Return Path Study Reveals All: What You Can Do to Stop Being Marked as a Spammer

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Ryan

Return Path recently released its Q3 Email Intelligence Report, and it dropped some news that may leave email marketers reeling. According to the report, marketers account for 70% of all spam complaints in the US. Before your inner consumer advocate starts bucking against its restraints, it’s important to note that, in fact, the majority of these emails are going to legitimate opted-in sources. It’s simply easier for subscribers to hit the spam complaint button than it is to unsubscribe.

Marketers, this means you need to start paying more attention to both your list and your email marketing program. While you may be adhering to CAN-SPAM, and doing your best to be a forthright marketer, your emails aren’t resonating with subscribers. That means engagement, brand perception, sender reputation, and ROI are all taking a hit. So, what can you do to try to reverse this backslide?

Permission-based data

Starting with permission-based data is a good first step toward ensuring the quality of your subscriber file. This means clearly opting in all your email subscribers. Don’t rent or license data from unscrupulous sources. Either grow your list organically, or work with reputable vendors to rent or license data to speed up that growth.

Subscribers should clearly understand what happens when they opt-in to receive your emails. The majority of that onus falls on you, the marketer. Make yourself available to answer any questions a subscriber might ask. You can even let subscribers select the type of emails they want to receive (newsletters, promotions, whitepapers, etc.), as well as the frequency at which they receive those messages.

Segmentation

Analyze subscriber behavior. Track demographics, psychographics, and engagement behavior/preferences. This will help you better segment your list. Tailor messages to align with these segments. This improves the likelihood of your subscribers finding your email relevant and interesting. Segmentation isn’t a one-time exercise. Periodically review your segments and refresh your engagement data to ensure that you’re segmenting properly, and that your segments accurately reflect your most current subscriber data.

Win-Back Campaigns

When you notice that a subscriber’s engagement is lagging, consider a win-back campaign. This is a tricky subject. There’s a fine line between persuading someone to come back into the fold of your email program, and sounding desperate or appearing intrusive. But, these campaigns can be very effective, and help you head off some of those spam complaints by being preemptive.

Test Everything

This is email marketing’s ultimate maxim. Keeping subscribers interested often involves a calculated mix of varying subject lines, calls to action, template design, sending frequency, and content. Measure and analyze the results of all your tests in order to maximize the performance that you see from your email marketing.

In the end, lazy marketing precludes many of the spam complaints reported by Return Path. With the average ROI of email ($40.56 for every dollar spent), it’s easy to fall into the batch and blast mentality. But that doesn’t mean it’s right. By following the above tips, along with other best practices like regularly running list hygiene, you can achieve better than average ROI from your email channel.

It’s Almost Time for 2012 Direct Marketing Association Show!

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Ryan

The first fingers of Fall have crept into the fiber of New York City. That means many things – football, Halloween, and pumpkins – but it also means the annual Direct Marketing Association show is almost here! This will be our second show, and second time exhibiting. We’re also exhibiting at the show in a more significant way – bigger booth, and we’re hosting several exclusive parties.

But it’s not all about exhibiting. The show has a lot to offer for attendees. We’ll be descending on Las Vegas in a matter of days, and here’s what we’re looking forward to.

Networking

Networking is a fixture of the DMA show. Nowhere else in the country can you find so many direct marketers together in one location. We’ll be meeting with some of our partners like Bridge Marketing, ALC, and Stirista. But, we’re also looking forward to making some new friends, and hopefully potential partners and customers. With structured networking sessions, and the benefits that come with exhibiting, there’s no better place to make that happen.

New Products

Innovation isn’t exactly synonymous with direct marketing, but that’s changing. Digital brought a proverbial breath of fresh air to the industry, and Marketfish can’t wait to check out all the new products and services on the market.

We’re especially interested in getting a firsthand look at how companies are adapting to our increasingly digital world. Traditional direct marketing is particularly interesting. We’ve seen some movement toward bridging that traditional and digital chasm, and we think that’s going to be a big topic at this year’s show.

Thought Leadership

I suppose this is similar to new products, innovators tend push industry thought forward through new products and their related strategies, but still there’s still something exciting about a good keynote address. And this year’s show has some good ones. For example, Chris Anderson – Editor-in-Chief of Wired Magazine, and David Fischer – VP, Business & Marketing Partnerships, Facebook.

In addition to the major keynotes, there will be smaller thought leadership sessions that offer best practices and tips that marketers can immediately implement into their marketing programs.

Parties

Hey, we would be complete liars if we said we weren’t looking forward to the show parties. They’re a fun way to do some networking in a less formal environment. Plus, they’re great for relaxing after the show. And there’s no better place to cut loose than Vegas…

See You There

We hope to see some of our readers at the show! Just swing by booth #667 and you’ll find Marketfish. If you’re so inclined, mention that you’re a reader of the blog – we love feedback! And if you’re still on the fence about going, there’s still time to decide. In fact, we have a bunch of discount tickets, and we’ll give you some. Just schedule a meeting with us, and they’re yours. Thanks for reading!

When Is Big Data Not Enough?

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Ryan

This big data thing happened pretty quickly. At least it seems that way. Truth is, email marketers, and traditional direct mailers before them, have used swaths of data to make their marketing more targeted, and theoretically, more effective, for quite some time.

Obviously, this data isn’t as disjointed and disparate as the pseudo-monolithic big data that we discuss today. But its use can inform current big data strategies. Why? Because this data is actionable. It has a purpose. It complements a marketing message. It solves a tangible challenge.

Today’s marketers must now take this morass of unmapped data, and use it practically. Much like direct marketers have so skillfully done for decades. And of course, that’s where the hand wringing starts.

Unified Parameters

Interpretation is critical. Otherwise,the data is just a bunch of bytes on a server. To effectively analyze your data, develop universal definitions and parameters that are agreed upon by marketing teams, database administrators, developers, and anyone else that works with this data daily.

Development of these parameters is aided by an understanding of the questions you need your analytics to answer. Do you want to better understand customer behavior on your site? Are you interested in how your customers interact with your products, or your competitors’ products? Do you want to identify the customers that provide the highest lifetime value to your organization? The questions are endless. So, it’s best to settle on the few that you consider most important.

Get to the “Good” Data

Marketers attempting to analyze huge datasets are going to find that much of what they collect is useless. It simply doesn’t answer their questions. Useful analysis is dependent on getting to the data that provides actionable insight.

For example, you might collect information about your latest email campaign. But are people talking about your offer, products, or brand? Or are they more interested in the message’s creativity, or maybe the cute mascot you used to grab your leads’ attention.

The latter of those two statements is an example of noise. It doesn’t really tell you what people think of your product or organization, or their likelihood to purchase your products/services. Sure, it shows engagement, but it doesn’t help you identify your most valuable/engaged/loyal customers. So, learn to identify extraneous information, and only focus on the data that actually answers your questions.

Why Data is Not Enough

It’s not that data isn’t a good thing. It’s just that data is chaotic and unordered. It needs an accompanying strategy. Strive to understand what data can and cannot do. Agree upon the ultimate and ideal outcome of your data strategy. These elements are critical to making good use of the information available to your organization.

Image Credit flaivoloka

We plan to write more on the concept of big data, while moving the term away from its buzzword status. Instead, we at Marketfish feel that data, strategy, and a healthy dose of human intuition represent a brilliant horizon for digital marketing.

Does the IKEA 2013 Catalog Represent a Bright Future for Direct Mail ?

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Ryan

It has been just about a month since IKEA’s catalog hit mailboxes (with a right hook) across the nation. Big deal, right? These catalogs show up every year, and unless you’re in college, just out of college, or looking for a good deal, any excitement you might feel fades pretty quickly.

But this time around, the catalog, which is a collaboration between IKEA and McCann-Erickson, features a new element. Download the complementary and complimentary app for Android and iOS to explore a wealth of extra content. The app uses image recognition technology from Metaio to access this extended content.

The extended content includes inspirational videos about room design and the use of textiles. There are also designer stories, and an x-ray vision feature that allows users to see inside cabinets featured in the catalog. IKEA plans to continue to update this content throughout the year to further extend the lifecycle of the catalog.

Now, all this fancy digital content aside, you might wonder, why the fuss over direct mail? Isn’t that stuff outdated? While direct mail has lived a long life, it still has some legs, arms, fingers, and toes left. In fact, the DMA’s 2012 Power of Direct study found that the average ROI for direct mail in 2012 was $12.03 for every $1.

Sure, that ROI isn’t as impressive as some digital channels, but it’s nothing to ignore. Plus, direct mail marketers face less competition at the mailbox than ever before, which can boost engagement and conversion rates.

But back to IKEA. Why does this catalog matter? Is it just a cool piece of collateral, or does mark a significant shift in the direct marketing ecosystem?

As long as companies have the budget, I believe that we’ll see more catalogers jump on this pioneering wave. For example, imagine an L.L Bean catalog that features videos explaining the care and use of their products. They could have campfire cooking shows, or instructional videos for pitching tents. That’s just off the top of my head. Frankly, the possibilities are endless, and potentially paradigm-shifting.

Sure, this information is widely available online, but often it’s from disparate sources. And it’s generally not brand-centric. So while the information caters to a lifestyle, it doesn’t support a particular brand in any direct way.

This new standard of catalog presents marketers with a way to remedy that issue. By flexing their content marketing muscles, and developing some unique, but useful extended content, they’re sure to woo new leads into purchasing.

Additionally, by offering extended and additional content that may feature a branded product, but still remain unbiased in the universality of the information presented, marketers can ameliorate the ROI they see from their catalog.

The ability of these new catalogs to inject otherwise static marketing collateral with a digital pulse, will undoubtedly result in a richer brand experience for all involved. And I don’t think the results will be as intangible and unmeasurable as the nebulous, monolithic branding concept would lead the more nimble and strategically conscious marketers to believe.

The IKEA catalog’s ability to continue to nurture leads past its standard lifecycle is still unproven, but it will be interesting to see the results – if that information is ever made available. Until then, this new tactic is worth consideration if the resources and infrastructure are there to support its implementation.

Test for Success!

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Ryan

In a recent article published in Clickz, Mike Hotz, a senior strategic consultant at Responsys, details the importance that testing plays in a successful email marketing program. As someone who has either engaged in email marketing, or used some other digital marketing channel (display, SEM, etc.), you’ve probably come across this point before.

It’s understandable, given that marketing is really the process of testing and refining until the desired campaign performance goals are met. But, as Hotz notes, “However, most do no testing at all. At the very least, they rely on unscientific tests and their instincts to determine which subject line, offer, or creative will perform the best.”

This is a problem, because testing is one of the more effective tools that an email marketer has for improving and evaluating the performance of their campaigns. Hotz provide a lot of great advice that will help marketers implement a comprehensive testing program. I’ll mention of few of our favorites below.

Determine the result you want from your testing. That could mean more opens, more clicks, or more conversions.
Theorize as to what you can change to reach the results you want from your testing.
Test your theory, but only test one component at a time. This means, try out different subject lines or creatives, but don’t test the two at the same time.
Measuring and analyzing the results is perhaps the most important component of successful testing. Analyze accurately and comprehensively. Give real world meaning to the metrics you collect.

For more on testing, be sure to read Hotz’s article in ClickZ. He leaves the reader with one point that I will emphasize here. “Aim for at least three controlled tests before drawing a meaningful conclusion. This will keep you on track for continual growth and improvement in your email marketing program.”

What tips or techniques would you give to a marketer who is either getting started or grown disillusioned with email marketing and testing?