Email

Email is another tactic you want to coordinate within your overall ecosystem. This includes auto-responders associated with very specific on-site actions taken by the user as well as scheduled follow-up emails based on where the user might be in the sales cycle. Email also includes things like cart reminders, confirmations and receipts, as well as more crafted messaging like e-newsletters.

The important thing to remember about developing newsletters is making sure you don’t go outside of a contact strategy that you’re really comfortable delivering. Make sure it’s providing valuable content and not making announcements of little use to the user. Also make sure that the communication is as consistent with the brand as anything else you do. The site, the extranet, intranet, microsites, applications, search and all the components of your ecosystem need to be as consistent with your core brand messaging as possible. You’ll see the best return on investment when you’re coordinating all these elements.

There are a number of things you should keep in mind as you develop your email strategy:

• Value – This is perhaps the single most important factor. What are you giving the user in exchange for their time? The content of your emails needs to target what’s important to them and demonstrate an understanding of their mindset. The days of an auto-responder or e-newsletter with no value-add are past. This means you’re in the value-creation business, but once you are thinking in terms of what emerges naturally from your brand, this isn’t the burden it would seem. However, you want to consider whether your plan is sustainable. Remember that you’re going to need to increase that value over time to keep attrition low while increasing sign-ups.
• Frequency – The timing of mailings is important: How long between each mailing has everything to do with what value you are pushing in the email. Are your users willing to consume what you can deliver daily or weekly? If so, they may welcome frequent mailings.
• Segmentation – If you can provide strong enough incentive (such as a free app, a white paper or a special offer, for example) during the data gathering process (whether it’s a profile, an application, or newsletter sign-up) you will be able to segment your list further. This is hugely helpful in targeting your communications and making sure you are providing appropriate value based on user interest.
• Delivery – Use a hosted solution instead of managing the data in-house. The primary reason for doing so is deliverability. Credible hosted solutions have close relationships with Internet service providers (ISPs) and can help ensure that your IP address is white-listed.
• House List Email –Even if you have permission, I can guarantee most of your readership will not be waiting for your email. If you want to get through, you need to provide a lot more value in exchange for their time. Otherwise, you’re just intruding. Emailing in the individual age requires some finesse. It isn’t the old days when you could rent a legitimate list of 2M names and email en masse.
• List Rental – Remove “rented list” from your vocabulary. Building a verifiable opt-in email database of users that are explicitly interested in your brand is the best way to go. A tightly woven co-branded email is a respectable runner-up. List rental is a very distant third. If you cannot build a decent house list of your own, it’s a better strategy to do a joint, co-branded mail campaign using a partner’s list (provided you can find a solid partner that’s a strong fit in terms of lifestyle.) If you still insist on renting a list, here are some things you’ll want to find out up front: How often is the list mailed to? What are the results? What are the deliverability metrics? What have typical open/click-through rates been? Who are the other advertisers using the list?

Whenever you have an opportunity to partner with a publisher or another house list owner, try it. Mix your house lists together and send out a co-branded mailing that benefits both parties. As long as there’s no direct conflict between your offerings, it only enhances the efforts of both.