The DigitalMailer Blog

December 20, 2012

The Twelve Days of Electronic Marketing

by Ron Daly

If you’re waiting until the last minute to figure out that perfect gift for a special someone, might I dissuade you from looking into giving them the “Twelve Days of Christmas” gifts? Twelve drummers drumming, eleven pipers piping, and so on, will cost you quite a pretty penny. Plus, where do you put it all? I haven’t really got the room for the 364 total presents I’d be getting. Maybe we could stick the birds outside in the back yard, but all the milk maids and leaping gentlemen would be a little annoying.

I’ve decided none of you is getting all these birds, rings, busy artisans, etc. Instead, I’m giving you the twelve days of electronic marketing! Sing along, if you think you can.

On the 12 Days of Christmas, DigitalMailer Gave to Me:

12 Months of eMailing - A monthly email newsletter doesn’t cost much to send and gives your customers an idea of what’s shaking at your business.
11 major holidays- You’ve got:
1. New Year’s
2. Valentine’s Day
3. St. Patrick’s Day
4. Easter
5. Mother’s Day
6. Father’s Day
7. 4th of July
8. “Back-to-School”
9. Halloween
10. Thanksgiving
11. Christmas/Holiday
That’s eleven easy touch-points with built-in branding to play with – get to work and make something outstanding.
10 fingers typing – Got an initiative you’re trying to get off the ground? Have a fun community outreach program? Got something really interesting to say? Start a blog! It’s never been easier.
9 referrers referring – If you’re looking into NetPromoter scoring, remember – nines and tens are your only “referrers”. Sevens and eights aren’t counted and six and below are detractors. And always ask “why?” when it comes to the score you were given.
8 hours of working – The eight hour workday is disappearing. People are working from home and on the go. Consider how much information you’re hoping they’ll retain. Make your messages clear and concise, and always lead them to an action. Be efficient, you want to be a solution, not part of a bigger problem.
7 days a week – Are certain emails more likely to work on the weekend? How will you know if you’re not split-testing? Consider a weekend email for new home buyers looking into open houses, or car shoppers who might take a Saturday afternoon to browse the lots.
6 month reviews – Check out how your efforts are doing every six months or so. Set benchmarks, evaluate, make changes, and strive for the best.
5 GOLD RINGS! (Just felt like singing that one.)
4 points-of-contact – We like to give people a few ways to get hold of us, if they need us. We welcome people to email us, call, write or tweet at us…whatever works for them, works for us.
3 calls-to-action – In a good email campaign, you’ll want to give at least three call-to-action links: one at the top, in text, for the impulsive; one that’s a big graphic for the visually minded; one toward the bottom for the thorough readers.
2 ways to view – Remember, more and more users are reading their email on a mobile device – ReturnPath estimates that more people will be reading email on a mobile device than on a computer by the end of 2012 (which, I don’t need to remind you, is less than two weeks away). We’re working on a few ways to optimize emails responsively that we’re going to share with our clients in 2013. What are you doing to prepare?
And a cartridge printer in need (of a job) – More mobile documents, fewer things to print out, more ways to save and store those documents…we’re committed to taking our clients further away from their paper needs.

Not to toot my own Christmas trumpet or anything, but that’s a much better list. Better to have good advice and food for thought than a bunch of dancers, geese and hens breaking all your furniture and getting allergy-causing down everywhere.

From all of us to all of you, MERRY CHRISTMAS and a happy, productive, lucrative new year!

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December 4, 2012

They’ve Got Mail (But Do They Open It?)

Filed under: e-mail,email marketing,eStrategy,On-Boarding — admin @ 10:50 am

There’s a marketing adage that says getting new customers is great, but retaining your current customers is even better. Recently, we’ve discussed unengaged members and ways to help reconnect with them. But what about the chronically inactive subscribers on your email distribution lists? What can you do to reengage them?

Most likely, you track the number of recipients who unsubscribe following an email distribution. But another, possibly larger, group is made up of recipients who are “emotionally unsubscribed” from your messages–those who simply delete or ignore your emails without opening them.

Smart e-marketers know this segment shouldn’t be ignored for two reasons: First, ISPs have developed new metrics that track email engagement as a measure of message deliverability. So, if an email address consistently receives messages from a sender that are not opened, the provider may assume the messages are spam. Second, these recipients represent a pool of customers who at one time wanted a relationship with your company – and possibly still do. You don’t need to simply find new customers; you also need to re-connect with those who are failing to respond.

Here are some tips to help reach your emotionally unsubscribed recipients:

Carefully craft your subject lines. If someone has been routinely deleting your emails, try to grab their attention upfront.
Pay attention to members’ preferences. If a member requests monthly updates about loan rates, don’t send weekly notices. Ensure that you are responding to their choices.
Keep track of products your customers have used or training they’ve attended. If someone recently re-financed his mortgage, don’t send emails about your new mortgage promotion. Look for opportunities to send messages tied to individual needs.
Using an attention-getting subject line, ask users to re-connect. Send an email asking how often they’d like to receive messages and which products or services might interest them. And be sure to get creative with the subject line so it stands out and gets noticed.

The pool of emotionally unsubscribed members represents an important customer base. They already have a relationship with you; they just need to be shown the value of continuing it.

This article originally ran in our free, monthly e-newsletter. Are you signed up already? If not, sign up here to receive a monthly collection of helpful articles and interesting tidbits right in your inbox.

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November 21, 2012

Thankfulness

Filed under: DigitalMailer — admin @ 10:10 am

At DigitalMailer, we’re thankful for a lot this year.

We’re thankful that our newest product, My Virtual StrongBox, has been so well-received and highly praised in the past few months and was on the stage at FinovateFall 2012.

We’re thankful that our tech team has worked so hard throughout the year to support our current and future products.

We’re thankful that the creative services team has been here to create some beautiful email campaigns, eStatement banners and marketing pieces for our clients.

We’re thankful that our account managers have taken on our new clients while still giving the same outstanding level of care to our ongoing clients.

We’re thankful that our company continues to help financial institutions of all sizes cut costs and promote products.

We’re thankful that our families are healthy, happy, and growing.

We’re thankful that you’re reading this right now, and that we’ll still be here doing what we do as we move into 2013.

We wish you all safe travels, good times, and a very happy Thanksgiving.

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November 15, 2012

Malware Launching Fake Pop-Ups for Online Banking Sites

Filed under: security,technology — admin @ 1:19 pm

The “Citadel” Trojan, first encountered early this year, is launching fake pop-up windows during online banking sessions for bank and credit union consumers.

From the CUNA News Now update dated 11/14:

The latest version uses social engineering tools to create the pop-ups, even on legitimate banking sites. And that will confuse consumers making online transactions at their credit union’s site.

The Citadel Trojan is a keystroke reader, keeping track of what the user types into specific fields and web forms. Banks and credit unions should be on the lookout for complaints related to pop-up windows prior to the online banking home page and should always encourage customers and members to be judicious with their user name and password information.

Read CUNA’s full release here.

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November 8, 2012

Showing and Not Telling: Creating Useful User’s Guides

Filed under: Compliance,Credit Cards,customer service,smart marketing,technology — admin @ 2:48 pm

by Greg Crandell

Recently, a team of employees and I sat down to talk about supplemental information for our newest product, My Virtual StrongBox. Among other things, one of the suggestions that really took wing was an illustrated user’s guide that our clients could distribute to their consumers. The product’s pretty self-explanatory, for the most part, but the guide focuses on ways to maximize the amount of storage you’re given and manage your files more efficiently. Our creative team is working on it right now.

As a father of college-aged youngsters, I spent many a move-in day putting together some flimsy bookshelf. One thing that I noticed was how helpful it was to have an assembly guide that gave detailed drawings of the screws, pegs, and tiny wrenches I’d need for each step. “Insert screw-type B into slot 12 and turn counter-clockwise until flush with the cam” isn’t as clear-cut as a picture of all those pieces coming together.

When I got my smart phone, the instruction booklet had a hand that was tapping on various apps and setting up different modes and settings using sliders. If you’ve ever used a Mac, you know that the menu for multi-touch gestures has little videos next to each option that show exactly what those gestures are and how they work. It’s very informative and shows new users how to use two fingers instead of a two-button mouse.

Technology obviously benefits from easy-to-read, illustrated guides. Could finance? Is there a process you’re constantly explaining to customers and members that could benefit from an illustrated, simple guide that’s easy to understand?

Three ideas I had for an illustrated user’s guide:

Online Bill Pay – OBP is a great service and a sticky one at that. What if you walked first-time OBP users through the process with a simple set of diagrams and some easy-to-read instructions? Maybe all that’s keeping your users from signing up for the service is their lack of understanding.
Coin Counting Machines – My nearest credit union branch has a free coin counting machine that deposits the money into my checking account. A great service, but I noticed the instructions are a little tough to understand for first-timers. If there were a little diagram of what to push and how to use the machine, it would all go much more smoothly.
Credit Cards – Not the use of credit cards, that’s pretty easy to understand. But what about first-time credit card users and teens? Shouldn’t they get a little coaching on what to do (and what NOT to do) with a credit card? Give them the basics – maybe there are even blanks where the monthly fee and interests rates can be written in by a customer service rep? Just a thought.

It’s as simple as “show, don’t tell”. Making things easy to understand and offering a mental picture up to the reader means you get them involved. This gives the user a good idea of how things work before they ever start working with them, which cuts down on the amount of time you’ll have to spend helping them out afterwards.

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October 31, 2012

The Email Marketing Haunted House

Filed under: e-mail,email marketing,One Click — admin @ 10:02 am

by Jimmy Marks

Welcome to the spoooooooky world of email marketing!

Well, no, it’s not THAT spooky. But there are plenty of scary things that you may encounter on any given campaign. Step through the doorway into our

HOUSE OF EMAIL MARKETING HORRORS!

To your left, you’ll see a freshly upturned plot of dirt. Is it a zombie? No! It’s…

LIVING-DEAD EMAIL ADDRESSES!

These are recipients that never open any of your campaigns. Maybe they didn’t double opt-in or maybe they signed up and then forgot about it. In either case, contact those individuals at the addresses in question after a few months of no opens and see if they’re still interested in receiving emails from you. If you still get no response, mark the address as “unconfirmed” and spare yourself another tally in your “unopened” column in your campaign reporting.

Now, head toward the laboratory. Egads! A giant, hulking mass comprised of the parts of others. Is it Frankenstein’s monster? No, it’s…

MONSTER-LISTS!

As you conduct more and more email marketing, you’ll find that you have multiple lists and, often, duplicate addresses. It is possible, even with the best list-management software. Police your lists every three months or so and make sure you’re not double-contacting anyone. Consolidate one email address with all the contact information and sign that address up for as many campaigns as they’ve requested. If you’re concerned about someone unsubscribing from all emails at once, consider offering a “manage subscription” form before the hard unsubscribe link. That way, the user has the option to manage their emails and choose which ones they want.

Now, down the stairs. In the corner is a large casket. Is it a vampire, here to suck your blood? NO! It’s…

HIGH SPAM SCORES!

And they’re here to drain your deliverability rate. Spam filters are getting smarter all the time and no matter what you go through to train your recipients to accept emails from you, you still have to worry about the language in your email hanging everything up in the inbox. Pay attention to your spam-score and work around any language that might be troublesome.

We make our way through the dungeon and out to the backyard where our devilish werewolf Fido has dug up an old, golden sarcophagus. Out walks a monster that’s all wrapped up. It’s not a mummy, it’s…

TRANSACTIONAL EMAILS!

And they’re not wrapped up in linen or gauze, they’re wrapped up in red tape. See, many people worry they’re spamming their recipients when they send transactional emails (i.e., low-balance notices, missed payment reminders, past-due notices). These emails are transactional messages, not marketing messages. You don’t face as many restrictions when it comes to transactional messages because they’re meant to help your recipient and you keep things on the rails. They can still look nice, and even point that recipient to useful products you offer to help avoid further issues. One good example: sending a user a delinquent payment notice can also include a message about online bill-pay or EFT programs.

And now, we reach the end of our tour here in the graveyard. We hope you enjoyed this look at the horrors of email marketing. And on the way out, watch out for…

THE BONES OF THE STARVED EMAIL LIST!

Adding new recipients to your most-used email campaign list is a must. It keeps the list alive and healthy, not withered and boney like the skeleton here. Put some meat on those bones with a subscription form that snaps right into your website.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL, FROM EVERYONE AT DIGITALMAILER!

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October 23, 2012

Where’d Everyone Go? How to Handle Out-of-Office Replies

Filed under: DigitalMailer,e-mail,email,email marketing,Marketing,member enrollment,smart marketing,SPAM — admin @ 11:48 am

by Ron Daly

We send a lot of emails to a lot of businesses here at DigitalMailer. One thing that always amazes me? How many “out of office” replies we get after a send. Sometimes, it’s as high as 25% of the list. And with list sizes that can go into the hundreds (or even thousands), a high number of out-of-office replies can be a problem.

So how do you deal with these replies? It depends on the message. If the list is large and the message isn’t high priority, missing a handful of potential contacts isn’t the end of the world…you might think about holding off and letting them manage the email in their own way and trying again the next time.

What about an important message to a targeted group of contacts? That’s different, because that message might need an action on the other end. Consider this: set a criteria to your email list that’s basically a checkbox, labeled “out of office?”. When your out-of-office replies come in, search for those contacts, check the box and save. A few days later, re-send to selected contacts – this time, only to those with the “out of office?” box selected. If the message is important, you need to get through somehow.

Be sure to check through your out-of-office replies because some might not be out-of-office replies after all. It might be an auto-responder letting you know your point-of-contact doesn’t work there anymore. Keep on top of these, as you might not be reaching the person you should be reaching. Even the best email marketing engines need a little human interaction to make them great.

Now, get back to work! I have an email to send you.

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September 18, 2012

FinovateFall 2012: A Recap

Filed under: My Virtual StrongBox — admin @ 1:04 pm

Ron Daly, on stage with My Virtual StrongBox

We were so thrilled to be chosen as a presenter at FinovateFall 2012. This being our first year, we weren’t exactly sure what to expect. We knew we’d have to demo our product on stage in front of a huge audience of financial technology experts, but little did we know what a whirlwind we were in for…

Day 1, Tuesday – Rehearsal

We got a little stage time to rehearse our presentation and make sure we had the right set-up for our laptop/iPad combination. The Javits Convention Center is a huge building and the exhibition hall is very large…we were certainly impressed, wondering what it would look like full of people.

The answer: impressive, and a little intimidating. There were thousands of people in the hall, some watching, some prepping, all buzzing about what they were going to see over the next two days.

For those of you unfamiliar with how Finovate works, sixty-four demos are shown over two days. The demos are each 7 minutes long, and not a minute longer. If your demo runs long, you get “gonged” – they shut off your microphone, stop your demo and kick you off the stage.

It only happened once. But it was a terrifying prospect.

Day 2 – Just Watchin’

The browser version of the product

We got to meet a few partners and friends on day one and early in day two. We chatted about what we were seeing through the course of the day. Plenty of apps and services were on display that streamline point-of-sale, charitable contributions, PFM and money management. Things mostly ran smoothly with one major exception – wifi connectivity was shot. It did NOT go unremarked on Twitter, that’s for sure.

Day 3 – Presenting…

Demoing our iPad app capability

We had to be up early to check in our laptop and iPad with the tech folks then dart over and grab a little breakfast. Our presentation was set for 10:45 so we had to get focused, get prepped, and say our peace in the seven-minute window allotted.

The demo went well and we had a lot of good feedback and buzz after our session ended. There were a few folks that didnt’ see the advantage of My Virtual StrongBox, but we were happy to explain the difference between “cloud storage” and secure document storage and sorting. One is used for day-to-day file transfer; the other was built specifically to keep online copies of a user’s most important documents.

The whole gang back at home base in Herndon was watching and cheering the Twitter stream (there were no live video feeds) and they were all thrilled with how it went. We came home the next day on the train with a lot of great stories, good contacts, and a sense of pride. We were happy to share the stage with all the great companies that presented and to be considered one piece of the “what’s next for financial technology” puzzle.

The crowd outside our Finovate booth

So, what IS next?

As best we can tell? More apps, more frequently used. People are incorporating feedback loops into their health more and more each year (Fitbit, anyone? Nike+ with the iPhone compatibility?). It stands to reason that people will be using their smart phones and tablets to manage their financial health and keep track of valuable information. The companies that demoed products at FinovateFall were all looking forward to an age where a handful of apps could cover everything from personal finance to small business point-of-sale to investments. It seems so strange – a decade ago, tablets and smart phones were a dream and now they dominate our culture in so many ways.

We can’t thank the Finovate people enough for letting us participate and for our staff, our friends, our partners and especially our clients for supporting us. We had an awesome time looking into the future with you all.

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September 12, 2012

August 16, 2012

How do you “measure up”?

Filed under: Banks,Credit Unions,DigitalMailer,e-mail,email,email marketing,eStrategy,junk mail,Marketing,marketing on a budget,One Click Campaign,targeted marketing,Uncategorized — admin @ 1:51 pm

A great article just came out of MarketingProfs.com, offering up new insights into the average open rates, click-through rates (CTRs), and unsubscribe rates for financial service email marketing campaigns. To highlight a few important points:

Financial services campaigns had a 22.6% average open rate. This might seem small, but it’s actually pretty good compared to other businesses (especially education, health and retail). If you’re getting open rates higher than 22%, you’re doing well.
FIs can anticipate an average CTR of 3.5%. Again; small in theory, big in practice. You always want this number to be higher than it is, and the more focused your list, the more you should expect a high CTR.
The average unsubscribe rate for FIs is .18%. What?! You read that correctly – that’s point-one-eight percent. It might make you think that people really love getting emails from their FI, yes? Not necessarily. See, that doesn’t account for people who see an email from their bank or credit union and drop it into trash. Nor does it account for “priority inboxing” (thanks, Gmail, for making emails even harder to get read).

So, what can we take away from all this? Well, as an industry, it would be nice if those rates reflected a highly-engaged readership. It can happen, it DOES happen. But we also shouldn’t use this to shame ourselves out of ever using email marketing again — remember, these numbers are actually pretty good, considering.

How can we raise the bar?

Better Content/Unique Content – The short-and-sweet way to increase your open rates? Make sure it’s an email worth opening. Consider special offers that are only accessible via your email list. That way, users aren’t just users, they’re “insiders”.
A Better Focus on Calls-to-Action – As we’ve discussed before, try out different calls-to-action – text, images, text AND images, different wordings, different positions – it all matters, and it’s all dependent.
The “Let-Out” – Don’t hide unsubscribe links from people. If they want out, let them out. It’s only going to improve your open rate in the long-run (after all, the open rate is the number of opens divided the number of emails sent – decrease the bottom number and the percentage will increase. Simple math, yes?)

Learn more about DigitalMailer’s Email Marketing engine, the ARB.

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Categories

The DigitalMailer Blog

They’ve Got Mail (But Do They Open It?)

Thankfulness

Malware Launching Fake Pop-Ups for Online Banking Sites

Showing and Not Telling: Creating Useful User’s Guides

The Email Marketing Haunted House

HOUSE OF EMAIL MARKETING HORRORS!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL, FROM EVERYONE AT DIGITALMAILER!

Where’d Everyone Go? How to Handle Out-of-Office Replies

FinovateFall 2012: A Recap

How do you “measure up”?

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