Subject Lines that Get Email Opened

Email marketers’ first opportunity to capture a consumer’s attention is a subject line. Epsilon recently analyzed the impact of the more than one billion emails over nearly 20,000 separate campaigns sent out by a selection of US-based clients in the retail and consumer services industries.Epsilon experts evaluated the correlation between the length of a subject line of each campaign and the unique open and total click rates. In addition to subject line length, the study suggests that subject line word order, word choice, and brand and audience awareness are also critical success factors. Additionally, it is crucial that marketers perform subject line testing to increase open and click rates. Based on the research, the following are four tips marketers can use to improve the impact of their email campaigns: 1) Front load subject lines with the most important information. 2) Keep the subject line as short as possible to convey the message. 3) Use longer subject lines only when there is a compelling reason to do so. 4) When in doubt, test.

[Epsilon: The Long and Short of It: Perfecting the Art of Email Subject Line”]

Turning Customer Insight into Competitive Advantage

In a new report entitled Giving Customer Voice More Volume, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council finds critical deficiencies in the way companies measure, optimize and leverage customer experience to drive loyalty, improve brand value and increase business performance and growth. The report takes a fresh look at marketing's ownership of the customer experience to provide perspective on the role of marketing executives in ensuring that all operational areas and organizational processes (products, programs, channels, functions, policies, touch points and services) are harmonized and optimized to deliver on brand promises and drive customer advocacy, satisfaction and loyalty. Out of the 480 marketers surveyed:

• 38 percent said their companies have no programs in place to track or propagate positive word of mouth among customers.
• Despite overwhelming agreement on the importance of customer experience and word-of-mouth, it's surprising that nearly two-thirds of companies do not have a formal Voice of Customer program in place.
• Only 29 percent said their companies rate highly in their ability handle and resolve customer problems or complaints.
• Just 32 percent look for ways to turn problems into new sales opportunities, and only 15 percent introduce new products or services to further monetize the relationship.

Download a complimentary copy of the Giving Customer Voice More Volume report.

Email Key Tactic for ROI in 2009

The recession is putting increased emphasis on ROI in marketing campaigns. So, email stands out as a key tactic for marketers in 2009. Competition for a consumer’s inbox may be tougher than ever – budgets for testing and measurement are constrained. And email’s supporting role in lead generation and nurturing will put the onus on B2B and B2C marketers to optimize each message to make the most in a tough marketplace. Email is a linchpin and a challenge for marketers this year. Email marketing stands out as a key one for marketers among all channels and lead generation tactics, according to Marketing Sherpa's latest survey on their priorities and pain points for 2009.

[Marketing Sherpa, "New Survey Data: Email's ROI Makes Tactic Key for Marketers in 2009"]

B-to-B Marketers Top Priorities in 2009

B2B marketers are adapting to the recession. That’s clear from Marketing Sherpa's latest survey of marketers about their priorities and pain points for 2009. Here are their top 5 insights on marketing in a recession. This article provide a snapshot of conditions and areas of focus for 2009, such as:

• Dealing with lengthening sales cycles
• Doing more with less
• Web 2.0 and social media marketing
• Focusing on lower-cost, high-impact lead generation tactics

[Marketing Sherpa, "New Survey Data: B2B Marketers' Priorities and Pain Points for 2009"]

Marketing Tactics in Recesssion

Marketing Sherpa surveyed marketing professionals and asked them which tactics they plan to spend more on in 2009. Topping the list are social network marketing and email marketing, cited by 48% of respondents. Many traditional marketers are shifting more of their marketing dollars online, which costs less than traditional media and delivers trackable results.

Should You have a Corporate Blog?

Many companies have now started their own blogs, so should your company follow suit? It might be something you want to consider. Read on to learn why.

Market research conducted by JupiterResearch in the first half of 2006 indicated that 34% of large companies had established blog. Another 35% planned to do so by the end of 2006, thus by the end or 2006 close to 70% of companies were excpected to have deployed a corporate blog. Retailers like Neiman Marcus, PetSmart, and Sephora are using blogs to provide additional value by adding a level of credibility that is often unobtainable from a standard corporate site. In addition, the informality and increased timeliness of information posted to blogs assists with increasing transparency and accessibility in the corporate image. Another benefit of these corporate blogs is the ability to interact with a target market on a more personal level while building credibility that can ultimately be tied back to the corporate site. Blogs are also useful SEO tools, and can give your company extra exposure in the search engines. Provided you update it regularly, your blog can provide fresh, original content for Google to index.

When done correctly, corporate blogs can be valuable to a company, providing benefits for SEO and help you engage more customers. As long as it is done well, that is.

Retail eMail: Leaving Money in the Inbox

E-mail marketing can be so easy to do that many retailers adopt a set-it-and-forget-it mentality. But with so many retailers failing to execute most of the basics of e-mail marketing, that’s a huge mistake. Among the failures that recent e-mail studies and surveys have uncovered:

• 35% of retailers in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide fail to send a single e-mail within 30 days of when customers sign up for the e-mail program,
• 96% of the Top 500 fail to personalize subject lines,
• 71% of e-mail marketers do nothing to entice customers to stay on the list after the customer has initiated the unsubscribe process.

If you are looking for ways to make your email even more effective to drive traffic, improve customer loyalty and boost ROI, join me at Online Market World and our session: Retail eMail: Leaving Money in the Inbox. Please feel free to come to this session armed with questions. We’ll answer your questions and explore best strategies for customer subscription management, strategic customer life-cycle management and the power of personalization. We’ll dive deep into the details with a case study from Kiyonna.com. If you walk away from this session with one or two ideas to improve your approach to e-mail even a little bit, you could realize a big improvement in sales and your bottom line.

The first person to comment on this blog posting before the Online Market World 2008 event is eligible to receive a FREE full conference registration pass to the Online Market World 2008 conference in San Francisco. This is an event you won’t want to miss.

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