Interview With Dan Forootan, President and CEO of StreamSend

We interviewed Dan Forootan, CEO of StreamSend, to discuss the future of e-mail marketing. StreamSend is a permission based-e-mail marketing suite used by marketers, entrepreneurs, and online retailers around the world.

Dan, what would you like to say to companies that believe they already master e-mail marketing?

There is always more you can learn about and improve with your e-mail marketing campaigns. And the needs and preferences of your customers are constantly changing—this is important to remember. It is wise to continually monitor all your campaigns and watch list activity—including size as well as new opt-ins, views and ultimately conversions. These campaigns should be integrated with an analytics option, such as Google Analytics, to make sure campaigns are performing at optimal levels. Most importantly, make sure to know your customers, new and old, and send them relevant, valuable information.

What would revitalize e-mail marketing and make it cool again?

E-mail remains the preferred online communication method for Internet users of all ages. In light of the recent popularity of online social networks, e-mail is sometimes be labeled as the less glamorous of the two, but it is also the foundation and the starting point for all the social platforms.

What is already inherently cool about e-mail is that people choose it and use it as the primary channel for receiving information they asked for. And when used properly by marketers—meaning they adhere to the idea of sending relevant information to an opted-in list—they can see fantastic returns on their investment, up to $47 per dollar invested (according to the Direct Marketing Association).

What marketers can do to make this even more cool, is to truly understand and respond to their customers, their information preferences and online behaviors to send very relevant and personal messages. E-mail can be useful as well as personal. In fact, using features such as triggers to automatically communicate with customers based on behaviors, anniversaries, and birthdays shows a customer that you are really paying attention. Then they really look forward to your e-mails and have loyalty toward you. How cool is that?

What’s your take on testing and personalization of content in e-mail marketing?

Personalization, as talked about above, is very important to the overall success of e-mail marketing. This isn’t just adding a name to an e-mail, but adding personal and customized content. The better and more relevant the information you send your customers, the better your e-mails will perform.

As for testing, it is also a good thing to do, but before just employing random tests to see what works best, it is imperative to make sure you are monitoring, tracking, and analyzing current campaigns first, then making modifications to improve specific areas of your e-mails. Bottom line, know and understand how your e-mails are performing first and foremost. Then make incremental changes to address problem areas or make overall improvements.

What are the most common deliverability mistakes?

There are many factors that lend to successful deliverability, but to ensure success, e-mail marketers need to be a clear and honest with their subscribers about what they are going to receive, how often, and whom it is from, as well as always making a clear and easy way to unsubscribe or opt out if they no longer find value in the email, no matter the reason. In fact, StreamSend has seen up to a 75% reduction in complaints when the unsubscribe link is moved to the top of an e-mail.

Monitoring deliverability is an ongoing process for e-mail marketers, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. There are a few quick steps you can take to make sure you’re achieving maximum deliverability. You can download a copy of “Perform Your Own Deliverability Audit” here. Or attend our e-mail deliverability webinar that is presented live once a week.

What’s the most creative use of e-mail marketing that you have seen?

Here is a simple example of how to creatively use e-mail marketing. I thought this was innovative and simple to implement. A pet supply company created a registration form on their web site to register a new puppy. The form asked for the birthday of the puppy, and it was then recorded it in the database. The company then periodically sent e-mails based on the puppy’s age (for example, type of food to buy for your puppy, nutritional needs, and training ideas). These messages were highly targeted and welcomed by the recipient. Best of all, this was automated using triggers, so it was fairly low overhead for the company to setup.

A recent survey we did with our customers indicates that companies are looking to implement such automated triggers. It takes a little bit of creativity and planning, but pays back through automation in the long run.

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