Adestra

When Microsoft upgraded their flagship email client, Outlook, for the 2007 edition of Microsoft Office, they decided to make a fundamental change that completely rewrote the rules of email design. With the last incarnation in 2003, they used Internet Explorer (IE) as the rendering tool, which meant that provided your template looked fantastic in IE, it would look pretty much exactly the same in your inbox. However, for Outlook 2007 they changed the rules and opted to use Word for rendering purposes instead, which meant everything had to change.

Tricks and ideas that we used to use were out the window – it meant for a whole lot of changes to the way we code for email, but in a constantly evolving industry a change this significant was inevitable. So, with the latest version of Office comes a new version of Outlook – 2010 to be exact – which continues to use Word over IE.
Apart from front end changes, not much has altered in terms of rendering. Below are a list of items that you should look out for when coding for Outlook 2007 and 2010.

• Alt labels: Any alt text is replaced with the url, if the image is clickable, or does not appear if there is no link.
• Animations: Only the first slide of an animated gif will be visible, so make sure your most important content is included on it. Flash still is and has always been a no-go in email.
• Background: Background images are almost always stripped out – ensure you have a solid colour as a backup, in case you’re using white text on a dark image.
• Cascading Style Sheets: A lot of CSS won’t work, but the core elements will inline:
  • background-color
  • color
  • font-family
  • font-size
  • font-weight
  • line-height
  • text-align
  • text-decoration
• Character spacing: Outlook will marginally increase the size of your designated font, meaning that if you have a small amount of text boxed in by a series of images, where there is no extra room, it can lead to a breakage. Ensure that there is sufficient room to allow for this.
• Forms: Although the element will be visible and information can be inputted, the submit button will not work.
• Height: Try to visualise how your email will appear on a Word page. If you have a series of images on top of each other, an unexpected gap will appear where Word tries to insert a page break. Try to keep your content within separated tables or, if possible, shorten your email to reduce the risk.
• Images: Aim to use width=100 height=100 on images, to preserve the original aspect ratio. If style=”width: 50px; height: 50px” is used instead, this will be removed and the original dimensions reinstated. You can get around this by denoting width=50 height=50 instead.
• Padding: I’ve learned to use nested tables for my padding, so always ensure that tables and cells have a fixed width so that your spacing displays correctly.

Obviously some of these commands work differently in other email clients, but it gives an insight into any problems you might encounter with Outlook 2007 or 2010. If you have any questions, please email strategy@adestra.com

Neil Bursnoll, Production Team Leader

Our 2010 Email Marketing Industry Census found that more than a third of companies (37%) are using email to encourage the sharing of content on social networks, and just under a third of companies (31%) say they are planning to do this. However this just doesn’t have to be a one way relationship; Facebook has a great little tool that allows you to host email signup forms on your fan pages also. Instructions on this can be found below.

Add the Static FBML app to your page

You will need to have access to the Facebook Static FBML app in order to do this; simply type Static FBML into the Facebook search box and choose ‘Static FBML’.

Once you are on the page, on the left hand side of this screen select the link ‘Add to my page’, a pop-up box will ask you which fan page you would like to add this to and select ‘Add to Page’ next to the relevant one.

Adding your Sign Up Form

Now, go to your page and select ‘Edit Page’ from the left hand menu, this will provide you with a number of options; choose the edit link under FBML

You are now presented with a box that you can copy and paste your subscription form HTML code into.

If you currently have a form created by Adestra, contact us here or if you would like to have one setup, you can get in touch with us here. Once you have the code, simply copy and paste into the box and choose Save changes.

Add as a Tab to your Fan Page

Finally, go back to your fan page. If your sign up tab is not already there, choose the “+” symbol next to your tabs and select the form you have just created. People now the option to sign up to your emails direct from Facebook.

Andrew Abram, Client Strategy Consultant

In a recent meeting with a client, they wanted to know what to do in order to improve their open rates, my suggestion was to test. As everyone’s recipient base is different, there is no one rule fits all answer, the only way to find out is to test what works for your recipients.

The client did a number of controlled tests, testing one aspect of the email at a time, allowing them to see exactly what caused the increase/decrease in response. The client split their list into two, sending half of the list their regular email, and the other half the email with the testing element. There were a number of aspects which had a small impact on the campaign results, such as, the layout and design of the email, however the aspect which had the greatest impact on the results was personalising of the subject line with the recipients’ company name.

This test saw a 5% increase in open rates, compared to the non personalised version, as well as an increase in the click through rate too.

By personalizing the subject line the recipient knew that the email was relevant them encouraging them to open and interact.

Please email support@adestra.com for the demonstration videos on how to Split Test, and Personalise your Subject Line. Or if you would like any further information please contact your strategy Consultant strategy@adestra.com

Jenna Lovell, Client Strategy Executive

Clients regularly ask us how they should segment their lists to achieve better response from their email marketing. Segmentation doesn’t have to complex, and a few simple segments could make all the difference.

One of the most commonly used forms of segmentation is RFM (recency, frequency and monetary value). RFM is a good way to define and understand customer value. It can help to define acquisition data, as well as helping you to shape your customer retention programme.

Why segment?

Segmentation is the best way to make your marketing relevant to the recipient. You can tailor your message based on the segments you decide upon their interests and what you want to achieve from that segment. Segmentation also could save you money, as you will only be targeting those who meet your segmentation criteria, rather than a blanket technique. The most important benefit, is that you will be sending material that is of interest to your recipient, therefore they will engage with you and will increase the likelihood of a response.

Using the RFM model in practice

The most powerful factor that determines whether your customer will buy again is how recently (R – weighted 35%) they made their previous purchase. They are engaged with you at the point of purchase and response rates decline as time goes on.

Frequency (F – weighted 50%) is the second most powerful indicator of response. These customers are engaged with you and are most likely to purchase from you and engage from you again. Keep them happy and nuture them as they are the most difficult to get back.

Those who have made large purchases (M – weighted 15%) are more likely to continue to spend at higher levels, but may buy less often.

A simple way to segment your customer base is using a matrix like this.

Now, also think about the Lifetime value of that customer. If you can move those who have just purchased from you, to purchasing from you more frequently their Lifetime Value will increase.

If you would like some advice or consultancy on how to segment your data,  please do contact us by emailing strategy@adestra.com

Reena Mistry
Group Account Director

Getting your email campaigns past spam filters is a key concern for email marketers and at Adestra we take this seriously. Adestra and Econsultancy’s Email Marketing Industry Census 2010 found that 24% of companies now say that deliverability is a problem (compared to only 13% in 2009). More importantly, 83% of companies surveyed didn’t know what percentage of their email budget is lost through non-delivery.

Understanding what impacts your deliverability and what you can do to maintain and improve it is very important. Our Demystifying Deliverability whitepaper explains what deliverability is, and what it means for you.

Download your copy of the whitepaper today

Our 2010 Email Marketing Industry Census, found that 39% of respondents do not know the ROI of their email campaigns. Whilst this has fallen from the 42% reported in the previous year’s research this is still a worrying figure considering that email marketing accounts for an average of 17% of total marketing spend; the second highest digital channel spend.

So, why not use our ROI calculator to work out your return on investment. If you don’t like what you see in the results there are many ways that we can help you stream line your email strategy to ensure that your budget is well spent.

Try our ROI calculator today