will double your response rates

50+ Email Marketing Hacks That Will Double Your Response Rates Matt Heinz President @heinzmarketing Heinz Marketing Inc July 16, 2015 Housekeeping • Copies of this deck • Free Extras! • • • Secrets to Successful Email Marketing Secrets to Successful Content Marketing The Modern Marketer’s Field Guide • Email me (matt@heinzmarketing.com) or bring me a business card with what you want Page Email Hacks & Best Practices Planning Process Optimization Measurement Integration @heinzmarketing #mktgnation Page Planning: “No, that is NOT a campaign!” Planning Best Practices Campaigns vs programs vs “sends” Know the objective (email is the drill, what is the hole??) What is the customer point of view? What stage of the buyer’s journey are you addressing? What is the customer context (i.e how and when will the email be received?) How will email integrate with other channels or outreach efforts? Is email really the best channel to drive response? List management (!) @heinzmarketing #mktgnation Page Process: “Why can’t you just send it now?” Process Best Practices Have a documented production checklist Have a documented quality assurance process Use Litmus to test multiple delivery formats, clients & channels Optimize for HTML, pain text and image-free viewing Require at least three subject line options in your creative brief Require a creative brief (!) Coordination with sales efforts Sales enablement packages to support follow-up @heinzmarketing #mktgnation Page 3.Optimization: “Counterintuitive usually wins…” Optimization Best Practices Test days of the week The “from” line – people vs buildings vs “do-not-reply” Resend to unread prospects What are you doing with transactional emails? Format, calls to action, etc Video embeds (one:many and one:one) Mobile optimization Triggered responses (based on lead scoring or predictive analytics) “You” vs “I” messaging @heinzmarketing #mktgnation Page Subject Line Best Practices Test (no subject) The pros & cons of “RE:” and “FW:” subject lines Tease, Personalize, Prioritize, Numbers 35-50 characters max to optimize for opens, 70+ characters to optimize for clicks @heinzmarketing #mktgnation Page 10 Transactional Email Best Practices Does marketing “own” the email? What else does the recipient need to know? WHEN should they get the email? Transaction vs Experience Out-of-Office Emails @heinzmarketing #mktgnation Page 11 Other variables to drive response Intro/teaser headers Clarity of call to action Contact information in the salutation PS content PPS content @heinzmarketing #mktgnation Page 12 Measurement: “Did it work?” Measurement Best Practices Which metrics really matter? Leading vs lagging indicators Integrated systems tracking post-click conversion Long-tail tracking impact (in isolation & across campaigns) Don’t take inactives too seriously @heinzmarketing #mktgnation Page 14 Integration: “Email does not stand alone…” Integration Best Practices Channel coordination: Email, Web, social, offline, events, etc Sales coordination: Scheduling, follow-up materials, email/phone/VM sequences Post-campaign segmentation: Opens, clicks, unresponsives, etc Progressive profiling @heinzmarketing #mktgnation Page 16 Other apps worth checking out… MailCharts – What your competitors are sending… TimeTrade – Let prospects schedule meetings with you immediately… unroll.me – Unsubscribe from all of your spam at once… BombBomb MailLift @heinzmarketing #mktgnation Page 17 Reminder! • Copies of this deck • Free Extras! • • • Secrets to Successful Email Marketing Secrets to Successful Content Marketing The Modern Marketer’s Field Guide • Email me (matt@heinzmarketing.com) or bring me a business card with what you want Page 18 Thank You!