What Level of Service is Right for Your Organization?

I often hear dramatically different definitions and interpretations of what “Full Service” means as it relates to email marketing.  Please don’t confuse the quality of service with the level of service…these are two very different things.  “Level” describes the agreed upon ownership of various activities between the customer and the contractor/vendor.  These activities could range from creative design, automated email campaign setup and management weekly or monthly coaching/consulting all the way to “here is my vision…let me know when you are there.” “Quality” on the other hand describes how well or poorly those activities are handled in the eyes of the customer.

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Changing Times – Sales Reps are now getting involved later in the sales cycle.

…It’s not that sales reps don’t want to be involved earlier (nice double negative, Cramer), it is simply that times have changed.  Prospects are now able to hide behind the curtain and educate themselves…at their own pace.

Take a look at a 90-day sales cycle from 10-15 years ago:

• Prospect identifies a business need or one gets identified for them.
• They search for a company that they either already know, heard about through a friend, phone book, etc.
• The prospect picks up the phone and talks to a sales rep.

The remaining 80% of the sales cycle would consist of the sales rep attempting to overpromise what they can do, inundating the prospect with literature, inviting themselves out for a demo, and ultimately the prospect hiding from the sales rep until the time is right…if ever.

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When is the time to graduate to “ninja e-mail marketer” status?

I have participated in an advisory council for a particular company over the last year.  In our most recent meeting, we were presented with their marketing plan for 2010 which included things like the proposed budget for each line item, marketing mix adjustments from 2009, ROI for each line item in 2009, etc.

Now I am not a first-born, so I wasn’t sitting there taking detailed notes…but let me share with you some general ROI numbers that I saw.  E-mail was sitting proudly at the top of the list with a 200+% return.  The next line item was so far behind (under 50%) that I didn’t even really pay attention to what it was.  I asked the marketing manager what could be done to capitalize and maximize the success that e-mail was already providing.  I received a quick shrug of the shoulders and a question along the lines of “what do you have in mind?”

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Hot Topics at the E-Mail Evolution Conference

The 2010 EEC Email Evolution Conference once again attracted the movers and shakers of the e-mail marketing industry. Here is a handful of interesting ideas discussed that I thought were worth sharing.

• Video gives a consistent 2-3x click-through rate compared to e-mails without video.
• Provide an opt-in form on your company Facebook page to help grow your list.
• Track where your opt-ins come from so that your can budget more time and money into developing those streams.
• Spend time on your welcome message…get it right and make it count.
• How do your e-mails look with images turned off? Can your recipient get enough information that would drive them to turn on the images?
• E-mails help your Customer Life Cycle…Welcome, Engage, Reward, Retain, Reconnect/Acquire.
• You need to sell your e-mail program…prospects need to know why they should sign up.

Good information, great debates, and excellent panels…I look forward to EEC 2011.

Scott Cramer | Sales & Business Development

Evolve with the email experts!-Email Evolution 2010

The Email Evolution Conference opened in Miami yesterday with a day full of pre-conference workshops, setup and a welcome reception.  I’ve been able to meet with email marketers and vendors from the U.S. and Europe.  I’m very interested to learn insight from so many talented marketers.  For those able to attend, be sure to stop by Delivra’s booth #104 for your chance to win a Flip HD Camera!  If you are unable to attend, not to worry, we will be sharing plenty of insight from the various events, workshops, roundtables and discussions.

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E-Mail Marketing New Years Resolutions – Set the Trap

It’s that time of year again.  Time to put away the holiday decorations,  pitch the rest of the leftovers that are making it impossible to fit anything else in your refrigerator, and look forward to 2010.  So…How does it look?  A recent poll I read quoted “48% of Americans stated they were somewhat likely to make a New Year’s resolution this year”  What in the heck does “somewhat likely” mean?  To me, it means that half of the people out there know  they should make a change in some aspect of their life…lose weight, quit smoking, laugh more, spend more time with their kids, you name it.  The problem is they don’t have a trap holding them accountable to make the change.  If the change were going to be that easy, they would already be doing it by now.

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Still not using email-You may want to reconsider

I helped facilitate a co-branded event last week that highlighted Delivra (Social Sharing and E-mail Marketing) and Lushin and Associates (Sales and Sales Management Training).  The event was targeted toward business owners, marketing executives, and sales professionals looking to build a strong pipeline of prospects, getting them to engage, and ultimately closing new business.

I opened up the event with a game I call “4 corners”.  In this game, I ask a multiple choice question to the group, they then answer by moving to the appropriate corner of the room that is labeled with the letter of their answer.  I found some of the percentages interesting, so I thought I would share.  Below are the questions I asked and the percentage of the group that moved to that corner.

1) Relating to Social Media….which statement rings true?
a) I am loyal to LinkedIn.   15%
b) I am loyal to Facebook.  15%
c) I am a junkie….the more the better. 30%
d) I hate them all…can’t we just slap a stamp on in and mail it?  40%

2) Grade yourself on how your company performs in social networking.
a) Teachers pet…WE ROCK!    10%
b) Not bad…making progress on our baby steps.  30%
c) I am doing nothing, but I am aware of that.  50%
d) huh?  10%

3) If your company could be superior in only 1 of the following to grow your business, what would you pick?
a) Well trained, seasoned reps  45%
b) Strong social network following including bloggers   20%
c) High ranking on Google / strong SEO  35%

4)  Relating to e-mail marketing…
a) We do it in house  30%
b) we currently outsource to an ESP 10%
c) We do nothing  60%

I find it interesting with all the buzz about how powerful Social Networking is and the strong ROI associated with E-mail marketing…when you look at a cross-reference of companies…the percentages of those that not only get it, but act on it are still quite small.

Scott Cramer | Sales & Business Development

Delivra Announces Joint Learning Event with Lushin

Our goal is to help each customer be as successful as possible. We know budgets are tight, so make sure every dollar you spend delivers the results you need. Join us for a joint learning event here in Indianapolis where you will hear from your team at Delivra and Lushin & Associates, Inc.

Weave new marketing methods to generate results Scott Cramer and Carissa Newton – Delivra Scott and Carissa will walk you through a process that will take your email marketing efforts to the social level. Learn how you can quickly and affordably increase your leads and grow your business through the use of social media marketing along with cost effective email efforts. You will learn how it affects lead generation, lead incubation/nurturing, and extending the relationship.

Now you have the leads, make sure you close the deal
Paul Lushin – Lushin & Associates, Inc
Generating qualified leads is only half the battle; turning leads into sales is what drives the bottom line. Paul will show you how you can turn “tire kickers” into prospects and prospects into paying clients or customers. Along the way, he will explore common traps that salespeople fall into and how to avoid them.

Continental breakfast will be served. Seating is limited, so be sure to sign up today!

Email A-B Split Testing–If you are going to win, you have to play the game

I was invited down to Nashville, Tennessee last Sunday to watch my Colts play the Titans.  The Colts were a perfect 4-0 going into this game and the Titans were off to a horrible start at 0-4.   As we tailgated before the game, it was interesting to hear some of the comments from the local Titan fans.  Most comments revolved around the concept of the Colts were going to win big, it was just a matter of how big.  My response to them (in an effort to keep the peace…aka so they would continue to feed me) was, “That’s why we play the game, cause you never know how it will play out.”

How many times are business decisions made in a vacuum?  One or two people making final decisions based solely on what THEY think their message should look or sound like.  If you ask me, that seems like lots of hard work and added pressure.   A/B Split testing allows you to “play the game” and see what happens.

It gives you the ability to fine-tune your message over a period of time. Read this great piece from Marketing Experiments.  It discusses split testing for both e-mail and website conversion.  Just get started, don’t overcomplicate it!

Start with a 10/10/80 approach. Send e-mail A to 10% of your list and send e-mail B to a different 10% of your list.  Based on what metrics are most important to you, send whichever e-mail performed the best to the remaining 80%.  If you don’t like 10%, then simply pick test size …1000/1000/everyone else.

Learn one lesson at a time! You can’t test multiple elements at the same time.  Some potential elements to test could be;

• Subject line
• Graphic links vs. text links
• Video vs. photos
• Day of the week
• From line
• Call to action

Build upon your lessons-learned and fine tune your approach over the next 3-6 months.

Present your results/improvements gained through A/B split testing to your management team…I bet they get excited.

BTW – The Colts won 31 to 9.

Scott Cramer | Business Development & Sales

Segmentation 201 – I have mastered the basics…now what?

I recently read a great summary newsletter from Christopher Knight at Email Universe (http://emailuniverse.com/ezine-tips/?id=1323) titled “Email Segmentation 101 – Things to Segment Your Email Campaigns By”.  The article lists out 11 rock-solid segmentation ideas that could and should be used by all marketers to help improve the performance of their campaigns.

I have had a few clients over the past month, ask about how they can take their segmentation efforts to the next level.  These conversations typically wind up with similar action items:

• Video – with integrated video reporting, you can do go beyond seeing if a subscriber clicked on a link that took them to where your video is located.  Now you can segment by who started the video, who watched the entire video, and who forwarded on that video to others.
• Survey Responses – Use surveys to keep your finger on the pulse of your subscribers.  The beauty of having the survey tool integrated within your software is that you can then segment by not only who responded to a particular question, but what their response was.
• Engagement – blog.delivra.com has posted a few other blogs about engagement in the last few  weeks, and rightfully so.  It continues to be a key differentiator when comparing campaign success.

Each of these bullet points will need to be perfected.  As an example, make sure your video link is not just a boring link, but instead has a still that draws attention and provokes them to check it out.

Scott Cramer | Sales & Business Development