EmailList Articles

Okay, you have this great list, and a never ending procession of attractively priced products to offer, so what is the proper protocol that you should adopt when assembling email marketing blasts to send out. Do you just hit everyone with every message, or do to segment and target based on previous buying or browsing habits? There are a number of schools of thought on this matter.

Email marketing is a very data driven process, not unlike its progenitor, direct mail. The plus is that marketers are not constrained by cost if sending mail to subscribers who do not meet certain criteria. Targeting and segmentation were born out of the need to cut costs by sending mailings only to those who may wish to directly purchase a given item, as opposed to a widespread shotgun blast approach that may or may not hit the intended demographic target. Obviously the problem of cost does not exist with email, so marketers are often less likely to segment their lists, choosing the shotgun blast approach instead.

However, it has been proven that taking the time to properly segment an email list is worth the effort. The obvious pros are the sending of a message that is properly targeted generates higher engagement rates. The downside is that it minimizes the reach of each offer, proportionately minimizing the incremental conversion. Engagement is one sure fire way of determining your success…if a customer hasn’t opened or clicked a message in three months, then they are suppressed from further mailings.

There are different scenarios under which these elements may apply. Let us examine:

Perhaps you send news of a new special or product, and someone opens the message through their smartphone and makes a purchase. You got what you needed, and yet it was not registered as an “engagement” of your message in any way. Does that person get suppressed? You may actually be shooting yourself in the proverbial foot if this person is dropped from your marketing efforts.

Also, do you send complete product information to your recipients when perhaps only a small portion of them are engaged? You run the risk of them becoming bored with your messages because you rarely touch on things they are interested in. Not everyone is fit to receive all of your content, and they should not be expected to. In cases like this, some baseline segmentation is probably in order, especially if you are seeing attrition rates that are of concern to you.

It is also possible to over target your message, which leaves an entire group of potential clients out in the cold. Look beyond purchases in specific categories and broaden your marketing horizons. Those interested in fashion may also be interested in cookware.

Yes, it is a fine line to walk, but it is important that you strike the proper balance in your email marketing efforts, a balance designed to maximize conversion rates while at the same time not going so far as to alienate any portion of your customer base. It will always be a work in progress, so make sure you have the most qualified people handling it for you.

Most of us have utilized the email newsletter at some point in our business pasts, however the advent of the blog and social media typically meant less time devoted to such matters. Social media in particular made contact with our clients, customers, and fans almost instantaneous, making the need for a well crafted e-mail newsletter almost irrelevant. So the question is: does the e-mail newsletter still have a place in your email marketing strategy? Or is time and effort better spent elsewhere?

The fact is that some marketing tactics do not change, and odd as it may seem, the email newsletter should remain a part of your promotional and advertising arsenal. If that sounds strange, then there are a few things you should stop to consider.

People choose different channels to disseminate information. Email is one of those channels that may be effectively used in a number of ways. An email newsletter can go out, and yet still be reprinted through social media, published to a blog or RSS feed, and Twitter messages sent out with links back to the content at hand. Think of the email newsletter as one piece of a much bigger puzzle, but a link piece that pulls together the entire picture.

Most customers will not sign on to follow you on Twitter, or necessarily become a fan on Facebook, however, they may initially sign up to receive emails from your company. Use that opportunity to build a relationship with the client, and over time they may feel comfortable enough to connect with you through other available online channels. Email can accomplish this in a way few other online avenues can.

Even if they are unread or skimmed over, email newsletters have a very good way of keeping you at the forefront of your customer’s mind. I have more than one company that I receive from, and while I don’t always read everything they send, it is always a nice reminder that they are still out there when I need them. Always keep the customers thinking fondly of you.

At the risk of quoting a tired cliché, content is king. Make sure your email newsletter has an attractive combination of written content, pictures, or video, because an attractive presentation is far more likely to be passed along, perhaps even reposted to through social media outlets.

Three little letters…SEO. Every time you add content to your site, you increase your visibility in the eyes of outfits like Google. Archiving your newsletter is a great way to add quality content to your site on a regular basis, drastically improving your search engine optimization efforts. It is one of the easiest ways to benefit from the release of the newsletter.

Content marketing is also easily addressed through the use of the email newsletter, since newsletters are nothing but content and leveraging that marketing tool may result in markedly improved numbers.

Multi-use content. Content is of much value, and can be uses several times over if properly reintegrated. You can get a lot of mileage out of your content by reusing it on your blog, producing a whitepaper on the subject, or composing a Facebook note. Making use of your content through several varied sources can only produce beneficial results, provided the content of well done and maintains a level of quality from release to release.

Clearly, there is still a place for the email newsletter. So as you embrace the new, don’t forget to make continued use of that which has already proven its worth.

As business owners, we rely on our email list to establish a client base, people who have demonstrated an interest in our product or service and whom we can send updates, specials, new product announcements, and other beneficial information. There are times we may feel that we are walking a fine line between providing top flight customer service and becoming little more than a pest. The question of how much is too much is always somewhere in the back of our minds, namely because we don’t want to run the risk of intentionally doing anything that might drive our customers away. So how do we know when we are approaching that magical borderline known popularly as “enough”?

People unsubscribe to email lists for a variety of reasons, the most common of which is that they are simply not in the market for the product in question any more. It isn’t always necessarily a case of being inundated by messages. Ask folks how often they would like to see an email from a given company and “weekly” is easily the most common answer.

This is not to say that weekly is the time frame you should adopt. The truth is, those of us who are interested in a given product will open virtually any message we receive on that topics. If you are into muscle cars and have subscribed to several email lists from classic muscle car dealers or parts outlets, then it is pretty much a given that you’re going to open any email received from such sources.

In fact, companies that send multiple e-mails per week are typically the ones that stay at the forefront of folks’ minds most of the time. The key is to make sure you’re sending to people who have some level of a vested interest in your product.

One of the primary aspects of good communication is frequent communication, but this is largely dependent on the quality of the communication. You don’t mind communicating frequently with your best friend, but someone who is a last-nerve annoying toad is going to get on your nerves really quick. Increasing frequency intensifies sentiment, whether that sentiment is good or bad. You want to make sure that you craft and create a positive sentiment among your customers and client base. This is done by making sure that the email you send carries good, positive information that your clients will want to receive. Doing so only makes them look for more of the same from you. Don’t let them down.

Some companies have a policy limiting email blast to a certain number of times per month. This is fine if you actually have something to say, but how many of us have crafted an email message and blasted it around the globe just for the sake of having something to send out that week? This is unwise. You are admitting mediocrity in your company and email marketing efforts, and this will do nothing to increase your business or your fan base. Have something interesting to talk about.

Quality, value, and relevance are more highly regarded than frequency. The major players in this field find reasons to communicate with their clients and craft attractive, appealing campaigns in order to do so. You have a remarkable opportunity to reach out and touch your client base with very little effort and virtually no cost, which means that it would be ridiculous to squander such an opportunity.
A few suggestions for determining your e-mail ad campaign scheduling:

Form a base program. Your base newsletter or promotion should be geared to get in front of as many subscribers as possible, as often as possible.

Form a triggered program. Some email blasts can be triggered by a given activity, such as visits to your site, browsing patterns, downloads, comments, and purchase history. Any action initiated by the user should trigger an equal and opposite email marketing reaction designed to capitalize on that action and hopefully trigger more results. You never know how far a few suggestions might take you.

Make it an occasion. By securing as much information as possible, you open up new opportunities for interaction. Birthday greetings are common, but also anniversaries, weather conditions, financial considerations, etc. By marrying your message to an occasion you establish a very personal rapport with your client.

Use every opportunity. Even the registration on your site or the changing of a password can be an excuse to get in front of your client. Make the most of it and you may be surprised at the results that can be generated.

So how much is enough? There is no hard and fast answer. But there can be some basic indicators to let you know when you are overstepping your bounds. Just make sure that you have something relevant to say, some important information to impart, or a special new deal or innovative product and/or service to advertise. Always think about the quality of the content, because quality will get you so much farther than frequency will.

Nowadays, businesses of every size can benefit from email marketing. Since Email Service Providers (ESPs) simplify the process for even the smallest of marketing teams, there is essentially no reason to not engage the customers who sign up for your email list. Each of the Email Service Providers discussed are designed to start with email lists of any size and expand along with the growth of your business. There are many different Email Service Providers available in the market today; the trick is finding the right one for you.

Probably most well known because of its premium pricing model, MailChimp offers service levels for any size budget. There are several different plans available, but one that could be valuable to those who are new to email marketing is the Monthly option. With this plan, you are charged based on the number of subscribers you have in your email list rather than how many emails you send each month. With plans starting at $9, MailChimp is one ESP that is an excellent choice for entry-level email marketers.

If you have never sent an email before, MailChimp comes with many pre-designed HTML templates that can be easily updated to include your business creatives and assets. You can also design or use your own HTML and text emails if you prefer. MailChimp also offers basic features such as A/B testing, segmentation, dynamic content and reporting.

Another ESP with similar service offerings is Constant Contact. This email service provider has pricing models that start at $15 per month and offer a free 60-day trial for an email list that is less than 100 subscribers. They also have several pre-built HTML email templates available, as well as render testing and social media sharing tools.

One nice feature that makes Constant Contact stand out is the email inbox delivery assistance service. This ESP has teams available to help ensure that your emails are delivered in a timely manner and actually hit your customers’ inboxes. Additionally, reporting statistics are captured in real time, so you can track your emails immediately after they are sent. Constant Contact also offers industry benchmarks to compare the performance of your campaigns against.

If you know that your email list is small and want to get started in email marketing immediately, one ESP to try is AWeber. This ESP can easily manage subscriber lists of up to 25,000 subscribers and monthly pricing plans start at $10. AWeber has a unique autoresponder feature that triggers a transactional email to all new subscribers that join your email list. This email can be fully customized with your brand’s logo and styles and can be set to launch immediately upon sign up, or scheduled for a pre-determined day and/or time.

AWeber also offers email revenue tracking statistics in addition to other basic key performance indicators. They allow you easily add and remove customers from your email list, and have segmentation tools available.

iContact is another email service provider that is designed to help entry-level businesses break into the email marketing space. Pricing starts at $14 a month, with an option for a free 30-day trial. They offer image hosting for those that have email templates created, but do not have a server available or fully customizable email templates. iContact also has spam checkers for all email templates and inbox delivery services available among other features such as split testing and email tracking and reporting.

One unique feature that iContact has is an email website sign up form. This form can be placed on your website or on your social media outlets (ex. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube, etc.) to instantly add new users to your email list, and can be customized to use your business’s fonts, colors and specifications.

Another email service provider that entry-level to mid-size level email marketers should consider is Silverpop. This ESP strives to make email marketing simple for any level of client and is built on a scalable platform that can accommodate a growing business. They offer many different levels of account management and services that can assist you in your email marketing efforts or simply handle them for you. Silverpop allows their customers to have several different IP addresses for each of their different email streams as well.

If your marketing strategy calls for transactional emails (ex. order confirmations, shipping notifications, welcome emails, etc.) in combination with regular marketing messages, Silverpop is a good solution since they are able to integrate the two email streams together. Silverpop also offers other unique features that can enhance your email marketing strategy, such as survey creation, social media integration and email list segmentation.

Similar to Silverpop, Bronto is another ESP that can handle the email list subscriber counts and monthly email volume of an entry- to mid-level email marketing client. Although a little pricier than some of the other options, Bronto has many extra features that your business may find incredibly useful. In addition to A/B testing, email list segmentation and reporting, Bronto has a platform that can easily allow users to create email lifecycle marketing strategies through a drag-and-drop tool.

If you have multiple brands under your business that need to have different email marketing streams, email templates or email lists, Bronto is easily able to combine them into a single user interface. You can also report on each brand separately or look at email statistics across all brands. Bronto also offers a tool that can help integrate SMS (text) messaging into your email marketing stream.

All of the ESPs discussed here should have many different levels of service available. Depending on your business’s resources, strategy and budget choose one that most closely fits your needs. If your email marketing efforts expand greatly and your email list size becomes too large for your ESP to handle, it is always a possibility to either add another ESP or move to one that can handle enterprise level clients.

In today’s business climate, email may in many cases be the face of your company to clients, customers, business partners, investors, etc. This is a pretty tall order for a communication medium that is so often misunderstood, misinterpreted, and mishandled. As with any tool at your disposal, it is important to learn how to properly use it in order to achieve maximum results. In the hands of an experienced and talented user, email communication may generate innumerable benefits for your company. In the wrong hands, it can create a mess that may take months or years to clean up, not to mention loss of revenue and damage to your good corporate image.

Some companies have the benefit of being able to hire experienced marketing professionals to handle their email marketing needs. Others have to go it alone, often learning as they go, unaware of the long term issues that may crop up as a direct result of the mistakes they make. Many do not know how to persuade their list recipients to respond positively, nor do they know how to compel the loyalty of their converted readers, making the most of their lifetime value as opposed to being solely concerned with the cost of their acquisition.

There is a defined list of do’s and don’ts when it comes to writing business emails.

First, the no-no’s, then we’ll get to the good stuff.

• Do not write emails pretending to be somebody’s best friend. Unless you’re just a very good writer stuffed to the gills with immense personal charm that actually translates through the mishmash known as email, you’re just going to come off as insincere and fake. Instead, remember that business is business. You provide a product or service, and you should take this opportunity to tell the reader exactly why you are indispensable to them.
• Do not adopt a formula and stick with it. There is a reason that Sunday morning sermons are enjoyed for the moment but rapidly forgotten; there are only so many “three points and a conclusion” doses that you can take. Repetitive formulas are also much more likely to trigger spam reports. Instead, mix it up, make each communication different, unique, and original.
• Do not overload your recipients with messages. Too much of anything, even love and the best of intentions, can backfire. Adopt an email release schedule and stick to it, unless of course you have a new product or a major announcement that has a time frame or shelf life attached to it.
• Do not overpromise. Too many email communications promise the moon only to have reality come crashing back down like a certain airship in New Jersey in 1936. Keep things grounded in reality.
• Do not fall for the myth that no one reads long emails. Quite the contrary, no one reads lousily written emails. If you are offering something of much value to them, they are more likely to stick with you for a time. This is especially true if you are offering them something that is important, or what they perceive as important. I personally will go on reading for days and still be left wanting more when the communication speaks directly to what is of utmost importance in my life.

Now for the good stuff (I promised, didn’t I?). Here is what you need to do with your business email ventures.

• Do your best to be sincere. People see through cheesy and disingenuous in no time flat. Craft your message to appeal to the individual, not a nameless, faceless list. Picture the type of person that will be interested in your service or product and tailor your message to that person. People respond best to the one on one approach, if you make them feel like a person, someone who is valued and respected, and they feel that you genuinely have their best interests at heart, then your message stands a very good chance of returning the desired results.
• Make use of the 80/20 rule. You want the message to be 80 percent information, because that is what is going to solidify the need for this product in the client’s mind. But then, you also should not be afraid to ask for their business, so the remaining 20% of the message should be devoted to your sales pitch. Follow up e-mails should contain no pitch at all, because you always want the customer to know that you are on their side, that you have their best interests at heart, and not just clamoring for their money.
• Be sure to write whatever you need to write to make sure your client accepts your argument and becomes compelled to buy. You should clearly and expertly detail the benefits involved with purchasing the product or service, particularly how it benefits them personally. Don’t describe scenarios that may only apply to 10% of your clients….find something that is universal and make that your test case. The broadest possible appeal, delivered with a personable, one on one presentation, will yield the maximum return on investment.

Some people are leery of providing content that may already be common knowledge, for fear that the client may think their intelligence is being insulted. Quite the opposite is true. We all know certain things to be fact, but there is something about seeing them reinforced in print that galvanizes us, spurs us to action. It establishes credibility, authority, and trustworthiness. You can’t get that with a three or four line sales pitch.

Finally, always let your personality show through in the communication. Even if you don’t think you have one. Engage the reader and leave them wanting more, looking forward to the next email from you. I personally have businesses and clients whose personality alone ensures that I will read their messages each and every time, even if I don’t need their product at that moment.

Remember, email is commonly misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misread. Take the time required to make sure your email says and does what it is supposed to do. Commitment to quality content means improved return on investment.

If you’ve done email marketing for any length of time at all, then in all likelihood you know how the cards are dealt and you know how to play the game. There’s an old adage about finding what works, and then doing it again. Through repetition and continued refinement, you’ll eventually develop a process that works well and generates the desired results.

Not so with the mysterious force known as email marketing. What appears to be a grand slam in one case may fall flat when attempted a second time with refinements. There is no rhyme or reason, no pattern, no chart that can predict exactly how and where an email campaign will strike pay dirt. This author has slaved long and hard to assemble a marketing plan only to see no results at all, and then put something together last minute, off the cuff, that went on to become enormously profitable. It makes it a bear to apply for jobs at times because at the end of the day, we have to admit to ourselves….we never quite know what is going to work.

I read a recent article that stated it clearly, “Sometimes real world results just do not make sense.” This is true, especially in the world of email marketing. The biggest difference between successful and unsuccessful email marketers is that the successful ones spend time every day working to try and make something happen, not resting on past success, but realizing that things change. What worked last time may be old hat by now, and it is important to keep pressing forward, extending the envelope, and considering new possibilities. Those who keep blasting out mass e-mails in the dark are becoming increasingly irrelevant, while those who dare to try new and fresh approaches are seeing their response rates and ROI’s increase dramatically. There is still a place in today’s business world for an effective e-mail marketing system, provided that you are willing to not just think outside the box, but eliminate the box as a reference point altogether.

Greatness in email marketing is largely determined by who has control, who is setting the wheels in motion and making things happen through their own imagination and innovation. Creative ideas need to be tested, whether it is a new approach to the subject line, or finding that most effective time of the day to send out an email pitch. Staying abreast of what works today, not yesterday, determines who is and is not in control. And of course what becomes the measure of control today will in short order be beaten out by somebody else tomorrow. The landscape is ever changing.

Innovation never happens as a result of caution, hesitation, or fear. It is important to continue to try new things. And no matter how many times you go over a concept, no matter how good it looks on paper, there comes a time when you have to try it out in front of real people. This may mean sacrificing part of your list to conduct a test (well, the sacrifice part only happens if the idea lays an egg). An idea has to have the opportunity to fail in a real world test. I know none of us want to risk losing any part of our hard fought and won list, but isn’t it better to lose a few than to see the whole thing come crashing down on the shoulders of an idea that pure and simple didn’t work?

Opinions mean nothing. If something works, it works, whether you like it or not. Every election cycle, everybody says they hate negative ads, but candidates continue using them…..why? Because they work, that’s why, and they work beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. So don’t lower the axe on a specific email marketing campaign just because you have issues with how it is being executed, or how it looks, etc. All that matters is whether or not it is generating positive and profitable results. It doesn’t matter if it is the cyber equivalent of a Baptist minister dressed in feathers….if it is turning your dollar into four hundred, let it do what it will for as long as it will.

Diagnose the performance. Some campaigns will generate more opt outs than others. Same goes for click through, delivery rates, conversions, etc. Resist the urge to look at what a given campaign does, and instead look at the various rates as they play out over an extended period, say a month, a quarter, however you want to measure it. You might get a better picture of exactly how things are working out.

Concentrate on Loan To Value rate as opposed to Return On Investment. Customers will eventually leave and go somewhere else. The reasons may vary… they no longer need your services, or they found someone closer, cheaper, better looking, whatever. The idea is to simply make sure that while they are with you that they leave the largest possible pile of money in your hands. Maximizing your LTV rate means job security, as it is a process that has no discernible end point. It will always be a work in progress.

The worst thing you can do is sit back on your laurels and let things go on as they will. Always be asking questions, take risks, make mistakes. Remember that even the most successful “sure thing” will not be the sure thing forever. Something will come along to supplant it, and you want to be on the crest of the wave in that regard, not getting left behind in the backwash.

Set goals every day for what you need to accomplish, questions that need to be answered, and those that need to be asked. As I said, you can’t remain inside the box, that is death. And we have reached the point where even thinking outside the box is no longer sufficient. The box needs to be done away with altogether, and your plans need to pinpoint all new reference points. Only by pressing forward can you have any hope of staying ahead.

There’s no doubt about it…getting your emails to render properly across all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) is the bane of every email marketer’s existence. With all of the tables and rows, perfect rendering in one email client, and not in another, it’s no wonder that most of us just give up and send emails composed only of images. Now, we all know that a good text to image ratio in emails certainly helps with deliverability, but sometimes we can just get to that point where we are willing to sacrifice some inbox just to get the email done!

I have worked in email marketing for quite a few years now and confess that I just recently learned how to fully code HTML. Previously, I could make small changes to links and whatnot, but never quite had the ability to take a mock up and translate it into a fully coded piece of HTML. A couple of months ago I took an XHTML class at a local business center which turned out to be less-than-helpful since it mostly taught CSS styles. A short while later, I (thankfully) started working with an amazing graphic artist who taught me the ways.

The trickiest part about email rendering is that each ISP processes the HTML differently than the other. This makes for a very time consuming process of testing, fixing an error, testing again only to create another error, fixing, repeat. So the best way to avoid this maddening situation is to code your emails to solve for all potential issues.

So without further ado, here are some tips that I’ve picked up from her. Hopefully they will help you too!

Put together an email coding strategy before you get started.There are only a handful of fonts that will render perfectly in email clients (ex. Arial, Courier, Times, etc.), so plan ahead for the parts of the email that will be text and which will be images. Once you know this, you can easily slice the images you need for the email. You should also plan ahead for how many columns you will need to create the email. Remember, you will be building a large grid comprised of many smaller grids that come in the form of tables.

Build tables within tables to allow for independent spacing between cells.If you have a portion of your email that doesn’t perfectly align with the piece above it, simply create a new table. The spacing in the new table will then be independent of the pieces around it. Just remember to adjust the spacing using colspans if you intend to combine more than one column.

Get images to line up properly by using style=“display: block;”.Sometimes you get an unwanted thin line between your image slices. Adding this style to every image tag will have the images sit directly on top or next to each other without any padding. If your images are floating around within their cells, you can try aligning them using the valign or align attribute. Additionally, check the size of your overall table and make sure that all of the cells within that table add up to the total size. Being just a few pixels over or under the total table size can cause your grid to become misaligned.

Create spacing by using blank table cells instead of padding. If you need to indent an image ten pixels above the bottom margin, simply add an extra cell that looks like the below:

<td height=”10” style=”height:10px, line-height:10px; font-size:1px;">&amp;nbsp;</td>

Gmail will not read the height of an empty cell, but will read line-height, while Outlook is the other way around. So using blank table cells will create a ten pixel high white box that looks the same as padding, but renders properly in all email clients.

Create borders by using blank cells with background-color styles. Gmail is notorious for ignoring and cutting off border styles. So instead of using them, build an extra column on each side of your email similar to the cell above, just adding in another style that sets the background color. Since you want to define the width and have it extend the entire length of your email, use something such as this:

<td width=”3” style=”width: 3px; line-height:1px; font-size:1px; background-color: #ff0000;">&amp;nbsp;</td>

This will create a three pixel wide red border along the side of your email, and will render properly across all ISPs. Then connect the side borders with a cell that expands across the entire email on the top and bottom and build additional tables inside for the main email content.

Check that you are not using deprecated HTML tags. Some ISPs will still recognize deprecated HTML tags, but others won’t, thus causing rendering issues in different email clients. Some common tags that might still be in use are:

 <font> (replace with <span>), <u> </u>(replace with style=”text-decoration: underline;”) and <center> </center> (replace with style=”text-align: center;”)

Check W3Schools.com for reference of more deprecated tags.

Make sure that all cell, row and table tags are properly closed. Leaving just one tag open can have horrible consequences on email rendering. Some ISPs will ignore unclosed tags, while others completely misconstrue the entire email. So for sanity’s sake, add a closing tag underneath every new tag you open and enter all other content between. A free Firefox add in called Firebug is very useful if you need help finding unclosed tags. It can inspect and monitor your HTML in real time, which can help you find rendering issues before they even happen.

Test your emails in all major email clients. Set up test accounts in Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, Hotmail and Outlook and send live emails to each one to see exactly where rendering issues are. This way you can easily see how your email looks in each one instead of relying on a browser to render your HTML (which is more than likely going to look different than in the ISP).

These tips are just some basic starting concepts, but are all things that need to be considered in order to create a successful HTML email. The best way to learn HTML for email is to completely be immersed in it, and to keep testing out different solutions to errors. Eventually, coding emails becomes like second nature and the rendering issues become almost non-existent!

For the longest time, direct mail was the only avenue available for many companies when it came to getting their ads and messages across to the masses. True, there was something slightly annoying for consumers when they found themselves wading through what they considered “junk mail”, but occasionally they would stumble across something that caught their attention, merited a quick read, and maybe, just maybe, managed to earn their business.

Junk mail is less pervasive these days thanks to the rise of email as the preferred means of communication, but it is still there, and in many cases, the lessons learned through direct mail marketing may be equally applicable to email marketing efforts. Successfully applying some of these direct mail practices to your email marketing program may well serve to increase your ROI significantly.

Remember that whole “one chance to make a first impression” advice. When I go through my regular mail, it takes a lot to grab my attention. Plain white envelopes typically get tossed, as do those that read “occupant” or something equally impersonal. What is likely to get read is something that announces its intent, or better yet, looks as though it has been personally addressed to me (as in “these guys were thinking of me when they sent it”…..even if they weren’t).

Likewise for your email blasts. There are three important areas where your company really needs to shine if you are attempting to grab someone’s attention.

Subject line – Does your subject line accurately describe the contents of the message? Does it offer some great deal like a discount or other goodies? Many users will get no further than the subject line…..if it looks interesting, they will read it. If not, it gets deleted and they go on to the next contestant. You only have so much space in your subject line, so maximize it, and come up with something that will make the user want to probe a little deeper. We see it all the time in direct mail pieces (40% Off Coupon Inside!….that sort of thing). Here is your chance to do the same thing in your e-mails.

The Return Address – There is just something about being able to see who a letter is from that perks your interest. Oh, what does First National Bank and Trust want with me? That sort of thing. Far too many e-mails have either no return address at all or one that looks like a computer generated source. Face it, would you be more impressed with something that reads like 23333456adbec145@service.org, or would you rather see a simple name@company.com? Make sure the return address is valid, and that it connects with someone at the other end who will actually read and respond to communication. No matter how high tech our society gets, nobody wants to lose the human connection.

Graphic Design – Direct mail that is attractively designed, with eye catching graphics and quality photographs, no doubt goes a long way towards securing interest. With email it is harder, since the graphics won’t be visible until the message is opened, but you still want to make sure that this part of the process is well done and makes the appropriate impression. Do the photos load quickly? Is the print located in an area where it is easy to find and read? Is the mix of graphics and text appropriate? Be careful not to go overboard with this, since graphics heavy messages can take a while to load, especially on older computers. Taking too long can often cause users to click on the X and move on to fresher climes.

In addition, you want to be able to offer something of value. People are used to being asked for their business by any number of merchants or vendors, but rare is the case where a business simply goes out of their way to be helpful. Consider sharing things like coupons or special offers with your customers, or maybe even educational information on a specific item or service that you are selling. You may also want to offer special sneak peeks or previews of upcoming items, perhaps offering them at a discounted price. People love to feel as though they are privileged insiders.

And in all cases, always be polite and considerate of your customers. Unlike direct mail marketing, most people are on your email list because they filled out a form in your place of business or responded to an online advertisement. Either way, they have graciously allowed you a measure of access to their lives. Don’t crew that up by being an insensitive clod.

Always provide an “opt out” in your emails to allow people to remove themselves from your list. And honor their request to be deleted. Don’t take it personally….they are neither God nor illiterate oafs….your service either ceased to be relevant in their lives or they found something they liked better. It happens.

Segment your email list. Break it down by demographics, buying habits, recipient preferences, or other criteria, and send emails targeting those specific segments of your online society. Hey, I get coupons from Kroger based on my previous grocery purchases….this is just another way of personalizing your approach.

Try new stuff. No matter how brilliant an idea might be, the shine will fade over time. Even a super model will lose her appeal if she wears the same clothes to work every day for years. Experiment with different graphics, logos, copy. If you try a new approach and it lays an egg, don’t sweat it, just move on to the next thing. There are no hard and fast rules governing what does and doesn’t work. What worked five years ago may not be as effective today.

Even in the face of new technology, e-mail is likely to be here for a while; much like direct mail has hung around even as email became the prominent method of communication over the last two decades. Make sure you’re getting all you can get out of this avenue of communication.

The amount of information email marketers collect on their customers and their habits is ever growing. Simply sending a blanket email to the customers in our email list is no longer valid. The challenge now is to use email as a medium in which to build and grow a relationship with our customers. We want to nurture and educate them so that they are highly responsive and generate revenues on a consistent and ongoing basis. To do this, design email series that speaks to each subscriber while they are on the journey of your email marketing strategy.

Below is an example of an email lifecycle strategy for New Subscribers to your email list. Obviously, the timing, sequence and content will need to be adjusted to your individual business goals. You can always first try testing different series on small test segments to fully optimize your strategy.

Since the example series is very informational and provides a lot of content to your customers, you may consider adding all new email addresses to a suppression file once they’ve completed the series. Additionally, you may consider suppressing anyone who is in your welcome series from being pulled into your regular email stream.

Remember, the first interaction you have with your customers is the welcome email. This email serves as both an introduction to your company, but also establishes the pace, tone and value of being in your email stream. The opportunities to educate your new customers are endless, so start each new subscriber off with a welcome series of emails that explains everything they should need to know to get started. If your website needs instructions or you have a lot of content to offer your subscribers, design your welcome email strategy to send several emails in a short period of time starting immediately after sign up.

Another situation where using a series of emails is beneficial is when you are looking to re-engage lapsed customers. Most customers have a tendency to the most active immediately after they signed up for your email list. For those customers who have stopped engaging with your emails or your website, one strategy to try is a We Miss You or Winback campaign.

The purpose of a Win Back or We Miss You campaign is try to entice a user to come back and take an action that they previously have done before. Regardless of what the action was – an email open, an article viewed on the website, an item added to their shopping cart – certain customers are no longer doing it and you want them to start up again.

To get started, you might want to think about the different reasons why a customer in your email list would not continue engaging with you. Do you have delivery issues that would prevent them from ever receiving your email in the first place? Has your content or template become stale so they are longer interested? Were they incentivized to join your list and were never fully interested in receiving your emails? You will need to consider all options before laying out your strategy since each can result in a different series of emails. One other thing to consider while deciding upon your strategy is whether you want to offer an incentive to the user to re-engage. The incentive can be anything from a discount to a sweepstakes entry to a free gift with purchase. If you do decide on an incentive, keep in mind that customers are smart and can easily learn to take advantage of the system so suppress them from regular mailings while they are in a Win Back/We Miss You series.

The above example is just a simple representation of the steps to take in a Win Back/We Miss You campaign. There are an infinite number of emails, content and sequences you can incorporate during this type of email series, but remember the end goal – get users to re-engage.

If, at any time during the series, they open or click, feel free to add them back into your main mailing stream. If you get no response at all, move the inactives into a group that is not normally included in your regular emails. Instead, you can choose to include them only for major mailings, lower their frequency (ex. from a weekly email to monthly) or not email them at all. You can then repeat the Win Back/We Miss You series quarterly or as often as you deem fit.

All in all, using series of multiple emails to engage your customers is effective and can definitely increase both your email KPIs and revenue. Additionally, you can use series to hygiene your email list and remove those that would rather not be there. The number of situations where you can use a series of emails is endless; just remember to keep the subscribers out of your regular mailing streams to avoid confusion.

The days of bulk emailing your entire email list are over. Customers are demanding only those emails that pertain to them and their needs only. This has likely impacted your KPIs and revenue streams in the sense that customers are refusing to interact with your emails unless the content is tailored to them. So the next logical questions are: how do you give your customers the emails they want and only when they want them? The answer is both simple and complex…build an email preference center.

A preference center is an interface created for your email customers so that they can relay specific information about their email preferences to you. You may include a single option to choose from, or a completely customizable email solution. Either way, build your preference center with your customers in mind, making sure that they can quickly and easily make changes at any time.

Building a preference center can be fairly easy if it is managed through your Email Service Provider (ESP). The system will automatically create folders, segments or suppressions that continuously roll customers in and out of your mailing stream. It will still be up to the email marketing team to decide what messages your customers will receive though.

The first thing to keep in mind when building an email preference center is making sure that the instructions are incredibly clear. When a user lands on your preference center page, there should be a distinct explanation for each of the sections they can complete. Be sure that your customers have a solid understanding of what email subscriptions they are changing, keeping and losing. This will hopefully eliminate spam complaints that may arise from miscommunications. In addition to preference changes, be sure to include a global unsubscribe option that will remove a customer from your email list in entirety. This not only complies with CAN-SPAM regulations, but also assures your customers that you have their best interests in mind.

The next step to developing an email preference center is to identify which parts of your email stream is relevant to your customers. Such things as categories, frequency and day of the week are all options that a customer can choose to customize.

Categories – If you’re an e-commerce site that offers many different products or services for sale, have your customers choose only those that they are interested in. You may also want to provide further selections such as gender, price ranges, locations, discounts offered, free shipping, etc. Any of these options will produce completely customizable email content that is not only relevant, but also desired, by each of the customers in your email list.

Day(s) of the Week – Since customers are so bombarded by emails everyday, let them choose which day (or days) they’d like to receive your emails. By doing this, you’ll teach your customers when to expect your emails, who in turn will be more responsive and engaged.

Frequency – Many companies are still mass-emailing their entire email list, and to a customer, it can seem like they are receiving emails nonstop. For those customers who don’t check their email every day, this can be incredibly overwhelming and will cause them to engage with your email far less than you’d like them to. Letting the customers choose how often you email them will allow you to send your most important messages while reducing the number of emails in your customers’ inboxes.

There are many other options you can provide for the customers in your email list. But in the end, make sure you honor their wishes and send them only what they’ve asked for. It is likely that the number of emails sent will be reduced, but you shouldn’t worry about this. Your email strategy will likely change from static content to dynamic, customized emails. Since the email content is geared towards only those topics they are interested in, your customers will appreciate your emails and respond better. It is almost certain that you will experience better overall KPIs – such as open and click rates – and revenue since the email content is what specifically pertains to what your audience wants.

If your email system or ESP is not able to handle dynamic content, you can still use email preference centers to your advantage. Create the static content as you normally would, but instead send it to only those customers who would find it relevant based on the preferences they chose. Even though you won’t be sending emails to your entire list, targeting customers based on their preferences is still a smart strategy. Cycle through the preferences to ensure that the customers in your email list do still receive email from you in a timely manner (ex. once or twice a week). If you insist on mailing your entire email list, create several versions of the email creative that ‘speak’ to each preference and send accordingly.

If you do decide to use the preference center to target specific mailings, be sure to build a testing strategy into your email program. You can test concepts such as combining similar targets or correlated selling. For example, if you have an email that features computers, you may include the segments that have elected to receive emails about computers plus those that have elected to receive emails about electronics. Or, if you know that customers who buy apparel are likely to buy shoes in their next purchase, you can send an email that features both categories.

In addition to experiencing higher KPIs and email revenues, an email preference center can also help with deterring unsubscribes. Unless there is an email effort to drive customers to your preference center, they are most likely hitting it because they are trying to unsubscribe. Whatever the reason they got there – too many emails, not relevant content, no longer want to be on your email list – the preference center gives them options on how to adjust their subscription so that they might not globally opt out. You may be able to entice them to keep a portion of their subscription by simply reducing the frequency, changing the day or adjusting the content.

All in all, email preference centers are designed to enable marketers to give customers in their email list the content they want to receive combined with when they want to receive it. Designing your email strategy around this concept can significantly reduce the quantity of emails sent. But you will also experience greater open rates, click rates and revenues because your emails are just that to the customer now – significant.