email marketing

feature

Emaii opens up to
a v\fider audienoe
Direct-response sectors such as travel and finance have so far dominated Asia's email marketplace
As a broader range of clients start looking at the channel, what lessons can they learn from them?
WORDS Gareth Jones ILLUSTRATION Dann)'Allison

Due to the impressive cost-effectiveness

and accountability of email marketing,
advertisers in the US and Europe have
been increasing their eCRM (e-customer
relationship management) spend
exponentially. However, Asia-Pacific
marketers have heen slower to experiment
with email. The travel and finance sectors,
both of which have traditionally relied on
direct-response communications, have
been leading the way, but other sectors
have been reluctant to follow.
This looks set to change during 2008,
with ZenitbOptimedia predicting that
email will be one of the key digital
charmels to benefit from a 7.4% increase in
advertising spend across Asia-Pacific
ahead of the Beijing Olympics later this
year. Brand owners in Hong Kong appear
to be leading the charge, with Sony, HSBC
and Nike all embarking on extensive
eCRM strategies. Meanwhile, brands in
sectors such as FMCG are investigating
bow they can use email.

Best practice
As new sectors begin to look in earnest at
email, what can they learn from brands
who already use it? Perhaps the first lesson
is relevance. Research carried out by
Radica Systems shows that more than 40%
of consumers in Asia say they have
purchased promotional items as a result of
an email marketing message. A further
59% of respondents said they would
happily open and read emails that they had
opted to receive. Crucially, however, 87%
of consumers insisted they would delete
emails from unknown senders,
highlighting the importance of
permission-based email marketing.
"Far too many companies across the
Asia-Pacific region spend far too much
time, energy and money emailing

28 DIGITAL MEDIA APRIL 2O08 DIGrrALMEDIA-ASIA.COM

 email marketing
feature

consumers without any consideration for

their needs," argues Dominic Powers,
senior vice-president, Asia-Pacific, at
email and data firm Epsilon International.
"Marketers need to show respect to their
customers to gain anything from
consumers'cluttered inboxes."
Asian consumers delete large numbers
of unsolicited messages without ever
opening them. That's not surprising given
the issue of spam - in China, 56% of emails
sent to consumers were spam last year.

"Marketers need to
show respect to
their customers to
gain anything from
cluttered inboxes"
DOMINIC POWERS
Spam is one of the major reasons Asia's
marketers have not embraced email.
"Clients are worried at being seen As
spammers " says an agency source. "One
major technology company told us it is
reluctant to do email for this very reason,
despite the fact we would only be using
opt-in lists."
For marketers who decide to use email,
then, it is imperative to look for ways to
make their messages compelling. "Asia-
Pacific consumers want to be in control of
their private digital spaces and see most
email as spam," says Alastair Duncan, chief
executive of MRM Worldwide. "Email
must he used smartly and with caution as
spam threatens to clog up the very pipes
that supply our internet."
Online travel firm Zuji is an example of
a company that takes email seriously. Zuji
gives consumers the chance to sign up to
receive a personalised email newsletter by
selecting their favourite three destinations
around the region. The process ensures
that all future emails include the latest
prices to those destinations, allowing
consumers to get the best possible deal.
"Relevance will determine whether the
reader trashes your spam email or views it
as the best thing since sliced bread " says
Sean Seah, Hong Kong country manager at
Zuji. "We work extremely hard to ensure
that our emails are as relevant as possible."
DIGITALMED1A-ASIA.COM APRIL 2 0 0 8 DIGITAL Mi;DIA2g
 email marketing
feature

Another travel firm that has invested in

email in Asia is British AiPA-ays, which
appointed OgilvyOne Worldwide to handle
its direct and digital marketing account in
the region. According to Skip Fedura,
partner at OgilvyOne in London, the rapid
development of Asia-Pacific countries
presents brand owners with significant
creative and strategic challenges. Foremost
among these is ensuring the content of
promotional emails is compelling enough
to convince consumers to interact. "More
and more email clients are not rendering
images and are limiting what can he done
creatively," says Fedura. "Consequently,
marketers have to he much more creative
in how they use their data to make their
email communications effective."
That means having and using an
effective customer datahase. Up to now,
marketers in Asia-Pacific have heen slow
to invest in high-end data management.
But with data-reliant online channels
growing in importance, that may have to
change. "You need a crystal clear idea
ahout who you are targeting, an insight
that gives you a new way of reaching your
audience and a strategy for engaging
them," argues Tony Effik, head of planning
at Puhlicis Modem. "Without this your
email is just junk."
Virgin Holidays
Virgin Holidays recently launched an Having defined the purchase cycle generate $U56m in direct sales for
email marketing campaign ¡n tne UK and identified the key consumer Virgin Holidays during the first
aimed at driving consumers to its segments, Virgin Holidays set up a montti. It achieved an open rate of
website, increasing booking series of email triggers aimed at 85% and a click-through rate of
conversions, cross-selling products driving responses from consumers at 48%. The campaign also led to a 6%
and buiiöing brand awareness. specific points in the cycle and increase in average spend per
The travel firm briefed direct encouraging them to move forward customer and helped Virgin Holidays
marketing agency Kittcatt Nohr through the booking process, Ttiis shift its marketing budget toward
Alexander Shaw to develop an eCRM highly targeted approach helped more profitable sales channels.
strategy that v\/ould allow it to start
communicating with consumers on a
regular basis.
Virgin Holidays began by mapping
out the online customer experience
to gain an understanding of what
different customer groups needed at
different points during the holiday-
booking process. Virgin Holidays... developed email triggers at points In the purchase cycle

Good layout
Once the data is ready, marketers must pay
close attention to design, making sure that
their emails are visually appealing, yet
simple enough to convey special offers and
price promotions. For example, when a
consumer clicks on a link within an email,
they expect to be taken to the product or
service featured in that email in the fastest
and most efficient way possible. Good
design is essential to boosting click-
through rates, which in the US have
remained largely unchanged at 5% for the
past five years, according to Forrester's
report, 'Email marketing comes of age'.
Despite the problem of getting
consumers to open emails, Forrester
claims that US consumers who buy
products advertised in email spend 138%
more than typical non-readers, with 50%
of consumers who open and read email
marketing messages also likely to purchase
other items on impulse. "Email is widely
regarded as the single most cost-effective
digital channel," explains Mike Teasdale,
planning director at email specialist
DIGITALMEDIA-AS1A.COM
Intel Siiicon Commander
Email can be used v^ithin a broader
campaign as well as a standalone
eCRM tool. An example is the way it
was used by Intel to promote Silicon
Commander, a multi-player strategy
game targeting an IT audience.
Email was used to make people
aware oí ttie game, boost gameplay
and encourage peer referral.
A trailer for the game before it was
ready to play encouraged people to
sign up for email alerts. These alerts
helped to maintain their interest in
playing the game post-launch.
These registrants were also sent
an email with tips on getting started
to ensure they weren't put off by the
game's complexity. Later on, people
who had registered but had stopped
playing were sent email reminders,
A refer-a-frlend system was built
into the campaign to allow
registrants to send email invites to
their friends, asking them to join the
game and challenge them. This
created a viral effect among Bie
target audience. Most players
recommended at least one friend.
Intel... selected players were sent email invitations to special downloads
"In addition to driving awareness,
email was a vital component of the
gameplay itself," says Germaine
Choi, regional account director at
MRM Worldwide, the agency that
handled the campaign. She points
to invitations to special downloads
and links to exclusive pages that
were sent to selected players so
they retained interest.
APRIL 2 0 0 8 DIGITAL MEDIA 31
email marketing
feature

Harvest Digital. "Particularly for large e-

commerce operations such as Amazon,
email is arguably the most important
driver of repeat business."
Asia-Pacific advertisers also need to
focus on implementing tracking
techniques to gauge the success of their
email activity. Quantitative metrics such as
delivery, open and click-through rates are
Epsilon International email study
Epsilon International has unveiled an Asia-wide study
into consumer attitudes toward email marketing. Based
on 1,169 questionnaires conducted in Febaiary, it shows
varying attitudes to the discipline acnass six tenitories.
One inleresttng variance was the definition of spam. In
Australia, 62% classed spam as any email the recipient
either didn't ask for or didn't subscribe to. In China just
33% think this, with a further 34% defining spam as any
email the recipient doesn't want.
What's more, 59% of Australians currentfy use anti-
spam filtering, compared with 32% in China and just
21% in Hong Kong.

"For e-commerce How many promotional emails do you receive per \/veek?

52%, 13% 9% 6% 7% 4%
Australia
operations, email is
arguably the most China 9% 8% 4%
?0'!., 5% 4% 4% 6%
8%

important driver of
Hong Kong
repeat business"
M I K E TEAS DALE India

effective in providing marketers with a

207. 13% 7% 10%
snapshot of a campaign's performance. Japan

"Emails must be tracked and analysed to

improve understanding of customer 13% 1d% 8% 4% 11%
behaviour," says Zuji's Seah. Malaysia
17% 7% 8% U%
More advanced techniques such as 0-1 fin
conversion tracking allow marketers to
Would you use email coupons to buy products offline/tnstore?
assess how many consumers go online to
buy a product as a result of receiving an
lo Yes
email. Post-click tracking gauges the level 24% 76%
of post-email user engagement with a
campaign, while qualitative techniques
can assess consumer satisfaction with any Australia Ctima Hong Kong India Japan Malaysia
given email promotion. "Only brands
Which action will you take when you vt/ish to pass on a
tracking down to the ROI level can truly
promotional email to others?
understand the value of email marketing
and justify its place on the media plan,"
China
argues Powers.
Hong Kong 21% 4%
Increasing budgets mean that email India 24% 6%
marketing is becoming ever more Japan
sophisticated. As well as segmenting Malaysia
consumers hy age and demographic, I Use tne 'forward to a frisnct or 'lell a friend ' biitton ot link on the email
advertisers can now target their campaigns I Forward the entire promotional material
based on user-behaviour and online • Send text email with URL
I 1 do not pass on promotional material
purchases. Brand owners can also add
dynamic content to their emails to make What is the biggest barrier preventing you from interacting
them more relevant and appealing. w/ith offers sent to you by email?
But the advice for marketers in sectors Austral I ii 43% I 8% 15% 9%
that have not traditionally used email is Ciilna 21% 11% 2
this: master the basics. By concentrating Hong Kong

on targeting consumers with relevant India 19% 14%

Japan
messages from an accurate database, brand
Malaysia
owners can ensure their eCRM activity is
I Security I Lack of human interaction
both cheap and highly effective. If they I Offers or promotions are not attractive enough I Cost. I öelieve I can get better offers
manage that, email will be a feature of Others with in-store purchse
media plans for many years to come. • $aunx:EpsK(xilntemational

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