Product Overview

The Email Marketing Kit

Table Of Contents

0. Preface
1. Why Use Email Marketing?
   • The Effects of Email Marketing
   • The Key to Success: Permission
   • The Top Ten Reasons to Love Email
     • 1. Email is Cost-effective
     • 2. Email Builds Relationships
     • 3. Email is “Push Technology”
     • 4. Email Provides Timely Results
     • 5. Email is Quick to Produce
     • 6. Email Accommodates Hyperlinks
     • 7. Email Provides Detailed Feedback
     • 8. Email Enables Affordable Segmentation and Targeting
     • 9. Email Plays Well with Others
     • 10. Email can be a Viral Marketing Tool
   • Case Study: Dakin Farm
   • Summary
2. Types of Email Communications
   • Using Email to Promote your Business
     • Postcard Emails
     • Catalog Emails
     • Ads in Other Emails
     • Advertorials
   • Using Email to Build and Maintain Relationships
     • Short-form Editorials
     • Email Newsletters
     • Transactional Emails
   • Using Emails to Generate Media Interest
   • Automating Email Delivery with Triggers
     • Auto-responders as Triggers
     • Alert Emails
   • Wrapping Up: A Last Note on Email Type and Frequency
   • Summary
3. Developing an Effective Email Strategy
   • Why Develop an Email Strategy?
   • Conducting a Competitive Analysis
     • Getting on your Competitors’ Lists
     • Keeping Tabs
   • Addressing Key Questions
     • What Products or Services will you Promote?
     • Who Do you Want to Reach?
     • What are your Goals for the Target Audience?
     • What Type of Email is Best?
     • Where will you Source your Content?
     • How Often should I Send Mailouts?
     • The Best Day to Send
     • The Best Time to Send
   • Defining your Quantitative Goals
     • Bottom-line Goals
     • Means-to-an-end Goals
     • Benchmarks
     • Setting Quantitative Goals
   • Setting your Budget
     • Defining your Costs
     • Creating a Budget
     • Summary
4. Acquisition: Growing your Email List
   • Five Reasons to Build your Own List
   • Spam
   • Permission
     • The Business Case for Permission
     • Permission-based Acquisition Models
     • Acquisition Models that Lack Permission
   • Creating an Online Registration Process
     • Defining your Offer
     • Your Registration Pages
     • Email Follow-ups
     • How Effective is your Registration Process?
     • Driving Web Site Visitors to Subscribe
   • Attracting New Subscribers Using Off-site Tactics
     • What’s a New Opt-in Worth?
     • Email Signatures
     • Articles
     • Co-registration
     • Tracking and Reporting
   • Offline Acquisition
     • The Mechanics of an Offline Registration Form
     • Additional Marketing Methods
     • New Offline Touch Points
   • Case Study: Optimizing Online Email Registration
     • Reworking the Data Collection
     • Explaining Away Obstacles
     • The Bottom Line
   • Summary
5. Email Design Guidelines
   • Laying the Foundations
     • Considering your From Address
     • Designing the Subject Line
     • Planning the Preview Pane
     • Looking Above the Fold
   • Writing for Email
     • Keeping your Paragraphs Short
     • Using Bullet Points
     • Basing Emails on the Inverted Pyramid Style
     • Calling Recipients to Action
     • Using Links Strategically
     • Keeping your Email Under Three Pages
   • Email Formats
     • HTML
     • Text-only Emails
     • Multipart MIME
     • Other Formats
   • Email Design
     • An Email is Not a Web Page
     • Branding with your Design
     • Streamlining your Design
     • Considering Line Lengths
     • Including Whitespace
     • Choosing Fonts
     • Looking at Landing Pages
   • Before Sending
     • Test Sending
     • Proofreading
     • Link Checking
     • Checking HTML Integrity
     • Spam Filter Checking
   • Testing
     • Improving your Open Rate
     • Improving your Clickthrough Rate
     • Improving your Click-to-Purchase Ratio
   • Basics of Testing
     • A/B Splitting
     • Keeping All Other Aspects Equal
     • Tracking
     • Limiting Testing Time Frame
     • Analyzing your Results
   • Case Study: 50% Increase in Clickthroughs
   • Summary
6. Optimizing Deliverability
   • Understanding Deliverability Statistics
     • Measuring Deliverability
     • Developing Deliverability Benchmarks
   • Three Levels of Spam Filtration
     • ISP Filters: Driven by the Bottom Line
     • Corporate Filters: All about Productivity
     • Desktop Filters: Gaining Optimum Control
   • Different Types of Filters
     • Blacklists
     • Whitelists
     • Velocity Filters
     • Content Filters
     • Challenge-response Systems
     • Suppressing Images and Deactivating Links
     • Email Authentication Systems
   • Finding Out if your Email is Being Blocked
     • Read your Responses
     • Watch your Email Metrics
     • Set up Seed Lists
     • Check Blacklists
   • What to Do if your Email is Being Blocked
     • Remain Calm
     • Assess the Damage
     • Gather your Documentation
     • Contact the Blocker
   • Improving Deliverability
     • Avoid Looking Like a Spammer
     • Adopt Best Practices
     • Capture Information on your Opt-ins
     • Publish your SPF Record
     • Obtain a Dedicated IP Address for your Send
     • Develop Relationships
     • Clean your List Regularly
     • Remove Non-responsive Email Addresses
     • Perform a Content Filter Test
     • Check and Double-check your HTML
     • Adhere to all Laws and Regulations
     • Include a Clear and Prominent Unsubscribe Link
     • Become Whitelisted as Much as Possible
     • Avoid Spammy Subject Lines
     • Work with a Reputable ESP
   • Summary
7. Tracking and Reporting
   • Following the Email Path
   • Understanding Send Metrics
     • Number of Emails Sent
     • Bounced Emails
     • Emails Assumed Delivered
   • Understanding Performance Metrics
     • The Open Rate
     • The Clickthrough Rate
     • Unsubscribe or Opt-out Rates
     • Forward Rates and Viral Marketing Metrics
   • Using Granular Data
   • Web Site Performance Metrics
     • Landing Page Visits
     • Tracking Other Page Visits
     • Visitors Beginning the Desired Action
   • Understanding Conversion Metrics
     • The Abandon Rate
     • The Conversion Rate
   • Understanding Return-on-investment (ROI)
   • Case Study: Using Tracking and Reporting to Improve your Bottom Line
   • Summary
8. Customer Retention
   • Customer Relationship Management Basics
     • Email and CRM
   • Developing Content for Customer Retention
     • Educating and Nurturing
     • Building a Reputation
     • Promoting Additional Product Uses
     • Explaining Advanced Features/Benefits
     • Imparting Know-how
     • Making the Value Clear
     • Promoting a Second Source of Content
     • Aggregating Information
     • Building Personal Relationships
   • Gaining Current Customer Opt-ins
   • Other Considerations for Customer Retention
     • Editorial vs. Promotional Content Ratio
     • Mailing Frequency
     • Resource Availability
     • Voice, Personality, and Style
     • Personalization
     • Tracking Success Metrics
   • Summary
9. Viral Marketing
   • What is Viral Marketing?
     • Case Study: Hotmail
   • Viral Marketing Benefits and Tradeoffs
     • Cost-effectiveness
     • Gaining a Higher Level of Trust
     • Beating the Backlash
     • Commanding More Audience Attention
     • Spreading your Message Quickly
     • Getting a Good “Buzz”
     • Losing Control
   • The Simplest Approach to Viral Marketing
     • Forward to a Friend
     • Your Own F2F Program
     • Keys to Success
   • Advanced Viral Marketing
     • Case Study: Burger King’s Subservient Chicken
     • Other Viral Marketing Campaigns
     • Case Study: MarketingSherpa’s “Torture a Spammer”
     • Case Study: e-tractions’ Holiday Snowglobe
   • Summary
10. Using Third-party Email Lists
    • When a Third-party List Makes Sense
    • Opt-in Still Applies
    • Finding Rental Email Lists
    • Evaluating Rental Lists
      • Data Cards
    • Beyond the Data Card
    • Test, Test, Test
    • Handling The Send
      • Suppressing Unsubscribes
      • Suppressing your House List
      • De-duping
      • Tracking and Reporting
      • Taking a “Make Good”
    • Buyer Beware!
    • Summary
11. Laws and Regulations
    • The Easiest Way to Comply
    • Joint Anti-spam Efforts
    • Additional Resources
    • Summary
12. Getting Started
    • Developing a Strategy
    • Building your List
    • Creating your Emails
    • Delivering the Message
    • Tracking your Results
    • Retaining your Customers
    • Being Smart about Third-party Lists
    • Complying with the Law
    • Keep Learning
    • Summary
13. A. Anti-spam Laws by Country
    • Countries and Anti-spam Laws
    • Anti-spam Laws by Country
      • Argentina
      • Australia
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Bolivia
      • Brazil
      • Bulgaria
      • Canada
      • Chile
      • China
      • Colombia
      • Cyprus
      • Czech Republic
      • Denmark
      • Estonia
      • European Union (EU)
      • Finland
      • France
      • Germany
      • Greece
      • Hungary
      • Ireland
      • Italy
      • Japan
      • Korea
      • Lithuania
      • Luxembourg
      • Malaysia
      • Malta
      • Mexico
      • Peru
      • Russia
      • Spain
      • The United States of America
14. Index