Ad Sales Blog

Customer engagement: What works best? Newsletters?

cScape, the British consultancy, has just released a terrific FREE study that measured how marketers use different strategies and tools to establish online engagement with their customers. cScape did us real service by mixing social media and traditional online tools to give us a better understating of the process, less the typical social media hype. 

The finding that stood out for me was when marketers were asked which media aided customer online engagement the most. All the newly minted social media experts must have headed screaming for the door as the lowly, e-newsletter took the top score. Sure social media is a great way to engage customers, but lets not get distracted by the sizzle. Newsletters are a great workhorse for advancing ongoing online customer engagement.  

Here is the chart of what marketers say improved their online customer engagement:

Ad agencies responded to the same question. Newsletters are the top pick for both groups:   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View a free version of the report   

E-mail: volume up, open rates up, click rates down

As you fight to sell that E-mail sponsorship, some of the numbers might be against you. While every content publisher's newsletter is different, if the one you sell is tracking along with what is going on though out the web, your click throughs are down.

If this becomes an issue, I recommend you bring this just released study from Epsilon on your next call. The study is based on the performance of 7.7 billion promotional E-mails in Q4 2008. While we don't sell ads in the direct marketing campaigns these E-newsletters represent, we share the same Internet and readers. It is the behavior of both of these that should concern us. Survey results:

Bad news: Promotional direct mail volume is way up of year prior, 19% up! Our newsletters are competing with a lot more volume in the in box.

Good news: open rates are up. " Open rates increased for the third quarter in a
row."

Bad news: Click through rates dropped .1% over year prior to the lowest level Epsilon has recorded. 

Check your open and click rates. If open rates are up you need to use these numbers to counter the drop in click rates that clients could see as a sign of bad performance. This study can add a third part validation for the view that a drop in click throughs does not have to indicate a less effective campaign.

Download the free study

 

A boost to sell your online news products

If you are selling any kind of newsletters, if your website has a basic news design, or if you are sponsoring any webcasts that have a news or current affairs focus, here is a great factoid to share with your advertisers to reinforce the value of what you sell.  

In just the past few months the number of Americans who pick the Internet as their top choice for National and International news had almost doubled, enabling the Internet to surpass Newspapers as the second most preferred news media. With young people Internet sources are almost tied with the top choice, television.

Although Pew does not mention this, it would be hard to imagine that the recent National elections may have helped focus people on where they really prefer to get news.

From the study:

Currently, 40% say they get most of their news about national and international issues from the Internet, up from just 24% in September 2007. For the first time in a Pew survey, more people say they rely mostly on the Internet for news than cite newspapers (35%). Television continues to be cited most frequently as a main source for national and international news, at 70%.

For young people, however, the Internet now rivals television as a main source of national and international news. Nearly six-in-ten Americans younger than 30 (59%) say they get most of their national and international news on line; an identical percentage cites television. In September 2007, twice as many young people said they relied mostly on television for news than mentioned the Internet (68% vs. 34%).

On a call.

Share this as passing a benchmark, which it is. "Hey did you hear that the number of people who use the Internet as their top source for news almost doubled in the past five months? Internet news sources, for the first time ever, passed newspapers and are only behind television. Glad you are running ads in our online news product? See? You are keeping up with the times!"

 Download the report to take on a call:
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1066/internet-overtakes-newspapers-as-news-source

 

What is your email newsletter open rate?

What is your e-mail newsletter open rate? More marketers are asking this question when you sell them an e-mail newsletter ad or sponsorship.

The most dangerous client to answer this question for is inexperienced in e-mail marketing. For them when you quote them your open rate, typically around 25%, they go into shock, “How do you expect me to buy an ad on media where a majority of subscribers don’t look at what you send?”

 As I’ve discussed in previous posts, this is an objection you can overcome. But for inexperienced clients, getting them used to the idea that your open rate is not a marketing outrage might be the first step.

Here are two sources that can help. 

First, a page from the e-mail Marketing Reports website that quotes a typical 25% open rate in a credible document that you can take with you on a call: 

“Now if you have no time at all, pin me against the wall and threaten to kill a kitten if I didn’t spout a number, I’d tell you that the average reported open rate for a typical, reasonably targeted marketing e-mail to an opt in list is around 25%. (Don’t quote me though.)”

 Second is a great chart from the website Campaign Monitor(above) which puts e-mail newsletter open rates into perspective.

On a call.

Use these documents to reinforce the idea that newsletters can be very effective even at these open rates. Then, sell the unopened circulation as I described in this previous post:

Beat the “low open rate” newsletter objection

Do you have an ideas of what a "typical" open rate for a content publisher newsletter should be? If you do, please share with a post!

Why I like selling e-newsletters

One of the great services traditional print ad salespeople performed for the marketing world was that they encouraged ON GOING communication with an advertiser’s customer base.

Print salespeople encouraged consistency rather than one shot deals. There were legendary moments when the best of us would turn down “one shot” ads in favor of waiting for a more comprehensive schedule that would encourage ongoing customer communication.

Regrettably, a lot of online media encourages a “direct response” mentality. Campaigns that are response driven tend to be motivated by an immediate marketing goal; a new product is introduced, a new proposal is made, a special offer is proposed, a temporary discount is offered, a new feature is added. These campaigns are typically slotted for a month or two and then disappear until the next campaign.

But companies that treat customers as just buyers will see their loyalty fade. No client likes to be seen as just a big bag of money by their suppliers, yet if the only time a customer hears from a company is when they have something to sell that is the impression made.

With emphasis based on performance, and generating click throughs, a lot of the e-media is sold for campaigns that function more like direct mail or direct response campaigns. While this approach offers far greater accountability, what is lost is the consistent communication that fosters a slow developing, ongoing relationship. 

That’s why I like selling e-newsletters. They the are the e-media that is typically bought in longer blocks of time and encourage an ongoing flow of communication and content with a customer, not just a buyer. 

Beat the “low open rate” newsletter objection

The first objection I heard when I started selling ads on e-newsletters was about the low open rate. With open rates averaging between 20 to 30 percent this is still a big objection industry wide.

 

Think about it. A majority of people receiving an e-mail newsletter do not open it.  How can you sell ads on such media?

 

Some media reps just skip the question of open rates and talk enthusiastically about how many issues are blasted out claiming ignorance when asked about the open rate. But more sophisticated media buyers want to know what it is. 

 

If you can’t tell them what your open rate is and document it they might assume the worst and drop you from the buy.

 

The solution is to sell your newsletter circulation twice. You heard me, twice. First sell the readers who open your newsletter. No problem here. These are clearly engaged readers who prove their involvement through measurable action.  

 

But to get full credit for the media buy you need to also sell your “unopened” circulation as well. Assuming your organization adheres to the CAN-SPAM Act it should be easy for a subscriber to opt out of your newsletter’s circulation. Now ask, if it’s so easy to opt out why haven’t the “non openers” done so?

 

People stay subscribed to a newsletter but not open it when other things are more important to them at the time the newsletter arrives. Aside from travel, and vacations they may be engaged in projects and activities outside of the subject area of the newsletter. But when they return to that subject area--and since they remain subscribers we can assume they will--they will be engaged in your subject area and be potential buyers for your advertisers once again.

 

On a call

 

Sell your “unopened” newsletters as “latent readers and latent buyers.” Ask some questions and get your client to talk about the buying cycle for their product(s). Professional marketers do not assume every one of their customers is buying their product every day. For B to B products there may be buying cycles based on a annual fiscal. Consumer products go through cycles as well. Right after a product buy you might be out of the market for a while. A reader not in the buying cycle may not be an email opener, but will become one again when their interest and buying intention return.

 

Now ask your client if they would be interested in advertising to a list of latent buyers who have a proven interest in the product area and will return to an active reading and buying state. If they say “yes,” sell them on your unopened newsletter circulation.

You only get 5 words

 As you send your next email to a client consider that the most important words you write will be in the headline, also known as subject line. If these words motivate your client to open and read your message, then the other words you write will count as well.

When writing email headlines, shorter is better. If you can boil your message down to, say, 5 words that capture the full benefit of reading your message you are on your way to a sale.

An instructive lesson on how to use 5 words with impact is created every year at the Webby Awards. The Webbys, known as the "Oscars of the Internet" give out awards for the best Web sites and has a Web centric way of time managing its "You really like me...you really, really like me" moments; acceptance speeches are limited to 5 words.

Want help picking the next five words for your message line? Take a look at the artistry, brevity, and sheer cleverness as the top minds in the Web World accept their awards. Here are the five words media organizations used to accept their Webbys from last year:

Magazine
MediaStorm - Webby: Technology changes, stories are timeless.

Magazine
Salon.com - People's Voice: The Pulitzers are history.

Movie and Film
Pan's Labyrinth - Webby/People's Voice: Check Sabrina. Thank you.

News
BBC News - Webby/People's Voice: Alan, we're thinking of you.

Newspaper
NYTimes.com - People's Voice: Honor. Grateful. Thank you. Corny.

Newspaper
The Guardian - Webby: Please free Alan Johnston now.

Radio
BBC Radio 1 - Webby: Free the archives.

Radio
NPR.org - People's Voice: Thanks to the best audience.

Television
Current TV - Webby: Current, your TV doesn't suck.

Television
The Office - People's Voice: Join the Dwight Schrute army.

Read all the 5 word acceptance speechs since the Webbys began

Adriana Huffington asks for help with her 2008 five word accpetance speech

Why we can't e-mail Amsterdam

  It was a happy coincidence that should have advanced a budding new client relationship. My client had just shared the personal information that his wife was from Amsterdam. Also, I was about to take a business trip to Amsterdam, and, according to my history buff client, I lived in the City of New Amsterdam--sort of..after 1674 it was renamed "New York City" after the Brits kicked out the Dutch.

To build on this moment I sent my client an e-mail reviewing our Amsterdam coincidences with a link to a stunning historical map of old New Amsterdam. My clever subject line mentioned the Amsterdam references and offered the map.

I called in a few days expecting kudos for my thoughtfulness and cleverness.

Perhaps too clever. My email never arrived because of another coincidence, Amsterdam is the pornography capitol of Europe and my e-mail was hunted down and murdered by a porno killing spam filter. What would Peter Stuyvesant, say?   

What you put in your e-mail, and especially your subject line, will be scrutinized by spam filters. You need to be careful and maybe not so clever. The subject lines least effected by spam filters are very straightforward. 

If you want to know how a spam filter might view your e-mail have have a "content checker " review it. It's a simple free device to use. Just paste in your subject line and body copy into the web tool and press a button. Lyris provides a free content checker at this link: 

Lyris content checker for spam

Non-pushy wording can be more motivational

In a recent test on its own newsletters, MarketingSherpa wanted to know which two- or three-word phrase could get subscribers to click through  to another article. Here's what  they measured:

• "Click to continue": 8.53% clicking through
• "Continue to article": 3.3% clicking through
• "Read more": (-)1.8% clicking through

MarketingSherpa shared, "With these results, we had a strong feeling that the front-runner, "Click to continue," would win in the A/B test, and it did -- producing 3.5% more clicks than "Continue to article." Needless to say, we immediately switched the words in our link in all of our newsletters."

The next time you send out an e-mail consider how important a few words in the title can make! Also consider that the least pushy wording got the most click throughs.

Visit MarketingSherpa's site

Newsletter consutative selling tool

This is a great white paper on the latest trends in e-mail marketing that you can use to be a consultant when selling newsletter sponsorships.

The white paper is written for sophisticated marketers sending out their own newsletters, not buying sponsorships on ones like you are selling. But there are some great best practices that you can use to pursue a consultative dialog.

Use it on a sales call:

There are two best practices in particular that stand out. Show your client the study and then point them out:

"#5 Test. You might be surprised by the results"

Show  them the best practice and ask if they do testing or post campaign evaluation. Great way to get your client talking about evaluation and expectations of the sponsorship you are trying to sell.

"#6 Include video links to boost click response"

Video is the hot thing to build traffic. Have they considered using the banner your are selling to link to video? Ask what else are they considering a link to? For small and mid sized accounts this is where you get to talk about how best to motivate your readers to action. 

Download the_top_email_marketing_power_trends_for_2007