bagg_a01ffirs.qxd 3/2/07 10:46 AM Page iii Email Marketing by the Numbers How to Use the World’s Greatest Marketing Tool to Take Any Organization to the Next Level Chris Baggott with Ali Sales John Wiley & Sons, Inc. bagg_a01ffirs.qxd 3/2/07 10:46 AM Page ii bagg_a01ffirs.qxd 3/2/07 10:46 AM Page i Email Marketing by the Numbers bagg_a01ffirs.qxd 3/2/07 10:46 AM Page ii bagg_a01ffirs.qxd 3/2/07 10:46 AM Page iii Email Marketing by the Numbers How to Use the World’s Greatest Marketing Tool to Take Any Organization to the Next Level Chris Baggott with Ali Sales John Wiley & Sons, Inc. bagg_a01ffirs.qxd 3/2/07 10:46 AM Page iv Copyright © 2007 by Chris Baggott. All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada. Wiley Bicentennial Logo: Richard J. 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HF5415.1265.B29 2007 658.8’72—dc22 2007002737 Printed in the United States of America. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 bagg_a02ftoc.qxd 3/2/07 10:46 AM Page v Contents Introduction By the Numbers: What’s It All About? vii Chapter 1 What Is Marketing’s Goal? 1 Chapter 2 Is Email the Perfect Marketing Tool? 17 Chapter 3 What’s Wrong with Email? 39 Chapter 4 Subscriber Engagement: What Matters? 51 Chapter 5 Building a Killer Database 77 Chapter 6 Segmenting for Relevance 107 Chapter 7 Finding and Creating Relevant Content 143 v bagg_a02ftoc.qxd 3/2/07 10:46 AM Page vi Contents Chapter 8 The Role of Email in Viral and Word-of-Mouth Marketing 171 Chapter 9 Analytics That Matter 185 Chapter 10 Testing against Your Goals 205 Chapter 11 Using Surveys, Forms, and Other Feedback Tools 223 Chapter 12 Triggers, Transactions, and Integration 239 Chapter 13 Are You a Spammer? 255 Index 289 vi bagg_a03flast.qxd 3/2/07 11:08 AM Page vii INTRODUCTION By the Numbers: What’s It All About? M arketers, it’s time to let go. Say goodbye to intangibles and opin- ions. Wave adios to feelings and gut instinct—you know, that reason your boss used when you asked him why the color green would work for your brochure. Repeat this adage with me: “Half my marketing dollars are wasted. I just don’t know which half.” Okay, it’s the last time you’ll ever say those words. It’s the last time you’ll take a leap of faith or look into your crystal ball and make a wild prediction. I know that making marketing decisions based on feelings and in- tuition seems natural. And that traditional marketing, branding ac- tivities, and expensive professional services can be alluring. They’re comfortable. So comfortable, in fact, that they seem right to a lot of organizations. Here is one of my favorite lines from Thomas Paine’s Common Sense: “A long habit of not thinking something wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.” Yet, there is a new era of marketing unfolding. One based on data, analysis, and what people actually do rather than what they feel or say. It’s time to say “no” to what may feel comfortable and “yes” to the facts. As humans, we like to think we are interesting. Complex. The re- ality is that we typically repeat the same behavior over and over again. Take me, for example. This morning, I read the paper. I drank vii