eROI Edge Newsletter


Reports from the Front Lines of Email Marketing This past month has been a great and crazy one for those here at eROI. We have been on the road at events like OMMA (written recap) (video recap) and Marketing Sherpa's Email Summit (written recap) speaking and learning along with many of you we saw there. But alas, it has left little time to really hammer down a compact version of our newsletter. We didn't want to let you down, so we penned some "Stories from the Front Lines" that come from our 3 blogs that are updated all week long. Most of our knowledge and writing is shifting to our blogs as the weekly recaps are a hit with subscribers, and the interactions and traffic are through the roof. Good problem to have, don't you think? So enjoy some key learnings this month on a variety of topics from our Field Generals here at eROI, where the learning and community-building never sleeps. But alas, we did produce our first Podcast on what else... Podcasting. Listen to it online. Find More Coverage on TheEmailWars

		Lurker or Active Reader? What does it mean to be an email lurker? A lurker is a stealthy reader on your list, but is someone who never engages with you by clicking through or converting to a lead. I know you all have lurkers on your list. So, what do you think about them and what do you do with them? We just spent three months cleaning up our own newsletter email lists. We took the data points from October to December 2006, segmented them by active and inactive subscribers (read: lurkers), and then sent the last three months of emails to these new lists. Each edition was different. Not all the copy was different, but the subject lines and the intro copy was written specifically based on the behavior of the segmented lists. We used humor, as we often do, as we are tired of boring business-to-business based emails. Aren't you? We used subject lines like: "It's not you, it's us" and "Are You Breaking Up With Us" as well as a standard safe one that we would typically use. The funny thing that happened was some of the feedback we got from these inactive subscribers letting us know that they were interested, but just not really actively engaging with the email. In the second month we saw a 25% lift in reads and clicks from people who were lurkers three months earlier. The third month saw the same type of response and action. Continue Reading... Or Are You a Lurker?

		Is Your Campaign Worthy of Our Creativity Journal? This past holiday season, we put together a creative journal for our customers. These journals were a hit, finding their way into the hearts of all who received them. 'Thank you' emails rolled into our inboxes, many asking, "Can I get one more for a co-worker?" Due to the love of these Creativity Journals, we wanted to hold a contest with our subscribers. Send us your BEST email campaign creative and you could win an eROI creative journal. This is open to eROI customers and subscribers alike, so no pressure, as everyone has a chance to get a journal. The only requisite: the creative must ROCK. To enter, simply send us your email creative in HTML, JPG, or PDF and we will hold an internal review by our email creative team to choose the winners. These winners will have their work featured on ReturnOnSubscriber once they are chosen and our comments will follow on this blog. Please make sure to attach your name, company, email address and 100 - 250 words describing what the campaign was for, the target audience and what time of year it was sent. Also important is the Subject Line, or lines if you did an A/B list split by Subject Line. We look forward to your submissions and if you have any questions, reach out and touch us. Submit Your Campaign - Don't Be Shy

		What is Viral? I was having a discussion with our Director of Emerging Technology, Creative Director, and one of our Flash developers about the true definition of viral marketing. Many campaigns have touted themselves as Viral and it seems that almost any project that hot agency, Crispin Porter, touches is labeled viral. Nearly every agency that has ever come up with an adver-game or Flash-based referral campaign has deemed themselves "viral." At various Ad Club meetings and networking events, we have overheard conversations between agencies and big prospects where the agency remarks on how well they "do viral" and then has to explain for 15 minutes the major viral campaign they ran and how it worked. The litmus test: if you ever have to explain in any type of detail what your viral campaign is, IT IS NOT VIRAL (or the person you are talking to does not spend any time on the web). Does Your Campaign REEK of Viral?

		Emails and Sites that Make Our Inbox Giggle Alternative Email Glossary This email glossary (that a co-worker sent us) is hilarious - take a read and comment below if you can add to this list: "Tipping point" Point during a conversation by email where it becomes clear to both participants that they could have sorted things out days ago with a five-minute phone call. "Out of Office Reply" Device used by business people to avoid having to respond quickly to incoming email. "Thank you interval" Time spent wondering if you need to send a thank-you reply to a thank-you email. NEW Mid-Month eROI Newsletter Look for our new monthly strategy newsletter titled "The Click Through." It should be hitting your inbox about two weeks after this newsletter. This new newsletter focuses on some targeted work and ideas that we are busy on that have driven results. Continue Reading the Glossary

		Missed Opportunity for Transactional Email Transactional email has been a hot topic in email marketing circles for the past few '07 events that we have attended. Many case studies we have seen have spoken to the opportunity of lift or upsell in the body of the transactional email. The rule of thumb tends to be that 25% of the message can be marketing in a transactional email as long as it is not the driver or main focus of the message. Are You Missing This Step in Your Lifecycle?

Reports from the Front Lines of Email Marketing Lurker or Active Reader? Is Your Campaign Worthy of Our Creativity Journal? What is Viral? Emails and Sites that Make Our Inbox Giggle Missed Opportunity for Transactional Email
5 Experts on 10 Rockin' Videos iMedia Connection, March 19, 2007 Geico Welcomes You to the Caveman's Crib iMedia Connection, Feb 27, 2007 Heat, Chains and Sam Jackson's "Snake" iMedia Connection, Feb 27, 2007 The Number's Up for Jim Carrey on YouTube iMedia Connection, Feb 20, 2007 An All-Star Ad for EA Sports iMedia Connection, Feb 20, 2007 Weekend Read: Social Awareness Is The Top Online Marketing Trend for 2007 DMW Media, Feb 16, 2007 How CPG Company Goes Viral to Launch New Product MarketingSherpa, Feb 14, 2007 Top 10 Online Marketing Predictions for 2007 MarketingProfs.com, Feb 13, 2007 Case Study: Dunderdon opts for online marketing to expand globally and meet customer demand DMNews, Feb 12, 2007 Guide illuminates spectrum of multichannel retail issues DMNews, Feb 12, 2007
In February and March we were excited to have record attendances for our Webinars. There are webinars ready to roll for April through June 2007 and we look forward to having you join us for at least one 30 minute session. Look for webinars covering ideas and methods you can employ for your campaign growth. We have had many clients and subscribers already comment on how valuable these webinars have been. We will be covering: Rendering Testing and Impact with ReturnPath EyeTracking Studies on email with EyeTools RSS to Email for Focused Content Delivery Sign up for upcoming Webinars We look forward to "seeing" you there.
"I wanted to personally thank you and your team for the fast work on such short notice. Everything seems to be working beautifully. I look forward to meeting with you and working more with you in the future. Thanks again." - Agency Creative Director
New List Segmentation Tools: We are working hard on a new list and campaign segmentation tool driven by the needs our our clients. This new way of building campaigns is going to make a noticeable impact on email results. New ReturnPath Offering: If you have not measured the way that your email templates are rendering in the new Outlook 2007, time to get your creative to us for a test. You will be surprised at the results one strong test can make for your creative, not just in Outlook but in all of the other email clients. New Reporting: On the horizon is a new UI for our already great campaign analytics reporting. We are dressing it up and taking it out on the town in the coming months. Current clients will love it so much, they will want to ask it to the prom. Contact us if you would like a One on One demo of our email marketing solution and access to a demo account that you can try for yourself.
Events to Attend 04.01.07 NW Food Service Show Portland, OR 04.18.07 Email Authentication Summit Boston, MA 04.25.07 InnoTech Oregon Portland, OR 04.25.07 AdTech SF San Fran, CA 05.31.07 Inbox Event San Jose, CA 05.03.07 Webvisions Portland, OR 07.19.07 Internet Strategy Forum Portland, OR