Return On Email Subscriber

As the holidays approach, the email marketing messages we all receive doubles and for some, triples.  With consumer spending grinding to a halt, marketers are going to have to get more creative.  A lot of times, with email especially, it not the deal per say, but how you phrase it and how quickly you can get you offer understood.

This email from Details Magazine contains a great offer, but I’m not sure they reached the full potential of the email.  While “Buy 1 Get 1 Free” is easily understood, the fact you could buy yourself a subscription and get a free X-mas gift for somebody else is a much better incentive for a subscriber.

This type of offer would be a perfect chance to A/B split your list and test phrasing of the offer.  For the B list on this email, I would try “Give your friend a Free Subscription to Details Magazine this X-Mas” or something similar.  Analyze both the click through and conversions, then launch the campaign.

When you come up with an offer for an email campaign, always create at least 2 versions.  It’s not always what you say, but how you say it.

How would you have phrased this offer?

Woot.com has built a great business and brand using great copy and a unique business model.  The following personalized email they sent to me really illustrates this.  I will let you read for your self:

WOOT, INC. INTERNAL EMAIL 
STAFF EYES ONLY 

Attention Woot employees - 

We are now entering the final phase of preparations for the Woot-Off planned for midnight tonight. This is when we depart from our usual deal-a-day model and sell one product after another, offering a new deal as soon as the previous one sells out. For some reason, Woot members like my name continue to have high expectations for this event. We must make every effort to ensure that they feel disappointed and betrayed. 

All workers should be physically and mentally straining to make this Woot-Off a success, like every muscle in a wolf’s body strains to capture and devour its prey. We expect total compliance with the following objectives: 

• Make sure the stables are thoroughly cleaned and the horses properly groomed and shod. As you know, Commander Rutledge prefers to lead us on horseback during Woot-Offs. (more…)

Above the Fold (as defined by eROI):  the part of an email message that is visible without scrolling.

I have taken the liberty of editing an HBO email to show you how a simple change will increase email click through and overall campaign conversion. 

I have placed a line the creative to show where the fold would most likely be on a horizontal preview pan. (Usually the fold is estimated at 300 pixels top-down.)

Original HBO Email

(more…)

One cardinal rule of email marketing: If you think everything has been checked…..check again.

This email from Heineken, “a frosty glass of beer from Holland” as Duck from Mad Men called it, most likely wasn’t meant for me:

The obvious error here is the “(TEST with Espanol link)” in the email subject line (Don’t get me started on the noreply@ email address). While these types of gaffes amuse people like me and Dylan Boyd from The Email Wars, they have to leave Joe Consumer very confused.

As I went to check my preferences….

Apparently I opted in to the “small_test” list. I am assuming they also think I may speak Spanish.

My goal here is not to beat up on Heineken, everyone I know in email marketing has made mistakes. The takeaway here is to be very careful with your test groups. Double check every aspect that a subscriber sees so it is seemless from their normal experience with your messaging.

If they know it is a test, it’s not a test anymore.

Curiosity, according to Wikipedia, is an emotion that causes natural inquisitive behaviour such as exploration, investigation, and learning.

In the light speed decision-making of the Inbox, making someone curious is a key element towards engagement. 

As I like to say about the phrase ‘Learn More’ - “Why? I already know everything about everything.” Are you thinking about curiosity in your email markeitng?  You should be.

Here is a great example from Reader’s Digest in their weekly Humor newsletter:

This got me to scroll down. (more…)

- Alex Williams 8/21/08

Threadless is a hip t-shirt company that allows users to upload designs and create t-shirts for sale through their site.  After receiving emails from them for a while now, I noticed a feature of their email design that I am clicking on more and more: “Browse everything that’s in stock in your size:”.

I have never been a huge fan of website navigation “above the fold” in email marketing designs, as I feel it will receive clicks from users that aren’t reading offers/content in the email.

(more…)

While this email from Paypal might not blow your mind, I think it is effective and well thought out. How well did it convert?  We don’t know that (hint, hint Paypal email marketing team).  But let me tell you why I singled it out and what you can learn from it for your campaigns, after the jump.

(more…)

We have set up a Twitter feed for eROI to keep you posted on news, blog posts, cool things to check out, new project launches, and resourceful tidbits you can use to become awesome.

If you are not on the Twitter bandwagon yet, now is the time to jump on. Twitter is the new micro-blogging service that a lot of us at eROI love, especially Dylan.

We don’t have much up yet, but head over to our Twitter page and follow us. We’ll do the same to you.

Thanks to our friend Tamara Gielen, who posted this great video description of Twitter on the blog from the folks over at Common Craft.

Twitter in Plain English

Even though I don’t write much copy, I love the blog Copyblogger.com. They posted a great trick when you are stumped for a blog post headline, which I think works just as well for subject lines: The Cosmo Headline Technique

Here’s their example…

Cosmo Headline, “The 22 Best Relationship Tips Ever”, becomes “My 22 Best Design Tips Ever”.

Get the picture?

Anyway, they just released the results of the Details Magazine Headline Remix.

A fun read and a great blog. Kudos.