eROI Days Email Agency » Email Delivery Studies

Icebreaker takes email risk, reaps big rewards

emily — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 22:51:08 +0000

Our client Icebreaker’s holiday email campaign was highlighted this month on chiefmarketer.com. As Sherri Sieger explains, Icebreaker took a big risk with us by testing out a new email campaign this past holiday season. Eleven emails were sent out in the six weeks leading up to Christmas, when previously the mailing list had received just one marketing email every few months. The risk paid off big time, as holiday sales increased 32% from the previous year, 58% of which was directly attributed to our campaign.

I encourage you to check out the complete case study to see exactly how we accomplished this. It details each of the eleven emails, as well as the overall results of the holiday campaign.

2009 Trends in Online Marketing – Survey – Learning for 2010

Ryan Buchanan — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:50:17 +0000

Complete our survey on “2009 Trends in Online Marketing” and enter to win a Flip UltraTM Camcorder or one of several Retail Gift Cards!

Take the survey >>

We launched a new survey today in partnership with E-Marketing and Commerce – 2009 Trends in Online Marketing. We are setting out to get some data on how online marketers used their online marketing resources (budget and time) in 2009, how they value various online mediums and what they will continue to focus on in 2010.
The results of the survey will give us valuable insight into how various Online Marketing mediums were used in 2009 and uncover what marketers can do differently (or keep doing!) in 2010. Enter your email on the final question and you will be entered to win a Flip UltraTM camcorder or one of several retail gift cards.

Take the survey >>

eROI’s Email Testing Guide

Ryan Buchanan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:00:57 +0000

Something that we preach at eROI is to TEST TEST TEST. We believe that testing should be an integral part of every email marketing campaign. Our latest free guide gives you instructions on how to test, what to test and how to measure success. We have given advice on what metrics you should be wary of and which ones are more solid, for example, your read rate may be leading you on. Basically, what we are trying to get across is that testing helps to take out the guess work. This is a great resource for anyone getting ready for, or in the process of, an email marketing campaign.

“Even with all the numbers and ideas that fly around during the process, testing can be fun! Not just because it eliminates guesswork and settles arguments, but because of the surprises waiting around every corner. This bevy of information and direction is what proves the value of testing again and again.”

DOWNLOAD THE FREE GUIDE »

Building Your Brand By Building Community

Ryan Buchanan — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:02:28 +0000

The eROI presenters, Dylan Boyd, Alex Williams, and I, have traveled all over the country to give presentations on various topics from Building Community Online to The Value of a Welcome Email Program to New Trends in Measuring the Success of your Online Marketing & Social Media Efforts. This blog post is an overload of resource material for 3 great presentations – enjoy!

Building Your Brand by Building Community

View more Microsoft Word documents from Dylan Boyd.

Designing Your Email Program From Online Outreach To Welcome Email

View more Microsoft Word documents from alexwilliams.

eROI The Measurement Model: Old and New Puget Sound AMA June 9, 2010

View more Microsoft Word documents from Dylan Boyd.

Flashback 2 years ago: eROI Idol

Ryan Buchanan — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:42:59 +0000

I love that YouTube videos are timeless and all of us can re-live ridiculous moments years later. At eROI, we have dozens and dozens of those moments captured over the past many years on the eROI YouTube channel here >>. So, why am I doing a Flashback blog post? Yesterday, I had a client meeting with my friend James Adair and the typical client meeting turned into something so much better after watching the below video on our big screen. The second video is of distinguished Portland PR specialist, JulieAnna Little Giannini. She was the winner at eROI Idol, so it was only appropriate to include her video as well.

11 Email Design Best Practices

Ryan Buchanan — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 05:10:04 +0000

I recently wrote an article for iMedia Connection titled “11 Email Design Best Practices” and thought I’d share it with you if you hadn’t already checked it out. It starts like this:

Lay the foundation

Remember the last great offer you didn’t see? The savvy email marketer knows that you catch more conversions with honey than you do with vinegar, so make sure your email design is sweet!

If you’re starting a new email marketing program, or looking for an edge to take your email campaigns to the next level, consider these ideas for designing emails that get your compelling offer noticed. These tips and tricks will start you off right, and even help experienced email marketers amp-up existing campaigns, turning precise communication into profits and visibility.

1. Before you start
Prior to constructing your email, make sure that your message is clear and concise. Develop and refine what you want to say so that readers don’t lose interest or get confused about what your call-to-action is. What is your offer? How will reading and clicking through this email help the reader? Make sure they know what’s in it for them. Before and during the building process, continually ask yourself, “What would I think if I got this in my inbox? Would I immediately delete it? Or worse, report it as spam?” Rule No. 1 — don’t be spam.

Even the most compelling message can be rendered ineffective if it’s presented in an undesirable way to your readers. During this process you may encounter many challenges and obstacles. Your design team may want to create something striking and beautiful, but your audience may not want it. At the same time, don’t throw readers for a loop with a design that is off-brand. Your email design should be able to flow well with the look of your website as well as any pieces collateral offered. Consistency is good. Also, design the email around your readers by responding to their personality. Are they tech savvy? Parents? Students?

Check out the rest of the iMedia Connection article here >>

Proof that Many of Us Like Receiving Emails

Ryan Buchanan — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:44:22 +0000

According to a new study published today by eMarketer, “57% of consumers had a more positive impression of companies they had purchased from when they received e-mail from them—and 40% said such e-mail made a future purchase from the company more likely.”

Read the full eMarketer article here on some surprising take-aways on the effectiveness of email marketing >>

Phew: Email Marketing Still Works

Ryan Buchanan — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 01:04:11 +0000

I just got eMarketer’s daily email showing a study by Epsilon where email delivery rates are steady, open rates have dropped a little over time (which makes sense as many default email environments like Outlook 2007 and Gmail have images turned off), and click-through rates are slightly down probably due to some fatigue from email recipients where the expectations have raised for better call to action and compelling email content to lure email recipients to the landing page. Good article below.

E-Mail Performance Steady
Consumers are still reading marketing e-mails, and still clicking on them. That steady performance is driving an equally steady rise in e-mail ad spending. Full Article

Red Hot eROI Report Released: How Students Communicate Online

Ryan Buchanan — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:36:59 +0000

At eROI, we launch a quarterly email marketing study on things that make you scratch your head and do a bit of a double-take. Conventional wisdom says that EMAIL IS DEAD among high schoolers and college students. So, we decided to test that hypothesis, and this report has some fascinating discoveries.

Our latest survey uncovers exactly how high school students, college students, and recent college graduates communicate online. 283 high school and college students participated in the study and 29 states were represented.

These survey results reveal eye-opening trends and preferences of this demographic in how it communicates digitally. We also get valuable insight into the effectiveness of marketing messages received through email, and discover areas of opportunity for marketers to connect with this in-demand group.

Students can be an elusive demographic for marketers. From this study, you will learn about a lot of new trends and valuable information about students. You will also learn specific data on which marketing channels will carry and present your message most effectively.

CHECK OUT OUR REPORT ON STUDENT USE OF EMAIL AND SOCIAL NETWORKING TOOLS >>

Elements of Email Study Gets Email Marketers Attention

Ryan Buchanan — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:13:34 +0000

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.