MarketSense

Email Marketing Tips from the Receiving End

My last blog entry discussed my experiences on the receiving end of post-conference email campaigns. Sales 2.0 sponsors used the conference attendee list to try to engage with conference participants.


Common Email Marketing Mistakes

1. Assumption of familiarity

I am not talking about "name use" here (though in certain cultures and situations familiar use of given names can be considered inappropriate when no relationship exists). Each of the vendors made several assumptions. First, they assumed that the conference registrant showed up to the conference. Second, they assumed the registrant visited their booth. Third, they assumed the registrant spoke with someone from their company. Three assumptions. Three opportunities for error.



2. Links to the vendor's website not included

If you are trying to interest a conference attendee in your company and products, why wouldn't you make it insanely easy for the attendee to get to your web site? Vendor emails should always provide a link to their web site. When making statements about their company and/or product, vendors should enrich the email by providing direct links to related content on their web site.

3. Signed up as subscriber

When you use an email from a conference attendee list, do not subscribe the recipient into your automated campaign program. At most, you can justify sending two emails to an individual as a follow-up to the event. Anything beyond that will be perceived as SPAM. Conference list recipients did NOT subscribe to your email marketing campaigns. They should not be treated as if they did.

4. Pushing an unrelated offer

If you are sending an email to attendees to a conference, make sure the offer in your email ties in to the conference. Don't just push generic white papers, webinars, or other standard content. Develop content related to a popular conference subject to ensure a maximum return on your campaign.

5. Poorly written copy

Each email you send can either initiate, renew, or stop persuasive momentum. Poorly written copy in your email is sure to stop any persuasive momentum you may have achieved to that point. Don't give the email recipient a reason to leave you in the dust. Take the time to create interesting, relevant, well-written copy.

6. URL showing in hyperlinks

Don't show the reader ugly URLs. Take the time to set up a descriptive label and a hidden link to the content. If your inside sales or account teams are sending follow-up emails, either give them well-designed hyperlinks to use in their emails or teach them how to set up their hyperlinks so that the URLs don't show.

Creating Reasons to Click Thru

1. Encourage exploration

A conference attendee is still in discovery mode. Use your solicitation opportunity to facilitate your email recipient's exploration of your company and product. Design in multiple links to related content on your web site. This makes it easy for your recipient to start exploring at an entry point of interest to them. Take the time to create descriptive link labels. Don't show the underlying URLs.

2. Create a relevant offer

Coming out of a conference, you have a perfect reason to create new, relevant content. Offer content related to popular conference topics to your email recipient. Tie that content into value you product can offer. Stimulate post conference interest by continuing to deliver conference-related value.

3. Use the attendee identity

The conference list should have provided you with enough information about the attendee to establish a basic identity. Don't make the email recipient register to receive more information. Use the latest technologies to carry their identity from the email links to their visits to your web site and downloads of your content. Capture their activities with you to develop a profile of their interest in you.

4. Develop your relationship

Email is about personal contact. Write your email content in a personal voice. Sign the email with the name and title of a real person in the company. Send the email with a return address that goes to a real person in case the recipient wants to start a conversation with you.

5. Take the time to make the email look nice

Every contact counts. Your attention to detail in the look and feel of the email (as well as the content) magnifies the recipient's impression of your company. Sloppy, poorly written email is an instant turn-off and says volumes about your company.

My Sales 2.0 Vendor Marketing Scorecard

A little less than a month ago I attended the Sales 2.0 conference. All attendees registering for the conference provided their contact information including their email and phone numbers. Being a marketer, I expected that all of the sponsors of the conference would be given the attendee list to perform their own lead follow-up. This was Sales 2.0 after all.

I had high expectations from these vendors who should be using the latest and greatest marketing techniques. But the real life experiences were so dreadful that I thought I would share some of them with you. I have used a grade-style rating system for each vendor featured here. The vendor names are not provided to protect the guilty.

Vendor #1

The first email I got from this vendor made catchy use of the St. Patrick’s Day holiday to offer me a discount. Points for cuteness. But the email itself looked amateurish and sloppy. It highlighted some old and new features but did not provide any URLs to their web site to allow me to investigate further. The only call to action was to call a sales person. Not likely for an introvert like myself. I rate my first impression a “C”.

I received the second email from this vendor a week later. What a difference a week makes. This email was obviously researched and sent by a real person. In fact, the person not only said that they researched my company but included details that showed me that they researched my company. Big points here. But once again, the email itself contained key features, all nicely underlined. But none of those underlined features were links to content on the web site. This second response rated a “B” with me. I did reply and mention that I wasn’t interested. I even got a thank you for my reply. Now let’s see whether their automated system continues to bug me.

Vendor #2

Vendor #2 first contacted me about three weeks after the conference. The email they sent was a generic email to register for an IDC white paper. It was not signed by a person and included no links to their web site or to contact them. It was register or nothing. I was curious enough about the IDC value that I read the first sentence. But it was so long and convoluted, that I quickly deleted the email. First contact rating, a “D”.

One day later, I got an email signed by a person. It started with the sentence, “I wanted to follow up and thank you for attending Sales 2.0 and speaking with vendor name here”. Very bad news for this vendor. I did not speak with them at the conference. I didn’t even hand any representative of the company a business card at the conference. That said, the email did have a direct link to a demo on their web site. Bad news, the link showed the ugliness of the URL rather than a good hyperlink. O.k. Some training of their account reps is needed. But then there were these weird links to two other demos (these were actually formed better) that kind of trailed the signature. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get over the opening line of the email and sent the poor account rep a note pointing out the approach flaws. I did not get a reply from him. Second contact rating, an “F”. This interaction so turned me off that I quickly decided never to buy from them.

Six days later, this vendor's auto-generation machine is working fine. I got another generic email to register for a different white paper. Time to unsubscribe. (By the way, how did I get subscribed in the first place? I never "opted in" to anything. Isn't this spam?)

Vendor #3

Sometime before Vendor #2 sent me the personalized email, Vendor #3 sensitized me to the wrong opening approach. At the end of my work day (5:00 pm PDT), I got a phone call from an account rep at Vendor #3. They started by mentioning my visit to their booth at the Sales 2.0 conference. You can see where this is going. I politely indicated that I hadn’t done so. The rep recovered nicely (you can do that on the phone) and used the opportunity to give me a one line description of what her company did. This was helpful. Then, as I indicated I wasn’t interested, she asked me if I wanted to be removed from their call list. A verbal unsubscribe! Bless her heart. I said “yes”. This won Vendor #3 big points (and probably is helping keep their database clean too). I rate Vendor #3 an “A”.

Tune in to my next blog entry to get my list of dos and don’ts for email marketing.