Email Marketing By the Numbers: How to Use the World's Greatest Marketing Tool to Take Any Organization to the Next Level

307 Pages·2007·5.97 MB·English

by  Chris Baggott

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Email Marketing
by the Numbers
How to Use the World’s
Greatest Marketing Tool
to Take Any Organization
to the Next Level
Chris Baggott
with Ali Sales
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Email Marketing
by the Numbers
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Email Marketing
by the Numbers
How to Use the World’s
Greatest Marketing Tool
to Take Any Organization
to the Next Level
Chris Baggott
with Ali Sales
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Copyright © 2007 by Chris Baggott. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
Wiley Bicentennial Logo: Richard J. Pacifico
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Baggott, Chris.
Email marketing by the numbers : how to use the world’s greatest
marketing tool to take any organization to the next level / Chris Baggott.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-470-12245-7 (cloth)
1. Internet marketing. 2. Electronic mail systems. I. Title.
HF5415.1265.B29 2007
658.8’72—dc22
2007002737
Printed in the United States of America.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
Introduction
By the Numbers: What’s It All About? vii
Chapter 1
What Is Marketing’s Goal? 1
Chapter 2
Is Email the Perfect Marketing Tool? 17
Chapter 3
What’s Wrong with Email? 39
Chapter 4
Subscriber Engagement: What Matters? 51
Chapter 5
Building a Killer Database 77
Chapter 6
Segmenting for Relevance 107
Chapter 7
Finding and Creating Relevant Content 143
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Contents
Chapter 8
The Role of Email in Viral and Word-of-Mouth Marketing 171
Chapter 9
Analytics That Matter 185
Chapter 10
Testing against Your Goals 205
Chapter 11
Using Surveys, Forms, and Other Feedback Tools 223
Chapter 12
Triggers, Transactions, and Integration 239
Chapter 13
Are You a Spammer? 255
Index 289
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INTRODUCTION
By the Numbers:
What’s It All About?
M
arketers, it’s time to let go. Say goodbye to intangibles and opin-
ions. Wave adios to feelings and gut instinct—you know, that reason
your boss used when you asked him why the color green would work
for your brochure.
Repeat this adage with me: “Half my marketing dollars are
wasted. I just don’t know which half.” Okay, it’s the last time you’ll
ever say those words. It’s the last time you’ll take a leap of faith or
look into your crystal ball and make a wild prediction.
I know that making marketing decisions based on feelings and in-
tuition seems natural. And that traditional marketing, branding ac-
tivities, and expensive professional services can be alluring. They’re
comfortable. So comfortable, in fact, that they seem right to a lot of
organizations. Here is one of my favorite lines from Thomas Paine’s
Common Sense: “A long habit of not thinking something wrong
gives it a superficial appearance of being right.”
Yet, there is a new era of marketing unfolding. One based on
data, analysis, and what people actually do rather than what they feel
or say. It’s time to say “no” to what may feel comfortable and “yes”
to the facts.
As humans, we like to think we are interesting. Complex. The re-
ality is that we typically repeat the same behavior over and over
again. Take me, for example. This morning, I read the paper. I drank
vii