30 Do's & Don'ts to Engage the Email Recipient

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Last week, I had an opportunity to participate in panel discussion on email marketing best practices. The workshop was part of a day long event hosted by the Email Experience Council (eec). Jeanniey Mullen (founder of the eec, not pictured on the left) the CMO of Zinio & VIVmag moderated a discussion amongst us to look for nuggets of best practices. The two other panelists included Aaron Smith from Smith - Harmon (now a Responsys company), & Debbie Kane from Active Interest Media (Yoga Journal is one of their publications).

As Jeanniey kicked off our discussion, she talked about the fact that reading emails became much easier. Our consumer has real time access to our messages across multiple channels - the smart phone, computer, e-readers, & kiosks - plus our consumers can access the information in near real time. What is also interesting to note is that digital readers of all kinds offer color, expansive content, video, & are extremely mobile. As we think about design, we need to consider all of these factors to design our messages.

Perhaps the most significant aspect is to realize that the same message can be opened across multiple devices. We need to make sure that we are not cluttering the smart phone, or making the larger PC look skimpy. Most importantly, we need to think about the concept of continuous engagement.

Debbie highlighted her five do's as - 'Test' the message, 'Analyze' the results, use 'Web Designers,' have a clear 'Call to Action,' & keep important stuff 'Above the Fold.' She emphasized taking the time to test & analyze results as we put together campaigns. The key consideration was to make sure that the email design was not just a direct mail piece that was converted - she saw clear differentiation in results when an effort had been made with web designers.

Aaron highlighted his five do's as - check your 'Preview Pane,' see how the email looks 'Rendered,' create an iron clad 'Process,' run a 'Test' with every send, & focus on the 'Three Fundamentals.' The three fundamentals were - 1 - what is this email about? 2 - Why do my subscribers care? & What do they do about it? Aaron wanted us to think about how our emails would be rendered if the images were to be turned off.

My five do's were - think about why the consumer should 'sign' up for the email, using intrigue to engage the consumer, tracking both what people 'do' & 'do not do,' run subject line 'tests,' & using social media to 'drive up' open rates. The two fundamentals I stressed were to have a plan - the best way to have a clear mission is to ask yourself (and your team & your customers) as to why one should sign up for the email program. The other key thing was to leverage interactive social media content to drive up engagement within emails.

Aaron's five don'ts were quite thoughtful. He wanted you to make the un-subscribe process 'uncomplicated,' not to say too much with 'one' email, not let email become a 'silo' channel that doesn't pay attention to what the other channels are doing, think about the 'landing page,' & keeping in mind that what works today may not work tomorrow (or vice versa). I really like the way Aaron emphasized the landing page as that is the consumer destination - we need to think in terms of steps - about guiding our consumer to a landing page where we can try to persuade them to do more. If we do this right, our conversion will go up dramatically.

Debbie is an extremely busy marketer. She is trying to get a lot out as quickly as possible. Her don'ts were - not to assume something 'works,' not to 'overcomplicate' the email creative, don't 'over-mail' the list, don't 'under-mail' the list, & she then re-emphasized the importance of not just using a print piece for email success. The best way to find the perfect frequency is to use a control group to see how that group responds. If you would like a paper on how to come up with an ideal frequency send me a note.

My five don'ts were about not ignoring 'reports' or your 'front line,' about not over-mailing your 'non-responders,' about having concise & intriguing 'subject lines,' about making sure that you don't forget a 'call to action,' & about the importance of being 'timely.' I even suggested making a deliberate mistake in your copy and rewarding the first employee to find that mistake. This way you raise the awareness of your campaigns, solicit good feedback, & usually find other unintentional mistakes.

Jeanniey summarized our discussion best when she spoke about the impending arrival of so many different new devices & how consumers were intuitively adopting these devices. She wanted us to be 'email ready.' Big emphasis on testing, big emphasis on design, & a big emphasis on user experience.

All 30 tips are available on the eec blog @ 30 Do's & Don'ts.

Jeanniey (the real Jeanniey Mullen pictured to the right) stressed the importance of not only testing how your emails looked across multiple devices (and browsers), but she talked about the value of testing different offers to see what could drive better results.

Many thanks to the eec to pull this event together. If you are looking for a place to learn more about email marketing, network with you peers, & share best practices join us at the Email Evolution Conference 2011. More information can be found at EmailEvolution.org.