If you're still debating plain text vs. HTML-enriched e-mail for your targeted electronic direct mail (EDM) campaign, then you are debating chariots in the age of Concordes. To be fair, I don't think the Concorde of e-mail has arrived yet, but there are some mighty fine systems out there. In fact, there are far more than I can cover in one column. The (broadly defined) rich media e-mail I've been receiving as part of press releases includes streaming audio, video, brochure e-mail, and personalized e-mail.
TwelveHorses: Unforgettable E-mail
By far, the most unique e-mail that I received - the most memorable - came from TwelveHorses. The vice president of marketing for TwelveHorses contacted me in January, and here I am finally writing about rich e-mail in June. He's no longer with TwelveHorses, and I'm leading the column with its solution. TwelveHorse's e-mail solution is like an interactive brochure that comes into your mailbox with a personal message nestled inside. The brochure can include links to its site, as well as a feedback form (call me, I'll call you, etc.). It's all template-driven, so once you've designed the template, anyone on your sales team can use it without thinking about the technology.
TwelveHorses provides the service as an ASP, so implementation time is short. Costs include a licensing fee, a set-up fee, transactional charges, and professional services, which are options. Most clients start with a single campaign (at $1,500 and up) then test-drive the system for three months (at $12,000 and up), finally signing an annual contract (at $35,000 and up).
Best of all, you can see whether your message has been opened, forwarded, and how long the recipient spent reading it. Sure you can see cumulative numbers on bulk campaigns - 50 percent opened, 15 percent clicked through, for example - but with TwelveHorses you can see numbers for each message you send. This is the future of one-on-one e-mail marketing. How are you seriously going to compete for attention if your competitors are sending out this stuff?
Flix: Better Than Streaming Video
I like this next solution because it's a client-side solution. This means that you don't have to get IT involved to start improving the quality and effect of the e-mail messages you send. Flix (produced by Wildform) permits you to capture video onto your PC then convert it to Macromedia Flash format (SWF). You can then embed your Flash video into e-mail, which will open instantly (if it's not too long) and automatically in 96 percent of computers (since they already have the Flash plug-in as part of their browser) without a download -- even through firewalls. Flix is only $99, making it a perfect solution for small businesses or one-man shows that want to capture the attention of busy audiences.
Personalized E-mail
There are two ways to grab attention: shout or whisper. Rich media is typically a shout; personalization is whisper. Two products providing personalization via e-mail are Kick Inc.'s KickMail and Macromedia's LikeMinds. Both are currently being deployed to offer personalization where personalization matters most: with affinity items, specifically music. LikeMinds is used by MusicLand, and KickMail is used by Kick's own music site. Kick has found that its personalized music recommendations sent out via e-mail have received at least a 20 percent click-through rate on every single campaign.
WebRadio, HelloNetwork, and Bigfoot Interactive: Traditional Rich Media
If you want to send bulk e-mail with far superior response rates to traditional HTML or plain text e-mail, then consider enlisting the services of
WebRadio, HelloNetwork, or
Bigfoot Interactive. All three will permit you to send streaming video or audio, which do not require any additional applications to open before they can begin playing.
I came across WebRadio e-mail, via one of their clients,
BoostWorks of BoostWeb fame, which chose to send out a press release using WebRadio's streaming audio technology. The audio started playing as soon as I opened the message. I asked Chris Borghi, director of marketing for BoostWorks, what kind of response rate he had seen from the WebRadio campaigns. He told me that 80 percent of respondents actually watch the video or listen to the audio. He considers watching or listening to be the equivalent of a click-through, since he knows he's communicated the relevant information to them. The worst he's seen is 40 percent, which is still far better than the 15 percent click-through rate that is typical of EDM. Phil Stuller, director of marketing for WebRadio, told me he's seen some campaigns show a greater than 100 percent rate of looking at the video or listening to the audio, since so many people watch or listen more than once, or forward it to friends to be seen and heard.
HelloNetwork provides the technology for rich media e-mail. Its product is unique because it can deliver video to PDAs and other mobile devices without a plug-in.
Bigfoot Interactive is a traditional e-mail provider that's partnered with Vendaria, the technology provider, to offer rich e-mail for your marketing campaigns.
Getting Your Hands on These Messages
The last time I wrote a column about e-mail (in August of last year with E-mail That Grabs You), I gave you an e-mail address to receive a copy of the e-mail into your mailbox. Over 1,000 of you responded! Rather than give you seven e-mail addresses to see sample copies, click here, leave me your e-mail address, and I'll send it on to all the vendors. They've been instructed not to harass you if they ever want me to talk about their solutions again. Please let me know if you have any problems.
Fancy Wrapping Paper
By gushing on about e-mail presentation solutions, I run the risk of sounding like I think the style is more important than the substance. Not so. You can achieve a 100% click-through rate yet sell nothing. Whatever the package - and I know my children always open the packages with the fancy wrapping paper first - the success of your company will depend on delivering relevant information about products your target audience cares about. Make sure the content is appropriate for the target audience, then wrap up your messages in a format your audience can't ignore.
Note to Readers
I'm just about to conduct a survey of marketing VPs, the topic of which is the Biggest Problem in Online Marketing Today. If you're a marketing VP (or CMO, or director of marketing), and you'd like to participate, please at drop me a line . The results of the survey will be reported and analyzed here. The survey is short, and any thoughtful responses will be followed up by phone or e-mail. Best of all, if you say something brilliant, I'll quote you.
Alexis D. Gutzman is an author, speaker, and consultant on e-business and
e-commerce topics. Her most recent book, The E-commerce Arsenal: 12
Technologies You Need to Prevail in the Digital Arena, was named one of the
30 best business books of this year. For more information on her upcoming
speaking engagements, please contact her directly at agutzman@internet.com.
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