Friday, 4 June 2010

Target your subscribers using TriggerMail and get a greater ROI

Posted by Unknown at 11:22 am Labels: , , , , , ,
A few months have gone by since our 6-part series of blogs highlighting the launch of our TriggerMail feature and our recent case study  about the benefits available, I thought that we should maybe take a look at the usefulness of autoresponders (AKA TriggerMails).
If you’re unsure what TriggerMails are, checkout our video or the blog series.
The benefits of sending automated emails are very clear; timesaving, strengthening customer relationships with such things as an annual ‘Happy Birthday’, but there is something else which was shared with you in our segmentation blog article ; Triggered (or Prompted) emails provide a way to target your readers – much the same as segmentation.

So, where do I start ?
If you’ve decided to give it a try, and I strongly recommend that you do, begin by setting up a couple of triggers; if you’ve captured the dates of birth for your subscribers, simply setup an email to be sent to them say, 3 or 4 days beforehand giving a list of items that you will happily discount during the week in which their birthday falls. It is a fact that Birthday email messages generate a very good response and conversion-to-sales ratio.
Basically you are able to integrate your segmentation and TriggerMails, allowing you to monitor a customer’s past purchases, their account anniversary, any reviews that they may have posted on your site, payment reminders, even their wedding anniversaries and then set TriggerMail to automatically send them an email relevant to that occasion.  It can be anything from congratulations and best wishes, to product information or discounts on something they might find of interest.
If the response from your subscribers is positive you can always find more ways of integrating evermore TriggerMails into your campaigns.

What reason would I have to set these TriggerMails? 
Think of this as just another way for contacting your customers and develop the relationship between them and your brand, it tells them that you understand them and their interests. The result is that you email them more often and, because your emails have more relevance, they respond in a more relevant manner.

Isn’t this likely to result in my readers thinking that I’m bombarding them?
No, although you will be keeping in touch with more frequency, it’s a more relevant contact and these contacts are prompted by your subscriber’s response to a date or product specifically relating to them. Not all the contacts in your list will have received the email, as you only sent the emails to small proportions of your list.  Also, because these emails are more targeted, the result will be a greater ROI than your untargeted bulk email sends.

But doesn’t this mean that I should stop sending out mass emails and newsletters?
Of course not!  Bulk sending your newsletter is the way to spread your message and to gather more subscribers.  After all, it is the one that all your subscribers initially signed up to receive.  Using TriggerMail is your way of refining those relationships more and pushing potential customers into becoming actual purchasing customers, or existing customers to make further purchases.  Autoresponders are there to complement your email campaigns by balancing your bulk broadcast emails with relevant, targeted emails sent to a specific, small portion of your subscribers and, because they’re automated it releases you to focus on other things – be it a reviving cup of tea or an in-depth promotional strategy.

Put simply, TriggerMails added to your campaigns help you to send the right message at the right time to spur your subscribers to action.
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Thursday, 3 June 2010

What is the best time to send your newsletters?

Posted by Unknown at 11:23 am Labels: , , , ,
One of the most-often repeated questions I get is “ What is the prime sending time for my email newsletters; Monday?  Wednesday? Friday? ”
I suppose the REAL question is………… is there a ‘BEST’ time ?
 
One of the most important components in your email marketing campaign is controlled by your subscribers – the part where they DO or DON’T open your email. So much of your time and effort has been put into the creation of your a newsletter – the images, text, layout, the research for information and yet, all of that could be valueless if the recipient just simply deletes it, or dismisses it as junk. 

This is the time to consider timing your sends! Give some thought to what your subscribers would be doing on your scheduled send days. Will they be have the time to open and read your email?  

Many studies have shown that the most beneficial days to send are the middle of the week, mainly because this tends to be the busiest, so it would follow that your email has the most possibility of being opened and reacted to on those days. This is an observation but not a rule.
Monday and Friday should also be in your thoughts. As far as Monday goes, with plenty of week-ahead planning meetings, colleague catch-ups etc., it’s best to plan your email to arrive in the afternoon so that your subscribers have more time to read it.

Friday being a day when business people receive less email and, if they are able, they may invoke the ‘Poet’s Day’ rule (Push Off Early, Tomorrow’s Saturday) so send your message earlier in the day – or later if your mailings are B2C and you expect them to read it at home in the evening or over the weekend. So, what about the weekend? This is a bit more risky and you should only send if your stats have shown that sending (maybe to selected segments) at this time gives you a good response. If they do not show as active, it may be that they have been received and not checked and then lost in the Monday Mass of emails and possibly consigned, along with most of them, into the recycle bin.

As you can see from this, each day has its own benefits and disadvantages. The rule here is Research and feedback (check reports & statistics). Experimentation is acceptable and could be considered part of the research. It’s important that you send to suit your subscribers in preference to your own preferred schedule.
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Monday, 31 May 2010

Use of segmentation increases email marketing revenue by 322%

Posted by Unknown at 11:25 am Labels: , ,
I recently posted a blog article about subscriber segmentation and how, using it thoughtfully can greatly benefit your email campaigns.  I have since come across this excellent case study on Marketing Sherpa. It highlights how TicketsNow.com, a US company specialising in online ticket sales, has increased their email marketing revenues by 322% -directly through segmentation!



The case study describes how the company changed their email marketing strategy to draw their customers more closely to the brand with the aim of optimising those of its subscriber/ customers with a history of being bigger spenders.

They segmented their customers by spending habits and their interests, making them able to aim the newsletter in a much more focused way. 

They also introduced three customer loyalty programs:  Named ‘Preferred Customer Clubs’; customers gained automatic membership dependant on their annual spending $1,000+, $3,000+ or $8,000+.  Upon gaining membership they were sent consumer incentive offers such as free shipping or use of an exclusive customer support line. Members of these clubs received emails which were directly targeted to their membership level and even past click-throughs. In addition, they received more personalised emails reminding them of upcoming events that they had purchased tickets for, plus extra, related information, such as discounts available from restaurants close to the event. Following each event they sent out an email with reviews from other customers and offering the chance to submit their own revue, giving their customers the ability to not only engage with the brand on a more social level, but also to become part of a ‘community’ of loyal customers who interacted with each other with individual recommendations and reviews.

So, what began as a segmentation exercise resulted with enviable customer-relationships and loyal & interacting customers – plus that 322% increase in sales conversions! All achieved through their email marketing campaign and, as if that weren’t enough, their subscriber list grew by 87% and their complaint and unsubscribe rates fell too.

Mark Hodes, Senior Vice President of Customer Marketing for TicketsNow.com, said of the campaign: "I think it proves that more (targeted) email can only help keep people engaged and keep them more active as repeat customers.”

When it comes to the subjects of segmentation and targeted email marketing, campaign stands out as a perfect example of how to put it into practice.  Although it may sound intricate, all the tools to achieve this are sitting in your Graphicmail account just waiting to be used. Just refer to my previous article for the 1st step – subscriber segmentation which shows you how to customise your subscription form and set the automated subscriber segmentation tool. Then, using TriggerMail you can setup event reminders such as those sent out from TicketsNow.com.

With a little thought you can combine both TriggerMail & segmentation to engage your customers within a campaign which they feel a part of and is relevant to them, making them more likely to respond to it
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