How to Create Engagement?

Yesterday we spoke about engagement and the need to connect with the consumers interests. Here is a little more information on the five tips for engagement.

Improved Segmentation – Put people into segments or categories that they have an interest in. If you haven’t captured their preferences, track what they are doing so you don’t have to throw everyone under the same ‘campaign bus.’

Active Subject Lines – Ask people questions or lead them someplace. Use intrigue and not deception, track what they do (reverse preferences) and leverage this information back into your campaigns. Here are some subject lines that have worked well, but use these to create your own.

Make the Personalization Real – Name calling, personalized URL’s, emails from the president might all look cool to marketers but they do very little to drive effective results. The recipient knows that these are not real and therefore not really relevant. You can use historical information or real time information across channel to achieve effective personalization. Watch what they do, and respond accordingly.

Track your numbers – You need to work these effectively. If people are not paying attention to what you send them you need to stop those campaigns or even stop including all the extra information that they do not read. Your open rates tell you about interest in your campaigns, clicks tell you about further interest, and conversion tells you about ultimate interest. Un-subscribes on certain campaigns tell you how the overall campaign may have been perceived – it is not just about the individual un-subscribing.

Create Interactive Conversations – Learn to engage across channel. You have to join the conversation and not just force your opinion onto the customer. A dialogue is beneficial to you as it tells you what the recipient wants and allows you to make your follow up campaigns more effective.

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Confucius Say: Follow Me, Share This!

With the buzz around social media marketing and the need to go into the life of the consumer, marketers are trying their hardest to get included. There is so much talk about inclusion and about following that marketers are forgetting to look at some fundamental issues.

If you want to get included on the Facebook page of the consumer, it is very much like asking the consumer to invite you & their friends into their living room. The consumer needs to feel comfortable about including you before they open you up to themselves and more so their friends. The same thing applies to Twitter; about getting the consumer to add you to their safe list via email; or even getting them to visit your blog.

You need to engage the consumer with something that the consumer has an interest in and not just expect that the consumer will blindly follow you.

It goes back to a quote by the Chinese philosopher Confucius – ‘Marketer who wants to share something should first be sure he have something to share.’

Okay so Confucius didn’t say that, but to really keep a consumer engaged you need to learn what it takes to keep them interested. It is all about engagement (2009 is the year of engagement for marketers), about making connections. Here are five simple ideas to help facilitate engagement –

You have to improve your segmentation
You have to use active copy
You have to achieve real personalization, name calling will not cut it
You have to look hard at your numbers, if something doesn’t work don’t do it
You have to carry on a conversation


More details on each one of these to follow tomorrow.

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SIA Recap: Email Elements

Did you miss Friday’s Service In Action call? Don’t worry, all our SIAs are available as podcasts, simply visit our library of past calls and don’t hesitate to request a copy of the presentation. Here’s a portion of the topics discussed in the Messaging Must section:

• No CSS – Try to not cascading stylesheets or CSSs, instead do all of the text formatting inline within the HTML. Some ISPs will strip out CSS code within emails. If you cannot avoid using CSS then try to embed the style within the two body tags and not within the header.


• No Scripting – Avoid using any kind of scripting such as javascript, as most email clients will register javascript as a virus


• "Strong" not "b" – Instead of using the "b" tag for bolding, try "Strong" instead; the "b" tag is commonly used by spammers and many filters have begun to take notice.
  
• No TBODY – Avoid the use of TBODY tags in your code. Several ISPs look at the use of a TBODY tag as a characteristic of Spam.

We also have great examples of elements that will make your emails stronger – items like alternative content for mobile, alternate hosted content (to accommodate alternate language/ imaging) and sharing options to turn your messages viral.

Next Call
Our next Service In Action call is Friday, October 30 at 2:00 ET.

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SIA SPOILER ALERT: Email Elements

Today’s Service In Action call is full of elements that will make your emails stronger – items like alternative content for mobile, alternate hosted content (to accommodate alternate language/ imaging) and sharing options to turn your messages viral.

We’ve also put together a check list of Messaging Musts to give detail on the items we know we have to have, items to avoid and ways to make your campaigns stronger… think of it as a refresher for you advanced eMarketers. Make plans to join us today, we can’t give everything away on the blog!

Service In Action: Email Elements
Today, September 24
2:00 ET/ 1:00 CT

Need the dial-in and webinar? Send us an email!

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SIA: Email Elements

Are your messages doing all they can? We’ll discuss tips to make sure your messages have all the winning elements including invitations for feedback, paths to other interaction points and innovative ideas we’ve seen.

We’ll also cover tips for strong construction, must-have message components and future evolutions of our channel. We look forward to Hearing you on the call!

Service In Action: Email Elements
Friday, September 24
2:00 ET/ 1:00 CT

Need the dial-in and webinar? Send us an email!

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Have Fun

Lets face it, we all got into Marketing because we enjoyed it… there’s a classic brand that you know, a graphical achievement that you’re proud of or something you’ve written that surpasses all else. Now think about how good it is to receive an email from an old friend, maybe one you don’t talk to that often yet you can’t wait to see what the email says.

Call on these feelings the next time you get bogged down in the details of our day to day – think about why you got into the space. Figure out how to make the most of your recipient’s experience, determine how you can be that long-lost friend for them and create that need for them to open and read your offer. The easiest ways to achieve this status is by offering your recipients something new; something of value (a little personalization wouldn’t hurt either.)

Obviously this is not something that can be achieved overnight; there are many smaller steps necessary to earn that friend status. Don’t worry, we can help! Join us on Friday for our next Service In Action call to see some of the latest Email Elements you can include in your campaigns to pique your recipients’ interest, build excitement and get to the point of wanting to see what you have in store for them.

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Test Time!

Earlier this year we blogged how some eMarketers failed to test their campaigns – that includes actual performance as well as prior to authorization. eMarketer also reported on this eROI study in an August article, detailing how eROI found 37.1% of US eMarketers did not test their campaigns.

This shocking statistic was largely attributed to marketers not knowing how to test (nearly 33% of respondents.) Other respondents claimed not to have the time (27.4%) and still others didn’t see the value. Obviously, we’re appalled at the results of this study… how can you see the true value of your campaigns, determine ROI or even gather additional insight on your hypotheses if you don’t test?

We’ll do our best to remove some of the testing guess work – join our upcoming Service In Action call this Friday to see where you can make quick fixes to your campaigns, learn key elements that are deserving of your attention and know where you can quickly make improvements.

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Construction Zone

Remember the early days of the web when you would find a website still under construction? These sites all had similar graphics with the promise of new information in the near future. Today’s world won’t allow that same approach; and while some eMarketers may want to pause efforts while they update email templates, we all know that throwing up a construction sign isn’t going to work.

Email evolution typically moves slowly, eMarketers add elements to strengthen their offers and keep the recipient’s interest… but the marketer has to carefully manage the process so that they don’t derail the recipient’s established expectations, it’s a delicate balance with the major updates reserved for the biggest changes to the brand. This past year has seen a number of email evolutions – social sharing, mobile versioning and alternate hosted versions are all gaining precedence – these are all great additions for the industry and the recipient but without handing the process correctly your campaigns can start to become disorganized.

Our next SIA webinar will detail some of the newest elements that can enhance your campaigns without overpowering; we’ll show effective ways to incorporate ideas, the associated value and innovative approaches to include everything while still managing the recipient’s expectations. We’ll also include an email construction refresher course, with tips to help you avoid the spam filters, meet all requirements and plan ahead for the next round of email must-haves.

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Getting There

What do you see in the immediate future of brand marketing? What steps do you need to take to reach the interaction hypothesized in yesterday’s post – the interactive glasses, the mobile beaming or virtual/ in-store connections? Obviously, this evolution will consist of a series of smaller steps which brings up many of the points covered in an eMarketer article, Could Your Multichannel Marketing Do More?

Think back to a few years ago when online shopping was in its infancy, retailers were concerned that a website would harm their in-store sales and were reluctant to make the leap. This is similar to some of the resistance today with multi-channel integration… some marketers have concerns that social media will tarnish their brand, concerned that their customers won’t want mobile messaging or that they will be too pushy if they use the personalization points available.

Yet research has proven that the multi-channel consumer is more engaged, spends more, more often – Shop.org and Forrester Research report that multi-channel retailers saw more sales growth in 1Q09 than web-only retailers (as compared to the same time span in 2008.) Even in this down economy, 68% of multi-channel retailers reported web sales growth… only 39% of web-only retailers were able to make that claim. Although today’s consumer may still be a bit more conservative in their purchases, they still want convenience, flexible options and a personalized experience to help make their buying decision… like years before, marketers are moving toward new changes, slowly. Take the time to consider your future consumer interactions and be one of the companies setting customer expectations.

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In the Year 2000…

How forward is your thinking? How far ahead of the trend is your brand? Where will it evolve, how easily will you respond to the consumer’s needs?

Yesterday we had the opportunity to be part of The Retail Environment of the Future, an event that brought together retailers to see where the industry was heading, brainstorm how to further current capabilities and form our future. Topics included loyalty and retention, mobile integration and consistent cross-channel messaging – topics that have been covered on this blog!

So, dear readers, today’s challenge is for you to think ahead, imagine where you would like to evolve your consumer interaction in the next year, five years, ten years… do you see shoppers walking though your store with interactive glasses? Do you see mobile hotspots that beam information to their hand-held device? Are you virtually connected in the same physical space? These could be real possibilities that could play a part in our global marketing efforts.

Think ahead and consider where we can help in your planning – give us ideas for topics, challenge us so that we can offer the information, opinions and foresight to help you formulate your future and the future of our industry!

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Off the Record

Like many of you, I’ve been party to (and even participated in) conversations about Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards… specifically the first award of the night when Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech. For those of you less motivated by the VMAs, perhaps you heard about President Obama’s “off the record” comment about the event… where an ABC News reporter Tweeted the president’s comment. ABC has since apologized for slipping the confidential comment, but this event (the Tweeting, not the VMA upstage) raises the question of a Social Media policy.

This week we’ve posted updates related to the need for a Phishing Policy and Pharming Policy to protect your brand against would-be imposters; another area to consider is the social media exposure that may be beyond your control. Unlike phishing and pharming, marketers seek the viral component that social media offers – the most valuable form is the third-party (consumer) endorsement.

Unfortunately this is a difficult balance, consumers can just as easily post unflattering along with the flattering brand comments – yet it’s important to note that all posts give you opportunity to address concerns with a larger group. In the event of an unflattering post, consider addressing on your page (i.e. Tweet about the Tweet, post a reply/ clarification on your Facebook or MySpace page) to clarify the concern. It may be a simple misunderstanding… This is also an area where your recipient base plays a huge role; they serve as monitors for your brand often in more areas, more frequently than your marketing department ever could.

Remember that social media is not something to be feared, it’s a channel that offers unlimited, untapped potential; just formulate some guidelines to detail how you (as a company) will participate. Assign a contact to formulate ways to attract more followers/ friends and develop ways to inspire interaction through polls, offers, smaller contests and/ or open feedback. This person should also monitor the corporate pages daily and be responsible for what’s posted on the page… be open, after all this is the most organic form of marketing we have available today!

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False Relationships

A close relative of the phishing scam (see yesterday’s post) is a pharming site, like the phishing emails these sites can damage your brand without you even realizing… prevention is really the best measure for both threats. By taking precaution, developing a response plan and making sure your recipients know how to differentiate between what’s real and what’s false you can help safeguard your brand – you’ll also have more eyes monitoring for you!

Today’s post will give you a leg up on development of your Phishing/ Pharming plan; many items can be gleaned from the IRS website cited in yesterday’s post and additional items can be taken from the ComputerWorld article by Robert Mitchell detailing brand protection against cybersquatters. Here are some points to consider:

1) Create a Plan – Write out a (internal) policy for addressing fraudulent emails and/ or websites – this could be an amendment to your online privacy policy and should be referenced in that document. Internally identify a title/ group responsible for addressing the reported issue; this person/ department should also know protocol for verification (i.e. web searches etc.) and the chain of command to report such issues.

2) Make it Easy – Be sure your email recipients and site visitors know how to report suspicious emails and/ or websites. This will give you additional eyes and ears.

3) Save everything – Keep domain registrations, reports, trademark verifications etc. Know where they are located and how to access in the event that you have to verify a claim against your brand.

Remember, prevention goes a long way in the online world. Take a few moments to prepare, search and know what you’re up against.

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Tax Notice

Last weeks headlines included a resurfacing of an IRS Phishing Scam, in particular an email notice CP2000 promising recipients refunds on un/ under-reported income. Needless to say these notices were not from the IRS, they were false attempts to collect personal information from the recipients. Like their predecessors, this email (example included) contained a link promising to provide details on the income and how to collect via an online form. This of course was simply a way to collect the recipient’s personal and financial information.

I have to applaud the IRS because their site includes easy-to-find links to their privacy policy on their home page, they include helpful information on what recipients should expect and details on how to report scams. They immediately detail that they don’t request personal information, PIN numbers or financial information via email. They also detail prefixes for all IRS webpages to help aid in the identification of fraudulent sites.

As a marketer with an established email program, you should consider the protection of your recipients – is it easy for them to report a phishing scam to you? Would the average user be able to identify your legitimate message over a fake one? Take precaution, protect your brand and have a plan in place to address fraud against your brand when it is reported.

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Cut, Print, Moving On!

Everyone is in the movie business these days… your mobile phone probably has a camcorder, you’ve likely viewed an online video this week, maybe even posted one over the recent three-day weekend. The September Internet Retailer features a cover story on The New Show Business reports company success stories with online video. According to stats from comScore over 157M videos were viewed by US Internet users in June – a record for a single month. Additional detail is provided by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, showing that 62% of adult internet users watch videos on YouTube or similar sharing sites; this is up from 33% in the past three years.

One of the companies featured in the article has also been part of our past Panel of Peers events; Blendtec’s success with online video on YouTube is a legend in the space. The company entered into the online video space about three years ago with tier CEO blending everything from an iPod to my personal favorite, Glow-Sticks in their commercial-grade blenders. Since entering the space they have seen a 700% rise in sales.

Some Friends of the Yogi have also made an entry into the online video space – Quill has started a series on YouTube under the Ask Quill heading, their experts offer advice on FAQs in the office supply and small electronic space. Take a look at how they’ve packaged their videos!

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Social Etiquette

It was bound to happen and I’m certain that Emily Post is rejoicing with the consideration of social media etiquette – recent press on this front for individual users is detailed in a US Today article by Barbara Ortutay, entitled Don't post that!': Networking etiquette emerges. In the article Ortutay discusses the hierarchy necessary for releasing important information, focusing on the life-changing events and how those close to you should know first (live) instead of receiving the mass-updates with your friends on Facebook or Twitter.

eMarketer covers the etiquette front for businesses and brands with their Social Media Best Practices article, they discuss the need for a social media strategy and reports that only a third of larger business have an established, written policy to manage their brand communications (13% of smaller businesses surveyed had one in place.)

Established policies cover everything from responding to user feedback, monitoring the conversation and co-branding posts that can be added alongside their own. Policies also include how to respond to feedback – ranging from simply monitoring to individually contacting those making negative comments.

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Total Immersion

We’ve all heard the old adage that to learn a language you have to completely immerse yourself; the same is true with the language of social media. This year has seen many new companies taking the initial Language Course and navigating their established brand into the social world.

This influx does more than just add to the participants, it also changes the mindset of consumers; your current and potential consumers are becoming accustomed to finding brands on Twitter or Facebook and using these settings to search for offers and information. This change could be the motivation necessary to add the necessary components to your social outreach or simply enter the space.

Jump in by researching other brands to see how they are making their way in the various outlets, look to industry experts to accelerate your efforts and keep current with consumer expectations. A current Ad Age article by Phil Johnson touches on this subject, in Selling Social Media Isn't Hard; Implementing It Is, Johnson refers to Twitter as the social-media gateway drug and provides advice on the best ways to begin.

We’ve blogged about numerous social media topics and have podcasts with additional insight, access our library for the June and March topics covering Social Media Musts and Strategies to balance Social efforts with Email.

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Everybody’s on the Phone

I accidently left my cell phone at home this past weekend while out running errands… needless to say, I went back to get it. Although I didn’t have any missed calls or texts, I felt unarmed and disconnected in those few minutes.

It would appear that I’m not alone, marketing articles abound on the pervasiveness of mobile users and the future of the industry. Many believe that mobile devices will be the main entry point for messaging, social networking, entertainment and Web access in just a few years. There are also tons of data on users and how they are accessing information. According to comScore (courtesy of eMarketer,) the male/ female split in mobile subscriber data is fairly equal – 53% women, 47% men.

Usage is another point of interest, with text messaging trumping voice calls as the main means of communication; Nielsen showed that in 1Q09, the average US mobile subscriber sent/ received 486 text messages but only made 182 calls each month. Usage has carriers struggling; a recent Fortune article cites Cisco Systems estimate of global mobile data traffic exceeding 200 terabytes per month (six times the 2009 estimated levels.)

These stats along with the evolving sophistication of users, technology and access plans set the stage for increased marketing opportunities especially among smartphone users – so the question remains, do you have a mobile strategy? You can start by accessing our recent SIA Mobile Podcast…

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Un-/ Semi-Followed

Marketers know that their recipients don’t always pay attention to their emails… it’s a sad reality that comes with the nature of me medium. Yet there are other ways that you could be ignored, or partially ignored. Augie Ray posted an article last month on Social Media Today detailing the Eight Twitter Habits That May Get You Unfollowed or Semi-Followed.

With email, you know whether or not your messages go un-opened, with Twitter (and other social media) you may never know that you’re being snubbed – solutions like TweetDeck or HootSuite allow users to follow you with different levels of filtering, everything from the allowing all posts through, a partial or the dreaded complete ignore.

Earning the cold shoulder is directly related to your use of Twitter… activities without much value or variety like constantly Tweeting about your business (#8) or only posting links (#5) can place you on the ignored list. There are also dangers with excessive games (#4) and the Twitter-equivalent to the reply-all… publicly thanking others for the follow or other reply (#2.)

A ninth could be a recent phenomenon mentioned in USA Today, the Pay per Tweet. Certain celebrities are getting paid for mentions of products/ brands to their followers. Examples include Kim Kardashian and Holly Madison Tweeting about Giorgio Armani to their 2.1 million and nearly-175K followers respectively. According to this article, one (un-named) celebrity has received $20K for a single product placement post…

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Other Avenues

Upcoming state legislation in Maine will restrict direct marketing practices for individuals under the age of 18 in the state, but there are grey areas that the Legislation doesn’t necessarily address – one of which is that of social media. Based on my interpretation of the legislation, marketers are restricted from sending direct marketing to individuals… there aren’t restrictions on regulating entrance into company websites.

Therefore the through fares in which individuals access your site may or may not be subject to the proposed changes – we encourage marketers to consult with their legal council regarding social media sites to insure that your current efforts won’t be impacted by the new guidelines... your current fan page may have Maine residents under 18, as could your Twitter page.

Considering that four in five Americans use social media at least once a month and half participate in social-networking services like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace (per a recent Forrester Research report) you may have recipients viewing your information/ offers that you cannot target/ suppress.

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Knowing your Audience

Yesterday’s post made me wonder how many marketers have the information necessary to exclude Maine residents under 18… it’s a pretty simple query but is dependant on your collection data, something that could easily be overlooked as part of the sign-up process.

Earlier this year we published posts focused on collection of data, one of our April posts, Email & Survey, referenced a Return Path study on the sign-up processes of nationally-known companies. Their findings showed that 60% of the retailers and 20% of companies surveyed only the subscriber’s email address. This limited information does more than restrict your ability to segment and personalize; it also limits your ability to conform to updated standards.

Without concrete knowledge, marketers will need to back into the creation of a suppression list to comply with the Maine Legislation; a risky gamble considering the associated penalties for a miss-send. Take a look at your sign-up process, a simple verification checkbox and/ or resident state collection field would go a long way in alleviating any future state-specific mandate worries.

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New Marketing Legislation

Later this month, the state of Maine will implement legislature regulating the collection and use of health-related and personal information of minors in their state. Maine’s Act to Prevent Predatory Marketing Practices against Minors goes into effect on September 12, and adds additional regulatory restrictions to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) established by the Federal Trade Commission.

COPPA has been active since 1998, and requires verified parental consent before a site may collect personal information from children under the age of 13. The Maine Act differs to COPPA in certain regards:

• Maine defines a minor as anyone under the age of 18 years of age


• Health-related information has an expansive definition and includes “any information about an individual or a member of the individual’s family relating to health, nutrition, drug or medication use, physical or bodily condition, mental health, medical history, medical insurance coverage or claims or other similar data.”


• COPPA is written for website operators, Maine’s Act applies generally to persons, broadly defined as "an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, association, syndicate, organization, society, business, trust, attorney-in-fact and every natural or artificial legal entity." The Maine Act also expands past online information collection to regulate other forms of collection.


• The Maine Act prohibits three categories of activity – unlawful collection of data from minors, unlawful use of data from minors and predatory marketing against minors.
  The Maine Act includes provisions for significant fines and private causes of action with the potential for attorney's fees.

Many organizations are looking to revise their current policy and while we encourage these revisions we are unable to provide legal advice – nor should this post be considered direction. We encourage you to access the links referencing the legislation, as well as tips from Winston & Strawn LLP (found through a simple online search) and consult your legal representatives regarding the necessary steps to update your current collection strategy.

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