© 2016 Mintel Group Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Confidential to Mintel.
Best Practices in eNewsletters
Using the season in newsletter subject lines outperformed using “weekly” or “monthly” and significantly outperformed using the actual month or weekday. Read Rate By Newsletter Type, as Stated in Subject Line
35%
Using the term “e-newsletter” outperformed “newsletter,” likely due to oversaturation causing consumers to ignore some traditional newsletters
30% 25% 20% 15% 10%
29%
28% 22%
17%
5% 0%
2
Source: Mintel ePerformance/eDataSource as of 8/1/2016, 8/1/2015-8/1/2016
21%
20%
18% 14%
Consumers tended to engage with newsletters introducing “new” products and services along with personalized emails; welcome emails also were highly read, and provide an opportunity to engage new customers. Read Rate By Newsletter Subject Content
25% 20% 15%
23%
23%
21%
10% 17%
14%
14% 11%
5% 0% Newsletter Average
3
[Name]
New
Source: Mintel ePerformance/eDataSource as of 8/1/2016, 8/1/2015-8/1/2016
Welcome
Tips
Exclusive
Exclamation Point (!)
Across industries, brands favored Wednesdays for sending newsletters; Mondays may be a good day to send, since newsletter and total email volume is lower, but read rates tend to be high. Read Rate & Volume, By Day of Week
20%
19%
Read Rate (%)
18%
18%
18%
16%
16%
15%
200
14% 12%
150
10%
229
8% 6%
196
208
100
163 129
4%
119 83
50
2% 0%
0 Sunday
4
Monday
Tuesday
Source: Mintel ePerformance/eDataSource as of 8/1/2016, 8/1/2015-8/1/2016
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Volume (Millions)
18% 16%
250
Banks, insurance providers, and telecom providers tended to perform better than retailers, because their customers tend to be actively engaged with these services. 45%
Read Rate By Company, Top Performers
40% 35% 30%
25% 20%
40%
40% 36%
31%
15%
10%
36% 29%
28%
27%
VPI
T-Mobile
Verizon
17%
5% 0% Newsletter Citibank Average
5
Barclays
Aetna
Source: Mintel ePerformance/eDataSource as of 8/1/2016, 8/1/2015-8/1/2016
SunTrust American Express
Top Performer Review
6
Citibank Subject: Citi Newsletter, Buzz of the month. Campaign Read Rate: 39% Brand Avg. Read Rate: 27% All of Citi’s newsletters used the same subject line and same opening paragraph, reading, “This month’s edition of ‘Buzz of the Month’ brings you great offers on shopping, dining, travel and much more. Take a look.” The short and catchy subject line, coupled with consistent content offering customers deals and savings contributed to Citi’s above average read rates. Citi favored a Sunday mailing schedule, with 44% of newsletters going out on Sundays.
7
Source: Mintel ePerformance/eDataSource as of 8/1/2016, 8/1/2015-8/1/2016
Barclays Subject: Dear [REDACTED] Your Digital Banking Newsletter Campaign Read Rate: 40% Brand Avg. Read Rate: 31% Similar to Citi, Barclays used the same subject line for all newsletter emails, with the exception of their welcome newsletters, which explicitly welcomed new members. All emails were personalized with the customer name, helping to bolster read rates. The monthly newsletter was consistent, giving customers a reason to click each month, offering tips, rewards, and new benefits. Like other brands, Barclays tended to send newsletters midweek, with 67% being sent on Wednesdays. 8
Source: Mintel ePerformance/eDataSource as of 8/1/2016, 8/1/2015-8/1/2016
Aetna Subject: Producer News: New SBC templates | Medicare tax issues | Consumer newsletter | In other news Campaign Read Rate: 22% Brand Avg. Read Rate: 19% All newsletter subject lines from Aetna opened with “Producer News,” and then went on to outline the content of the monthly newsletter edition. These pipedivided subject lines, made famous by Amazon, allowed Aetna to maximize subject line character restrictions and gave customers several options as a reason to click. Aetna also favored a Wednesday newsletter mailing schedule, sending roughly half of its newsletters on Wednesdays. 9
Source: Mintel ePerformance/eDataSource as of 8/1/2016, 8/1/2015-8/1/2016
SunTrust Subject: Your SunTrust Mortgage Summer Newsletter Campaign Read Rate: 36% Brand Avg. Read Rate: 17%
SunTrust sent seasonal mortgage newsletters, using the same subject line, bar the season. The salutation was always personalized with the customer name, and content was bright and image-heavy, grabbing readers’ attention. By offering helpful quarterly content, consumers didn’t tune out, and opened newsletters at double the rate of SunTrust’s average email. SunTrust split its newsletter mailing schedule evenly across Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
10
Source: Mintel ePerformance/eDataSource as of 8/1/2016, 8/1/2015-8/1/2016
American Express Subject: See What's New About Your Card Newsletter Campaign Read Rate: 31% Brand Avg. Read Rate: 26% By always using the same subject line encouraging cardholders to see what is new about their cards, American Express realized above average rates across all of its newsletters. The word “new” in the subject line coupled with monthly content offering exclusive member deals contributed to AmEx’s high read rates for newsletters. The issuer split its mailings across Wednesdays and Fridays.
11
Source: Mintel ePerformance/eDataSource as of 8/1/2016, 8/1/2015-8/1/2016
T-Mobile Subject: Newsletter: Awesome mobile solutions for the on-the-go office Campaign Read Rate: 28% Brand Avg. Read Rate: 26% Newsletter subject lines from TMobile varied, promoting different topical content. Industry-wide, subject lines using the phrase “on-the-go” tend to perform well in today’s fast paced environment, where consumers are constantly looking for time-savings (See Mintel Trend FSTR HYPR).
12
Source: Mintel ePerformance/eDataSource as of 8/1/2016, 8/1/2015-8/1/2016
VPI Subject: Something cool for you and [REDACTED] in your summer newsletter! Campaign Read Rate: 41% Brand Avg. Read Rate: 38% Veterinary Pet Insurance, now owned by Nationwide, has historically had a successful email strategy, evidenced by its above average read rates. Driving its success is VPI’s use of members’ pets’ names in subject lines for all emails, not exclusive to newsletters. While FIs can’t adopt this strategy, it highlights the importance of knowing your customers and what is important to them, and using the subject line to demonstrate this relationship.
13
Source: Mintel ePerformance/eDataSource as of 8/1/2016, 8/1/2015-8/1/2016
Verizon Subject: [REDACTED] meet the new XXL data plan and the latest version of My Verizon in this newsletter. Campaign Read Rate: 41% Brand Avg. Read Rate: 16% Newsletter subject lines from Verizon consistently led with customer names, contributing to their above average read rates. Subject content varied, but always ended with the word “newsletter,” rather than opening with it, unlike most company newsletters. Often, newsletters featured something “new,” also helping to bolster read rates. Content itself was simple and image-heavy, making it easy to digest, and likely keeping customers coming back for the next edition. 14
Source: Mintel ePerformance/eDataSource as of 8/1/2016, 8/1/2015-8/1/2016
What we think…
Word choice
Frequency
Relationship
15
Newsletter subject lines using personalization or offering new products/services tended to stand out, and outperformed the average. Making switches as simple as replacing “newsletter” with “e-newsletter” can bolster read rates, as consumers tend to tune words out after seeing them repeatedly. Adding exclamation points significantly reduced read rates on average, likely because they made emails appear more like they were soliciting than helping. Seasonal newsletters tended to perform best, being read 1-in-3 times, on average. While brands may want to send more frequently than four times a year, adding a seasonal newsletter may be a good way to deliver topical or promotional content that you want to be sure your customers see. By the very nature of the relationship, financial institutions have a leg up in the inbox. Consumers care deeply about their finances and thus are more likely to click on an email from their bank than from a retailer. However, with recurring content like newsletters, unless the content is visually appealing, easy to digest, and continues to add value, consumers will quickly learn that it is safe to tune out.
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