The From Line

Asked by Lauren Rutley, Visual Mining

Answer by Elie Ashery, CEO
Before any marketer should worry about their overall click through rates, they should first concentrate on their open to click through rates (number of unique clicks/number of unique opens). This stat reveals a lot about your content relevancy, value and creativeness. If your open to click through rate is high but your overall unique click through rate is low, you’re in a much better position than if both stats are low. Assuming your sender reputation is stellar, the reason for this is that it shows the subscribers opening your email find the content relevant and engaging. More importantly, to get additional subscribers to open your email is more of a less costly function of creating compelling and enticing subject lines. With both open to click through rates and unique click through rates low your problem is much bigger. The issues can range from poor email design to content value. From a design standpoint I find that B2C marketers think what works on the web will work in email and from B2B marketers they think what works in direct mail will also work in email. Just as the same rules don’t apply to newspapers and radio the same is true in crossing online mediums.

Since you’re a B2B marketer I encourage you to keep your designs simple, with less words. Especially for complex sales it’s important to focus only on the pain points. Busy executives don’t have the time to sift through fluff. Keep your calls to action easy to find and above the fold. Remember, most people are lazy and don’t like to scroll. Assessing content value is a much more difficult process. It involves surveying your core clients or the new markets you’re after and constant testing. Don’t be afraid to change content formats. What works today will probably not work tomorrow. If your market isn’t downloading your white papers from your email try a click through to a podcast (read your white paper). Executives like to take mental breaks and let someone else do the driving. Creativity is the heart of valuable content that’s palatable. This is where you draw the line with company quants.

Asked by Colleen Coler, HumanFerret
"I am just starting my business. I know that my best chances for success are in building a list quickly. What are your top three strategies for building a list quickly that does not cost a lot and will bring in a targeted audience?"

Answer:

I think the paradox in your question is “building a list” and “quickly.” Building a quality, true opt-in list takes time and patience. The simple fact is that the quicker the method, the less valuable the subscribers will be. According to the Relevancy Group a market research firm on email marketing, the top four most widely used email acquisition tactics are a corporate website, social sites, in-store or point of sale, email address appending. Since you’re first starting out, I am very partial to the methodology of co-registration but it needs to be done prudently by a credible intermediary. Co-registration will yield you the fastest, true opt-in list growth if the following criteria are met:

• Make sure the co-registration intermediary you’re dealing with is reputable and will only sell you leads relevant to your offer. Generic or third party offers are not acceptable.

• Your co-registration offers must be accurate. If you say you will send email once a week make sure these subscribers don’t end up on your daily list.

• Know where your opt-in email addresses are coming from so that you can reference the source in your introductory email. This will minimize list attrition and remind the person that they opted into your list. For example, if a lead came from XYZ.com state this reference in your initial correspondence.

• Send the introductory email as soon as possible. “Out of site, out of mind” and people will forget that they opted-in or will lose interest.

• Do not have the opt-in checkbox pre-marked and don’t use service that engages in this practice. If someone doesn’t discriminately indicate that they want to hear from you, then they probably don’t. It’s simply wasted money.

Trend: Smart marketers are leveraging interactive games to overcome short attention spans.

With the anticipation of Zynga’s upcoming IPO, interactive gaming has been getting a lot of attention lately.  Unfortunately, according to Forrester Research, this attention has yet to transpire to mainstream marketing, as 84% of marketers have no plans to incorporate games into their promotional mix.  For the remaining 16%, their efforts are sparking a revolution in marketing, influencing the proliferation of gaming technologies resulting in its access by marketers and agencies of all sizes.  More importantly, games are providing the much-needed content to hold consumer and prospect attention – an extension of the bilateral conversation brands strive for.

Trend: Infographics - Helping Marketers Cut Through The Clutter

Marketing in the 21st century has become immensely complex due to channel fragmentation and an avalanche of data creation. On any given day, Internet users will create 1.5 billion pieces of content on Facebook, tweet 140 million times on Twitter and upload 2 million videos to YouTube. According to a joint study conducted by IDC and EMC, it is estimated that the general public will create 1.8 zettabytes of data in 2011, with that number expected to double within the next two years. To put 1.8 zettabytes into perspective, the number is equivalent to 200 billion high definition movies each 120 minutes long. These new data complexities are the result of convoluted digital relationships, advances in scientific discoveries and the speed of new media.

Will Google+ Change the Face of Social Email?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week, you’re probably well aware of Google+, Google’s initiative to dethrone Facebook as the Web’s premiere social destination.    The socialsphere is buzzing about what changes Google+ will bring and early adopters are offering everything from concert tickets to iTunes’ gift cards for a sneak peak at the new network.  To combat a potential mass exodus to Google+, Facebook has already blocked a Chrome plugin that allows Google+ users to transfer their friends’ information from one network to another.  Watch for major battles between these two behemoths over the next six months as Google tries mainstream Google+.