Optimarketer: The Marketing Optimization Blog

Super Bowl Advertisers Miss a Huge Scoring Opportunity

The Super Bowl advertising model hasn't changed much over the years. Sure, after the Apple "1984" megamercial by Ridley Scott (Wonder what he's doing now -- ha!) commercial production costs soared. And once the Web took off as an ad medium, marketers started linking Big Game commercials to Web-based presentations in fascinating and absurd ways.

But they've generally shied away from one of the most potentially lucrative plays of all: the chance to drive prospects to the Web AND gain permission to market via email. And I'm not sure why.

I'd say it's because email ain't so sexy, but I'd be lyin'. Even with today's semi-Draconian limitations, HTML email is a canvas for interesting, well-designed conceptual advertising. Plus, on the click-through from an email ad, you're able to run video or even link to a social networking site.

I know brand advertisers love talking about running "integrated" campaigns with "legs." So why aren't more of them launching television/web/email campaigns and capitalizing on the chance to email consumers interesting stuff again and again? The moment you gain permission to send email, you bring your subsequent media cost down to the lowest possible level. Pay the media piper once, and from there, you get a virtually free ride until respondents opt out or die off. How often do you encounter a media opportunity like that?

Obviously this year's Big Show is a done deal. But do we have any takers for Super Bowl XLIII?

Go Giants!

Does This Email Ad Look Familiar?

Check out the visual on the left. It's an HTML email ad for a Centennial Gold MasterCard from an institution called First PREMIER Bank.

Know what I thought when I first saw it? That's right, I figured it was an ad for "60 Minutes."

First PREMIER says you'll "Know within 60 seconds if your application is approved." Okay, but why knock off the graphics from one of the most popular television shows in history? Or was it merely a coincidence? You tell me.

P.S. On the First PREMIER website, you may want to interact with live agent Rachel. See our fun exchange below.

Rachel Says: Our Goal is Simple.  If you're having problems getting a credit card due to past credit history, you've come to the right place.

You: What if I'm in the pen for ripping off credit card companies to the tune of $619,000?

Rachel Says: First PREMIER Bank was established in 1929 and is located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.   We are a registered member of the Better Business Bureau and a member of FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation). We serve well over 3,000,000 accounts today.

Rachel Says: Remember, even if you have less than perfect credit we'd like to help! Get a decision in 60 seconds and you could have your MasterCard® with a low APR on purchases!

Rachel Says:  We'd like to help, even if your credit is less than perfect.

You: Can I call you collect from a pay phone?

Rachel Says:  Enjoy the benefits of First PREMIER Bank -- 0.0% APR on purchases, Reports monthly to 4 Major Credit Bureaus,  The prestige of a Gold Card and Quality Customer Service!+ CLICK HERE to see rates, fees, costs and limitations.

If They Gave Out Awards For Spam ...

...this HTML email ad would get my vote. I guess they were reaching out to those health-conscious/meditation-loving/blocked-up types, which happens to be just about everyone I know.

Help! We're Hammering Customers with Email!

Until around 10 years ago, direct marketers were rarely guilty of mailing customers too often.

Of course, email marketing changed all that.

As we all know, email advertisers don't pay for printing, mail house services, or postage. As a result, a lot of email marketers figure, Why not blast away?

I'll tell you why: It may be considerably more profitable to email customers less often.

Don't believe it -- or don't want to believe it? I feel your pain. I really do. Some of you spend serious money to acquire each opt-in, and your business model depends on vigorous email to the customer base.

Fortunately, there's an easy way to determine your optimal email frequency: Test it.

Take a large enough sample size of brand spanking new customers and place them into two or more test groups. Include a control group that receives your standard email frequency. Then simply subject them to different email frequency schemes and add up the bottom line results.   

To give your lower frequency strategy higher odds of success, work with interesting -- rather than trite -- creative concepts and offers. Take advantage of the technologies that make it easier to launch interesting segmentation schemes and event-triggered campaigns. And try leveraging relevant Web 2.0 stuff -- as well as online video and audio. 

You may be surprised to learn that you don't have to send nearly as much email as you thought. You just have to be smarter about it.

By the way: The cool "Email Hell" logo near the top comes from the coolest t-shirt supplier on the planet, T-Shirt Hell.

BeRelevant is the Best Damn Email Advertising Blog on Earth

That's Tamara Gielen. Her extraordinarily useful email marketing blog is Be Relevant: Tamara's Email Marketing Best Practices.

An email marketing manager at eBay Belgium by day, Tamara combs the Internet during her off hours, searching for interesting how-to's on the state of the art.

Last week I discovered how to optimize email for handheld devices. Some days I get a half dozen helpful posts from her. 

If you're serious about business-to-business or business-to-consumer email marketing, you'll want to hear from Tamara regularly.

Thanks, Tamara.

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Fresh Graphic Design Whups Email Marketing Template

Email marketing templates are easy, fast, and cheap. But are they always optimal?

Recently we tested an email template against a customized graphic design approach for a business-to-business direct marketing group.

We used the same offer -- and even the same concept -- on both sides of the split-run test. The only element we varied was graphic design.

Result: The fresh design approach pulled 41% more unique clickthroughs. (The client was unable to track conversions.)

Going in, we believed the template was keeping this b-to-b marketer from properly pulling off interesting concepts.   

Clearly, this direct marketer should continue testing, but there's a lesson here for email advertising aficionados: Never rely on speculation, opinions, and biases. Run your own A/B tests. And always be skeptical of approaches that lock out innovation.

Let's Get Real About The Visual Side Of Email Marketing

Have you heard the news? HTML email advertising is on the way out. Text rules. Go text!

Before CAN-SPAM, we assured direct marketing enthusiasts that email wasn't about to go bye-bye. Enlightened business owners weren't going to spend more if they could market more efficiently via email or other electronic means.

Remember this, gang: Nothing has ever stopped the proliferation of useful technology. Nothing.

Imagine radio without the human voice. Or television without moving images. Email is a form of Internet marketing, and the Internet is a multimedia channel.

Television is the most persuasive medium in history. Nothing conveys emotional ideas more effectively. If anything, email advertising will increasingly be linked to video and provide a television-like experience.

I've spent my entire adult life in direct marketing. We've literally run thousands of tests. Anyone who knows me and my direct marketing agency, Mothers of Invention, knows we love data.

We also work regularly with unusual ideas. Are ideas more important than data? That's easy. Marketing is largely a business of ideas. And ideas often have a visual component.

But what about the folks out there who say they don't enable HTML images? Forget what they say. Study what they actually do.

And besides, even senders of all-text email ads could have visual and conceptual (or even TV-like) advertising available on landing pages. In fact. those pages aren't tested often enough.

Let's see 100 diverse, controlled, projectable tests of first-rate HTML email marketing against text and other tests involving multimedia. Then we'll continue the discussion.

How to Create Email Advertising that Doesn't Suck

The DM News Essential Guide to E-Mail Marketing is now available for your reading pleasure. This blogger contributed an article on the creative aspect of email marketing. Download your copy.

Email Advertising for Customer Retention AND Acquisition

If you've been dabbling in the e-marketing arena for even a little while, you've probably read about the advantages of email advertising for customer retention. Some of the same authors may have also cautioned you about using email for customer acquisition.

Their generalizations are wrong. Just about every time we've heard someone say "Acquisition email didn't work for us" and taken a close look, we've found at least one major shortcoming.

At our direct marketing agency, Mothers of Invention, we've been successfully using email for customer acquisition since the 1990s. But our email ads are quite different than the standard fare. See some examples (including the Extol "Monkey" ad) in our Retrospective Exhibit.

For one thing, we treat email as an advertising medium. We aim for all the impact of strong print advertising. Then we throw in textbook direct marketing elements and interactivity. Count up the number of emails you receive today and you'll quickly understand why we pull out all the stops.

Indeed, the email game ain't easy. Yet most acquisition-related email ads running right now are mediocre at best. From a conceptual, copy, art, offer, and/or list usage standpoint, they're just not working hard enough. And in email, you'd better be firing on all pistons.

Don't believe the pundits who've only run mediocre email ads and don't know what they don't know. Run a solid test of this cost-effective advertising medium and draw your own conclusions.

And finally, check out this article on email marketing -- and the Extol campaign in particular -- in DIRECT Magazine.