Email, Pillar of the Web

When RSS feeds became the anticipated standard to follow one another on the Web, advocates of the new Web preached the end of the email. When social networks became the new online venue for the hip kids, advocates of the new Web preached the end of the email. Whatever the next best thing is, it seems that it's systematically meant to replace the email...

The email is not dead my friends. Through the rising tides of the interwebs, the pace of our online activities accelerated. Everytime we do something on a Website, one thing is systematically required: our email address. With this e-ID, we can comment, participate, post, upload, subscribe, pay, order, confirm, send, connect, buy... How is an information technology like RSS or a utility tool like a social network going to replace something as personal and identifiable as our own identity.

Recently, Facebook announced a partnership with Paypal to enable payments on Facebook through Paypal's email address payment system. What we see here is the leading social network, second most-popular Webiste in the US, acknowledging that emails facilitate payments. Last month, Facebook enabled comment replies from within your own email inbox, which was a move to facilitate interactions between friends. It's indisputable that social networks could not connect with their users if they did not ask for an email identification.

In a more traditional way, good marketers are still prospering from email subscription to newsletters. Dorian Benkoil, Sales Manager at mediashift and SVP at Teaming Media, shared his positive returns on newsletter email subscriptions, where some good points are mentioned. First he explains how he found out that most of the email-subscribed people oftentimes represent your most loyal audience. They are the ones who do not want to miss a post published on your site. Such a devotion to the publisher's content turns email into very valuable advertising channel:

For a publisher, email ads, which by law require a user's permission and are thus more targeted than many other advertising formats, tend to garner a much higher fee on a per-user basis than web ads. They also allow for a level of design and linguistic craft that can be impossible to achieve on social platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

Finally, the other significant event that consolidates our email inboxes at the center of our digital lives is the launch of Google Buzz within Gmail. In the long run, through its API, Google Buzz will connect all of your social activities in one data stream. Buzz was launched within Gmail for two obvious reasons: One is that Gmail has 100 million users, which translates in 100 million Buzz users instantly. The second reason is that, at the end  of the day, our email inbox is THE place where all our online activities converge anyway. 

I am not advocating email marketing as the sole solution to talk to a customer online, but I am indeed pointing out to the fact that our email inbox is here to stay. A company with a direct marketing strategy should never think that Facebook could replace email marketing. Actually, they will probably find out that sending out an email to promote a Facebook Page will drive higher conversions ;)

Emailing is a source of visits and sales for e-Commerce

This is an interview of Didier Gaultier explaining how email is contributing to visits and sales for e-commerce.

To view the interview in French, please clic here

History of Direct Email Marketing

History of Direct Email Marketing

I found this historical definition of email Marketing, that I found interesting. Did you know that the very first email ever sent in the world was "QWERTYUIOP" back in 1971?

Email is probably a necessity to you, but there was a time when there was no email! Today email is considered the backbone of all digital communications. Just like the printing press 500 years before it, email is an effective and efficient means of mass distribution. Email also provides an easy way to conduct personal one-on-one dialogue.

Email is a way of sending messages or data to other people means of computers connected together in a network. Email actually predates the Internet, and was first used as a way for users of the same computer to leave messages for each other all the way back in 1961. Ray Tomlinson is credited with creating the first network email application in the year of 1971. He initiated the use of the @ sign and the address structure that we use today (username@domainname.com). Email was used to send messages to computers on the same network, and is still used for this purpose today.

It was only in 1993 that large network service providers, such as America Online and Delphi, started to connect their proprietary email systems to the Internet. This began the large scale adoption of Internet email as a global standard. Coupled with standards that had been created in the preceding twenty years, the Internet allowed users on different networks to send each other messages.

The first email spam dates back to 1978. Spam is defined as unsolicited commercial or bulk email, and today is said to account for 80 to 85% of all email (Waters, 2008). Direct marketing has long played an integral part in marketing campaigns, but the high cost meant that only large companies were able to pursue this. However, with the growth of the Internet, and the use of email to market directly to consumers, marketers have found these costs dropping, and the effectiveness increasing. That is the born of direct email marketing.

Didier Gaultier Interviews

Every time I attend ecommerce expos, I systematically get a video interview with the guys from Tivipro or similar online reporters, who want to get my opinion as the Country Director France of Epsilon International. Since I have a few of them running on the Web, I decided to compile them in a Youtube playlist and share it with you that way. The embed video player below contains all those videos.



Most of those interviews are in French, but I am working on translating them in English to make my thoughts more accessible to our English-peaking peers.

If you'd like to access this playlist directly on Youtube, Didier Gaultier on Youtube.

Related Links:
Didier Gaultier on eMarketing and eCRM
Didier Gaultier on MyeCRM
Didier Gaultier on MyEmailing

E-mailing: should an Email marketer choose a software or a full service agency (or ESP)?

Executive Summary

The total cost of a full service agency or ESP specialist in e-mail channel is likely to be much lower than a dedicated software, even in the long term, and to offer more flexible, sharp and profitable email marketing projects.

Introduction

Email has progressively turned into a major marketing communication channel but too often, companies view it as a short-term way of selling and a mean of maintaining low-cost customer relationship.

It would be misleading to believe that successful emailing campaigns comes down to simply press the "send" button using a hastily prepared message.

Email marketing is a marketing channel that should be considered in the long or medium term and for which a communication strategy must be implemented and followed (as any other marketing channel).

It must be measured, analyzed and optimized to ensure maximum efficiency and profitability. 



Two options are available to the marketing manager as to how to use email: a specialized email software - either the traditional inhouse software mode or the outsourced mode also known as Software as a Service (SaaS) – also called self service mode, or to use an ESP (Email Service Provide) or an agency specializing in e-mail which will, in addition propose deployment and sometimes creative services, also known as “full service” mode. For this fundamental choice, one of the first idea of the advertiser will very likely be to focus on the budget side of things.

Software can be found on the market in all price ranges, from thousands to hundreds of thousands Euros, Pounds or US$ (or at a CPM price around 1 € per 1 000 e-mails), these software licenses seldom includes support and maintenance.

But this up front cost is – from far- not the only one to consider. In fact, the marketer will have to add the human resources costs necessary to operate the software, to generate appropriate content, to manage the databases, and to monitor the deliverability of e-mails, not to mention the resources required to analyze, evaluate and optimize campaigns. These items require specific marketing, email and statistical expertise and the candidates available on the market with these multiple competences are often rare and expensive. 


Moreover, these resources will likely have to be doubled because of leaves: if your deliverability manager goes on annual leave, your deliverability will do the same and the ROI of your email campaigns is gone.

Suddenly, dozens or even hundreds of thousands of Euros (pounds or US$) are to be taken into account along with the initial cost.


A good email marketer has to care about how the solution manages not only inbox deliverability of the campaigns, but white listing, feedback loops with ISPs, unsubscribes, complaints/abuses and in general database churn.


Some studies available on the market (one of them being produced by Epsilon International) are showing that each active and opt-in email address in a database represents and intangible asset representing a capital circa thirty to forty Euros on average.

Any lost address is so much money gone up in the blue.

Not to mention the impact this may have on the advertiser’s e-reputation, which may cause him to see his campaigns marked as spam, blocked or even black listed by ISPs.

Another cost, which for some brands, can easily exceed several million Euros per year and will add to the overall budget.

In fact, each marketer has an email e-reputation, and similarly to the off line world, where brands represent an intangible value in the balance sheet, the e-reputation and the email database also represents an asset that worth money.

Finally, we have to consider the time needed to implement the solution.

In some cases, it is not unusual to see time to market circa 24 to 36 months or even more, between the purchase of the software license and e-mail channel actually operational.

How many companies can afford to wait that long to reap revenues and return on investment? In comparison, the benefits of a full service agency specialist of the e-mail channel are many: complete mastering of the technology, availability of necessary human resources, multiple expertise, scoping capacities, campaign analysis, implementation and optimization, and swift deployment.

The more important criteria remains likely to be cost control, in the full service mode, the budget is defined and agreed by contract, and is also often much lower that the total cost offered an inhouse solution, even if you take depreciation into account.

Technology control

Indeed, each provider specializing in a specific software or solution can exploit the slightest functionalities, especially since it is often specially developed or adapted and can include some unique features you will not found in a commercial software. And because it is shared among all agency’s clients, its cost is more easily depreciated.

The advertiser is guaranteed to have the latest technology at an unbeatable price.

Resources and expertise

Specialized agencies (or ESPs) employs only experts, both technology experts and deliverability experts, and will provide the resources needed to ensure the success of the advertiser’s project, offering a team of professionals that would have been hard to put together inhouse and for a prohibitive cost and time to market. In addition, the agency may also provide expertise for ad hoc needs of the client.

Implementation

A common misconception is that the e-mail channel is simple. Implementation of email campaigns often require far more resources than expected, whether in computer graphics to create the html messages, uploading messages and lists in the email management tool, or management of personalization. One weakness of inhouse email management is that the very same teams than the ones that implemented the campaigns generally also do quality controls. Only a specialized quality control team ensures the message can be sent safely.

It is sometimes necessary to assemble a team of several people working simultaneously on these different tasks for the campaign to be live in time: only a “full service” agency will gather as many professionals in such a short time – sometimes just a few hours between the brief and the deployment of the message.

Evaluation and Analysis

Today more than ever, no marketer can undertake action without a serious evaluation of the return on investment.

A real time analysis allows adapting the strategy when necessary to generate the best results.

Email today became much more complex than watching only three indicators: open rates, click rates and conversion rates.

Some e-mail channel specialized agencies have developed more relevant indicators, that need to be interpreted by an email marketing specialist.

Does a piece of software enable the advertiser to access the good indicators? To interpret them correctly? Take the necessary decisions and adjust the parameters of its campaigns? Will it allow to give access to the databases traditionally structured into demographic segments to a dataminer so that the marketer can build a statistical classification more suited than an off line segmentation to e-mail and web in general? Does this software allow this classification to be directly actionable?

The traditional RFM segmentations are rarely adapted to e-mail and on line applications that require very often an advanced behavioral classification.

For a credit institution for example: first-time buyers, tenants not yet owners, divorced people, landlords, etc… And the marketer relying solely on a piece of software will he be able to make the best ROI and strategic choices for its campaigns based on automatic data supplied by the software?

All these points, far from being trivial, can be determined by the analysts employed by the specialized agency, in addition to their statistical mastering, they not only have a great marketing knowledge but they also master the characteristics of e-mail channel.

Swift Deployment 

Knowledge and expertise of the specialized agency, combined with an already operational infrastructure, allow marketers to set up complex projects in a few weeks, where an implementation from scratch would take several months (particularly with inhouse software).

This speed allows to access to a very fast income in front of the needed investments involved. And some flexibility in tactical actions can be considered without delay problems.

Cost mastered Like any supplier or provided, a specialized agency is working on a RFP to provide a quote. The advertiser has full visibility onto the project and its cost overall.

It enables the marketer to integrate easily the project investment in his marketing budget without risk of unexpected overflow.

Conclusion

Finally, the total cost of a full service agency or ESP specialist in e-mail channel is therefore likely to be much lower than a dedicated software, even in the long term, and to offer more flexible, sharp and profitable marketing projects.

Didier Gaultier

Note: this article has been published initially in French on Journal du Net at the following URL :

Journal du Net Link

You can reply to the author of this article using the following address:

Didier Gaultier

Didier Gaultier: Introductory Post

"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower", Steve Jobs

For the introduction, my name is Didier Gaultier. Back in 2005,  I brought a bit of innovation in the CRM land by introducing the "Quantitative Factor Customer Record Methodology" (QFCRM) during the completion of my international MBA at the IFAM Business School. The concept consisted in using advanced statistics to help marketers generate a higher business intelligence by better quantifying their CRM data. Right after obtaining my MBA degree, I joined Double Click Email Solutions as the sales and account management director. A year later, the company was acquired and merged with Epsilon / Alliance Data Consortium, which brought me to where I am today, the Country Director of Epsilon International France.

I didn't just pop up in the highest levels of management without previous experience. Before enrolling in a MBA, I handled various positions as a sales engineer or sales manager in top-notch  CRM-focused companies: Oracle, Harte-Hanks, ATOS Origin... I commercialized database infrastructures, call center services, direct marketing solutions, throughout the world and to a variety of Fortune 500 companies. During the 90s, with the Internet turning mainstream, my interests as a salesman shifted to a dazzling new tool, the email inbox. Emails can be blasted in bulk, instantly, and targeting one specific person. The email brought new horizons to the CRM industry, which motivated my choice to enroll in a MBA where I could scholarly apply my CRM expertise to this new communication tool.

As the Country Director of Epsilon International France, my duties include evangelizing Epsilon to CRM marketers as the most comprehensive solution when it comes to understanding customers, building a forecast system, crafting a reliable strategic planning, and driving successful integrated marketing campaigns. A common misconception is that email marketing is a simple media to use. Going for the cheap ramp off the email marketing highway can actually cost a lot to any marketer that has not thought his emailing strategy the whole way through. I am delighted to work at Epsilon because I play the advocate of a product that truly adds priceless value to the work of thousands of marketers.

Epsilon operates worldwide. Thus, cultural psychology is intrinsically connected to our approach of email marketing. Did you know that an email subject line announcing a product with your name on it will get a profitable amount of clicks only in Asia? Epsilon's world-class engines shed a light on thousands of cultural facts like this one. Every year, Epsilon blasts 40 billion opt-in emails worldwide, so you can imagine the mathematical depth Epsilon's data-miners get into. This massive amount of data is processed and used to develop a deeper personal relation with the rich diversity of Epsilon's address book, and I find it fascinating.

Why this blog? Email marketing and database infrastructures constantly evolve, and innovation is the key factor that feeds growth. A while ago, I wrote a piece on innovation: "The freedom for thinking and creating are the drivers of innovation, and innovation usually happens when people expect it the least". I believe that a blog is a great tool to freely express thoughts, opinions, theories, or whatever it is that runs through one's mind. By sharing my thoughts publicly, I wish to sensitize marketers to the problematics around advanced CRM infrastructures. Beyond a pure knowledge-sharing process, I hope that our discussions will push us into exploring new ways to approach CRM at large. Eventually, when we expect it the least, innovative ideas might spark out of the content generated on this blog.

Thank you for visiting, and don't forget to grab the RSS feed to receive alerts when new content is posted on the blog.

Best,

Didier Gaultier