If you are running email programs for your business, then you are most likely using some sort of reporting to measure the success of these campaigns. However, a marketer can drill much further down into the data than their Email Service Provider (ESP) might be providing automatically.

Campaigns can differ, as well as the needs of individual businesses. It is really about defining what your goals are and then measuring them. If anything, hopefully these KPIs get you thinking about how you can improve your marketing efforts.

David Baker from Avenue A/Razorfish shares some helpful KPIs to consider in a recent Email Insider article.

General E-mail KPIs:

E-mail sent/delivered

Campaign over campaign impressions/opens (total/unique/% rate)

Campaign over campaign clicks (aggregate/unique /% rate)

Click to open (% who open the message and click through)

Churn rate (% unsubscribe/opt out/undeliverable)

Send to a friend (viral rate)

ISP domain response (open/clicks)

Commerce-Driven Program KPIs:

Total sales (campaign, month, quarter, segment)

Profit/margin per e-mail sent / source

Sales per e-mail sent

Cost per e-mail sent

Average Order Value (AOV)

Number of orders

Conversion rate (to open/click through)

Number of site visits (page rank)

Demand Generation

Number of leads (by product/client type)

Number of downloads

Site visits

Page Rank

Cost per lead

Conversion rate

Membership/subscription/database growth

Web Focused

Cost per visitor

Number of leads by entry page

Heavy user share

Average page views

Stacking effect

Length of site visit by source

While all these are useful measurements, the challenge is to isolate the top three to five that mean the most to your business. When I asked my respondents to name their top three, few wanted to commit to so few, as is usually the case, but here are a few that came back universally at the top of the list. The obvious choices for a commerce-driven business were:

Sales (total sales, sales by campaign/type/segment/cell, per e-mail delivered)

Profit/margin per e-mail sent and campaign level

List growth/churn (size of database, growth month over month, churn rate month/aggregate)

Some companies are driven more by conversion events than pure sales. They want to get a lead into the hands of a partner, call center or salesperson–so they are about efficiencies, rather than sales and/or profit margin.

Cost per lead

Funnel movement (how leads migrate through the funnel stages)

Total reach (how much of the prospect database can be reached at any given time). This includes churn metrics as well.

Notice that the primary KPIs for the two instances above are not about click-through rate or open rate.

When the real focus of the program is purely branding, the metrics seem simpler, but with a deeper definition:

Response rate (both open and click). Brand marketers are increasingly looking at the total reach of their base and less at campaign-over-campaign results. They want to count how many eyeballs were exposed to the brand each month, the resulting interactions and incremental Web exposures.

Site visits and site traffic. Site traffic statistics driven from e-mail are becoming increasingly valuable to see what content and interests are driven from each campaign/program and business division. Depth of site exploration…

List growth. All brands place increased value on the size and relative growth of the database since it represents a potential share of market and voice. It is essentially the lifeline to reach a mass of customers in an efficient manner. This, combined with qualitative feedback, is quite useful in measuring brand attitude, awareness and level of involvement with the brand.

Whatever you take away from this article, do remember:

KPIs must mean something to the folks who manage the program, and be actionable.

Your executives should buy into them.

Your KPIs will evolve, so don’t hold them too personally.

tags: email marketing, key performance indicators, kpi

Krys Bart, Director, Reno-Tahoe Airport Authority
November 15 > 11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Harrah’s Downtown Reno
Click Here to RSVP Now

How has the airport team used marketing to turn the corner from declining air service and financial difficulty to tremendous growth in passengers and cargo?

Join us and learn about the airport’s marketing success, with ideas that YOU can use.

• How do you gain air service in the midst of airline bankruptcies, customer service issues and security challenges?
• How do you expand flights in a time when airlines are actually cutting back on service?
• How do you approach the airlines with a marketing plan that balances their needs and yours?
• How do you involve the community and motivate innovative incentive packages to attract additional service?

It’s not smoke and mirrors. It’s a complex process that involves many factors. Number crunching for one. It’s not just about benefits, but involves detailed financial analysis as well as positioning the unique attractions of the area.

“Reno-Tahoe International Airport – dedicated to moving you.”
“Anytime, anyplace, anywhere…”
“Over 170 flights everyday…”

Krys Bart is responsible for directing the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, and the Reno Stead Airport, with an operating revenue budget of $42 million, and 260 employees. Krys began her tenure as the Executive Director in 1998, at a time of declining air service and financial struggles. Her leadership has led to growing passenger numbers, and cargo has expanded for 18 consecutive months.

Recently Krys was named the “Best Small Airport Director of the Year” by Airport Revenue News. Under her leadership, the airport was named one of the “Top 5 Most Efficient Airports” by the Air Transport Research Society.

When:
Wednesday, November 15
11:30 - Registration and networking
Noon - Program begins
Where:
Harrah’s Downtown Reno
Cost:
$19 - AMA Members paid in advance
$29 - Non-members paid in advance
$20 - AMA Members paid at the door
$30 - Non-members paid at the door
$40 - At the door without RSVP - Seating is on a space available, first-come, first-served basis, with seating at noon

RSVP Online by noon on Monday, November 14th

RSVPs held until 11:50 am on the day of the event. And, please note that you must cancel your reservation at least 48 hours before the event or be billed for the event.

, reno, marketing

CNN.com includes a story posted Oct 22 entitled “Extreme marketing - this car made just for you.” The story details automakers’ efforts to define and fill narrowly-defined niche markets, and includes the factoid that automakers employ research companies — whose ranks include anthropologists — to ride around in test vehicles with potential buyers to observe their lifestyles. Worth checking out for a different view of marketing research and product development.

The Sunday, Oct 22 issue of the Reno Gazette-Journal contains two interesting articles on how technology is changing how politicians campaign.

The first, “If you’re not online, you’re not credible, candidates discover,” notes that — to be credible — candidates needs to at least maintain a website, and that many also have blogs. These websites not only allow candidates to communicate with voters but can also be instrumental in fund-raising, as demonstrated by John McCain and Howard Dean during the last presidential election.

The second, “Some are calling ‘06 campaign ‘the YouTube elections’,” discusses the growing influence of social networking sites such as YouTube. These sites are especially successful in reaching younger voters, who see these sites as important sources of information. The article notes that the “online forum has become so popular among campaigns that some have begun using the phrase, ‘the YouTube elections,’ to describe the phenomenon.” (YouTube was recently acquired by Google for $1.6 billion and claims 100 million video views a day.)

, reno, marketing

Erika Olsen, who appeared at the AMA’s September luncheon entitled “To blog or not to blog,” has written a new book entitled, “Strategic Planning for Dummies.”  One of the principals at Reno’s M3 Planning, Erika is strategic consultant and a business planner with seven years of experience helping entrepreneurs articulate their visions and bring them to fruition. Erica also lectures at University of Nevada Reno and University of Phoenix.

Strategic Planning For Dummies” is for business owners and entrepreneurs who seek to build and sustain a competitive edge, and shows readers how to design and implement proven strategies for sustained business growth.

Krys Bart, Reno-Tahoe International Airport’s Executive Director, was named by Airport Revenue News as its 2006 Best Director of the Year in the Small Airports Category.  Ms. Bart will be the Reno-Tahoe AMA’s speaker at its November 15 luncheon when she discusses “Airport Marketing - a non-stop effort!”

Airport Revenue News (ARN) has named Reno-Tahoe International’s (RNO) Airport Director, Krys T. Bart, as its 2006 Best Director of the Year in the Small Airports Category. For the purposes of this competition small airports are those with less than five million total passengers. The ARN editorial staff chose Ms. Bart for this prestigious award due to her successes in the areas of leadership, innovation, revenue generation, marketing, customer service, and charitable acts.

ARN solicited for candidates by asking airport staff to describe their director’s successes in the six above-mentioned areas. After poring through the written responses and scoring each, the ARN staff established that Ms. Bart excelled in this competition. “We are proud to present this award to Ms. Bart,” says Pauline Armbrust, president and CEO of Armbrust Aviation Group, which publishes ARN. “In the November issue readers will get to see why she deserves this designation and what it takes to win this coveted award.”

Prior to Ms. Bart’s tenure, Reno-Tahoe International Airport had been vilified by the media and embroiled in controversy. In the years since her December 1998 arrival, Ms. Bart has successfully reversed that negative impression. She began by putting an end to all suggestive advertising and shifted the focus to the area’s incomparable landscape and allure as an outdoor enthusiast’s playground, a theme reflected in the airport’s retail shops and the artwork found in the terminals. During Ms. Bart’s tenure, revenues have increased across the board in the categories of operations, auto rental, total concessions and advertising. She has also spearheaded many programs that have resulted in several awards recognizing the airport for its successes.

Details of Ms. Bart’s accomplishments will be highlighted in the ARN November issue. Additionally she will be featured on the front cover of the issue, become a member of ARN’s Advisory Board and receive a special hand-engraved crystal trophy at ARN’s 2007 Airport Revenue Conference on February 18-20, 2006 in Orlando, Florida during the publication’s much-anticipated Awards Show.

Airport Revenue News (ARN) is a monthly trade magazine devoted to coverage of all revenue generating issues affecting the airport industry. The publication is the foremost news and information resource for airport executives, concessionaires, consultants and others involved in the aviation industry. ARN also conducts a Best Concessions awards competition in February. The ARN awards are highly coveted and considered the most prestigious in the airport industry.

From a Near Death Experience to Hog Heaven
Marketing Lessons to be Learned from the Harley Davidson Story

October 18 > 11:30 am - 1:00 pm > Harrah’s Reno Convention Center 
A unique marketing and branding success story.
• How did they survive near-bankruptcy and create an even stronger brand?
• How did they persuade doctors and lawyers to buy “hogs”?
• How do they compete successfully against lower priced products?
• And how do they keep the brand strong, with a user group spanning blue-collar workers to high-powered executives?

It’s an American icon brand. It’s been said, “The real power of Harley-Davidson is the power to market to consumers who love the product”. Brand loyalty for Harley-Davidson is emotional. They are considered more than motorcycles - they are legends.
Join us and learn the marketing secrets that have propelled Harley Davidson to the top of the heap.

Speaker:
John Crowell grew up on a farm in Iowa – and slopped a lot of hogs in his youth. Today, he’s hanging out with a different kind of “hog”, also known as the Harley Owners Group.

John and his wife Marci are owners of the Reno Harley Davidson dealership. John took on the dealer side of the business after 25 years at Harley Davidson’s headquarters in Milwaukee, where he held a wide variety of high-level positions. He was knee-deep in strategic planning, and first-hand witness to marketing efforts throughout the Harley Davidson metamorphosis that led to its current world standing. Harley Davidson has been his career, and his passion.

tags: harley davidson motorcycles, reno tahoe marketing, john crowell

The following article appeared today in the Northern Nevada Business Weekly (NNBW).

Area business slow to enter blogosphere
Pat Patera, 10/9/2006

Blogs are bandied about northern Nevada executive suites a lot these days — but there’s more talk than action in the for-profit sector.

The online chat forums that started as fun and games for youngsters can provide a forum for customer feedback. But one particular feature of a blog is making some businesses bite. A good one can help companies gain the top position in a search-engine query.

“It’s all about Googlejuice,” says blogger-for-hire Jim Turner, who spoke at a recent blogging forum presented by the Reno chapter of American Marketing Association.

Getting Googlejuice means feeding the spiders that determine who gets top listing in a Web search. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo send out electronic spiders that crawl millions of Web sites and determine their relevancy — and relevancy is the key to winning a top spot.

“If you have a lot of other blogs linking to your blog, that makes it more relevant in the eyes of the spiders that serve search engines,” says Robert Payne, marketing manager at Twelve Horses, an interactive marketing company based in Reno.

And because blogs, by their very nature, contain recent postings, that wins points with the spiders. But feeding the spiders takes time. The optimal blog update — at least in the eyes of search engines — is five postings per week.

While a blog requires a hefty time commitment, it doesn’t take much cash. To build a blog, there’s no need to program from scratch, says Turner. Simply use a prebuilt blogging platform. To find one, do a web search on “blog applications” or “business blogging.”

Others hire a company to build a blog that ties into the look and structure of an existing company Web site. That can cost $2,000 to $5,000. (Compare that to the cost of building a Web site, which often runs in the $10,000 range.)

Nationally, large corporations like IBM are getting on the blogging bandwagon. But locally, companies still wonder where they’ll find the payoff.

Government and non-profit groups are breaking the ice. Some that have blogs are the Reno Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority, the American Marketing Association, the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, the Truckee River Flood Project and the Small Business Development Center. And the payoff?

“It distinguishes you from your competitors,” says Jared Lopiccolo, business director at Noble Studios in Carson City.

Reno real estate agent Diane Cohn would agree. She says her blog gets 300 to 500 views a day. She allows comments and says while some might call them nutty, they add a lot of color.

“It’s been the best $150 I’ve ever spent on anything in this business,” says Cohn, adding that like most Realtors, she tried everything — once.

Blogging today is where the Internet was 10 years ago, says Turner. That started with people posting hobby homepages. Then business took a look and asked how the Web could improve sales Miller Heiman Inc., a sales training firm based in Reno, is asking that question about blogs.

“It starts with a study as any addition to your marketing practice should,” says Judith Hepburn, manager of marketing communications. Her goal: to attain a higher ranking in search engines when someone types in the query: “sales training.”

And Hepburn, in her role as vice president of programming for Reno-Tahoe chapter of the American Marketing Association, scheduled Turner to speak to the group because of growing interest in blogs.

“We try to keep our programs cutting edge of what’s happening in marketing,” Hepburn says. She cites a survey of 4,500 business professionals that found 84 percent read blogs and use the information in making purchasing decisions.

The tone of the blog started by the Small Business Development Center, a component of the college of business at University of Nevada, Reno, reflects the “new frontier” mentality of the technology. It reads, “Here we go, joining the blogosphere,” and concludes, “It’s a blog after all, so we’ll just see where it takes us.”

Debra Lynn Deming is a business development advisor at the center with an master’s degree in e-business. She says, “We believe blogs have a tremendous business use. We counsel small businesses, and we try to practice what we preach. A blog is especially beneficial for businesses that promote themselves as experts.”

When it comes to cost, Deming says the investment in time “Depends on how much you research. And on how adept you are at writing.”

After all, she adds, “It’s not a white paper. It is a way to communicate in a more personal way. It’s more interesting and it’s interactive. It becomes more of a dialogue. More real. It’s really what’s going on right now. It comes from the moment.”

tags: nnbw, northern nevada business weekly, blogs, blogosphere

Becky Murway, computer artist extraordinaire, is leaving Frank Haxton’s Digiman Photography to join Skagen Design as Staff Photographer.  Digiman is the Reno-Tahoe AMA’s official photographer, and Frank or Becky document our monthly meetings and take portraits of AMA members during our semi-annual membership drives. **

Besides being an all-around great person, Becky has been a long-time supporter of and friend to the Reno-Tahoe AMA.  Becky is also very active in A2N2 and was Show Chairperson for the Art Slaves 2006 Show and Sale.

All of us at the Reno-Tahoe AMA are going to miss her, and wish her well at Skagen.  Meanwhile, check out her work here.

** Thanks to Becky’s computer artistry, people looking at my photo don’t realize that I’m bald, overweight and 85 years old…   PS:  Comments such as, “Yes, we did.” are NOT welcome.

Today’s Reno Gazette-Journal has an interesting Associated Press story about how some folks are becoming dissatisfied with online social networking. Entitled “Faceless communications isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” it recounts how some people are cancelling their MySpace accounts and instead opting for face-to-face interaction.

As someone who spends much of their day glued to a computer and/or Blackberry, and generates far more than my fair share of electronic communications, it’s a thought provoking article. Give it a look!