Email Marketing

What are the 2 elements ISPs use to score a sender's validity?

1. IP & Domain Reputation 2. User engagement

List the design components to a marketing email

Audience Sender Name Subject Line Copy / Email Text Design Imagery Calls to Action (CTA)

How can you manage the volume of emails you send in order to avoid ISPs sending them to a spam folder?

Consistently sending roughly the same number of emails each time. An abnormal spike in email volume will often be flagged as spam.

What are some of the features of ESPs?

Contact database management Segmentation Personalization Automation Tracking behavior (data) Unsubscribe management Email and landing page creation

What are examples of metrics you can measure using an email campaign

Delivered emails Delivery rate Open rate Clickthrough rate (CTR) Click-to-open rate Conversion rate Bounce rate Unsubscribe rate Share / forward rate List growth Revenue per email Website login Store purchases Ad traffic

Are applicable email regulations based on where the email is sent, or based on where the email recipient is located?

Regulations are based on where the email recipient is located

List the best practices for email testing

1. Divide your list into equal sized segments 2. Randomly include subscribers into each segment in order to avoid bias 3. Ensure the elements you're testing are distinctly different from one another 4. Test only one or two elements simultaneously to reduce complexity and make sure your test groups are large enough to yield statistically significant results.

How long does it typically take for marketing automation software to return a positive ROI?

6 months - 1 year

In email marketing automation, what is a Workflow?

A workflow is a series of rules that you set up to send automated email campaigns.

Describe A/B Testing and the best practices to follow when using

A/B testing involves running two test treatments or approaches against one another to see which performs better. 1. Test early in your campaign to a small segment of your total list. 2. Only test one element at a time 3. Only create 2 test versions (A and B) 4. Trust the results rather than your gut.

What is an Email Service Provider (ESP)?

An email service provider, or ESP, is a platform for managing all your email campaigns. Typically, ESPs are an online interface - like Mailchimp - where you can upload your email subscriber lists, segment these contact lists, build email templates, and then send and track your campaign performance. Using an ESP means you don't need to have a server in your office to handle your emails; it's all done in the cloud.

Why is it important to have an Email Marketing Strategy?

An email strategy helps you market your products and services, taking into consideration who your target customers are, what they are looking for, and when the best time is to provide that information to them.

What's the difference between a Hard Bounce and a Soft Bounce?

Hard Bounce: email will never get delivered despite multiple attempts Soft bounce: email may send but is struggling to do so at the moment. You can try to rectify soft bounces by sending the email again when the mailbox may have some space; waiting for some time to pass until the server is likely up and running again; and reducing the size of your message.

What is Lead Nurturing?

Helps potential customers understand the value of your products / services. Emailing quality content to leads at key points in the sales cycle can make it easier for sales teams to convert them into paying customers.

What is a Spam Trap and what are the 3 different types of spam traps?

Spam traps are email addresses that are no longer in use and that don't bounce and are monitored by ISPs and blacklists. Typo: an email address with an ISP domain misspelled Recycled: an email address that existed, was abandoned, and later reactivated by the ISP Pristine: an email address that never opted into any email communication

What are the key differences between the CA Consumer Protection Act and the EU General Data Protection Regulations?

The CCPA is not as far reaching as the GDPR. The main difference between CCPA and GDPR include opt outs to prevent companies selling your consumer data to third parties.

What is another term for email marketing automation and how can this be used in the buyer's journey?

Triggered email Your marketing automation software can continue to drip invitations to video, blog, or social media content to this prospect over the next few weeks or even months in order to build on their initial interest and engagement and slowly but steadily nurture them from prospect to paying customer.

What are some best practices for using images in an email?

Use your brand assets Include product photos Include your brand style guide Make sure images are properly sized Use pixel tracking images

Provide examples of items you can test using A/B testing

Email layout / design Subject line Welcome campaign offer Which audience segment responds more

Describe how email can be used during the different stages in the Buyer's Journey?

1. Awareness and interest: send a welcome email after someone subscribes to your email list. 2. & 3. Consideration & Conversion: send regular promotions, content, updates, event invitations, or seasonal emails. Cart abandonment recovery emails. 4. Retention: Provide exclusive offers, cross-sell different products and services, loyalty / rewards program info.

What are the 5 main challenges you will face when actually sending your email?

1. Bounces 2. Spam complaints 3. Spam traps 4. Sending Volume 5. Engagement

What are the different subject line themes someone can use in an email?

1. Curiosity (ask a question) 2. State an offer (ie. 10% off x) 3. Urgency (Hurry! Only 2 days left til sale ends) 4. Social Proof (80% of people like cheese)

What are 4 pieces of email regulation a marketer should be familiar with and what is the underlying law in each?

1. EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): requires strict user data and permission practices in relation to the collection and use of Personally Identifiable Information (known as PII). People must explicitly consent to receive marketing emails and consent to allowing website cookie tracking on their devices. 2. CA Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) 3. Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL): requires marketers to obtain permission from a user before they may send marketing material via email or SMS. 4. Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (CAN-SPAM): established certain mandatory opt-out practices and requires email senders to clearly identify themselves

What are the 5 major functions that communications serve?

1. Express feelings 2. Inform 3. Meet social expectations 4. Image / inspire creativity 5. Influence

What are the 5 different types of email marketing campaigns?

1. Foundational (newsletters, company & product announcements, etc.) 2. Promotional (sales, discounts, free trials, etc.) 3. Informational (How-to articles, product related instruction, etc.) 4. Engagers (surveys, reviews, rewards) 5. One-on-one (welcome email, post-purchase TKU emails, etc.)

What are the 5 types of automated emails?

1. Functional 2. Behavioral 3. Personal 4. Sales Lifecycle Stage 5. Transactional

Identify the steps you would take to create an email campaign.

1. Identify the need for the campaign (CTAs) 2. Define audience, goals, and tone 3. Tailor the campaign to difference audience segments 4. Write the subject line and email copy 5. Design layout and select images to include 6. Set up tracking and reporting 7. Consider testing various copy / design elements 8. Send the email 9. Analyze results

State the reasons why it is important to have an effective email design for your campaign

1. Improves overall user experience 2. Consistent styling from email to webpage 3. Lead generation 4. Include a link to a landing page 5. Clearly state the CTAs at the top & bottom of the email

What are some ways to maintain a healthy email list?

1. Monitor your email delivery 2. Use double opt-in features 3. Maintain good list hygiene practices

What are the 2 ways you can collect email subscribers?

1. Single opt-in: when an individual subscribes to emails typically through a form on a webpage 2. Double opt-in: when a person subscribes to emails by submitting an email address through a form or purchasing online, a confirmation email is returned. This confirmation email message contains a request to verify consent, usually by clicking a link in the message. Only after a subscriber has clicked a link in the verification message is their address verified and added to your list.

What are 4 parts of an email that you can do testing with before sending in order to improve engagement?

1. Subject line 2. Message design 3. Offers 4. Time of day sent

What are 3 email list hygiene best practices you can use after sending an email?

1. Track deliverability by paying close attention to bounce rates and response rates 2. Complaints 3. Remove hard bounce email addresses

What are some steps you can take to ensure the timing of your email is strategic and has the greatest impact?

1. Use A/B testing to find the best send times for your audience 2. Identify optimal days for your campaigns 3. Take account of different times zones

Describe some of the best practices for designing the layout of your email.

1. Use a 600 px width to optimize for mobile reading 2. Organize for quick reading 3. Don't over-use images or other elements. 4. Align content into blocks or columns 5. States CTAs early and keep them 'above the fold'

How can you optimize email for Clickthrough rates?

1. Use simple calls to action 2. Use multiple links for the same CTA in the email 3. Offer limited time only deals / promotions 4. Test in different colors to see which is most appealing

What are the steps in the marketing automation process?

1. Web form submission: the action triggering the email 2. Send email 3. Information tagging (tagging users for segmenting) 4. Delay after form submission: the amount of time a user waits before proceeding to the next step in the workflow

What are some advantages an ESP would have over using an in-house email system?

1. Whitelisting of email broadcasts to avoid spam filters 2. Send email using your own web address 3. Unsubscribe and complaint handling 4. Delivery reporting

What are the main constraints the GDPR enforces?

1. You can only send marketing emails to users who have explicitly requested the content. 2. All personal user data must be protected at minimum standards and not shared outside the business. 3. Users may request all data that is stored about them at any time. 4. Users may also request that all data about them be deleted.

In which type of organization is email automation most useful and why?

Automated email is particularly useful for B2B organizations with long sales cycles and complex, high cost, big-ticket products and services, where there may be multiple stakeholder involvement and where customers need a lot of information to make a decision before purchasing. Sending automated emails keeps potential customers engaged and allows sales teams to focus on closing deals rather than spending a lot of time engaging with leads who might not be ready or qualified to purchase. Information can be drip-fed to prospects over the length of a sales cycle automatically through email.

What are some ways you can design an email to avoid it being sent to a recipient's Spam folder?

Avoid all caps in the subject line Avoid excessive/unnecessary use of punctuation Balance the text-to-image ratio of the copy Don't use URL shorteners Avoid inserting the full URL link as text Create a hyperlink with the appropriate text Ensure all links go to legitimate domains and are valid. Use symbols/special characters sparingly

What are the benefits and disadvantages of double opt-in emails?

Benefits: Ensures people are entering real email addresses which leads to less work and list hygiene overtime. Considered a "quality over quantity" approach Disadvantages: Lower subscriber numbers over time

What are the benefits and disadvantages of single opt-in emails?

Benefits: Smooth user experience Rapid growth Considered a "quantity over quality" approach Disadvantages: May not be sufficient for organizations such as financial services or healthcare, which are collecting sensitive information from their customers. Lack of email verification and hygiene means individuals can submit bogus or incorrect data, which then causes deliverability problems later.

How can email assist in lead generation and what are some email, lead generation strategies you can use?

By offering people something of value in return for their email addresses, you can follow up with them, explain the benefits of your product or company, and encourage them to purchase from you. 1. Downloadable content like a white paper or e-book 2. Offers for coupons and savings 3. Free trial of a product or service 4. Webinar training or virtual-conference registration

What are some best practices to keep in mind when writing email copy?

Create a sense of urgency. Keep your sentences simple and strong. Have a singular goal for each email you send. Make your email easy to scan. Use less 'we', and more 'you'. Align your email copy with the subject line. Use language that resonates w/ your target audience

What are the types of emails someone can automate?

Data-driven campaigns (birthdays) Reminders or alerts (event invites Behavioral (abandoned shopping carts) Transactional / functional (shipping updates) Customer life cycle campaigns (welcome emails)

What are email engagement metrics you should monitor after your email has been sent?

Open rate Click-through rate Conversions Website visits Time spent on webpage Churn rate Unsubscribes Opt-outs Bounces Complaints Spam

What are drawbacks to using images in emails?

Overuse of images may unnecessarily increase email message file size, resulting in deliverability or poor user experience issues.

What are some ways you can enhance communication at the workplace?

Posture: stand tall / sit-up Be in sync w/ others tone, posture, and body movement Match verbal and nonverbal messages Smile

What benefits do email laws and regulations provide?

Protect the user from fraud and abuse Gives the user control over email permissions Keep data secure

Describe the benefits of marketing automation

Saves time and employee energy Improves marketing results (metrics) Data synchronization Personalized email experience

What is segmentation and why is it important?

Segmentation is grouping similar users together and sending relevant content based on that criteria. By sending messages to targeted segments within your lists, your recipients will find your campaigns more relevant to them.

What 3 things should you always keep in mind when crafting an email marketing strategy in order for it to be effective?

Segmentation, personalization and timing.