High Value Target

When I arrived at the Chronicle of Higher Education last year, we were in the middle of an extensive e-mail marketing conversion—a switch to a new e-mail service provider. Never an easy or straightforward project, it was nonetheless necessary for us to take our marketing efforts to the next step and move from our e-mail marketing knowledge to more effective e-mail marketing tactics.The ChallengeWith two different marketing departments and at least two different e-mail marketing tools, we had become unorganized and inefficient. While our advertising marketers were using e-mail for PR, communications and lead generation for their respective sales teams, audience development was using e-mail as a primary channel for new subscription acquisition and webinar attendance. We had basic metrics and reporting—we could see orders and leads from campaigns—but that was pretty much it. There were no metrics on e-mail performance (open rates, click rates, and so on). Because the primary system we were using was a third-party and not a self-service tool, we were subject to getting stuck in a queue with their other clients and we often had to wait days to get the results of our efforts. There was no way to segment the audiences; the campaigns were very primitive. We affectionately referred to this as “batch and blast” e-mail marketing. Nothing was integrated with our CRM and there was no central database. With so many challenges, you may wonder what took us so long to finally make a switch. It wasn’t complacency; we just didn’t realize how much better it could be. Triggered and behavioral e-mail marketing wasn’t even in our vocabulary yet.The SolutionThe Chronicle realized it had to centralize its e-mail marketing efforts across the organization and combine the databases and processes under one system. Demonstrating increased return on investment (ROI) was key to getting buy-in from the organization—after all, we were doing relatively well with the status quo. Not only would a new system potentially cost more, there would be a lot of work from several stakeholders to convert, learn and optimize the new system. We had to change the culture of how we thought of e-mail marketing. We vetted several partners; many were good, but none perfect. (Tip: Find what you can live with and without. One might be strong in reporting, another in user-friendliness. For us, we also needed a system that could handle lead scoring and lead nurturing.)Preparing to ConvertOnce we chose a partner, we began the pre-conversion process. We took inventory of everything—the lists we used and owned, the creative elements, the number of e-mails being sent, even the skills and experiences of our internal team members. We had to map our data sources into the new system. We had to map our new system into our existing CRM. We had to map our wish list of e-mail marketing campaigns with corresponding e-mail budgets. We had to demonstrate value.Conversion Lessons LearnedTrying to predict exactly how we would use the system proved to be a challenge; it wasn’t exactly an apples-to-apples comparison. We knew conceptually what we wanted to do but weren’t sure how it would work until we actually dug into the process. I cannot stress enough how important adoption and project management are in any conversion. Build a training plan, engage the users and stakeholders, and communicate constantly. I have never heard anyone say that they wished there were fewer updates on a project! Like any complicated, cross-departmental project, make sure there is advocacy for it at the highest levels and ownership of its execution. And, like I discovered when I built that guest room in my house, remember to build cushions for resources (time) and expenses.Early Results Here’s where we talk about the 10 percent... Audience development was the first department to start using the new system and we executed our first campaigns in December 2011. Because of the shorter execution period, our monthly e-mail orders increased significantly—we are now able to go through the entire three-effort campaign within the month, whereas before it would take about six weeks. By shortening the campaign timeline, we are able to pull orders forward and therefore recognize/earn subscription revenues earlier as well. We will also be able to fit in another campaign this year, which we estimate will provide up to 10 percent in additional new orders from e-mail marketing. Beyond seeing positive campaign responses and results, the Chronicle is also benefiting from centralizing campaigns for maintenance and compliance. Being able to centralize suppression and opt-out files as well as bouncebacks is crucial to our best practices. We can keep our records and database clean and remove cold leads systematically every few months. Centralizing our database allows us to set standards around the frequency of e-mails sent, and we can analyze audience data carefully to fight list fatigue. What’s NextWe are integrating our new system with both the CRM and ad tracking systems to create sophisticated, segmented and triggered e-mail campaigns that rely on detailed purchase history and audience segmentation. Using the lead scoring part of the tool, we’ll be able to segment responses and behaviors and deliver more targeted, qualified leads to our account executives. Newsletters that were previously delivered from another system altogether will be integrated, imported and sent from our new e-mail service provider, giving us yet another opportunity to create behavioral marketing based on how recipients are reading our content. We will engage our subscribers and readers beyond welcome e-mails and create more customized, one-to-one marketing on the website based on their behaviors: how they came to us, what they clicked on, who they are, what content are they trying to access. We can even tie the system to our Web analytics system/platform. More elegant testing plans can be created to really maximize and optimize our efforts. We haven’t even started rethinking the audience segmentation, the offer or the creative. It’s exciting to think about the possibilities now that we are set up for success with a strong operational foundation and training. It’s exciting to think of the recuperated time that can be spent on more strategic initiatives—like where our next 10 percent will come from. PE Gwen Tomasulo is managing director of audience development and circulation at the Chronicle of Higher Education.

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Gwen Tomasulo