Crafting E-mail Tactics: A Guide to Getting Started

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, July, 2001 by Michael Gutkowski

Publishers who haven't yet tapped into the marketing force of e-mail are missing a must-have sales tool. These e-messages can build brand awareness, foster customer loyalty, drive Web traffic and open new revenue streams. Here's how to get a campaign underway.

Over the past few years, e-mail marketing has become one of the most effective tools available to consumer marketers. At Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, it has been a critical means of building customer loyalty for our Web site, marthastewart.com. We're using e-mail to increase site traffic, increase repeat visits, sell products and offer advertising sponsorships.

Marthastewart.com has more than 1.8 million registered members, and the majority of those members have "opted-in" to receive weekly newsletters. These newsletters contain relevant content, special offers for related products, and messages from advertising sponsors.

E-mail marketing may appear straightforward and simple, but it requires as much strategy and scrutinizing as any other marketing effort. Here's a list of important issues to consider before you start to test:

1. Identify your objectives. First, you must pinpoint what you want to achieve by using e-mail. Are you trying to decrease traditional direct mail costs by using email marketing campaigns? Is your goal to reward your best customers with additional benefits for retention? Are you using e-mail to gain valuable feedback through personalized communications?

2. Define success criteria. Based on your determined objectives, decide what key metrics you will need to track in order to determine success. These measurements include e-mail-opened rates, click through rates, order conversions, and average order values.

3. Plot a game plan for implementation. Once you've outlined your objectives, develop your message strategy and your tracking and reporting requirements. Remember that all of these e-mail communications will affect your organization's technology and customerservice infrastructure. An effective e-mail campaign may drive enough traffic to shut down your Web site, so you must be prepared to handle the additional burden that these new customer communications will place on your organization.

4. Collect customer email addresses. People will provide their e-mail addresses in exchange for tangible benefits. Develop personalized e-mail newsletters and special offers that segment customers according to their interests. Someone planning a wedding, for instance, might appreciate receiving timely planning information each week. Add e-mail fields to your renewal and billing efforts, and train your call centers to collect these addresses. Be sure you explain how you will be using their information, and ensure that all messages provide a clear chance for people to opt-out.

5. Make it relevant. Develop e-mail campaigns that provide value to your customers. Ask them what kinds of information they would like to receive and how frequently they want to receive it. Before delivering an e-mail message, always ask yourself, "Does this message provide value to my customers?" Relevance will dramatically increase response and decrease the number of customers who opt-out.

6. Respect privacy. Customers continue to rate privacy as a key deterrent to online purchasing. As you ask your customers for permission, invite them to review your organization's privacy policy. Seek guidance from your legal department and submit your policy to TRUSTe--an independent, nonprofit privacy initiative dedicated to building users' trust and confidence on the Internet. TRUSTe (www.truste.org) can continually review your privacy policy and ensure that it meets industry best-practices.

7. Target, personalize and test. Use traditional direct-marketing techniques to develop and test e-mail campaigns. Make sure that each message has a clear call to action. Your customers will provide instant feedback to your messages, so be sure to use that feedback to refine future messages.

8. Maintain brand consistency in every message. It's very easy to e-mail a message to someone, but resist the temptation to cut corners. Make sure that each message is put through a stringent quality assurance process to ensure that it reflects your brand standards.

Michael Gutkowski is vice president of marketing and business development for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc.'s Internet Direct Commerce Division.