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Confess, you really don't read the "fine print" when you sign up to receive emails from your favorite brands, do you? Me either...I typically subscribe quickly because I'm anxious to receive whatever awesome offer they dangle in front of me in exchange for my email address. And the fine print is, well, kind of boring (sorry legal folks!) and doesn't always seem like it applies to me. But it can! Does this sound familiar?
"We occasionally send out emails on behalf of third party sponsors, who pay for the opportunity to promote their products to our awesome audience. These sponsors allow us to continue to provide you with the very best content and tools possible. We promise we'll only partner with high quality sponsors, and that we'll never spam you."
Sometimes those third party sponsor or affiliates can also be another brand within a larger parent organization, the sister brand. Think about your own personal inbox-I bet you've received an email from your favorite brand promoting a totally different brand. You just received Graymail. Graymail may feel like a bit of gloom on your otherwise sunny inbox. Can brands do this? Yes.
Graymail are email messages that are generally unwanted but do not fit the actual definition of spam. The sender is legitimate and sometimes the email may be specifically targeted or personalized to the recipient. The term graymail is used because of the overlap between unsolicited email and requested (opted-in) email. The term graymail has been around since 2007 when Microsoft Research coined the phrase.
Interestingly Hotmail estimates that nearly 75% of email reported as spam is actually Graymail! When you think about it, it makes sense. There are disadvantages for brands to send graymail:
So why do brands send graymail? It's an easy way to target a new audience with legitimate products and/or offers. Simple as that! Many times there are list acquisition goals or revenue numbers to hit so why not reach out to an adjacent audience in attempt to help a sister brand/sponsor/affiliate meet their targets? If you are a brand that is thinking about or are sending graymail, keep these tips in mind to help increase your open rates and reduce unsubscribes and spam complaints from your loyal subscribers.
Your subscribers may not realize that they will be receiving sponsor/affiliate offers in your emails. As part of your onboarding and welcome series, include a mention of sponsor emails. Leverage dynamic content to populate the sponsor's name and message frequency. A conservative rule of thumb is your maximum frequency should be no more than twice a month for sponsor emails. Remember, the subscriber signed to up to hear from you, not your sponsors or affiliates.
73% of subscribers report spam based on From Name and 69% of subscribers base their decision to report spam based on the subject line. Therefore, it is mission critical to be super obvious in the inbox that the email content is not related to the brand. In the example below, WHBM leverages both the friendly From Name, the subject line and pre-header to be very clear they're introducing their sister brand Soma. Pottery Barn includes an offer in the subject line to entice you to open while the preheader informs you Rejuvenation sells light fixtures. West Elm, a sister brand of both Pottery Barn and Rejuvenation, does a great job of leveraging the subject line and pre-header for a one-two punch! Sur La Table struggles as you have to open the email to find out the offer is from Paper Source.
If you choose to feature the sponsored brand in the From Name, keep in mind the mobile inbox only shows approximately 25 characters for the From Name before truncation so lead with your brand first.
Yes, it is easier to send the same email to everyone in your subscriber list. Step away from the batch-and-blast mentality and segment, sending only to your subscribers who best match the target demographic for the sponsor/affiliate's brand. Leverage dynamic content like Nike Store does to share the sponsor's offer with the right segment while everyone else receives Nike-focused email content.
No matter how obvious you are that the email content is from a sponsor/affiliate, be clear where the subscriber will end up if they click thru. Readers.com did a great job in the body copy and call to action that a click thru will land you at SunglassWarehouse.com. Did you notice the pre-header too?
Not everyone will appreciate the valuable offers that you are sharing on the sponsor/affiliate's behalf. If you are noticing that spam complaints or unsubscribes are on the rise after a sponsored email, test a preheader unsubscribe button or text link. Make it easy for your subscriber to leave - don't make them scroll to the bottom of the email or even worse, click the Junk button in their email client. Ideally when they click (or tap) on the unsubscribe button or link they are taken to a landing page where they are offered the opportunity from unsubscribing only from sponsored emails while still receiving your valuable content.
Accept the fact that graymail is not well received by all subscribers. Being very open from onboarding to throughout the sponsored email will help remind your subscribers, especially those who skim and don't read, why they're receiving an email from you about another brand.
Keep cross-promotion to a minimum with low frequency sending and provide opportunity to opt-out of sponsored emails. And segment so the best possible demographic within your subscriber base receives the sponsored emails! Doing that will help you to part the gray clouds of graymail and let the sun shine in on your subscriber's inbox.
Looking for more great email marketing tips? Download 4 Email Practices of Marketing Masters. Discover how the best brands use email to drive customer journeys, deliver personalized email experiences, and more!
Susan Prater is a Senior Marketing Consultant at Salesforce, serving her clients as a trusted advisor in the optimization of their digital marketing programs with the latest tools, technologies, and top of mind industry trends. As a two-time former client, she understands the internal challenges brands face with meeting their business objectives and goals and provides fresh ideas from her own experiences. She is a judge for Web Marketing Association's Internet Advertising Competition, their WebAward Competition and Mobile WebAward Competition. In her spare time she serves on the school board at her children's school as well as on other local boards. You can also find Susan on LinkedIn and Twitter. Let's connect!
