For years most experts have advised that fewer than 50 characters are best for email subject lines, but… in-depth research by Alchemy Worx has brought the magnifying glass a little closer showing that it’s not what it seems. Analysis of 646 subject lines in 205 million B2B and B2C emails between 2003 and 2008 suggests that past assumptions may have led email marketers seriously astray…

Do you want opens or clicks?

Past analysis has focused on open rates, which is the first measure of success people tend to think of. After all, we want our target audience to open our emails before any business is going to happen right? The Alchemy Worx analysis takes things a step further, measuring click–through rates as well, to get a better picture of real success.

Short subject lines will get you opens, but…

Some companies maximise open rates by using ambiguous, mysterious, or potentially misleading subject lines, a technique often used by spammers. Shorter subject lines are more likely to be achieve this, attracting more reader interest and curiosity, but are they the right customers? Often not, and that’s why they get much lower click-to-open rates.

At the same time, relevant customers may not realise that the email contains a proposition of interest to them, and may not open it, and therefore won’t click through.

Long subject lines will get you what you really want

The research found longer subject lines to be markedly more effective for driving action - earning a much higher click-to-open rate, indicating real relevance. Longer subject lines serve as a filter for customers to check relevance to their interests.

A more specific subject line, containing more than one proposition such as “50% off Nike trainers; the latest from Wimbledon; plus your chance to win a spa weekend” ensures that all the propositions contained in the email are communicated, attracting the maximum number of relevant customers.

Avoid the dead zone in the middle

The open rate and click-to-open rate curves cross over at about 60-70 characters, a “dead zone” where neither result is optimised. This usually happens when subject lines attempt to over-simplify multiple propositions too much, or unnecessarily lengthen single propositions – adding no value.

Make sense?

If you want click-throughs, as most businesses will, you need a long specific subject line (80 characters +) that concisely communicates your specific propositions, with no extra waffle. Realise that any old long subject line won’t necessarily cut the ice…you must touch the hot buttons of your target customers by communicating relevant benefits in their terms of interest (versus just company product features).

The May 08 Habeas study reveals consumer attitudes towards email and online interaction with businesses. There’s some really valuable insight here for your online marketing…

Email vs other communication mediums – will it survive?

The study confirms increasing concern about email fraud, scams, spam, viruses, and privacy, but…despite all this:

What about emerging platforms such as mobile?

There is an increasing trend toward consumer use of mobile devices such as internet-enabled phones, but far from superseding email, they will provide another arena for it. Just like Web sites, mobile versions of email need to be compact and focused to reach mobile users effectively. This is an opportunity not many businesses are tapping into yet, but will become more commonplace – probably for businesses with more time-sensitive services. It could be worth thinking forward to be ahead of the game…

What are the most important factors for success?

The study confirmed interest from consumers in gaining more control over their online interactions with businesses, and noted other trust factors:

What things will most scare your customers off?

Previous studies have shown a real ‘email insecurity factor’ among consumers, in fact nearly 60% keep different addresses for entities they trust vs don’t trust. If you can make it into their latter category, your emails will likely attract ready attention.

So…stick with email but keep looking forward with good reputation management

Far from being eclipsed by other emerging communications methods, consumers expect email to be the main workhorse channel into the future. Organisations that build trust with consumers through forward-looking reputation management strategies will stand out and gain long-term competitive advantage. As a brand expert recently said…your reputation is your brand - the most important asset your business has.

There is a lot of talk these days of the importance of email “sender reputation”.

The good news is the reputation of the sender can be enhanced and using an Email Service Provider (ESP) to deliver your bulk email is step in the right direction to improving your ‘sender reputation’.

I know I am biased due to owning an ESP however there is proof that using the same IP Address to email out on and implementing email authentication mechanisms such as SPF, Domain Keys, Domain Keys Internet Mail and Sender ID does provide the sender with a desirable reputation for successful email delivery. These solutions are available to you with Mobilize Mail.

However it is also very important to remember that one of the most important influencers of whether your email ends up in the inbox or spam folder is of course your subscribers. The power of the “This is SPAM” button is clearly something to be respected.

If you send emails to your subscribers that are far from interesting or poorly presented the subscribers will (one survey stated up to 60% of people use the “This is SPAM” button to unsubscribe!) without much hesitation click the dreaded button. What follows thereafter depends on the recipient’s mail server. For example your email could be processed by a content filter such as Cloudmark.

Cloudmark scans the email content looking for “finger prints” and other common spam indicators.

As with the spam complaint button, one report by itself will generally not affect your message however if enough subscribers mark your message as spam the end result is not good for you, your business and your sales.

Your email content needs to look professional, have appropriate content that is of interest to your subscribers (not you) and email presentation needs to be formatted smartly as to not raise suspicions that your email could be a hoax (called Phishing).

The latest Habeas report provided the following alarming facts that you need to be aware of:

1. 69 percent of respondents worry about being victimized by e-mail fraud scams, up from 62 percent in 2007.
2. 35 percent said they don’t know what to look for when trying to sift through e-mail messages that are potentially dangerous. This means 65 percent feel they know what to look for.
3. About 25 percent lose “some degree of faith” in a company that can’t deliver e-mail reliably.

This means that if your message does get to your subscribers, they might still decide that it looks like spam and click the “This is SPAM” button. Overtime your email will end up in the spam folder.

We recommend that you not only provide content that is of interest to your subscribers but also really focus on providing a professionally presented email (we can help you here with our content presentation services for email. If you are an existing client please send your content to newsletter@mobilizemail.com ).

Here are some tips to help you that our content presentation team deem as 101:

1. Avoid small text (less then 8 points should be avoided but no large than 14 points.
2. Try and keep the use of ‘spammy’ words down for example mentioning the word “free!” 10 times in your message is not a smart idea.
3. Misspelled words are a ‘no no’ – it seems spammers are not great spellers.
4. Don’t hide text by making it the same colour as the background on which the text is presented.
5. No CAPS!
6. Respect your subscribers’ inbox by only sending on the frequency you initially promised them. If you stated a monthly newsletter then avid sending them a fortnightly one.
7. Make sure the subject line provides some spark of recognition to the subscriber about your business. Using a vague or ‘spammy’ subject line is almost guaranteed to get your email ignored.

At the end of the day it all comes down to common sense. Provide email content that is interesting to them (not you) and is professionally formatted.

While traditional marketing channels experience a drop in advertising spend during a downturn or recession - Email remains strong and the Marketer’s choice for communication. In 2007/2008 Industry growth in onlline advertising and email marketing continues to show digital media is the preferred choice.

Email Marketing is Evolving

Email marketing is continuing to evolve and the solutions enhancements are providing more value for business. We are witnessing an increase in client requests for solutions capable of managing more complex communication e.g. rewards programs, promotions and events registration.

In a tighter market competition is fierce and businesses are responding with more ingenious incentives to drive more sales revenue.

Competitions for free holidays, new cars, pamper packs are all the rage and the good news is email has evolved to manage the data capture, communication and record management for these marketing incentive schemes.

Do you have an Event or Promotion coming up? Contact us for your tailored email solution.

A mentor once told me that the rarest thing in the world is common sense.

Over the years I constantly remind myself of this advice and with email marketing its very important to use common sense. Here is an example.

Last week I received a commercial email from a property related business which was full of talk about how great a company they were, how many sales they did last month, how many awards they have won, blah-blah-blah.

Now if the author bothered to think like one of his/her subscribers they would ask themselves:

1. What benefit is this email giving me?
2. Do they help me with a problem I have?
3. Would I read another email sent from them?

9 times out of 10 if you think like your subscribers before you write your email message you will provide an email that will add value to the subscriber and they will continue to open your emails.

If you don’t then 10 times out of 10 you will start losing subscribers and that means business.

Tip: Think like your subscribers when creating your email message.

Assuming our headline has got your attention you may be wondering what we mean by “integrate and propagate”. Of course we are referring to email marketing solutions and your business. In short we are suggesting you integrate your email marketing system with your core business systems to grow your business efficiently.

Email marketing systems can deliver a lot more value to your business once your email solutions are integrated (combined) with your core business systems. Human productivity improvement can be realised, customer acquisition, and retention levels can increase and the business can scale to new heights or broaden its reach with existing and new customers.

Email marketing solutions are often seen as "standalone" systems that are essentially worthwhile for e-newsletter presentation, delivery to bulk email lists and basic email address data management. Most systems do allow for more "power user" capability so you can use your email solution as an effective business communication tool.

Humans use 10 percent of their brain and maybe just
10 percent of their email marketing system.

When your systems are standalone core data capture issues are identified or become more pronounced (especially your business grows) and noticeably information bottlenecks can occur resulting in poor time and cost management.

A further reconciliation process is also usually required to ensure all systems have the correct up-to-date information. Integrating your core business systems and databases with your Mobilize Mail account provides you with the time and cost efficiencies, where information can be shared via a single entry point. E.g. You can add new information to your database and programmatically your Mobilize Mail account is also updated allowing for the two systems to contain the same relevant information.

The new information added could also trigger the creation and delivery of an automated message. Automating the creation and delivery of emails is an example of "power user" status achieved post integration of your email solution and database or website. Automated emails may also replace the client or prospect "follow up" and "reminder" communication currently performed by you or a colleague - therefore allowing you to spend more quality time on higher reward tasks.

Integration - Starting Point

Integration can happen gradually and at a pace where results are realized for each step taken. There is also not a "one size fits all" approach to integration. The nature of your business, your goals and existing processes and systems all play a role in determining the correct strategy and implementation plan.

A simple starting point can be the data capture of your website visitor’s details onto your mailing list. What is transferred can be complex or maybe just the simple transfer of a couple of data fields e.g the visitor’s first name for personalizing your emails, and their email address.

Once these details have been transferred to your Account an automated message could be sent to them introducing you, your brand (the message can be in an HTML template) and your business prompting a further response from the recipient which can be received by you or any designated email address. Many clients use this integration feature as an initial stepping stone to a complete marriage of their emailing solution and their core business systems.

No Man is an Island -
and neither should your email marketing solution!

Please contact us for more information on how integration may benefit you and your business.

The saying goes - “People do not plan to fail…..they fail to plan“. Get 2008 off to a great start with an Email Communications Plan.

Like any other communications plan – we start by using the 4 x ‘w’s and 1 x ‘h’ (what, why, who, when and how) to create the written ‘plan of action’ for communicating with your business network with professionally presented emails.

Who do you want to reach?

Consider the various groups in your business network namely your ‘prospects, clients, suppliers and referrers’ and create an email communications plan for each group. How often do you need to communicate with each group? Create a 12 month mail out plan – in advance. You can always mail out more often on a ad hoc basis. These plans will provide the minimum requirement of communication that will assist you with growing your business.

What are your marketing objectives for each group? What type of Communication do you want to share with each group?

What are your expectations for the communication? What do you want to achieve? What type of communication do you want to share with each group. You may want to ensure you deliver a variety of messages over the months so you are sharing information, running promotions, introducing your team, company, new services or products. As the saying goes “variety is the spice of life” and email messages can get monotonous too.

When do you want to send the email messages?

When do you want the groups in your business network to receive your messages? It is time to create the schedule. What actions (if any) will you take after each message has been delivered?

How will you create and deliver the messages?

You may assign a team member to create all or some of the message content. The email presentation and testing may be assigned to your ESP (email service provider) or you may do it in-house. We suggest you deliver your messages via an ESP so you can get feedback with statistics to provide measurement for your marketing effort.

Other Considerations for your Email Communications Plan
Your communications plan will need to present the associated costs for creating, presenting and delivering your emails. You will need to identify the budget, costs and where the money is coming from for your email marketing. Other resources may also be required for the presentation of your email message including digital images. You may need to consider who will create the images for you.

To get the most productivity from your marketing campaigns we suggest you keep a careful eye on your growth of mailings lists. See ‘How to Grow Your Mailing Lists’ for valuable ideas on developing your market reach.

Here is a brief example of an Email Communications Plan:

Who to Reach? People that refer business to me – namely my ‘Referrers Group’

How often do I want to communicate with them (as a group)? Once a month commencing this month

What information do I want to be sharing? A market update newsletter that contains either a promotion, team member bio or a relevant humour piece to keep the message fresh

What are my expectations – objectives? To be viewed as an Industry Expert. Get my brand visible with my business referrers. Provide value to my referrers with special offers that make them look good.

Who will create the content and presentation of my messages? I will personally create the content, seeking market updates from external sources. My ESP will create the presentation and deliver the messages to my referrers mailing list.

What are the expected Costs? $255 + GST per month

Right now you may all be thinking - “Hey, there’s no ‘why’”.

Why am I communicating with email to share my information and market my business?
Email is time efficient and achieves a high response. Email is also very cost effective for regular communication: “Average costs of 3 to 10 cents per email, versus $2.00 for direct mail and up to $3.00 for tele-marketing. “[source: McKinsey & Company]

We believe your email marketing objective in 2008 should be - to grow your mailing list.

Do you know how many ‘confirmed opt in‘ subscribers are on your mailing list?

Is it less or more subscribers than a month ago, or six months ago? Unless you have key strategies in place to continually grow your mailing lists more than likely your mailing list is shrinking!

While it may not appear to be a huge concern seeing one or two ‘unsubscribes’ per mail out – over time collectively the ‘unsubscribe number becomes harder to replace so we suggest you put strategies in place now to ensure your email marketing database remains a key asset of your business.

Key Techniques for Growing Your Mailing Lists:

1. Website home page ’sign up’ subscribe facility - and thoughout website
2. Signature Link in emails
3. Subscribe Link in all Mail Out messages
4. Lineage in all marketing campaigns
5. Run regular subscription promotions

Website Subscribe Facility
A high percentage of website visitors never go beyond your homepage so put the ‘call to action’ on your homepage to capture these visitors on your mailing list. Once they are on your mailing list you can communicate with them (compliantly) on a regular basis with relevant information.

Ensure you have the subscribe facility also on other key web pages throughout your website. Repetition is good! (contact us to discuss your options)

Signature Link in Emails
Ensure you have a hyperlink to your subscription page in your email signature and your signature is attached to your email replies as well as your new messages. An example of a hyperlink subscribe email for our own mailing list is:

Email marketing tips and news

The actual URL link to the subscription page is hidden behind the “email marketing tips and news” so it is more attractive and in theory/practice results in more clicks to view the webpage.

All members of your team can be driving your key message and increasing your mailing lists by adding a link in their email signatures e.g. 5 members of your team sending out 50 messages a day = 250 emails with your mailing list subscription link.

Subscribe Link in all Mail Out messages
All mail outs should contain a link to your mailing list subscription page. You may send ‘text only’ or non-template messages occasionally – we suggest you ensure there is a link to your mailing list subscription page so these messages enable new subscriptions.

Lineage in Marketing Campaigns
In your print, tv or radio marketing campaigns put in a few words about your newsletter subscription. E.g . “Visit our website and sign up to our finance tips and latest news”

Run Regular Subscription Promotions
Once or twice a year a promotion to grow your mailing list can drive the numbers upwards. Consider providing a discount or free gift for subscription. I know a business that provides a free e-book to every people subscribing to his newsletter and he now has over 15,000 relevant subscribers.

Five easy steps for you to take immediately to replace the unsubscribed subscribers and grow your mailing list in 2008 and beyond.

The rising costs of sending letters and cards via snail mail has created a fantastic opportunity for e-Cards. Our databases continue to grow and email is the most time and cost effective method of communication. Sending custom designed Cards to individuals and groups strengthens our relationship with suppliers, customers, friends, family.

Mobilize Mail can create a library of cards for you and initiative the ‘set and forget’ mailing so your networks are looked after without you needing to remember when to send their birthday or anniversary card. Our system can also alert you when a card is being delivered so you can follow up with a phone call if you choose to. It’s a system designed to make your life easier, yet more productive.

Contact us to arrange your e-Cards for 2008 – Happy New Year, Happy Birthday, It’s Your Anniversary, Merry Christmas! Cards for every occasion. Your brand, your message, fully personalised, delivered automatically, and tracked for your peace of mind.

The interesting facts below confirms our belief that subscribers must be respected and the following is to apply:

1. Ensure the information you send to your subscribers is relevant to them; and they receive what they subscribed to. If that is a monthly newsletter then it is imperative that a monthly newsletter is delivered to that subscriber.
2. Avoid sending all your business communication to all subscribers – if the subscription is for a monthly message (newsletter) sending weekly communication will more than like result in a high unsubscribe rate.

More than half of consumer email users use at least two email addresses, apparently to protect themselves from spam and cybercrime, according to an October 2007 survey by email reputation service Habeas and market research firm Ipsos that found what it called a high “email insecurity factor” among regular email users.

Among the findings:

73%: Survey participants who use email daily
62%: Concerned about becoming victims of fraud or cybercrime
60%: Say spam is becoming worse
83%: Say their email client’s user interface has a spam button
23%: Say their email service has fraud detection
64%: Say permission/personal email regularly get routed to the spam folder or blocked

“Despite the popularity, ubiquity, cost-effectiveness and targeted nature of email, online relationships and the interactions that enable them are very fragile,” said Habeas CEO Des Cahill. “If individuals, marketers, businesses and Web 2.0 communities cannot place their trust in email, the Internet’s premier ‘killer app’ will not reach its full potential as these groups could refrain from using it for higher value interactions.”

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