Day one is in the books. I know I learned a ton yesterday and plan to take many of the lessons back to the office and put them into action. I cannot wait to see what Day Two has in store for MarketingSherpa 2016. If you want to join in on the conversation, tweet us using the hashtag #Sherpa16. Stay tuned for Day Two!

Morgan Spurlock, Academy Award-Nominated Director, Super Size Me

The Greatest Lecture Ever Presented

“Yeah! Hangover slot! There are many trash receptacles around should you need them.” – the first words from Morgan Spurlock, understanding his audience.

Surround yourself with people who believe in you and your vision.

Have persistence of vision.

”Clipboards make you seem 34% more official.” – Spurlock, shooting made up stats from the hip.

Own your derivative impact, but don’t be afraid to do things other people think are crazy.

Alignment of ideologies. An example provided was a documentary short that contained GE bumpers at the start and finish, but no GE products during the short. Instead, it was that alignment of ideologies and it was seen by millions of people.

The more risks you take, the less risky things become. It becomes a part of your DNA.

Finding a good story is only the beginning. Getting it into the hands hearts and minds of your audience is the greatest accomplishment.

Increasing Email-Driven Revenue With Lifecycle Messaging and Data

Marriott

Marriott decided to break the mold on the standard loyalty program email. They did so with personalization and a customized video for each loyalty program member.

By trying something different and celebrating their loyalty program members, rather than selling, they boosted bookings across all their properties and hit a high for December year-over-year.

Takeaway: Don’t be scared. Try something fun!

DonorsChoose.org

87% of revenue from transactional emails, 13% from promotional email campaigns.

They used the receipt, a welcome email, user generated content and more to spice up their transactional emails.

Make sure customers see what they care about first.

Takeaways:

  • Recognize the power of existing transactional emails
  • Know that one out of every 10 tests will actually yield results—commit yourself to running those test to gain insights.

MarketingSherpa Award Winner, Readers’ Choice: Abby See, Director, Online Marketing, Sunrise Senior Living

How a Digital UX Test Increased On-Site Leads for a Senior Living Company by 12%

Understand how visitors are using the site: learnability, efficiency, memorability, errors.

Sunrise offered a survey to let individuals find out what type of care their loved ones may need. They used that data to customize the content on their site for the individuals. The results were amazing.

Top Takeaways:

  • User testing is essential to creating a seamless customer experience
  • Use the questionnaire and customer information to provide good content
  • Work across departments to ensure that questionnaire and content fit into the sales model

Dr. Leonard Mlodinow, Theoretical Physicist and Best-Selling Author

Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior

Unconscious Behavior: It is automatic, and occurs with a lock of awareness, intention and control. We do not understand what is influencing us, and often cannot avoid that behavior.

Our social perception is not a direct result of what we experience, but rather is constructed by our minds, employing context, prior knowledge, believe and even desire.

  • Creating Reality From Appearance
  • Creating Reality From Price
  • Creating Reality From Self-Interest

Making Smarter Decisions About Email and Mobile Campaigns

Laz Tyrekidis, Digital Marketing and Audience Director, Metropolis International Group

Laz was helping clients improve deliverability and in one test improved the email templates:

  • Clean HTML and CSS Code
  • Fresh design
  • 100% mobile responsive

22% increase in Open Rate

Sundeep Kapur, Educator, Email Yogi

In a case study with a bank that added “Urgent:” to their subject lines, it saw a 93% open rate. However, make sure you only use it when something actually is urgent.

“Don’t be the boy who cried wolf. Only add “Urgent;” when there’s actually a wolf.”

Checklist to improve:

  • Personalization
  • Segmentation
  • Deliverability
  • Perpetual list building
  • Mobile (and mobility)
  • Feedback
  • Most importantly: Anticipate

If you’re inspired what everything you learn today, signup for Benchmark Email and start email marketing for free.