Tracking Your E-Mail Marketing Campaigns

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One of the best features of an e-mail marketing service is tracking and reporting. When people are first introduced to e-mail marketing, they're thrilled to find that they can see who is (or isn't) opening their e-mails and what they’re clicking on.

But after experiencing the initial delight that comes with discovering this helpful tool, the next reaction can be one of confusion or disappointment. I’ve heard questions like, What's a good open rate? Why is it that only 40 percent of my list opens my e-mails? When I first started sending, I had a 60 percent open rate, and now it’s dropped to 37 percent. What happened?

First, you should know what your open rate is telling you. Basically, it's the percentage of your e-mail recipients who opened your e-mail (bounced addresses are taken out of the equation). The reporting feature of your e-mail marketing service tracks the number of unique opens, which means that no contacts are counted twice, no matter how many times they open the e-mail.

Open rates aren't an exact science; unique opens can be undercounted or overcounted. E-mails don't get counted when people view them with the images turned off or when they're read on a handheld device like a BlackBerry or Treo. Unique opens can be overcounted when someone views your e-mail in a preview pane (which sends back tracking information) but doesn't actually open the message.

So when you've got your percentage, how should you feel about your open rates? One place to start is by comparing them to industry standards. According to "MarketingSherpa’s E-mail Benchmark Guide 2006," the most common range for B2C open rates for 2004 and 2005 was 30 to 39 percent; the B2B range was 10 to 29 percent. Open rates also vary widely by business type. According to the "Harte-Hanks Postfuture Index for January-June 2006," restaurants had the highest open rates of any of the 13 business types considered during that period, while retail businesses had the lowest.

What does this mean for you? According to industry standards, if you have a 35 percent open rate, you're doing well. But don’t just judge your open rate against these statistics; judge it against your past performance. To examine your own results, map out your business’s open rate trend line. Over the past 12 months, when did you get the best open rates? Look at the e-mail communications you sent and ask, What did I do that made this successful? Then try that tactic again.

If your e-mail open rates aren’t where you'd like them to be--or you think you can do better--here are five easy things you can do to improve them:

1. Send more targeted e-mails. The better you know your contacts and their interests, the more you can target your e-mails and increase your open rates. Have you thought about how you can segment your list into interest groups? It’s worth the effort. Don’t you love it when you get an e-mail about something you're truly interested in? And aren't you far more likely to open it?
   
   
2. Improve your subject lines. A good subject line will always increase the chances of an e-mail getting opened. Lead with a benefit that lets the recipients know what’s in it for them. Make it interesting, and try to pique the readers' curiosity. You want them to feel compelled to find out more. Also, remember to avoid using all caps, exclamation points and words like “free” and “sale.”
   
   
3. Test your sending times. Try sending your message on a different day or at a different time of day to see if you achieve a higher open rate. We’ve seen customers improve their rates 15 to 20 percent by changing when they send. It has long been thought that Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the best days to send, but a report released by eROI in 2006 showed that open rates were higher on weekends--38 percent on Saturdays and 37 percent on Sundays--and Monday was the best weekday at 35.7 percent. Because open rates are different for every type of business, it’s important for you to figure out the best time to send to your contacts.
   
   
4. Check your “from” name. Is your “from” name easily recognizable? Will your contacts know who your e-mail is from? If they don't, they'll likely hit delete, so you need a name your receivers are familiar with in your “from” line. In most cases, this isn't your name (or the name of the person in your office who sends out your e-mails). Best practice would be to use your company’s name, though you could use another name if it would be easily recognized by your customers and make sense with your campaign.
   
   
5. Evaluate how often you send. You might send too often or you might not send often enough. Send too often and readers will stop opening; send too infrequently, they won't recognize your name. Consider asking your contacts how often they want to hear from you. You can do this by giving them the option to sign up for weekly or monthly e-mails.

By using e-mail marketing to connect with your customers or members, you have the benefit of knowing who's interested in what you're saying or selling. And every time someone opens your e-mail, you're planting a seed, reminding them, “I’m here when you need me.” With tracking and reporting, you can know how many seeds you're planting, and you can watch them as they grow.

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Gail F. Goodman is the"E-Mail Marketing" coach at Entrepreneur.com and is CEO ofConstant Contact, a web-based e-mail marketing service for small businesses. She's also a recognized small-business expert and speaker.

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The Basics of Building an Online Business

The Basics of Building an Online Business

As an internet marketing guide, a lot of people ask me how to start and grow an online business. I tell them this: There's a proven sequence of steps you can follow to guarantee your success. How do I know? I've seen thousands of people start and grow online businesses following the same exact process.

Step 1: Find a need and fill it.
Most marketers make the mistake of finding a product before they have a market. But unless people are actively searching for your product online, you'll never make a sale. The trick is to find a group of people with a common problem they're trying to solve and then solve it.

Thankfully, the internet makes market research easy. Here are some easy steps for researching your market:

• Visit online forums to see what questions people ask and what problems they’re trying to solve.
• Figure out which keywords a lot of people are searching but not many sites are competing for.
• Check out your potential competitors by visiting their sites and taking note of what they’re doing to fill demand.

After you've done this, use what you’ve learned to create a product for a market that already exists--and do it better than your competitors.

Step 2: Write sales copy that sells.
On a website, your copy has to do the selling for you. There’s a proven formula for writing sales copy that'll take visitors through the selling process from the moment they arrive:

• Arouse interest with a compelling headline.
• Describe the problem your product can solve.
• Show them why you can be trusted to solve the problem.
• Add testimonials from people who've used the product.
• Talk about the product and how it benefits the user.
• Make an offer or a guarantee.
• Create urgency.
• Ask for the sale.

Throughout your sales copy, focus on how your product or service is uniquely able solve people's problems or make their lives better. Think like a customer and ask, what's in it for me?

Step 3: Design and build your website.
Once you’ve got your market and product and you’ve nailed down your selling process, you’re ready to build your site.

Remember to keep it simple. Your website is your online storefront, so be sure to make it customer friendly. You have less than 10 seconds to grab a visitor's attention before they're gone. Some important tips to keep in mind:

• Use a plain, sans-serif font, like Arial, on a white background.
• Make your navigation clear and simple and keep it consistent throughout your site.
• Only use graphics, audio or video if they enhance your message.
• Include an opt-in offer so you can collect e-mail addresses.

Step 4: Use search engines to drive targeted buyers to your site.
How do you get traffic to a brand-new site? Pay-per-click advertising, which has two advantages:

• The ads show up on search pages immediately.
• They allow you to test different keywords, headlines, prices and selling approaches.

Not only do you get traffic immediately, but once you've figured out what keywords are working best, you can use them throughout your copy and code, which will help your rankings in organic search results.

Step 5: Establish an expert reputation for yourself to drive even more traffic to your site.
People use the internet to find information. If you provide valuable information for other sites to use--and include a link back to your site--you’ll get more traffic and better search engine rankings. Some ideas for establishing yourself as an expert include:

• Give away free content, like articles, videos or other useful information, and distribute that content through online article directories and social media sites.
• Include “send to a friend” links on your site's valuable content.
• Become an active expert in industry forums and social networking sites where your target market hangs out.

If you use these tactics, you’ll reach new readers. But even better, every site that posts your content will link back to yours, and search engines love links from relevant sites and will reward you in the rankings accordingly.

Step 6: Use the power of e-mail marketing to keep in touch with your visitors and turn them into buyers.
When you build an opt-in list, you’re creating one of the most valuable assets your online business can have--permission to send visitors e-mail. Why is e-mail marketing so valuable?

• You're giving potential customers something they've asked for.
• You're developing lifetime relationships with people in your target market.
• The response is 100 percent measurable.
• It's cheaper and more effective than print, TV or radio advertising because it's highly targeted.
• It can be almost entirely automated.

Anyone who visits your site and opts in to your list is a very hot lead. And there's no better tool than e-mail to let you effortlessly follow up with those leads.

Step 7: Increase your income through back-end sales and upselling.
One of the most important internet marketing guidelines is to develop every customer’s lifetime value. At least 36 percent of people who have purchased from you once will buy from you again if you follow up with them. Closing the first sale with a customer is by far your most difficult task--not to mention your most expensive one. So here's how to get them to buy again:

• Offer products that complement their original purchase.
• Send out electronic loyalty coupons they can redeem on their next visit.
• Offer related products on your "thank you" page.

If you reward customers for being loyal, they'll become even more loyal to you in return.

Step 8: Start an affiliate program to maximize your sales and revenue.
Once your business is up and running, it's time to launch your affiliate program. Affiliates are people who promote your products on their sites for a cut of the selling price. Every time they send you a buyer, you pay them a commission.

An affiliate program is a simple, low-maintenance way to grow your business. Once you get your program set up, all you have to do is share your marketing materials with your affiliates and send out checks when they make sales.

By doing this, you don't have to go out and spend money on advertising--your affiliates do the advertising for you. Better yet, you only pay them when they make a sale.

The internet changes quickly, but the principles of how to start and grow a successful online business have changed very slowly in the more than 10 years I’ve been in the business.

If you’re just starting out, stick to the sequence of steps in this quick guide. If you’ve been online awhile, do a quick review and see if there’s a step you’ve been neglecting or never got around to doing in the first place. You can’t go wrong with the basics.

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Derek Gehl is Entrepreneur.com's "E-Business" columnist and the CEO of the Internet Marketing Center, an internet marketing firm that has helped thousands of people learn to start and run their own online businesses.He has just released the 2007 edition of his comprehensive Internet marketing guide, The Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet.

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We are often asked, and frequently see the question come up in various discussion groups, Which is the best tool for closing more sales and connecting with the right people online? Is it blogging, interacting with millions of bloggers sharing their business knowledge, industry commentary, and occasional pictures of their cat? Or one of the many business networks, such as openBC or Ecademy, which offer group interaction and private messaging as well as searchable profiles? Or LinkedIn, the trusted referral system that has attracted some five million professionals?

Asking which of these is "better" is like asking which is better: a hammer, a wrench, or a screwdriver? They are all tools, and best suited to particular tasks. A wrench can be used as a hammer in a pinch, and a hammer can force a screw into a two-by-four, but it's a lot harder and riskier. A master craftsman has a full toolbox, and unless your job is to drive nails all day, you'll be far more effective if you know the right tool to use for the task at hand.

Blogging is a way of building visibility, demonstrating your expertise, and engaging with people interested in the same topics as you. One of its greatest advantages is that it is completely open -- no membership required! Anyone on the Web can potentially find you in a search engine or a link from another blog, learn more about you, and contact you if you share some common interests or they want to learn more about your products or services. On the downside, while blogs are searchable by topic, it's very difficult to search for people in a structured way, e.g., former co-workers at a particular company, people in a certain industry in a certain city, or even people with a particular skill set.

Online communities offer a group interaction space (or multiple spaces) in conjunction with searchable, customizable personal profiles. They represent a convergence of identity (think personal Web pages), community (membership in self-organizing groups), and communication (discussion forums and private messaging). They offering varying degrees of open interaction, depending on the site and the preferences of the user, but only minimal interaction with non-members. The ability to easily learn more about a person and connect with them individually to follow up on the group interaction is compelling. One of the downsides is that they can be a little too enjoyable, and many people find themselves spending too much time in these sites when they should be focused on other aspects of their business. We are firm believers in closing more deals, not just in chatting with more people.

LinkedIn was primarily designed as a tool to help you leverage your existing network to meet specific people for a specific purpose. People are using it for more general-purpose networking, but communicating with specific people is the task for which it is optimized. There is no group interaction per se. LinkedIn also offers minimal ability to communicate within the platform, and the system encourages people to connect for a specific purpose, not just randomly or out of curiosity. These are major reasons why the site has created an attractive platform for senior executives, hiring managers, entrepreneurs, and other extremely busy people. They can leverage and be of service to their existing contacts with a minimal time investment and not a lot of unfocused interaction.

In our book, The Virtual Handshake, we introduce the Seven Keys to a Powerful Network, a framework for assessing your personal network and aligning your activities with your objectives. Comparing these tools in terms of the Seven Keys shows how each can serve your relationship-building activities in its own way:

Key	Blogging	LinkedIn	Online Networks
Character	Demonstrated over time through how you speak of others, what you write about ethical issues, etc.	Demonstrated by some endorsements.	Demonstrated strongly by your public interaction with others, your willingness to be of service, etc.
Competence	Demonstrated through in-depth writing about your topics of expertise.	Demonstrated minimally by endorsements, though multiple endorsements add up.	Demonstrated through writing about your topics of expertise, often in response to specific questions.
Relevance	Attract and connect with people interested in the same topics as you.	Ability to focus tightly on meeting people for specific purposes, and hopefully attract like-minded people.	Ability to focus on meeting people for specific purposes and to connect with like-minded individuals in a group setting.
Strength	Strengthen relationships through sustained dialog with readers and other bloggers on your topic.	Strengthen relationships by being of service, making referrals and endorsements.	Strengthen relationships through sustained public and private dialog with other members.
Information	Great source of information about someone's expertise and interest. Minimal information about relationships, contact info, etc.	Great source of information about your immediate contacts. Unique source of information about the relationships in your second and third degree.	Great source of information about your immediate contacts, though profiles are often fairly static compared to blogs. Information about relationships varies greatly by site and personal practices.
Number	Tremendous tool for building the number of people you know - probably the best (short of major media coverage).	Can be used to build large networks, but not optimized for it, as each connection requires manual intervention, and there is no way to engage people within the system.	Group interacting supports connecting with a large number of people, though the potential pool is limited to members of the site.
Diversity	Not really a tool for building diversity, except that you will often attract readers who have the opposite view on your topic as you, e.g., conservative and liberal political bloggers read each others' blogs and comment on them.	Excellent tool for purposefully finding diverse contacts, e.g., experts in a field you're considering moving into, a country you're planning to visit, etc.	Build diversity through group interaction. For example, a group focused on a particular business interest will likely include people of different political and religious affiliations.

So it's impossible to say that one or the other is best overall, and difficult to say that any one is best even for one person. Really, each is best suited for certain tasks. Because most people's business needs are many and diverse, and we're never certain what those needs may be in the future, the master salesperson, like the master carpenter, keeps a full toolbox and knows both which tool to use for the job and how to use it most effectively.

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