Posts Tagged ‘#adestra’
Addressing your low open rates with four top tips
“My campaigns have a very low open rate” - A common response when asking clients how they feel their campaigns are performing.
The focus of email marketers at the moment is very much on automation, responsive designs, and clever dynamic or conditional content. These are by no means bad things to concentrate on, but neither do they address one fundamental requirement: the recipient actually opening the email when they receive it.
In the recent Econsultancy and Adestra Email Marketing Industry Census 2013, a staggering 44% of companies spend between 2-8 hours on the design and content of their email, yet only 20% of those same respondents suggested that they spend a similar amount of time on strategy and planning. You can create an amazingly designed and responsive template, full of dynamic content, with all the bells and whistles, but if no one is opening it, your time and resources – both commodities in short supply – could have been better spent.
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
With the above quote in mind, to improve your open rate you need to have a plan in place and dedicate some resources to implementing it. Open rates are affected by two main things:
- Sender / From Name – they instantly recognise and know who you are
- Subject Line – should be clear and create a desire to open the email
Here are four quick and easy tips to help you refine your messages for the above points, and put together a plan that will enable you to increase your open rates:
1) Use a consistent Sender / From Name - this is a straightforward but very important part of building your reputation with recipients and increasing brand recognition. By using a consistent sender name, the recipient won’t have to think about who the email is from, and will make a quick decision as to whether it is an email they wish to open. It’s important to consider whether you use your company name or an actual person; if you build your brand on a person’s name and they leave your business, you will lose that recognition when you change the sender name.
2) Subject line strategy - this is possibly the most overlooked part of any email campaign. If you don’t have a subject line strategy, it’s time to start. This is all part of the wider idea of ‘inbox branding’: having consistent, recognisable, and inticing subject lines that someone can always associate with your brand. As an example, take a look at how Ebuyer.com emails appear in my own personal inbox:
Notice their strategy with the subject line? It’s always consistently personalised with my name, along with a single product for ‘only’ a certain price plus free delivery. Because of this, I always associate Ebuyer.com with a good price and free delivery on items.
3) Set expectations to new signups – although this may not be considered by many, it’s worth planning a welcome program, or at least a welcome email, when someone does opt in or signup. By warming them with a welcome email and setting an expectation of when they can expect to hear from you (daily, weekly, monthly etc.) you’ll increase the chances that they’ll continue to open your emails in the future. By not doing this, you run the risk of the user potentially forgetting they ever signed up at all, forgetting who you are and binning, marking as spam or unsubscribing altogether. Some companies like Ebuyer.com actually state that they send their newsletters on a Monday, Thursday and Saturday, which can be good to get recipients used to expecting their emails at regular times on specific days.
4) Clean up your data - why not read my previous blog on letting go of old or inactive data? Cleaning your data and removing those from your list that haven’t engaged in over a set period of time (e.g. 12 months) will naturally boost your open rate and be a better indicator of open rate among your active recipients. As an example, if you have a list of 100k contacts with an open rate of 5% (5000 people), and 50k who haven’t opened an email in 12 months, removing the inactive contacts will naturally increase your open rate to 10%. The 50k you remove can then be targeted differently to try and re-engage them to bring them back onto your active mailing list.
The above are four very quick tips but are by no means an exhaustive list of what you can do. It’s all about standing out and being unique in the inbox to ensure your email is read first and above all others.
They say the best things come in threes, so I’ll leave you with a final quote from General Patton about adding some of your own creativity to your plan. I encourage all clients to come up with as many crazy, out-of-the-box ideas as possible for the simple reason that…
“If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn’t thinking.” - General George Patton Jr.
So, spend some time this week thinking differently about your emails and how you can increase your open rate. After all, your hard work and time spent in the design of email creative and content will be rewarded by people finally seeing the fruits of your labour.
Encourage your potential customers to complete their purchase with an ‘abandoned basket’ email
No company will have a 100% conversion rate on their website; it is inevitable people will abandon their basket before completing their purchase for one reason or another.
You can improve that rate, though, by sending an abandoned basket email. It can help encourage some of these potential customers who have added something to their basket on your website and abandoned the purchase process, to return and complete their transaction.
Below I have included answers to a few of the most common questions we get when it comes to abandoned basket emails.
How long after the potential customer abandons their basket should I send the abandoned basket email?
This is something that needs to be tested, as the length of time will vary depending on if it is a high involvement purchase or a low. You don’t want to send the email immediately after they have abandoned their basket, you don’t want to give the impression of stalking! Plus if the recipient got distracted while adding items to their basket it is possible they are still busy. Or if they simply needed a little time to think about the purchase before placing their order, this wouldn’t have given them enough time. Equally you don’t want to wait too long after the recipient has abandoned as they may have bought the product elsewhere in that time. I would recommend anywhere between 3 and 24 hours.
What should be included within the abandoned basket email?
- Avoid cluttering the email; including other messages could confuse the recipient.
- Pull the products the recipient has in their basket into the email creative, reminding them of what they wanted to purchase.
- Place a strong/clear call to action within the email, e.g. ‘return to your basket here’, or ‘have you not found what you are looking for’.
- Reinforce your brand values: why would they buy the product from you?
- Offer the recipient help and assistance in order to complete their transaction, include a phone number they can call in case they are having problems purchasing online.
Should I include an incentive?
Many people ask whether they should use incentives within their abandoned basket emails. To answer this, you need to consider why people would have abandoned the basket. Did they get distracted by something else? Were they not 100% sure about the purchase (do I really need this?!)? Was it a cost issue on price or delivery?
If they simply got distracted you don’t want to offer the recipient a discount, when they may have purchased anyway, with just a reminder. You also don’t want to teach your regular customer that abandoning their basket will result in a discount, encouraging them to do this every time before they make a purchase. Therefore if you are going to offer a discount, first do some testing to ensure that offering a discount is actually increasing the number of conversions enough to justify the discount. Also offer it irregularly, so customers don’t come to expect it. Maybe create a series of two abandoned basket emails, with the first one reminding the recipient that they have things within their basket and then send the second if the recipient has opened the email and not completed the purchase containing the added incentive.
How do I automate this process?
Adestra’s Conversion Capture feature allows for real time emails to be automatically sent to those recipients who have abandoned their basket on your website. For further information click here or contact your account manager.
Email client detection – how much do you really know about your email recipients?
One of the most powerful features you can use for campaign optimisation is email client detection reporting. Knowing which email clients your recipients are using is hugely important when planning your email campaigns.
Using this kind of data to ensure campaigns are optimised (design and CTAs) for your readers’ most popular email clients is a great way to improve your email marketing results!
How does this help?
Review your past email campaign data and see which your top email clients are for opens to determine how best to tailor your email content. Use the email client detection report to shape your email content with these tips:
- If your top email client is a desktop client, such as Outlook, remember that images will not automatically download. Improve results by adding short, descriptive ALT text to encourage people to download images and lots of opportunities to click within the copy.
- For webmail clients use lots of linked images, and ensure the amount of text is truly tailored to the email purpose – does it need lots of text to get your message across? Also consider spicing your email up with an animated gif or by integrating video within your email
Need some inspiration?
Check out these emails that are well tailored to the most popular email client of their recipients:
Simple and effective for webmail clients!
Great for desktop clients!
What does MessageFocus email client detection show you?
If you’re a MessageFocus client, you can find the Email Client Detection report in the campaign reporting tab. The feature provides you with an overview of the email clients that your campaigns have been opened on, and allows you to view specifically which webmail, desktop and mobile clients are being used to view your content:
There is also a tab to look at hits, showing the version (where available) of email client and the browser for webmail clients. This allows you to ensure you’re designing content that has been optimised for your most popular browser. It also enables you to tailor your content so it’s designed to maximise response rates for your campaign.
Check out what kind of insights you can glean from digging into your campaign email client data. And if you are a MessageFocus user, contact your account manager to discuss your requirements, analyse your deliverabilty and maximise the effectiveness of your campaigns.
Addressing your low open rates with four top tips
“My campaigns have a very low open rate” - A common response when asking clients how they feel their campaigns are performing.
The focus of email marketers at the moment is very much on automation, responsive designs, and clever dynamic or conditional content. These are by no means bad things to concentrate on, but neither do they address one fundamental requirement: the recipient actually opening the email when they receive it.
In the recent Econsultancy and Adestra Email Marketing Industry Census 2013, a staggering 44% of companies spend between 2-8 hours on the design and content of their email, yet only 20% of those same respondents suggested that they spend a similar amount of time on strategy and planning. You can create an amazingly designed and responsive template, full of dynamic content, with all the bells and whistles, but if no one is opening it, your time and resources – both commodities in short supply – could have been better spent.
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
With the above quote in mind, to improve your open rate you need to have a plan in place and dedicate some resources to implementing it. Open rates are affected by two main things:
- Sender / From Name – they instantly recognise and know who you are
- Subject Line – should be clear and create a desire to open the email
Here are four quick and easy tips to help you refine your messages for the above points, and put together a plan that will enable you to increase your open rates:
1) Use a consistent Sender / From Name - this is a straightforward but very important part of building your reputation with recipients and increasing brand recognition. By using a consistent sender name, the recipient won’t have to think about who the email is from, and will make a quick decision as to whether it is an email they wish to open. It’s important to consider whether you use your company name or an actual person; if you build your brand on a person’s name and they leave your business, you will lose that recognition when you change the sender name.
2) Subject line strategy - this is possibly the most overlooked part of any email campaign. If you don’t have a subject line strategy, it’s time to start. This is all part of the wider idea of ‘inbox branding’: having consistent, recognisable, and inticing subject lines that someone can always associate with your brand. As an example, take a look at how Ebuyer.com emails appear in my own personal inbox:
Notice their strategy with the subject line? It’s always consistently personalised with my name, along with a single product for ‘only’ a certain price plus free delivery. Because of this, I always associate Ebuyer.com with a good price and free delivery on items.
3) Set expectations to new signups – although this may not be considered by many, it’s worth planning a welcome program, or at least a welcome email, when someone does opt in or signup. By warming them with a welcome email and setting an expectation of when they can expect to hear from you (daily, weekly, monthly etc.) you’ll increase the chances that they’ll continue to open your emails in the future. By not doing this, you run the risk of the user potentially forgetting they ever signed up at all, forgetting who you are and binning, marking as spam or unsubscribing altogether. Some companies like Ebuyer.com actually state that they send their newsletters on a Monday, Thursday and Saturday, which can be good to get recipients used to expecting their emails at regular times on specific days.
4) Clean up your data - why not read my previous blog on letting go of old or inactive data? Cleaning your data and removing those from your list that haven’t engaged in over a set period of time (e.g. 12 months) will naturally boost your open rate and be a better indicator of open rate among your active recipients. As an example, if you have a list of 100k contacts with an open rate of 5% (5000 people), and 50k who haven’t opened an email in 12 months, removing the inactive contacts will naturally increase your open rate to 10%. The 50k you remove can then be targeted differently to try and re-engage them to bring them back onto your active mailing list.
The above are four very quick tips but are by no means an exhaustive list of what you can do. It’s all about standing out and being unique in the inbox to ensure your email is read first and above all others.
They say the best things come in threes, so I’ll leave you with a final quote from General Patton about adding some of your own creativity to your plan. I encourage all clients to come up with as many crazy, out-of-the-box ideas as possible for the simple reason that…
“If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn’t thinking.” - General George Patton Jr.
So, spend some time this week thinking differently about your emails and how you can increase your open rate. After all, your hard work and time spent in the design of email creative and content will be rewarded by people finally seeing the fruits of your labour.
Encourage your potential customers to complete their purchase with an ‘abandoned basket’ email
No company will have a 100% conversion rate on their website; it is inevitable people will abandon their basket before completing their purchase for one reason or another.
You can improve that rate, though, by sending an abandoned basket email. It can help encourage some of these potential customers who have added something to their basket on your website and abandoned the purchase process, to return and complete their transaction.
Below I have included answers to a few of the most common questions we get when it comes to abandoned basket emails.
How long after the potential customer abandons their basket should I send the abandoned basket email?
This is something that needs to be tested, as the length of time will vary depending on if it is a high involvement purchase or a low. You don’t want to send the email immediately after they have abandoned their basket, you don’t want to give the impression of stalking! Plus if the recipient got distracted while adding items to their basket it is possible they are still busy. Or if they simply needed a little time to think about the purchase before placing their order, this wouldn’t have given them enough time. Equally you don’t want to wait too long after the recipient has abandoned as they may have bought the product elsewhere in that time. I would recommend anywhere between 3 and 24 hours.
What should be included within the abandoned basket email?
- Avoid cluttering the email; including other messages could confuse the recipient.
- Pull the products the recipient has in their basket into the email creative, reminding them of what they wanted to purchase.
- Place a strong/clear call to action within the email, e.g. ‘return to your basket here’, or ‘have you not found what you are looking for’.
- Reinforce your brand values: why would they buy the product from you?
- Offer the recipient help and assistance in order to complete their transaction, include a phone number they can call in case they are having problems purchasing online.
Should I include an incentive?
Many people ask whether they should use incentives within their abandoned basket emails. To answer this, you need to consider why people would have abandoned the basket. Did they get distracted by something else? Were they not 100% sure about the purchase (do I really need this?!)? Was it a cost issue on price or delivery?
If they simply got distracted you don’t want to offer the recipient a discount, when they may have purchased anyway, with just a reminder. You also don’t want to teach your regular customer that abandoning their basket will result in a discount, encouraging them to do this every time before they make a purchase. Therefore if you are going to offer a discount, first do some testing to ensure that offering a discount is actually increasing the number of conversions enough to justify the discount. Also offer it irregularly, so customers don’t come to expect it. Maybe create a series of two abandoned basket emails, with the first one reminding the recipient that they have things within their basket and then send the second if the recipient has opened the email and not completed the purchase containing the added incentive.
How do I automate this process?
Adestra’s Conversion Capture feature allows for real time emails to be automatically sent to those recipients who have abandoned their basket on your website. For further information click here or contact your account manager.
Email client detection – how much do you really know about your email recipients?
One of the most powerful features you can use for campaign optimisation is email client detection reporting. Knowing which email clients your recipients are using is hugely important when planning your email campaigns.
Using this kind of data to ensure campaigns are optimised (design and CTAs) for your readers’ most popular email clients is a great way to improve your email marketing results!
How does this help?
Review your past email campaign data and see which your top email clients are for opens to determine how best to tailor your email content. Use the email client detection report to shape your email content with these tips:
- If your top email client is a desktop client, such as Outlook, remember that images will not automatically download. Improve results by adding short, descriptive ALT text to encourage people to download images and lots of opportunities to click within the copy.
- For webmail clients use lots of linked images, and ensure the amount of text is truly tailored to the email purpose – does it need lots of text to get your message across? Also consider spicing your email up with an animated gif or by integrating video within your email
Need some inspiration?
Check out these emails that are well tailored to the most popular email client of their recipients:
Simple and effective for webmail clients!
Great for desktop clients!
What does MessageFocus email client detection show you?
If you’re a MessageFocus client, you can find the Email Client Detection report in the campaign reporting tab. The feature provides you with an overview of the email clients that your campaigns have been opened on, and allows you to view specifically which webmail, desktop and mobile clients are being used to view your content:
There is also a tab to look at hits, showing the version (where available) of email client and the browser for webmail clients. This allows you to ensure you’re designing content that has been optimised for your most popular browser. It also enables you to tailor your content so it’s designed to maximise response rates for your campaign.
Check out what kind of insights you can glean from digging into your campaign email client data. And if you are a MessageFocus user, contact your account manager to discuss your requirements, analyse your deliverabilty and maximise the effectiveness of your campaigns.