E-consultancy - E-mail Marketing - News and Blog

Ten tips for welcome emails

Tue, 8 Jul 2008 08:00:00 UT

Sending customers a welcome email message after they have registered on your site, or chosen to receive newsletters, is generally accepted as good practice.

But�a recent survey found that 60% of firms weren't doing so, while many others were failing to respond promptly enough.

What should etailers be including in these welcome emails though? Here are ten tips...

SEO: best bang for your buck for generating online leads

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:30:00 UT

E-consultancy�s recently published online lead generation report shows that natural search, email marketing and paid search are still the most commonly used methods for generating online leads.

However, PPC claims the larger proportion of the budget, even though natural search is seen as the most effective method for lead�generation.

Given that search engine optimisation provides the most perceived value for money, why aren't more marketers investing in natural search over and above other methods?

Breaking the email addiction

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:38:00 UT

"Engagement Marketing: Strategies for Conversion and Ongoing Customer Retention" is what it said in the programme.

It sounded safe enough, but as I delivered this presentation at Internet World�last month, I wondered if the subject headings on Lines, Crunch, Breaking Habits and a 7 Step Programme (combined with some slightly edgy last minute PowerPoint images) were starting to make it sound more like a discourse on drug rehabilitation than on email marketing!

Behavioural email � is it just online �ambulance chasing�?

Mon, 9 Jun 2008 09:00:00 UT

�We are not ambulance chasers, people leave our stores empty handed every day and we don�t feel the need to beg them to come back so why should online be any different?�

If anyone takes the time to read these words, I would love your feedback. RedEye has a series of clients�that make a hell of a lot of money and ROI from behaviourally targeted and automated emails.

But we were blown away recently when a prospect said that they would never do trigger emails or basket abandonment work because they perceived it as the e-marketing equivalent of �ambulance chasing�!? Ouch!!

Firms failing to send welcome emails

Thu, 5 Jun 2008 14:14:00 UT

Another survey reveals that many companies are failing to follow email best practice, with 60% of firms missing a trick by not sending welcome messages to subscribers.

According to a new study by ReturnPath, 30% of these companies compounded the problem by failing to make contact with customers for more than a month after they signed up.

A lesson for digital marketers and brands

Mon, 19 May 2008 08:05:00 UT

Last week, I received an email from 360i, an�"independent metrics-driven agency that serves as strategic digital advisors to large brand marketers," on behalf of NBC.

Tips for email opt-in forms

Mon, 19 May 2008 07:30:00 UT

The email opt-in or subscribe form on your website is crucial when you are building up your database, and can help your marketing efforts at a later stage.

The information you can capture here on customer preferences can help make your email marketing more effective and relevant to consumers.

Here are some tips�on how:�

FTC ups the game on spam protection

Wed, 14 May 2008 07:30:00 UT

I'm in Atlanta, Georgia at Silverpop's Customer Conference. One of the hot topics here has been yesterday's announcement by the FTC that it is changing the rules in the US around unsubscribing.

Essentially you need to ensure that your reader can kiss you off with a single click, and without having to enter more than an email address.

Beyond opens and clicks: why it�s time for new email metrics

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:30:00 UT

Dela Quist explains how new ways of measuring email performance can boost ROI and give you a new perspective on your email strategy. Find out how customer-based metrics could transform your campaigns.

Data management is at the heart of good email marketing

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:00:00 UT

The E-Consultancy/Adestra Email Marketing Industry Census 2008, published March 2008, investigated over 600 email marketers� approach to data.�

After all, accurate data powers relevant targeting, which is proven to deliver the best results.�

The findings showed that regular data cleaning has taken a back seat for many email marketers.

Putting customers in charge of your communications

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:45:00 UT

Many companies�are still�losing customers because�they don�t know what they want, writes Marc Morris.

Email unsubscribing: a worst practice example

Wed, 9 Apr 2008 14:33:00 UT

Email users are more than ready to hit the 'report spam' button for emails they no longer wish to receive, spam or not, so making the unsubscribe process quick and easy is essential.

Still,�some email marketers have yet to take this on board if the following example from Real Networks is anything to go by.

Do ISPs need to change the 'report spam' button?

Tue, 1 Apr 2008 11:21:00 UT

More and more email users are using the report spam buttons to unsubscribe from emails, so is another option needed on email programmes to improve deliverability?

A survey found last week that 56% of email users consider uninteresting or irrelevant email messages as spam, and concluded that the report spam button is 'broken'.�

Deliverability is costing you money

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:23:00 UT

The E-consultancy/Adestra Email Marketing Industry Census of over 600 email marketers highlights the real cost of deliverability for the first time - marketers are wasting around 11% of their budget.�

This entry investigates what they can do about it.

Three practical tips for improving your email marketing

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:52:00 UT

Get email marketing right and it can deliver huge revenues for a very low cost.

Get it wrong and you are simply wasting your time, annoying your customers and damaging your brand. Here are 3 practical tips.

Firms still ignoring customers' emails

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 08:20:00 UT

Transversal has come out with another report showing the dire performance of many UK firms when responding to customers� emails.

In its third annual Multi-channel Customer Service Study, released this week, the company tested 100 leading organisations by sending them routine questions by email.

Less than half (46%) answered those questions �adequately� and the average time they took to respond was almost two days (46 hours).

Basket Abandonment - we have to focus on How, not Why

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:16:00 UT

More and more the concept of basket abandonment is mentioned as a method for increasing conversion -�be it baskets in retail, quotes in insurance, bookings in travel or registrations in gambling.

Indeed, I am beginning to feel like it has been around forever. The real question for me is how to go from talking about it to actually producing the goods and enjoying the results.

69% of companies do not email checkout dropouts

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:51:00 UT

Two-thirds of companies in the UK are failing�to send�emails to customers who have abandoned their shopping baskets.

This seems like a missed opportunity, and is one of the findings of the E-consultancy / Adestra Email Marketing Industry Census 2008, a survey of agency and company email marketers in the UK.

UK retailers failing to follow email best practice

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:00:00 UT

A new survey finds that retailers in the UK still have a lot to learn about email marketing, with 46% failing to comply with legal guidelines and many others not following best practice.

TopShop, STA Travel, ASDA and M&S came off best in dotMailer's benchmark study (pdf), scoring over 80%, while Office, Expedia and H&M scored less than 60%.

Email + SMS convergence = customer convenience

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:09:00 UT

Right person, right place, right time.... right environment: some thoughts on the challenges and opportunities of multichannel customer communications.