Jul

2

Happy 4th of July!

Filed Under GroupMail, GroupMetrics, GroupSurveys, Infacta, Insights, communication, email, email marketing, emarketing | 1 Comment 

In observation of the 4th of July, our US Office will be closed on Friday, July 3rd. Officially known as Independence Day, the United States is just one of many countries around the world that recognizes its independence with an official holiday.

Here is a short list of some things that email marketers wish they were were independent from:

  1. Non-standard HTML rendering across the growing number of email clients that cause HTML email to appear different to each recipient on your list.
  2. The ever-growing number of delivery hurdles that email marketers must jump over to get legitimate email delivered to recipients.
  3. Stringent email sending policies of mail SMTP hosts and ISPs which make it difficult for small businesses to communicate with their customers. It’s time to start understanding that even small businesses have big lists of customers today.
  4. Over-zealous anti-spam filters that prevent legitimate email from reaching the inbox and yet somehow allow large volume spammers to get through.
  5. Recipients using the “Report as Spam” button rather than the available unsubscribe mechanism.

For all of our US customers and friends, we hope that you enjoy the celebrations.

Happy 4th of July!

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Jul

2

HTML Email Templates (More)

Filed Under GroupMail, Marketing, design, email, email marketing, emarketing, newsletters | Leave a Comment 

GroupMail customers have access to 45 email templates. Using these expert-designed and tested email templates will make your message appear more professional. They will also help to ensure that your message stays intact across the variety of email clients who treat HTML message display differently.

Our templates are great, but we’re always on the lookout for new email templates for our customers. Today, I found a link to 10 more (free) email templates from Lyris. Right on!

You can download these templates, import them into GroupMail and save them as user-defined templates in your GroupMail templates folder.

To import an HTML email template into GroupMail, open a new message and click File/Import/HTML Document. Once imported, you can click File/Save As/A Template to save it in your GroupMail Template folder to use over and over again.

If you know of any other free HTML email templates that have been professionally designed and tested, let us know!

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Jun

30

Avoiding Perfection for Profit

Filed Under Insights, Marketing, design, email, email marketing, emarketing, metrics | 1 Comment 

In life, there are many things that we should do.

  1. We should eat healthily and drink responsibly
  2. We should recycle, reuse and reduce our consumption of waste products
  3. We should be polite, have good manners and be ethical in everything we do
  4. We should exercise regularly, floss daily and brush our hair one hundred times each night
  5. We should stay within the speed limit, use crosswalks and avoid using mobile phones while driving

In email marketing, there are many things that we should do.

  1. We should get permission and use double opt-in subscription practices
  2. We should consider using horizontal menus rather than vertical ones
  3. We should measure our campaigns using all available metrics and compile behavioral data
  4. We should join email accreditation and authentication services to improve deliverability
  5. We should format our messages with a growing mobile audience in mind

But in marketing, like in life, there is no perfection; and people are successful whether they abide by all of the things that they should be doing or not.

Sometimes, it’s best to avoid perfection in the pursuit of profit. To not get bogged down in the endless amount of shoulds and just get things done. Action yields results over time.

I’m not suggesting that you stop designing the mobile version of your email campaign or cancel your membership to the gym. I’m just saying that you can be successful even if you do. There is no standard recipe for success.

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Jun

29

Email Marketing: 4 Ways to Help Recipients Take Action

Filed Under Marketing, design, email, email marketing, emarketing, newsletters | Leave a Comment 

It is important for email marketers to understand how recipients handle the flow of email into their inbox.  Sarah Perez discusses five approaches that recipients take to deal with email overload. As inboxes become fuller, many recipients are implementing new inbox strategies to cope with the demands on their time and attention.

Understanding that recipients are developing new strategies for inbox management, it behooves senders to make it easy for them to respond to campaigns. Here are some tips that senders can implement:

  1. Express value in your Subject line. Often, your subject line will determine whether your message will survive the first cull of messages.
  2. Make your call-to-action direct. If the action required is communicated directly, your recipient won’t have to wonder what to do with your message. Tell them what you want them to do and how they will benefit from doing it.
  3. Make that action time sensitive. If the offer is only available for a short time, then your recipient knows that they can’t put it off until later.
  4. Make that action easy to take. One click to purchase. One number to call. One offer to accept. One article to read. One video to see. One link to visit.

Email used to be sticky. It remained in a recipient’s inbox for some time. Today, more and more recipients are taking steps to keep their inbox clear of clutter. It’s up to you to make it clear that your email isn’t part of that clutter, but something worthy of your recipients time and attention. It’s also up to you, as a sender, to make it easy for your recipients to take the action desired if it is deemed worthy.

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Jun

25

Opt-in Email Subscriptions: Best Practices

Filed Under Marketing, email, email marketing, emarketing, newsletters | 3 Comments 

Al Iverson provides some sage advice about permission-based email opt-in practices. There are some valuable tips for structuring an effective email subscription strategy, to include design and content recommendations.

If I had a nickel for every time somebody lied to me about a list being confirmed opt-in, I’d be a rich man. How stupid do you think ISPs are? They can instantly tell when you’re hitting spamtraps, when too much of your mail attempts bounce, and when your mail generates too many complaints. Just because some ISPs provide data on this back to you doesn’t mean it’ll help you evade their filters and processes. Trust me, I’ve met most of these ISP guys, and they’re smarter than both me and you…continue reading

Permission can’t be faked and there are no short cuts for real, long term success in building an effective email list - a list made up of people who really do want to hear from you.

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