Plushies in Action

I was suppose to continue on the topic of Subject Titles for Email Marketing and my thoughts on Michael Netzley’s Digital Comms workshop, but I was missing McDonald’s garlic chilli so much, I needed to talk about it.

It’s been a few months now, and I’m still wondering why McDonald’s took away their garlic chilli sauce. What were they thinking????

Maybe it’s another one of those “rational” cost cutting measures during bad economic times, or perhaps some peculiar survey findings reflected a change in consumer taste. Whatever the reasons, did McDonald’s really do their homework diligently? Did they conduct focus groups, get feedback online prior to this, monitor reactions on forums and blogs? Or maybe McDonald’s simply felt that the cost savings from discontinuing their garlic chillies far outweighs the lost of business from patrons like myself.

How tragic. Many of us grew up with their garlic chilli. I personally eat it with everything- Burgers, fries, nuggets, even with KFC’s crispy chicken. I go to McDonald’s not because they’ve got the best burgers or fries in town. I go to McDonald’s because their garlic chilli taste great with everything. And no other fast food chain serves garlic chilli. So why take away a key differentiator?

I’m not reacting alone. Just Google search for “McDonald’s Singapore no garlic chilli” and see the reactions of like-minded Singaporean on forums. The community has spoken.

NO GARLIC CHILLI = NO MCDONALD’S.

To McDonald’s: If you’re listening, may I propose a possible solution for you?

If producing garlic chilli is severely eroding your bottom line (which I doubt it), consider charging a minimal amount, like $0.05 or $0.10 per packet. No doubt you will inevitably have to deal with some degree of public backlash when you charge for ancillaries, but at least you will be giving your consumers a CHOICE. It’s entirely up to them if they wish to pay for it. I speak for myself, and I will pay $0.05 or $0.10 per packet to fix that craving. I believe many of your hardcore garlic chilli loving fans will too.

So until you bring back garlic chilli, I’m NOT lovin’ it.

Are you one of those guilty of creating your subject titles at the last moment? Think twice if you are, because subject title is easily one of the most important parts of your message.

Those who know its importance are quick to ask for “the best way” or some “sure win” formula, and then follow it like it’s Word of God. Wrong! Rather, it’s more a Work of Art.

While there are guidelines that you can follow, there is no magic formula or template in creating winning subject titles that will guarantee you a higher response rate.

Just like a work of art, one size does NOT fit all.

But what we can do as Marketers is to understand the factors that contribute to a winning subject title, and then put them into practice, with constant testing and improvements.

Subject Title Length

In general, the shorter the better, according to Email Marketing Metrics Report.  (See pages 11-14). Findings show that shorter subject lines result in dramatically higher open and click rates.

Here’s another interesting study by Alchemy Worx on Subject lines – Length is everything that challenges the Shorter Is Better theory.

In summary, this study shows that:

1. Shorter subject lines generate higher open rates, a measure of reader interest, but much lower click-to-open rates

2. Longer subject lines earn a much higher click-to-open rate, an indication of real relevance

3. Subject lines somewhere in between (dead zone*) optimize neither the open rate or click to open rates.

(*The dead zone represents the likelihood that marketers tend to fall into when they over simplify multiple/complex propositions, or lengthen unnecessarily strong single propositions)

The lesson here is to look beyond number of characters or number of words. Instead, focus on giving your target audience a reason to respond to your email. Also, you’ll need to test, test and test what works best (using simple A/B tests) with your target audience and the types of messages you send.

For example, a promotional email with a single offer or call to action might do well with shorter subject titles. While an informational content driven newsletter for client retention and relationship building objectives might need a longer subject title to communicate its propositions adequately. So it’s important to find a balance between length and communicating multiple or complex proposition(s).

The bottom line is: While you’ll need to keep your subject titles compact and concise, don’t sacrifice on message for the sake of keeping it short. Use enough to communicate your value proposition adequately.

Part II – Personalisation coming up.

Hey, at least I was a runner up!

My runner up winning caption for Michael Stelzner’s Weekend Fun: Write Caption For This Image is…

Happiness is a choice. So choose to be happy!

Thanks Michael!

Michael runs this as a regular weekend fun contest, and I’m really impress by his readers’ creativity. Read their comments. Wow!

Michael’s contest is a reminder of the importance of writing subject titles. I’ll be blogging about this in my next entry.

I was reading Michael Stelzner’s New B2B Study Shows White Paper Importance, where press releases ranked 2nd in online content effectiveness for lead generation, according to findings from MarketingProfs.

Looking at the comments he got (apart from the big question mark about newsletters being the 1st), another question remains: How do press release generate leads?

My neurons instantly reacted… “Ask David Meerman Scott!”

According to his book titled The New Rules of Marketing & PR, press releases in a web world suggest that Marketers can reach buyers directly, and the primary audience is no longer a handful of journalists. Online press releases are now a direct-to-consumer medium.

He suggests tips to optimise press releases for search and quotes WebEx’s press release at the top of Google search results.

Some tips that David gave for the new rules of press releases:

• Create news releases that appeal directly to your buyers
• Write keyword-rich press releases
• Add social media tags
• Place landing pages links in releases
• Include offers for people to respond in some way
• Optimise news release delivery for searching and browsing

David has a complimentary e-book if you wish to know more: The new rules of PR: How to create a press release strategy for reaching buyers directly

Other resources I found useful: Rocky Fu on tips to boost your online press release efforts, social media press release template from SHIFT Communications, and Press Release Grader from HubSpot.

So while media relations is still important to overall communications strategy, it is no longer a deal breaker if your press releases are not “picked up” by the mainstream media. The Web enables us Marketers and PR professionals to reach buyers directly through direct-to-consumer news releases, and even generate leads for sales with optimisation techniques.

Finally, my seemingly feeble (not!) attempt to sum everything up in startling simplicity:
SEO Friendly Press Releases = Lead Generation.

As my organisation starts to embrace the whole Web 2.0 shebang in its overall marketing strategy, I can only taste the sweet fruits of hard labour in the next few months (it’s work in progress right now). I am putting my hopes high on this one.

Unrelated side note: Wondering who’s Pocoyo? This cute little blue boy is full of antics and making both kids and adults fall head over heels in love with him.