Mar 13, 2013

Behind the Scenes: How We Do Our Own Email Marketing at MailChimp

Last month, we sent an email announcement to customers about our new SMS app Gather. I guess you could call it “email marketing,” though we rarely think of it that way (we just call it “talking to customers”). But the marketing team put it together, with some help from our mobile team, and a bajillion annoying edits from me. I thought I’d share all the edits I made, and why I made them, in case you find this sort of thing interesting.

First, here’s the final version of the email that we eventually sent:

final

Now, let’s go over the process we went through to get there.

Targeting

The goal was simple enough: Tell our customers about Gather. Gather is an SMS app that’s designed specifically for people who host events. It’s not exactly for everyone, so we certainly shouldn’t send it to everyone. Our list of users has more than 2.8 million subscribers. Not gonna lie–I was sort of tempted to send this email to that entire list. But that would’ve resulted in a ton of backlash, unsubscribes, account cancellations, angry tweets, and—worst of all—loss of trust in our brand.

So we started looking for segments of the list that we thought would most likely find this useful (and least likely find it irrelevant).

Our first thought was to segment by industry. There are quite a few people in our system who’ve indicated they’re in the “Entertainment and Events” industry:

ent-events

That whittles the list down significantly, but it’s still a pretty big group.

Then we remembered that Gather was only available on the iPhone. And like many mobile app developers, we’ve learned the hard way that you really don’t want to irk the Android users out there. So we did this:

events-iphone

That static segment is a feature in MailChimp where we can use our API to sync data from our user database. Among many other things, our user database stores information about which external apps each account has linked to.

In the example above, you see MailChimp customers who are in the events industry, and who’ve logged in to our MailChimp mobile app for iPhone. But I felt a little uneasy about this segment of the list. The industry “Entertainment and Events” just seemed too broad (What, exactly, is “entertainment”?). At the same time, it was too narrow—there are plenty of people out there who host events, but wouldn’t consider themselves in the “Events” industry.

I really wanted us to focus on “tech-savvy people who host events.” So this is the segment of our list that we ultimately chose:

final-segment

These are MailChimp customers who have used our integration with Eventbrite. Integrating two SaaS products like MailChimp and Eventbrite is a decent indicator that these people are tech-savvy, and wouldn’t be scared to try Gather.

We make the act of segmenting your list super easy. But the discussion of how we should segment the list took place over 2-3 days. That seems awfully long, but this is important stuff. Nine times out of 10, I also include the criteria, “is very engaged.” That little added element removes all the disengaged subscribers, who are more likely to complain or unsubscribe, or to tweet mean things about your brand. I believe your main goal of segmenting your list is not to increase relevancy (that’s your content’s job) but to reduce irrelevancy.

Content and design

After the segment of our list was settled, we tackled design and content. This was our very first stab at the email announcement:

first

 

It was such a pretty email. It took a lot to get that done. Back in July of last year, we built an online service that generates quick images of app screenshots inside of various mobile devices. That led us to creating a Tumblr of random hands holding smartphones, mostly for laughs (it’s pretty challenging to get a good shot of a hand holding a phone).  So you could say the photo at the top of the email was months in the making. The marketing team certainly was proud of it.

But I had a problem with it.

This was my basic feedback:

first-edits

 

By the way, my actual feedback was mostly face-to-face. I didn’t mark up the email in red like these diagrams. I’m not a jerk, really! The red marks are just an easy way to recount my edits to you.

First, the subject line was a little too salesy, and was missing context:

“A Few Ways to Use Gather, MailChimp’s SMS App for Events”

We didn’t even introduce Gather yet—let alone say, “Hi, we’re MailChimp!”— to the recipient. So why are we already talking about all the ways you can use it? It’s a well written subject, but we were getting ahead of ourselves. Remember, this is an introductory email.

So we changed it to:

“Announcing Gather, a MailChimp App for Events”

It’s still a little slick and salesy, but hey–we’re selling something. It’s honest, and it’s a more polite way to introduce ourselves.

“Who the [bleep] is Gather?”

Next, I was concerned that our recipients would open the email, see the Gather logo, and think, “Who the [bleep] is Gather?!? This is spam!!!!” These customers signed up for MailChimp, and therefore are only expecting emails from MailChimp. So I asked for the MailChimp logo at the top of the email. Wouldn’t want to get shut down by my own Compliance Team.

Proper introductions

Finally, I wasn’t happy about placing that large photograph of the iPhone so high on the email. I wanted to get some text above that photo, where people can skim or scan really fast and decide if the email is useful to them. Plopping a giant image at the top is disrespectful, in my opinion. You’re asking the recipient to basically wait (or click) for an image to download? That’s kinda like the old “skip intro” days of web design (seriously, don’t be a Flashole).

So we moved the intro paragraph above the big pretty picture.

And here’s the second draft:

2nd

That’s better placement of the intro copy, but this didn’t feel like the way we’d write. It’s nice that we provide some context about why they’re receiving the email in the first place (“Since you use MailChimp and Eventbrite…”), but I still didn’t think it felt quite right. Our style has refined a little over the years, but we’re still trying to keep it a little weird. This copy was missing something MailChimpy.

My advice to all new email marketers is to figure out your brand’s natural Voice and Tone as soon as you can (we’re lucky enough to have ours documented by some brilliant people). If you’re not quite there yet, blogging can help you write more confidently, and the feedback in your customers’ comments will help you calibrate your style over time. Once you’ve got that figured out, writing email newsletters gets soooo much easier, and you’ll be able to spot when you’re a little “off brand.”

My feedback:

2nd-with-edits

 

Here’s the revision:

clueless-ceo

Okay, my writers are making fun of me. Clearly, they’re getting tired of my edits. But this is actually kind of funny, and does a really good job of explaining how the app works. Most importantly, it’s a true story! (I get lost a lot.) I loved it because it was humble, and it was human. That’s perfectly “on brand” for MailChimp.

With this new intro, it didn’t make sense to list all the ways you can use Gather. So the team chopped the rest of the email down to a very simple “go try it if you’re interested:”

bottom

By now, about 4 days had passed from when we started working on this email. And wouldn’t you know it, our dang mobile team went and launched the Android version of Gather. Sigh. People are always changing things around here. That means more last-minute edits (#agilemarketing). So we changed the image of the phone to Android (What the heck, we’ve got an app for that!), and we mentioned Android in the copy.

android-postscript

Always be useful

We try to include something useful in every email. If the announcement was totally useless, let’s at least give the recipient a case study, or something educational (even if it points to some other resource). So at the bottom of the email, we added a postscript that linked to one of our blog posts about Rockhouse Partners, an entertainment agency that uses our geo targeting feature to help them with their events. That was a blog post from November 2012. How lucky are we to have that content to point to?

Lesson: always be blogging.

The results

The campaign got an open rate of 32.6% (the list average for general announcements is 24.7%) and a click rate of 6.3% (average is 1.8%).  Meanwhile, 0.22% of recipients unsubscribed. And it only received one complaint.

Most importantly, sales went up. You can see clearly how sales picked up on the day the email was sent:

sales-appfigures

Word got out on Twitter, and sales are picking up speed. The different colors you see are the different price tiers. Cyan is the cheapest price plan, which has grown the most.

 

Being human is hard.

My point of all this is that sooner or later, you’re going to want to send an email campaign that sells something. When that time comes, it’ll be easy to just put on the Sales Guy Hat and run through the motions, doing the same stuff you’ve seen other companies do. You write a salesy subject line, throw in some aggressive copy, add a slick product photo, and “blast” it out to the masses. Because that’s what you see polluting your inbox, right? Please don’t do that. Email marketing is your chance to connect with your customers in a human way. Be human!

Posted By

Ben

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Discussion

  • Ricky Moorhouse

    Any reason you didn’t use location targeting as well considering the app is only really useful in the US? I thought it looked interesting, but can’t use it for the foreseeable future as I’m in the UK

    03.13.2013

    reply

    • Ben

      Hi Ricky, when was the last time you checked? We launched UK availability at the last moment (along with Android compatibility) so we snuck that into the email’s copy:

      http://blog.mailchimp.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/bottom.png

      But you’re right–if the app wasn’t available in the UK, it would’ve been wise to limit to US-residents only. On a side note, we had a little signup form for people who wanted to be notified as soon as Gather launched for the UK, so we also sent an email to that list.

      03.13.2013

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      • Tiago

        Where’s the signup form for people be notified when Gather launches here in Brazil? :)

        03.14.2013

      • John

        Hi Tiago, If you go here: https://gather.mailchimpapp.com/ and scroll all the way down to the bottom there’s a signup form right there. You’ll get announcements as we make changes and additions to both features and where Gather is offered.

        03.14.2013

  • lonmcgowan

    I really appreciate you giving us a peak behind the curtain on your thought process and approach to creating an email campaign. It was honest and informative. Excellent post. Thanks, Ben

    03.14.2013

    reply

  • Marc Pearson

    I can’t tell you how many websites I love but had to unscribe to emails because of the spammy sales pitch.

    03.14.2013

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  • Joel

    Good post. I agree that I would rather receive an email that looks like it’s written by a friend than a lawyer. I’m sure I’m not alone in this. Otherwise I end up just skimming it as fast as I can – if i read it at all.

    03.14.2013

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  • Filipe

    Thanks for the blog post. Really useful info here.
    You made me smile in this sentence: “Wouldn’t want to get shut down by my own Compliance Team.” I imagined Ben receiving an email from the Complaince Team saying “Your account has been suspended due to the high complaints received in your last newsletter. What the hell were you thinking sending that email?”

    03.15.2013

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    • Angie

      Filipe, I laughed out loud at that line also, and I echo your sentiments about how useful the entire post is. Nice to hear we’re not alone in re-writing, correcting and making image swaps right up until the “send” button is clicked. :)

      03.19.2013

      reply

  • Brenda Jean

    Excellent insights here…thank you for taking the time to write it up.

    03.17.2013

    reply

  • lifted websites

    AAV is what we focus on. “always add value” with a human approach as you point out. Thanks for sharing your insights based on your own emails.

    03.21.2013

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  • Diego

    I really appreciate this kind of post that help us create better email campaigns. Excellent post. Thanks, Ben

    03.25.2013

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  • CrackMarketing

    Thanks for this article, it’s so nice of you sharing how your email marketing is done. Awesome job!

    03.26.2013

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  • Tarun Gehani

    Email marketing tips from an email marketing company. Love going “behind the scenes”, especially your insights on headlines.

    Always be blogging. Always be useful. Always be human.

    03.28.2013

    reply

  • Tina Wang

    I really appreciate this behind-the-scenes opportunity and all the thought that went into crafting the email. You just can’t substitute anything for the human touch!

    03.29.2013

    reply

  • Gill Darbyshire

    Thanks for sharing this – great to see the process and to learn the lessons. It’s also a reminder not to be lazy and expect the technology (however fab it is) do the work for you. This kind of word-smithing is such an art. I’m going to take a look at my website, too and see if I can apply some of the lessons there. Cheers, Gill.

    04.07.2013

    reply

  • Bernadette Jiwa

    This is really useful Ben. Thanks for sharing.
    The biggest takeaway for me is the amount of work, time and thought you put into each and every detail.
    Love how Mailchimp always brings the conversation back to being human.

    04.07.2013

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  • Jesse Kohl

    Very interesting post. Thanks for sharing these details. Love the telling of the story as intro!

    04.12.2013

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  • Natasha Hawkins

    Absolutely loved this, we are always fans of Mailchimp emails and really try to bring that fun demeanor to our own conversations with customers. Thanks for the behind the scenes look at your company it is much appreciated and rare in internet marketing.

    04.12.2013

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  • Richard Ingham

    Haven’t organised an event for SMEs in my local area of Mid Essex. But I have just downloaded Gather and want to organise an event for businesses on my list!

    04.13.2013

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  • Panayotis Gezerlis

    Excellent post, thanks for sharing your methodology and results. eMail Marketing (or “talking to clients” as you say) is still in the starting here in Greece, and your blog posts are helpful to many :-)

    04.14.2013

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  • Richard H.

    Great article! I think that the one thing that most people tend to forget, is that actually segmenting your list is very important. Remember the more data we have the better, but if you’re not using that data you’re failing in almost every day.

    04.14.2013

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  • Cam Collins

    The insight into MailChimp’s internal e-marketing campaign process is very helpful. I found the notion of “Always be useful” obvious BUT often overlooked. This is so timely as I am about to write a post about our first mobile app and I was struggling with “how can I make this useful” if the recipient could care less about our mobile app. (Disclaimer: most of the people on our email list our customers of our desktop/cloud software).

    04.15.2013

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  • geoff

    Thanks for the insightful post. Good to see the process you go through. I loved the storytelling linking Eventbrite and Mailchimp use, pure genius. I’m now reading about your tone of voice guidelines. Thanks again.

    04.15.2013

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  • Jim Collins

    This is probably a really good article that I’d love to read but I’m really tired of straining my eyes because you think light grey is cool.

    04.16.2013

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    • Ben

      Hi Jim, sorry it’s hard to read. The text is actually a darker gray, but some people are seeing something different. We’re not sure if it’s a browser thing or operating system thing, or a missing font, or what. What browser and OS are you using?

      04.16.2013

      reply

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