Meet the contributors

Chip house Senior Director, Industry & Relationship Marketing

What's Inside?
3 A Brief iNTrODUCTiON OVerVieW fUNCTiONALiTY: HOW iT WOrks DeLiVerABiLiTY issUes 3 5 7

Kristina huffman Senior Design Consultant

10 emAiL DesiGN & reNDeriNG

al iverson Director, Privacy and Deliverability

13 CONCLUsiON

Jen ribble Marketing Communications Associate

Jeff rohrs Principal, Marketing Research & Education

Chris studabaKer, Supervising Consultant, Design Solutions

ExactTarget All rights reserved 01-03162011

exacttarget snapshot: Facebook Messages

www.ExactT arget.com

exacttarget snapshot: Facebook Messages

A Brief iNTrODUCTiON
Since the launch of Facebook Messages in November 2010, marketers have questioned how this new platform could impact their ability to communicate with subscribers. Will Facebook Messages revolutionize email marketing? Or, conversely, does it have the potential to become an email killer? In this Snapshot, well assess Facebook Messages as it stands today* in terms of functionality, deliverability, and design issues. Well also provide insight and advice to marketers regarding the current challenges presented by Facebook Messages. We all know how quickly the world of interactive marketing can changeespecially where Facebook is concerned. As Facebook Messages continues to grow and evolve, well do our best to provide updated assessments and advice.

OVerVieW
The new Facebook Messages (FBM) platform has been promoted as a single inbox that consolidates private communications from a variety of channelsincluding email, chats, and texts. Facebook positions the new platform as more casual and personal than email, with a format that more closely replicates real-life conversation. Launched as an invitation-only add-on to Facebook accounts, Facebook plans a gradual rollout to all users with the eventual goal of replacing the current Messages functionality. In the early days of this new platform, speculation was rampant that FBM could spell the end of email as we know it, despite this quote from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at a press conference announcing the FBM launch: This is not an email-killer This is a messaging system that includes email as one part of it. Mark Zuckerberg, as quoted in Business Insider, November 15, 2010

Keeping up k with Faceboo ld be changes cou b! a full-time jo

* Note: This report was published in March 2011. Material changes to Facebook Messages after that date will be covered in our blog: http://blog.exacttarget.com.

exacttarget snapshot: Facebook Messages

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Some of the uproar may have been fueled by conflicting comments from other Facebook insiders, including this quote from COO Sheryl Sandberg: If you want to know what people like us will do tomorrow, you look at what teenagers are doing today. Email is probably going away. Sheryl Sandberg, as quoted in FastCompany, June 15, 2010 While theres no way to predict the growth potential of FBM, it is helpful to consider the history of other online giants. For example, Google was dominant in the world of search engines when it launched its Gmail platform in March 2004. there are no official statistics tallying the number of users for web-based email providers, but theres enough widely-available information to graph an approximate growth chart:
GROWTH OF GMAIL OVER TIME Number of Unique Users (US)
40 M 35 M 30 M 25 M 20 M 15 M 10 M 5M 0 3/04 4/06 1/08 1/09 7/09

be Gmail grew to est the third larg ail web-based em provider in just five years!

Like FBM, Gmail was initially offered by invitation only; the platform was opened to the public in February 2005 and finally ended its beta testing period in July 2009. In that five year period, Gmail grew to be the third largest web-based email provider. By comparison, Yahoo! Mail had approximately 106 million unique users (US) in July 2009 and Hotmail had about 47 million. (Reliable numbers for more recent dates are hard to come by.) So despite its rapid growth since 2004, Gmail still lags these old school email providers by a wide margin.

The difference between FBM and Gmail is that Gmail offered robust email functionality with never-before-seen features. Facebook, on the other hand, stresses simplicity and contends that its messaging platform is not an email servicedespite the use of a facebook.com email address.

Date

exacttarget snapshot: Facebook Messages

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fUNCTiONALiTY: HOW iT WOrks

At its most basic level, Facebook Messages appears to function exactly like any other web-based email platform. After being granted access to FBM, the user receives an @facebook.com email address, which can be used to send and receive messages. Messages sent to the facebook.com address are routed to one of two places: the messages folder, which is reserved for messages from Facebook friends (and friends of friends). This is roughly equivalent to Gmails Priority Inbox. the other folder, which is the repository for all other messages, including bulk mail and anything from individuals from outside the users Facebook circle. Although not technically a junk or spam folder, this is clearly a less desirable spot for messages to land due to its somewhat hidden location.

oull Heres where y s... find Message But and Other. Other youll only see the after clicking der. Messages fol hidden! Until then, its

exacttarget snapshot: Facebook Messages

www.ExactT arget.com

FBM consolidates all messages from the same user into a single thread. Emails, texts, and chats all appear in one feed, and the user can respond via the channel of their choice. The user can also send messages via FBM to recipients on any platformemail, text, or chat. THe PrOs. From a consumer perspective, there are some advantages to this unusual format. By bundling all messages from the same sender into one threadincluding email, texts, and chatFBM creates a complete history of conversations with that individual. theoretically, this could be kept for years and become a modern version of old letters saved in a box. And the division of messages into the Messages and Other folders does promote Facebooks stated objective of making this platform more personalits reasonable to think that a consumer might value messages from Facebook friends over messages from acquaintances or brands. THe CONs. Unfortunately, consumers will also discover that some features theyve come to expect are completely missing from FBM. no subject lines Facebook has eliminated email subject lines in FBM, claiming that this enhances the casual nature of the platform. When a traditional email with a subject line is delivered via FBM, the subject line appears in bold text as the first line of the email, right below the sender name. When the user has several emails from the same sender (displayed in a single thread), it can be extremely difficult to find a particular message, especially considering theres also no way to file or organize messages FBM provides no functionality for organizing message threads into folders, or for separating messages from the same sender. For example, its impossible to separate messages from your spouse regarding weekend errands from those related to your summer vacation. If theyre all from the same person, theyre all in the same thread.

ges You like messa ends from your fri rketing more than ma t? messages, righ

Some features consumers have come to expect are completely missing from Facebook Messages.

no way of knowing how many unread messages you have An unread message count appears next to the folder name (Messages or Other) when you have new messages, but it disappears as soon as you open the folderregardless of whether you actually open any messages. If you have multiple unread messages from a given sender, youll also see an unread message counter displayed next to the sender namebut this also disappears as soon as you open the thread from that sender, regardless of whether you read any of their messages.

exacttarget snapshot: Facebook Messages

www.ExactT arget.com

DeLiVerABiLiTY issUes
Consumer functionality is all well and good, but as a marketer, you need to know whether your brands messages are going to get through. When it comes to Facebook Messages, the answer is maybe. Facebook currently offers no support for bulk senders, and no analytics to help marketers determine where messages are being delivered. So weve done our own testing and analysis to find out what happens to marketing emails in FBM. MessAges Vs. OTHer. As mentioned previously, only messages from a users Facebook friends (or friends of friends) are delivered to the Messages folder. Everything else is lumped together in the Other foldereven messages from companies the user has liked on facebook. Its reasonable to think that in the future, Facebook may give priority placement to brands that users have liked, but this functionality is not currently available. It is possible to have your brands message delivered to the Messages folderif the user promotes your brand using a command in the Actions menu. (Messages can be demoted to the Other folder in the same way.) So if you begin to notice facebook.com email addresses popping up on your subscriber list, consider targeting these customers with periodic messages, asking them to promote your brand to the Messages folder.

romote A user can p the your brand to er... Messages fold ind if they can f n menu. this drop-dow

exacttarget snapshot: Facebook Messages

www.ExactT arget.com

To add an additional layer of complexity to the Messages vs. Other issue, delivery to these two folders can be somewhat inconsistent. Messages sent by one person from different addresses arent grouped together, as they arent recognized as the same sender. So if you use multiple send addresses for your marketing emails, its possible that some of your messages might arrive in the Messages folder while others are relegated to the Other folder. This is yet another reason to follow best practices and send all your marketing messages from a single address. OrgANizATiON. Facebook groups all messages from the same sender in a single thread, in an effort to simplify the user experience and create a platform that more closely mirrors real-life conversation. But from a marketers perspective, this system is extremely problematic. Because all of your messages are grouped together, your brand only gets one spot in the messages or other folderregardless of how many messages you send. Combined with the lack of a true subject line, this makes it extremely difficult to give your brand any visibility.

ts one Your brand ge essages spot in the M er or Other fold thats it!

exacttarget snapshot: Facebook Messages

www.ExactT arget.com

One more organizational quirk of note: when a user clicks to view the message thread from a given sender, messages are actually displayed with the oldest on top. New messages are sent to the bottom of the list. OUr ADViCe Despite significant barriers to deliverability, its far too early to sound the alarm on FBM. As of right now, a very small number of people have facebook.com addresses, and even fewer are likely using FBM as their primary or sole email address. In surveying some of ExactTargets largest retail clients, we found that no more than .001% of subscribers are currently using facebook.com addresses. Thats nothing more than a rounding error, for those keeping score at home. But its likely to grow as Facebook enables FBM functionality in more user accounts. Some have suggested simply refusing to accept facebook. com email addresses for opt-in programs, as a way to avoid FBM deliverability issues altogether. While that would certainly work, it seems like an overreaction given the minute number of current FBM users. One suggestion that could make sense in the long run, however, is to make it easy for subscribers to opt-in to your messaging through your facebook page. (Crocs and Digital Evolution Group do a great job with this on the Crocs Facebook pagesee example at right.) Interaction through Facebook seems a likely path to having your messages delivered to the Messages folder in the future, although this isnt currently the case.

Heres a great example of a subscriber opt-in screen

exacttarget snapshot: Facebook Messages

www.ExactT arget.com

eMAiL DesigN & reNDeriNg

As part of its dedication to simplicity, Facebook Messages has done some unexpected things in terms of email design and rendering. When a user clicks to open a message in FBM, their initial view of the message does not include images or links. If the message was sent with a text version, FBM will initially display approximately the last 40 lines of the text-only message. If no text version was included, the user will see a scraped version of the HMTL code.

Heres what e subscribers se when they open your message.

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exacttarget snapshot: Facebook Messages

www.ExactT arget.com

To view the full email message, the user must click Expand (in the upper right corner of the message), which opens the full message in a new window. Rendering in the expanded view was quite reliable in our testseven for messages up to 900 pixels wide. In terms of links, we saw some messages functioning correctly in the expanded view, while others had problems. For consistently clickable links, the user must click View As A Web Page.

view The expanded Links shows images. ve, but should be acti sistent this was incon in our tests.

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exacttarget snapshot: Facebook Messages

www.ExactT arget.com

In summary, its a multi-step process to view a fully-functional email in FBM: First the user must click on the message thread from a given sender Then they must locate the current message, which may be at the bottom of the thread A plain text or HTML version of the message is displayed The user must click Expand to view a full version of the message with images To activate links consistently, the user must click View As A Web Page

While this is only three clicks from the Messages folder to the full HTML version, FBMs current functionality still makes it somewhat more complicated than the average email client. OUr ADViCe FBM is designed to encourage simple, plain text messaging. While the system has the capacity to view HTML email, the interface clearly hasnt been engineered with this style of interaction in mind. In truth, FBM is more of an email reader than an email client. But this doesnt have to be a problem.

Facebook Messages is more of an email reader than an email client.

A multi-channel approach is essential to your interactive marketing programbut that doesnt mean you send the same message across every channel. You wouldnt compose a Tweet and then spend hours optimizing it for use on your Facebook wall The same holds true for email and FBM. Consider this: If you have subscribers who are so firmly entrenched in Facebook that theyve made FBM their primary email address, you should probably be communicating with them primarily through facebook status updates and wall postsnot FBM! Email is likely not the channel of choice for those consumers, so dont waste time and resources optimizing your email program to work with FBM. Engage them on their own turf, and capitalize on the unique strengths of Facebook to reach that segment of your audience. At a more tactical level, there are some simple things you can do to improve the user experience for FBM subscribers. First and foremost, make sure you send messages in multi-part mime. ExactTarget has always recommended including a text version with your HTML messages, and this becomes even more important in FBM. You spend hours building an email; why not spend a few extra minutes creating a text version?

always Our advice: essages in send your m IME. multi-part M

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exacttarget snapshot: Facebook Messages

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Keep the limitations of FBM in mind as you build plain text messages. Subscribers will see only the bottom 40 lines of your message, so keep your content under 40 lines (approximately 50 characters per line) to avoid scrolling.

And finally, remember that at this point in time, the FBM audience is far too small to warrant significant re-work of your email communications. Even if FBMs adoption rate over its first three years were to double that of Gmail, it would still have no more than about 30 million usersless than 1% of the 3.8 billion email accounts projected by 2014.* But like everything else, you need to look at this from a cost-benefit perspective. Continue to monitor your subscriber list and be ready to adjust your strategy if facebook.com addresses become a sizeable part of your subscriber base.

Facebook has made it clear from the start that Facebook Messages is not intended to be a full-blown email client.

CONCLUsiON
While Facebook Messages may be an exciting new channel for casual, interpersonal communication, its usefulness as an email platform is clearly limited. But that shouldnt come as a surpriseFacebook has made it clear from the start that its not intended to be a full-blown email client. Consider the fact that a user must have an external email address in order to sign up for Facebook and it becomes clear thatat the present timefacebook does not anticipate fbm becoming the primary email platform for most users. This position is clearly supported in this quote from Mark Zuckerberg at a November press conference announcing the FBM launch: Its true people are going to be able to have facebook.com email addresses, but this is not email. Email is one way people are going to use this system, but we dont even think its going to be the primary way. Mark Zuckerberg, as quoted in the Daily Mail, November 16, 2010 Instead, Facebook seems to be focused on the idea of real-time communicationa trait that frankly isnt very important for email. In fact, one of the strengths of email is that it typically doesnt require an immediate view and response. You send an email, and the recipient may or may not open it right awaywhich is fine, because theres no expectation of an instant reply. In this way, email is far less intrusive than other channelsone of the key reasons its been such a successful platform for marketing messages. This focus on real-time seems to be solidified with the March 1, 2011, announcement that Facebook has acquired Beluga, a standout in the quickly-developing field of group messaging. While its not yet clear what plans Facebook might have for this acquisition, it seems likely that group texting functionality could soon be added to fbm.
*Source: The Radicati Group, Inc. release: Email Statistics Report 2010-2014, April 19, 2010

Remember quires Facebook re il ema an external rder to address in o unt! get an acco

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exacttarget snapshot: Facebook Messages

www.ExactT arget.com

As we see it, there are three possible paths that FBM could follow; fbm remains essentially as it is today and fulfills Mark Zuckerberg stated expectationsa casual, personal messaging platform that includes email as one component. In this scenario, FBM remains largely unsuitable for dynamic, visually intensive messaging such as marketing emailsand remains a secondary messaging resource for most consumers.

fbm develops additional functionality and becomes a more robust messaging platform. In this scenario, FBM could draw a significant number of users away from Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail, and other emails clients, and may even be viable as a primary messaging resource for someparticularly the younger users who rely heavily on text messaging and social media to communicate. But as these younger users mature, their needs may also mature. Facebook could be forced to develop a fully functional email platform or risk continual loss of users as they outgrow FBMs capabilities. fbm has a brief moment in the sun, and then quickly fades away, unsuitable for the robust, complex messaging that consumers have come to rely upon. (Remember Google Wave?) We suspect that, at the moment, Facebook may be trying to be too many things to too many peoplecramming email, texts, and chat into an interface that wasnt built to support them. We all compartmentalize our communications, and our communication style varies by channel. If users cant find their voice on FBM, it could end up being nothing more than a footnote in the history of the social media giant.

hese reports Check out t , fo on Email for great in nd Twitter: Facebook, a et.com/sff ww.exacttarg w

With all of that said, history shows that Facebook is constantly changing. The messaging platform of today may bear little resemblance to whats available six months down the road. And while theres no denying Facebooks growth and ability to innovate, consumers will only tolerate so much change before becoming frustrated. Facebook needs to consider its users needs and provide easy-to-use interfaces and appropriate user support as it adds functionality. Otherwise features like Messages, Group Texting, and whatever comes next will have a hard time reaching their significant potential.

Consumers think of Facebook as primarily a personal channel, not a marketing channel.

Another important point to rememberconsumers think of Facebook as primarily a personal channel, not a marketing channel. As we discussed in SUBSCRIBERS, FANS, & FOLLOWERS #8: The Social BreakUp, only 43% of U.S. online consumers have liked at least one company on Facebook, out of the nearly

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exacttarget snapshot: Facebook Messages

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three-quarters of U.S. online consumers whove created a Facebook profile. This ambivalence toward marketing is likely to apply to FBM as well, as we anticipate consumers will view FBM as an extension of Facebook rather than just another email addressregardless of any functionality that might be added to FBM in the future. For now, FBM is just one small cog in the giant interactive machine, and you should treat it as one small part of your overall interactive marketing strategy. Our overarching advice is to deal with the here and now, and dont spend too much time worrying about the future impact of FBM. Instead, stay vigilant, be aware of new developments, and respond as neededwithout overreacting. Well do the same. Were keeping a watchful eye on FBM, and well provide updated guidance as new developments emerge.

! Dont panic ur back. Weve got yo

Want more information about how consumers interact with brands through Email, Facebook, and Twitter? Download the entire SUBSCRIBERS, FANS, & FOLLOWERS research series at www.exacttarget.com/sff.

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Consumers dont isolate channels. Why should you?

ExactTargets Interactive Marketing Hub is the only tool that gives you a single view of real-time conversations across Email, Mobile, Social, and Sites. With CoTweet available in the Interactive Marketing Huband integrated seamlessly with Facebook you can monitor and track conversations about your brand in one combined stream. From scheduling Facebook and Twitter updates to making assignments for real-time responses, integrating your email and social strategy has never been easier.

Visit www.exacttarget.com/hub

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