Want to send highly targeted email messages that go beyond [FIRST_NAME] tags? It’s critical that you do, as 25% of your mailing list will unsubscribe due to irrelevant content.
Skip Fidura, Global Client Services Director at dotmailer, uncovers findings from dotmailer’s benchmark report, Hitting the Mark, that will allow you to measure your marketing against top retailers from the US and UK.
You’ll learn:
--How to use personalization and relevancy to achieve highly targeted marketing communications
--How to achieve personalization well beyond [FIRST_NAME]
--Inspiration from brands that are doing personalization right
--How to balance the line between relevance and intrusiveness
5. Slide 5 Insert name of presentation here in Master slides
Key takeaways
1. An ocean apart – Differences and similarities in US and UK
2. Across the channels – Where email fits in the mix of online,
mobile, social, and in-store
3. This time it’s personal – Name is just the tip of the iceberg
4. Especially for you – Your customers expect you to know
who they are
5. Standing out from the crowd – The inbox is crowded
6. Hard sell vs. soft sell – You need to sell; they don’t have to
buy
#MakeItPersonal
6. Slide 6 Insert name of presentation here in Master slides
Key takeaways
1. An ocean apart – Differences and similarities in US and UK
2. Across the channels – Where email fits in the mix of online,
mobile, social, and in-store
3. This time it’s personal – Name is just the tip of the iceberg
4. Especially for you – Your customers expect you to know
who they are
5. Standing out from the crowd – The inbox is crowded
6. Hard sell vs. soft sell – You need to sell; they don’t have to
buy
#MakeItPersonal
7. Slide 7Insert name of presentation here in Master slides
Why these takeaways?
Personalization:
“Personalized emails deliver
six times higher transaction
rates, but 70% of brands fail
to use them.”
Source: CMO.com
Relevance:
Nearly three-fourths (74%) of
online consumers get frustrated
with websites when content (e.g.
offers, ads, promotions) appears
that has nothing to do with their
interests.”
Source: Janrain & Harris Interactive
#MakeItPersonal
8. 8
Hype
“Big data driven hyper-personalized
contextual omni-channel customer
experiences delivered by cloud based
marketing automation solutions”
#MakeItPersonal
10. 10
Hype
“Big data driven hyper-personalized
contextual omni-channel customer
experiences delivered by cloud based
marketing automation solutions”
#MakeItPersonal
11. 11
Back to the Future
…omni-channel customer
experiences…
Right Message
#MakeItPersonal
12. 12
Back to the Future
…omni-channel customer
experiences…
Right Message
Big data driven hyper-
personalized …
Right Person
#MakeItPersonal
13. 13
Back to the Future
…omni-channel customer
experiences…
Right Message
Big data driven hyper-
personalized …
Right Person
…marketing automation… Right Time
#MakeItPersonal
14. Slide 14 Insert name of presentation here in Master slides
What customers really want
Easy to do business with
#MakeItPersonal
15. Slide 15 Insert name of presentation here in Master slides
What customers really want
Recognise who they are
#MakeItPersonal
16. Slide 16 Insert name of presentation here in Master slides
What customers really want
Anticipate their needs
#MakeItPersonal
17. Slide 17 of x
Personalization
Recognize who they are
#MakeItPersonal
18. 1818
The impact of personalization
A standard campaign
is created and running
Personalization
is added
#MakeItPersonal
19. 1919
The impact of personalization
A standard campaign
is created and running
Personalization
is added
60%
increase in click
through rates
#MakeItPersonal
20. 2020
The impact of personalization
A standard campaign
is created and running
Personalization
is added
60%
increase in click
through rates
25%
increase in
conversions
#MakeItPersonal
21. Slide 21 Insert name of presentation here in Master slides
Pop-Overs
#MakeItPersonal
22. Slide 22 Insert name of presentation here in Master slides
Pop-Overs
60%
increase in
revenue from
email
1670%
increase in
conversions
#MakeItPersonal
23. Slide 23 Insert name of presentation here in Master slides
Pop-Overs
Client routinely see a lift
of 200-400% in email
capture on the website
when using popovers
#MakeItPersonal
25. Slide 25Insert name of presentation here in Master slides
Pop overs are B2B, too!
75.66% 75.13%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
Bounce Rate
With Popup Without Popup
3.08%
1.52%
0.00%
0.50%
1.00%
1.50%
2.00%
2.50%
3.00%
3.50%
Subscription Rate
With Popup Without Popup
Data provided by and used by permission of Smart Insights
#MakeItPersonal
26. 26 Sign up forms26
Sign up form
#MakeItPersonal
27. 27 Offline to online27
Offline to online
#MakeItPersonal
28. 28 Offline to online28
Offline to online
90%
new
registrations
40%
of registrations
taking place
outside of store
opening hours
#MakeItPersonal
35. Slide 35 Insert name of presentation here in Master slides
Last-minute scheduled campaign
#MakeItPersonal
36. 36
Econsultancy Daily Pulse
• Dynamic email alert content based
on up to 10 user preferences
• Logic-based email automation
#MakeItPersonal
37. Slide 37Insert name of presentation here in Master slides
Build unique journeys
• To recognise each customer and
treat them like an individual –
you need to offer journeys that at
least feel unique.
• Using multipath automation
programs with decision nodes
you can tailor each customers
journey.
#MakeItPersonal
38. Slide 38Insert name of presentation here in Master slides
Dynamic landing pages
#MakeItPersonal
This is our 7th year of running Hitting the Mark and the challenges for retail marketers have never been tougher. Online sales continue to grow but while desk based conversion rates are up by 40% so is dwell time and page views on mobile devices. What we are seeing is that people are browsing and thinking with their mobile but buying on a laptop or desktop. This increase in the channels used is a real challenge for marketers.
To add to this challenge, consumers have more choice and are much more willing to exercise that choice. 70% of consumers will switch brands after a single bad customer experience and 40% will switch for multichannel convenience. This can be dramatically seen in a report published by Deloitte earlier this year, where they have seen a 2% erosion in market share for the top 25 US retailers. This share has moved to smaller retailers and while 2% is relatively small in percentage terms, for the smaller retailers this has been a huge win for the smaller retailers.
Email is the preferred marketing channel for consumers to maintain relationships with brands. As you can see from this UK research of 1,000 UK consumers, email is the preferred channel across all age groups. What is most surprising is that the age group that most favoured email was the 18 to 24 year olds. The Merkle 2015 Shopper Survey found similar stats in the US.
So the next time somebody tells you that email is dead, do not get angry (it is not worth the effort) just give them a sad pittying look and correct their ignorance.
By sticking to our methodology we actually ended up with a really good mix of B2B and B2C across a variety of sectors including many that you would not usually label as on-line retail such as O2 (a telco) and easyJet (an airline).
Our ranking of brands’ is based on their score from our 200 maximum point scorecard… some of the areas we looked at measure.. impact, offer & response, rendering, mobile, social and legal.
Here is our top 10.
Ikea (scoring 87% of the available points)
EasyJet (85.5%)
Asda (82.5%)
House of Fraser (80.5%)
O2 (80%)
AVG (79.5%)
Sainsbury’s (78%)
Victoria’s Secret (77.5%
Not on the High Street (77%)
Best Buy (76.5%)
Great to see strength from UK and European brands, but also global names such as AVG who have a significant challenge marketing in territories around the globe.
At dotmailer we build practical, quick solutions and this research is no different. Our goal for this report has always been a practical guide based on both our knowledge of email best practice and supported by research across top brands. As we have for the past few years, we looked at brands from both side of the pond. We took the top 30 US brands from Internet Retailer’s Top 500 Guide and the top 30 UK brands from IMRG’s and Comscore’s top online retailers.
The key takeaways from the report are:
An ocean apart – Differences and similarities in US and UK markets. Some of these are cultural but others are potentially missed opportunities
Across the channels – Where email fits in the mix of online, mobile, social, and in-store. We dig into mobile and socially in depth in the report and are working on some follow-up research on how email fits with search.
This time it’s personal
Especially for you
Standing out from the crowd which looks at the crowded inbox
And finally Hard sell vs. soft sell which is all about how “You need to sell; they don’t have to buy”
I would love to have the time to go through all of these but as we only have an hour, we are going to focus on numbers 3 and 4 – personalization and relevance.
So why these specific takeaways?
In previous years we have been shocked at the lack of simple personalization within emails, a simple “Hi” instead of addressing the recipients name, even when it has formed part of the data collection process, more so when transposing offline data to online channels.
… but very simply they provide the biggest bang for your buck or pow for your pound.
Another challenge that we all face is that the hype is telling us the we have to focus on big data driven hyper-personalized omni-channel customer experiences delivered by cloud based marketing automation solutions but how many of you just heard …
Personalization and relevance are buzzword killers. They are quick and easy to implement without any fancy technology.
… for those of you that come from a DM background will recognize that the “omni-channel customer experiences” are just the “right message” …
… “Big data driven hyper-personalized” is identifying the right person …
… and marketing automation is about delivering the message at the right time.
All your customers’ really want are for you to be “easy to do business with.”
They want you to recognise “who they are” and by extension what they have bought and in near real time.
… and they want you to anticipate their needs.
Did I mention “recognise who they are?”
So you have been using email for years – basically batch and blast and then you add personalization.
… using statistics across our client base and supported by industry statistics, the introduction of personalized content drives a 60% lift in click through rate …
… and a 25% increase in conversions…
Based on your current sales, what’s the monetary value of this for you?
So how can you start this down this personalization path? It all starts with collecting data.
There are loads of ways to capture data but I want to focus on two that are frequently overlooked. The first is pop-ups. I have asked literally a thousand marketers or more and 100% of them have said they do not think pop-ups are a good idea and frankly, I hate them as well …
… but based on Barbour’s experience, I – we are wrong …
… and Barbour’s experience is not unique.
For those of you who work in B2B, do not think that pop overs are only for B2C. My friend Dave Chaffey at Smart Insight was generous to share his case study with me. He was very concerned that a pop-over would dramatically increase the bounce rate on his sight without a major benefit in subscription rate.
From these results you can see that Dave’s fears were unfounded. There was a negligible drop in bounce rate but a dramatic increase in subscription rate. It is important that you track the subscription source to ensure that this higher capture rate is not leading to
Those activities are just using the data that you collect at the time. The next evolution is to survey and ask for further information.
An approach adopted very successfully by Marks and Spencer. While signing up you’re greeted with a series of questions so that they can tailor communications from the offset. They tested very different approaches to make sure they are getting the information they need and are not being creepy (more on that later). Mark and Spencer’ have the heritage brand and trust to do this with their base, do you? If not, keep it simple to start and survey them on going to gather more information.
Unfortunately, trust is a hot topic under scrutiny in the news on a monthly basis. High street banks, Large American retailers and as such it’s important that your content reflects your commitment to storing the data.
Don’t forget about your offline opportunities to capture data.
We have seen an interesting approach for the brand Hawkins Bazaar to tackle the same offline to online data acquisition.
Each customer receives a card with purchase, they go online, fill in details and redeem. Tracking details of where collected, regional data and also real time messages once they’ve signed up.
https://econsultancy.com/blog/66504-how-18-retailers-in-central-london-are-integrating-digital-in-store/
http://www.emocial.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Hawkins-Bazaar-Case-study.pdf
You may have also seen from econsultancy the review of 18 retailers in central London tackling the same problem, inclusion of instore ipads, banner ad’s to direct people to the website. All great efforts to bridge the gap. Once you have the data, then what?
Well, a lot of that depends on your brand. IKEA and O2 use an informal ‘Hi’ salutation in a generally less formatted approach and that matches their brand. I wouldn’t respond well to a message from Ikea addressed to Mr. Fidura.
Personalization doesn’t have to be in the salutation. The Trainline and House of Fraser used the forename either in the body or subject line. Personalization is simply taking any data stored in the data base and inserting that into the email. I could be a customer’s preferred shop, last purchase or anything else.
Compare the Market did a great job developing the Meerkat brand through television commercials. That said, their most successful piece for me was these communications detailing when my Meerkat would be delivered.
Alexander was on his way to me, would take a few weeks as travelling a long way from his home. He had a quick stop off in Moritz for a bit of Skiing and then arrives in the UK enjoying the service from the luxurious Royal mail.
A bit of light fun and reminder of the brand and expectations of service / delivery and probably a good opportunity to mention the difference between relevance and interesting. An email reminding you of your root canal appointment is relevant but most likely not interesting.
Very make product recommendations based on a past order.
House of Fraser use personalization in the subject line to announce ‘handpicked’ new arrivals – a nice combination of both personalization and relevance
These post sale automations can be seen with Easy Jet and other brands within the report, EasyJet references the customer’s last booking destination and times the email to hit shortly after the customer returns. The copy talks about planning the next trip – a clever tactic when the customer could be experiencing ‘holiday blues’. … Also a great opportunity to ask more information on how they can improve their next Easy Holiday.
And “we miss you, you haven’t shopped with us in a while” from Next with a clear call to action of why they’re sending you the email. reminding the customer of the brand and its product as an attempt to re-engage.
All fantastic automated, timely campaigns delivered when most relevant
Here is another example from Last Minute that I thought worth sharing. Last Minute has recognised that the reader is most likely too busy or not in a position to book a trip at the moment of opening their email. In fact, the recipient is most likely on their mobile device, which is not conducive to complicated purchasing. So to overcome this they ask when the reader would prefer that they reach out to again. Could there be any clearer indication that they want to buy?
This is then executed simply with two scheduled campaigns driven by segments of people who clicked the appropriate link. Think of this as when you pop into your boss’s office for a quick question and you get that “I am really busy” look. Unless the building is on fire the smart response is to ask when would be the best time to come back. Even if they are still as busy then, they are more likely to give you the time because you came back when they asked and did not interrupt them the first time around.
Here is an example of how Econsultancy use dynamic content in their Daily Pulse email. I appreciate that this is a B2B example.When you register they ask you to choose up to ten topic areas that interest you. They then curate and deliver articles from their website matching your chosen areas of interest every day. The combinations of possible emails are endless (well not really but I can’t do that math in my head). This is only manageable through automation.
…and while that in and of itself could be interesting the power in this comes through using this information to build unique customer journeys. Let’s take dotmailer for example:
When somebody new comes to our website we use our Web Insight module to store which pages they visit and for how long. When they register to receive our marketing emails or to download a white paper we match this journey history with the email address and we keep this linkage going forward so we can capture where they visit and for how long. Each visit is another indicator of their propensity to buy and we adjust their engagement score accordingly. We also put new registrants into an automation program, their journey through the program is dictated largely by their engagement score. The higher the engagement score, the more likely they are to buy, so they take a shorter route through the program. Lower engagement scores need more nurturing and so stay in the program longer.
So, engagement score determines the journey length but the specific behaviours on those pages (clicks, downloads and dwell time) combined with their email behaviours dictates what content they receive in the email, which is all built dynamically from rules the marketer can define in the program.
One of the trickiest parts of my job is keeping straight all of the people I meet on a day to day basis: clients, prospects, people who come to see me speak and then you layer on the people I meet outside of work like the other parents at my daughters school and I am lucky I can recall anything about anybody much less their names or any pertinent facts about our last conversation but the brain is an amazing thing and it does – all the time. And it is important that it does because humans like to be recognised. So why do we make people fill out the same details repeatedly on our websites? Some have told me that this is so they can keep their data clean. But surely, the person has not changed their name. I mean it is not outside the realm of possibility but you would have to agree that it is a pretty edge use case. When you bump into an old friend you have not seen in a while you may ask if they are still living in th same place or working at the same job. You would not need to ask them their name. So, a much better approach is a page that recognises people who have given us their details before and pre-fills them or tailors the content for that individual recipient. These dynamic landing pages are integral to building unique journeys.
Similarly, dynamic landing pages can be used for signposting. If you have kids you know that asking a five year old what they want for breakfast will not get you a usable answer. If you ask them if they would like toast or cereal and you will get an answer – it may not be toast or cereal but you will get a sensible answer. It is the same with prospects. They know they need a solution but they cannot always frame your solution into their environment and need a little guidance. Dynamic landing pages allow you to give them relevant options and guide them along the journey.
There are two things to remember in all of this. First of all I have shown you some interesting examples today but remember these work because they work for these brands for their readers and the only way these brands know this is because they have tested it. Best practice is a great place to start and it is easy to defend best practice to your boss but you are driving for success and success is found in your best practice not industry best practice. Finding your best practice comes through rigorous testing.
The second caveat is pay attention to your readers’ digital body language. This guy is not reading the body language of the lady with whom her is trying to have a chat. She is clearly not interested. Now I have already explained that relevant does not necessarily equate to interesting but I am guessing that whatever line this guy is using is neither relevant nor interesting. Pay attention to the digital body language. Look at the opens and clicks to determine your readers’ interest or more importantly their lack of interest.
Similarly, quick glance at this picture and it looks like a normal scene with four friends having fun on a night out. A closer look however, is more than a little unsettling. There is something not right about this fellow in the red t-shirt. Notice how he is crowding the personal space of the blond woman next to him? And is she laughing with him, at him or just uncomfortably? And look at how he is smiling with his mouth but not his eyes – like he is hiding something.
Okay, in reality these are just stock photos that my marketing department sourced for me but I think the reason that all of those things resonated was that we have all been in this kind of situation. You meet somebody new at the pub, at a house party or at the cocktail reception at a conference and the person you meet asks too many questions, talks only about themselves, talks about stuff that is inappropriate or only talks about stuff in which you are not interested. You are giving all of the non-verbal signs that they are creeping you out but no matter how hard you try, you cannot catch anybody’s eye to come save you. As humans, we give off non-verbal signals to let others know where our boundaries lie. In marketing, we cannot see these non-verbal cues but they are still there in the form of opens, clicks, inaction and abandons.
There are a lot more examples and tips in the report which can be downloaded here. Thank you very much for the time today and now I will pass back to Lauren for any questions.