eROI Days Email Agency

I know, I’m a marketer, and I like visual things, which is why I always wondered why Twitter was so spartan with its notification emails.  Below are a couple screen-shots of the types of email I’ve been getting from Twitter since 10am this morning.  They used to be so transactional, bussiness-like, and dreadfully boring.  Now, Twitter has elevated its brand massively through a wildly effective push-medium like email.  The below emails really pop of the page instead of being completely forgettable.  This is all the more important considering folks like me almost never go to twitter.com – instead, I always use Tweetdeck or Twitterberry, therefore I almost never interact with the Twitter brand in an environment that Twitter controls.  So, long story short, I’m in love with their decision to go with HTML email notifications. Such a tiny little thing makes a HUGE difference to many of us.  Take a peek:

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Transactional messaging expected and favorably perceived by recipients.

Sprint Before: all text emails with no cross-sell, or up-sell messaging

Sprint After: Started with shipping emails. Wanted to Keep personalization and some text. But, there was so much to improve (while still keeping legal and IT happy).

Content the same, but formatting much more professional and lively. Navigation in upper-right and cross-sell opportunities along right-side.
Conversion rate = 8x higher than base emails. Very relevant and timely.

Along with 650 other email marketers in a giant room in Miami, Florida, I’m now listening to Anne Holland and Stefan Tornquist with MarketingSherpa.

• 2007 MarketingSherpa showed that email is “extremely significant” to company’s marketing programs.
• 25% of marketers surveyed have no mention of newsletter or email signup on their homepages.
• 55% of companies send a Welcome email message within 72 hours. Of those, roughly 1/3 send content beyond welcome – these automated email triggers offer a great opportunity to show examples of previous newsletters or cross-sell or up-sell offers. Strike while the iron is hot and reach out to subscribers right when they are most excited about hearing from you.
• Transactional email has become more accepted over the past 3 years. Fewer people are hugely negative or positive towards transactional email as long as there isn’t a lot of heavy, “hard sell” marketing speak in them.
• Email Deliverability: many ISPs like AOL, Earthlink, Gmail, and Yahoo are primarily Reputation-based which has become much more systematic and mathematic in all that Reputation encompasses. Reputation-based programs promote good marketing.
• Reputation Fixes:
  1) Slash your list
  2) Third Parties & CAN-SPAM (do it right)
  3) Rendering 
• MSherpa recommends that you re-engage with an unsubscriber at the point of unsubscribing. Add 2-3 quick survey questions asking why they are leaving.
• Eyetracking: need to teach new designers a data-centric way of where email recipients eyes are drawn to on the email creative. Showed a case study of a more print-driven design that performed horribly on Eye Tools heat map. The other case study showing tightened up copy and strong visual offers performed amazingly where the hottest area of the heat map was actually below the fold. Impressive.
• Viewing and Rendering: blocked images are important to take into account. Make sure that your email creative has a mix of images and copy where some copy is above the fold.

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