The 2013 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report clearly shows the use of emails as a TOP 3 channel to promote association awareness, promote membership, fuel member engagement, and drive member renewal and reinstatement (see the data presented below).
Experience and research shows that the offer should be presented "above the fold" so it is one of, or THE FIRST, thing the recipient reads (do any of you remember "The Johnson Box" from direct mail?). However, given how small an amount of "real estate" it is, if push comes to shove, should you also place your logo or provide a brand element in the space as well?
The unwritten rule that I have always followed regarding this question is to include both branding/logo and a CTA/the offer above the fold/in the preview pane.
It is valuable real estate and you are quite limited with your space but it is important to incorporate both elements in this area.
Brand provides the reader with justification to read the email answering the simple, but very important, internal question the recipient asks themselves, "Should I really even bother with this email?"
Hopefully, your brand strategy successfully associates your association with the services and quality that the recipient wants - needs - and they say to themselves "YES, I've gotta read this now!" as the one time recipient and now engaged reader proceeds to devour the content of your email.
One of our e-Production leaders was asked recently by a colleague if emails are like mailed postal pieces – in that it is OK to create a different appearance for each campaign and allow for there to be some initial mystery as to who sent the email…that by doing this with emails could somehow increase engagement.
She indicated that in her experience, this is not the case with emails though – "recipients should be very aware of who the email sender is when the email is initially viewed. There are so many factors that contribute to an email’s success – a major factor is trust the email recipient has that the email they received is valid – from a source opted in to and recognize. The branding/logo included in this section reinforces the from line of the email and contributes to allowing for this trust."
I concur. In today's content-enriched market, individual's are looking for ways to perform "Attention Triage" so, similar to when you are first introduced to someone, you 10-seconds to prove that you are worthy of their attention and ENGAGEMENT.
If you have any questions concerning your brand or your e-marketing strategy, please feel free call me.
I look forward to your comments and observations.
MOST EFFECTIVE RECRUITMENT CHANNELS
2013 (n=685) 2012 (n=685)
Word-of-Mouth 58% 54%
Association Website 33% 34%
Email 31% 37%
METHODS FOR CREATING AND MAINTAINING ASSOC. AWARENESS 2013 (n=691) 2012 (n=683)
Association Website 33% 34%
Email 31% 37%
Word-of-Mouth 58% 54%
*2013 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report
Experience and research shows that the offer should be presented "above the fold" so it is one of, or THE FIRST, thing the recipient reads (do any of you remember "The Johnson Box" from direct mail?). However, given how small an amount of "real estate" it is, if push comes to shove, should you also place your logo or provide a brand element in the space as well?
The unwritten rule that I have always followed regarding this question is to include both branding/logo and a CTA/the offer above the fold/in the preview pane.
It is valuable real estate and you are quite limited with your space but it is important to incorporate both elements in this area.
Brand provides the reader with justification to read the email answering the simple, but very important, internal question the recipient asks themselves, "Should I really even bother with this email?"
Hopefully, your brand strategy successfully associates your association with the services and quality that the recipient wants - needs - and they say to themselves "YES, I've gotta read this now!" as the one time recipient and now engaged reader proceeds to devour the content of your email.
One of our e-Production leaders was asked recently by a colleague if emails are like mailed postal pieces – in that it is OK to create a different appearance for each campaign and allow for there to be some initial mystery as to who sent the email…that by doing this with emails could somehow increase engagement.
She indicated that in her experience, this is not the case with emails though – "recipients should be very aware of who the email sender is when the email is initially viewed. There are so many factors that contribute to an email’s success – a major factor is trust the email recipient has that the email they received is valid – from a source opted in to and recognize. The branding/logo included in this section reinforces the from line of the email and contributes to allowing for this trust."
I concur. In today's content-enriched market, individual's are looking for ways to perform "Attention Triage" so, similar to when you are first introduced to someone, you 10-seconds to prove that you are worthy of their attention and ENGAGEMENT.
If you have any questions concerning your brand or your e-marketing strategy, please feel free call me.
I look forward to your comments and observations.
MOST EFFECTIVE RECRUITMENT CHANNELS
2013 (n=685) 2012 (n=685)
Word-of-Mouth 58% 54%
Association Website 33% 34%
Email 31% 37%
METHODS FOR CREATING AND MAINTAINING ASSOC. AWARENESS 2013 (n=691) 2012 (n=683)
Association Website 33% 34%
Email 31% 37%
Word-of-Mouth 58% 54%
*2013 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report
