Using Email to Drive Revenue for Your Small Business

Using Email to Drive Revenue for Your Small Business Brant Schmitz Director of Email and Marketing Automation Deluxe Corporation

© Deluxe Enterprise Operations, LLC. Proprietary and Confidential.

About Me - Brant Schmitz • Director, Email & Marketing Automation in Shoreview MN • Oversees marketing automation programs across 20+ Deluxe brands. • Formerly the Director, Digital Marketing and Strategic Partnerships, Lift Brands • 2,000+ Fitness franchises around the world

• 17 years of marketing experience working with business of all sizes and industries to help position their products and drive their revenue.


Agenda • Why email • Creating your email goals • Building & maintaining your list • Personalization & segmentation

• Creating content • Measurement & optimization

• Summary


Why should you use email marketing?


Creating your email goals • What are you trying to accomplish? • Drive awareness/education • Conversion – in store or online • Customer loyalty

• Consider the customer experience • Don’t do it just because you can • Set expectations

• What content will you offer? • How will you execute? • DIY vs. DIFM

Use your personal experience receiving marketing emails to inform you! © Deluxe Enterprise Operations, LLC. Proprietary and Confidential.

Building & maintaining your list • Collect email wherever you can • At POS, events, website, social media • Ask users to opt-in & set expectations • Double opt-in is better

• Collect more than just email address • To deliver the right content & frequency • Sociographic/demographic • Customer history • Behavioral data

• Follow CAN-SPAM laws • Must provide & honor opt-outs! • From address, subject line & content should NOT be misleading • Physical street address Don’t buy or rent lists! © Deluxe Enterprise Operations, LLC. Proprietary and Confidential.

Personalization & Segmentation = Relevancy & Success • Use personalization in subject lines and body content • Names • Anniversaries • Birthdays • Product purchase info • Product Inquiry info

Personalized subject lines are 26% more likely to be opened


Personalization & Segmentation = Relevancy & Success • Use data to segment your list • Prospects vs. new customers vs. loyal customers • Recent purchasers vs. lapsed-purchasers • Sociographic/demographic (gender, age, etc.)

• Recent openers & clickers vs. didn’t open or click • Reminders – time to reorder, oil change, furnace cleaning, etc.

Send “Thank You” & “Welcome” emails after someone makes a purchase or signs up © Deluxe Enterprise Operations, LLC. Proprietary and Confidential.

Personalization & Segmentation = Relevancy & Success • By using personalization & segmentation you will: • Deliver timely, relevant content that your customers want and are more likely to appreciate and respond to • Improve your open and click through rates • Lower disengagement, list fatigue, opt-outs and spam complaints • Improve your in-box delivery • Opt-outs aren’t always a bad thing! • 24% of opt-in emails don’t make it to the inbox • 78% unsubscribed because a brand was sending too many emails


Creating content • Remember to start with your Goals and Data • Trying to drive awareness “We’ll be at the 5K Run for Alzheimer’s on Saturday providing massages for the runners. Stop by to help us cheer them on and get 10% off your next treatment when you donate $10 to ALZ.org”

• Trying to drive sales “Our winter blowout sale starts on Saturday, come by & save 25% before inventory runs out”

• Use segmentation & personalization to adjust messaging If you just have men’s ski pants left in stock only target men or people who’ve bought ski gear before

• Keep it brief and interesting • The goal of the email is to get then to next step

• You can be creative and fun, but stay on your brand Don’t force it! Skip it if you have nothing worthwhile to say © Deluxe Enterprise Operations, LLC. Proprietary and Confidential.

Creating content • Think of an email campaign like a book with chapters 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

From name Subject line “Snippet” Header Body - “3 second rule” • Headline • Call to Action • Body Copy

6. Footer – Unsubscribe Link, your street address, disclaimers, etc. Use your personal experience receiving marketing emails to inform you! © Deluxe Enterprise Operations, LLC. Proprietary and Confidential.

Anatomy of a solid email campaign ✓Personalized ✓Segmented ✓Relevant ✓From name ✓Subject line ✓“Snippet”


✓Header ✓Body ✓Headline ✓Call to Action ✓Body Copy ✓Footer

Don’t just send. . . measure, optimize, maximize! • Open Rate • Total emails opened/emails sent

• Click Through Rate • Total clicks/emails sent

• Conversion Rate • Total orders/emails sent

• Unsubscribe Rate • Total unsubscribes/emails sent

• Bounce Rate • Total bounces/emails sent How do you know where to go if you don’t know where you’ve been? © Deluxe Enterprise Operations, LLC. Proprietary and Confidential.

Polka Dot Parlor: Email marketing case study • Started with website redesign • Geared toward storytelling and increasing social and email followers

• List Building: • placed a notebook at register • Asked for email on sales completions & over phone • over 100 emails in first month!

• First email was promoting downtown event, more awareness then sales heavy


Polka Dot Parlor: Email marketing case study • Developed email strategy to coordinate promotions with instore events and window merchandising • Set strategy for the full year to free up time and keep them committed


Happy Feet: Email marketing case study

• Program goes from $0 to $65,000 in just two months! • $132 in revenue for every $1 invested in email See Case Study Watch Video


In Summary… • Have a goal • Ask people to opt in • Don’t buy or rent lists

• Have easy-to-find Unsubscribe link • Set expectations & meet them • Send welcome & thank you emails • Think chapters • Segment your file

• Measure results • Follow CAN-SPAM laws © Deluxe Enterprise Operations, LLC. Proprietary and Confidential.