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10% increase in open rates, based on one small change
When a brand logo is displayed in the inbox, recipients are “10% more likely to actually open the email, because they see which brand it is from, and they are more likely to trust it,” according to Marcel Becker, Director of Product Management at Verizon Media Group (Yahoo! Mail and AOL).
As of early 2022, Microsoft appers to have stopped the Bing Pages program. There appers to be no way at this time to add a logo to Outlook.
This is the first hard data I’ve come across directly linking brand logos to email performance. Testing is ineffective, as logos are always either on or off, not conducive to a 50/50 split test. But based on Becker’s statement, I’m even more inclined to recommend adding logos to all emails. It’s not easy (Yahoo! Mail, Outlook, and Gmail all require different setups), but it’s not impossible.
I’ve laid out the process for setting up logos in Gmail here, and below, I’ll explain how to do it in Microsoft.
Microsoft
Setting up a brand logo in Outlook is simpler than setting one up in Gmail. Before you begin, know that you’re required to have “at least 100 followers on at least one of your social media platforms and have made a post on one of the accounts in the past 30 days.”
The basic process is:
- Link your Twitter account to a new Bing Page
- Contact Microsoft and provide the from email addresses that you want to display your logo
After following this process — which I outline in more detail below — your Twitter profile photo will become your brand logo in the Outlook.com email client (what some of us still call HoTMaiL) and on the Outlook mobile app when using an Outlook.com address.
A couple of important caveats:
- Logo setup is part of Microsoft’s Bing Page beta, and this process could change at any time.
- This process does not currently apply to the business line of products (Office 365, the Outlook desktop application, or Windows Mail), but this integration is forth coming. Follow us on Twitter and when we hear from Microsoft, we will let you know!
Setup Your Bing Page
I’ll use brand@company.com in this example. Please note: You will need access to your brand’s Twitter account.
- Go to https://bing.com/bp/verify
- Enter your brand’s Twitter handle. (See screenshot)
- Log in with a Bing account (if you do not have one you will have to create it). This is a relatively new part of the process and is still evolving. You cannot sign in with an O365 account; it must be a personal Microsoft account of the person who will manage the Bing Page).
- Build out your Bing Page by adding your brand’s other social media accounts. (See screenshot)
- Authorize the Bing Pages’ Twitter app. (See screenshot)
The Bing team will review your request within three business days and contact you with an approval at the personal Bing account used in step #3.
Link Bing Page to brand@company.com
Once you receive an email from bingpages@microsoft.com, reply with the following request:
Please link this Bing Page to our brand card and populate in Outlook.com for the following email addresses:
[LIST UP TO FIVE EMAIL ADDRESSES] brand@company.com
And that’s it! Microsoft will set you up. Again, Bing Pages are in beta, so this is subject to change at any time. This blog post will be updated as changes occur.
You can read more at the official Bing Pages FAQ.
Have you run into an issue not listed above, or is it just not working right? You can find me at brians@peakinbox.com, or on @EmailGeeks Slack channel DM me @Brian Sisolak.