This one is a clever one, from DoubleYou for Microsoft in Spain. To talk about the new developments and capabilities of Hotmail service, and based on the claim "we've changed so you'd like us more", a 30-day real-time campaign was created, with a boy trying to change (asking users for help and collaboration) so he could get her girlfriend back in love with him again:
The product is then shown, as a medium for the boy to achieve something and not as the main thing of the campaign, i love this. There was some discussion about if the story was true or faked, and although i think it's true, does it really matter? the content and the organic nature of the whole thing makes it entertaining enough as to be one of the cutest thing i've seen coming from Spain lately.
From Germany, an email marketing campaign that wanted to prove that even online, when you use Axe, you attract a lot of girls. Basically the user gets sent an email from a friend with a link to a site, after visiting the site and spraying a little bit of Axe the recipient of the viral email receives a further series of messages from a dozen of young ladies. It's the Axe effect, right? But we have become so sensitive (and annoyed with unsolicited messages) that it rather looks like the spam effect.
You can see the video explaining in detail how the campaign worked on Ads of the World.
Email marketing could prove a valuable tool not only to sell products, but also to raise awareness on social problems. On Houtlust I've found a very good example of email for social: a campaign to support an EMSI (Integral Health Medical Unit) project to eradicate malaria in Burkina Faso.
The agency is Tiempo BBDO and the work can be seen and appreciated on their website.
What's the best day to send out your emails to customers? My friends at Eroi have just release an interesting report analysing the opening rates day by day and by list size.
"In Q3 of 2005 we notice that the middle of the week is the low point, as far as read and click statistics go. Noticeable high points in the week occur on Sunday and Friday for both stats. So from this quarter we reaffirm again that sending volume is inversely related to how reads and clicks are going to react with the one exception of Saturday.
Quoted on eMarketer a new research by ExactTarget suggests that the "best days for opens are not necessarily the best for clicks". Of course, maximizing open rates is important for brand exposure, while generating clicks is the key if the goal is conversion. The research found out that if you send out your commercial emails Wednesday through Friday you get the highest opening rates, but if you're looking for clicks, than the week-end is the best time. According to ExactTarget data, over 97% of campaigns are sent Monday through Friday.
On ClickZ an article provides five tips to improve the performance of email marketing campaign. Basically it says: be nice and be clear (about privacy, unsubscribing procedures, personalization options) and people will read your messages.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Email marketing
In the UK, BP has launched a viral video email to promote its Ultimate range of fuels. The petrol giant is targeting Nectar cardholders aiming at educating them about the available fuel choice.
The new Email Trend Report just released by Doubleclick shows an increase in the click-to-purchase conversion rate, which rose 24.2% (from 3.3%) to 4.1% versus Q1 2004. On the other side we face an overall trend indicating a decline in opening rates (from 38.2% in Q1 2004 to 30.2% in Q1 2005). Good news for what concerns bounce rates which were at an all time low at 8.3%.
Commenting the Report Kevin Mabley, Senior Director and General Manager of Strategic Services at DoubleClick said: "This quarter's data demonstrate the continuing effectiveness of email for communicating with and marketing to customers".
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Email marketing
The solution to get better results with email marketing? Add a touch of personality! According to Jupiter Research, the vast majority of email marketers are getting poor results because they fail to target engaged customers, not sending personalised email based on factors like Web pages viewed, time spent per page and shopping cart abandonment. Futhermore, personalisation is usually limited to inserting the recipient name in the salutation, absolutely not a key factor in influencing the purchase behaviour.
Read more on Mediapost...
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Email marketing
In Belgium Barnes & Richardson developed last year an email marketing campaign for Havana Club, to promote the "Anejo Especial" Edition. As explained on Digimedia (in Dutch) 15.000 email messages were sent to people aged 24 to 35 living in Brussels. The email invited people to visit a dedicated web site and win a bottle of the new Rhum to be drunk with friends at local pubs. Over 4000 users took part to the competition.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Email marketing
Email spam is a big problem everywhere. Someone is taking it seriously, some others just ignore it. In France it seems like they preferred to take a strong position against a plague with is affecting email marketing. Last week the Union Française du Marketing Direct (UFMD) has published a code of conduct for email marketers. It defines the rules to collect and use the email addresses to be used to deliver commercial messages. The curious thing ZDnet France reports, is that also the e Syndicat national de la communication directe (SNCD) decided to release or, better, to update, its own deontological rules. For the moment the two associations are going to come together to produce a unique document.
Who should email marketers listen to?
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Email marketing
Black & Decker has appointed Mailtrack to create a pan-European email campaign in order to learn more about its customers and prospects. Mailtrack will create a series of competitions to win products and to profile people through a questionnaire. The initiative will run in Italy, Spain and France.
By: martina // Permalink // Comment(s): Category(s):Email marketing
