There's been a ton of media attention, both mainstream and online, about the changes Facebook recently made to their privacy settings and policies. It seems that Mashable has at least one article about Facebook privacy almost every day. Time Magazine is bringing Facebook privacy to its readers as a front page story. The flurry of media attention seems to be mostly negative with no ray of hope anywhere in the near future for Facebook.
One topic that's been overshadowed by the larger privacy issues is a Wall Street Journal report that Facebook, along with other social networks, was caught sending user data to advertisers. According to the WSJ article, the information that Facebook, and other social networks, have been sending "could be used to find consumers' names and other personal details." While this practice has been defended by these companies, it should raise some serious concerns for the companies' subscribers. First, it strengthens the case for those consumers who are hesitant to embrace social networking sites because they don't want the entire world to have access to their personal information. Second, it opens subscribers' information to a larger group of companies and individuals who, while they may have the best of business intentions, could abuse the subscribers' information and flood them with irrelevant content. Finally, it could scare subscribers so much that they actually start a mass exodus from these social networking sites. In fact, this last point is highlighted further by several studies that show people are considering this option.
This practice, in our opinion, could spell the end of Facebook's Project Titan before it even launches. In February, TechCrunch ran an article that highlighted Facebook's Project Titan, which is being tabbed "a full featured webmail product." Subsequent articles related to this development focused on how this project COULD be the end of email marketing, as well as how to prepare for the potential of such a solution. The recent revelations brought to the forefront by the Wall Street Journal could doom Project Titan for 3 simple reasons.
- There are already multiple full featured webmail products available to consumers. Many of these consumers use multiple products to try and avoid the flurry of spam that is still received via email despite the Can-Spam Act. While Facebook would have an inside track to consumers' information, and ultimately greater control over who has access to that information, the practice of sending user names and ID numbers to third party advertisers could allow these outside parties the opportunity to sell pseudo Facebook email lists to list houses for a pretty penny.
- While Facebook, and other social networking sites, will defend the practice highlighted in the WSJ article; it still raises serious concerns about subscribers' privacy for Project Titan. If Facebook simply uses vanity URLs as the basis for creating email addresses as some have speculated, list houses and spammers could very easily build their own Facebook email databases and start sending spam email to Facebook users. By the way, my Facebook email if Project Titan launches could be chrissstone@facebook.com. If Facebook is sharing subscribers' user names and IDs, as is reported, what's to stop them from selling their email database to these same third-party advertisers?
- Despite users' love of Facebook, and other social networking sites, they still want to keep their personal information private. Hence, the recent backlash from mainstream and online media outlets. Users are generally willing to deal with advertisements because they can teach themselves to block out the messages, just as they have with traditional forms of advertising. If, and I stress if, Facebook continues the practice of sending user information to third parties, users could look at a Facebook email address as another source of spam email. If a Facebook email address is viewed as a "spam catcher", Project Titan could surely be irrelevant within a short period of time.
At the end of the day, no one knows exactly how Facebook will amend its recent privacy changes. As this post is written, Facebook is briefing Congressional staffers on the changes to the changes it's already made in light of the media attention and subsequent public outcry. Project Titan has probably been put on the very back burner until Facebook can overcome all the negative media attention. This is a good thing for an email marketing agency because it's one less potential opponent to the overall success of their email marketing efforts.
Few movie scenes tickle my fancy quite like the legendary scene from Good Will Hunting that spawned the phrase "how you like them apples." For those of you not familiar with the scene, give it a quick watch! It's only 40 seconds.
Good Will Hunting first hit the big screen in 1997, and even after 13 years of technological evolution, businesses across the country are still struggling to ask the "pretty girl" for her number.
Ok, so times have changed and in 2010 no one would write a girl's number on a bar napkin unless their smart phone was on the fritz. Today it isn't a phone number that businesses want from the "pretty girl," it's their email address. According to a 2009 study, "View from the Inbox", conducted by Merkle, Inc., email is the #1 preferred method of communication from companies among people ages 18-65. And to be honest, it's not even close! Here are the numbers to prove it!
Unfortunately for business owners, customers have been bombarded by countless organizations trying to push their message through to their inbox involuntarily. This has made people extremely hesitant to hand their email address over to just anyone.
Much like when you were dating, it is easy to strike-up a conversation with a potential companion, the problem lies in knowing how to ask for the crucial contact information. You want to be sure he/she knows you're interested, but you don't want to be the "Stage 4 Clinger" who thought dinner and drinks would lead to a trip down the aisle.
If getting email addresses is as complicated as post-pubescent dating, how can businesses effectively obtain customer email addresses? The answer is simple; ask politely, but don't be pushy. Don't be the guy or girl who calls with nothing to say, be the company who uses customer emails to provide an engaged audience with valuable information. Don't use shady antics to trick your customers into opening an email for a false promotion.
Over 83% of North American email users view false promotional items just as invasive as spam. (Source: Epsilon Global Consumer Email Study) Once you have lost the trust of your audience, whether it is a pretty girl or a list of current customers, regaining that trust is an almost impossible task; and with a single email address being estimated at a $47 value, you can't afford to break customer trust.
When trying to grow your email marketing list, stick to the basics. The more customers feel a personal connection to your brand the more likely they are to give you their email address. You wouldn't walk up to the most beautiful person at the bar and ask for their number right out of the gate, don't do the same thing with email addresses. If you want the pretty girl to give you her number, you have to prove your worth. The same thing can be said for customer email addresses.
The next time you or your organization think about asking for a customer's email address for your small business email marketing, think about Good Will Hunting. Think about how Damon did it. Prove your worth, be polite instead of pushy, and the emails will come to you. Then you can ask the competition; "how you like them apples?"
One of the most common things we hear from many small businesses, especially those in small towns & rural areas, is that they're hesitant to start using email to communicate and market because they don't have email addresses. That's a pretty strong reason to not pull the trigger and start using email marketing for a small business. Don't let that stop you.
One of our earliest clients, a small Amish furniture retailer in North Central Ohio, was in that exact boat. We first talked to the owner about the immense benefits of email marketing. Targeted, direct, trackable. You know the benefits. But, one of the biggest challenges for this business was that they hadn't been collecting customer email addresses since they opened the doors. Did that stop them from starting 2 years ago? Nope. The owner, and his staff, followed 3 simple steps that we gave them and started collecting email addresses in droves! The 3 steps were:
- Setup a collection box with signup sheets NEXT to the register - one part of our email marketing services that are very valuable, especially for a small business that doesn't have a website (what are you waiting for???), is that we provide a hard plastic drop box and 1,000 signup sheets for in store promotion. You don't even need a fancy drop box. Go to the pet store and buy a fish bowl. Make a sign to put on the front of it to tell people why a fish bowl is sitting in your store. While you're making the sign, make a signup sheet that people can fill out with their first name, last name and email address. That's all the information you need to start using email marketing for your small business.
- Get the ENTIRE staff on board - this is probably the most critical element for success in email marketing, especially for a small business. Every member of your staff needs to understand that it is THEIR responsibility to help the business grow its email marketing database. Here's an idea on us. Make a contest out of getting people signed up to receive emails. Give your staff a chance to compete for something everyone wants. An extra day off, the newest tech gadget, free cash. It doesn't matter, just let your staff's interest dictate what the prize will be.
- ASK EVERY person that walks through the door to signup - every single person that walks through your front door is either a current customer or a prospective customer, and every single one of them should sign up to receive emails from your business. Every staff member, including you as the owner, should be asking almost every person that walks in to sign up for your email campaigns. Here's another piece of free advice. Develop a promotion that gives people something free just for signing up for emails from you. However, make sure it's something from your business. Give away a $50 gift certificate. Hesitant to give away free stuff, here's a pretty compelling statistic. According to Stan Rapp, founder of Rapp Collins, the value of a SINGLE opt-in email address is estimated at $118. Enough said.
So, how is our Amish furniture client faring today? In the 2 years we've been working with them, they've grown their database to 399 subscribers. From ZERO when we started. Now, take the 399 subscribers and multiply that by $118. The estimated value of this client's email list is almost $41,000. Not too shabby!
They're open rates are very strong (nearly 30% for every campaign). Oh, and by the way, they haven't even started venturing into the social media world yet. Imagine what they could do with Twitter, Facebook, a website and a blog!
Conventional wisdom in email marketing dictates that you never want subscribers to opt-out of your email campaign. Pretty sound advice, especially considering that your goal with email marketing is to engage subscribers to take an action. Buy a product from your online store, complete a form to get more targeted information about your service. The list can go on forever.
But, what about those subscribers that haven't opened an email since you started your campaign? You're probably like most and just ignore them. We don't blame you. These subscribers aren't helping to further your cause. But, we recently challenged conventional wisdom and traditional thinking about unengaged subscribers.
One of our full-service email marketing clients, a family entertainment center in Ohio, is pretty progressive in their marketing efforts for their geographic location. They utilize email marketing (of course), a blog, a Facebook Fan Page, Twitter and a pretty stellar website. They are certainly ahead of the game.
The Challenge
This particular client has over 1800 subscribers in their database. Their open statistics have been lagging below the industry standard of 15-20%. We found that their unopened rates were running above 84% on every campaign we sent for them. The client expressed that they wanted to find a way to engage the disengaged.
The Solution
Last month, we recommended a campaign that was unconventional to say the least. The idea was pretty simple.
1. Target subscribers that haven't opened an email since the inception of the program
2. Offer them a chance to win a prize just for opening the email
3. Use the subject line "Unsubscribe Today"
The first two points are really "no-brainers". Target a segment of your list, and make them an offer they can't refuse. The third point is where conventional wisdom goes right out the door. Or does it? The most important part of any email campaign is the subject line. It's the first thing subscribers read to decide if they're going to open your email. If the subject line isn't compelling or doesn't grab the recipient's attention, your great content-filled email is worthless. "Unsubscribe Today" may not be the most compelling subject line, but it was, at the very least, attention grabbing.
The Result
The overall result of the campaign was what we expected for a couple reasons. First, we knew their data was old. They had been sending emails for about a year prior to our involvement, and we saw the statistics from their prior endeavors. Their open rates had been trending lower for the better part of six months, so we didn't set a high expectation for success. Second, we knew their email marketing habits, prior to our involvement, were scattered at best. Prior to engaging us, the client had been deploying email campaigns just to send an email. There was no rhyme or reason for sending the email prior to our involvement.
Of the 1300 emails sent, 11% were opened. Not a great open rate by any means. But, that 11% represents a group of subscribers that hadn't previously engaged with the client's email marketing efforts. What was more revealing, and more important, was the unsubscribe rate. Only 14% of the subscribers that opened the email actually unsubscribed. We expected this number to be much higher given the subject line of the email. We were pleased to say the least. But, you probably think that's an unacceptable rate. But, that's about 20 people who opened an email that hadn't previously opened an email. At the very least, they opened the email, read it, and decided they didn't want to get emails from the client.
Take Home
Don't be afraid to break conventional wisdom to engage the disengaged. At the very least, you can scrub your database and find out who really reads and engages with your emails. After all, the more subscribers who engage with your email, the more money you should make! Right?
One of the best metrics to determine the success of your email campaigns is click-through rates. Click-through rates mean that your subscribers are interested in the content you're providing, and, ultimately, that they're interested in your company. It's a way to measure engagement, which is vitally important to the success of small business email marketing. One relatively easy way to increase click-through rates in your email marketing efforts and drive traffic to your website is to incorporate video into your marketing mix.
So Easy a Kid Can Do It
Microsoft released Windows 7 last year, and one of their commercials features a child making a slideshow from all the phrases on her dad's PC with the number 7. Both PCs and Macs usually come pre-loaded with a basic video editing program. One quick and easy way to make a video for your next email campaign is to take pictures of your business. Load them onto your computer and then open the pre-loaded video editing program. Follow the simple instructions the program provides and create your video slideshow. These programs also allow you to place a music bed in your video. Be careful when selecting music. Your favorite song by Kenny Chesney probably isn't a good choice because his music is copyrighted by his record company. Here's one website where you can download music without paying a royalty.
Now The Easy Part
So, you've created your video slideshow complete with music. Now what? You need to upload your video to the web, and it's super easy with YouTube. Go to YouTube and create an account. Again, simple steps that anyone can accomplish. Follow YouTube's steps to upload the video. Once the video is uploaded and processed, you can grab the code to link to the video. Now, go back to the email that you want to use with the video. Create a link to your video on YouTube and prepare to watch your click-through rates go through the roof!
Client Success
Farmers Citizens Bank, a community bank in Ohio, started using video in their email campaigns in October 2009. Their click-through rates increased 273% from their August 2009 email (73 unique clicks) to the October 2009 email (199 unique clicks). The bank's email campaign unique click-through rates increased another 118% from October 2009 (199 unique clicks) to January 2010 (234 unique clicks). Get the picture? Here's the video used in the January 2010 email, which Rock Solid Media produced for Farmers Citizens Bank.
Now, go forth and email!
In a previous post, we reviewed school district email marketing practices for several large Ohio districts. These school districts should be applauded for deploying a solution that is a cost-effective and efficient form of communications. However, there were 4 areas where we think these districts, and others, can improve in their email marketing efforts. The next several posts will take a deeper look at each of those areas, with the first being content.
School District Email Marketing: The RIGHT Content is King
School districts, especially larger ones, have little difficulty developing great content. There are so many different aspects of a school district that provide opportunities for relevant, compelling content. Academics, athletics, administration and other areas are all relevant topics for school districts. While all of the content from a school district is important, one of the biggest challenges is deciding the right content that is going to resonate with email subscribers. One way to overcome this challenge is to let subscribers tell you what information they want to read about in your district's emails. Develop a robust signup form on your website that gives subscribers the ability to choose the types of content they want to receive in their inbox. And, don't overlook the smallest areas of your district's operations. You might be surprised by the performance of your emails that have a "micro" focus. Another way to overcome this challenge, especially if you're already deploying email marketing, is to conduct a survey of your current email subscribers. The most efficient way to do this is use an online solution, like Survey Monkey, to seek feedback from your subscribers about the content that is important to them. Some email service providers (ESPs) offer a survey application within your subscription. The content areas with the highest response rates should be where you focus your efforts.
School District Email Marketing: Send Them Home
One of the biggest benefits of email marketing is the channel's ability to drive traffic to a website. Two of three emails we reviewed used full content stories in their entire email. One of the biggest problems this presents is that your subscribers have to scroll through a ton of content to find the one piece of information they're seeking. Many school districts have spent, or will spend in the future, significant dollars to develop a top-notch, engaging website. Email should be designed as a "conduit" to more information on your website. Besides increased traffic to your website, you also present subscribers the opportunity to find more information about your district on your website.
Ultimately, using the right content in your emails and driving subscribers to your websites, you will increase the effective of your district's email marketing efforts!
Now, go forth and email!