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In this edition:
The Right Timing can Make or Break Your Campaign
CRM Combined with CMS can Produce Dramatic Increases in Email Open and Click-Through Rates
Driving Tourism through Performance-based Marketing
In the News
What's New at Ruf |
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Before you send out an email message, think about the timing. Don’t forget that every time you send out an email, you are promoting your corporate image. Bad timing can make a bad impression.
If you are promoting an event or activity on a specific day or that requires participants to prepare for it (i.e., travel, hotel reservations, schedule arrangements), make certain to allow sufficient time. No one enjoys receiving an email about an activity of interest when it’s already too late. Sending messages willy-nilly won't garner you the best results or the best impressions from your recipients.
Different days of the week can affect your results as well. If your message is business oriented, send it on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. If it's consumer oriented and focuses on spare-time activities, with a few exceptions, the best time to send it is on Thursday, Friday or, at the latest, Saturday morning. Since many people take time away from their computers on weekends, if you wait to send it until late Saturday or Sunday, it may not get seen until Monday — a day late and a dollar short.
As for the time of day to send your emails, when emailing to consumers, the best hours are from 5:00 p.m. through 8:00 p.m. People tend to check their personal email when they get home from work or after dinner. Most consumers are too busy getting ready for work in the morning to read their email.
On the other hand, for business recipients, about 11:00 a.m. through about 3:00 p.m. is typically the best. Messages sent early in the day are at a greater risk of deletion due to the morning rush to get the day going. Messages sent late in the day may get quickly deleted before the recipient leaves for home.
Check with your email service beforehand though — sometimes sends don't go out precisely when you think they will due to backlogged servers. Plus, some systems resend messages to “soft bounces” for up to 24 hours after the initial send to get more email through. Depending on your offer, this may not matter. However, if your offer is highly time sensitive, such as “one hour left,” your message could look pretty silly and be a complete waste.
These timing guidelines can help you set some starting points for your own email marketing. However, the only way to determine the most effective send times for your company’s emails is to test, test and test some more! Without carefully measuring the results of different variations on timing, frequency, contact lists, messaging and creative, there is no way to know what works best for your organization to maximize response rates. |
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Majestic America Line — America's largest river and coastal cruise line — was established in 2006 through the merger of two existing lines: American West Steamboat Company and Delta Queen Steamboat Company. As a result, the companies needed to streamline disparate databases to market the "boutique cruise experience." Email emerged as a cost-effective channel for Majestic to generate leads and reach customers.
The first challenge for Majestic was segmenting consumers and travel agents, which were intermixed throughout their database.
A second obstacle was consolidating multiple data sources from passenger bookings, phone, Web and Reader Service Leads (RSL). Majestic needed a resource to streamline and hold this data in one location.
To overcome these challenges, Majestic needed a powerful Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool, such as Ruf’s NAVIGATOR, that provided an integrated Campaign Management System (CMS). CMS enabled the cruise line and their advertising agency to control the creation and distribution of highly targeted email messages to online prospects, past customers and travel agents.
Through CRM, Majestic’s consumer and travel agent data was segmented. All passenger booking, phone, Web and RSL data was standardized and consolidated into one location.
Subsequently, NAVIGATOR CMS was configured specifically for Majestic's unique data and business priorities. CMS' Audience Selector allowed Majestic to choose any number or combination of variables, such as:
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• Past cruise behavior
• Geography
• Number of times inquired
• Last inquiry data
• Mail preference |
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| By utilizing CRM integrated with dynamic CMS, Majestic sent more than 1.5 million emails in the 2nd quarter of 2007.
The Results
Majestic experienced open rates at 27.1% and click-through rates as high as 8.0%.
Ruf's Audience Selector created targeted email lists. The cruise line split these lists to test copy effectiveness. Third quarter A/B split testing demonstrated differences of 20.7% in open rates and 29.0% in click through rates. In addition, Majestic can modify campaigns based upon results to further increase overall response rates.
In the third quarter of 2007, Majestic started testing personalized messages against non-personalized messages. One campaign demonstrated a 20-times higher open rate and an increase of 447% in clickthrough rates.
By capitalizing on the power of intelligent CRM with response oriented CMS in their NAVIGATOR system, Majestic America Line realized truly impressive results. |
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Las Vegas might be the most popular tourism destination in the State of Nevada, but the Nevada Commission on Tourism (NCOT) is working to attract tourists to the rest of the state.
Through an online marketing campaign, the commission is promoting Nevada’s outdoor attractions, such as water sports and all-terrain activities. The performance-based marketing campaign is driving 20,000 new online travel prospects per month, totaling 240,000 new leads per year. This staggering amount will quadruple Nevada’s previous online tourism leads.
Performance-based marketing helps organizations optimize marketing efforts and gain greater responses by cultivating online prospects without waste. This new service allows marketers to pay only for leads that generate response. Through strategic media placements on web pages, leads are driven to NCOT’s web request form. The client doesn’t pay for creative development or media placement, only interested leads.
According to Brian Ruf, CIO for Ruf Strategic Solutions, performance-based marketing works by matching the information received through an inquiry with Ruf’s database. “For example, if a consumer searches for snowboarding in Nevada, an advertisement for travelnevada.com may show up,” explains Brian. “The consumer can click on the graphic, and fill out a short form to request information about Nevada. In return, the prospect is sent a copy of the state’s official visitor’s guide. Ruf then matches that information to our database, helping Nevada determine the most compelling and efficient way to pursue the lead.”
Ruf’s CRM system, Navigator, tracks and maintains the performance-based marketing information on a real-time basis, storing it in a centralized location. NCOT accesses the data online, analyzes the performance through scoring and segmentation and makes marketing decisions based on that insight. This increases ROI by allowing NCOT to optimize budget concentration on the sources that generate the most desirable leads. These tools turn marketing information into marketing intelligence, allowing NCOT to make timely strategic decisions.
“We build everything off the premise that if you can’t measure it then you can’t manage it. This intelligence allows us to segment and treat people differently based on their preferences,” explains Brian. “It gives NCOT a 360-degree view of all of the inbound and outbound communications." |
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Ruf Strategic Solutions and simpleview Partner to Bring Insight to Destination Marketers
Ruf Strategic Solutions and simpleview are proud to announce a strategic partnership. While Ruf Strategic Solutions and simpleview, a multimedia marketing and digital business solutions company, have worked in partnership to serve common clients for several years, this is their first jointly delivered product. SmartView is a new analytical service developed by Ruf Strategic Solutions which enables destinations to market smarter by gaining intelligence about their inquiries. A destination’s database of those who have inquired for more information will be enhanced with demographic, psychographic and lifestyle information; such as age, household income, presence of children in the home, media and travel preferences, shopping tendencies and credit card usage. This information allows simpleview’s destination clients to better reach their audience with relevant information, improved timeliness and greater effectiveness.
"This will allow destinations to treat their inquiries and visitors as individuals," explains Michael Mahoney, director of account development for Ruf Strategic Solutions. "SmartView enables execution of variable fulfillment with improved deliverability, while saving money and communicating with visitors in more meaningful and efficient ways."
Read the entire press release here. |
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A New Smile in the Front Office
Please help us welcome Jaclyn Krueger to the Ruf family! Jaclyn is currently filling the role of administrative assistant. We are keeping her busy answering phones, helping with presentations, mail and other various duties. Her smile will greet you when you walk into the office.
Upon meeting the Ruf team, Jaclyn was overwhelmed by our friendliness and enthusiasm. Considering she was recommended to the position by friend and Ruf employee Grace Black, she knew she had found her new home. Jaclyn also felt Ruf provides an environment to contribute and learn. “It’s great to have such a wide variety of duties,” explains Jaclyn.
Jaclyn may have grown up in southern California, but she converted into a Midwesterner in her teens. Jaclyn and her husband Jon are newlyweds and make their home in Kansas City with their dachshund, Ellie. The two met while studying at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her future husband appeared to her in the form of a fellow Student Council member. “We didn’t even like each other at first,” laughs Jaclyn.
Welcome aboard Jaclyn! |
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Questions or comments regarding the newsletter should be directed to Lin Dearing or call 800-829-8544. |
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The Marketing Compass |
| Published to provide news, innovative ideas, practical tips, and tools to enhance the strategic advantage of our clients and friends. |
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| Ruf Strategic Solutions delivers a full suite of marketing and business intelligence solutions designed to help organizations acquire new customers, retain existing customers, and develop one-to-one relationships to maximize profitability. Founded in 1976, Ruf Strategic Solutions has been helping organizations maximize the return on their marketing investment through superior customer intelligence. Ruf's unique ability to integrate vast arrays of data, technology tools, and over 30 years of expertise empowers organizations with truly actionable and measurable intelligence. |
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© 2007 Ruf Corporation |
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