The answer…
42% --> Open rate
13% --> Click rate
18% --> Click-to-open rate
26% --> Conversion rate

Are you surprised by the results? Share your comments below.

Also, visit the eec homepage to answer the latest Two-Click Survey question:
Are you in compliance with the new CAN-SPAM rules that went into effect this month?

-->See more Two-Click Survey Results.

Every week the EEC adds new content to its Whitepaper Room. Here are the latest additions:

FreshAddress: 2008 Email Address Validation Study of 50 Leading Retailer Websites
This study is the second in a series of examinations of the email validation practices of leading internet retailers.

Alchemy Worx: Subject Lines – Length is Everything
Conventional wisdom about subject line length is turned on its head.

StrongMail: The On-Premise Advantage for Marketing and Transactional
New perspectives on insourcing and outsourcing business-critical commercial email.

*Have a whitepaper you’d like to contribute? Email it to whitepapers@emailexperience.org.

Stop drinking the kool-aid! Your subject line test strategy needs a complete overhaul.

Last week I released a whitepaper on subject line length and its effect on open, click and click-to-open (CTO) rates called Subject Lines – Length Does Matter. At first glance, our analysis of over 640 email campaigns supports the widely held view that short subject lines are best for opens. But what it goes on to demonstrate is that when it comes to subject line length, more opens = less clicks!

We discovered that although subject lines with 60 characters or less make more people open the email—the traditional view—these people are less likely to then go on and click on content or offers within the message than people who open an email with a longer subject line. There is an inverse relationship between opens and both click and CTO rates.

The study goes on to show that CTO rates start to be optimized when the subject line is over 70 characters in length and continue to rise until well beyond 100 characters. This is true for both the number of characters and the word count. The more words there were in the subject line, the better the CTO rate (if anything the results are stronger for word count).

Given the strength of the whitepaper’s findings, I wanted to find out what subject line lengths marketers were using as common practice. As you might expect, we monitor a large number of UK email campaigns, from a cross-section of sectors and companies including British Airways, Hilton, Apple, Amazon and Reuters and we were astonished to find out just how many subject lines sent by these companies were short (i.e., 60 characters or less).

Out of 700 subject lines sent to our monitoring accounts in the last 90 days, the vast majority—87% of them—were under 60 characters in length. A further 7% fell into the ‘dead zone’ between 60 and 70 character where neither opens nor the CTO rate is optimized, and only 6% of the subject lines were over 70 characters long and therefore likely to optimize click and CTO rates.

Does his mean that everybody out there is only interested in opens and doesn’t care about clicks? Or perhaps that email marketers, having extensively and regularly tested longer subject lines, know for a fact that they don’t work? What’s more likely to be the case is that as an industry we’ve done such a fantastic job of drinking the kool-aid that we have stopped testing outside of the accepted norms.

Our whitepaper also found subject lines with a higher word count also optimize clicks and CTO rates. So how do the numbers break down when it came to word count? The numbers are equally amazing. Only 13% of subject lines monitored contained above 10 words—where clicks and CTO are optimized. 60% fell into the ‘dead zone’ of between 6 and 10 words, where neither clicks nor opens are optimized; and 26% of the subject lines contained fewer than 6 words, and therefore optimized open rates.

So what I have learned from this exercise is that email marketers need to completely overhaul their subject line test strategy:
● Subject line tests should be more granular—long and short just isn’t good enough. Subject lines need to be broken down into more character groupings (1-10, 11-20, ...91-100).
● Introduce word count testing. Words are a much better way of conveying meaning than characters.
● Assess the impact of the number of propositions contained in the subject line on your campaign performance.
● Finally, open rates are just a small part of the story. Your tests should assess the impact of subject lines on clicks, CTO rate and conversions, as well as sales.

My greatest fear is that the people reading the whitepaper will be looking for a simple answer such as “when it comes to email subject lines, short is best”, when in fact the central message is keep searching, keep optimizing and keep on challenging assumptions.

—Dela Quist of Alchemy Worx

As I rolled into work this morning, I logged into my Gmail account to see what random emails came in over the 6-hour window of time I was sleeping. Lo and behold....a message was sitting unread in my inbox.

The message was from “AIM Member Message” and had the subject line “What’s New with AIM?” If I wasn’t the type of person who opens every email (if only to critique them from a best practices standpoint), I would have “junked” this one immediately. Who is “AIM Member Message?” Why not “AIM” or “AOL Instant Messenger?” If you are going to have a terrible From name, at least wow me with the subject line, right? “What’s New with AIM?” Boooooooring.

Two strikes for AOL before I even open the message. But, again, I open everything. Maybe they were banking on that fact. Maybe they didn’t really spend any time thinking about the From name or subject line. Maybe they don’t have a dedicated team of email marketers who are thinking about email as a strategic tool. Maybe it’s a combination of all three or “none of the above.” Who knows? Either way, it’s not a great start.

Did I mention that I can’t remember ever receiving an email from AOL (not in my Gmail account anyway)? So my next question (zinger) is how did they get my email address? Followed by...why the random, seemingly out-of-the-blue email? Oh right, they wanted to tell me “What’s New with AIM.” Too bad I don’t care or more importantly, never asked to be emailed by AIM. Good thing they put the disclaimer in fine print in the footer.

Now...to the message. On first glance, a decent design for images off. Three text links—one “Find Out More!” followed by two “Start Now!” At least the valuable disclaimer/opt-out shows up with images off.

Moving onto the message with images on, I realize there are several key calls-to-action that are now viewable. So much for a nice design with images off. First off, apparently this is the AIM Newsletter. Who would’ve known? What *is* the AIM Newsletter anyway? A weekly message? Monthly communication? Whenever-they-feel-like-it email? Looks like they want me to download AIM. Funny thing is that I already have an AIM account. In fact, I’ve had one since AIM first launched sometime in the late 20th century. AOL collects a ton of data (I assume). Shouldn’t they have already known that little tidbit? How about segmenting the list...targeting emails?

Continuing down below the fold, it looks like they want me to “start using [my] free AIM Mail Account.” Again—been there, done that. My AOL username dates back to the dial-up days of 1995.

Finally, at the very bottom of the email—well below the fold—I get some neat new information: Mobile AIM! Yes. I can now access AIM on my mobile device. I guess it’s about time to purchase that smart phone. I’ve been told they are pretty cool.

Unfortunately, I’m no longer shocked or surprised when a multi-billion dollar company does not understand the basics of email marketing. In the email ecosystem, industry experts often get dinged for hammering “email marketing 101.” Marketers shout, “We get the fundamentals. Show us the new stuff!” But then...we get emails like the one from AOL/AIM/AIM Member Message.

Thanks AOL for keeping our jobs easy....

—DJ Waldow of Bronto Software

The answer…
55% --> The sender name. The reputation of the sender is key.
45% --> The subject line. Subscribers want to know what the email is about before they open it.

Are you surprised by the results? Share your comments below.

Also, visit the eec homepage to answer the latest Two-Click Survey question:
Help us redesign our site. Should the width of pages on the eec site be increased, decreased or stay the same (960 pixels wide)?

-->See more Two-Click Survey Results

Subscriber fatigue is real, and wrecking havoc with your response rates! This is the primary conclusion from our fourth annual Return Path Holiday Email Survey. Respondents told us that relevance is in their eyes, not the eyes of the marketer. More than half (56.4%) of respondents say they receive high volumes of “junk” from marketers—defined as “email from companies I know but that is just not interesting to me.” “Junk” is second only to “spam” (“email I never asked to receive”) which 65.7% of respondents say they receive in high volumes. One-third say that marketers email them more frequently than promised. Most of this email is simply deleted unread, but subscribers do not hesitate to complain about unwanted messages (reporting the email as spam).

Value—like beauty—is always subjective. Surely all marketer’s email programs will have bad hair days, but there is chance for deeper beauty yet. There are some proven strategies to improve the value of email programs:

● Many respondents say they determine the value of each email message by using the subject line (58.6%). Spending more time to create compelling subject lines and test them effectively could make a difference for many marketers.

● The subject line and from line, as well as a consistent schedule of mailing may help boost response. Most respondents simply delete messages they don’t recognize (52.3%) or that they feel come too frequently (29.1%). Knowing and trusting the sender is key to that “open or delete” decision.

● It was encouraging to see that slightly less than a third (30%) of subscribers say they only open messages from brands they know. This is likely from the increased education about phishing and spoofing and spam tactics. However, another 14.4$ said that regardless of brand, they only open if they requested the particular message type. With most subscribers claiming they get more email than they expected at sign up, marketers must be cautious when sharing internal files or adding new message streams to existing subscriptions.

Marketers have benefited from consumers’ love of email. But even email tolerant subscribers don’t consistently read email unless it offers real value—and most consumers have figured out how to block or ignore future emails they don’t want.

Look back at your own Q4 email program. What did you do to engage with subscribers, and create a more compelling experience that breaks through the clutter? The only way to improve revenue from this channel is to create great email experiences over and over again. That means "great" from the subscriber perspective—relevant, timely and at the proper frequency.

—Stephanie Miller of Return Path

Do digital marketers view the function of the email similarly to that of the outer envelope in snail mail? Essentially, intrigue folks to click to the order page (open the envelope) as quickly as possible? —J.P.

The Voices of Email had this advice:

Chip House: I think that using the simile of direct mail is helpful when trying to understand the critical components of a successful email. To answer the question directly, however, I don’t equate the email itself to the outside of the envelope. Also, I don’t believe that the sole purpose is to drive to the inside of the envelope—or to drive a click to a web page. These are both critical pieces of email, but not the complete package.

First of all, I see the outside of the envelope as the “from” address and the subject line. These items are most often seen by the end-user. Optimizing these “envelope fields” really is the most critical item to get your email opened. In the days of preview panes and image blocking, however, optimizing the top portion of your email with alt tags, HTML call-to-action copy, etc. is also necessary if you want the recipient to spend more than 3 seconds on your message.

Second, once the email is opened, certainly getting the recipient to click through to the order page quickly is the goal of many retailers. Others in publishing, or B2B marketers, may choose a more “curriculum-based” approach where they are educating via their emails, adding value and creating ongoing interest. These types of communications don’t target a quick reaction, but rather seek to create a more educated customer/subscriber—one that chooses to pick your business over your competitors’ for the long haul.

Jeanniey Mullen: This is an awesome question! For those of us in the digital space, who also have years of experience in the “old school” world of direct marketing, the similarities are quite interesting. A great example of this is what is known in the direct mail world as the “Johnson Box.” I was going to write more about what a Johnson box is, and how it relates to email—but good, old Wikipedia does a phenomenal job—so check it out here.

The Johnson Box is just one example of how traditional direct mail successes are reused in email. If I were new to email and wasn’t sure how to succeed, I would find the best direct marketer I know and take them for coffee—they could teach you a trick or two that could be applied to email and give your campaign a competitive advantage.

Chad White: While in most cases retail emails do act like the envelope for the landing page, they don’t always. For instance, Saks Fifth Avenue sends their New York subscribers an email once a month highlighting in-store events at their flagship Fifth Avenue store, and MLB.com sends subscribers reminders to tune in to playoff games. In those cases, the email is like the letter rather than the envelope. This is probably the best way to think of email when the action prompted by the email takes place offline or in another channel.

Have some good advice that we missed? Please add a comment and take part in the conversation.

Have a question for the Voices of Email? Email Chad your question at chad@emailexperience.org and we’ll REPLY TO ALL by posting the answers so everyone can benefit.

-->Read other Reply to All posts.

Every week the EEC adds new content to its Whitepaper Room. Here are the latest additions:

Chad White: Reportlet - Retailers Say the Dirtiest Things
Using spammy words in subject lines won’t always get you blocked.

*Have a whitepaper you’d like to contribute? Email it to whitepapers@emailexperience.org.

Both SubscriberMail and Blue Sky Factory recently released lists of words that shouldn’t be used in emails because they’re likely to trigger spam filters. But I see some of these words—like “free” and “discount”—used routinely in the subject lines of commercial email that I receive. If I have a good reputation do I need to worry about content filters? Am I staying away from these words unnecessarily? —S.G.

The Voices of Email had this advice:

J.F. Sullivan: The answer should be no. If you have a good reputation then you do not need to worry about content filters. The actual answer is another question, as in it depends on two things: What’s your definition of a good reputation, and which content filter are we talking about?

Everyone in the email marketing (and message security) ecosystem has a different view of what a good reputation actually means. For some it’s as simple as making sure they are not on a blocklist; for others it may be that they are in compliance with a specific Sender Authentication implementation. In order to answer “yes” to the question, it may be more useful to provide a checklist summary of what a good reputation constitutes. So, if you can say “yes” to the following reputation aspects:

1. You have a good public reputation (not on blocklists, or have upset any ISPs).
2. You have good legislative adherence (e.g., CAN-SPAM compliance).
3. You have good infrastructure (e.g., DNS, MX records and the like).
4. You have good identity (e.g., you have a correctly configured SenderID record).
5. You have best practices (e.g., list scrubbing, opt-in, etc.).

Rob Fitzgerald: You always need to be aware that filtering exists, but I don’t think you need to be ruled by that existence either. It’s interesting to lay out all the various releases, of all the various words that shouldn’t be used within in an email, and see how incredibly long that list is. Sometimes it makes me wonder how you can actually put a string of sentences together without actually using any of them. Practically speaking, you have to use some words that may be “known” filter words. I don’t think that should give you pause to run the campaign for fear of a lack of response. We’ve sent out many campaigns with the word “Free” on them that have performed very well.

I tend to look at it this way—it’s all about moderation. Put together a creative with a lot of words that trigger filtering and it could be adversely affected. Give that same creative a diet, and keep some of those same words included, but not all of them, and I think you’ll be OK.

Stephanie Miller: Despite the frequency that I receive this question, there is still no magical list of words to avoid, nor is the use of marketing terms like “free,” “discount,” “special offer” and “click here” an automatic block. Don’t misunderstand. Those words can get you blocked. However, judicious, responsible and clear use of them usually won’t.

Why? Because spam filters dynamically update to reflect current market conditions and spammer behavior. The only way to ensure your content does not depress inbox deliverability is to run every email through a series of popular message filters to determine your spam score before sending to your entire mailing list. You can do this through a service or on your own by setting up multiple accounts at different ISPs.

Here’s how to optimize your message for response and deliverability: Write the copy as a marketer. Sell. Build the relationship. Clarify the offer. Make the call to action very clear. Then, test it. If you fail the spam filters, adjust it. Before you hit send, even if you pass the filter test, be sure to give your message AND subject line a “smell test.” If your readers or subscribers will think it’s spammy, so will the receivers. If you are using all capped, repetitive words that filters watch like “FREE SHIPPING THAT’S FREE” or using strange punctuation like ***NOW ON SALE***, then you are likely to be blocked.

Chad White: Inspired by this question, I did a little real world research and found that major online retailers have used many of the “dirty” words on SubscriberMail’s list of words to avoid using in subject lines. How many have they used? They’ve used 27 of the 100 in the past two months alone. Some of the words—like “Free,” “FREE,” “Offer” and “Buy”—they used a LOT. So it’s clearly possible to use these no-no words in subject lines under the right conditions. Based on that I’d say that you should explore using them but test to make sure your emails are getting through.

Have some good advice that we missed? Please add a comment and take part in the conversation.

Have a question for the Voices of Email? Email Chad your question at chad@emailexperience.org and we’ll REPLY TO ALL by posting the answers so everyone can benefit.

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We create shopping/advertising websites for media companies. People who register at the sites are invited to receive emails with special offers from the site. We start emailing each list after about 100 members sign up, but prior to hitting that threshold the only other email they would have received from the site is the confirmation email. I have been looking all over for some info on “starting from scratch”—a how-to or best practices for that initial email. Do the Voices of Email have any advice? —L.S.

The Voices of Email had this advice:

Rob Fitzgerald: Start the mental and marketing integration of your brand in that message—have it in the “from” line, the subject line, and in the email itself. Successful email marketing blossoms from consistency of message and consistency of branding. Also, be clear on the “what comes next,” what types of email offers will you be sending. Leave no chance for misunderstanding and your registrants will appreciate that. Be sure to present the person with the clear opportunity to opt-out from receiving any future emails from you. Lastly, don’t wait too long to send out marketing emails from the time the initial confirmation went out. There should be some immediacy to it or you risk disconnecting your registrant from your initial value-add.

Stephanie Miller: This is a great opportunity to launch an email conversation with prospects in order to engage early and lead them through the sales cycle. In fact, a conversation strategy on email is perfectly aligned with the goals of a newly launched shopping website—build the file over time, build relationships, optimize the early growth and leverage for future market saturation.

Today, you are “holding back” on sending email messages until you reach a critical mass of 100, and thus penalizing folks who join the list early. Rather, you want to celebrate these folks and “wow” them so keep reading and even tell two friends about your newsletter. Instead of thinking about it like a traditional publisher (where everyone gets the same content on the same date), think about it like a short-term email conversation—every subscriber gets the same experience. Email message one comes on day one, regardless if you signed up on June 1st or July 31st.

Offer something of real value for signing up—e.g., a free report or coupon—and use an auto-responder system that allows you to send brief, topical newsletters on a regular basis. If you have already built the website, send that content out in bite-sized, well-constructed tidbits to keep subscribers engaged. This will minimize the work and equalize the experience across all subscribers.

Once you set up this “series” of emails, you can trigger it for all new subscribers, regardless of the day they sign up, or their position in the queue. Using the same series for each subscribers ensure that each has a similar (and optimal) experience.

After you learn from this email conversation, active buyers can be converted to a more traditional promotional email program, where everyone gets the same promotion on the same day. But using a conversation in the beginning ensures that you engage fully with new subscribers, and optimize sales across the board.

Good luck!

Jeanniey Mullen: I would start with a strong subject line that includes the company name and something that indicates these are message they requested. For example: XYZ: Site special offers now available. Or: XYZ is ready to bring you special insights

I would also focus on the copy reminding people that they asked for this info, and VERY clearly giving them an opportunity to opt out of this section only.

Hope that helps!

Chip House: We’ve found that the Welcome email may in fact have the most impact of any email you ever send your subscribers. Opens, clicks etc. all tend to be the highest for an initial email, then can drop off from there if you don’t continue to engage your audience or follow-up on the promised content, education or offers promised when they opted in. My advice is to first put substantial effort into optimizing that email. Sure it is transactional in nature, but make sure you do things like:

- Reiterate what they can expect from you in terms of content and frequency.
- Ask them again to add your “from” address to their address books to “ensure good deliverability and rendering.”
- Don’t forget to make it compelling. Using HTML is best. And don’t be afraid to use the CAN-SPAM legitimized commercial content below the transactional introduction.

Getting off on the right foot will pave the way for your first set of campaigns. If you are speaking to their needs, no need to wait for a critical mass.

Chad White: Welcome emails are absolutely critical. Ideally, they not only quickly reassure subscribers that they are subscribed, but they also set the tone for the relationship and reinforce expectations that were (hopefully) established during the subscription process. Unfortunately, only about two-thirds of the retailers I track via RetailEmail.Blogspot use welcome emails, and then only a fraction use them well, missing the opportunity to promote their content, plug their services and tout unique and popular products. At the Email Insider Summit in May, Niti Chhabra, an email marketing consultant to BabyCenter, said: “Give them a reason to save the welcome email.” If you don’t feel like you’re doing that, then you should sit down and makes some changes.

Almost as important as that welcome email are the few that follow it. With each email they’re going to be asking themselves, “Was subscribing a mistake?” In some cases, you can increase your chances of keeping that new subscriber if you use an onboarding campaign, where you extend the introduction process. I just wrote a reportlet on onboarding emails that may help you, and in a few weeks I’ll be releasing the sequel to last year’s Retail Welcome Email Benchmark Study.

Have some good advice that we missed? Please add a comment and take part in the conversation.

Have a question for the Voices of Email? Email Chad your question at chad@emailexperience.org and we’ll REPLY TO ALL by posting the answers so everyone can benefit.

-->Read other Reply to All posts

Every week the EEC adds new content to its Whitepaper Room. Here are the latest additions:

Walter Karl Interactive: Email Append Concepts
Digging deeper into your customer database can have a measurable impact on revenue.

Walter Karl Interactive: Email Append Strategies
Publishers use of email append to win back subscribers.

Chad White: Reportlet - Retail Email Subject Line Study
A look at the promotionality and urgency of subject lines from the top online retailers.

*Have a whitepaper you’d like to contribute? Email it to whitepapers@emailexperience.org.

There’s a disproportionate amount of importance on about 5% of an airplane pilot’s job during a typical flight. For uneventful flights, the pilot spends 95% of the time in the relatively unchallenging activity of keeping the plane in the air. The other 5% of the time is spent during the takeoff and landing. But who wouldn’t argue that this 5% is significantly more important than the other 95%?

Sitting in an airport now, I’m reminded of email’s most important aspects—the subject line (takeoff) and the landing page (aptly named!). Unfortunately, many marketers neglect these elements, spending just a few minutes before hitting SEND to write a quick subject line and doing nothing to customize the landing page.

Unlike airplane flights, email takeoffs and landings should be much more than 5% of the time for each campaign. We regularly see subject line testing revealing a 5% to 30% difference in open rates and response. With that sort of value on the table, there is absolutely no excuse not to take advantage of it, even if you just split the mailing of your house file. For acquisition email, test two subject lines to a portion of the file, then optimize the winner to the rest in order to earn the benefit.

Landing pages can make or break your conversion. In a recent acquisition campaign, the offer focused on a very specific promotion—get the Sunday paper for just $1. The design and copy was very explicit and clear around this offer, but the landing page didn’t mention the $1 offer at all. It said, “Enter your ZIP code to find the best subscription deal in your area.” Huh? Where’s my $1 offer? Not surprisingly, 80% of the visitors to this page abandoned.

With the same offer, some simple changes to the landing page to make it match the offer resulted in a 400% improvement in the conversion rate. That’s an investment I’d make every day!

—Stephanie Miller