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Review of SCORE's Sign-Up Process

April 8th, 2009

Yesterday I was going through a list of newsletters that I am not yet a member of and noticed that the small business resource group SCORE was one of them. After going to their site to opt-in, I noticed several good and bad things going on with their process. Let’s walk through it. (Images below)

Step 1. On their home page, there is a link in the upper left for ‘Get eNewsletters’ – Points for having this above the fold, but negative points for not having the option to fill in my address right there and submit. Every additional page I have to go to is another opportunity for me to leave and not complete the process. Get my most basic info (email address) right away while I’m interested and then ask for more information.

Step 2. After clicking that link I get to a page with a few options. First they give the option to view a sample of their newsletter. Major points here – it’s a good idea to give a preview of what a subscriber is going to receive. Set expectations from the beginning and you’ll start the relationship on a good note. Major points were also deducted on this page, as it asked me again to follow a link to sign up. I already said I wanted to sign up on the home page, why must I go to a 3rd page just to enter my email address? This is a major flaw. If they must go to this 2nd page, put the actual opt-in field here, in addition to the ‘preview’ link.

Step 3. Finally on the 3rd page they ask for my email address.

Step 4. On the 4th page (yes, 4 clicks and counting to sign up for the newsletter) They are asking for a lot more information, but it’s unclear if I have been signed up already. I thought that’s what I did on the previous page. But with no welcome email, I continue on. On this page they ask me to confirm my email, plus make First Name, Last Name, City, State and Zip required fields. Additionally, they have a security check for input of text from an image. For the contact info, that’s great that they are collecting it as it will be useful for segmentation and personalization later, but why make it required? It’s a nice to have, not a must have. For the email confirmation, why not have that on the previous page, or just have a double opt-in (where I must confirm by clicking a link in an email)? They do give me newsletter options, so are on the right track of an email preference center, but are way off on so many other elements.

Step 5. Finally on the 5th page I get a confirmation and the shortly after I receive a welcome email.

This 5 page process could have been reduced to 2 or 3 pages. On the home page they could have had a quick opt-in field and then taken me to a 2nd page to put in more personalization info (after I was already in the system and about to receive a confirmed or double opt-in email).

If they didn’t want to mess with the home page, they could have left the link as it was there, and then on the 2nd page had the opt-in form with a preview image on that page of their newsletter. On a 3rd page they could offer more personalization options.

I’d be very curious what their sign-up conversion rate is, from start to finish. While they are making efforts to implement some sound best practices for list acquisition, SCORE is dropping the ball with some red flag mistakes.

Screen Grabs from the process (click image to enlarge):

Home Page

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Posted in Analysis of Live Emails, B2B, Email Marketing Strategy, List Building/Opt-In, Personalization, Red Flag Mistakes, Segmentation | No Comments »

Toys R Us – Hit and Miss

March 23rd, 2009

But mostly hits..

In a previous post I discussed how Toys R Us had a segmentation mistake when I was on the list of previous customers of a particular product that was being recalled. The same issue happened again recently, but I want to quickly point out a few of the good elements going on here with the recall email.

1. Great use of the email channel for reaching out to customers on an important issue

2. Clean design that focuses on the recall information; not trying to sell other products

3. Because of the heavy text-based content, the email displays well with images blocked by default

A big area of improvement though was with their landing page for: ‘Click Here to Receive All Safety Email Notifications.’ On this page (screen grab below), it asked to sign in to my email preference center. Why would Toys R Us not take me right to the preference center? Perhaps I don’t have a preference center as it has an option for me to sign-up, but any legitimate email platform will have a preference center already integrated. I do understand that approach they are taking here, but feel it should be much more seamless for the subscriber.

Posted in Analysis of Live Emails, B2C, Design, Landing Pages, Personalization, Retail Email, Segmentation | No Comments »

A/B Subject Line Testing

March 13th, 2009

One of the great things about the online space is the availability of metrics and the ability to test different elements. There is no exception with email marketing. Even if your campaign is relatively small, and regardless of if you are a B2B or B2C marketer, testing can help improve the success of your program.

In a previous post I commented on a nice subject line from Blinds.com. A/B Subject line testing is usually the quickest place to start of you are new to email marketing testing, and one of the easiest tests to have in place if you are already running more complex testing programs.

The concept is simple: Test 2 or more different versions of your subject line to see what performs better.

To keep it simple, let’s assume we are using the open rate (number of opened emails/number of delivered emails) as the metric of determining a ‘winner.’ Let’s also assume we are sending to a list of 50,000 subscribers.

Let’s do a sample of 7,500 for each for 2 subject lines, and then roll the winner out to the remaining 35,000 subscribers after 2 days. The diagram below shows this scenario:

In my own testing, I’ve seen everything from near microscopic differences (15.04% vs 15.06%) to significant winners (12% vs. 30%). See how your lists perform under a testing scenario. The larger the list, the greater the impact of even a small improvement. With email marketing, we want to systematically make improvements to all of our key metrics. While one may be more important than the other, they all play an important role in the success of our campaign.

- Forest Bronzan

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Other posts you might find of interest:

Best Day to Send Email

Introduction to Email Segmentation

Email List Building Mistakes

Posted in B2B, B2C, Email Marketing Strategy, Metrics, Personalization, Subject Lines | No Comments »

SEOmoz Wins Big – Personalization, Promotion and More

March 4th, 2009

Search engine optimization (SEO) is such an important component of online marketing. If I had to pick the top 3 initiatives that most companies should allocate resources to, they would be (in random order): SEO, Conversion Optimization, and Email Marketing. I’m obviously a bit biased on the last one.

For SEO, one of the best resources on the planet is seomoz.org. (note: I’m not affiliated with or compensated by SEOmoz in any way — just a happy customer). It turns out that the crew over at SEOmoz has some email marketing know-how up their sleeves as well. For a company that isn’t overboard with email marketing (compared to retailers such as Sephora, Victoria’s Secret, and Toys R’ Us) email marketers can take some notes from a recent campaign that SEOmoz had in early February. I’ve heard now that Scott Willoughby at the Moz was the mastermind of this piece.

Below is the February 4th Email (click to enlarge)

Subject Line: Try SEOmoz PRO For Just A Dollar!

4 Elements That Were Great

1. The Subject Line: Specific and juicy. I’ve been a ‘basic’ member for a while and have been thinking of upgrading to a pro membership ($79/month). This subject definitely grabbed my attention.

2. Simple Design Layout: They could have easily pushed out a flashy creative heavy with imagery. They instead opted for plain text with a simple header and footer for branding. This has two major wins: first, it’s much more personal and pleasant to read, and second, the content is actually viewable to the recipient. In a previous post I discussed how sexy retailer Victoria’s Secret had an ugly view with their email — no one could see it with images blocked. The prettiest picture is worthless if the lights are out.

3. Going off of the plain text, the tone of the copy is very comfortable. While a bit heavy with sales, it’s not too stiff — and it’s written in the voice of Rand Fishkin (the wizard of moz).

4. P.S.: In my own tests, I’ve seen exceptional engagement with the use of a post script message to re-state the primary call to action and promo. Nice use of it here.

A Few Ideas for Improvement:

1. Personalization: the format of the email is already quite personal. In the opening line it says: Hi (username). This is better than a general greeting, but why not use the subscriber’s actual first name? a username appears more ‘batch blast’ while a first name is personal and closer to creating the impression of a one-to-one communication.

2. I’m a huge fan of plain text (at least testing it against other formats) and have seen exceptional results in my own tests. There is a decent amount of copy here and to make it easier on the eyes it probably couldn’t hurt to have an isolated summary of sorts above the fold. Something to the effect of:

Here’s the Skinny

Full Month of SEOmos’z Pro Membership

Only $1.00 for a limited time

Promo Code: SUCCESS09

Get Started Now: www.seomoz.org/trypro

With more visual creative pieces it’s easier to package up certain CTAs. With simple text, we need to do our best to quickly communicate our desired action and organize copy in a way that is easy to engage with.

3. Video: I noticed on the landing page a video of Rand discussing the benefits of Pro membership. I’ve seen great engagement from having a video screen shot within an email that links to the actual video. Helps mix up the copy and provides another juicy entry point to the site for increased CTRs.

Now back to the good stuff…

What was truly impressive was the follow-through and personalized experience after this email was sent. I was traveling when this email went out and was too busy to act. When I finally came up for air I had missed the deadline. I replied to the email thanking them for the promo but stating that I unfortunately missed the deadline. That day I received a reply from the wizard (Rand Fishkin) himself saying that while the offer had expired, they would find a way to get me on board. In a marketing environment these days where there is often a lot of disconnect between company and customer, this was a pleasant surprise. The result of a little extra time and customer service can be a new promoter and long-term customer. The crew there made me feel valued, and their customer-centric attitude stood out with shining lights.

This brings up a point I’d like to close with regarding the email channel. Too many marketers treat it as a vehicle to blast out unpersonalized messages. Some marketers ‘get it’ and start to implement segmentation strategies, advanced personalization with dynamic content, and complex behavioral retargeting programs. Even with this though, there is still often a barrier between subscriber and marketer/company. The email channel (and other social media channels) give companies a fantastic opportunity to engage with their customers, learn more, mediate problems, manage the cross-channel brand experience, and create the impression of a one-to-one interaction. The technology is there, we just need to use it properly and re-focus our program strategy.

- Forest Bronzan

Posted in Analysis of Live Emails, B2B, Design, Landing Pages, Personalization, Promotions, Subject Lines | No Comments »

Where do I Sign Up? – Shane Co. Drops the Ball

February 24th, 2009

In some previous posts I discussed some nice things that Blue Nile is doing with their email program. In particular; I have seen great use of blocked images, and nice design architecture.

To compare a bit with some of their industry competitors, I wanted to add myself to the Shane Co. email list. Living in San Francisco for several years, I heard radio ad after radio ad from. “We’re your friend in the diamond business” — I will never forget the consistency in tone from Tom Shane, and how much frequency they had on the major radio stations.

At any rate… I went to shaneco.com and… no email sign-up. I searched around for several minutes with no luck. An image at the end of this post shows the home page above the fold (where I would want to see a simple: “Sign up for exclusive offers”). I went to several other pages with no luck.

Now in this case, I’m not just an email marketer doing research; I’m a primary persona: mid to late 20s male in a serious relationship and in the early research phases of engagement rings.

With the engagement ring product line in particular, the email channel is a great fit for a jeweler like Shane Co. Let’s examine:

1. It can be a long sales cycle: Customers of course will differ, from the spontaneous to methodical, but with a high ticket (and very personal purchase) like an engagement ring, it’s reasonable to expect a prospective customer taking a longer time to make a decision. Email can help that relationship by providing educational pieces, shopping tips, and other general guidance during the cycle. With email we can create the impression of a one-to-one communication to enhance the subscriber experience.

2. Keeping the brand top of mind: With purchases likes these, it’s natural to ‘shop around’. While a prospective is out at other jewelry stores (and on other sites), it sure would be great to send some reminders of your value, and check-ins so they don’t forget about you. These check-ins can also be good for the customer that is not shopping around much but who is just taking his (or her) sweet little time to decide when and what they want to do. Helping them get into the moment can be quite rewarding for you.

3. You can see how they engage: Utilizing just some of the simple elements of email marketing technology, you can gain valuable information about how your new subscriber engages with your communications. On a basic level we will know if they open and click through. We can also monitor which links they click on and set up corresponding content to be sent based on those links. We can take it a step further and see if the subscriber hits certain goal landing pages after they click through from our email. Now where we just started with a name and email address, we may potentially discover that our subscriber opens 70% of our emails, and spends a lot of time on the site learning about ’round shaped diamonds’ — the retargeting options here are exciting.

Frustrated with my discovery, I decided to ‘chat live’ with a sales representative. The response after asking if they had a newsletter I could sign up for was: “oh, no — we don’t really send email blasts” — I didn’t go any further, but was thinking: “Well it’s good that you’re not sending ‘blasts’ because you should be sending highly targeted and personalized emails — but WHY are you not sending anything?” — if someone from the marketing department at Shane Co. would be so kind to explain their reasoning, I’m all ears.

- Forest Bronzan

Posted in Analysis of Live Emails, B2C, Landing Pages, List Building/Opt-In, Personalization, Red Flag Mistakes, Retail Email, Segmentation | No Comments »

Toys R Us – Hit and Miss

A/B Subject Line Testing

SEOmoz Wins Big – Personalization, Promotion and More

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