eROI Days Email Agency » Every Day Email

My Presentation: Optimizing your Email Marketing Program for Nuture Marketing, Social, Mobile

Ryan Buchanan — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:49:29 +0000

Here was my presentation from the Lake Oswego Chamber of Commerce FORGE Marketing Annual Summit – great event!

As usual, I learned a ton from the other speakers:
Kimberly Barta, VP of Marketing, Dr. Martens Shoes
Dayn Wilberding, Dir of Technology, Grady Britton
Kent Lewis, President, Anvil Media

Enjoy this eROI presentation!

I also included a few of my tweets below as well:
@kentjlewis nice. “remember your marketing budget is unlimited” 11:41 AM Jan 28th from Tweetie

Top paid placement is based on Quality Score, not just on highest price. 11:32 AM Jan 28th from Tweetie

Google updates to add report a problem link, “near me now” link – using augmented reality 11:27 AM Jan 28th from Tweetie

Google maps. Create a dedicated page on maps. Sentiment analysis help sort reviews. 11:25 AM Jan 28th from Tweetie

Google onebox: local business. Manage coupons, reviews 11:23 AM Jan 28th from Tweetie

Customer reviews have a big impact on local search 11:19 AM Jan 28th from Tweetie

@kentjlewis speaking about local search #forge. Entertaining as always. 11:16 AM Jan 28th from Tweetie

@dayn great personal local example of discount tire giving him a rebate after the fact through Twitter conversation 9:51 AM Jan 28th from Tweetie

Intel has a good set of social media rules. Check em out 9:38 AM Jan 28th from Tweetie

2010 will be the year of consumers switching over from evite to facebook events 9:31 AM Jan 28th from Tweetie

Not hiring a blogger. Hiring a head of consumer conversations. 8:40 AM Jan 28th from Tweetie

Doc martens Kimberly says invest in engaging content #forge. It still is all about the idea, but the requirements are much higher 8:38 AM Jan 28th from Tweetie

Key is focusing on a few marketing channels of disproportionate influence. For doc martens, it’s product seeding to influencers 8:33 AM Jan 28th from Tweetie

Portland Bike Culture: A Beautiful Thing

Ryan Buchanan — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:27:33 +0000

When I first started writing for this blog, it was called “Email Days” and featured lots of examples of everyday emails, highlighting the importance of email in our every day lives, not just touting email marketing only. So, I thought I’d go back to my roots a little bit and tell you about an email a friend sent me last night. He is an avid cyclist and knows I like cycling as well, despite the fact that we both mainly commute to work by bike and don’t get to do long rides very often as our weekends are consumed with raising young kids and different kinds of activities then biking. He sent a link to the video below, which is filmed in Portland, Oregon, and really captures the humor of two different types of cyclists – hipsters vs performance. This is one of the funnier videos I’ve seen in a while and is very close to home, literally and figuratively. Enjoy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

New eROI Study: 4 out of 10 Email Marketers do not Test their Email Campaigns

Ryan Buchanan — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:35:12 +0000

We, at eROI, just released a survey study called “Use of Testing in Email Marketing.” You can download the full study here – http://idek.net/Kxk.

In our last study, Use of Analytics in Email Marketing Campaigns, we showed email marketers how important metrics are in making decisions and proving campaign ROI. One major opportunity to improve metrics and strengthen brand positioning with potential customers is to optimize email campaigns through consistent, careful testing. So, in our newest study, we show how 623 email marketers are currently using, or not using, testing to improve their email marketing efforts. One of the key takeaways of this study is that 4 out of 10 marketers are not testing campaigns – but why aren’t they? And for those that are testing, what elements are being tested and what can we learn from them?

Some stats from this study at a glance:
• 37% aren’t testing
• Of marketers that don’t test their email campaigns, 33% say it’s because they do not know how
• 27% say they don’t have time
• 13% say their platform doesn’t have testing capabilities
• For those that are testing, they are testing a wide variety of elements including design, frequency, calls to action and day/time sent. Our survey shows this breakdown for email content testing: 85.2% test subject lines, 54.8% test calls to action, 50.9% test designs, 49.1% test copy, 41.7% test offers, 36% test timing of campaigns.
• The survey showed that 36% of marketers are testing timing, which includes day of week, time of day, and frequency. Although history shows that results on the most successful time and day are constantly changing, here’s the latest trends:
• Time of Day – 37.86% of marketers testing timing are testing time of day. Of those, 49.4% currently find sending mid-day (10am-2pm) to be best, while start of the business day (6AM – 10AM) showed to be second best at 31.5%
• Tuesday ranks as the most successful day, followed closely by Wednesday.

Let us know what kind of insights you get from the new eROI Study Report -

Use of Testing in Email Marketing!

Lovefest I – Ask Your Customers and You Shall Receive

Ryan Buchanan — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:40:01 +0000

At eROI, we’re not always as disciplined as we should be about asking our customers what they think of us personally and the kind of work we do here. So, last week, we decided to ask a few customers (thru 1-to-1 email outreach) and here’s what we heard:

“eROI is what you look for in any business relationship: an expert partner who helps you realize your vision. The eROI team listened carefully to our needs, asked probing questions that helped us better understand the capabilities that would enable us to reach our goals, and communicated closely with us all the way to achieve success. The final product went above and beyond what we thought was possible. It was mindblowing.”
–Noah Glass, CEO, GoMobo

“Choosing eROI to help launch our magazine into the digital realm has been a great decision. The support from their web team has been incredible, making the scary transition from print to online- stress free. They provided structure, guidance and solutions to any minor hang up we experienced along the way.”
–Kaitlyn, CBS Watch Magazine (new site hasn’t been launched yet)

“Working with eROI to help with the development and launch of seven planet was key to company on many levels and will prove to be a critical positive impact on the brand. We began speaking with their team about 7 months prior to launching our virtual trading post (our ecommerce store/company site) with the intent to launch a site that was easy to navigate, that visually differentiated our brand and that helped our patrons effectively find out how the “mindful commerce” could work in their lives. In the end, they met all three of those criteria without question and in turn also were very patience with us in the process as we had scope revisions, content delays, support needs, etc. Finally, they proactively approached us after our launch with product review site upgrades, that would help improve the trading post and usability, without being asked to do so. Those upgrades are now implemented and we look forward to working with them consistently on making the seven planet site and our company newsletters as key to the brand and the vision of mindful commerce as our traditional green general stores.”
–John Friess, CEO, Seven Planet

How E-mail Became a Direct-Marketing Rock Star in Recession

Hannah — Tue, 12 May 2009 21:11:13 +0000

Many companies have treated email as the “red-headed stepchild” of the online world, but as money gets tight and targeting become more important, “rock star” becomes a more appropriate term for the direct marketing technique. Natalie Zmuda’s article, How E-mail Became a Direct-Marketing Rock Star in Recession, shows that not only are businesses talking about beefing up their email, they’re actually allocating a budget for it. Because of the relatively low cost of using this form of marketing during a recession, email has been looked upon with new eyes. While other forms of marketing have flourished in the past, the interactive nature and sustainability of email has proven most effective. One of the most important aspects of a strategic email campaign is that it is trackable. In Zmuda’s article, Zappos.com mentions that segmentation will be a big part of their strategy moving forward. By looking at the data from their previous “mass mailing” technique they can start to identify what to send and to whom to send it to. A case study recently done by eROI lays out the importance of this and using the full potential of the data that is driven from email campaigns. Below is an excerpt from the Advertising Age article.

E-mail has emerged as a recession darling, as retailers look to proven programs that are cost-effective and results-oriented. That’s led to increasing investment in technologies that better target customers and serve up more enticing messages.

“The economy has energized this channel,” said Ryan Deutsch, VP-strategic services and market development at StrongMail. “It’s become the rock star of direct marketing in a lot of these retail organizations because it’s the most cost-effective and most trackable.”

Read the entire article »

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.

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 >>

2009: Here We Come

Ryan Buchanan — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 22:29:22 +0000

In case you missed them, here is one post with all 10 eROI Online Marketing Predictions for 2009:

10. My Dad will use Twitter for first time and get hooked

9. My Mom will get on Facebook and get addicted to chatting non-stop with family and friends

8. Skype and other easy video-creation apps will take off in ‘09

7. Open-source, powerful tools like WordPress and Magento will become more like social apps and promote UGC (User-Generated Content)

6. Email campaigns and customer life-cycle email triggers will integrate seamlessly into social networking sites and tools.

5. Email is a whole lot more mobile today, but the formatting is still crap. You’ll see this improve dramatically in ‘09.

4. Social TV on your computer will become more popular than Regular TV among core online users.

3. Advanced site search is becoming so natural and intuitive – marketers will prioritize this as an easy implementation with huge ROI for their site.

2. CRM and Email Automation

1. The Economy will grow in ’09! Optimism will Conquer Fear.

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 >>

Yoga Friday Email

Ryan Buchanan — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 14:18:42 +0000

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.