eROI Days Email Agency

Email Design Drives Results for CBSSports.com Fantasy Sports

Does email design really matter? Is it just “fluff,” or does it truly drive results?

At eROI, we just let our Resource Center subscribers know about this exclusive email marketing case study. See how a fresh, targeted, and on-brand email design by eROI’s award-winning creative team took the CBSSports.com Fantasy Sports emails to the next level.

Please comment below to let us know your thoughts on Email Design. Give us your take Before & After you read the case study.  Thx.

What a difference a good email makes to motivate, inspire, and deliver a strong message.  Christine Baker (Twitter handle: @cbakes) creates a different yoga email for reminding all of us at eROI that we have yoga practice the following morning.

I’d like to talk about all the things she does right in the email above:

• The preheader “Yoga Friday at 7:45am” reminds me of when it is when I read this email on my Blackberry or in the top area of the preview pane of my email client (even when images are turned off).
• Also in the preheader is “View as webpage >>” which allows me to see the full extent of this graphic-rich email if I’m getting a text view of it on my Blackberry or Gmail or Outlook.
• Solid, consistent branding
• Relevant messaging and imagery (Obama had just won days before and Christine knows her audience well enough to know most of us in the company are big fans)
• Clean email design template
• Tight, functional footer using a lot of email best practices and compliance: Unsubscribe, Update Profile, Send to Friend, and mailing address.

We want to know – how does your little brother, sister, nephew, or neice Use Email? We don’t know the answer yet, and need your help to discover how high school kids, college students, and recent college grads actually use email. That’s why we’re conducting this survey >>

All the articles we’ve read pretty much tell us that email marketing will be dead in a matter of years (because kids are only into texting and social networking communities), but we’re a little skeptical of that assessment that email is not or will not be a big part of their lives. So, we are conducting our own survey and we’re primarily using blogs, MySpace, Facebook, and a little bit of email to reach out to our .edu friends. Please help us  to fill out this awesome survey, and you might win your very own, limited-edition KillROI in the process.

We need to know what our kids (or nephews, neices, cousins, brothers, or sisters) futures will look like, so please spread the word to fill out this survey; http://eroi.onlinestudentcommunication.sgizmo.com.

Additionally, I’d love to read your thoughts on the survey in the comments below.  Thank you thank you!

My business associate and friend Jerry Ketel, partner at Leopold & Ketel Partners, sent this email to several Portland agency owners to help prove to clients that marketing has been proven to grow a brand and its sales, profit, and market share during a recession (notice how I didn’t use this “r” word in the blog title – I’m not comfortable using it yet).  Here was Jerry’s email to me (I added the image after searching on Google “marketing in recession” – it’s actually quite informative):

“There have been a number of studies over the years proving that marketing during a recession is a good investment in the long run. ‘In a recession, dare to invest aggressively in marketing, innovation and customer quality’, is the clear message to be drawn from PIMS (Profit Impact of Market Strategy) research into which business strategies aid success during and after a market downturn lasting several years. Author: Keith Roberts, Journal: Strategy & Leadership, 2003. 
http://tinyurl.com/4sqx8j
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 Apparently, I have a problem.  I’m too plugged in.  Although, I did unplug w/ yoga on Monday.  Check out this brilliant viral site – below is the email I got from a Friend who is concerned about me: www.UnplugYourFriends.com or click on the “click here to read it” button below!  Don’t forget to join a meetup with me – I know you have Screen Addiction, too.

This internal email went out yesterday from our queen of yoga, Christine (or is it “yogaROI”).  Nice job getting people psyched about yoga at eROI!  So, blog readers – who’s got my back (in the pic below).

Comment below to guess who the mysterious yogi is (it’s not Christine).

Yesterday, I joined the Board of Greenlight Greater Portland, an economic development group represented by Portland’s private-sector business community.  Greenlight’s goal is to recruit and retain growing companies in the Greater Portland region.  I was inspired by Greenlight’s mission and the approachability and competence of the Board – titans of industry in this town – I was inspired to write a thank you email to them last night. It went something like this:

From: Ryan Buchanan
To: Tim Priest ; Mark Ganz ; Malia Wasson ; Eric Parsons ; Pat Reiten ; Peggy Fowler ; Steve Stadum ; Roger Hinshaw ; Bill Stoller ; Bob Jesenik ; Wes Lawrence ; Jim Mark ; Dennis Rawlinson ; Keith Leavitt ; Lindsay Desrochers ; Wally Van Valkenburg ; Don Krahmer ; Alan Johnson ; Randy L. Miller ; Scott Campbell ; John Bradley ; Jay Platt 
Sent: Tue Sep 09 23:51:47 2008
Subject: RE: September 9 Greenlight Board Meeting: thank you

Kelly Samardak wrote an incredible piece in her MediaPost column “Just an Online Minute” about the wayward remaining days in the last week of August and how we all get insanely busy starting today, the first day of September AFTER Labor Day.  This is what grabbed my attention: “If you’re reading this on your iPhone, Blackberry, or crystal ball while on the beach gazing at Regis Philbin from behind in his sky-blue banana hammock, thanks, and enjoy this languid read of low-pressure, real-life socializing.  Why?  Because I know September is about to grab us all by our media necks  and wipe the floors with our souls.  See you next week; I’ll be the one in body armor.”

So, while we recognize that the final four months of the year are going to fly by getting entrenched in the online marketing / interactive agency / social media world while juggling family commitments, school, soccer practices for the kids, and an occasional date night w/ your spouse, let’s try to keep a little balance in our lives.  Until then, enjoy this article:

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My respected co-worker, email expert, and The Email Wars star blogger, Dylan Boyd, has made some excellent points about the Obama camp’s blown opportunity in VP Candidate Joe Biden’s email outreach with the subject line “Hello” in today’s blog post: http://theemailwars.com/2008/08/25/errr-hello-top-subject-line-ever/.  However, I challenge Dylan to tell me that he is truly “jaded” by the pure effectiveness of the Obama email program. 

I’d love to get Dylan’s response to Michele Obama’s email this evening with the subject line “Behind the scenes in Denver”.  The content of the email hit the mark – it was real, genuine, her voice, intelligent.  The timing perfect: she delivered a kick ass speech at the Democratic National Convention just 3 hours after her email hit my inbox.  The call to action was compelling, obvious, focused, and had intrigue and mystery built into it.  I want to see what’s going on behind the scenes in this historic presidential race.  Don’t you?

So, before you all get jaded from one mis-step out of 207 emails, get inspired by the good stuff.  To me, the Obama campaign displays Email Intelligence.  And, unlike his opponent, he can actually use the medium. Tell me what you think in your comments on this post.  Subscribe to this Blog in the upper right.

If you want to check out the content of Michelle’s email, read more here >> (more…)

My values are still in tact, when I tell you that it’s okay to cheat this time.  We just launched our New Guide: “Pre-Launch Email Marketing Campaign Cheat Sheet”! 

As we mention in our Resources section of our site, “In today’s hectic email marketing landscape, it’s easy to overlook important aspects of your campaign. So, we are offering you this cheat sheet. Check and review each point on the sheet before your campaign is sent, and increase your campaign performance by catching something you forgot to double-check.”

If you think this is one of the cheesiest blog titles and opening two sentences, post a comment.  It’s getting late in the office, and I’m a little punchy.  But seriously, check out this Guide / Cheat Sheet – I really think you’ll find it valuable.

At eROI, we try hard to be a resource to folks in the email marketing industry, and one of the ways that we’ve done that over the past 5 years is to do a quarterly study (based on a survey or aggregate data from our email marketing platform) and present those results to everyone in the industry.  It always amazes us that there is a HUGE difference between what email marketers know to do as best practices for their campaigns versus what is actually done in the real world (where time, money, process, and other factors get in the way of best practices).

In this Q3’08 eROI study called “The Elements of Email“, there is a shocking difference of best practices vs. real world practices.  For example, only a quarter of marketers test their subject lines.  Fifty-five percent of online marketers don’t know how they authenticate emails (to ensure that more of their emails reach their email subscriber’s inbox.  Lastly, only 10 percent of us create mobile versions of our email campaigns.

People are talking about the study, so make sure you check out what they are saying.  And, if you’d like to draw your own conclusions, click here to see the full study >>

Articles on this study:
http://directmag.com/magill/0819-email-markers-slopping/ 
http://www.marketingvox.com/email-marketers-missing-opportunities-040449/
http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/email-marketers-missing-opportunities-5665/

Please comment below to let me know your take.  Also don’t forget to subscribe to this blog.  Now that I’m refreshed from vacation, I promise to post blog entries more frequently.

Full disclosure, eROI did the design for this CBSSports.com Fantasy Football and Fantasy Baseball newsletter signup email. One pleasant surprise is how well this email performed both before its launch in eye-tracking testing and in the number of newsletter signups it drove in the actual campaign.

What are your thougths on the above email design? Please comment.

The initial intent of this blog, EmailDays, was to highlight everyday email from friends, family, work associates, partners, clients, spammers, or anyone that had an impact on your day through your inbox. Sometimes, I’ve strayed from that and focused more intently on the culture and happenings at our company, eROI. Alas, this blog post is about two different inspiring stories shared by my sister from Kentucky, and a work associate from Avenue A / Razorfish, a Microsoft company – but both are inspiration in the real “real world” as opposed to the working world.

This email from my sister highlighted a hero in her home town of Lexington Kentucky:
“This guys brother is a 9 year old on my son’s team. He has been up at the park for the last 4 years motoring around the bleachers. His family is great and his attitude is awesome. Makes you rethink complaining about any aches and pains or “I can’t do it” attitude. Make sure you watch the video.”

Adam Bender – plays baseball with only one leg

The next email was sent by one of the top experts in the email marketing industry. I’m sure he had received an email like this before, but like me, he was struck by how powerful this video was a second or third time – his email said:
“The Story:
A son asked his father, ‘Dad, will you take part in a marathon
with me?’ The father who, despite having a heart condition, says
‘Yes’. They went on to complete the marathon together.
Father and son went on to join other marathons, the father
always saying ‘Yes’ to his son’s request of going through the
race together. One day, the son asked his father, ‘Dad, let’s
join the Ironman together.’

To which, his father said ‘Yes’ to.
For those who didn’t know, Ironman is the toughest triathlon
ever. The race encompasses three endurance events of a 2.4 mile
(3.86 kilometer) ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile (180.2
kilometer) bike ride, and ending with a 26.2 mile (42.195
kilometer) marathon along the coast of the Big Island.

Father and son went on to complete the race together. View this with music. ”

Can World’s Strongest Dad

Barack’s email campaign has hooked me during this election season. His emails have been relevant, ultra-local (great list segmentation here), and the content is inspiring. I give it a 10 out of 10.

However, one of my colleagues, brought up a good point. Here is what she had to say:

Hi Ryan,
Just my latest email marketing peeve. I was a John Edwards supporter. When Edwards endorsed Obama, I got an email urging me to register at Obama’s site. There was a specific link (www.barackobama.com/johnedwards). I signed up because I do want to support Obama now, and I also want the Obama campaign to be able to gauge how much support comes via Edwards.

Below is the first email I got after signing up. As if I’ve been a supporter all along. It seems like a missed opportunity to send me something relevant, ie. thanks for signing up, we really respect Senator Edwards and like him, we support issue X, Y and Z.

It would have been so easy. Sigh.

Cheers,
Jean

Begin forwarded message:

From: Barack Obama
Date: May 21, 2008 4:45:21 PM PDT
To: Jean
Subject: Thank you
Reply-To: info@barackobama.com

Dear Jean,

You did it.

Not just yesterday, but every day for more than a year, you did what the cynics said we couldn’t do.

You said the time has come to get beyond the same old tactics that divide and distract us, and you gave people a reason to believe again.

Because of your work, we won the Oregon primary by a large margin — and made it clear that at this moment, in this election, there is something happening in America.

There is something happening when Americans who have never participated in politics get involved and knock on doors, make phone calls, and talk to each other about their vision for our country.

There is something happening when people vote not just for the party they belong to but for the hopes they hold in common.

Change is what’s happening in America.

The momentum you created won’t stop now. Together we’re building a campaign that will compete in the general election — and a united Democratic Party that can lead this country for the next generation.

You can keep it going by taking a trip to Montana for the last primary in the country. Supporters like you are needed to help get voters out to the polls for their June 3rd primary.

Sign up now to help Get Out The Vote in Montana:

http://my.barackobama.com/cometoMT

We’re within reach of the nomination, and we are ready to take this country in a new direction.

Thank you for everything you’ve done to make this possible.

Barack

Loren McDonald explains it well. With rapid agreement among email industry insiders, Loren really nailed the answer to the question of the relevancy of the common email metric “open rate.”

The MediaPost article begins:

Email Open Rates: What’s the Alternative?
by Loren McDonald , Thursday, May 8, 2008

MY PREVIOUS COLUMN, “WHY THE Email Open Rate Must Die” spawned a spirited debate, mainly on these three topics (click here to read the first column and all 17 comments):

Don’t kill the open rate, but view it in the proper perspective.
PLEASE let it die!
What can we replace it with? You don’t offer any suggestions other than to say we can do better.

I stand guilty as charged of not offering an alternative to the open rate in that first column. I will remedy that in this column.

The Open Rate: Rename, Rethink, Redefine

So, what are the alternatives to the open rate?

1. As I understand it, none exist today or in the near future. Some have suggested using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to track opens, but many email clients also block CSS. The major email providers (Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail/Live Mail, Gmail) can more accurately track “open or read rates” because the email client resides on their servers and does not have to hit an external server. But, the chance of these email providers sharing open data is as likely as world peace.

2.So, let’s rename it the “Email Render Rate” or something similar that reflects what the tracking images really measure. My proposed “render rate” would more accurately reflect what occurs when images are loaded in a recipient’s email client. This includes in preview panes, software clients such as Outlook or Web-based services such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail.

This redefinition (nothing else changes) will benefit retailers and others for whom product images are important to conversion. A render rate of 25% lets the sender know that their email rendered with images in 25% of the messages seen by recipients’ inboxes or smart phones.

Analyzing the subscriber base by render rate over time would help the marketer better optimize creative for subscribers who normally view images and for those who don’t. As smart marketers and the industry make this shift, I’m sure dozens of other creative uses of the render rate would also emerge.

3.Next, let’s de-emphasize the open rate and focus the email scorecard on output and business metrics. I’m not devaluing email process metrics. In fact, I find tremendous value in spam-complaint and unsubscribe rates, for example.

But ultimately, the only metrics your CEO and CFO care about are those that measure how the email program supports business goals such as growing revenues, increasing margins, improving customer retention and lowering communications costs.

Read the full article here >>