The Truth About Email Marketing, The

224 Pages·2008·0.969 MB·English

by  Simms Jenkins

Praise for
The Truth About Email Marketing
“It’s refreshing to see an author address specifics instead of gloss over
generalities that can be boiled down to one sentence. Simms’ book debunks the
top email marketing myths in a readable and logical fashion.”
Tad Clarke, Editorial Director, MarketingSherpa Inc.
“Anyone interested in maximizing their marketing budgets should stop what
they are doing and read this book. Simms’ deep experience in email marketing is
widely evident in this very insightful and fact-filled book. Great insight into an area
of marketing that is often overlooked. Plus, its a fun, easy read...especially for us
marketers!”
Jeff Hilimire, President, Engauge Digital
“Simms has a great knack for simplifying the complex world of email. From the
novice email marketer to the email aficionado, The Truth about Email Marketing
provides insight and thought-provoking content that all of us can use in our email
and online marketing efforts.”
Aaron Kahlow, CEO & Founder, Online Marketing Summit
“Simms Jenkins expertly outlines a series of useful Truths to ensure effective and
highly optimized, permission-based email marketing programs. Take advantage of
Simms’ battle scars and set yourself on a direct course that unleashes the power
of this important marketing channel.”
Sam Cece, Chief Executive Officer, StrongMail Systems
“Doing email marketing right requires a lot more than coming up with a good
offer and hitting the Send button. Simms understands the unique challenges
and nuances that practitioners face, and shares many valuable insights and best
practices in The Truth About Email Marketing that can immediately benefit any
reader’s email program.”
Jordan Cohen, Senior Director of Industry Relations, Goodmail Systems
“Simms provides not only thought leadership and insight for the true marketing
professional, but he also gives the marketing novice a playbook for success in
email marketing.”
Michael Kogon, CEO, Definition 6
“Simms Jenkins is an extremely well-respected expert in the realm of email
marketing. In this book, he provides practical guidance to help you execute
strategic email marketing programs. This is a must read for anyone involved with
an email marketing campaign!”
Dave Williams, Co-Founder, 360i
“Simms Jenkins is a highly respected industry leader. He covers all the important
and essential elements of any successful email marketing program, in a simple,
easy-to-understand manner. The Truth About Email Marketing is a recommended
read for any marketer looking to understand the best practices and proven tactics
around email marketing.”
Greg Cangialosi, CEO, Blue Sky Factory, Inc
“Simms Jenkins uses plain language to explain the intricacies involved in
managing a profitable and respected email marketing program. Jenkins
articulates the strategies and tactics that help even skeptical customers trust
email marketing as part of a robust multichannel marketing strategy. This book is
a must read for any marketer wishing to have a respectful and profitable dialogue
with customers.”
Kevin Hillstrom, President, MineThatData, and blogger
“Simms gives us the whole truth and nothing but the truth in this fascinating book
about email marketing.”
Andrew I. Kordek, Manager, Email Marketing Transformation,
Fortune 50 Company
“To have had the chance as an early adopter of integrated email marketing
practices working with Simms starting more than five years ago, I can say that any
corporate or non-profit marketing professional who learns ‘The Truth about Email
Marketing’ will not only reap results from the wisdom of anti-spam, they’ll have
the assurance of doing what’s right in a fully informed way. In those five years of
first-hand observation of the ‘opt-in’ culture, I found that whether your audience
is local, national or regional, the most reliable book on accountable, ethical and
effective email campaigns is the one written by Simms Jenkins.”
Richard S. Kadzis, CAE, CoreNet Global
THE TRUTH
ABOUT
EMAIL
MARKETING
Simms Jenkins
© 2009 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Publishing as FT Press Publisher
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 Paul Boger
Associate Publisher
FT Press offers excellent discounts on this book Greg Wiegand
when ordered in quantity for bulk purchases or Acquisitions Editor
special sales. For more information, please contact Rick Kughen
U.S. Corporate and Government Sales, 1-800-382- Development Editor
3419, [email protected]. For sales Rick Kughen
outside the U.S., please contact International Sales at Technical Editor
[email protected]. Mark Brownlow
Marketing Coordinator
Company and product names mentioned herein are Judi Taylor
the trademarks or registered trademarks of their Publicist
respective owners. Lisa Jacobson Brown
Operations Manager
Portions of this book fi rst appeared as columns
Gina Kanouse
written by Simms Jenkins on iMedia Connection
Managing Editor
(www.imediaconnection.com) and are used here with Kristy Hart
permission. Senior Project Editor
Lori Lyons
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
Copy Editor
reproduced, in any form or by any means, without
Karen A. Gill
permission in writing from the publisher.
Cover and Interior
Printed in the United States of America Designs
Stuart Jackman,
First Printing August 2008 Dorling Kindersley
Design Manager
ISBN-10: 0-7897-3794-9 Sandra Schroeder
ISBN-13: 978-0-7897-3794-6
Compositor
Gloria Schurick
Pearson Education LTD.
Proofreader
Pearson Education Australia PTY, Limited.
San Dee Phillips
Pearson Education Singapore, Pte. Ltd.
Manufacturing Buyer
Pearson Education North Asia, Ltd.
Dan Uhrig
Pearson Education Canada, Ltd.
Pearson Educatión de Mexico, S.A. de C.V.
Pearson Education—Japan
Pearson Education Malaysia, Pte. Ltd.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jenkins, Simms.
The truth about email marketing / Simms Jenkins.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-7897-3794-6
1. Internet marketing. 2. Electronic mail systems. I. Title.
HF5415.1265.J46 2008
658.8’72--dc22
2008022081
For Kelly, Sam, and Cal

Foreword by Mark Brownlow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Part I The Truth About Why Email Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
C
TRUTH 1 Email is a powerful marketing tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 O
N
TRUTH 2 Permission-based email marketing is not spam . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 T
E
TRUTH 3 Email marketing is extremely cost-effective, targeted, N
T
and measurable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 S
TRUTH 4 Email is stronger than ever . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Part II The Truth About Email Budgeting and ROI . . . . .17
TRUTH 5 Don’t be cheap: email cuts other costs, so invest in it . . . . . . 17
TRUTH 6 Using email ROI to guide your budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
TRUTH 7 Keeping your email program alive when budgets are cut . . . . 25
Part III The Truth About Organizing an Email
Department . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
TRUTH 8 Deciding to outsource or bring in-house . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
TRUTH 9 Finding the right partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
TRUTH 10 Getting the ball rolling with your email marketing partner . . . 37
TRUTH 11 What makes a good email marketing manager . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Part IV The Truth About Customer-Focused
Email Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
TRUTH 12 How to be relevant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
TRUTH 13 Making your fi rst impression count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Part V The Truth About Creating and Growing a List . . .53
TRUTH 14 It is not easier to ask for forgiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
TRUTH 15 How to create an email list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
TRUTH 16 Using lead-generation tactics to build your list . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
TRUTH 17 Complement email list growth with search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
TRUTH 18 Keep a clean list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
TRUTH 19 The benefi ts of a robust preference center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
TRUTH 20 Get more from your email list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Part VI The Truth About Best Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
TRUTH 21 Length and your call to action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
TRUTH 22 Creating an email newsletter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
TRUTH 23 Establishing the right email frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
TRUTH 24 Personalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
TRUTH 25 Segment lists for more targeted emails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
TRUTH 26 Great Subject lines drive a strong response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
TRUTH 27 Consider the From line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
TRUTH 28 Test, test, test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 vii
TRUTH 29 Maximizing system-generated and automated emails . . . . . 115
TRUTH 30 Use your signature line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
TRUTH 31 Top to bottom advice for better emails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
TRUTH 32 Audit your email program annually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Part VII The Truth About Getting into and Optimizing
the Inbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
TRUTH 33 The basics of deliverability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
TRUTH 34 Understanding rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
TRUTH 35 Creating email campaigns for mobile devices . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Part VIII The Truth About Measuring Email
Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143
TRUTH 36 Know your email metrics, part 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
TRUTH 37 Know your email metrics, part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
TRUTH 38 Remarketing for results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Part IX The Truth About Privacy and CAN-SPAM . . . . . .155
TRUTH 39 Understanding the CAN-SPAM Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
TRUTH 40 A closer look at spam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
TRUTH 41 The varying levels of permission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
TRUTH 42 What your privacy policy should cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Part X The Truth About Automated Email . . . . . . . . . . .173
TRUTH 43 Create a meaningful welcome message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
TRUTH 44 Creating an unsubscribe process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
TRUTH 45 The right (and wrong) ways to monitor replies to your
email campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Part XI The Truth About B2B and International
Email Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .185
TRUTH 46 Delivering on business-to-business email campaigns . . . . . . 185
TRUTH 47 Best practices for international email efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Part XII The Truth About Where Email Is Headed . . . . . .193
TRUTH 48 The impact of social media on email. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
TRUTH 49 The future of email marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Appendixes (on the book’s Website only) You can access the book’s
website at www.TheTruthAboutEmailMarketing.com
APPENDIX A Recommended sites, newsletters, and blogs
APPENDIX B Glossary
APPENDIX C Useful statistics
viii
Foreword
Ask online marketers to rank tactics by ROI, effi ciency, or just about
F
any other success measure, and email marketing normally battles O
R
paid search for top place. Surveys show the returns easily outpace E
W
those from any other form of direct marketing.1 O
R
Email drives online and offl ine sales for retailers and delivers leads D
for B2B marketers. It strengthens customer relationships, creates
loyalty, and builds trust and awareness. And it does all this cost-
effectively using data-driven technology that lets you customize your
messages down to an individual recipient basis.
Email marketing is a proven success.
Despite this, email has never received a commensurate level of
respect or attention from the marketing media or from those who
hold the marketing purse strings.
Although email marketing budgets are predicted to nearly double
over the next few years2 to over US$2 billion in the United States, the
numbers pale in comparison to the resources handed out to other
tactics with a poorer track record.
Email marketing is an unloved stepchild.
But why?
To some extent, email is a victim of its own success. There is no
denying that email can be a very low-cost way of doing marketing.
This has led to a culture of underinvestment: “Email is ‘free’; email
doesn’t need resources to work.”
In addition, email marketing has brought success without too
much effort. It has been the packhorse of the online marketing
world, quietly getting on with the job without requiring too much
sophistication or care. Successful, but not very sexy.
As a busy and resource-pressed marketer, you might then ask
why you’d bother looking closer at email when it’s already doing an
adequate (and cheap) job?
Why indeed?
ix