Changing Your Email From Line? Consider This…

Your from line is your branding in the inbox. It sparks instant recognition of your business. And since it’s the very first thing subscribers see, it may be the biggest factor in getting your emails opened.

So hopefully you don’t just swap from names without blinking an eye. Hopefully you blink several times while you’re thinking about the consequences.

While switching from names should never be done on a whim, there are some cases where a switch is completely necessary. This change can hugely effect your campaign, so it’s vital to have some cautions in place.

Why From Names Shouldn’t Change

From lines are what stand out in the inbox. Subject lines with “20% off” certainly don’t – anyone can send them (and most people do). It’s the familiarity and goodwill inspired by your a reference to your brand that can make all the difference.

Change your from line, and that reference may go unrecognized. Without knowing the email came from someone they know and trust, subscribers may not want to open it.

In fact, they may even assume it represents a new campaign – one they didn’t subscribe to. And – click! – as quick as that, you’ve been reported as spam.

For example, when I saw these emails in my inbox, I knew I’d signed up for emails from Yogasphere. I did not know who Laura and Elle were.

The first email from Laura almost got reported as spam, ’til I noticed the mention of Yogasphere in the snippet. Had I not caught that, I’d probably have ended up blocking their emails permanently.

As for Blush Salon, it appears they use their company name for one-off emails and the owners’ names for their seasonal newsletter. Again, it was the company name in the snippet text that saved them from the spam folder.

Note on name choice: to be honest, I’ve never met Steve & Jay. I’m more familiar with the salon. Individual names may be credited with a more “personal” tone, but here, I’m more comfortable with emails from the establishment.

So you see how a from name switch could cause you to lose subscribers. It’s just not something you want to do….

Unless You’re In These Situations

Some times, keeping your from name the same just isn’t a good option.

Maybe the person your emails are “from” has left your company.

Maybe you’ve chosen a formal name for your marketing campaign that you want to start using.

Or maybe you’ve been using an “info@” address in your from line, and you’d like to put on a friendlier face for your readers. You’ve carefully considered the switch, and only intend to make it once.

In Those Cases, Take Precautions

• Plan to make the switch once and only once. The more changes you make, the more risk of losing subscribers you take. So choose the from name that’s going to work best for your company over the long haul (while still triggering positive brand recognition).
• If your campaign is self-aware (that is, if you tend to talk directly to your subscribers about what’s going on in your emails), announce the switch beforehand. Readers who see the announcement will be prepared for your new from line.
• If you can, work your old from line into your first few subject lines after the switch. This won’t work as well if you’ve been using someone’s name, but otherwise, it can provide that saving flash of recognition.

Any Other Transition Tips?

If you want to switch from names because you send from several different people, you could use a standard company from name and switch signatures inside the message instead.

Can you think of any other ways to avoid changing your from name – or cautions you should take if you find you have to?

Hat Tip To: Email Marketing Tips

From Web Forms to Welcome: What to Write in Your Email Campaign

Industry standard. Best practice. Optimization. Buzzwords can get head-spinning when you’re first setting up your email marketing campaign, especially when you’re more concerned about what to say and how to say it to get subscribers confirmed to your list (there’s three more buzzwords for you!)

Relax. We’re here to help and bring a little clarity to your set-up content confusion. Whether you’re unsure how to label your web form fields or are drawing a blank on customizing your confirmation message, we have tips and examples to guide you through your first communications with your subscribers, starting with your web form.

Web Forms

Use your web form to make a great first impression on your subscribers. Keep it short, clear and show them exactly what kind of value they can expect from the very beginning.

Remember that your web form is the gateway to your whole campaign and your first chance to tell subscribers what they can expect from your emails. But first you have to get them on your list. You’re asking permission to get into their inboxes, but what are you offering subscribers in return?

Incentives are a good place to start. Retailers like Kohl’s give their customers extra coupons for signing up to their email list:

Kohl’s does a few more things right on this form by clearly explaining the content of messages their subscribers receive and using a privacy statement to ease the fears of visitors worried about clogging their inboxes with spam.

A few more content tweaks for your web form:

• Include a title that reflects the name of your newsletter
• Tell your subscribers how often they can expect your emails
• Link to a sample newsletter or offer so subscribers can preview the kind of value you send to the inbox

Still feeling stuck? Here are some more web form tips on our blog:
3 Ways to Set Expectations at Sign Up
Learn The First of 3 Critical Opportunities to Create The Right Subscriber Expectations
4 Best Practices for Web Forms

Thank You Page

New subscribers who fill out your web form are redirected to your thank you page. This is your second communication with them.

Engage subscribers on your thank you page by:

• Explaining the confirmation process (if you’re using confirmed opt-in)
• Telling them what to expect in upcoming emails
• Establishing some brand personality

Skin care company High on Health uses confirmed opt-in and illustrates the next step in the subscription process with a screen shot:

If you don’t use confirmed opt-in for your campaign, take a cue from ProBlogger who uses their thank you page to summarize the frequency and content of their emails so subscribers know what to expect:

Remember that your thank you page doesn’t have to be a boring template. Keep your thank you page consistent with your brand and site design and use it as a tool to engage subscribers before your first message hits the inbox.

More ideas to upgrade your thank you page on our blog:
3 Helpful Thank You Page Examples
Thank You: Another Critical Opportunity to Create Subscriber Expectations
Is Your Thank You Page Awful? Here Are 2 Ways You Could Make It Better

Confirmation Email

The confirmation email is your third communication with subscribers and your first time in their inbox. Make the most of it by using your from name and subject line to remind subscribers who you are and what they signed up for.

Use the body of the email to remind them of the value your emails offer:

Tell subscribers why they should confirm and make sure they know what happens after they click that link.

Just like your thank you page, use your confirmation message as a further introduction to your brand. Get creative with your copy to keep your subscribers engaged for what’s to come.

More ways to customize your confirmation message on our blog:
What To Do With Your Confirmation Message
Want Subscribers to Confirm? Get Creative!

Confirmation Page

This is the page that the link in your confirmation email directs subscribers to if your campaign uses confirmed opt-in.

Carry your brand identity through your confirmation page and keep your content simple. Tell subscribers that they’re now confirmed and give them somewhere else to click, like your homepage, a special landing page or your social network profiles:

You can also drive sales from your confirmation page, like we describe in this post.

Welcome Email

The welcome email is the first installment of your follow up series when a new subscriber confirms to your list. This is your first big chance to engage subscribers.

In your welcome email, you’ll want to include:

• An indication of how often subscribers will hear from you
• Simple whitelisting instructions to ensure that your emails get delivered
• A reminder of the value and benefits they signed up for
• An introduction to the preference center where they can change subscription settings or unsubscribe from your emails if they’re no longer interested

To keep things friendly, you might also want to introduce subscribers to your brand on a more personal level with pictures of your team or company.

Redbox’s welcome email combines a lot of these elements and includes links to help new customers start using their service right away:

Remember that your welcome message sets the tone for your campaign, so spend extra time polishing your content to build trust.

More welcome email examples from our blog:
3 Good Welcome Email Examples
Urgency Redux: Trust Can Make Or Break You

In Closing

These initial points of communication with your subscribers will build trust and the right expectations from the very start of your email campaign. We place a lot of emphasis on the content of your emails once your campaign is up and running, but paying special attention to these beginning details will start your campaign off right.

What content tips can you share from the start of your campaign?

Credit: Email Marketing Tips

New Web Form Templates For Your Site

One of the most important components of any email marketing campaign is of course, the web form. Without a way to sign up to your list, you’ll have a hard time finding anyone to send email to.

That being the case, you want to make sure that your web forms are getting people to sign up. Explaining the benefits of your mailing list is one major part of that process, of course, but you also need to focus potential subscribers on your form and have it grab their attention. In short, it needs to look good.

To that end, our design team always takes time to work on new web form templates (we release new templates every week, with multiple color schemes and layouts for each). We wanted to take a moment today to show you how to keep hold of visitor attention with this host of new forms.

More About Templates

To avoid any potential confusion, let’s go over the concept of web form templates briefly.

Basically, a template is a design shortcut. The idea is to give you the benefit of a professionally designed form that matches your industry and website without having to create a form from scratch. Simply pick the one you like, make any minor edits needed, and place it on your site.

Take a look at our knowledge base for a step by step walkthrough of the process.

The Perfect Template for the Occasion

Our designers like to mix things up, so templates themed around holidays or other events tend to crop up around the appropriate times of the year. Adding a sense of the season or a nod to upcoming or recent celebrations can keep your site and signup forms fresh.

We also try to have templates for a wide variety of businesses and niches. With a steady stream of new designs, we try to keep things fresh so you have the widest range of options to allow you to find the perfect form for your site.

Or the Template Perfect for Any Location

On the other hand, there’s no way to have a form for every industry – some will always slip through the cracks. Also, sometimes the topic of a blog or site might not fit into a specific box – it might be broader (or narrower) than the templates we have available.

For these situations, our team has put together a wide variety of forms that are a little more flexible. Take a look:

The idea behind these template is to give you a chance to find a form that matches your website’s look and feel, regardless of your industry. This way, you can always have a great looking form that doesn’t look tacked on or out of place.

Browse the Gallery

Want to see more templates? Take a look at our online template gallery, where you can find the perfect form for your site.

If you’re an AWeber user, once you’ve picked out a form, installing it is easy.

What Template Designs Do You Want to See?

Our design team is always looking for new ideas, so post any suggestions for new templates in the comments below!

Source: Email Marketing Tips

AWeber, Gmail, and Rapportive: Good Things Come In Threes

We’re always excited to announce a new integration using the AWeber API, whether it’s for signup forms on your blog, landing page optimization, or even social media.

This week, we’re bringing you something a little bit different – we’ve integrated with Rapportive, which is itself an add-on for Gmail. It basically connects your Gmail account to your social media networks, displaying recent tweets or wall posts from the person whose mail you’re reading.

Our app allows you to connect your Gmail account to AWeber – read on to learn more!

What Is Rapportive?

As mentioned above, Rapportive connects your Gmail account to social media sites – for more information, take a look at their website.

As it happens, AWeber and Rapportive work very well together. When do you most need access to information about your subscribers? When you’re replying to their email, of course.

The AWeber app for Rapportive displays your subscribers’ information in a sidebar while you’re reading messages from them.

The Raplet in Action

Once it’s up and running, you’ll be able to see the lists that your subscribers are on when they email you, right in the Rapportive sidebar, like so:

You can get even more information by clicking on a particular list. This will pull up a detailed view of the subscriber’s information on that list, with information including their sign-up date and the last follow up message they were sent:

Setting It Up

To get things rolling, first install Rapportive.

You can find the AWeber raplet through the “Add or Remove Raplets” option in the Rapportive menu once you have Rapportive installed – for more detailed setup instructions, refer to our knowledge base.

Soon, you’ll have access to your subscribers’ information while you’re reading their email to you. How cool is that?

What Do You Think?

How are you going to make use of this app? Are there any other features or statistics you’d like to see implemented to work with Rapportive/Gmail?

Let us know in the comments below!

Origin: Email Marketing Tips

The Pros and Cons of Birthday Emails

Are birthday emails a good idea?

There are a lot of good things about them: subscribers expect them, email marketers recommend sending them, and they’re pretty easy to set up. These things don’t mean they’re always a good idea though.

Like most things in life, birthday emails can fall in a gray area. There are pros and cons to sending them, and it’s up to you to decide if they’re something that can work for your email marketing campaign.

But before you do that, you need to know what the pros and cons are.

What’s Good About Birthday Emails

• Pro: They’re personal

  Birthday emails are great at grabbing your subscribers’ attention. Who doesn’t like getting stuff for their birthday? By acknowledging your subscribers’ birthdays, you’re showing them you are using their information to provide personalized messages.

• Pro: They’re easy to set up

  It’s easy to send birthday emails with AWeber. We’ve talked before about how segmenting your list can help your campaign, so here’s the perfect opportunity to try it out.

• Pro: They bring good results

  Evidence shows that birthday emails do get a lot of action. One study found that birthday emails brought a 60% lift in conversions compared to the normal version of the email.

  Another study with Epson showed their “Happy Birthday” email generates revenue per email that’s 840% greater than the overall email program.

Convincing, right? But not if you don’t set it up right.

What’s Bad About Birthday Emails

• Con: They can be too generic

  I just celebrated a birthday. One of the birthday emails I received was from my gym:

  

  Sounds good, right? Except that they are always trying to give out free sessions.

  Don’t tell me my birthday present is the same thing you tried to give me for Memorial Day, the start of spring, and the last full moon (may be exaggerating here, but you get the point).

  This is the problem with a lot of birthday emails: giving out the usual deals under a different label. Besides being generic, it also….

• Con: Can make you look selfish

  So continuing with the gym example, I know the reason they keep wanting me to try a free session is because they’re hoping I’ll buy a training package.
  Is that really how you celebrate someone’s birthday? By going for the same sale you’re always trying for?
  You think because you put that pretty birthday banner at the top your job is done, but actually…

• Con: They’re not that impressive anymore

  Lots of companies send birthday emails. Some are better than others, but birthdays are a pretty easy segment to target.
  Which means that generic, self-serving emails just won’t cut it anymore. So don’t think slapping some balloons at the top of your regular promotional email will impress anyone.

This leaves us with one question…

What Should You Do With Birthday
Emails?

You know birthday emails can be good, so now you need to know how to make them good:

• Make them valuable

  The birthday email should be beneficial to the subscriber as well as you. Give the subscriber something they’ll be excited about, and something you don’t normally offer.

• Make them relevant

  Use information on subscriber behavior, such as what they’ve clicked on, to send them something they’d be interested in. Don’t take the easy way out and send to everyone who’s birthday is coming up, break it up further so the messages are more targeted.

• Make them about the subscriber

  This is their day, not yours. Send your birthday wishes, include your gift, and that’s all you need. You want your birthday emails to come across as a nice gesture, not an obvious attempt for another sale.

Here’s an example of a well done birthday email:

How Do You Feel About Birthday
Emails?

What’s the best birthday email you’ve seen? The worst?

Do you send birthday emails to your subscribers? How do you make them something the subscriber will enjoy?

Via: Email Marketing Tips

Sneak Peak Into AWeber Life And Culture

Here at AWeber we try to have as much fun as we can in proportion to the hard work that we do. You may have heard some of this fun in our voices when you call in (or you may have heard some of the fun in the background – sorry!). The culture we have over here at AWeber stems from a set of 5 Core Values that we have established. Each one of these values embodies an aspect of our daily lives as we go about creating the best service possible for you.

Come Take A Look!

We have a lot of fun here and we love coming to work each and every day, and we wanted to take a moment to give you an inside look not only at the office over here at AWeber, but into the AWeber culture as well. Check it all out in our Tour Video below!

If you’d like to learn more about the people behind AWeber, come check us out. Or if you’re interested in joining our team, see what opening are available.

Of course we couldn’t have this cool office or this wonderful culture without you, the customer. So thanks for watching our Tour Video and thank you for helping us to create a place and culture where we can not only enjoy ourselves but continue to bring you the best service possible!

How did you like the office? Share your thoughts with us!

Source: Email Marketing Tips

9 Essential Questions For Your Email Marketing

Do you know why you’re using email marketing?

Email marketing can be incredibly valuable for business. But you need to ask yourself how it can be valuable for YOUR business.

When you realize how email marketing can be valuable for you, you’ll get a better idea of where you need to start and what you should focus on. This information can help save time, since you’ll be working on things you’ve already thought through.

Print out this worksheet and follow along; we’ll help you realize what you should focus on.

Your Business Goals

Before you do anything, you need to realize what your goals for your business are so you know what you should be focusing on.

So ask yourself this:

1. Do you currently see how email marketing can help your business?

• What does email marketing entail?
• Check out AWeber features!

2. What are you looking to accomplish?

• Are you looking to get more sales?
• Set up sales tracking in AWeber.
• Are you working to increase awareness of your company?
• Find out how you can collect subscribers.
• Or is your goal to educate your audience about a particular topic?

You will probably find yourself with more than one goal, so you’ll need to decide which of your goals is the most important, and work on the more important ones first.

3. And speaking of your audience, what is your target audience ?

• Is there a certain age range you’re aiming for?

  Depending on your industry, you might want to adjust the terminology you’re using to fit for your target audience. If you’re teaching subscribers about social media, chances are the younger generations will be more familiar with the terms, but you may need to provide more explanation if you’re aiming for an older crowd.

• Is your business geared more to men or women?

  Men and women can be interested in the same thing for different reasons. If you’re a fitness center looking to attract more women, you would want to advertise more of your weight loss programs rather than bulk up programs.

• Does location matter?

  Where subscribers are located should also come into consideration. You don’t want to focus on your warm weather products or activities if the majority of your subscribers live in colder climates.

• How will you incorporate subscriber demographics in your campaign?

Building a List

Once you have established what you want accomplished, it’s time to think about how email marketing can help you reach those goals.

4. First, how will you ask subscribers to join your list?

• Are you going to ask when they visit your website? What will your web form look like? What will it say?
• Its easy to create a web form in AWeber!
• Will you ask after they’ve made a purchase?
• Use AWeber email parsers to integrate with a shopping cart.
• Will you advertise on social networking sites such as Facebook?
• Use the Facebook app to publish a form on your Facebook page.

When you’re comfortable with how you’re going to grow your list, you should start thinking about what features and techniques you will be using.

5. Why should subscribers want to join your list?

• Do you clearly explain the benefits the subscriber will gain from giving you their email address?
• Your web form should tell them why they should give you their email address and what they’ll be getting.
• Do you emphasize why your offer is valuable?
• What makes you different from your competition?

Your Email Campaign

6. When will you send messages?

• How often will you send?
• If you send too often, your subscribers can may suffer from subscriber fatigue, but at the same time you don’t want to send too little and have your subscribers forget about you!
• What days are best to send for your business?
• What time of day should you send?

7. What are you going to write about?

• Will you send coupons to increase sales?
• Would an informative company newsletter help?
• Do you want to share your blog content and more personal stories?
• You have the ability to set up autoresponders, broadcasts, and blog broadcasts in AWeber.

Once you know what part email plays, you’re ready to start thinking further ahead.

Tracking Success

8. How do you know your email campaign is helping you reach your goals?

You can look at some of your stats to determine this:

• Is your list growing?
• Do subscribers stay on your list long?
• Are you getting new ones coming in?
• Check out what reports are available through AWeber!
• How many people are reading your messages?

  Keep in mind, opens aren’t 100% accurate. Opens are tracked by a hidden image in the HTML, but some programs such as Gmail will have images off by default.

• How many people are responding to your call to action?

  This is a much more accurate statistic than opens. The call to action will usually be a hyperlink for the subscriber to click on.

• AWeber allows you to see who has opened and clicked on links in your messages.
• Do you know how many people are purchasing from your emails?

Your Future Goals

You can’t stop now! You should always be looking at your goals, assessing where you’re at, and creating new goals.

Put a note in your calender to return to this worksheet in 6 months, 1 year, 3 years to set new goals, and decide how email marketing can help get you there more quickly.

What Have You Learned?

Now it’s time to look over your answers to get a clear idea of where you’re headed with your email marketing campaign.

Share your goals with us, along with any struggles you’re having, and we also encourage you to discuss this with each other!

Via: Email Marketing Tips

Why Hockey Strong's Email Subscribers Keep Coming Back For More

“91% of email users subscribed to a company’s mailing list and then later decided they no longer wanted to be on that list,” an ExactTarget report stated. That’s bad news.

The same report also showed that 42% of subscribers say they’re more likely to buy from a company after they’ve signed up for the company’s emails. That’s good news, but if they unsubscribe early on, they won’t be getting your emails to buy from.

With this in mind, one AWeber customer has set up her email marketing campaign to encourage long-term relationships. Maria Mountain’s Hockey Strong campaign is gaining subscribers over 6 times faster than it’s losing them.

Hockey Strong’s Success

Subscriber growth is increasing on Maria’s list, mainly due to very few people unsubscribing. About 75% of her subscribers have been on her list for more than 3 months, and over half are still on after the 6 month mark.

Along with increasing subscriber growth, subscribers are also responding to her messages. Her email campaign looks like this:

How does she keep subscribers interested?

What’s Working: Follow Up Series

After signing up to the Hockey Strong list, subscribers start receiving the follow up messages. They get the free report promised at sign up, and part of the follow up series includes a 5 part training course.

In between each of the training course messages, subscribers get messages with Maria’s blog content. This combination of teaching and sharing other useful information works well. Subscribers get to know Maria as a person during this initial phase.

Using the follow up messages to introduce yourself and your email campaign to your subscribers will help start the relationship. You can send a follow up series to:

• Talk about different problems subscribers may face in your industry, and offer solutions
• Include common questions you get from subscribers along with your answers
• Provide reviews for products or services that might benefit your subscribers

Maria didn’t always have this follow up series in place. Initially she just delivered the training, but didn’t think that was as effective as it could be:

“I felt like there was an ‘end-point’ to the relationship once the final training module was delivered, and I definitely did not want that. I wanted the member to feel like it was just the beginning.”

What’s Working: Friendly Messages

Now, Maria’s relationship with her subscribers doesn’t end when the subscriber finishes the follow up series. She carries on sending helpful information through broadcast messages.

She also makes a point to talk to her subscribers as friends:

“I use my genuine voice and project my sincere goal to help them play better hockey with fewer injuries. I think by providing useful, practical training tips and just being a good friend and resource for them, they will stay in my ‘tribe’.”

The blog post content in the follow up series gives subscribers a feel for her voice and lets them see that she has more to offer than just products to sell.

Maria doesn’t focus on the hard sell, but instead tries to connect with subscribers on a personal level.

She believes this approach has contributed to more sales:

“My subscribers have time to see that I am genuinely providing great info that helps them play a sport they love and they begin to trust me. I make it clear that I still love them even if they don’t buy from me. When I do send an email asking them to consider purchasing one of my training products I really believe they are more inclined to do so because they know, like and trust me.”

You can find ways to connect with your subscribers too:

• Invite them to follow you via social media
• Tell them personal stories relevant to your business
• Provide links to other resources and events in your industry

What’s Working: Subscriber Involvement

While Maria’s messages are not designed to push the hard sell, they are designed to increase subscriber engagement.

Take a look at this broadcast message that asks for three actions, none of which are a purchase:

By continually giving subscribers something to do, you will help the relationship last longer.

Here are ways to keep your subscribers involved:

• Hold contests
• Start a conversation by asking them questions
• Ask for their opinion on something

Advice From Maria

Maria didn’t get to where she’s at now overnight. She did a lot of research, and has advice for others starting out their email campaigns, or just looking for ways to improve:

“I think one of the best things you can do when starting out is to save emails that you receive from other Internet marketers that really resonate with you. Look at how the author crafted the subject line, the sentence structure, the location and format of the links. There is such a science to it that you can learn a ton from dissecting the emails of other successful Internet marketers.”

What Does Your Campaign Look Like?

We’ve talked about what’s working for Maria, so now it’s your turn!

Do you have a follow up series that’s working well? Do you send only broadcasts? Both? What has worked for you?

Source: Email Marketing Tips

Facebook Deals: A Good Deal for Email Marketers

Have you heard the news? Facebook will soon offer a service called Facebook Deals. What is it? If Facebook and Groupon had a love child, Facebook Deals is how you’d describe it.

We already know that social media and email marketing work well together, so we’re very excited to see how well Facebook Deals ties into this.

Want to know why this is something you should be excited about for your campaign?

 

Facebook Deals in a Nutshell

Facebook Deals is currently (as of July 2011) only available in Atlanta, San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas and Austin. You can sign up to be alerted when it’s available near you.

It works like this: Facebook users will be able to search for deals in their area, and your company page will have a “Deals” section that followers can check out. They can purchase whatever your deal is right on Facebook, share it and/or “like” it.

Here’s how it will look:

But how is this a good deal for email marketers?

Good Deal: More Content

Notify your subscribers about deals

Perhaps the most obvious benefit of Facebook Deals is that you’ll have great messages to send to your subscribers that announce your deals. You don’t know if your subscribers rely on your Facebook page or emails to get your company news, but you shouldn’t leave them out when it comes to Facebook Deals.

Here’s an idea of what it can look like:

Subscribers that have already seen your deal on Facebook will be reminded to take advantage of it, while others will be glad to know they should check it out.

Good Deal: A Deals Archive

Allow others to see previous deals you’ve offered

On Facebook, your deals are set to expire after the time period you set. Once the deal expires, you can set up a new one, but maybe your subscribers would like to know the types of deals you’ve offered in the past.

Enter the archive.

Whenever you send a broadcast message announcing a new deal, you can publish it to the archive. You can then share the link to this archive with others, allowing them to see what was offered before:

Seeing the kind of deals you offer just may be the push someone needs to sign up. It can also be a resource for you to look back on to see what you already used and what got the most attention.

Good Deal: List Building

Get a form up!

If your deals are bringing your page more traffic, you want to make sure visitors have the opportunity to join your mailing list.

Entice subscribers by letting them know you’ll update them when the next deal is available, and this is also a great place for you to include that archive of deals.

The AWeber Facebook App makes it easy to get your form up, so don’t lose out on potential subscribers.

Encourage sharing with others

Facebook is all about social networking, so encourage your subscribers to socialize and spread the word. Facebook makes it easy to share Deals, but you also want to include a note in your emails like in our example:

Gain a loyal following

If you consistently share your deals with your email subscribers on a regular basis, you should see more subscribers staying. Deals can help you set expectations for timely, fun discounts your business is currently offering.

Everyone loves a good deal.

How Do You Plan to Integrate Deals with Email Marketing?

Maybe you thought of something we didn’t! What kinds of awesome things do you think you’ll be able to do with Facebook Deals?

Credit: Email Marketing Tips

If Superheroes Were Email Marketers…

What would it be like to be on Batman’s mailing list?

What would happen if the Joker stole his list?

We spend a lot of time pointing out what real email marketers are doing, but we never consider our fictional superheroes.

Find out how we think superheroes (and their arch enemies!) would fare in the email marketing world. Would you be like Superman, Batman, Spiderman or Thor?

 

Superman: The Transparent Marketer

Who doesn’t know Superman? His brand is everywhere, and he uses it to help his marketing.

His strength is his transparency. Superman always:

• Brands his emails with his logo
• Includes all his contact information where he can be easily reached
• Adheres to his privacy policy
• Promptly delivers the free content promised at sign up

You’re safe with Superman! But what if you wind up in the hands of…

Lex Luthor: The Corrupt Marketer

Superman’s nemesis Lex Luthor is ruthless. He’ll try and get subscribers any way he can: stealing, mining and scraping addresses are all in a day’s work.

You can also expect him to sell subscriber information for cold, hard cash.

And by the way, don’t even bother trying to contact him on that no-reply address.

Batman: The Creative Marketer

Batman carries over his smart, creative ideas into his email marketing campaigns.

You know his emails will be interesting, to say the least. Batman always:

• Split tests his messages- he’s on a quest to find the perfect design
• Experiments with different calls to action
• Creates some pretty sweet apps to work with the AWeber API
• Analyzes his reports to learn what’s working

Batman is bound to impress you! Just hope your information doesn’t get taken from him by….

The Joker: The Psychotic Marketer

The Joker has one goal: get Batman’s list and wreak havoc. Once he does that, he plans to LOL as he sends you the most ridiculous spam he can find.

This won’t just be a one time thing either. The Joker will get a kick out of doing this several times a day. He’s not too concerned about subscriber fatigue, he just wants a good laugh.

Spiderman: The Personal Marketer

Your favorite neighborhood superhero is probably one of your favorite email marketers as well.

He sends personalized messages and loves to start conversations with his subscribers. Spiderman always:

• Uses segments to send more relevant content to each subscriber
• Engages subscribers by asking questions and requesting feedback
• Shares his emails with Facebook and Twitter friends
• Sends blog broadcasts so his subscribers can keep up with his blog updates

When you see you have an email from Spiderman, you know it’ll be something you’ll like. However, the same doesn’t go for…

Green Goblin: The Abusive Marketer

Green Goblin is the email marketer with a superiority complex: he thinks everyone should read his emails.

All he does is send the same thing over and over again. Want to get off his list? Good luck getting that unsubscribe request processed. He doesn’t have one!

Green Goblin doesn’t care who he hurts in order to achieve his goals.

Thor: The Wise Marketer

As a god who wants to protect humans against evil, you can bet Thor would be a respectful and wise marketer.

Thor likes to teach others about best practices, and uses them in his own campaign. Thor always:

• Sends a confirmation message to new subscribers
  
• Sets expectations and follows the expectations he’s set
• Asks subscribers to whitelist him
• Always sends messages relevant to what the subscriber requested

Thor makes sure the email marketing world is safe and subscribers feel respected. His jealous stepbrother has another agenda though..

Loki: The Lying Marketer

Being Thor’s stepbrother has to be hard…but really, Loki? Do you have to take it out on your subscribers?

Don’t get trapped into signing up to Loki’s list. Loki doesn’t set expectations, and if it looks like he is, he’s just going to do the opposite of what he said.

Loki loves making mischief, and his spam complaints are piling up!

So Which One Are You?

Hopefully a mixture of all the superheroes, making the ultimate Email Marketing Superhero!

Let’s have some fun! How do you think other superheroes and their villains would handle their email marketing?

Source: Email Marketing Tips

What Everyone Should Know About Archiving in Email Marketing

Do you archive your email newsletters? If you don’t, are you aware of all the different ways an archive can help you?

Archiving your messages can provide a variety of benefits. It can help with everything from list building to properly setting expectations. However, if you’re not exactly sure what an archive can do, you may not be using it to its full potential.

Here’s what you might be missing out on…

No HTML? No Problem!

When you archive your broadcast, it gives you a direct link specific to that message.

If you link to it in your message, subscribers have the ability to see a web-based version of your message. This can be especially effective for subscribers that have disabled HTML, or only receive plain text messages.

Here’s an example of how that can be set up:

Another Way to Ask for Subscriptions

You can easily insert a web form right in your archive. All this requires is a check mark in the “Broadcast Archive Settings,” which you can access by going to the “List Settings” tab and selecting the section “Personalize Your List.:

This is what it looks like:

Once you save this, this form will automatically appear in your archive:

When visitors land in your archive they will now be able to subscribe to your mailing list.

Appear on Search Engines

Your sharing abilities don’t end with social media and forwarding. Your archive will also appear on search engines.

When someone searches for your company or content, one of the options they can get is the link to your archive. From there they have the ability to join your mailing list and visit your website!

See how this works for Bahama Breeze:

Notice that the second result is actually their email archive!

All you need to do is archive the message for it to appear in search engines, so if you don’t use social media, you can still benefit from this.

Easily Share with Others

Probably the most popular feature of the archive is the ability to share your messages with Facebook and post your messages on Twitter followers. This allows for even more people to view your messages!

Besides social media sharing, the archive also makes it easy for subscribers to share your messages with others that might be interested. You can add a note in your message to encourage them to forward it to a friend, and include instructions for how someone can sign up to your list if they aren’t a subscriber.

Here’s what this can look like:

Include a Sneak Peek for More Sign Ups

You can provide the direct link to your recent newsletter or the link to your entire archive in your web form.

Check out how this can be set up in the web form:

You can provide the direct link to your recent newsletter or the link to your entire archive in your web form.

Check out how this can be set up in the web form:

This gives subscribers a first-hand look at what your email campaign has to offer. They can get a feel for your tone and content, and decide if it’s something they’re interested in.

You Can Always Change What Appears on the Archive

You may not want every broadcast message to go in your archive. Maybe you have subscribers pay for their subscription, or maybe you just don’t want to share your brand new content with people who haven’t signed up.

On the flip side, maybe there are messages you want to archive, but you forgot to before they were sent.

Either way, you don’t have to worry! While you can’t edit the content of sent broadcasts, you can change the archive status. This means you can go in and archive an older message, or take another one off the archive.

You can do this by clicking on the sharing button at the bottom of your sent broadcast:

Already Using the Archive in a Creative or Effective Way?

We want to hear about it! How has the archive helped you?

Credit: Email Marketing Tips

Design Your Emails To Get More Responses

Of course you want subscribers to open and read your email newsletters. Everyone wants that. But what you want even more is for them to take action, right?

When I was working with customers to optimize their email campaigns, I was on the lookout for strategies that help improve message. You first need to get the subscriber to open your message, then the ultimate goal is usually to get the subscriber to take action.

If you’re looking for ways to increase the number of responses your emails get, there are three things you should try…

Include a Web-Based Version

So you’ve gotten subscribers to open your message, but what happens if they can’t read it? To make sure everyone sees what you’ve created, you should include a link to a web-based version of your message.

How can you do that? You just need to archive it while you’re on the message editing page. This will give you the direct link to that message:

You can then link to that web-based version in the pre-header of your message.

HTML + Plain Text = More Responses

You might not think a plain text copy of your message can help increase the number of responses you’re getting, but it can. If you have an HTML version, it will go out by default, but if a subscriber’s email client does not accept HTML it can revert to that plain text version. Remember to include a link to your web-based version here as well.

If you install email web analytics on your site, most of our analytics features can work with plain text messages. This means you still have the ability to track who is clicking on your links, while also making it easier for them to do so.

By doing this extra step to accommodate all subscribers, you’re setting it up so everyone will be able to read, and then hopefully click though, your message.

Eyes Should Be Drawn to Your Links

After working on getting subscribers to open and read your message, you don’t want to drop the ball now. In order to get more clicks, you want subscribers’ focus on your call to action.
Here are some things that might help:

Find out where clicks are happening. Are people more likely to click links in your header or footer? The only way to find that out is to track where the clicks are coming from. Once you know where, you put your most important links there.

Don’t bury the call to action.Make the link prominent among other text and images. You want eyes to be drawn to it, so give it plenty of room. At the very least, put a line of space between your link and surrounding text.

Try using an image.

If you’ve been using just text links, try creating a button or linking up an image. Snowboard Addiction does that very well:

If the subscriber wants to see the video, they need to click on the screenshot to get there.

Note that while images and videos can be very effective, you should also include a text link in case the image is blocked.

What Have You Found To Help Optimize Campaign Results?

We’ve talked about tactics to get more subscribers, keep subscribers on your list, and improve messages.

But what about you? Have you ever done something that helped your campaign’s performance? Please share it so we can identify other common optimization tips!

Original: Email Marketing Tips

Why You Want Your Emails Filtered

Inbox filters aren’t just about emails ending up in the spam folder anymore.

Subscribers are now creating folders for more valuable emails, helping them to sort out the emails they want to read from the others in their cluttered inboxes. As more tools for inbox control become available, “email filtering” will become a more desirable term in email marketing.

This increase in “good filtering” sparks a whole new question: how do you create your message so it gets picked up by the good filters?

Be Consistent With Your From Line

Subscribers can set up a filter based on what the from line contains.
Email clients that allow you to do this include: Gmail, Apple, Outlook, Yahoo, Hotmail and AOL.

If subscribers like your emails, they might set up a folder for emails that are just from you.

Here’s an example of a filter set to find only emails from Fairytale Brownies:

The important thing to remember is to be consistent. For example:

• If you’re using initials or an abbreviated version of your company name, keep using that format
• Don’t switch between using a personal name and a company name, stick with one
• Don’t change the “from” email address without notifying subscribers

Remember your subscribers won’t be looking for your emails anywhere else after they’ve set up a specific folder, so let them know if you make any changes.

Think of Your Readers

Subscribers have the ability to set up a filter that looks at words used in the subject line.
Email clients that allow you to do this include: Gmail, Apple, Outlook, Yahoo, Hotmail and AOL.

This filter can look for any words, but here are some examples of what can be set up:

• Announce sales by using the phrase “% off” or “$ off”
• Indicate a new “newsletter” or “issue”
• Use the company name in the subject line

Here’s an example of a filter set up to look for sale emails (% off):

You’ll need to consider your audience for this one. Think of a word you commonly use in your subject line and try to remember to incorporate it in all messages.

Use Common Terminology

Another filter can be used to pick out certain phrases in the entire message.
You can use this option in selective email clients such as Gmail, Apple, Yahoo and AOL.

In order to benefit from this type of filter, make sure you:

• Use terms that are common in your industry.
• Try phrasing the same thing in different ways, especially if there are multiple keywords common in your industry
• Again, stay consistent with the wording you use in your messages

For example, I have a filter set up for “gluten free:”

If someone uses another phrase that essentially means the same thing, such as “flourless,” it would not be caught by my filter.

Use Caution When Adding an Attachment

Some of your subscribers will also be able to set criteria regarding attachments.
This isn’t as widely available as the others, but Gmail allows you to select if you’re looking for attachments, while Apple allows subscribers to specify what’s in the name of the attachment.

If subscribers are expecting attachments from you, an attachment filter may be a good thing. However, whenever you are using attachments, make sure to:

• Name the file so it’s easy to recognize
• Keep the file as small as possible to avoid deliverability problems
• Mention the attachment and the purpose of it in the message itself

You may find it’s safer to just host your document online. Services such as Dropbox allow you to do this. Many sites warn Internet users to avoid attachments in their emails, and it’s better to play it safe.

Do You Use Filters?

What filters have you set up? What filters do you think are the most common?

By: Email Marketing Tips

Give Us 5 Minutes and We’ll Make You a Better Email Marketer

Email marketing is much easier and more effective when all the information you need is in one place. What if you had one source that analyzed all the techniques that were working for over 1,000 of your fellow email marketing professionals?

Enter MarketingSherpa’s annual Email Marketing Benchmark Report. It’s one of the top resources for email marketers. Its hundreds of pages have all the information you need: charts, graphs and analysis of the specific techniques email marketers are using to get results.

And – good news! – we’re teaming up with MarketingSherpa to get you highlights from the 2012 Benchmark Report!

Reports for Your Thoughts

You just need 5-10 minutes to fill out MarketingSherpa’s Email Marketing Benchmark Survey. As an email marketer, your insights will be represented in this year’s report.

As a thank-you for sharing your thoughts in the survey, you’ll get:

• A copy of the MarketingSherpa Special Report: CMO Perspectives on Email Deliverability. It examines the ways chief marketing officers are overcoming the challenges of getting emails into the inbox. Normally $97, you’ll get a copy for free as soon as you complete the survey.
• A complimentary report drawn from responses to this survey. In the report, you’ll find charts and analysis of key ways to optimize your marketing campaigns. It’ll land in your inbox this fall, prior to the release of the 2012 Email Marketing Benchmark Report.

So fill out the survey now, and you’ll get both reports – one today and one in the fall, when all the responses have been compiled.

With the information you’ll get on testing, deliverability and other best practices, you’ll be able to improve your email initiatives for the rest of this year and into 2012.

Fill Out Benchmark Survey

 

Source: Email Marketing Tips

Find Email Content in Elementary Grammar Lessons

Elementary school teaches the basics of communication through four sentence types: imperative, declarative, exclamatory and interrogative.

You can convey anything you want to say through these four sentences. The principles behind these sentence types make it easy to communicate with subscribers in your email marketing campaign.

Whether you’re stating the facts in a weekly broadcast or engaging subscribers with a survey, you can draw inspiration for messages in every stage of your campaign by relating to these simple communication strategies from elementary school grammar lessons.

Imperative: Clear and Commanding Sign-Ups

“Click here to sign up.” “Confirm your subscription.” “Add us to your address book.” “Use this link to unsubscribe.”

Imperative sentences give clear commands that new subscribers need. Sometimes it’s appropriate to command subscribers, especially in your early communications with them. Confirmation emails and welcome messages should clearly introduce your brand and direct new subscribers to engage with your content.

Make the most of your confirmation email by customizing it with information about your company and content along with instructions to confirm their subscription, like Wicked Lasers does here:

Continue the directives in your welcome email. If your welcome message resembles the example below, you may want to consider some pertinent revisions:

I’m glad you’re glad that I joined your list, but this message does nothing to set expectations for future emails or introduce me to your brand.

Instead, you can instruct new subscribers to connect with you on social networks or stay up to date on your blog like Urban Outfitters does here:

Or direct them to personalize their content, like Banana Republic:

Lesson Review:
It’s okay to get a little bossy with your subscribers in the beginning with clear directions in your sign-up process.

Declarative: Effective and Relevant Newsletters

“There isn’t any thought or idea that can’t be expressed in a fairly simple declarative sentence, or in a series of fairly simple declarative sentences.” E. B. White’s statement on declarative sentences applies nicely to the content of your broadcast messages.

Broadcast messages are the declarative sentences of email marketing. Declarative sentences communicate fact and they do it efficiently by sticking to the point. Your broadcast messages should also stay on topic by delivering the information your subscribers requested. Keep your campaign relevant by sending helpful content in addition to sales or alerts, as Social Email Marketing recommends.

Film and camera retailer Lomography combines sales and informative content in this recent message, opening with a sale announcement:

And offering tips for when to use certain films with examples photographers can appreciate:

Lomography creates more than just a sales pitch and speaks to their subscribers’ interests with facts they can use.

Lesson Review:
Supplement sales pitches with relevant content your subscribers will appreciate. Informing them with valuable facts builds a better relationship.

Exclamatory: Excitement and Urgency Used Sparingly

Sometimes you need your subscribers to act now or pay attention to important information. Think of urgent and time sensitive emails as the exclamatory sentences in your campaign.

Take advantage of your subject line to build a sense of urgency for limited-time offers, like this email I received from Ancestry.com:

An exclamatory email is all about the timing, like this example from Groupon, who emailed the author just as his coupons were ready to expire.

The Container Store also takes advantage of targeted timeliness with this subject line:

I travel a lot, so the relevance caught my attention right away. “Don’t miss this!” drives the urgency. It’s a product I’ll want available for a limited time. I know everything I need to know and can decide to take action before even opening the email.

One other point to keep in mind about exclamatory sentences: They’re most effective when used sparingly. Too many exclamations can desensitize a subscriber as the sense of urgency is lost. Nothing is important any more if everything is important. Like these emails from Newegg:

I don’t need to rush to take advantage of their 72-hour weekend deal, because I know another one will happen again next week, with several more sales in between.

Lesson Review:
Don’t overwhelm your subscribers with exclamatory statements. Save them for timely information that really counts.

Interrogative: Ask Your Subscribers the Right Questions

Interrogative sentences ask questions. Asking questions starts a conversation with your subscribers and encourages interaction with your brand, increasing your value and relevance.

Using surveys in your emails is a great way to start asking your subscribers the right questions about your content. You can then segment your list based on survey results to start delivering more personalized emails based on your subscribers’ preferences.

Wendy’s recently invited customer feedback by asking customers to share their ideas for improving the fast food chain’s menu. They even invite interaction by sharing a customer’s suggestion that they implemented in one of their stores:

Lesson Review:
Asking questions shows that you value your subscribers’ input and builds a better relationship that can lead to more trust and loyalty.

Final Review

What are you trying to say to your subscribers? Is your sign-up process clear and direct?

Do you offer relevant content in your declarative broadcasts? Have you engaged your subscribers with good questions?

What kind of communication works best for you?

Via: Email Marketing Tips