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August 14 2003
Publisher's Note: Email Hits...and Misses...and a Case Study (tell us if you think they'll make their goal!)
As I've just gotten back from vacation (and it's hard diving back into work!), I thought this issue I'd talk a little about e-mail successes and failures from the standpoint of a recipient -- not an sender. Actually, when I'm putting together an e-mail campaign I always try to put myself in the recipient's shoes -- it's the best way to identify disconnects, stoppers and other things that can instantly turn off your reader.
Hit: Using Email to Provide Superior Customer Service
One of the reasons our recent vacation was such a hit was that we had a ton of information about the resort and the surrounding area before we arrived. We got the basics off their Internet website -- how many pools, what types of restaurants, their policy on pets -- but my husband also found an e-mail address there for the concierge. So he sent an e-mail -- and was pleasantly surprised when we got he got an e-mail back.
Over the next few weeks, anytime we had a question, he's send an e-mail. When I wanted to be absolutely certain they had high-speed Internet access, he sent a message to the concierge, who sent back a press release about their hotel-wide wireless Internet access -- the rooms, the lobby, the restaurants, the pools, the beach -- you could log-on from anywhere on the grounds. When he wanted to find out a certain cigar store he had heard about was, the concierge got back to him quickly with where it was, how far that was from the hotel and the best transportation option for getting there.
The list goes on, but because the hotel (a) thought to put the concierge's e-mail address on their website and (b) had a person actively managing that e-mail account we (c) had a much less stressful time before we went and (d) are left with a very favorable view of that hotel chain. A plus -- the hotel was outside the United States, so e-mail was not only a cheaper alternative to phone calls but also one that made the language barrier more manageable.
Miss: Unrecognizable 'From' and 'Subject Lines'
This week I got an e-mail with an unfamiliar person's name in the 'From' line and a subject line of 'Welcome!' I was about to delete it since I didn't know the sender and the subject line told me nothing, but for some reason I opened it. Turns out it was from a company I had recently signed-up to do business with online and this was my first e-mail with some information on my account.
Lesson: your 'from' and 'subject' lines are the only tools you have to get people to open your e-mail. It's becoming more common to include a company name in the 'from' line (i.e. 'Jeanne Jennings, ABC Company') and it's something I see a lot of value in, especially where you have internal people communicating with new customers on a regular basis. You could just use the company name, but that's less personal. Better to include both (or at least put the company name at the front of the subject line) so you're recognized.
Case Study: Will They Make Their Goal?
Well, so much for vacation. After I'd written this one I realized I was back in work mode. So here's one from Jeanne the Email Strategist:
I also spoke at length this week with an entrepreneur working on a new start-up. It's a cool idea, something that could really take off. He and his group are doing a test e-mail send using 10,000 addresses from a single third party list and a single creative execution. The offer is a $20 membership. And they're going to make a go/no go based on the outcome -- their proposed threshold for a 'go' is to get 2% of the total mailed to pay.
I like the guy and the idea a lot, so it was difficult to tell him I was seeing a few red flags.
The
first was his testing of just a single list -- if this particular list isn't a
good fit for his offering, or if it just has a low open rate in general, it
could doom the test. The second was his use of a single creative -- again, it
could doom the test. And finally, use of only one offer.
Better to do a four-cell
test with two lists and either two creative executions (as shown at left) or two
offers tested. You may have to send a larger volume, but it will give you a
better chance of success. What if one creative execution beats another by a
mile? Or if only 1% bite at $20, but you get 3% to buy at $10?
We also talked a lot about subject line. He had done some informal testing to choose the 'best' subject line. While what he came up with was good, it was long and featured the new, unknown brand prominently; he hadn't given much thought to truncation, which is a fact of life in e-mail. You really want to put the benefit out there first and make sure it's concise -- a rule of thumb I use (that I picked up from a colleague) is that you can really count on the reader seeing the first roughly 23 characters -- and they'll probably see up to about 46, but anything past that should not be critical to getting your message across.
'From' line was another area we discussed. Since it's a third-party list they are mailing to, I recommended asking the list owner (which is a well-known online brand) if they can use that brand in the 'from' line. The recognition factor should be high since they have the relationship with these folks and this should boost the open rate.
Finally, I thought the goal of 2% conversion to paid was aggressive. That was my initial, off the top of my head response; after the call I did the math as a sanity check, and here's what I came up with:
From
DoubleClick's Q1 2003 Trend Report (this link will open a PDF in your
browser):
Average Open Rate: 39.2%
Average Click-through Rate, Consumer Product Emails: 14.0%
Average multiple clicks per person, Consumer Product Emails: 1.54%
For ease of numbers and benefit of the doubt, I've assumed 100% delivery (no bounces). So let's see where that leaves us:
10,000 e-mails sent (all
assumed delivered)
3920 Opened (39.2%)
1400 Total Clicks (14% of those sent)
909 Unique People who Click (1.54 multiple clicks per person; 23.2% of those who
opened the e-mail) and hit the landing page
Using these numbers as an starting point, a conversion rate of 22% would be needed to meet the goal of getting 2% of the total mailed (200 of 10,000).
I also looked back at some notes from working with other consumer goods companies. While double-digit open rates happen, mostly I've seen them on house lists, not third-party lists. The third party data I have shows opens in the single digit (<1% to 9%) range. Similar figures, for third party lists, have click-throughs in the low single digits (<1% to 5%). So I think the averages used above as a starting point are high, especially given the sender's limited knowledge of e-mail marketing.
I hope they make their goal -- but it's not a bet I would take based on my past experience in e-mail. That said, they're only looking for $20 a person. What do you think based on your experience -- will they make it? If there's interest, I'll do a follow-up with your thoughts in my next issue.
Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear what you have to say. Feel free to contact me with any thoughts or questions about this publisher's note.
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The
Jennings Report
