The PMN Blog

How Mint.com Made A Mint By Socializing Their Email

Michael Della Penna - Thursday, January 14, 2010

According to a recent Mzinga and Babson survey, 84% of professionals worldwide do not currently measure the ROI of their social media efforts. Pretty shocking considering today’s economic environment and the enormous pressures placed on marketers to deliver more with less. However, as is the case with any new medium, many marketers are experimenting with social media and are still, for the most part, trying to figure out how social media fits into their overall marketing efforts. As a result, measurement is often overlooked.

Therefore, when a company creates a unique and interesting program and takes the time to measure its success, it is important to share the inside scope so we can all learn. One interesting example is what Mint.com recently did by combining the power of email marketing with social media.

Launched in 2007, Mint.com has quickly become America’s No. 1 online personal finance service. Mint’s intelligent and easy-to-use approach to money management has quickly attracted more than 1.5 million users to date. Given its online audience and technologically savvy user base, Mint.com recently turned to the power of email marketing and socialized it to further drive new customer acquisition.

So what did they do? Working with StrongMail (disclosure – I currently sit on the board of directors at StrongMail) Mint.com took the time to understand user motivations and tested a series of incentives to encourage existing email subscribers to “invite” others within their social network (email, facebook, twitter, etc.) to join Mint.com. The winning campaign – one that not only encourage the most sharing but drove the most conversions -- appealed to Mint.com’s existing users by providing them “insider status” through access to beta features and products prior to their roll-out to general users. In the end, the campaign drove one new user/customer for every 2.6 invite clicks – impressive. While the testing of various offers was insightful, the ability to drive new users/customers and to tag existing users as “influencers” (based on their sharing activity, conversion rate and desire for insider knowledge) was even more impressive.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Mint.com case study check out my column or you can register for the upcoming DMA/PMN Social Media Spotlight event where StrongMail will be presented the case study in-depth. Details about the event can be found on our website. Space is limited so act now.

‘Til Next Time

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A Day In The Cloud

Michael Della Penna - Monday, June 22, 2009

I’ve flown Virgin America several times now and I have to say overall it is a great experience. Aside from being competitively priced, each new plane is equipped with cool lighting and a state-of-the-art “Red” entertainment system that has been really effective at attracting the younger “iPhone” generation. The perception of Virgin America as a technologically advanced airline was further enhanced recently with their announcement that they were the first airline to offer WiFi fleet wide.

While their size puts them at a distinct advantage over other airlines to offer such services, the airline’s aggressive marketing and social media efforts have paid enormous dividends for them. Aside from landing a coveted segment on Oprah, that included skypeing from an elevation of 35,000 feet, the company has been aggressively reaching out to customers with innovative marketing and partnerships to further distinguish and differentiate itself within the crowded travel segment as the young tech savvy airline of choice.

Virgin America’s most recent effort includes a participatory marketing program titled “The Day In The Cloud Challenge.” The program is being done in conjunction with Google Apps and is set for Wednesday, June 24th. Together, Google Apps and Virgin America are inviting “the brave and the willing, the airborne and the earthbound to embark on The Day In The Cloud Challenge the first online scavenger hunt played simultaneously in the air and well, everywhere else.” What is the cloud you ask? The cloud is software-as-a-service for programs like email and information sharing. The cloud allows folks to skip installing software and saving files on their computer and it is among the hottest terms in tech today. The cloud is an efficient and cost effective alternative to traditional software that is taking flight. In fact, StrongMail a leading in-house enterprise email marketing solution (where I happen to sit on the board) offers Fortune 2000 customers an alternative to ASP solutions from some of the Leading Email Service Providers and you guessed it…it is in the cloud. But the cloud and its benefits are still not widely known, and Google and Virgin America are hoping to change that a bit this week.

To play The Day In the Cloud Challenge, visitors simply sign up and arm themselves with a powerful array of Google Apps to find the answers to various questions. As visitors point and click their way toward glory, they will get a hands-on understanding of these Apps and how they can make them more productive. Participants are eligible for a prize pack that includes a brand new HP notebook and 1 terabyte of Google account storage for photos and email. A tutorial and practice game are also online for those who want to prep for Wednesday’s official game, and visitors can even join the lounge where they can size up the competition. So far over 544 people have joined the lounge to exchange some spirited pre-game banter. Overall a good effort that, like other really great participatory marketing programs, serves to reinforce Virgin America’s brand promise and differentiation in the marketplace. Finally, if you happen to be flying Virgin America on Wednesday you’ll receive complimentary WiFi service! You’ll probably also be prompted to join the challenge. Are you Game? To register for The Day In The Cloud Challenge click here.

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What Do The World's Most Influential Companies Have In Common?

Michael Della Penna - Tuesday, December 16, 2008

What do influential companies have in common? According to Business Week, they define and redefine ideas and the terms of competition. That’s exactly what we need to do with the way we market.

The rise of the social internet is redefining everything including email. Consumers are in control; old marketing approaches are losing their effectiveness and consumers are growing increasingly frustrated. Think it’s just hype? Well, take a look at a few of the red flags over the past few years.

2002:

Nielsen Begins Tracking Tivo Usage.

2003:

Do Not Call Registry Created And Passes 50 Million Mark In September 2003.

2006:

DMA Mail Preference Service Reaches 4.6 Million.
DMA Email Preference Service Reaches 400,000.
AOL pays $3 million to settle complaints related to consumers having difficulty canceling their accounts after a consumer posts recording of their interaction with an AOL representative on a website. Posting gets national press coverage and serves as one of the first and most powerful examples of the emerging social web.

2007

78% of consumers report using anti-spam/filtering solutions.

2008:

Do Not Call Registry reaches 157 million – Wow, name one marketer's list who has grown that fast?
Catalog Choice, a leading mail preference service surpasses the 1 million mark.
DVRs used in 20% (up from 9%) of all households and make up 7.5% of all prime time viewers.
PC Magazine print folds - not to mention dozens of others…but let’s save some space for more bad news.
DMA study finds email ROI declining. Hey don’t worry, email is still cheap.
eMarketer reduces its social media advertising forecast for the second time this year as social networks find themselves still trying to figure out how to turn their vast audiences into advertising dollars.
Forrester Research’s Josh Bernoff publishes “Time To Rethink Your Corporate Blogging Ideas” citing corporate blogs rank at the bottom of the trust scale with only 16% of online consumers who read them saying that they trust them. For some of you out there still wearing your rose colored glasses, you’re probably thinking hey that’s 16% I might be able to sell. Go for it, time is running out.

What do these stats say about the state of marketing? I believe they indicate that traditional push and permission marketing strategies and tactics are sick, very sick and will get sicker if they don’t evolve. Consumer control and growing trust issues are a problem and these issues need to be recognized and addressed. It’s time to start listening to customers and engage them with creative and innovative ideas and communications that create value. After all, the great marketing of tomorrow will be, as Business Week notes - less about a company’s physical assets and more about the force of its ideas. Those ideas must start with what benefits the customer first.

Now the good news…many of you are starting to think differently. According to a recent StrongMail study, a significant number of organizations plan to experiment with new programs in 2009 to raise visibility and increase sales. As long as they are customer-centric that is a good start. In addition, the investment in email trumps all other programs as the communication of ideas that value and speak to the needs of consumers grow increasingly important. Key lesson for '09 - experiment more, create BHAGS: Big Hairy Audacious Goals and use powerful mediums like email to encourage your audience to interact with your brand. If we do that well we might just see some good news like higher open and click-through rates, cheaper acquisition costs via WOM and more sales.

'Til Next Time

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