Despite email and social media being the two leading areas where businesses plan to increase their spend in 2010, and with 69% of businesses planning to integrate the two, there is very little information out there on how they measure up, let alone interact with one another.

Being the statistics-obsessed folks we are, we decided to get our hands dirty with Google Analytics and study the relationships that our site has with Twitter, Facebook and our newsletters. Along the way, we’ll also touch on some of the aspects of social media that aren’t so easy to measure.

Lets compare email and social media’s role:

As traffic-driving tools
As a means to attract new visitors to your site
As engagement-drivers

Using email and social media to drive traffic to your site

Depending on how much effort you put into your monthly newsletter or social media efforts, the capacity for each channel to drive traffic to your site can be quite variable. We found that a whole month of Facebook updates and tweets drives roughly half as much traffic to our site as our monthly newsletter does over the same period, meaning that the social media crowd (roughly 9% of this combined audience) generated 30% of resulting traffic from Facebook, Twitter and email:

That said, it is difficult to separate follower traffic from what’s generated by retweets – being one of the very cool advantages of using Twitter. Another intangible is the propagation of fan page content and recommendations to Facebook feeds and pages – the traffic generated from this can’t be easily coupled to the fans you have.

Unlike Twitter and Facebook, email’s capacity to drive traffic has a long tail. Whereas the traffic from Twitter and Facebook comes in bursts lasting as long as it takes for the message to fall off the bottom of the feed (2-3 days), email continues to collect clicks and opens for days (if not weeks) to come. Using the example of our November newsletter, the proceeding 3 weeks drove as much traffic to the site as the first 48 hours after the send. In fact, we still received an outstanding 1,456 clicks through to our site from the newsletter in the third week!

What does this tell us?

• Nurturing even a modest social media community can generate considerable traffic – on average, these followers and fans tend be more responsive than email subscribers, too. Is it because of the participatory nature of social media?
• Email has a very long tail, so consider the timeliness of your message. If a subscriber returns to your email three weeks later, will they still want to click-through?

Using email and social media to attract new visitors to your site

Now that we’ve looked at the number of site visitors received from email and social media sources respectively, lets look at how many of these people had either never visited our site before, or haven’t dropped by in a long time. The results were surprising:

6% of email subscribers who had received our newsletter and consequently clicked through had not visited since March, 2009 (when we made significant changes to our Google Analytics tracking). A lesser percentage of new visits came from Twitter and Facebook respectively. Although these figures may not be indicative of genuinely “new” visits, they do show that a considerable number of subscribers, followers and fans had not visited our site in at least 8 months (if at all). Instead of unsubscribing or unfollowing, they simply hung around, then finally took action on a relevant tweet or newsletter.

What does this tell us?
Email is just as relevant a channel as social media for initiating a relationship and introducing new or lapsed visitors to your content. If you provide a more ways to connect to your brand, you may find that a significant part of your audience may be in touch with you via email or following your tweets, but never actually viewed your site!
Even if an email subscriber hasn’t responded to your email newsletter in the last few months, don’t dump them – segments of your list may be simply waiting for the right offer to come along.

Using email and social media to drive engagement
Once all these visitors arrive via email and social media channels, what do they do? We tallied the average number of pages each visitor went to after arriving at our site and found that on average, Facebook fans visited 1.7 pages more than email subscribers and 2.79 pages more than Twitter followers:

This also reflects what seems to be a loose relationship between the percentage of new site visitors and their willingness to explore a site. Also, from our own link-sharing experience on Twitter, it’s indicative of a tendency to click a link in a tweet in order to snappily read a single article, in opposition to the leisurely site experience that Facebook promotes.

What does this tell us?

• Consider your landing pages and extended site experience – if it takes more than three pages to achieve a goal, you may have lost most of your Twitter visitors and certainly a lot of your email subscribers along the way.

We’re all in this together

Email, social media and your content should be viewed as a collaborative effort. When you integrate your channels (eg. Add an email signup form to Facebook, or links in your newsletter to your Twitter page), any one of your subscribers can be interacting with you across half a dozen social networking sites, plus receive your tweets and email newsletters on a regular basis. To say one channel is more successful than the other is misleading, when they ultimately flow into one another to create, in marketing speak, what is a multi-touch brand experience.

About this data
Email, Twitter and Facebook were chosen for this comparison as all three channels leverage the same content from our blog and gallery. Data was collected using Google Analytics over a one month period.

We’d love to know how you combine email and social media. Do you regularly use Twitter to promote your newsletter? Has your email resulted in more Facebook fans? Let us know about your experience in the comments below.

Here’s a quick preview of how it looks on an iPhone.

A focus on reporting

When deciding what functionality to include in the mobile version, we’ve been keeping a close eye on our customers. It turns out that the most popular section of your account accessed by a mobile device is campaign reporting, so that’s where we focused our efforts. More than 95% of all mobile visitors also come in on an iPod or iPhone variant, so we put a lot of work into making sure the experience was perfect on these devices in particular. It’s a really nice way to get the latest stats on a campaign you’ve sent in a couple of thumb presses.

Launch it

One great thing about the iPhone is that you can launch web applications just like a traditional app you’ve bought from the App Store. By heading into your account with Safari and adding it to your Home screen, you have a dedicated button that will load your latest reports with a single click. We even provide a nice icon and loading screen while the latest stats are downloading.

There is lots of cool technology under the hood of our mobile version, and I’ll be sure to share some of the more interesting details in a future post.

Easy switching

While the mobile version is all about your campaign reports right now, you can still switch to the full version and access all our functionality with a single click. At the footer of every page is a link to switch to the corresponding page in the full version of the app. We’ll automatically switch you back to the mobile version the next time you log in.

If you’re using this; please let us know what you think

We’ve made it much easier to personalise your email campaigns with regular content tags such as ‘First name’ and ‘Email’. But with this update, you can now also add custom fields from your subscriber list’ and lots of variations of today’s date. The former should be especially useful if you’re planning to personalise your email with nice details such as the subscriber’s location, interests or even a message like, “We’re glad you were referred to us via a friend, please let everyone know about our store, too!” (where ‘a friend’ is the value in a ‘Referrers’ custom field):

We made it really easy to add quick links such as ‘Forward to a Friend’ and ‘Unsubscribe’ via the editor – they’re all available via a drop-down menu. In addition, we’ve given you more control over colors and formatting via the toolbar:

You can resize your editor window, too:

It’s been a big week for email templates and the WYSIWYG editor in general. Let us know what you think of the updates – we hope it makes working with email templates a much easier and more time-efficient task.

There isn’t one! Sorry it’s true. Think about it. There must be a infinite number of combination of content out there in the emails you get. Can you sum all of them up with the same subject line? No. The same runs true here. However there are a few things you could to “help” with your open rates. People who are new to email marketing often ask us, “What is the best subject line for me to use?” or “How should I write my subject lines so that more recipients will open my emails?” So we have got some examples for you to look at to get a good idea of what works and what doesn’t. The “highest” open rates were in the range of 60%-87%, while the “lowest” performers fell in the dismal 1%-14% range. Do you see a pattern below?

Best Open Rates (60%-87%)

• [COMPANYNAME] Sales & Marketing Newsletter
• Eye on the [COMPANYNAME] Update (Oct 31 – Nov 4)
• [COMPANYNAME] Staff Shirts & Photos
• [COMPANYNAME] May 2009 News Bulletin!
• [COMPANYNAME] Newsletter – February 2009
• [COMPANYNAME] Newsletter – January 20096 [ *|FIRSTNAME|* *|LASTNAME|* ]
• [COMPANYNAME] and [COMPANYNAME] Invites You!
• Happy Holidays from [COMPANYNAME]
• ATTENTION [COMPANYNAME] Staff!
• ATTENTION [COMPANYNAME] West Staff!!
• Invitation from [COMPANYNAME]
• [COMPANYNAME] Jan/Feb 2009 Newsletter
• Website news – Issue 3
• Upcoming Events at [COMPANYNAME]
• [COMPANYNAME] Councils: Letter of Interest
• [COMPANYNAME] Coffee Exchange – Post-Katrina Update
• We’re Throwing a Party
• October 2009 Newsletter
• [COMPANYNAME]: 02.10.09
• [COMPANYNAME] Racing Newsletter

Worst Open Rates (1%-14%)

• Last Minute Gift – We Have The Answer
• Valentines – Shop Early & Save 10%
• Give a Gift Certificate this Holiday
• Valentine’s Day Salon and Spa Specials!
• Gift Certificates – Easy & Elegant Giving – Let Them Choose
• Need More Advertising Value From Your Marketing Partner?
• [COMPANYNAME] Pioneers in Banana Technology
• [COMPANYNAME] Moves You Home for the Holidays
• Renewal
• Technology Company Works with [COMPANYNAME] on Bananas Efforts
• [COMPANYNAME] Update – A Summary of Security and Emergency Preparedness News
• Now Offering Banana Services!
• It’s still summer in Tahoe!
• [COMPANYNAME] endorses [COMPANYNAME] as successor
• [COMPANYNAME] Holiday Sales Event
• The Future of International Trade
• [COMPANYNAME] for your next dream home.
• True automation of your Banana Research
• [COMPANYNAME] Resort – Spring into May Savings
• You Asked For More…

Observations

On the “best” list, you’ll notice the subject lines are pretty straightforward. They’re not very “salesy” or “pushy” at all. Some people might even say they’re “boring.” On the “worst” list however, notice how the subject lines read like headlines from advertisements you’d see in the Sunday paper. They might look more “creative,” but their open rates are horrible. It’s as if those email marketers assumed that subject lines have to jump off the screen and “GRAB THE READER’S ATTENTION!” or something. Unfortunately, most people get so much junk mail in their inbox, anything that even hints of spam gets thrown away immediately.

Setting Expectations

So does that mean your subject lines should be really stale and un-creative to get high open rates? We don’t think so. We actually saw some campaigns that used more “creative” subject lines (like the ones on the “bad” list) but they had pretty decent open rates. The difference seemed to be in the expectations that were set for the emails. Email newsletters, or eShots are for soft-selling. They build relationships with your customers, and they’re great if your products have a very long sales cycle. Use them to slowly soften your customers for the sale, or to make them feel really good about your brand. If your recipients signed up for these kinds of emails, don’t expect them to be very enthusiastic when, out of the blue, you send an email with a subject line like, “10% Discount! Open Now!” For newsletters, keep your subject lines simple, straightforward, and consistent. On the other hand, if your subscribers specifically opted-in to receive “special offers and promotions” from your company, there’s nothing wrong with saying there’s a “10% off e-coupon inside.” They’ll be expecting a “hard sell” from you. It’s when marketers send promotional emails to their entire “newsletter” list when things go wrong. The idea is to create a totally separate opt-in list for those who want to receive promotional emails. Furthermore, segment your promotions list into smaller, more focused groups before you send your campaign (don’t send an offer for purses and high-heel shoes to the men on your list).

The Secret Formula for Subject-Lines

So what’s our advice for email subject lines? This is going to sound “stupid simple” to a lot of people, but here goes: Your subject line should (drum roll please): Describe the subject of your email. Yep, that’s it. Always set your subscribers’ expectations during the opt-in process about what kinds of emails they’ll be receiving. Don’t confuse email newsletters with promotions. If your email is a newsletter, put the name and issue of the newsletter in your subject line. Because that’s what’s inside. If your email is a special promotion, tell them what’s inside. Either way, just don’t write your subject lines like advertisements. When it comes to email marketing, the best subject lines tell what’s inside, and the worst subject lines sell what’s inside.

Next Time…

In the next article we will be talking about “eShot Design” (the exciting bit?).

Ride Qi

The Royal Chains

Diesel Design

D. James Goodwin

IQ Videography

Frederick Van

OEIL Photography

Identity Kitchen

Betsy Hammill

Nation Toys & Tees

Structure your content

Understanding your audience means your copy should be relevant to them. Do some research, then put yourself in your audience’s shoes and write for them.

Each story should be a hook so remember to keep content short and snappy. Content should tease and encourage readers to click through to your website – not give the whole story away.

You will get a better click through rate with a short page containing ten short hooks than you will with one or two long story that may or may not, interest your reader. readers have a VERY short attention span and will quickly scan an email for items that interest them then click through or leave.

“It needs to be enticing” says Guardian writer and content specialist Claire Foot. “Keep your content short, sharp and sexy. Don’t lose readers by giving them irrelevant content.”

There are many ways to engage with the user and offer them a clear reason to continue their path to your site. “What happened next” text works well.

For example, “What was Posh Spice doing in this shop?” or “find out how we increased sales by 200%”, as clickable links.

Link to the relevant part of your site. Don’t make readers click to your homepage and then work to find the content you’re promoting. Make it easy.

You should also really aim to get under the skin of your intended recipients and use the language of your audience to really engage them. Depending on your audience, make it chatty, but not patronising and have the tone sit comfortably with the product.

Rebecca Cryan agrees. “Poor content can’t be saved by a clever design later,” she says. “An email may look slick and sophisticated, but if it’s got nothing to say, why would anybody want to read it? Copy counts. Take time to perfect the pace and tone of your newsletter.”

The amount of text you use is also a decision based on who your intended audience is. A newsletter for a television series such as The Apprentice can be more text-heavy, as it’s appealing to an older audience who are more likely to spend a longer time interacting with it.

Younger audiences require more visuals and less text: try to deliver a dynamic message in fewer words. This could also be true for an adult audience that might be looking at your product offering too.

Services on the other hand are summed up better with words than an image. Using the right method is key.

Next Time…

In the next article we will be talking about “Subject Lines”.

1. Who you’re sending the newsletter to?
2. What you want to achieve?
3. How do we create copy that fits your brand’s tone?

Objectives first

“Email marketing can be much improved by more effective information gathering,” she explains. “Factors such as age, sex and interests ensure that newsletters reaching people’s inboxes are specific to them and their lifestyle.”

“We like to look purely at the objectives first. Some clients will fixate on the creative but we like to take a step back and review what they want to achieve with the email in the first place.”

“In the planning stages, we had the target users very much in mind when trying to create a compelling piece of communication,” explains interactive producer Oliver Davies.

“For this reason, we decided to produce something that was more content-rich and took longer to consume than other, more visual styles,” says Davies. They dubbed the tone ‘Apprentice snacking’. If the recipient didn’t have the time to click through to the main site, there would still be something substantial to satisfy their Apprentice fix.

This article has been based on an article from .net

Our email marketing system is second to none and so are the reports it produces.

Campaign reports

Here are some of the key report screens in Campaign Monitor. Click on any screenshot to grab it in full size.

Campaign Snapshot

Campaign snapshot See how your email campaign has performed at a glance. Find out how many recipients opened your email, clicked a link, unsubscribed, forwarded your email to a friend and loads more.

Opens Over Time

Opens Over Time Our simple Opens Over Time Report shows exactly who is checking out your email, how many times they’re doing it, and when they did it. You can get an overview for the life of the campaign or drill down all the way to minute by minute detail.

Recpient Activity

Recipient Activity Our recipient activity report lets you get down to some serious detail on your campaign. Easily see who opened, who clicked, who bounced and who unsubscribed. You can even search for a specific subscriber to see exactly what they did with your email.

Link Activity

Link activity The Link Activity Report makes it very easy to see what your subscribers found most interesting, as well as who clicked and who did not.

Bounce Summary

Bounce Summary As well as automatically processing any bounced emails for you, we also tell you exactly why that subscriber bounced out of your list. Maybe we got an out of office reply, or perhaps their mailbox was full – whatever the reason, they didn’t get your email and we’ll tell you why.

Compare Campaigns

Compare campaigns Easily compare any of your email campaign with each other. Is your open rate improving? Are you seeing less bounces over time?

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Blank email example, ready for your choice of header image from above

Option 2

Example of a bespoke design

*Price shown here are only avalible until 23rd December 2008.