Key Learning: Marketing Sherpa, EEC, Online Marketing Summit

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Three major industry events recently concluded. Their focus was around engaging consumers leveraging the digital channel. Marketing Sherpa & the Email Experience Council focused on engagement through email. The Online Marketing Summit focused on all things digital.

Here are some key lessons from each of these events:

This is what Sherpa said …

1. Subject lines are like pick-up lines, it’s their job to start a conversation
2. Creating a clearer, more valuable subject line can increase open rates by 25.3%
3. Email subscribers are more cautious and anxious than web browsers because of SPAM
4. Treat the recipients who take time to share their network as an influencer segment
5. Test with the most recent names on your email list; they will give you higher performance rate
6. Content trumps creative. The offer is key.
7. Do not give equally weighted calls-to-action to a recipient; you mitigate your conversion rate.
8. Lose the marketing talk- email is a conversation, not an ad campaign
9. Plaintext continues to outperform busy emails
10. Make sure you have the 3 elements of a good email:
11. 3 C's- Capture, Convince & Close
12. Don’t become too distracted with social media

Here are some highlights from the EEC …

1. Remember that people use multiple emails, some of which are for “entries” and others for “orders”
2. What is the value of an email address??
3. Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior logic used to fuel recommendations email programs
4. Have a Mobile Sign-up Page
5. Have a unique sign-up page URL included on packaging
6. Segment a subscriber based on product / service purchased
7. Plan triggered campaign streams to engage the consumer

These were topped off by what I learned at the Online Marketing Summit (OMS)

1. The best way for a B2B business to engage with social is to use it for customer service & educational content
2. B2C businesses should use social media for acquisition, for engagement, and testimonials
3. Reviews are very extremely important
4. Email has a new boyfriend, a mobile device.
5. Good old-fashioned sweepstakes are the best way to grow your list
6. HTML 5 will be the new rage in 2011.
7. Only 10% of your viewers see your trust symbol on your campaigns because it is below the fold, why hide it?
8. Landing page optimization is vital, this is your next step for email marketers. (focus on the clickers)
9. Pay attention to preference pages.

Content will drive engagement, focus on content, and set up content goals like customer retention, lead generation, thought leadership, lower customer service costs, inspire influencers, etc.

The best learning from OMS - integrate your different digital channels. Their sessions on search and social media were very eye opening and very practical.

I also attended ‘Social Media Masters’ courtesy of the Social Media Club. The key to success is planning, focus, and measurement.

The one major way to make your email program stand out is to focus on consumer engagement through relevant conversations, which means that we have to capture and execute on preferences.