Marketing impact: [rating=5]
Our commentary : Wow, we should have seen this one coming! This is a very logical and very sound move from Facebook.
It's no surprise really since reports from other webmail providers like Hotmail showing that around 20% of emails from webmail providers like Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail are updates from social networks - that's a massive opportunity for Facebook to increase engagement with their brand.
Although Facebook are saying this is "not an email service". They're looking looking to differentiate. There's a danger here for email marketers since Friends will have a separate social inbox, making it more difficult for email marketers to get their message through?
I'm sure that this service will become as popular as the other webmail providers and it will be optimised for phone access which now accounts for a 100 million of Facebooks 500 million users. .
When people opt-in they may well opt-in using Facebook mail, even if it's not their primary mail, so your email marketing newsletters and campaigns will be delivered to Facebook users and you need to check your message gets through and is effective, as for any other major webmail provider.
Marketing implications : It's very early day so far, but I'm sure your colleagues will be asking about this and you'll want a plan, so this is our suggestions on steps you should take to assess the impact of this on your email marketing and get the best results.
By the way, these are good tests to run against each of the 4 main webmail services anyway to get better results from your email marketing!
1. Check Facebook mail deliverability. All webmail services want to filter out spam. You want to avoid being a false postive and going into the junk folder. We don't know yet how good Facebook will be at reviewing spam, probably not as good as the others who've had years fighting it. Spammers will see it as an opportunity and unless Facebook get this right this may effect the success of the service.
2. Check Facebook renderability. Check how your email looks within Facebook mail. Do your email templates and creative work? Is your message getting through? If not, you will need to redesign them. We recommend you use an Email creative preview service to check this.
3. Review % of subscribers to Facebook mail. Once this gets into single digits it will start impacting the success of your campaigns and you need to then take the next step.
4. Isolate the Facebook subscribers segment in delivery/open/click/conversion reporting for your campaigns. You'll then be able to check that your emails are getting through and delivered. Many email providers aren't so good at providing this, report, but it's one you should analyse anyway for the 4 main webmail providers since it will show you if you have a problem in delivery or how your message looks.
5. Check value generated per 1000 Facebook mail subscribers. You can review response reporting, but the best overall measure of the success of email marketing is through reviewing total lead or sales value generated normalised by a fixed number of subscribers.
Recommended link: Facebook announcement of email service launch
That's our take. What do you think?
By Dave Chaffey
Digital strategist Dr Dave Chaffey is co-founder and Content Director of online marketing training platform and publisher Smart Insights. 'Dr Dave' is known for his strategic, but practical, data-driven advice. He has trained and consulted with many business of all sizes in most sectors. These include large international B2B and B2C brands including 3M, BP, Barclaycard, Dell, Confused.com, HSBC, Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, M&G Investment, Rentokil Initial, O2, Royal Canin (Mars Group) plus many smaller businesses. Dave is editor of the templates, guides and courses in our digital marketing resource library used by our Business members to plan, manage and optimize their marketing. Free members can access our free sample templates here. Dave is also keynote speaker, trainer and consultant who is author of 5 bestselling books on digital marketing including Digital Marketing Excellence and Digital Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. In 2004 he was recognised by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as one of 50 marketing ‘gurus’ worldwide who have helped shape the future of marketing. My personal site, DaveChaffey.com, lists my latest Digital marketing and E-commerce books and support materials including a digital marketing glossary. Please connect on LinkedIn to receive updates or ask me a question.
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