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Publisher's Note: November 25 2002
Two things I like about the ClickZ conferences; they're relatively small and the speakers are accessible.
They got about 250 people at the San Francisco conference last week, which isn't bad when you consider they were competing with the @d:tech online advertising conference in New York. A ClickZ conference in New York in May sold out after drawing 400 attendees. Consensus was that the attendees were from larger, better-known organizations; I spoke with attendees from Intel, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Walter Drake. And that's why I like smaller conferences -- it seems easier to meet and speak with people. With a conference this size you're seeing the same folks over and over again, and it's easier to build relationships. Those large 'Convention Center' conferences with thousands of attendees are more sterile, and people tend to keep more to themselves.
And the speakers. Many were there for most of the conference, so you could talk to them at the coffee break or maybe even corral them for a quick lunch. Which I think is great. It's nice to sit through a presentation, but it's even better to be able to talk one-on-one about the industry.
Here are some highlights from the two-day event, for those of you who were unable to attend.
"In the next six months, we'll get rid of spam, I promise you that"
This may not be an exact quote, but it's the spirit of the message Phillip
Raymond, CEO of Vanquish, delivered at the conference. Speaking on a panel lead
by Rebecca
Lieb of ClickZ and including Brian Huseman, an attorney with the FTC and
Julian Haight of SpamCop, Phillip detailed his new product to 'make spammers
pay' which is entering beta this month with an anticipated commercial launch in
March. I guess he was in good company, as Hans Peter Brondmo, author of 'The
Engaged Customer' and keynote speaker, also alluded to the demise of spam (See
below for more about his presentation). Still, while the folks I spoke with at
the conference all hoped they were right, no one was willing to put money on
it...
Email Marketing: From Spam to Steak
This was the title, taken from a story in the New York Times a few year ago,
of the keynote address delivered by Hans Peter Brondmo, author of 'The Engaged
Customer' and a Digital Impact Fellow. Much of the presentation was taken from
the book (a good read if you haven't picked it up), with some new material to be
included in a book now being written. The principles are all things you've heard
before, the idea that you want to have a service relationship with your
customers, not a marketing relationship. That you need to deliver value if you
want them to read your e-mail. That your customers are depositing their e-mail
address and trust capital with you, and that you need to invest and manage it
and provide them a return on their investment, or they'll go away. It was a
great refresher/overview of the e-mail marketing world, but I would have liked
some more practical information. Especially about his belief that spam will be
going away, which he didn't really explain.
"The Best Presentation Yet"
This is what one attendee said about a session on testing given by
Mark
Sakalosky of Howe Strategic. I sat in on this one, and especially liked the
examples of HTML-gone-wrong and Mark's 'MICE' principle -- basically that people
are motivated by (M)oney, (I)deology, (C)oercion and (E)go or (E)ntertainment.
He showed a case where Microsoft tested four different creatives, one for each
motivator, to determine which was most effective. He also talked about dependent
vs. independent variables in regression analysis (yipes! a blast from the past!)
and assuring you have a statistically significant sample size. Full of practical
advice, not ivory tower theory.
Bought anything from The Home Shopping Network Lately?
I was blown away by Donna W. Mills, Director of HSN Database Marketing.
They've seen an increase in average net sales which has continued to grow with
time as a result of their e-mail initiatives. They use what she calls 'list
manipulation' to customize e-mail newsletters for customers. They segment their
1.1 million address database into up to 700 different 'micro-segments,' based on
past purchase behavior and other data. Also interesting: for HSN, a low
click-through rate equals more sales. Donna says it's because they provide all
the info a reader needs to make the buy decision in the e-mail, so a click
should equal a sale. If someone clicks on lots of links they're browsing instead
of buying, which is not the behavior HSN is looking to encourage. This was one
of three good case studies in a session moderated by
Heidi
Anderson of ClickZ. Makes me want to buy something just to get on their list
and see how they do it...
Food For Thought
It's always nice to have a speaker be a little controversial. Such was the
case with Michael Mayor from PostMasterDirect. More than once he said that his
experience was in conflict with what others at the conference were saying and
stressed the importance to test in order to see what works for YOU! Cases in
point: although many people say don't mail on Monday or Friday, Michael has
found that in some cases those days are the most responsive. He said he's never
seen a rich media campaign bomb (I've seen rich media campaigns that failed to
provide a lift), that HTML is more for B2C than B2B (again, not in my
experience, which is primarily B2B), and that you should use your brand in the
'from' address (which I agree with). This presentation was full of practical
advice and guidance, as well as case studies and examples.
Keep 'Em Coming Back for More -- Retention Strategies
I ran into
Jack Aaronson,
who had his own consulting firm, the day before his presentation, and when I
asked him about this title, he said, well, yes, that was the title but he was
really just talking about various e-mail strategies that worked. Not to worry;
he had a full house and kept everyone engaged. Especially when he put up real
live examples of lapses in standards and best practices. Like the e-mail sign-up
that forces you to scroll through 8 screens of additional offers before you can
complete your registration. He made great points and was very effective -- if
you ever get the chance to hear him speak, no matter what the stated topic is,
go!
Double Opt-in
A number of people talked about double opt-in. In particular, Anna Zornosa
of Topica told us that on average 70% of those who initially sign-up will take
the second step to double opt-in. I moved to double opt-in about a month ago,
and have seen a much higher rate take that second step to get on the list. As
I've written before, it seems like more organizations are moving to double
opt-in.
The Exhibit Hall
ClickZ got a nice vendor turnout at the show, but I would have liked to see more
variety. Most of those exhibiting offered e-mail deployment solutions, either
inhouse or outsourced. I realize these address a need all e-mail marketers have,
but it'd be nice to see some variety. Maybe some e-mail marketing consultants,
some research organizations (Jupiter Research, sister company to ClickZ, was
there), list brokers, etc.
San Francisco
I've always loved this town. The holiday decorations were up in the stores on
Union Square, the clam chowder at
Alioto's at the Wharf was
as good as I remembered it, and I brought back
Ghirardelli Chocolate
and Boudin Sourdough
bread. Didn't make it to
Greens
this visit, one of my favorite restaurants which happens to be vegetarian. If
you're going, you might want to check out the
Tonga Room in
the Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill. It's a Polynesian paradise of fruity drinks in
funny glasses with umbrellas, an indoor lake with a floating barge that holds
the lounge band, and a rain storm every hour or so. Very fun.
Closing
Thanks for reading. Feel free to
contact
me with any thoughts or questions.
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The
Jennings Report
