Enabler is a RAR recommended agency, provide best practice advice and email marketing strategy for B2B and B2C communications.

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Using Enabler to drive engagement for The Shard

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If you’ve read our previous blogs or visited our site before, you’ll probably have gathered that Enabler is a piece of email software. However, what you might have missed is that Enabler is more than just your bog-standard piece of email software, sporting sophisticated features which go beyond bulk sending emails. *Cue gasps and other associated shocked noises*

One of these features is Enabler’s Form Builder – you can use this clever piece of kit as a standalone form, embed it into a landing page or website, or use the form as a back-end tool for data capture. To demonstrate how effective these sophisticated Enabler Forms can be, I’m going to showcase a recent example from one of our clients, Real Estate Management UK Limited (REM) – asset manager for The Shard – where we utilised Enabler Forms in their Shard Lights 2017 marketing competition.

The Brief

Driving Engagement for an Iconic London Brand

Since 2014, The Shard has hosted a light show from it’s spire every December, aptly named #ShardLights, to celebrate the festive season. In 2017, Shard Lights introduced five colours into its show, rotating one per day with an array of visual effects including gradients, patterns and sparkles. These visual light effects occurred every 15 minutes, with an extended display on the hour which transformed The Shard into a spectacular visual timepiece for London.

Now, Enabler’s offices are based literally around the corner from this stunning London landmark, but not everyone is lucky enough to have such natural daily exposure to this amazing light show.

So, to ensure maximum engagement with The Shard during this time, the REM marketing team wanted to run a photography competition to encourage the public to take pictures of The Shard’s light show and share online using the hashtag #ShardLights.

As an existing Enabler client, the marketing team at REM gave our campaign management team the task of creating an engaging campaign with the following key requirements:

  • Hosting the photography competition
  • A way of collecting entries and associated entrants information
  • A trigger email going out post competition submission to recipients

 

 

Our Solution

We decided that the best way to achieve the goals laid out in the brief, would be to build a standalone landing page within Enabler which hosted the photography competition. We would then create a built-in Enabler form within this landing page, which would trigger an email to the recipient when completed to confirm that their entry had been received.

The Design and Build

For such an iconic London landmark, the design for the landing page was incredibly important. Our team of designers had to ensure stunning imagery of The Shard, provided by the REM team, was being used whilst also making sure all the relevant information was clearly visible on the page for entrants.

Here is the template webpage design before our specialists started the more sophisticated build:

When translating this design into the build, our developers took the simple static images within the email and transformed them into parallax scrolling images – this allowed us to display the full images without taking up too much real estate on the webpage.

The most important factor our development team focused on was ensuring the form on the frontend of the webpage was linked properly to the form on the backend of Enabler.  The REM marketing team were utilising Enabler’s database to house and access the data from submitted entries – so making sure the forms were linked was vital.

 

Using Enabler Forms for Data Capture

Enabler forms are extremely effective for data capture, allowing you to embed forms onto your website that connect directly into your marketing database. There are two main ways you can embed Enabler forms within an external system.

The first and simplest way is iframing, which involves taking a snippet of code that looks like this:

<iframe src="https://ue.enablermail.com/realestatemanagement/frm/index.cfm?id=A480A319-7983-4C4B-993D-E97064B7C7A5" width="750" height="500"></iframe>

You then embed this code within your desired webpages, which then displays your form exactly as it appears within Enabler – including Enabler’s styling and layout. This, however, wasn’t an option for the Shard Lights web build, due to the beautifully bespoke styling that was required from the form’s design.

Instead of iframing, we used the alternative method of embedding and Enabler form, which is the ‘Form post’ option.  Now, this is a much more technical way of approaching form submissions, but it does mean you can style your Enabler form exactly as you want on the frontend of your website.

 

Now For The Technical Bit…

To make ‘Form posts’ work, you have to tell your form to post submissions to Enabler’s servers. Each individual form field will have an ID associated with it, but all these fields will be stored in the same place in Enabler ensuring you can review and pull all the required data out at once. I’m not going to go into the super technical stuff because a) I leave that to my developers and b) you don’t want to hear it!

Once someone submits a form post, the message (seen below) displays on the website.

However, we also wanted to ensure that each entrant would receive an email confirming their submission as well (for added peace of mind that we had received their entry). To this end, we also triggered an email to go out each time a form submission was received, (as shown below), letting entrants know when the competition closed, and by what date they would be notified if they had won the competition. It also encouraged a social push for the competition for maximum social media traction, using the hashtag #ShardLights.

 

So, it’s all very well collecting this data and all these (hopefully) stunning images, but where would they all be stored? Now, usually with form submissions you go into the form, run a report and it shows you a list of text entries and what those entries said – however for a photography competition, we had to develop something a little different to display images…

If you’re sitting there thinking…”hang on that looks just like Enabler?”, then you’d be absolutely right. Our development team have created a bespoke image gallery where the REM marketing team were able to view all the images submitted at once (making it easier to select a winner), while also allowing them to click into each individual picture to see all of the details of the person who submitted the photograph.

Outcome

The competition ran from Monday 4th December 2017 until Sunday 7th January 2018, and received a total number of 871 entries. Some of the photos were absolutely stunning, and to be completely honest, some of the entries were basically close up selfies of peoples faces, but all in all we have some fantastic photographers out there parading the streets of London, and I don’t envy the REM Marketing Team having to pick a winner!

We had a fantastic time doing this project, it’s always great for our email team when we can really push Enabler’s functionality in ways that people wouldn’t expect from email software, helping our clients deliver beautiful emails alongside websites that really help them achieve their marketing goals.

Engagement levels like this also go to show the impact well thought out, well designed data capture forms can have on your marketing campaigns, and goes to show the importance of combining your data capture with your email marketing campaigns.

 

If you like what you’ve seen here or want to learn more about form functionality, please drop our Enabler team an email and we can talk about your next exciting project.

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GDPR – what is it and how does it affect email?

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One of the things we really strive to do in the Enabler team is keep our clients up to date with the latest goings on in the world of email. Sometimes this is a really fun job, and we get to send around well designed emails or provide updates on the latest coding techniques. Sometimes however, we need to make sure everything we and our clients are doing is in line with the current laws and regulations
– *cue sirens*.

In March 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into effect, and I’m here to tell you what it is, why it affects you, and if there’s anything you need to be doing before GDPR comes into effect.

What is GDPR?

GDPR is a regulation intended to strengthen and unify data protection for all individuals within the European Union (EU). It also addresses the export of personal data outside the EU. The GDPR aims primarily to give control back to citizens and residents over their personal data, and to simplify the regulatory environment for international business by unifying the regulations within the EU.

When the GDPR takes effect, it will replace the data protection directive (officially Directive 95/46/EC) of 1995, and, unlike a directive, it does not require national governments to pass any enabling legislation, and is thus directly binding and applicable.

When is it happening?

The regulation was adopted on 27 April 2016 and becomes enforceable from 25 May 2018 after a two-year transition period.

Who decided it should be a thing?

The European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission.

Why does it affect you?

GDPR will affect every company that uses personal data from any citizen within the EU. If you are collecting email addresses and sending emails to subscribers in the EU, you’ll have to comply with GDPR—no matter where you’re based.

The UK, Germany, France, and other European countries represent valuable markets for many brands. But it’s not just the strategic importance of the market that makes GDPR important for all marketers, it’s also the large number of citizens that the new privacy law will protect.

Information on the specifics of GDPR

I’m going to be upfront with you here, a lot of what the GDPR states is pretty much identical to the current Data Protection Act (DPA).  Just like the DPA, GDPR refers to two types of data: ‘Personal Data’ and ‘Sensitive Personal Data’.  The main difference being that the GDPR’s definition is more detailed and makes it clear that information such as an online identifier, for example an IP address, can be personal data.  By expanding on this definition, it means that GDPR can identify a much wider range of personal identifiers that constitute as personal data.

The main reasoning for this change was that it reflects changes in technology and the way organisations collect information about people.
For most organisations who keep HR records, customer lists or contact details etc, the change to the definition should make little practical difference. You can assume that if you hold information that falls within the scope of the DPA, it will also fall within the scope of the GDPR.

Unlike the DPA’s definition, the GDPR applies to both automated personal data and to manual filing systems where personal data is accessible according to specific criteria.  This could include chronologically ordered sets of manual records containing personal data.

Personal data that has been pseudonymised, for example coded, can fall within the scope of the GDPR depending on how difficult it is to attribute the pseudonym to a particular individual.

The main overall difference is that the GDPR requires that personal data should be:

“(a) processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to individuals;

(b) collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes; further processing for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes shall not be considered to be incompatible with the initial purposes;

(c) adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed;

(d) accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date; every reasonable step must be taken to ensure that personal data that are inaccurate, having regard to the purposes for which they are processed, are erased or rectified without delay;

(e) kept in a form which permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed; personal data may be stored for longer periods insofar as the personal data will be processed solely for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes subject to implementation of the appropriate technical and organisational measures required by the GDPR in order to safeguard the rights and freedoms of individuals;

(f) processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures.”

It also requires that:

“the controller shall be responsible for, and be able to demonstrate, compliance with the principles.”

What do I actually need to do from an Email Marketing perspective?

GDPR touches on several crucial aspects of email marketing, especially regarding how marketers seek, collect and record consent. So without further ado, here’s what you need to know:

Collecting consent will work differently

  • You will only be allowed to send emails to people who’ve opted-in to receive messages. While this has already been the case in most European countries under the EU Privacy Directive, GDPR takes this one step further and specifies the nature of consent that’s required for commercial communication. Starting in May 2018, brands have to collect affirmative consent that is “freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous” to be compliant with GDPR.

  • The signup process must inform subscribers about the brand that’s collecting the consent and provide information about the purposes of collecting personal data.

  • Some of the processes previously used to collect data will not be compliant anymore, for example if someone entered their email address to download a whitepaper or provided their contact information to enter a contest? If you didn’t tell them you’d use their personal data to send marketing messages, and if they didn’t actively agree that it is okay to use their data for that very reason, it won’t be legal to add those email addresses to your mailing list.

Recording consent will work differently

  • Under GDPR, you will need to prove and show reasonable evidence that you have complied with the GDPR if challenged. This means GDPR places the burden of proof around consent being given with the company itself.

  • This means you will need to be storing consent forms.

Existing Data

  • If your database includes subscribers whose permissions haven’t been collected according to the GDPR’s standards, or even if they have but you can’t provide sufficient proof of consent for any contacts, you might not be allowed to send email to those subscribers anymore.

  • If you can’t provide this, I would highly recommend running re-permissioning campaigns before March 2018.

Changing existing email programs

Sadly, unless you want to stop engaging with the European market (which we in no way recommend) then you will need to review some of your current email programs. Here are a few ways you can tackle the issue:

  • Set up separate signup processes for subscribers coming from different parts of the world. Customers coming from the EU would have to go through a GDPR-compliant sign-up process, while for United States citizens, everything could remain the same. This is a highly complex and costly solution but would definitely do the trick.

  • Bring your entire database up to GDPR standards and adapt all of your opt-in processes to match the EU requirements. (This is in bold because it’s what we recommend.)

Whether we like it or not, changes to opt-in processes and re-permission campaigns will likely slow down list growth in the short term, however they will help you to make sure that you are only sending emails to subscribers who really want to hear from them, which really will improve your overall list quality.

Umm…what about Brexit?

Yeah I thought you might want to know about that. Just incase you’ve been living under a rock recently, on 23 June 2016 the UK held a referendum to decide whether or not to remain in the EU and the majority voted to leave it.

After the negotiations around how exactly the UK will leave the EU have finished, we will (hopefully) be left with a clearer idea about the extent to which the UK continues to comply with and/or keep up with EU laws and requirements and remains within or outside the European Economic Area.

Either way, it’s most likely that the UK will still be in the EU by March 2018, however, there are some ways you can prepare from a Brexit standpoint:

  • Start to consider which parts of your business operations are established in the UK and may be affected by GDPR.

  • Identify any of the personal data flows from the European Economic Area to the UK. (If the UK also leaves the European Economic Area at the time of leaving the EU, the flow of personal data from the European Economic Area countries to the UK will become prohibited without new adequate safeguard measures being adopted).

  • Monitor the UK data protection authority’s statements on Brexit, GDPR and how to remain compliant – current ICO guidance is to continue to prepare for GDPR.

What if I just do…nothing?

In short, don’t do nothing… which I know is a double negative, but hopefully you get the idea. With the introduction of GDPR, also comes some hefty fines for not being compliant. Fines come in the form of up to €20 Million or 4% of a brand’s total global annual turnover (whichever is higher).

I mean sure, the authorities probably have more on their hands than going after every company who breaks the law, but they will rely on customers to report any breaches as well. Basically it’s best to comply and not put yourself and your company at risk.

Resources on GDPR:

Any legislation change can be daunting, but fear not, we’re here to help! If you need any help with sorting out email practices before March 2018, get in touch and we’ll get one of our email consultants to help you out.

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Meet our email team

Enabler is supported by a team of email specialists who have won the RAR Award for Email Marketing in both 2017 and 2015, an accolade they are particularly proud of as it’s based on independent votes from clients.

Okay, that all sounds great, but who are the people behind the awards? I recently brought the Enabler team together to find out what attracted them to email marketing, their advice for creating great emails, and how they see the medium changing in the future.

 

The Team

“How did you get into email marketing?”

Sophie:

I’ve always been into digital tech, and started having a look into careers while at university.  I applied for general marketing jobs wile still there, and once I’d tried email there was no going back  – it was my one true professional love!

Dominika:

I as introduced to email marketing while at uni too, then went straight into it when I started working.

Sean:

I only started it when i joined Pancentric – it’s been a bit of a baptism by fire, but I’m enjoying it.

Andrew:

I also only got into email marketing when I started here.  I had more of a technical web background before I started doing email, but my main focus is supporting our clients and giving them the best knowledge of Enabler and email.

Paul:

I was building websites and interactive learning tools before working at Pancentric.  When I started, I was part of just a two-person Enabler team.  It’s great to see how the team has grown!

 

“What do you like about the medium of email?”

Paul:

There is still a simplicity about Email; it’s built in an old-school style and has become one of the easiest forms of correspondence to date.  There are many types of email, and its limitations are now being challenged daily.

Sophie:

It might sound strange, but I love the limitations.  You constantly have to find ways around problems like deliverability, design, code and mobile responsive elements.  You have to innovate to keep up to date with the ever-changing email landscape.

Andrew:

Paul mentioned the simplicity of email, which is something I like about it too, and I also like how quick it can be to get a campaign up and running, then to see the instantly measurable analytics – businesses can start seeing results within minutes of their emails being sent.

Dominika:

I like the immediacy of email, and that the recipient can open the message in their own time, so it’s less intrusive than a phone call.  It also tends to produce a much higher ROI than calling ever could.

Sean:

Yeah, the speed of email is great, and its mobility makes it really convenient.  You can view emails on so many different devices and platforms now, so although you can open them in your own time it’s harder to dodge them than phone calls – hence why it’s great for marketing purposes!

 

“What is your best tip for creating a great email?”

Sophie:

Plan.  I can’t really give more important advice than that.  Think about what you’re trying to achieve, what impact it will have on your recipients’ experience, and what you want the outcome to be.  Talk to experts and keep testing everything you do.

Dominika:

Yes, definitely keep the recipients in mind at all times.  Only include content that is relevant to your target audience, and test thoroughly before sending.  There’s no room for mistakes in email marketing, as you need to immediately impress the recipient.

Paul:

Keep it simple.  An email is an opener or advert for something further.  You don’t need to load everything possible into an email, as you may lose the recipient halfway through.  Capture people’s attention with detailed intros, stylish imagery and interactivity that will be remembered.

Sean:

I agree that emails should be kept short and clean – avoid overcrowding, as you won’t hold your recipient’s attention if there’s too much to take in.

Andrew:

Thinking more broadly, I’d say to focus on targeting those who are genuinely interested in your brand.  Use advanced segmentation techniques and data personalisation wherever possible, as they often boost engagement rates.  Also, try to make sure you only send an email when you have something truly valuable or helpful to say, and when you have a clear message or call to action.  Don’t bombard people!

 

“Which brand do you think sends great emails, and why do you like them?”

Sophie:

I’ve got a couple of brands that I follow really closely for great design, build and innovation. B&Q are doing some fantastic stuff with mobile responsive design and build.

Burberry emails are crazy innovative and great if you like exploring new tech in email, and ASOS is incredibly good at email strategy – very well timed, topical emails that make me want to click every time.

Dominika:

Innocent Drinks illustrate perfectly how to keep customers intrigued, with their Friday morning email newsletter.  In addition to sneaking in product-related information and freebies, there’s always plenty of interesting, entertaining articles and sometimes a humorous take on recent affairs that’ll make even the grumpiest person smile on a Friday morning.

Paul:

Litmus, who are at the forefront of email, are knocking out some really interesting emails.  The last one I received had an interactive form to complete within the inbox itself.

GUESS emails are bold and well-styled have large impactful imagery and good use of space.

Sean:

Yeah, I think quite a few fashion brands are producing some cool emails at the moment.  Shout out to Ralph Lauren of course, whose emails I spend a lot of time designing, but I also like Zara’s email styling.

Andrew:

Firebox is another one that sends clever and funny emails. They theme their subject lines around celebration days, sales and their product categories such as Favourites and New Stuff. Their email styling is great too – clean and simple, not too text-heavy and often incorporating GIFs to showcase their gadgets.  They also seem to have intelligent personalisation of products to their recipients (but maybe I just like all of their stuff!)

 

“How do you think email might change over the next few years?”

Paul:

Email has come a long way over the last few years and is starting to catch up with its digital big brothers of the web.  Its progression is constant, and I feel like it has a lot more to prove. I expect to see plenty of more interactivity via CSS3/4, hopefully an email build that will work across the email client board and perhaps more collaboration from the email clients themselves.

Sophie:

I am personally hoping that Microsoft will adapt Outlook so it is more in line with other providers, allowing B2B emails to become more innovative and exciting.

Andrew:

I also hope to see improvements to email client’s support of modern coding techniques, with less need for individual email client hacks.  I think we will definitely see more automation this year, with more options for smarter campaigns.

Dominika:

I think email content will become more targeted and concise as a result of more sophisticated segmentation techniques.

Sean:

I agree – I think segmentation will also lead to greater personalisation and recipient interaction.

That’s everything from the team for now! Hopefully they leave you with some new ideas, direction, and inspiration.

Do have a think about some of the email techniques and projections for the future, and see if you can get ahead of the game to impress your recipients. Maybe our team will mention your emails next time!

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What is marketing automation, and why you should be using it

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With so much going on in a Marketing team, you will often find you don’t have enough time to get everything done.  You will have had days where you’re in back-to-back meetings, and still have a whole hoard of tasks to do by the end of the day.  This is where an automated system would be super useful!

Luckily, there’s a little thing called Marketing Automation that can step in.  The basic idea of marketing automation is to set up a system to perform actions based on triggers (i.e. if a customer clicks an email link it triggers a second personalised email being sent several days later).  Once the email automation is set up, it then runs in the background without any additional work required, making your life and workload a lot easier.

There are many people that would benefit from having a Marketing Automation solution, but from a sales perspective, here are the top three reasons to start implementing automated emails campaigns right now:

  1. You can have pre-defined marketing programmes cultivating leads for you, while you’re off doing tasks that require more face-to-face contact.

  2. It allows you to optimise your time efficiently and achieve your goals without missing a beat.

  3. It allows you to be at the forefront of email marketing trends, bringing your business into the 21st Century.

 

So how would you put a Marketing Automation plan together?

Here is a useful Marketing Automation Workflow for you to refer to when setting up your campaign programme:

 (Click image to download)

 

What you need to think about:

Planning is exceptionally important in the world of marketing automation, for many reasons. Firstly, the term ‘marketing automation’ has, unfortunately, become somewhat of a buzzword, where marketeers seek out automation software under the misguided impression that it provides them with the digital marketing wizardry to automatically generate new leads. This misconception leaves many marketeers with sophisticated tools to automate the middle of their campaign funnel, but no solution that actually generates new leads at the beginning of the funnel.

In your planning phase, you should get to know the system you’re using and plug any holes in your lead generation funnel, allowing you to get your automated ducks in a row.

Secondly, planning helps to prevent you from making mistakes when you set your programme live.  It will ensure you have fully thought through every possible step / action your customer may take, thoroughly planning out what components you will need in order to make your campaign run successfully as an automated system.  Sounds complicated, but its far from it (and if you get stuck you can always check with us).

For example, email templates, forms, surveys and website content – make sure the right links are in place, and test that the right automation is being trigger when an action occurs (i.e. a link is clicked).  There’s nothing worse than getting a beautiful automation programme set up, only to find your customers aren’t ending up where you want them to go because you’ve missed a step in your automation set-up.

You might think that I’m going overboard and stating the obvious when I say you need to plan out every step of your marketing automation, but if you really want it to run successfully with seamless automation, then planning really is the key.

To help you along, I’ve set up an example workflow of a functional marketing automation programme.  The example below demonstrates a ‘Welcome Programme’ for a new customer being added to a contact database, taking you through every automated step for every action or inaction the customer may take within the programme, including time delays.

 

 

Now you have had a look at how a Marketing Automation programme could work, I’m going to take you through some does and don’ts of the automation world:

Does:

  • Integrate your inbound marketing strategy with your marketing automation. Inbound strategy is all about providing valuable, aligned content, and this should not change at all if you start using marketing automation.  If anything, it should be enhancing your communications, as you will be able to provide the content your customer’s need, at the exact time they need it, without any manual input during the process.

  • Send relevant content to your customers, and make sure you are providing them with what they are looking for.  People make the mistake of trying to drive business objectives without actually considering the customer who is going through the journey.  This is arising trend within the industry, with many companies providing workshops detailing how to achieve a customer driven strategy.

  • Set up engagement and retention campaigns to keep your current customers coming back for more.  After all, it’s much easier to sell to someone who has previously bought from you.  Content marketing is an essential part of making sales, and automation can help you do this.  Make sure you’re keeping on top of your content and constantly improving it, making sure it’s more relevant to your customer’s as they progress on their automated journey.

Don’ts:

  • Set up Automation without planning first or thinking about what you want to achieve. There is no point setting up a complex automated programme without getting the strategy right first.  Don’t be that person.

  • Mass email customers.  This is literally the worst.  I have unsubscribed from so may brands over the years because they are emailing too much, and none of the content was relevant.  If nothing else, you will end up having your emails marked as spam, so just avoid bulk emailing.

  • Start before planning.  So I know I harped on about this, but it’s seriously important.  Don’t spend days or weeks of your life setting up an automation programme before you have taken the time to properly research and plan every step and action.  Plan – you won’t regret it!

I think you’ve got enough there to start you on your Marketing Automation journey.  If you want to discuss how Marketing Automation could work for your business, our Enabler team would be happy to chat you through our Automation software and how it could help deliver you deliver on your goals.

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The drag’n’drop revolution

Drag and Drop does exactly what it says on the tin.  It enables users to move a particular element from one location to another by simply selecting the item, dragging, then dropping it into it’s new location. Most Internet users have probably used it in some capacity by now, possibly without even realising it!

For example when:

  • Uploading images or albums on social media platforms

  • Placing files in relevant folders on your PC

  • Placing products in a basket when online shopping

  • Rearranging tasks in project management programmes

 

If any of those sound familiar, then you have already partaken in a spot of drag and drop fun.

Over the years, this handy feature has successfully dragged its way into email marketing, and with it dropped the ability to create sophisticated email campaigns with ease. Rather than having to rely on programming languages, marketeers (and your regular Joe) can now build email templates in just a few minutes by dragging structure and content blocks into place to form your email layout. Depending on your campaign, there are a multitude of clever content components that can be dragged into your structure, including text, imagery, video, social media buttons, CTA buttons and dividers, helping you build slick-looking, interactive emails without needing to know a single line of code.

 

Due to its simplicity, this method of building is used on a daily basis by businesses around the globe. No longer does one need to be an expert in HTML or CSS, instead drag and drop templates gives users the freedom and convenience of going off and preparing an email campaign without necessarily needing anyone else’s help.

One of the main advantages of using drag and drop templates is that the user can instantly see what’s been created, and amend the content and design layout straightaway if required. That means building a template using drag and drop functionality is much quicker and (almost) hassle free.

Another advantage is that the drag and drop template can be prepared in a relatively short period of time in comparison to any HTML template. In order to prepare such a template, all the user has to do is think about how they would like their template to look, and start dragging and dropping relevant building blocks into place.  Not sure about the way you’ve laid it out?  No worries!  Simply drag the content around until you get a result you’re happy with. Once all the blocks are in place, the user simply has to save the design and voila, you’re ready to send!

If you prefer coding elements of your emails, never fear as some drag and drop systems, including Enabler’s email marketing software, give you the option of adding in HTML content blocks, allowing you to build more complex components of your template with a developer. Once the code is dropped into the HTML container within your template, it will seamlessly work in conjunction with the rest of the drag and drop template.

There are, however some limitations to Drag and Drop templates. One of them is the fact that there are a limited number of modules to choose from and so the template layout is limited by the software provider you choose. For that reason, drag and drop templates may be more useful for a small businesses without a with limited coding resources rather than corporations that deploy complex email campaigns.

Another limitation of the feature is that even though, in theory, drag and drop templates are mobile responsive, the software will either stack the content modules or just shrink the template down when displaying on mobile devices. When stacking content modules, the software usually places the modules on top of one another, taking the email content in a sequence from left to right and stacking it to enable the recipient to easily view all the content on their mobile device.  However, this results in giving you little or no control over how the email stacks the content on your mobile device, meaning some content that might not be suitable for viewing on mobile still gets stacked, and you’re unable to swap content around within the stack itself. For more information on the different ways you can make your templates mobile responsive, take a look here.

Working with a designer has the potential to both help your work with drag and drop templates, however they can be a hinder if your designer is not fully briefed on the expectations and limitations of the drag and drop software in use. For example, in the Enabler team, we make sure our designers are fully versed in the functionality of our drag and drop system, but this won’t be the case everywhere, so the best thing to do is to check with the designer before starting work to find out how familiar they are with the drag and drop system you’re using.

Let’s face it, drag and drop templates won’t work for everyone; and that’s fine. These templates are best applied when used as an alternative way to build your emails, for instance when you don’t have the luxury of an in-house designer or experience in HTML or CSS. If you need to prepare and deploy emails with good functionality, ease of use and quick turnaround, then drag and drop is a great solution for you, especially if you are a small businesses with limited resources and have only just started to explore the world of email.

Most of the time, drag and drop is the easiest way to build templates, so do get in touch with our Enabler team for a quick chat on 020 7099 6370 to find out how our email experts and designers can help your build more complex, mobile responsive templates and campaign management for your next email campaign.

Happy dragging and dropping!

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Winner at RAR Digital Awards for email marketing

We are delighted to announce that our Enabler team at Pancentric Digital won the RAR Digital Award for Email Marketing 2017.

The RAR (Recommended Agency Register) is The Drum’s industry renowned service that helps businesses and brands choose the best agencies within leading digital services, based on the highest-rated client recommendations.

The RAR Awards are unique within the industry in that winning can only be achieved through the outstanding high regard of clients and their testimonials.

We are absolutely thrilled that our Enabler clients rated our email services, software and support so highly, enabling us to win this prestigious award.  We continually work closely with our clients to ensure we are always delivering the best possible service.  Whether its email software support, template design or delivering targeted end-to-end email campaign management, our Enabler team at Pancentric do more than just meet the basic needs of the client’s brief – we always aim to go above and beyond to ensure you get the best results from your email marketing.

To our existing clients, we say thank you.

To any prospective clients, we look forward to working with you soon.

Don’t just take our word for it…

Below are some of our client testimonials that helped us win this fantastic award.

 

“Having worked with Pancentric for over 4 years, we have gradually increased our usage of their agency, and couldn’t be happier with both their products and their service.

From the technical knowledge of the specialist teams, to the dedicated account manager who looks after all our needs, to the excellent hospitality we receive with every visit from entering to leaving the building.

Pancentric challenge us as a business, but go above and beyond to ensure our goals are met – even when we don’t fully know what they are or should be. Highly recommend this agency.”

 

 

“Pancentric have been our email marketing partner for several years and I would highly recommend them to anyone who expects great service, a responsive and professional team with great depth of knowledge and expertise.”

 

 

“Pancentric have been our email marketing platform provider for several years and am pleased to say I’m delighted with their service. The service, platform and tech have grown with us. They represent great value for money.”

 

“Working with Pancentric is a joy.  Not only does their constant professionalism translate in our day to day impeccable execution of campaigns but their passion also enriches our emails from a creative standpoint.  I would recommend them to any person who is looking for professional, creative, passionate colleagues.”

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Looking beyond the clicks: analytics – chapter two

If you read our first Reporting and Analytics blog, you’ll already know the importance of tracking your email campaigns, and what key metrics you should be recording.

So now you’ve got the basics covered, we’re going to delve deeper into email reporting metrics, more specifically looking at link tracking and Google Analytics integration. Excited?

You should be, because these metrics could help you turn clicks into conversions… now that’s exciting.

 

Why do we look beyond the click?

Every good marketer knows that ‘click thru’ rates are an essential metric that tell you how many people clicked on the links within your email, giving you a good indication of how engaged your customers were with your content. However, click thru rates do not give you the full picture of what happened past the initial click… did the customer make a purchase… did they drop off your website?

In order to find out how your customers are behaving once they land on your website, you need to put some tracking in place within your links and on your website.  This helps to unlock your customers’ behaviour beyond the click, and for that, we need Google Analytics…

 

How to track your customers using Google Analytics

Now this might get a bit technical, but bear with us as it’s worth it…

Google Analytics tracking works using something called the Urchin Tracking Module (UTM). You will be able to see this in action in this link:

http://www.enablermail.com/?utm_campaign=march-marketing-email1&utm_content=group1&utm_medium=email&utm_source=enabler&utm_term=offer-link

Everything after the first “?” in the link is the UTM, and it can be broken down into the following:

  • utm_campaign: Refers to the campaign name (in this instance we would be referring to the March marketing email.

  • utm_content: Content is used to track an individual or segments response. This could be based on any field in your database, for example user-id. For this example we have used a rather generic “group 1”, because who knows what data you hold! (Your options are endless). It’s important to note that this, like term, is an optional field.

  • utm_medium:  Tells analytics the medium used for marketing, (in this instance we would be talking about email).

  • utm_source: This is usually the media owner, but for email marketing it can be used to specify the source of email list or type of email, e.g. houselist, welcome-email, abandoned-basket. For the purposes of the link above we are using Enabler (the greatest email product on the planet… of course 😉 ).

  • utm_term: In AdWords, term is used to identify the keyword used to trigger the ad, but it can be used in email marketing to identify individual links e.g. offer-link. It is important to note that this is an optional field in email campaigns if your email provider lets you set up trackable links.

 

 

How do you create your own UTM codes?

There are three main ways you can create UTM codes.

1. Through your Email Service Provider (ESP)

Many ESP’s will have in-system methods of creating UTM codes. Enabler, for example, does it through its Web Links section, allowing you to fully customise your the tracking of your links.

2. Manually writing them

This is the long way of doing it, but there’s nothing to stop you manually adding tracking to the end of your link. All you need do is take my little template here:

?utm_campaign=xxx&utm_content=xxx&utm_medium=email&utm_source=xxx&utm_term=xxx

Just update the ‘xxx’ with your own tracking information, then add it onto the end of your link. Simples.

3. Using the URL builder in Google Analytics

Let Google create a custom URL which you can track through Analytics.  The URL builder tracking is limited in that it only allows you to enter the values for the parameters, for example, the campaign name and keywords, but this useful tool is a handy of generating a custom URL quickly.

 

 

Is there any best practice advice?

Link tracking is there to best used to suit your reporting purposes, so there’s no wrong way to do it, but here are some suggestions which should help point you in the right direction:

  • Naming conventions: Consider standardising this. Remember, each URL will have multiple parameters, you will want to keep it as clean as possible, and having a standard naming convention across the board will make this easier to manage for reporting purposes.

  • Type case:– Keep it lowercase.

  • Remember – Customers can see the URL too! This is one that people often forget, whatever your parameters are, your customers will be able to see in the link in their browser. Make sure whatever naming you use, is something you don’t mind being visible.

  • Use what you need: only use parameters that are 100% necessary to your campaign.

  • Shorten it: UTM codes can make links incredibly long. It’s always worth considering using a link shortening service like bitly or goo.gl to manage this.

 

How can you tell which traffic came from emails?

The best way to do this is to set up an Advanced Segment in Google Analytics which will report solely on your email traffic.

To set this up, select the Advanced Segment option using the down arrow at the top left above the reports in Google Analytics, then choose “Create New Segment” and set the Medium to “Email”. The Advanced segment will now be based on all visits to the site with a medium of ‘email’ set, provided that this is how you have labelled your links by tagging them.

Before you send out an email campaign, make sure you’ve tested the tracking by sending yourself (and preferably a few colleagues) the email, and clicked through to your website. Then log into Analytics to check you can see that the clicks are being registered by your new Advanced Segment in Analytics.

 

 

Can you see who is converting based on my email campaigns?

I’m glad you asked!  There are a few ways you can do this, but the ways we have found most successful is the use of Event Tracking and Page Tracking in Google Analytics.

Event Tracking essentially works by embedding an image tag within your email with information that Google can use to track customers from email clicks through to conversion. (See Google Developers for more detailed information on how to set up your Events). Once you have your Event set up, you will need to add the URL into your email. It would need to be positioned within your email like this:

<html>

<head>

…some other head contents…

</head>

<body>

…some other body contents…

<img src=”URL GOES HERE”/>

</body>

</html>

and the link would look something like this:

http://www.google-analytics.com/collect?v=1&tid=UA-12345678-1&cid=CLIENT_ID_NUMBER&t=event&ec=email&ea=open&el=recipient_id&cs=newsletter&cm=email&cn=Campaign_Name

This link will tell Google everything it needs to know to track your conversions.

Page Tracking works slightly differently, but is similar in concept. Each email service provider will have a slightly different way of doing this, but the idea is the same. On Enabler, your dashboard report will have a line in the report which feeds back information about revenue generated.

It does this by working in conjunction with your tracked links and your website. In order to track the pages that your audience visit after they’ve landed on your site, the site needs to send some information to Enabler. In this regard Enabler works in the same way as Google Analytics and requires that each page you wish to track contains a small snippet of code.

Some of this may sound complicated, but trust me when I say that the initial leg work is worth it.  So many of us have problems justifying the email campaigns we want to deploy, and in-depth tracking helps demonstrate how valuable a channel email really is.

Additionally, I don’t know about you, but I’m a sucker for watching the sales pour in after a campaign has gone out. That’s right, analytics is fun.  Happy tracking!

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Localisation in email marketing: the basics

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Did you know that more than 70% of the world’s internet users are not native English speakers? Or that 85% of internet users don’t purchase products unless the descriptions are provided for them in their native language? With statistics like these, it’s incredibly important to make sure you’re not only segmenting your emails properly but also making sure your customers receive your emails in a way they can digest.

It can seem daunting to think about getting the same campaign right in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Turkish or Chinese, but it’s important to get your head around how to do this and how to do it effectively – especially as studies have shown that it can have a direct impact upon ROI. Luckily, we’re here to help!

Adapting your email campaigns to accommodate different languages is just another way of making your emails accessible to your customers. The time and effort you put into making sure that your emails are mobile responsive and your CTA’s are clearly visible should be no different to the time you spend making sure your customers can read your emails… and that they make sense. It’s not simply a case of having a translator translate the emails word for word. You also have to consider how that would read back to someone who not only uses a different language but comes from a different culture to you.

Here’s an example. In this campaign, Ralph Lauren had to adapt the copy ‘CHRISTMAS EXPERIENCE’ in the English version into several different languages, including Turkish. Here is the top banner of the Turkish version.

You’ll see that they have used the word ‘KIŞ’ which means ‘Winter’. This is because Turkey is not a Christian country. What Ralph Lauren have done here is not only translated their email into the relevant language for the country it’s being sent to, but have also made it culturally relevant to the customers receiving it.

A key thing that Ralph Lauren did here was ask the question you should all be asking when marketing to a new country: ‘will they get it’? You need to ask this question no matter what area of marketing you’re in. What should the people in your emails be wearing that’s culturally relevant? What sort of language should you be using? What events should you be promoting? Not only this, but you’ll have to do it all whilst promoting the same product. So how can you approach this?

The first thing to do is look at managing your data. If you’ve already segmented your subscribers by language or country – great job, you’re halfway there! If not, you’ll need to focus on campaigns which survey your customers (for example, by using a simple preference centre) before you start sending localised campaigns. Having said this, there are ways to send localised campaigns without having perfect data lists.

Check out this campaign from Global Eyes Production. They used a GIF as the hero image of their campaign which scrolls through the different language options. It’s a simple message with the call to action to click on their language preference. This subsequently took the customer to a form where they could update their language preference.

The next thing to think about is exactly what content you’re going to have in your emails – specifically the copy. When translating from English to many other language s, you’ll find the amount of characters required in languages such as Spanish far surpass the requirement for the English language. This means you’ll need to keep an eye on the length of your subject lines and pre-headers, as well as the overall design and content length of your emails.

This also applies to CTAs. A call to action like ‘find an outlet store’ is short enough in English but in Spanish this becomes ‘Buscar una tienda outlet.’ Of course, you can always go down the route of using different copy for different languages.
You may also find you run into problems with character encoding. If you try and put an e acute (é) into HTML, it will often throw an error at you. There are a number of ways to get around this. Firstly, make sure you’re using UTF-8 character encoding where possible, and also make sure you’re using the correct codes for special characters.

Time zones are also something to bear in mind when sending worldwide emails. Just as working days in China won’t be the same as working days in the UK for obvious reasons, even countries in the EU can be a problem. Consider the Spanish working day, there’s usually a siesta break in the afternoon, so it’s always useful to consider this sort of information. Asking a native usually helps!

It’s also important to understand the legal side of sending. Laws around data and when you can and can’t send to customers vary in different countries . For example, in the US there’s the CAN-SPAM Act which will provide you with guidelines on when you can and can’t send. In Canada there’s the CASL, which is more strict on opt-in consent than other countries. The EU deals primarily with only emailing subscribers with which you hold an existing business relationship. Australia has a Spam Act, and China is definitely one to watch as it’s incredibly strict – especially when it comes to subject lines. It’s definitely worth looking into the laws of anywhere you’re planning on sending to before you do.

Finally, if you’re going to attempt any sort of email marketing strategy involving localisation, I implore you to make sure it runs through the rest of your marketing. For example, there’s nothing more frustrating than receiving an email in your native language, then clicking through to find a landing page that’s only in English.

Overall, localising your emails can be of great value to both you and your customers. Even just taking steps towards localising your emails can help you build richer data on your customers. This is a win-win situation for everyone. Customers will receive more targeted and relevant emails and this should, in turn, boost your results. So, if you’re going to attempt localisation in your emails remember to be legal, content clever, have a great translator, and be really consistent with the overall customer journey. Ciao!

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8 reasons to use a digital agency for your email marketing

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There are many things that contribute to the success of a business but the one I’m going to focus on here is marketing. Marketing is essential to any business. It takes time and skill to execute properly and hiring a digital agency can ensure you get the best value from your marketing budget and improve your results. Different types of agencies address different needs. Some agencies are focused on a particular area of digital, such as search (PPC, SEO etc), social media, email, web or strategy. Other agencies are full service and can manage all your marketing needs, including strategy.

But agencies though, I hear you say. Won’t they just cost me loads of money and come up with crazy ideas that don’t suit my organisation? You may have reservations, perhaps based on projects being taken out of your control, concerns about pricing, fear of “blue sky thinking sessions” and post-it-note-fuelled planning meetings eating away at your budget and time.

 

Fear no more, because using an agency can actually save you money and time, and I’m going to explain why.

1)    Agencies are experts

Digital marketing requires expert planning and execution to make it a success. The expertise an experienced digital marketing agency offers is invaluable, ensuring the best use of budget and resources to achieve your business objectives. You may have the best internal view of your business but an agency can bring you outsider market knowledge and fresh ideas. They may be working with clients in similar situations to you, meaning they’ve been there and got the t-shirt. Now they can make sure you sidestep all the pitfalls and navigate you smoothly towards success. As experts in their field, they’ll be fluent in the latest marketing trends and keep you up to date as well.

 

2)    Time management 

Agencies are time based businesses, which means they have worked out the best ways to get work done efficiently. They can help you achieve your goals in the most timely way possible and their processes can boost your own productivity. They’re focused on helping you achieve your business objective, on time and on budget.

 

3)    Maximise your budget

Many projects have a specific budget. Keeping this in-house can result in projects dragging on for far longer than needed, because it’s not Adam or Tom’s top priority and they have other work to focus on. Agencies will deliver your projects on time, and help you keep within budget. They can also advise you on the most cost-effective solution for what you’re trying to achieve. Many agencies offer different packages to demonstrate what can be achieved within specific budgets, and will work with you to ensure your project gets delivered to a high standard within a cost you’ve approved.

 

4)    Dedicated support

Internal projects can often get short-changed on support or resources, even with the best intentions. You’ll find exactly the opposite with an agency. They have teams of people who are essentially dedicated to the different parts of your project. From the Account Manager ensuring smooth communication throughout, to the Project/Campaign Manager keeping everything on track, or the Creative Team, everyone will be working to achieve YOUR goals. This provides valuable peace of mind, giving you one less thing to worry about and freeing you up for other work. You’ve also got people to celebrate with when your project goes live!

 

5)    Tools and tech

Digital marketing technology changes fast. Employing an agency means you’re not only getting access to the skills and expertise of their staff, you’re also benefitting from the latest tools and technology they use to make your projects happen. These might be design or web build related but the chances are, your in-house tech budget won’t stretch to cover them or it will take too long to get them approved and implemented internally. Agencies have them now, tested and ready to go.

 

6)    Perspective

Don’t underestimate the value of a fresh set of eyes on your strategy. An external perspective can help invigorate your marketing activity and open your eyes to opportunities you may not have considered before. A digital agency could have the answer to a problem you’re having, or show you new ways to innovate. The combination of your insider knowledge and agency expertise will ensure you hit or exceed your goals.

 

7)    Training

Agencies often offer training either as part of a package or separately. You could buy a particular product through an agency and get trained up on it to keep your costs down. This gives you some new tech to boost your marketing and access to the experts to teach you how to use it. Some agencies also offer training in methods of innovating such as Service Design and Design Thinking, which can help you to plan in a different way – essentially giving you the tools to create a successful new strategy.

 

8)    Flexibility

Agencies are not just there to run big projects for you; they can also be used for the smaller day to day operations of your marketing. For example, some agencies offer monthly retainers providing a certain amount of hours a month that can be used to utilise their staff as a flexible resource. A good example of this is email campaign management. (I’m a little biased here as this is what I do, but bear with me…) Let’s say you’ve been planning an email campaign to send out in three days and you suddenly realise you have too much on your plate and wish you could palm it off to someone else. Having a monthly retainer with an agency allows you to get in touch with your agency Campaign Manager and say ‘I need to send this out by this date, here are the details, please do it for me’… and they will! What could be better?

So, next time you’re thinking ‘I wish I had some more support on this’ or ‘I wish I knew how to make this work better’, don’t just think it, get in touch with a digital agency and let them help you to make your marketing more effective. And even better, get in touch with us here at Enabler.

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