Adestra

Recently, there have been a number of high profile lapses in security when data sets are being passed between systems. Virgin Media lost a CD with 3,000 data records and in May HSBC was forced to apologise for losing a computer disc containing details of 370,000 customers.

This is likely to be the tip of the iceberg as over 60 per cent of data protection and marketing professionals have experienced a data breach of consumer information in the past two years. In 90 per cent of the cases the incident was unreported to the affected customer (source: Strongmail survey).

In this climate when combined by the real concern of identity scams, it is no wonder than many consumers are more nervous about disclosing their personal data. 53% of consumers admit to filling in false information (Consumer attitudes to Disclosing Personal Data for Direct Marketing March 06). I’m personally receiving a Phishing scam into my inbox on a daily basis.

So what does this mean to the email marketer?

Good data means good email marketing. Without accurate data, it is almost impossible to target effectively. All email marketers should invest in building trust with their subscribers and never abuse it.

Good data management should span your collection, storage and suppression policies.

Data collection should make it clear why you’re asking for details, easy to complete forms and if possible use validation/ PAF files to ensure accuracy.

Data Storage should be secure and robust. This also includes any transfer procedures between your own database and your email broadcast tool.

Data suppression and ensuring that your permission policies are clearly stated and followed. People unsubscribing is a positive thing as they are telling you they no longer want to receive your promotions.

This all can be summarised in one easy statement- if you’re not sure about whether you should be sending someone an email, your probably shouldn’t send it.

I spoke at a SIPA email marketing network evening with two other speakers from Electric Word and Incisive Media.

A really interesting evening, it was very refreshing to see the comments being made about what work and doesn’t work reflecting the recommendations we’ve been making for quite a while.

The main points were

Be relevant, it works:

Target don’t blanket: pushing out emails to loose selections can often be the easiest solution. However, this bad direct marketing practice pushed up unsubscribe rates. If you are working for an organisation with a large number of marketers, all of whom share the database, having a high number of unsubscribers is not good for anyone.

Third party data rentals for email are dangerous:

Attendees reported limited success, but many highlighted experiences of low response rates. This is particularly prevalent if the list is quite high profile and rented a number of times. Some senders had got into problems with getting emails delivered due to black listing issues which caused some serious consequences.

Emotionally unsubscribed are useless:

Review your database. There will be a number of people who have not read any email you have sent them for a number of months. There is some research that extols the brand benefit of simply being in a person’s inbox. However, the budget you are wasting and the dilution of your campaign results this creates means that this benefit has to be out weighed.

When thinking about over what time period you should use to remove people, there is no golden rule, but we’ve been recommending 3 months if you’re sending weekly emails, and the analyse to see if anyone you suppressed resigns up! If there are a considerable number, then extend the time period.

Designs can be improved:

An excellent presentation highlighted that tweaking from names, subject line, the layout of body copy and actual copy tests can impact on campaign results significantly.

Is there an industry best time to send email marketing?

No! Many marketers are sending their email campaigns out through habit- “we always do our newsletter on a Friday as we always have!”. To discover the best time for you to send your email marketing look at your web logs over the past 3 months. See when people have already chosen to come to your site and use that as an indicator.

It is always interesting to be in the presence of people who have such a refreshing approach to testing and are committed to improving their email marketing. I for one took a number of new ideas from it, and are looking forward to the SIPA conference in July and learning more.