Archive for November, 2011
Adestra Think Series – Automation Webinar Synopsis
Driving engagement with email & content automation
Thank you to all who attended our November webinar – as always it was very well attended. Automation is a broad but key overall goal for businesses who need to do more, potentially with less. The 2011 Adestra and Econsultancy Email Marketing Industry Census shows that automation in email marketing has had the biggest uplift with a 30% increase. This same report however shows that some of the key opportunities afforded by automation are being neglected, for example cross and upsell and abandoned basket marketing.
Many marketers fear automation either because of the planning required, lack of confidence in automated processes or in some cases perhaps a fear of elements of their jobs becoming automated. None of these should worry marketers…plan your automation well with the support of your ESP and the automation will be more reliable than any manual campaign. If you are able to create effective automated campaigns that deliver good ROI, time can then be spent elsewhere on new marketing opportunities perhaps. Don’t be afraid!
It was clear from some of the questions asked that marketers are often unaware of the options available to them, be that through automation or integration of any of the three key areas discussed in the presentation: Data, content or send/launch. However it’s rare that a client asks for something we are unable to support.
If you have any ideas to make your campaigns more efficient, more relevant or more timely – talk to us, no matter how ‘blue sky’. You might be surprised how we can help! For more information on how we can support your automation click here or email us moreinfo@adestra.com.
If you would like to view the recorded version of the webinar you can do so here.
Have you registered for our next webinar?
Placing email data security at the forefront
Date: Wednesday 25 January 2012
Time: 12:30pm GMT
Duration: 30 minutes
Data is the lifeblood of all who engage in email marketing. For most, concentrating on utilising this data most effectively is the main concern. With the increasing number of data breaches and the changing ways in which criminals are attempting to steal this information the safety of your data must become a primary issue.
What you will learn:
1. What is at risk? – What you stand to lose.
2. How is data stolen? – The most common route explored.
3. Whose problem is it? – Is the IT department purely responsible?
4. How do you minimise risks? – A look at ways to reduce the risk of a breach.
Presenter: Steve Denner
The webinar will be led by Adestra’s Director, Steve Denner:
UK Publishing Survey: only 20% use email automation and Social Media integration is low
New PPA & Adestra survey finds major opportunities through email marketing technology
Findings from the new UK Publishing Email Benchmarking Survey Autumn 2011, in association with the PPA, show UK publishers can improve email marketing response rates and ROI by concentrating their efforts on automation, social media and mobile.
This is the first time that such a survey has been conducted for the publishing industry. It has found some interesting statistics gathered from publishing experts across the sectors, core activities and differing organisation sizes.
Email marketing is a critical communications tool for publishers, a key weapon for retention and acquisition activity. In today’s competitive, challenging climate digital marketing is all about the data. This means acquiring it from various channels, integrating it with other business functions, using it, cleaning it, i.e. maximising it.
Henry Hyder-Smith, Adestra’s Managing Director comments: “Starting simply and building up to more complicated campaigns to utilise the power of your email marketing platform will pay serious dividends in the end – work with your ESP to focus on meeting your objectives”.
“We’re delighted this first report highlights such clear opportunities. If UK publishers focus on improving automation, social media integration and developing a mobile strategy they will see improved engagement, response rates and ROI.”
Lack of Automation
Automation by publishers is low. Only 20% use subscription renewals and 33% use content automation. For a regular process that is key to generating revenue, you would expect automation to be at the forefront of publishers minds in order to maximise renewals and remove the manual element. Similarly, for content, it can be generated automatically to improve relevance and click through rates.
Introducing automated campaigns and automated content can really help publishers to deliver relevant content to their data, to drive engagement and also give the recipients what they want. There are many technologies available that can do this, and the end result is not only increased ROI, but also less time spent on email marketing.
Low Social Media Integration
The emphasis on social media is clear – as 51% are encouraging sharing on social networks and a further 26% are planning to implement this. However, surprisingly, 42% see email and social media as two separate channels entirely. This could all change in the coming year as marketers are finding the two channels work together synergistically and can deliver that badly needed data.
Mobile
What does the rise in mobile email mean for publishers? Well not a lot it seems…over half (52%) are doing nothing to change their approach to email marketing given the growth of mobile. Only 15% have a mobile strategy that includes email. Simple steps can improve results, such as making email templates Smartphone-compatible by keeping it to one column.
Marius Cloete, PPA’s Research Director says “Despite its status as a mature digital marketing channel, the medium of e-mail marketing is becoming increasingly sophisticated and more integrated in companies efforts to engage and market to their existing and potential customer base. This benchmarking survey run in conjunction with Adestra is a crucial element in enhancing the PPA’s understanding of how publishers are harnessing this tool in a rapidly changing environment. ”
With the next instalment of the survey due April 2012, this means for the first time trend data will be available for direct comparison period-on-period. This gives publishers a much more accurate picture of what is happening in the email marketing sector and identifies which emerging trends to exploit. The survey included respondents across the publishing industry and was conducted in October 2011.
To receive a copy of the report visit click here
10 tips to make your email stand out from the crowd this Christmas
Across the UK, many companies are poised and ready to add a simple Santa hat and some holly to their website, or a bit of tinsel hanging off the corporate logo. Is this electronic version of getting the Christmas lights out all it takes to inject some festive cheer into email communications and really maximise on opportunity over the period? Not quite. There is a little more to it and a few elements to be avoided.
As the Christmas season approaches, marketing managers far and wide are working on their festive promotions to capitalise on the peak sales period. From B2B marketers working on corporate gifts, to B2C marketers looking to make the most of festive offers, it all comes down to making sure you’re being relevant, encouraging sharing and standing out from the crowd. It’s not too late to plan – to ensure you are communicating appropriately with all your different recipients. I recently shared the following ten tips on InPublishing’s Knowledge Bank and thought I would share them here to:
1. Relevance: just because it’s Christmas, it doesn’t mean that everyone is interested in everything Christmassy. Making sure your email content and editorial is relevant to your recipients is still key to keep that engagement going over the Christmas period. Making your email newsletter designs festive will inject some humour into your newsletter but this is not appropriate for all brands. Make sure your redesign will not cheapen your content and does not detract from your core brand values. As the voice of each newsletter is its personality, don’t be afraid to include mentions of invitations received / parties attended (after all, in some cases you may need to explain some rather sub-par editorial performances!).
2. Christmas is for sharing: people are more likely to share Christmas offers and email content with others over this period – use this to your advantage. Encourage people to forward your message on – this can often be done with an incentive e.g. “Share this with your friends to enter our Christmas prize draw for a free subscription of your choice for 2012”. This will then broaden your reach to like-minded recipients. Do also include a call to action to sign up for email communications on the forwarded email and you’ve then created a data-capture opportunity to expand your audience.
3. Try something different: if there is a time to try something different Christmas is definitely it. Perhaps a longer bumper Christmas issue or a choice of covers on their subscription with a slightly different feature in each. Good Food and Sainsbury’s magazines broke records by using these techniques. Trying something new in your emails too could make you stand out in the inbox and boost your open rate over the period.
4. Testing: if you do try something different, make sure you test it! Is it worth your effort changing your email content and design for Christmas or do people just want to receive your normal content that they subscribe to? This depends on your subject matter and readership. It’s always worth checking when you make major changes – a split test to a portion of your audience could give you the answer.
5. Christmas subscription emails for B2C: many people buy subscriptions as Christmas gifts for their friends and families. Record this valuable information and then you can remind them to renew it in the lead up to Christmas next year. If they’ve bought a subscription for others once, they’re likely to again.
6. It only takes tweaks: Simple tweaks to images within your emails allow you to almost ‘gift wrap’ your content. This low-cost method has been used by Google for a number of years, simply by dressing their website, so a simple, effective and consistent theme can be used both on site and in your email. Remember to try and include this in the preview pane (top 200 pixels of your email are often visible before the recipient has decided to open).
7. Warn subscribers about editorial breaks: Let subscribers know well in advance if you’re planning an editorial break. They will know not to expect new issues, otherwise it looks like you are ignoring them. Also it is a good idea to warn new subscribers, otherwise people signing up to your email promotion over the Christmas break will be expecting to receive communications from you when you’re not there!
8. Not everyone celebrates: Remember, not everyone celebrates Christmas as a national holiday. For international organisations, many of your contacts in the Middle East for example will be working hard over Christmas and won’t want reminding that you’re not working! If you have this data available suppress them from receiving your Christmas based emails – however they might still like to receive this if it includes offers!
9. Don’t forget email signatures: Across your teams, they’ll be sending hundreds of emails to clients, prospects and partners – encourage them to include a simple and consistent festive message within their email signature, while of course sticking to your core brand values. Not only is it free, but the potential reach is huge. Remember to keep this simple as images can often get stripped out as attachments meaning your message could be lost.
10. Timing: Adding festive messages to your email newsletter after a competitor has done it to theirs will make you look ‘me-too’ and unoriginal. Equally, don’t go too early. Ideally your festive messages should start at the beginning of December – it is a bit like supermarket Christmas music – if it starts too early it becomes tired and irritating. Remember, you are trying to reflect the festive mood not lead it. If your company has a break between Christmas and New Year, don’t forget to take your Christmas messages down and perhaps replace them with New Year messages. Otherwise, your website will look as stale as a leftover turkey sandwich.
Remember this Christmas to do something that makes you stand out from the crowd, but continue to be relevant, otherwise you risk alienating people. Lastly, remember Christmas is all about sharing. Have a happy Christmas.
Adestra Think Series – Automation Webinar Synopsis
Driving engagement with email & content automation
Thank you to all who attended our November webinar – as always it was very well attended. Automation is a broad but key overall goal for businesses who need to do more, potentially with less. The 2011 Adestra and Econsultancy Email Marketing Industry Census shows that automation in email marketing has had the biggest uplift with a 30% increase. This same report however shows that some of the key opportunities afforded by automation are being neglected, for example cross and upsell and abandoned basket marketing.
Many marketers fear automation either because of the planning required, lack of confidence in automated processes or in some cases perhaps a fear of elements of their jobs becoming automated. None of these should worry marketers…plan your automation well with the support of your ESP and the automation will be more reliable than any manual campaign. If you are able to create effective automated campaigns that deliver good ROI, time can then be spent elsewhere on new marketing opportunities perhaps. Don’t be afraid!
It was clear from some of the questions asked that marketers are often unaware of the options available to them, be that through automation or integration of any of the three key areas discussed in the presentation: Data, content or send/launch. However it’s rare that a client asks for something we are unable to support.
If you have any ideas to make your campaigns more efficient, more relevant or more timely – talk to us, no matter how ‘blue sky’. You might be surprised how we can help! For more information on how we can support your automation click here or email us moreinfo@adestra.com.
If you would like to view the recorded version of the webinar you can do so here.
Have you registered for our next webinar?
Placing email data security at the forefront
Date: Wednesday 25 January 2012
Time: 12:30pm GMT
Duration: 30 minutes
Data is the lifeblood of all who engage in email marketing. For most, concentrating on utilising this data most effectively is the main concern. With the increasing number of data breaches and the changing ways in which criminals are attempting to steal this information the safety of your data must become a primary issue.
What you will learn:
1. What is at risk? – What you stand to lose.
2. How is data stolen? – The most common route explored.
3. Whose problem is it? – Is the IT department purely responsible?
4. How do you minimise risks? – A look at ways to reduce the risk of a breach.
Presenter: Steve Denner
The webinar will be led by Adestra’s Director, Steve Denner:
UK Publishing Survey: only 20% use email automation and Social Media integration is low
New PPA & Adestra survey finds major opportunities through email marketing technology
Findings from the new UK Publishing Email Benchmarking Survey Autumn 2011, in association with the PPA, show UK publishers can improve email marketing response rates and ROI by concentrating their efforts on automation, social media and mobile.
This is the first time that such a survey has been conducted for the publishing industry. It has found some interesting statistics gathered from publishing experts across the sectors, core activities and differing organisation sizes.
Email marketing is a critical communications tool for publishers, a key weapon for retention and acquisition activity. In today’s competitive, challenging climate digital marketing is all about the data. This means acquiring it from various channels, integrating it with other business functions, using it, cleaning it, i.e. maximising it.
Henry Hyder-Smith, Adestra’s Managing Director comments: “Starting simply and building up to more complicated campaigns to utilise the power of your email marketing platform will pay serious dividends in the end – work with your ESP to focus on meeting your objectives”.
“We’re delighted this first report highlights such clear opportunities. If UK publishers focus on improving automation, social media integration and developing a mobile strategy they will see improved engagement, response rates and ROI.”
Lack of Automation
Automation by publishers is low. Only 20% use subscription renewals and 33% use content automation. For a regular process that is key to generating revenue, you would expect automation to be at the forefront of publishers minds in order to maximise renewals and remove the manual element. Similarly, for content, it can be generated automatically to improve relevance and click through rates.
Introducing automated campaigns and automated content can really help publishers to deliver relevant content to their data, to drive engagement and also give the recipients what they want. There are many technologies available that can do this, and the end result is not only increased ROI, but also less time spent on email marketing.
Low Social Media Integration
The emphasis on social media is clear – as 51% are encouraging sharing on social networks and a further 26% are planning to implement this. However, surprisingly, 42% see email and social media as two separate channels entirely. This could all change in the coming year as marketers are finding the two channels work together synergistically and can deliver that badly needed data.
Mobile
What does the rise in mobile email mean for publishers? Well not a lot it seems…over half (52%) are doing nothing to change their approach to email marketing given the growth of mobile. Only 15% have a mobile strategy that includes email. Simple steps can improve results, such as making email templates Smartphone-compatible by keeping it to one column.
Marius Cloete, PPA’s Research Director says “Despite its status as a mature digital marketing channel, the medium of e-mail marketing is becoming increasingly sophisticated and more integrated in companies efforts to engage and market to their existing and potential customer base. This benchmarking survey run in conjunction with Adestra is a crucial element in enhancing the PPA’s understanding of how publishers are harnessing this tool in a rapidly changing environment. ”
With the next instalment of the survey due April 2012, this means for the first time trend data will be available for direct comparison period-on-period. This gives publishers a much more accurate picture of what is happening in the email marketing sector and identifies which emerging trends to exploit. The survey included respondents across the publishing industry and was conducted in October 2011.
To receive a copy of the report visit click here
10 tips to make your email stand out from the crowd this Christmas
Across the UK, many companies are poised and ready to add a simple Santa hat and some holly to their website, or a bit of tinsel hanging off the corporate logo. Is this electronic version of getting the Christmas lights out all it takes to inject some festive cheer into email communications and really maximise on opportunity over the period? Not quite. There is a little more to it and a few elements to be avoided.
As the Christmas season approaches, marketing managers far and wide are working on their festive promotions to capitalise on the peak sales period. From B2B marketers working on corporate gifts, to B2C marketers looking to make the most of festive offers, it all comes down to making sure you’re being relevant, encouraging sharing and standing out from the crowd. It’s not too late to plan – to ensure you are communicating appropriately with all your different recipients. I recently shared the following ten tips on InPublishing’s Knowledge Bank and thought I would share them here to:
1. Relevance: just because it’s Christmas, it doesn’t mean that everyone is interested in everything Christmassy. Making sure your email content and editorial is relevant to your recipients is still key to keep that engagement going over the Christmas period. Making your email newsletter designs festive will inject some humour into your newsletter but this is not appropriate for all brands. Make sure your redesign will not cheapen your content and does not detract from your core brand values. As the voice of each newsletter is its personality, don’t be afraid to include mentions of invitations received / parties attended (after all, in some cases you may need to explain some rather sub-par editorial performances!).
2. Christmas is for sharing: people are more likely to share Christmas offers and email content with others over this period – use this to your advantage. Encourage people to forward your message on – this can often be done with an incentive e.g. “Share this with your friends to enter our Christmas prize draw for a free subscription of your choice for 2012”. This will then broaden your reach to like-minded recipients. Do also include a call to action to sign up for email communications on the forwarded email and you’ve then created a data-capture opportunity to expand your audience.
4. Testing: if you do try something different, make sure you test it! Is it worth your effort changing your email content and design for Christmas or do people just want to receive your normal content that they subscribe to? This depends on your subject matter and readership. It’s always worth checking when you make major changes – a split test to a portion of your audience could give you the answer.
5. Christmas subscription emails for B2C: many people buy subscriptions as Christmas gifts for their friends and families. Record this valuable information and then you can remind them to renew it in the lead up to Christmas next year. If they’ve bought a subscription for others once, they’re likely to again.
6. It only takes tweaks: Simple tweaks to images within your emails allow you to almost ‘gift wrap’ your content. This low-cost method has been used by Google for a number of years, simply by dressing their website, so a simple, effective and consistent theme can be used both on site and in your email. Remember to try and include this in the preview pane (top 200 pixels of your email are often visible before the recipient has decided to open).
7. Warn subscribers about editorial breaks: Let subscribers know well in advance if you’re planning an editorial break. They will know not to expect new issues, otherwise it looks like you are ignoring them. Also it is a good idea to warn new subscribers, otherwise people signing up to your email promotion over the Christmas break will be expecting to receive communications from you when you’re not there!
8. Not everyone celebrates: Remember, not everyone celebrates Christmas as a national holiday. For international organisations, many of your contacts in the Middle East for example will be working hard over Christmas and won’t want reminding that you’re not working! If you have this data available suppress them from receiving your Christmas based emails – however they might still like to receive this if it includes offers!
9. Don’t forget email signatures: Across your teams, they’ll be sending hundreds of emails to clients, prospects and partners – encourage them to include a simple and consistent festive message within their email signature, while of course sticking to your core brand values. Not only is it free, but the potential reach is huge. Remember to keep this simple as images can often get stripped out as attachments meaning your message could be lost.
10. Timing: Adding festive messages to your email newsletter after a competitor has done it to theirs will make you look ‘me-too’ and unoriginal. Equally, don’t go too early. Ideally your festive messages should start at the beginning of December – it is a bit like supermarket Christmas music – if it starts too early it becomes tired and irritating. Remember, you are trying to reflect the festive mood not lead it. If your company has a break between Christmas and New Year, don’t forget to take your Christmas messages down and perhaps replace them with New Year messages. Otherwise, your website will look as stale as a leftover turkey sandwich.
Remember this Christmas to do something that makes you stand out from the crowd, but continue to be relevant, otherwise you risk alienating people. Lastly, remember Christmas is all about sharing. Have a happy Christmas.