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When Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook, he probably didn't consider what a tremendous opportunity this social media website would present for corporations all across the country and even across the globe. In conjunction with Twitter, Blogger, LinkedIn, and more recently, Google+, social media platforms are quickly becoming crucial components of any successful Internet marketing strategy. 

Despite the opportunity offered by these social media websites, reports have shown that many email marketing consultants are failing to take full advantage by connecting professional email marketing with social media marketing for ultimate exposure. If you want to enjoy greater exposure and subsequent success for your own company, consider the following tips for leveraging social media in your professional email marketing campaign. 

Provide Easy Sharing Features

If you want your emails to be shared more often, you can start by simply making your emails easier to share. If you're thinking, "But our emails already include a 'forward to a friend' feature," you are part of a surprisingly large group that is missing out on incredible opportunities for brand exposure through social media. According to a 2010 study by eMarketer, 48 percent of marketers allow email recipients to forward the email to a friend, while just 13 percent offer special features for sharing emails on social networks. A study by MarketingSherpa discovered that the simple addition of social media sharing buttons in a managed email marketing campaign led to a 25 percent increase in reader interaction and dramatic surges in Internet traffic to a company's website. With the promising results of this study and the slow pace of the competition, integrating easy sharing could dramatically enhance your company's professional email marketing campaign. 

Cross Promote

Cross promotion is a highly effective strategy for maximizing exposure. If there is an unusual imbalance of subscribers on your accounts, this likely indicates that your company could be doing a better job at cross promoting. For example, if your company has 16,000 Twitter followers and only 2,000 email subscribers, it's likely that not all of your subscribers are aware of the benefits of subscribing to your email newsletters. Encourage your subscribers on each social media outlet to subscribe to receive emails from your company and stay connected through other social networks. Asking nicely may not work every time, which brings me to my next point: 

Offer Incentives

Despite the fact not every company makes it easy for consumers to share emails on social networks, nearly every business in the country has at least one social networking account. This poses a problem for businesses because tougher competition leads to higher selectivity from consumers when choosing which corporations to follow to prevent cluttering news feeds with promotion after promotion. To successfully encourage more email subscriptions, or to follow you on social networks, you need to be able to answer the tacit question of the consumer, namely, "What's in it for me?" Incentives can include discounts, sweepstakes, freebies and other attention-grabbing benefits of this nature. 

Because trends in both email and social media marketing change at a rapid pace, an email marketing agency is the most effective way to maintain momentum and stay ahead of the competition. With a world of opportunities available through social networking, your professional email marketing campaign could generate more attention than ever before. 

Newsletters have been considerably popular vehicles of information for businesses, clubs, societies, and various organizations since before the Internet was even a concept. Although the advancement of technology could have easily caused newsletters to become obsolete, they survived - or rather, successfully adapted to - the digital age for one very simple reason: both subscribers and organizations continue to find them useful. In accurately describing the power f the newsletter, "useful" is actually a mild characterization of the many benefits that come from this medium. Newsletters grant organizations the opportunity to share current promotions and reviews of previous events in a friendly, journalistic tone. 

Why It Works 

While the underlying purpose of the newsletter is to increase subscriber interest and ultimately generate more business, the conversational nature and structure of newsletters gives companies the opportunity to build a more personal and relaxed relationship with consumers and partners. Although newsletters come with several inherently positive qualities, they have even greater potential than the average professional may be able to recognize and uncover. A newsletter is more than just formatting and content - it is an opportunity to expand your business and improve customer outreach. 

Staying Consistent

The potential for greater success is not something that an opportunistic company would or should take lightly. With managed email marketing by a well-trained and highly experienced email marketing agency, crucial marketing tactics and strategies can be applied to your company's newsletter to ensure a consistent message and maximum appeal to the consumer. Effective email marketing requires more than just creative content and an attractive newsletter design, but requires supervision from an educated and experienced email marketing consultant to integrate specific strategies, tactics and various idiosyncrasies involved in professional email marketing. 

Email marketing practices are not something learned overnight, either. Keeping up with popular marketing trends and monitoring the competition are two highly important elements of a successful managed email marketing campaign. Marketing trends aren't always black and white. In other words, what may be an effective strategy for one industry many not be as effective for another. Often, determining the most effective marketing strategy requires a continuous cycle of trial and error to create a solid set of appropriate tactics. With the fast pace of the Internet marketing sphere, these strategy trends change on a weekly, even daily basis. 

Get Results

Since time is money in the world of business, most companies can't afford to sacrifice the time (let along the effort or expertise) necessary to create effective newsletters on a regular basis. The cost of hiring a highly qualified and well-experienced email marketing consultant at Delivra is affordable and logical for businesses of all sizes due to the impressive return on investment (ROI) that comes with this business decision. The Direct Marketing Association reported that ROI for email marketing at $40.56 for every dollar invested in 2011. Although this figure is projected to decrease slightly in the year 2012, it is expected to still remain highly substantial at $39.40 for every dollar invested. With the promise of high returns and effective, competitive strategy integration, the question you should be asking is: Could my company's newsletter generate a more successful response and greater impact with the benefits of professional marketing? 

In a world increasingly tech dependent, consumers still respond to seeing a friendly face. One of the best ways to show your clients the human side of your business is to include video in to your marketing efforts. We've talked before about how video and email marketing go together like bread and butter, but here are some tips on how to best integrate video into your e-newsletters and email marketing campaigns. 

Don't bury the lead: 

Studies show videos lose consumers' interests within 60 seconds. If you have something important to say, do it fast. Lead with the most important information and let the rest fall into place naturally. If you're announcing a new product line, don't tease it with a 30 second intro, go ahead and say what it is you're focusing on and then go into more depth on it. Don't worry about being flashy or artistic, a simple video of a person standing in front of a plain backdrop can be just as effective as a Flash-filled animation. 

Fill it with facts: 

Consumers will devote more time to a video when it gives them actual information instead of just wasting their time with unimportant details. Unlike traditional e-newsletters, consumers can't skim through and pick out the parts important to them. With a video, they can either listen to everything you have to say, or click away. There's no equivalent to subheads in a video, so save the minute descriptions for a different format, or at least put it at the end. Once you start going into product dimensions, you're likely to lose viewers. Remember - you only have 60 seconds, and each second matters! 

Take a shot: 

You don't need thousands of dollars worth of equipment just to try out video email marketing. If you have a laptop with a webcam and a decent microphone, you can easily film it yourself. Just look directly at the camera and speak in a natural voice. Be confident in what you're saying, but not so confident you begin channeling Billy Mays. Once you're satisfied with the quality of your video, consider where it's going to live on the Internet. Having a dedicated landing page will let you see how many people are coming to your site exclusively because of the video. It will also let consumers follow a logical path from their first moment of engagement to their final conversion. 

Video email marketing can be a powerful tool in your arsenal. It's important to remember that, like with any tool, it can't stand alone. Using a variety of approaches in e-newsletters can keep your content fresh and exciting for consumers. 

Since the advent of social media, Internet marketing has evolved at a rapid pace. These dramatic changes have caused many people to question whether professional email marketing is still a profitable component of the marketing campaign. It's true, email marketing has company in the Internet marketing sphere, but those who disregard its marketing potential will miss out on a consistently performing opportunity despite the increasing success of social media outlets. 

Although social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others give users the opportunity to communicate through messaging features, studies have shown email still retains its popularity. During an earnings call in January 2012, Google claimed to have 350 million active Gmail users. In October 2011, Hotmail claimed an identical user base, while Yahoo! reported a figure relatively close at 310 million users -- and this is just coming from the three major hubs. Studies also show most of these users are checking their email every day, which makes this medium a tremendous marketing opportunity for businesses. 

When it comes to the value of email marketing, most companies don't need much convincing. Data has shown they are already willing to invest large sums toward professional email marketing strategies. Forrester Research has projected companies will spend approximately $1.676 billion on managed email marketing in 2012 and approximately $1.649 billion on social media in the same year. These statistics indicate many companies have equally assigned values to both email marketing and social media marketing. Actually, with email marketing leading by $27 million, it appears this component is considered slightly more important than social media marketing alternatives. 

So, we can see email still has a large user base and is still considered highly valuable by American corporations, but does it pass the test of being effective for generating sales? According to Adrian Mullan of WebProNews, email marketing is not only effective for generating online sales, but offline sales as well. A reported 59 percent of email users claim to have made an offline purchase after receiving an email promotion, which indicates that while one email advertisement may not lead to an immediate sale, it certainly leaves an impression on the buyer. Further research reveals that the average shopper comes into contact with an item nine times before making a purchasing decision. This means each marketing technique plays a key role in encouraging a sale. Leaving email marketing out of the equation can cause this exposure to fall short. 

Unlike social media, managed email marketing through an email marketing agency has a unique value because it ensure a personalized and continuous relationship with the consumer. Maintaining the relationship with current customers is highly important, since studies show acquiring a new customer is eight to ten times more expensive than selling to a current customer. New sales are certainly not to be disregarded, but keeping up with current customers through email has proven to generate repeat sales estimated to be four times more profitable than the first purchase. 

To take full advantage of the many benefits that come from managed email marketing, an experienced and educated email marketing consultant is essential. With proper execution, your company can soon begin to see why email marketing truly does matter. 

 

What could be more appropriate in finishing up our series on industries benefiting from email marketing than a spotlight on government? With the upcoming presidential electing approaching rapidly, political interest and publicity is on the rise. Organizations involved in government on multiple levels can all use this heightened interest to their advantage through professional email marketing. In fact, many of them already are. 

It's so easy to see why managed email marketing might be appealing to governmental entities. For one, an email marketing agency can specially tailor an organization's marketing campaign to approach the issues in an effective, personalized manner. For example, say a government-sponsored public housing sector was looking for support in expanding a certain kind of housing into another district. Residents of the affected district would have to be approached from a  more sensitive angle than those in surrounding regions unaffected by this expansion. Under the supervision of an experienced email marketing consultant, candidates can depend on customized messages regarding these types of sensitive political subjects. 

Complementing the personal approach taken through email marketing, government also has the advantage of cost-efficiency when integrating this strategy. In an environment where government funding is increasingly limited, this components especially appealing. In addition to the more obvious reasons why an organization in a governmental entity might find managed email marketing useful, the strategy has already proven to be effective for governments in other less immediately obvious ways. 

According to several studies comparing the efficacy of email marketing among multiple industries, government ranks higher than the majority of measured industries in several components of email marketing. One particular study, conducted in December of 2010, revealed open rate of 25.66 percent for email marketing campaigns of governmental entities. This rate is higher than ecommerce at 14.98 percent, recruitment and staffing at 15.21 percent, sports at 19.54 percent, and even business and finance at 15.47 percent. This high open rate indicates subscribers are both interested in the issues and concerned about what the local, state and federal government agencies have to say about these issues. 

The click-through rate for the government is also comparably stronger at 5.37 percent for all emails received. This statistic might seem low from a general standpoint, but it ranks nearly 2 points higher than the average click-through rate of 3.7 percent. Since click-through rates indicate how compelling the message is to the reader, this puts government at a significant advantage in terms of general public interest regarding government issues. Government also has considerably lower rates for abuse complaints and unsubscribers at 0.04 percent and 0.20 percent, respectively. 

Ensuring the public's awareness and involvement in government issues is an important component of building stronger communities and a stronger country. With managed email marketing, this goal is made easier than ever for organizations in government, while also offering a convenient outlet for the public to receive word and speak their peace as well. 

Email is an integral part of marketing. But if not used properly it can turn into spam. Or worse, it could end up alienating your customers and prospects who are already tired of seeing ‘sales’ emails in their inbox.

So how can you make email prospecting effective? Like in the sales process, the first thing you should be doing is to build trust. Email prospecting should be used to initiate conversations, generate interests and create awareness about you, your company and your products. Some pointers to keep in mind when prospecting via email include:

• Keep your emails short: Long emails are usually not read until the end and usually gets deleted without a second thought. They look intimidating and your prospects may not find the time to patiently go over it. Therefore, it is necessary to keep it simple and short.

• Have a short subject line: Your subject line should be comprised of just a few words rather than a long sentence. It should be clear, purposeful and should relate to your email.

• Personalize your email: Compose your email as you would to your friends and colleagues. You can use short sentences and informal language, but not at the risk of sounding sloppy. It doesn't have to be a standard template either - make it creative by adding the contact information of the Business Development Manager they will be talking to if they respond. 

• Pique your prospect's interest: Your email should spark your prospect's interest. This means your message should be about them and not about you. You can highlight a specific problem or interest you think your prospect is facing right now and suggest a solution for it.

• Show what you can do: Rather than just telling them you know about their problem and offering your solution for it, show them exactly how you can help them. Illustrate with an example or better yet, with customer testimonials or third-party product reviews.

• Make it easy for them to connect: Make it easy for them to act immediately adding “reply”, social share buttons, or including important links on your website for contact info, etc. 

At Delivra, we have perfected the art of creating email campaigns to build brands and sell products. Consult with our email marketing experts to create a campaign just right for you.

       

The advancement of technology and Internet marketing has been highly beneficial for the photo and video industry for perhaps fairly obvious reasons. With email and social media marketing, professionals in this industry are able to share their work quicker than ever with greater detail. Having a strong email marketing campaign, in an industry where aesthetic quality has the heaviest influence on whether or not a consumer chooses that particular business, is key to enticing the buyer to take advantage of current promotions, discounts and new techniques or services offered by the company. Although there are a number of reasons that might account for the photo and video industry's email marketing success, consider the following top three contributing factors.

1. More Subscribers Open Their Emails

It may seem like a no-brainer, but the success of many professional email marketing campaigns in the photo and video industry is in part due to the high open rate this industry has overall. Studies indicate a 28.93 percent open rate for all emails sent by companies in the photo and video industry, which proves strong interest among the general public. Even ostensibly more popular industries, such as retail and education, rank considerably lower with just 17.8 percent and 16.64 percent, respectively. Greater interest means greater profit for any business, and for the photo and video industry this certainly holds true.

2. More Subscribers Click the Links in Their Emails

Any experienced email marketing consultant will tell you the click-through rate of an email marketing campaign is one of the most important factors for measuring its success. For the photo and video industry in particular, studies reveal a click-through rate of 5.7 percent. For those who aren't well versed in proper measurement of click-through rates, this figure is exactly 2 percentage points above the average of 3.7 percent. The population used to determine an average click-through rate included several other notable industries, including real estate, insurance and legal industries.

3. Fewer Subscribers Complain or Unsubscribe

An irresponsible or inexperienced use of email can lead to abuse by overwhelming the consumer with excess emails in a manner technically classified as spamming. When email is abused in this way, it often results in customer complaints and a surplus of customers unsubscribing to the company. Although this abuse of strategy, should rightfully only affect the company at fault, it can often have a negative effect on the customer's perception of the entire industry. With the photo and video industry, abuse complaint rates and unsubscribe rates remain significantly low, with a measured 0.07 percent of the former and 0.26 percent for the latter.

Although the nature of the photo and video industry likely helps contribute to its email marketing success, a well-trained and experienced consultant can often have the biggest impact on compelling subscribers to open emails and further encourage them to click the link embedded in the email. In addition to these highly important components, managed email marketing also decreases the likelihood of abuse, which can frequently have a detrimental effect on the campaign overall. Since statistics indicate email marketing favors the photo and video industry's, companies who are currently taking advantage of professional email marketing opportunities can continue to expect positive returns in the future.

                                                                                                      

The construction industry has had a rough few years with a sharp decline of demand resulting from the financial crisis of the late 2000s. Although this crisis posed a substantial setback for the industry, the slow recovery of the economy has led to greater business opportunities and promise for the industry as a whole. The gradual improvement of the economy can take most of the credit for this increased success; however, credit should also partially be attributed to widespread integration of email marketing throughout the construction industry. Compared with other industries- including entertainment, health and fitness, and public relations—the construction industry has generated substantially greater interest and success with their own email marketing campaigns.

A Firm Foundation

Recent studies have reported a 28.7 percent open rate for emails sent by businesses in the construction industry, with an equally impressive click-through rate of 8.01 percent. Put in perspective: the business and finance industry follows far behind with a 15.57 percent open rate and a dismal 2.77 percent click-through rate. The music industry lies even further from this point with a 13.95 percent open rate and a 2.43 percent click-through rate. Based on this information, it's clear the construction industry is benefiting much more from managed email marketing than many other industries.

Understanding What Works

Despite the relatively high open and click-through rates of the construction industry and the general success of email marketing among construction companies, surveys have shown many businesses in this field aren't even aware of how well they are doing in terms of email marketing efficiency. When a group of construction companies were asked what their open rates were for their email campaigns, 51 percent responded they didn't know. An even greater 76 percent reported not to know the company's click-through rates either. This lack of communication and data analysis within the company could be caused by a failure to hire an experienced email marketing consultant to analyze data and manage the campaign in an effective manner. With proper management, the construction industry could potentially generate even more success through the strategy of email marketing.

Building Better ROI

Although the construction industry may need better management to ensure maximum email marketing efficiency, collected data indicates the strategy already comes with a great deal of profit potential for this industry in particular. For construction companies working independently or still struggling to get back on their feet, the prospect of email marketing can be especially appealing due to its high return on investment (ROI). Statistics indicate professional email marketing for the year 2012 is projected to generate an ROI of $39.40 for every dollar spent toward the service. This substantial return is unmatched by any other traditional media or Internet marketing strategy available, which is why it's a preferred choice for various industries.

What sets the construction industry apart from other successful industries is the widespread lack of understanding and appreciation of the tremendous benefits they're receiving from email marketing. This industry may be enjoying a unique success now, but as trends develop and more industries become proficient in managed email marketing tactics and understand the implications of increased ROI that result, the construction industry may get company.

Focusing on email marketing may initially seem obsolete when considering how many different forms of media available to businesses as a means of communicating with consumers in the modern digital age. From social media to mobile applications, the consumer base can be accessed with a wide array of media strategies. So, why choose email marketing? One of the best (and most obvious) reasons to stick with the strategy of hiring an email marketing agency is because it has shown incredible success across a wide range of different industries. As a testament to this fact, consider what the travel industry in particular is gaining from this fruitful marketing strategy.

Reaching Out

It may seem elementary, but just being able to get your foot in the door with your consumer base can be a feat in and of itself. To determine the efficiency of email effectiveness, data is collected and analyzed regularly to ensure all emails have been properly sent without error. Measurement of this data is known as the company's "bounce rate," or "non-bounce rate" if the rate of successful delivery is exceptionally high. A 2011 study shows the travel industry has a non-bounce rate of 98.1 percent, with an open rate of 70.7 percent—the latter of which indicates how many email recipients actually open the email. Since the average open rate across several industries is approximately 20.3 percent, this indicates a significant advantage for the travel industry in particular.

Gaining Attention

The real statistic an experienced email marketing consultant would specifically look for is the company's click-through rate in the email marketing campaign. A click-through rate indicates how often a consumer feels compelled to click the link provided in the email they received. Essentially, this rate indicates the appeal of the product or promotion the company is highlighting in the email. Studies have shown the travel industry has a measured click-through rate of 6.4 percent, which is higher than many other leading industries, including the retail apparel industry at 3.5 percent and the consumer services industry at 4.1 percent.

Generating Profit

Let's face it: the bottom line of any professional email marketing campaign is to make money, which is why this is the most important factor in determining the success of email marketing. According to Ken Magill of the Magill Report, the return on investment (ROI) for email marketing in 2011 was $40.56 for every dollar invested. This exceptionally high figure is predicted to drop slightly for the year 2012, with an estimated ROI of $39.40 for every dollar invested. Overall, email marketing is predicted to generate $67.8 billion in sales for the year 2012, indicating businesses involved in the travel industry can expect big gains for the year 2012 by implementing email marketing into their campaigns.

With excellent consumer response to current email marketing strategies implemented by the travel industry, companies who have yet to adapt to these trends or would like to capitalize on the success of the strategy can benefit greatly by utilizing the services of an experienced and well-trained email marketing agency. Integrating managed email marketing not only ensures maximum appeal and outreach to the consumer, but also ensures a substantial profit considering the projected promise of the industry.

Delivra has been awarded the "Mobile Masters" award in the 20 Under 20 Awards, the First Annual BuyerZone Review which honors the most impressive small businesses in America. BuyerZone, an online small business resource center, awarded Delivra for its pioneering advances in mobile marketing. 

In the 20 Under 20 Awards, BuyerZone describes Delivra as "one of the few email marketing companies that are on top of mobile trends." BuyerZone also highlights Delivra's recent marketing campaign for Indianapolis' Eiteljorg Museum, which was a "simple, effective" integration of mobile and email marketing. 

Feel free to contact Delivra to find out more about us and integrating mobile with email marketing. For more details, please check out the full press release. 

More than two-thirds of business leaders (68%) say they plan to integrate social media with their email marketing efforts in 2012 - Marketingprofs.com study released on December 12, 2011

Most companies utilize email marketing and social media in their marketing campaigns, but separately and consequently miss out on the huge benefits of integrating the two. While email gives you an intimate level of contact with your customers, social media is a public forum. Anyone who has something to say can join the stream of conversation in social media. It shares conversations and builds relationships. Email marketing can take these conversations to the next level. 

Integrating social media with email marketing can help you reach out to new customers and prospects. As more people share your email, you also get a chance to connect with new propsects who are interested in you. Once you know who your key influencers are, you can send dedicated email campaigns to them. 

What's the first step? Start by including social icons to your email campaigns. By adding these icons you make it easy for your customers to share your email content with their 'friends'. Another way is by sharing your emails with your social network. This way you can reach a wider audience, while sending email makes you reach only the limited number of people in your list. You can ask customers to share your email within their network. 

When you keep changing the way you connect with your audience it makes them stop and take notice. You can use social media to engage in conversations and pique the interest of your potential customers. Now invite them to your website where they can learn more about you and your products. By leveraging the power of social media you can extend the reach of your email campaigns. 

Sources: 

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/9-ways-to-integrate-email-and-social-media-marketing/

http://www.esoftload.info/marrying-email-marketing-to-social-networking

http://www.pbsmartessentials.com/get-more-customers/pbsmartadvice/social-media-and-email-marketing-improving-roi/

Have you ever experienced absolutely outstanding service? You know, the kind that leaves you feeling like, "I want to do business with this company forever." 

Well, let me tell you about my recent flight to New Zealand. I boarded a wide body, Air New Zealand plane in Los Angeles preparing for the 12-hour overnight flight. 

Shortly after taking my seat Mary-Jo, the concierge, introduced herself and handed me her business card. She said, "Louise from Kenningston Tours asked me to look after you during the flight. If there is anything you need, please let me know." She then handed me an envelope. 

I opened it and read the enclosed hand-written card, "Dear Neil. Have a wonderful trip. Thank you for your business. Louise." 

Holy Cow! I've been flying for years as part of the usual cattle call crowd. It never occured to me this level of personal service was possible let alone available. 

Back in the office now I'm thinking about what Delivra's email marketing consultants can do to raise the service bar skyward. 

Think email marketing is only to inform your leads and customers about your products and services? Think again! Email marketing, apart from being one of the most effective forms of communicating online, can be used to suit as many occasions as you can think of. Here are some of the ways you can use the same old email technique to connect with your customers: 

Email Newsletter: Email newsletters come in the form of direct mails that are sent regularly to a list of subscribers or customers. They contain information about the company, its product and services, free or discounted offers for customers, latest news in the industry, etc. A newsletter should contain valuable and interesting content in an easy to read format and have catchy subject lines. This is the most common format used by email marketers. 

Catalog Email Marketing: The primary goal of a catalog email is to entice customers to purchase. It lists particular products and their rates and often, offers for the week. Catalog emails are like hard copy catalogs; the only difference is they are sent through email. 

Press Releases: Press releases are used to divulge your company's latest achievements. You can use press releases to announce the addition of a new product or service in your company or to announce a particular event or a change in leadership. You can send press releases to the media or to a dedicated group of customers and subscribers.

Survey emails: Surveys help you track down the challenges or problems your customers may have. By encouraging their feedback, your customers will feel you genuinely care about their problems and are interested in finding a solution. 

Invitation emails: Thank you emails help you show gratitude to your loyal customers and are a way to ensure they stay connected with you. Thank you emails are sent to customers who have already used your products and services. These can convey your pleasure in having them as your customer. You can include current and future offers to them and even offer a discount towards their next purchase as a token of gratitude. 

Different types of email marketing strategies work for different businesses. If you want a craft one which is just right for you, call the email marketing experts at Delivra. 

Although email marketing has proven effective across a wide range of different industries, the strategy has recently shown especially notable promise in the restaurant industry in particular. This promise is evidenced partially by a recent study that revealed a 20 percent open rate of all emails sent by restaurants in 2010. This may not sound like an impressive statistic by itself, but when compared with other industries surveyed, it ranks considerably higher. For example, the entertainment industry came in at just a 16 percent open rate, followed even further behind by the medical, dental and healthcare industries, which have a 13 percent open rate.

What Email Offers

Again you might be thinking: What's the big deal if customers are opening more of their emails from restaurant companies? According to Forrester Research, this open rate increase is complemented by a 17 percent revenue increase from each customer in this population. This inference is based on a study conducted by Forrester Research, which revealed that there is a 17 percent increase in purchase value of email subscribers versus non-subscribers. Although opening an email may not necessarily solidify a sale right then and there, it can still have an influence on the customer in the future. A reported 87 percent of consumers in the same Forrester Research study claimed email marketing impacted their future purchasing decisions.

The Proof isn't in the Pudding—it's in the ROI

Investing in managed email marketing is something both small and large restaurants truly can't afford to miss out on because of its proven efficacy in generating more business. According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing generates ROI of $57.25 for each dollar spent on the service. Compared with alternative options for online marketing, such as social media marketing, the ROI for email marketing is 150 percent greater. Looking at it from a purely objective point of view, it's difficult to argue with an investment generating such a substantial return.

A Recipe for Success

If the proven efficiency of hiring an email marketing consultant isn't enough of a motive to take advantage of this highly lucrative service, consider the fact that many other restaurants in the industry are already following this recent trend. According to a study by National Restaurant News, an average of seven out of ten restaurants in the industry are actively pursuing an email marketing agency for their own campaigns. This statistic indicates that restaurants which don't incorporate professional email marketing may lose customers to restaurants which are more accessible, and thus could be left behind by the competition.

Intuition Matters

The success seen in the restaurant industry is likely due to the widespread popularity of using Internet resources to find information about a particular restaurant. Studies show that 89 percent of customers always research information about a restaurant online before dining there. The benefit of email marketing is it can bring this information directly to the customer, which increases the customer's convenience and improves the chances they will choose that particular restaurant over another requiring an active search to acquire the same information.

With the prevalence of Internet usage today, it's increasingly important for all kinds of businesses to maintain a presence in the same spheres consumers frequent. Since email is a primary form of communication among so many people, and because of the proven potential of email marketing, the benefits restaurants can enjoy from following this trend are immense.

Gosh, it has been a while since my last post... but things have been a little busy at Delivra. And, there's one thing in particular making us smile.

For the past couple of months, we've been focusing on our own email marketing program. As a best practice, we believe it's very important to do a data clean-up every year, as well as evaluate all email content being sent. What was a relevant email schedule last year (or even last month) may not be so relevant anymore, and this is exactly what we found.

To ensure our data was clean, we did a re-engagement email campaign to our subscribers. This consisted of a few emails over the course of three weeks which asked email subscribers to update their preferences.




Once we had the data in place, we were ready to start drafting content and send schedules. One of our goals for this process was to do a better job incorporating highly relevant and personalized content in our emails.

Delivra's email marketing software has a feature called Conditional Content. What this feature allows us to do is create one email and swap out pieces of content or images based on data unique to the recipient.

For our own emails, we decided to use this feature to swap out Account Owner information. Many of our retail clients use this feature to swap out product information based on things like region, buying behavior, age, interests, occupation...the sky is the limit! Here's an example of what our email looked like:



Overall, the email "felt" good but ultimately, it's up to the data to let us know how we performed.  Some of the basic metrics we look at:

• Open Rate
• Click-through Rate
• Engagement Score
• Unsubscribes

We look at these metrics compared to data collected from previous mailings, we call these baseline metrics. Having these metrics are super important when you change any aspect of your strategy.

Finally, we can't forget the ultimate intent of the email. Our goal for this particular email was to raise awareness about new software features and gauge interest among our client base. In order to collect this data, we created a unique form-submit landing page that funneled info into Salesforce, our CRM. As the clients filled out the form, they were immediately put in the appropriate campaign and their Account Owner was notified.

Such a simple user experience, and yet, it allowed us to gather feature interest and another layer of data to determine the success of the mailing.

So, what were the results of our efforts?

• 14% increase in Open Rate
• Doubled our Click-through Rate
• 5% Conversion Rate for people interested in new features.

All of this goes to show that with a little effort and a lot of thought, you can take an existing list and re-invent results.

Today's post is from Robby Slaughter of Slaughter Development, a business process improvement consulting firm here in Indianapolis.

Email marketing is absolutely crucial to your business. I get it. And it's the holidays, and you feel the need to use your email marketing platform to reach out to customers with a greeting.

That's great. I feel you. But for the love of pete, please stop the holiday card madness!

You know what I'm talking about: the generic messages that just read "Happy Holidays from ABC Corporation!" Do you have any idea how many of those I'm going to receive today?

Answer: A half dozen or more.

Here's what I think when I receive a "seasons greetings" email from you that says little more than just "seasons greetings":

• You've got email marketing software, but you don't know how to use it
• You don't know what to say, so you're just copying everyone else
• You count every email open as a "win", no matter how instantaneous the deletion.

Okay, that's a little brutal. Maybe I need to calm down a bit.

This is not a case of the bah-humbugs. I do like the holiday season. And I want to hear stories about what your company is up to. Maybe you are raising money for some important cause. Maybe your employees are taking some interesting vacations. Really, telling me anything beyond just general well-wishes is going to be interesting.

In fact: being interesting is the secret to email engagement. You can pique my interest in many different ways. Maybe it's a special offer. Perhaps it's a distinctive story. No matter what you choose to do, if you're different than every other message in my inbox, I'm more likely to read it.

If I could sum up all email marketing best practices in just one word, I'd choose "unique." If your message could only have been sent from your company, it's got a good chance of real engagement. Keep this in mind, not just for the season, but for your email marketing strategy year-round.

Happy Holidays!

Who would have ever thought that clever email marketing could be destructive? By many estimates, last year saw more than 200 million spear-phishing email attacks. Worse, marketers are now a primary target of these attacks. Essentially, clever criminals are using YOUR email brand awareness and even the compelling calls to action that you painstakingly created in your email marketing campaigns to steal information and money from your customers.

Simple economics promises this problem isn't going away: on average, it costs about two bucks for a criminal to host a sophisticated, targeted, and successful spear-phishing campaign against your email list. Since we're stuck with this reality, it's time we view phishing as more than a technology problem: a customer who loses data as a result of a phishing attack associated with your brand is 75% more likely to never do business with your company again!

Safe and secure messaging is your only option. Delivra is fortunate to partner with the Online Trust Alliance (OTA): Your organization should too. Are you staying current with important security initiatives and helping to shape information policy in your organization? There isn't a need to bother with the technical details, but what about the critical "marketing operational" details? What elements of your brand identity are critical to maintain and protect? If you aren't telling your tech teams to watch those elements - who is?

Message Systems (another Delivra partner) teamed up with the OTA and produced a fantastic White Paper on Safe and Secure Messaging (check it out, it's worth the five minute read). This isn't a security white paper directed to technical folks - it's designed with email marketers in mind. Both the OTA and Message Systems focus on email marketing best practices, just like Delivra.

We take the trust you place in us seriously. Take the time to show your customers you value them by being careful with your own messages and security practices. Need help or more ideas about safe and secure messaging - or any other email best practice: just ask. Delivra values our relationship with you!

This week, the Email Experience Council and Sponsor, StrongMail, released the results of its "2012 Marketing Trends" survey which provides insight into how businesses plan to budget and prioritize marketing dollars in the New Year. Conducted in November 2011, 938 business leaders participated in the global survey. 

The 2012 Marketing Trends Survey highlights: 

• 92% plan to increase or maintain marketing spend in 2012
• 60% plan to increase email marketing budget; 54% social media; 37% mobile/search (tied) 
• 45% cite data integration as primary email marketing challenge in 2012;
• 43% cite lack of resources/staff as primary email marketing challenge; 
• 40% cite content management as primary email marketing challenge; 
• 48% cite increasing subscriber engagement as top 2012 email marketing initiative; 
• 44% cite improving segmentation/targeting as a top initiative; 
• 32% cite growing opt-in email lists as a top initiative; 
• 68% plan to integrate email marketing with social media; 45% with mobile; 17% with search 

2012 is a new year but the survey, for me, merely reinforced what I hear regularly from staff, clients and prospects. 

I love this new Fast Company slide show called: The Disrupters. It's about real business people and some of the more creative decisions they've made along their careers. What I really appreciate about the article is that it's a great reminder how creativity isn't always this mythical event that happens when you're dreaming, meditating, or in the shower.

Rather, most of these "creative" examples involve listening to the end user, not being afraid to make mistakes and firmly believing in your own values.

This advice parallels so nicely with email marketing. At Delivra, we love talking to our clients, and what we hear all too often is this intense pressure to create insanely creative campaigns that will revolutionize their email marketing.

Unfortunately, that's not reality. Nor is the notion your most creative idea will come from a weekly marketing meeting... in a vacuum,... on the first try. If you're looking for inspiration for your next creative email campaign, take this advice to heart:

1. LISTEN to your end users and develop content around that.

2. TEST many different campaigns. Don't settle for the first out of the meeting idea... what did Dyson say - he tested 5127 prototypes before settling on "the one".

3. UNDERSTAND your company's brand and how it meshes with your own values.  I loved the first example from Maryam at Gannett... people told her the project wouldn't get approved, but she followed her instincts. And, in that case at least... it paid off.

Recently Ally posted a blog about an amazing customer service experience she received. She explained how well the situation was handled by the company and how they kept her best interest as a customer in mind. The story I'm about to share is the exact opposite of that.

I have been shopping at a well known nationwide video game retail establishment for years. I have never run into any significant problems until recently. Last year about this time, they implemented power up cards for an annual fee of 15 dollars. These cards consist of a way to earn points by trading in games, buying games, etc... These points can be used to receive discounts when you make purchases as well. I purchased one of the cards.

Towards the end of the year, after my purchase, I started to become inundated with emails on a daily basis from this retailer. At first, I figured it'd just be easy enough to delete them each day and be done with it. A couple weeks later I got tired of dealing with it so I decided to unsubscribe from their mailings. The first thing that should be noted is nowhere in their mailings does it give you the option to unsubscribe. The only option it provides is to change your preferences. Working in e-mail marketing on a daily basis, this immediately threw up a red flag. I clicked on the preferences link but found no option to completely unsubscribe from their mailings. After digging a little deeper into the preferences, I finally found an option to fully unsubscribe. When I selected this option, I received a message stating it will more than likely take up to 2 weeks to fully unsubscribe me. I'm was not happy with this response but at least the mailings would stop.

The time comes when my card expires and I'm asked if I want to renew by the store manager. I decided to go ahead and renew because I think everything is fine until I go to use the renewed card. I'm told by the in store manager my card is not being accepted by their system. They provide me with a customer service number to call and tell me it should be an easy fix and they probably just have some incorrect information in their computers.

I call the customer service line and after waiting almost 45 minutes, I get through to a representative and tell him what is going on. He proceeds to put me on hold for another 15 minutes and then comes back to tell me he realizes what happened. He tells me I chose to unsubscribe from all of their mailings which in turn apparently cancelled my card...a card which I paid for and has absolutely nothing to do with the mailings they send me. I don't agree with the situation but tell him to opt me back in so my card can be reactivated. He says that's not an option and the only way I can activate my card is to purchase a new one. WHAT?! I ask nicely to speak with a manager and he lets me know none are available at this time so I was sent to a voicemail where I left my number...no call back.

After all this has taken place, I decide to go to the retail store and talk to the manager who I've known for many years. He is shocked by what I've been told and is kind of enough to give me a card for free and also took the time to call customer service while I was in the store(they have a direct line with no wait time.) The customer service rep relays the same information to the manager and informs him that even though they have activated a new card for me, I've lost ALL my points I have earned over the years, and they had no way of getting them back. The manager assured me he will be emailing their district manager about my situation, but I have no faith anything positive will come out of it.

I am extremely grateful for the extra steps the store manager took. He went above and beyond his responsibilities to assist me in any way possible. From a corporate standpoint however, never in my life have I felt so insignificant or helpless as a customer. I will never purchase anything from this company again. Had they just handled this situation in a professional manner, I wouldn't be writing this blog and they wouldn't be losing business from a faithful customer who has been purchasing from them for years.

At Delivra we strive to provide the best customer service possible to our clients. We will always take into account the issues you are experiencing and will do our best to go above and beyond to satisfy your needs and provide you with a prompt and satisfactory resolution. And if you're looking for help with issues such as setting the right expectations, monitoring engagement/complaints for burn-out, or providing recipients with an easy and friendly method of controlling their email preferences, just let us know. We're glad to help.