Email Design Best Practices

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

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Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

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Agenda
Step 1: Understand Motivation
Step 2: Optimize Relevance
Step 3: Optimize Layout
Step 4: Ensure Compliance
Step
p 5: Test
Email Design Optimization Checklist

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

The 3-Second Rule

You have 3 5 seconds

to persuade your
recipient to take action.

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

Consumers Find Marketing

E il A Burden
Email
B rden

Source: ForresterWinning
g Email Subscribers In A Down Economy,
y December 2008

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

Yet Marketers Are Increasing

E il Volume
Email
V l
200%
180%
160%
140%
120%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%

B2B
B2C

SMB

Corporate

Enterprise

TOTAL

33%
24%

23%
13%

179%
69%

36%
25%

Email Growth, H1 2010 vs. H1 2009

S
Source:
Eloqua,
El
Marketing
M k ti g Benchmarks,
B
h
k TTrends
d &B
Bestt P
Practices,
ti
S
Summer 2010

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

How Can You Cut Through the Clutter

and
d Meet
M t Your
Y
G
Goals?
l ?

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

You Have Mail

Open?
Download pictures?
g speed
p
Read? Scan at extremelyy high
Take action?

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

St 11: Understand Motivation

Step

Value Proposition: Is it meaningful?

From Line: Who is it from?

Subject Line: Does it communicate

value in first 35 characters?

Preview: How does it look?

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

B f
Before
You Start Designing

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

10

Value Proposition: What is in it for me?

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

11

Subject line: Welcome Sephora Beauty Insider

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

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From, Subject Line & Preheader

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The From Line

Recognizable
Reflects current relationship
Active/monitored address

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

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From Line Strategies

St t
Goal

From Examples

Build brand recognition

Eloqua
CMO Council

Build personal relationship or

personal brand

Alex Shootman, Eloqua

Chris Brogan
Seth Godin

Build subscription recognition

Education @ Eloqua.com
Harvard Business Review
THIS WEEK on Ted.com
Marketing Watchdog Journal

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

Leverage
g Company
p y Brand

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

16

Match Signature
M
g
to From Line

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

House of Magnets

Compared
C
d tto standard
t d d HTML promos,
personal emails generate a

40% - 100% higher

g
open
p rate;;
10% - 20% higher CTR
Source: MarketingSherpa

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

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Text/Personalized
t/
Email

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

19

From and Subject

j
Lines W
Work
k Together
g
80% of email recipients open their inbox, read the from line and
then the subject line, and then delete. Then, they read the
remaining emails in their inbox.
- Digital Impact Study

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

Subject
j
Line Guiding
g Principles
p
1.

Get to the point. Communicate value to

recipient in first 35 characters.
characters

2.

Engage. Provide a sense of urgency and

prompt them to open the e-mail
e mail
immediately.

3
3.

Be relevant.
relevant Speak to the needs and
interests of your recipients as individual
people.

4.

Build trust. Do not over promise or mislead.

This can destroy trust and damage your
brand.

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

Create Urgency
U

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

22

Use A
Action Words
Subject line: Download Now: How do you stack up against your online analytics peers?

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

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S bject Lines That Work

Subject

So rce MarketingSherpa
Source:

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

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Use Preheaders
P
d
- Content Snippets

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

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Preview Panes

What do horizontal and vertical

preview panes have in common?

D
Design
for
f tthe common d
denominator!
t !
v

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

St 2
Step
2: Optimize Relevance

Personalization: Is it appropriate?

Imagery: Does it engage or repel?

Tone: Does it reduce anxiety?

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

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Personalization: Build the Relationship

P
p

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

30

75%
of companies that ask for more
than email address at sign up

dontt use it
don
for personalization.
v

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

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Contact preferences
Email
xxxx@domain.co
m
yyy@domain.com

Spotlight
Education
Ed
cation

Spotlight Home Video

Yes

Spotlight
Broadcast

Spotlight Post
Prod ction
Production

Yes
Yes

Yes

Define newsletter
content

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

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Imagery - Engage
Images are visual clues
to engage and inform
recipient.
Not just any old image
will do - images must be
relevant to value prop.
Scanning clusters around
discontinuity i.e.
ie
bolding or highlighting

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

Tone Speak Human not Corporate

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

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Get To the Point

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Good Copywriting Tips

Write for the customer, not for yourself.
Get to the point
point. Use less than 100 words
words.
Place primary call-to-action links above the fold.
Write short sentences: easy to scan, punchier, more active.
Use benefit-oriented subheads.
Use bullets to capture value proposition.
So-What?
So What? Use this repeatedly to help you get to the real
message.
Use a P.S. to call attention to urgency of offer.

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

St 3
Step
3: Optimize Layout

Images Off: Can you still identify value prop?

Eye Path: Where does your eye go with images on?

Call-To-Action: Is it clear and accessible?

Rendering: How does it render across email clients?

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

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The Red X Challenge

g

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

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Reality: Images Off

Be sure to also communicate value
outside of images.
Add a text-based link to a Web
version of your design at the top of
your e-mail.
Use ALT Text to describe all
images.
Always add the height and width to
the image to ensure the
placeholder doesn
doesn'tt throw your
design out.
Test yyour design
g with images
g
turned off before you send it.

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

Effective
t Designs
g tto Combatt Red X

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

43

Design for Mobile

Source: Exact Target,

Email Marketing for the Third Screen

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

Blackberry Simulator
Up to 65% of your
audience may be
viewing email on
devices like Blackberry
The viewing width for a
Blackberry is typically
320 pixels wide
Blackberry offers free
simulators to see how
your email will look
heress the link:
here

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

Images On: What is the Eyepath?

Squint Test: Close your
eyes, open, and
immediately identify
first thing you see
above the fold. Is it the
value prop?
Start to identify where
the eye drifts positively
and negatively to
optimize layout.

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

Feature Call-To-Action

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

Test Your Call To Action

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

48

But be cautious about multiple CTAs

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

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Rendering Across Email Clients

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

St 4
Step
4: Ensure Compliance
Privacy Policy: Does the email adhere
t your privacy
to
i
policy?
li ?
Brand: Is the email design brand
compliant?

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

51

Finish Strongg

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

52

St 5
Step
5: Test
There are no absolutes.
Th
b l t
Testing
g yyields best
optimization results.

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

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There is no substitute for testing

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

54

Testing
Questions
T sting Answers
Answ rs Qu
stions
Is the messaging easy to understand?
Is the call to action more compelling?
What are barriers for prospects to convert to a lead?
Are we asking for too much information?
Do prospects understand the offer and find it valuable?
Which topics resonates the best with this segment?
Which layout drives the highest conversion?
Which images create higher levels of engagement?

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

Getting
G
tting Started
Start d
1. Decide WHAT to test.
2. Set up a control group and a test group.
Use 5-10% of your list to set up a control group and a test
group These should be segments of the larger group
group.
group.
3. Test each element separately.
When you vary only one feature,
feature you can observe to what
degree (if at all) people respond differently to that variation.
4. Determine which variable showed the best results.
Most email responses will come within 24 - 48 business
hours. Once you determine which variable had the best
results, use that variable for the remaining 90% of your
distribution list.

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

Email Testing Examples

Day / time to send

Design
Layout
Subject line
From line
Call to action
Email opt-in
g g Relevance
Messaging
Tone
Personalization
v

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

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Best Practices for Improving Testing

Define your goals

Get support
Collect the data
Analyze the data
Wait for results
Identify trends

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Sample Email Testing Matrix

Component Measure
Opens
A

Clicks
A

Unique
Visitors
B

Form
Submissions
A

Revenue
A

From Line
Subject Line
D S
Day
Sentt
Time Sent
y
/ Design
g
Layout
Offer
Headline
Content / Messaging
Personalization
Email Signature

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

H Do
How
D You
Y Know
Kn w Its
It W
Working?
ki g?

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

60

Whats Your Open Rate?

Average Open Rate by Industry, H1 2010

BIC average = 29.6

S
Source:
Eloqua,
El
Marketing
M k ti g Benchmarks,
B
h
k Trends
T d &B
Bestt
Practices, Summer 2010

Data Source: Jan-Jul 2010 Averages

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61

Best-in-Class Average Click-Through Rate: 7.3

BIC Average: 7.32

Average Click-Through Rate by Industry, H1 2010

S
Source:
Eloqua,
El
Marketing
M k ti g Benchmarks,
B
h
k Trends
T d &B
Bestt
Practices, Summer 2010

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

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Email Design Optimization Checklist

Eloqua Best Practices: The Revenue Lifecycle

63