Blog Box

While Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is not a company we work for or have any affiliation with besides some small financial support, they are a fantastic organisation and we’ve watched their email newsletters roll in for some time now.  

They have in the last 12 months made a dramatic revision in the formatting of their HTML email newsletters and their evolution is worth considering if you have been adhering a certain type for a while now in your own email marketing.

I’ve attached a screenshot saved from a 2008 newsletter we received from MSF.  It may remind you of the odd newsletter you’ve seen, or maybe of your own. :)

While we received these regularly and it kept MSF in our minds, they were rarely read due to the heavy amounts of text and the inability to clearly see any subjects of interest to us.  This ‘heavy’ format inhibited MSF’s ability to communicate by forcing the user to stop and read lengthy copy they may not be interested in in order to find something they might.  Almost as fun as eating Weet-Bix with no milk.

Significantly this older style of email makes assumptions about what content is relevant to publics rather than helping recipients to select areas of interest to them within the organisation’s sphere of activity.  I have illustrated the effectiveness of such emails in a graph I generously made for you here.

So, in the words of Dana Carvey from that-movie-I haven’t-seen-and-don’t-intend-to, ”This is what you doing.  This is what I want you to do.”

So, we were particularly interested when MSF recently transitioned to a very different email format (see second image). Beyond providing an emotional appeal through images of their work, I am now able to quickly see if there’s anything of interest in less than two seconds. Often I find myself clicking through to one or more areas. That possibility may have been there before, but, I just didn’t see it.

Succinctly, their emails have transitioned from a  monologue to a question/opportunity.  This is a far more acceptable method of digital communication respecting the recipients online sensibilities and time poverty.

Readers now follow through on areas of interest to them and click into an environment where they can fully engage with the area that they care about most and easily donate/register/forward/comment etc.

They choose, rather than being told.  This facilitates an even greater likelihood of further action.

So, what are you doing with your email newsletters?  Are you stuck in a marketing rut, where the only way to get a message out there is to cram it down like fairy floss in a fat kids face, or do you entice the user, respect their time and achieve a far more, er, healthy result.

MSF since launching their revised template has been very careful never to overload or grow it beyond the current ‘hero’ image, two article images, two paragrah-type-text areas and persistent footer links.  

Just looking at it now you can see how attractive and easy to decipher it is.  They are still careful to ensure all the images are ALT tagged and a kind disclaimer resides down the bottom.  But beyond that, I believe their understanding and consideration of their constituents has resulted a far more effective email.

Another great spin off is that you will be able to better judge what people actually are interested in as they follow through on particular topics.  You’ll be able to tailor your emails and begin a cycle of increased effectiveness.  So while you may not have powerful pictures relating to important issues of justice, you might just be able to change the way your emails are sent to facilitate easy communication and action using few words and clear links.

Love to know your thoughts,

~ Rob

Email marketing is something which businesses do in many and various ways with varying degrees of success. Getting people to sign up to your email list, preventing email systems from labelling your email as spam, let alone getting people to read your emails are all steps that need fine tuning on an ongoing basis. With statistics showing a $45.65 return on every $1 spent on email marketing in 2008 it is extremely important that it really is a powerful way of growing business.

So why not see how others do it? I decided on a group of businesses that require regular contact to announce new products, their recent activities and to remind their fickle customers about them. Musicians. From new music, to tour announcements and just general promotion - email marketing should be very important to this industry.

The first step - shaking hands
To start the survey I took the top 15 artists on the Australian music charts and headed to their websites. Their website is a primary area for getting signups to their email marketing so a link or form should be obvious to find and use. So here’s 5 lessons on email marketing from the music industry.

Lesson 1 - Make sure your website works

Not a great way to get signups. Viewed in Internet Explorer the website shows properly.

Apparently Christina Aguelira has sold enough music and has decided not to worry about selling to new customers. This warning ‘you need Flash version 8′ is a stumbling block to people getting in to her site and signing up to her email list. Let people access your site - even if they can’t see all your ‘awesome’ features and tricks.

Lesson 2 - Make sure your signup page works

Make sure your website works - a small hiccup from Pink was fixed.

Pink’s website works - in fact the ’signup’ link is quite easy to see as a part of what seems to be the main navigation. However signing up for Pink’s email list wasn’t so easy - when I went to click on the form it told me that her ’signup’ page didn’t exist.
Woops! This is a big problem for someone like Pink, who is doing 14 shows in Sydney alone in the coming weeks. 14 shows! That’s a lot of people who might want to visit her website and might want to continue hearing about what she’s working on and releasing.
Luckily for her - the problem was sorted and the website seems fixed now.

Lesson 3 - Let people find your signup page easily

An easy to find sign-up link on the front page of the Il Divo site.

One way to maximise the amount of people signing up to your list is to allow people to find the signup form easily. Il Divo does this well - in the menu area they have a link to “sign-up for updates” which is just the kind of thing to help grow your list. Hiding it down the bottom of your site, or calling it something not obvious will make it hard for people to find.

Lesson 4 - Follow up with an email. Quickly

My inbox shows just 7 responses from 15 signups and 2 emails since then.

Of the 15 musicians I signed up to - I received 7 welcome/confirmation emails. That’s just under half and if I wasn’t taking notes I wouldn’t remember who I signed up to - and neither would your subscribers if you have the same policy. A sure fire way of helping people remember that they signed up to your email list (and to add you to their email safe list) is to send them an email straight away. Asking them to confirm their subscription will vastly reduce unsubscriber rates too - only 3 of the musicians I signed up for asked me to confirm the subscription: Nickelback, Lady Gaga and Snow Patrol. That’s a paltry 20%. People who really want to hear your message will confirm their email, and if you’ve sent it straight away they will more likely act upon it and keep reading your later emails.

Lesson 5 - Be regular, include news

Beyonce's email provides news.

Since signing up 2.5 weeks ago I have received emails from a single musician. Beyonce (my favourite American female singer with the name Beyonce - of all of them she is by far the best) has sent me two emails, both included news about things being ‘available now’ or ‘recently released’. In other words she’s sent news. Ensure you have newsworthy content and keep it regular. Rob and I send this email monthly, we don’t have enough to tell you weekly or bi-weekly so each 8th of the month we hopefully present you with something of value that is relevant to you. Do the same for your customers - increase read rates by making it predictable and lower unsubscribe rates by presenting something relevant.

My conclusion

These simple pieces of advice will go a long way to helping you grow if applied to your business. It’s easy for people with the right knowledge to set up for your business and it can be left to operate automatically. All you need to do is provide the news and send it regularly.

A Word To The Kings of Leon

Dear Kings of Leon,
I don’t know if you realise this but Sony BMG is not doing the best they can for you - in fact they’re doing a horrible job considering you are paying them for their expert help. Have you seen the mailing list signup page for your website lately? Here’s a picture I snapped of it earlier.

Kings of Leon subscribe page. Nice effort Sony BMG.

Since you guys are so popular right now and all over the radio - I’m sure you would like to keep selling to people once stations have stopped playing you. Give me (Andrew) a call: +61 0414 674 271 and I’ll set something up for you that will actually work, trust me it’s not that hard.

As I’ve said before, I hate complicated sites.  I love simple ones.  And to restate the premise, I like my 50mm f1.8 and I use Apple products. When it comes to the web, I want what I want, and I want it now. 

Many websites (typically ones that have been through a marketing department committee meeting) are just a mess of images and text. Trying to find what you’re after is hard going.  More like rush hour (why is it called rush?) traffic instead of a well marked road at 2 in the morning.

So you’ve only got a few seconds, how are you going to use them?  I would suggest not spending them by forcing your user to swim upstream against a flood of stupid content they’re not even there for in the first place.  Yes, I said stupid.  It is.  It makes me angry.  Just like the phrase “make the logo bigger“.  Stupid.  Stop it now.

Three points. As promised.

1. Single focus.  Keep pages about one thing, reduce choice and remove unnecessary elements.  This will also help your search engine rankings as you’ll have pages that are highly-relevant on a particular area.  Apple do a great job at this informationally and visually.  Sure, other information is there, but you’re never struggling to remember what you’re at the page for.  A good way to say this is, ‘the more elements there are on a page the less important each element becomes‘.  Your users attention is a limited resource.  Spend it wisely.  What would you prefer, 25 elements of almost no value or 2/3 or high value?
    
2. Be lazy.  Do you enjoy (or bother) clicking over three times on a site looking for something? Either will your customers. Same goes for the check out procedure.  Keep it as efficient as possible and respect your public’s time.  The effort you spend mapping out a user process will come back to you as people enjoy their interaction with your site and come back.
    
3. Use Nappy-San.  Clean up your design and don’t forget the power of white space to relax and serve information. Be really considered here.  Nothing I hate more than crowded pages where the slightest portion of ‘unused’ space is more evil than rain on your wedding.  I don’t care if it looks like you made it 100 years ago as long as I can figure it out, but don’t harass me!  So this ties into point one, don’t make your user fight through the jungle to find the juice.  It’s not a war.  You won’t win.

OK, nice and snappy.  I hope your a little more informed about how to keep fussy fans feeling fantastic.  They get what they want, and who’d have thought it, you will too.

Love to hear your thoughts, contact us if you want more information on how you can improve your site for you and your users.

~ Rob

Why does this paragraph contain eleven words not more or less?

Because David Ogilvy told me so. He’s one of the best known advertising men of America’s recent history and I recently read his book “Confessions of an Advertising Man” - which lays out ways for companies to sell their product the same way he was amazingly successful for his clients.

8 ways to succeed with advertising according to one of the most successful ad men ever.

Headlines

1. Headlines are the most important element of your advertising. If you haven’t sold something in your headline you’ve wasted opportunity. Use it to flag down the readers who are prospects for the kind of product you are advertising. If you are writing to mothers use MOTHERS in the copy.

2. Include your brand name and arouse curiosity so people read on.

Body Copy

3. Get straight to the point.

4. Avoid superlatives, generalisations and platitudes. Be specific and factual but don’t be boring - tell the truth but be fascinating.

Photos and Pictures

5. Photography sells more than illustrations. Colour photographs sell more than black and white photographs.

6. Always include ’story appeal’, it makes people stop and take notice.

If You Are Writing A Lot of Copy

7. Make the first paragraph just 11 words long.

8. Paragraphs should be short and easily read - use language that people reading will understand. Speak in the language of the day and remember to be interesting.

Well that’s 8 ways for you to succeed with advertising - there are a lot more from Ogilvy’s book, but we think these are very important to take note of whenever you’re writing for advertising or making your own.

Bonus

9. If you’re selling to men - try and use men in your photography, if you want to sell to women use women in your ad or babies. If you use families in your photo - it doesn’t appeal much to anyone and is much less effective.

This, the third and final piece on our overview of Australian Spam Law walks through the important but clear topics of Identification and Subscription. Be prepared to be wiser.

Identification

Doesn’t mean clicking ‘enhance’ on your super pixilated Google image. And unlike the Biblical principle, it is, in this case, all about you.

Essentially it means that if you are the person sending a commercial electronic message you must provide clear and accurate information about yourself including details and contact information.

If you’re using a third party make sure you provide them with accurate contact information regarding your business.

Of course this is to be contextually appropriate - an SMS will have less contact information (perhaps a phone number rather than an address) than an e-mail. However it needs to be accessible and clear.

Information needs to be accurate for 30 days after the day you send the message. At which point you may fly to the Cayman Islands.

Easy.

Unsubscription

“You need to provide people with the choice to opt out” says ‘Spam Act 2003 – A practical guide for business’.

This ability needs to be a) clear and b) easy to use. Requests must be followed up promptly.

These can take the form of phone numbers, email addresses, online-forms, fax numbers and more. Just like identification this function must be available for 30 days after the transmission of your message.

The Spam Act states that a request to ‘withdraw consent’ will have been deemed to take place from 5 days after the request is sent (in the case of email) or received (in the case of post or other means). So make sure you follow requests up promptly!

The Practical Guide suggests a same-day unsubscription regime or an automated process with checking previous unsubscription against new imports. Both these features are supported in Brown Box’s MailBox if you are using it to send messages.

Other final information

The Australian Communications Authority (ACA) is the regulating body for activities to which the Spam Act relates. If you infringe the act and are reported they may issue a formal warning if your trespass has been inadvertent, would not be repeated and the warning is deemed sufficient to ‘change contravening behaviour’.

The legislation is designed to prohibit spam originating in Australia being sent anywhere, or originating overseas being sent to an Australian address. So if you live in Ukraine and are sending email to Iceland then you can disregard everything I’ve written.

We also recommending checking your ISP’s Acceptable Use Policy if you are using them as a relay for commercial electronic messages, as their terms and conditions may differ from those laid out in the SPAM Act.

Some links as provided by the Business Guide.

• Australian Direct Marketing Association (ADMA) ;
• Coalition against Unsolicited Bulk Email (CAUBE) ;
• Internet Industry Association (IIA);
• Internet Society of Australia (ISOC);
• Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA);
• Small Enterprise Telecommunications Centre (SETEL); and
• Presidian Legal Publications.

Conclusion

We’ll, if you’ve managed to persevere through these three short articles you’ll have yourself a great handle on what’s required to satisfy the Australian Spam Act and be well on your way to successful commercial electronic messaging.

The three main principles are Consent, Identify and Unsubscribe. If you keep these three in mind as you construct campaigns and manage lists you can sleep safe knowing you won’t find the ACA banging down your door.

Again this is all outlined in ‘SPAM ACT 2003: A Practical Guide for Business’ which is a handy download for reference purposes.

Thanks for joining me for this journey through SPAM law.

Feel free to email me if you have any questions, I’m happy to help.

Thanks for reading :)

~Rob