Don't use ESP to pick an ESP

Recently I was talking with a prospective client about the advantages of using an email service provider (ESP) over sending an email in-house. This person’s hurdle was exporting her address book to upload it to ESP’s platform. Obviously, that’s a huge obstacle. I recommended that she begin the process of figuring out how to recreate her address book in another platform before she had to resort to manually reconstructing her address book in an excel file.

But barring any issues, like that, here are a few reasons for recommending someone use an ESP over sending bulk emails from a standard email client, such as Outlook or Yahoo! mail:

CAN-SPAM: The CAN-SPAM law became effective in 2004 and requires that email marketing messages include the physical address of the sender and that unsubscribes are processed and honored within 10 days of the subscribers’ request. This isn’t something that most standard mail clients are set up to handle, but a reputable ESP should offer list management tools that can handle this for you.

Potential blacklisting: Standard email clients are not designed for email marketing. They are not approved for bulk mailings, so your messages will most likely be labeled as ‘spam’ by other email clients as well as by most of the ISPs, which will bounce them back to you or simply delete them. Your efforts will be rendered useless since your message will not reach the intended recipients’ mailboxes and the address you sent it from will eventually be ‘blacklisted.’

Real-time reporting: A comprehensive ESP can provide several, thorough real-time reports on the number of emails sent, the number of emails actually opened and who in your address list actually opened your message; the number of unsubscribes and who unsubscribed; how many were undeliverable and why they were bounced; the click-through rates –including which links in your message were more effective and who clicked through. All this information is invaluable when you plan and evaluate campaigns, fine-tune promotions and want to distribute very targeted marketing materials.

Other benefits of using an ESP include:

• Testing variables, such as when is the best time to send an email or a subject line, to achieve maximum results for your email
• Most ESPs offer a tool that allows you to produce your own HTML emails, even if you don't know HTML. HTML allows you to incorporate columns, images, color, bold, italic, and other elements that are a better way to present information.

Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish when picking an ESP. Here’s an article that can help steer you through the process. The last line sums up the process best: “There’s no such thing as a silver bullet for inbox delivery. No single solution or provider will be able to guarantee you perfect results. But the right ESP with the right tools and the will to collaborate on optimization will help you improve your ability to reach your customers effectively.”

Spammers back at it

It's a bit disheartening to see this story in the New York Times with the headline "Spam Back to 94% of all E-Mail." Though this story is about malicious spammers who have found a way around the McColo take down last fall that cut off spam traffic, it lumps in opt-in email messages as if they're unwanted as well. Not all commercial emails are spam!

Stand out with relevant content

Making your email messages relevant is more important than ever as the number of channels by which information can be conveyed grows (i.e. Twitter, Facebook) on top of existing methods of reaching your audience (TV, radio, newspaper, etc.). Thus the need to hone in on your audience’s interests is critical.

Batch and Blast or Tune In?

Loren McDonald, VP of Industry Relations for Silverpop, recently warned that email frequency is out, behavior is in. (You can check out his entire presentation here.) He recommends using behavior-based communications to avoid low-relevancy messages, which lead to subscriber churn. What does that mean?

• Follow-up emails after someone has abandoned a shopping cart
• Messaging buyers who haven’t purchased in a fixed amount of time to remind them it may be time to re-order
• Ask for more than an email address: collect birthdays, geographical information or other information that will you better identify their needs

Don’t abuse the inbox!

Just this past week, an article appeared on BusinessWeek.com about “un-sexy” but successful enewsletters. Here’s the link to the entire article. This quote from DailyCandy founder Dany Levy was the key take away from the article for me: “It's a privilege to be in someone's e-mail box.” (And that is certainly how I feel about the I Send Your Email newsletter subscribers!)

Remembering it isn’t your right to that your message is in your recipient’s inbox is critical. With that in mind, thinking about what your audience wants to hear from you is a good first step towards developing a meaningful relationship with your audience through relevant messaging.

Email resolutions

I sent this out recently to my I Send Your Email newsletter sign-up list, but wanted to share the information here as well. Here's where you can sign-up for the monthly newsletter with tips and information to get this sent to you directly.

Email resolutions It's a safe bet that we've all made New Year's resolutions at some point in our lives.  With this newsletter, I Send Your Email has decided to apply the idea of pledging to do something "the right way" to email marketing.  Below are a few things you should resolve to do to make the most of your email marketing program in 2009.  Also, with a new year, a new budget often isn't far behind.  Also included some articles to help make the case for email marketing when it comes time to allocating your marketing dollars. With my email, I resolve to.... Make the Open-or-Delete Decision Easy: Use a subject line that tells (not sells) what’s inside the message.  Write a concise subject message with the value proposition in the first line of text in your message). Make Your Message Easy to Share: Include functionality that lets recipients post your e-mail on their social networks.  Be sure to include your subscription information to take advantage of this expanded audience. Leverage What You Know: Develop more targeted, relevant offers and messaging by making the most of what you know about your customers, such as their demographics and/or past buying behavior. I could go on with a much longer list of things to think about before sending your email, but Seth Godin has already done a fantastic job developing such a list. Since I see no point in reinventing the wheel, I’ll link to his excellent checklist of things to think of before hitting the send button.  Recession-Proof Marketing Many experts agree that email marketing is one of the best options when allocating marketing dollars in a tough economy.  Here are two articles that support that claim.  You may want to consider sharing them with the decision makers in your life to keep email in the mix in 2009. Ride out the recession with e-mail  John Rizzi points out in DM News “e-mail's ability to help you protect your most valuable asset in a down economy: loyal customers.”  He also points out “e-mail marketing offers more cost-effective opportunities to surprise and delight your customers, while at the same time generating a quick sale or two.” Tips for protecting your email marketing budget  Spencer Kollas shares that “the Direct Marketing Association estimates that email will bring in $45.65 for every dollar spent in 2008.”  That could be music to your boss’s ears! Once you get approval to spend on email marketing, Kollas points out ways to spend your budget wisely.

Again, if you're interested, here's where you can sign-up for the I Send Your Email newsletter.

Sherpa chart: Marketers Tailoring Digital Tactics in Recessionary Economy

From Marketing Sherpa:

SUMMARY: Every marketing tactic gets more scrutiny when budgets face the sting of a struggling economy. Here is a glance at how marketers expect to tailor their investments in digital tactics during a downturn.

As an email marketing consultant, I am pleased to see that almost half of those surveyed are investing in their email database, though it's to be expected given email's low cost and proven ROI.  The increased focus on house lists, with a decrease in spending on rrental lists could mean more opportunity for cross-channel promotions to increase house lists, i.e. using paid search to encourage new visitors to register for an email marketing program.