EMAIL BLUNDERS - Anatomy of An Email Inbox 2-23-17

Hello again!

I've been errant in my posts as I have been out of the country and traveling back to Michigan from my few months in Florida.  I was fortunate to spend a few weeks with great friends in Panama where I saw some of my old haunts - I lived in Panama many years ago, so it was fun to go back in time.  Was able to dance with the natives as well as attend a Jazz Festival in the mountain town of Boquete.  It was an amazing and restful trip.  The city has grown immensely since I was there and is now an international gem with lots to see and do.  Highly recommend you add it to your bucket list!

BUT, time to get back to business.  I read a lot of what is published in the marketplace as a way to understand what everyone else is thinking and talking about as well as to validate the things that I continue to say in my posts.  I received an email this week that I thought was worthy of sharing and referring to as it aligns closely with my past posts.  

I used Marketo in my past role and have attended their conferences for several years.  They are a strong contender in the marketing automation space and a good tool.  Their recent post spoke of the Top Email Blunders, so I wanted to share this and expand upon their points, which are all valid and worthy of paying attention to. They completely align with my SOUR Email theme as the blunders they outline are all SOUR!  I continue to find it interesting that we are still even having these conversations in this day and age.  Good to see that I'm not the only one seeing these challenges that are simple to fix and should be standard strategic and tactical considerations for all email marketers.

Blunder #1 - Wrong Personalization

In my post on Jan 18th, I provided the example from Pet Meds where I ordered from them and had the product sent to my mom's home and care of her name, Jean.  I even sent them a message that they might have a database problem and that I'm not Jean.  Well guess what, they are still SOUR - my last communication from them is still saying "Jean" even though I tried to help them.

Tips:

-  Use presonalization ALWAYS
-  Insure what you know about your prospect or customer gets integrated into your systems and used
-  Audit your database and emails to make sure there are no oddities and fix them when you are made aware of  them

Blunder #2 - Irrelevant Information

I've spoken about this in numerous posts as well.  Many marketers continue to "spray and pray" with their email programs using no segmentation, sending the same message and not using the plethora of information they have in their CRMs and legacy systems to truly provide relevant content to their customers.  My series of posts reviewing the practices of Beall's, Pulte and the local Tampa TV station highlight some of the good and bad examples of this.  

Marketo makes the point that almost 75% of consumers say they are frustrated with content that doesn't match their interests! We can do better!

Tips:

-  Use CRM and other data sources to know your prospects and customers

-  Leverage the capabilities of your ESP or CRM to use what you know to deliver correct personalized experiences

-  Always evolve - your systems should be learning, dynamic programs that are reviewed and adjusted as you gain insights about your prospects and customers - your job is never done!

Blunder #3 - Failing to Proof Read Your Emails

Really?  I know we are all busy and trying to quickly get things accomplished, but let's get real.  How does it help your credibility as a professional marketer if your emails arrive with errors, broken links, or poor grammar.  One of the cautions offered to identify spam emails is poor grammar and spelling.  Do you want your brand to be put into this category?  At my last company, I was fortunate to have a high "C" (DISC profile) running my email program.  She was fanatical about testing and proofing our emails before they went out and this paid off in quality. 

Tips:

-  Invest in the time and teams to insure you proof and double proof your emails

-  Check them in multiple ISPs for formatting and rendering

-  Check all your links, segments and versions and match to the recipients information

Blunder #4 - Incorrect Cadence

While I was President of .Com Marketing, I did many seminars and training programs on email marketing and one of the topics I always covered was cadence.  One thing I said back then was to ASK your members what cadence they wanted.  Today, I see B2B marketers at times providing their members some choice in when they receive content:  daily or weekly for example, but very rarely do I see B2C marketers doing the same.  More often than not, B2C marketers over communicate, thus becoming irrelevant and ultimately driving away their prospects.

Tips:

-  Ask your members at what frequency they would like to receive communications from you and then comply

-  Rethink and test cadence to see what drives performance, minimizes unsubscribes and engages the consumer

-  Know your customer journey and cycle time and adjust communications to that

Glad to be back in the saddle.  Use these tips to improve your strategy and execution.  Want to learn more? I am available for speaking and seminars.  Here's some of my upcoming events:

March 1, 2017 - Women In Consulting Leaders Network - Managing The Customer Journey 

5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The Van's Restaurant

815 Belmont Avenue

Belmont, CA 94002

April 25, 2017 - International Association of Business Communicators - SOUR Email

11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Location TBD

Atlanta, GA

July 27, 2017 - Southeast Builders Association - CRM Strategy - Leveraging Contact for Success

Time TBD

Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center

Kissimmee, FL

Here's a few more fun shots from my travels.

EMAIL SIGN UP - Week 3 Update Jan 3

EMAIL SIGN UP - Week 3 Update Jan 3

Happy New Year to all.  Hope the holidays treated you well and all the gifts and new year cheer are in order (or at least returned for something you want!).

We are now in about week 3 of my email sign up tracking.  I'm working my personas with Bealls to see what is happening.  More on that below.

Pulte

Pulte still hasn't sent me anything since my original sign up for my Yahoo account, so I guess they don't want to sell any houses to that person or they have some deliverability issues with Yahoo that aren''t being addressed - SOUR email either way!  Although I did see a sponsored ad - more SOUR email.  Not only are they not using the information they have, they are paying even more to put ads in front of me when they could be talking to me personally!

They have sent me two emails to my Gmail account, but both are generic with no personalization. One was for a design center open house.  It was mailed 12/14 for the event on 12/15.  They probably could have provided a bit more notice.  Wonder how that open house did.  The second was for new homes in Fish Hawk Ranch.  I believe I did look at this community, but not sure and my profile doesn't capture the information I provided them (which was homes in the $300k range not a specific community). This community starts at the $200s, so I'm not sure if they just didn't listen or if this is just a generic community email that everyone received.  I did go look at the community again and even clicked on the email to see if I can influence their future emails to me.

Bealls

Under my Yahoo account which is a Millennial male, I've been looking at hoodies and water shoes.

My Gmail persona is looking for sexy nightgowns and sheets for the bed.

Bealls continues to send me at least one email a day, mostly promotional with limited personalization.  I think this is excessive.  I'd suggest some testing of timing and frequency to see if reducing frequency can impact performance in terms of unsubscribes, click throughs and ultimately revenue.  Check out this test from July 2015 where the overall winner was a promotional email sent once a week versus twice.  The learnings:

- always test
- know your customers and prospects
- segment for differing behaviors

They are sending abandon cart emails, so that is good.  They also are using some level of site behavior in emails, but it is not working properly as when I clicked on an email within my Yahoo account, it showed me the nightgowns I looked at when logged in under my gmail account.  I also looked at the sheets after the nightgowns, so not sure why it defaulted to the first thing rather than the last, or better yet, how about showing me all the items I looked at.  It appears the system is using cookies rather than a CRM that knows more about me specifically (at that email address) rather than just watching the computer clicks.

WFLA

Still no emails at all to my Yahoo account - boo for you!

Gmail is receiving emails, also delivered to my promotional folder.  Funny thing is that I am getting the weather alerts - two per day.  I can't tell why I am getting two and the headlines seem to be different in each.  Didn't think weather would change that much and that I needed to be updated twice a day.  Not sure what is up with that.

Also, couldn't they just add "Sharon, here's your forecast?"  Wonder what impact that would have on their open rates?  I know I would feel better that they are addressing me personally.

It is also problematic to manage my content from their website.  Unlike most sites that you can log into, the "manage newsletters" link is in the middle of the page by the sign up instead of a universal log in at the top.  When I click on that, however it only shows me the newsletter I'm signed up for and doesn't allow me to edit it.  I can edit it from the emails I receive, but since I am not getting them in my Yahoo account, I don't have any way to see that.  Definitely SOUR email!

We should be MUCH smarter about how we run our email programs!  I'm just amazed that these companies aren't doing the simple things that are equating to lost revenue and opportunities. These are not small, unsophisticated organizations either and have the resources to do better.  Is it organizational structure, focus or lack of management vision and direction or some of all.  As a marketing leader, how much time and focus are you putting into the details of these programs?

EMAIL SIGN UP - Week 2 Bealls Dec 22

EMAIL SIGN UP - Week 2 Bealls Dec 22

So as I started to interact with my three test sites, I realized when I signed up for the email newsletter with Bealls, like with Pulte, that I hadn't really created an account.  So, I went in and did so for both my personas.  At this point, they did include the email opt-in with an "opt-out" option in case I don't want them talking to me.

Now is where things will get interesting.  In the account creation, Bealls is starting to learn more about me.  In addition to asking for my address and phone number, they are asking my birthday, gender, if I am a full time resident and how I like to shop with them - online versus in store or both.  I'm going to alter this a bit between the personas to see what happens:

Gmail - Dec 19x7, female, seasonal and online
Yahoo - Feb 19x4, male, full time and both

Having fun now!

Since signing up with Bealls, I have also been looking at different content under my two personas and based on what I originally input.  For my gmail persona, I have visited deals and pajamas as well as capris.  In Yahoo, I'm looking at men's Columbia gear and shorts.  I even added some camo size 34 shorts to my cart.  One thing that happened on my initial click is they prompted me to enter a ZIP code and attach my account to a store which I did.  They then presented me with circular deals for that store including holiday items.

All my home screens are exactly the same regardless if I am signed in or not at this point, so it appears Bealls is not using any web personalization to change my experience based on what they know about me and my browsing behavior.

I have also been receiving emails from them since I signed up last week.  In my Yahoo account, after that initial sign in, I've received 13 emails (since 12/13), about 1-2 a day.  I know it is the holiday season, but as I've said in previous posts, how much is too much and what impact will that have on unsubscribes?

Sadly, in my gmail account, all the emails from Bealls are landing in my spam folder - I had to go look for them.  I also have received only 3 emails in this account since the sign in.  So my question here is did Bealls purposefully send me fewer to that persona or is there some problem with deliverability.  Given that the three I did find landing in my spam folder, I suspect there is a deliverability issue.

Good news is some the emails are recognizing my browsing behavior and presenting me with relevant content when I open the email after I have browsed particular content on the website.  I went in and opened my special offer email that I received the day after I created each account and under the offer, each email presented me different product content based on what I looked at:  capris for Google and men's shorts for Yahoo!  NOT SOUR email - good job Bealls.

Another good thing Bealls is trying to do is to get to know me more, so a week after that initial email, they offer an email thanking me for being a part of their "list" - could be better wording, how about "the Bealls shopping family" instead?  They also offer me a discount on my next order for answering.

Bad news and a really simple fix - neither subject lines or body copy are using my first name or recognizing me personally in some way.

So here we go - my answers for both personas below:

Yahoo:
Departments of interest:  mens, deals (remember they already know I am a guy - should they have pre-checked that?)

Subjects of interest:  new arrivals and offers

More complete contact information - I'm using my Orlando area information, but not providing my phone number which they want for text messages. Now I'm wondering if they asked this because I didn't provide it on my initial sign up, but given they also ask below about my residence status, which I know I did provide, I'm wondering why they are asking the same thing again.

They also asked for my residence status, a piece of information I already provided -SOUR - doesn't look like they have systems fully integrated.  They should only ask for additional new information unless they want to re-verify it in which case, they should pre-populate this field.

Gmail:
Departments of interest: women's, markdowns and shoes

Subjects of interest:  style, comfort and offers

More complete contact information - I'm using my Tampa area information, but not providing my phone number which they want for text messages.

Now I'm also making things a little interesting and seeing if I can confuse them, so I am looking at shoes under my Yahoo account (even though my preferences don't ask for that and I have told them I am a guy).  I will at least look at guys shoes to see where that goes.

Next week we will look at the other emailers I am watching, but some lessons so far:

-  Use the information you have and don't be repetitive
-  Extend your presonalization to the web experience
-  Deliver-ability is a big issue that needs to be watched and addressed and is clearly a missed opportunity if you aren't careful.  Bealls needs to go talk to Google and see why their emails are getting lost as well as tell their customers what to do to make sure the emails come through
-  Use browsing history to impact what is in emails.  Good practice here from Bealls, although some of the sale emails don't appear to be using this
- Create an ongoing dialogue with your prospects and customers and use that to offer even more personalization as you get to know them better
- Use members first name in subject line and body - a simple best practice that way too many emailers fail to do with regularity.

Overall so far, we will give Bealls a "C" for their email programs, mainly for the deliverability issue with Google.  While they are doing some good things, there is definitely opportunity for improvement and when the email doesn't even reach the inbox, all those good things have no impact.

EMAIL SIGN UP - Anatomy of an Email Inbox Dec 13

EMAIL SIGN UP - Anatomy of an Email Inbox Dec 13

I have talked in this blog about email strategy and why businesses send emails and how they make them timely and relevant.  There's plenty of evidence about the value of email marketing and the ROI.  I often wonder however, if we did it really well, how much better could it be. eMarketer's 2016 survey found that on average email delivers 122% ROI - in the top 5 revenue driving channels.  That's good and well above the others in the study.  I think we can do lots better.

So today, I'm picking three companies I am currently not subscribed to and signing up for their emails using two different email addresses.  The goal will be to see how well they get to know me and what they use to build the relationship with the two different mes.  This will be a series of blog posts over the coming weeks and months so that we can watch what transpires and what we can learn.

I am purposely picking marketers who I think will be a mix of more or less sophisticated in this area to show the contrasts and oppoortunities.

Pulte Homes - Tampa - I am establishing my winter home in the Tampa area, so will be looking at what area I want to live in and what the properties are that might meet my needs.

WFLA - Tampa - Our local NBC TV affiliate.  I will want to know more about what is going in my local comunity and things I can do for the winter, so these emails from WFLA to these personas will help me stay in tuned with my new community.  I am hoping that they will be watching my behaviors as I visit the site and consume content and use this to send me relevant emails.

Bealls Department Store - New location and home mean I need more stuff.

Today we will begin with just the initial sign up.

Pulte

I started with a search for "new homes Tampa."  Didn't find them in paid listings on the first page, but they did make it to the last organic listing on page one.  So I clicked on their listing. This led me to the home page which had a nice lifestyle photo, description of what they deliver and map of where their communities are.  Other than a small "envelope" icon for "contact us," there was no call to action for signing up or getting information, so I clicked the envelope.  That did lead me to a page with options for signing up:  financing, information, homeowner questions and repairs.  I'm clicking on "information."  This led me to a form that is clearly a national form.  I'm going to sign up with two slightly different addresses and emails in Tampa area.  I left a brief message of the price range of homes I am looking for and that I only want emails at this point.  So after I hit enter, which I thought meant I was signing up, I now went to a second screen that told me to create an account and why I should:

- save design ideas and inspiration to your favorite
- create a design board with favorite items
- save home models you love
- follow Pulte communities and get notified about opening

Upon creating my account, there was another page of benefits.  My initial impression is that this all sounds good, so why are you hiding it behind a tiny icon at the top of the page and taking several steps to tell me why I should engage with you. And, by the way, the benefits were redundant between the pages.  Did you think I didn't get it the first time? SOUR?

My second sign up (Gmail) used a more specific search for Pulte specifically and a different first and last name and email address (so I can distinguish future personalizations).  I'm also asking for slightly higher priced homes (in the $300's).

Slightly better presence with a paid and organic listing when I searched for "Pulte homes Tampa."

WFLA

Searching on Tampa TV station, I quickly found the local NBC affiliate - WFLA.  The organic listing took me to a very busy home page.  This is typical of most media sites, but I guess they think they have to serve everyone, so lots to consume.

There were a few engagement calls to action within the content including a sign up for weather newsletter and a free download to stay connected on the go.  I presume that was for their app.  The contact us link in the footer was more for a specific department or question.

I signed up for the weather newsletter with my two personas.  This was a double opt-in, so I have to go verify my sign up in my email address.  Good news, my gmail verification showed up quickly.  Still waiting to see something in my yahoo mail account and it isn't in the spam folder either.  SOUR when you lose someone before you even have them!  Once I confirmed my email through my gmail account, there was a second step to "confirm humanity" and insure I wasn't a robot.  Now there are two funnel steps to stop me from getting subscribed.  While I get that companies want valid email addresses and real people, can we find a better way? At least combine the steps to reduce friction.

Another interesting thing happened with WFLA.  Under the sign up was a "manage subscriptions" option, so I clicked on that.  This led me to a page to tell them more about me and sign up for a whole host of other emails (8 in total), none of which they had yet to merchandise or tell me about (at least from the home page).  They also asked me to pick my delivery method (html or txt).  I'm going to sign up for breaking news from this account and 8 pm news update from the other (that is if my email validation ever shows up - no sign of it yet).  Interesting too is they have a "breaking weather" and "daily weather" list - who thought of that?  Could these be combined?  They will definitely be keeping their content team busy!

Bealls

Started here with my standard generic search and did find Bealls in the organic listings mid-page.  The listing took me to a Tampa store locator page given I searched in a particular area, so that was anticipating I was looking for a specific location.

They did have an email sign up about mid-way down the page with a quick sentence telling me why I should sign up and minimizing the initial ask to just my email address.  I'm signing up with both emails.  Upon sign up, they told me what to expect and how to add them to my safe senders list so I don't miss out on the deals.  Generally pretty good.  The question will be how will they try to get to know me better and communicate differently.  Again, I will visit their site under the different personas to see how well they get to know me and build that relationship.

None of the three email marketers in our experiment specifically included opt-in permissions in compliance with standard CAN-SPAM email opt-in requirements.  WFLA did offer a privacy link which seems not to work as it doesn't go anywhere when I click on it - so definitely SOUR.

More news next week when we see what kind of communications I am receiving and how specific these are as I begin to interact with the sites in different ways.

Still no WFLA validation in my Yahoo account now either, so I guess I'm just not going to see any news from them.  Wonder if anyone at WFLA even realizes this is happening!  SOUR!