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

Have You Optimized Your Messages for More Opens?

While working with customers to optimize their email campaigns, I reviewed A LOT of messages. As I was going through all them, I took notes on which ones performed well and I was able to identify some common threads.

Just like I was able to share strategies to get more subscribers and keep those subscribers on your list, I have some tips to help you improve your messages.

Before your subscribers even read your message, you have to convince them to open it. Let’s look at how you can do that…

Grab Their Attention With Your Subject Line

Out of all the emails in your subscribers’ inboxes, you need to make sure your email gets noticed. The subject line will need to get their attention and persuade them to look at the whole message- a big task for just one line.

Here are some ideas you can try out for your subject line:

Once you have tired out different subject lines, you can try split testing different versions of them. This will give you a better idea of what your approach really is.

Get Them to Open With Effective Snippets/ Preview Panes

Your subject line gets their attention, but some email programs will let you take it a step further by displaying more of your email. Make sure your emails are benefiting from this.

Some email clients do this by displaying a snippet. An example of an email client that does this is Gmail, so you can set up a free account and test your messages there. If you look at the example above you’ll see how some of the snippet text appears after the subject.

Other email clients will allow users to see a larger part of the email, otherwise known as a preview pane. You can utilize the power of snippets and preview panes by including compelling content at the top of your message.

To see how a preview pane can help, let’s take a look at how Furniture Crate handles this:

Notice they have the sale notice right at the top, a great way to get subscribers to scroll down.

Southern Plate uses just an image, but it works well for their recipe emails:

You just need to use whatever you think will convince your subscribers to keep reading.

Microsoft Outlook is one email client that uses preview panes, so check out your emails there or have a friend send you a screen shot of what they look like.

More Tips for Improving Your Messages

While you work on getting those opens, we’ll be working on a post that helps improve your message for what happens next.

Fill out the form below to join our blog newsletter and you’ll get the next optimization post right in your inbox.

We’ll also periodically send you the other email marketing tips we publish here. The blog newsletter goes out 2 times per week.

By: Email Marketing Tips

Announcing More Free Email Marketing Guides

Back in May, we introduced free email marketing guides for photographers, fitness centers and real estate agents. You provided some great feedback, including a good number of suggestions for new guides.

There were plenty of ideas for creating more industry guides, but there was also a need for guides that can help explain some advanced processes in email marketing.

So we welcome our newest addition, the Email Marketing Guides Library Page!

Here is what you’ll find there:

Industry Guides

No two business are the same, and a business that is selling a service will have different marketing strategies than a business selling a product. In order to make the most of your email marketing, you want to know the best practices for your industry.

We got your covered with our industry guides! For example:

The steady business of repeat customers can make or break a restaurant. It’s vital that you keep customers coming back.

So you serve delicious food and serve your diners gorgeously… but after they push back their chairs, grab a breath mint and walk out the door, there’s nothing more you can do.

Unless you market with email. Then you can entice them back.

Let us show you how.

Download Email Marketing For Restaurants

Other industry guides are available for:

• Fitness centers
• Wineries
• Churches
• Artists

• Bands
• Photographers
• Real estate agents

Check Out the Library of Guides

Instructional Guides

There are some techniques that are a little more advanced than just creating and sending a message. Perhaps you’ve been avoiding doing more with your campaign because you don’t know how or what you can do.

These new instructional guides can help with that:

If you check your open reports, you may notice that some of your subscribers haven’t opened a message from you in a very long time.

You’re not benefiting from their lack of response. Neither are they. And your delivery rate certainly isn’t

In this guide, you’ll learn how to reactivate the ones that can be saved (and how to “clean your list,” letting go of the ones you can’t).

Download How to Run a Reactivation Campaign

Other instructional guides include:

• Quality Assurance Checklist for Emails
• Segmenting Subscribers

• Web Form Split Testing
• Understanding Email Statistics

Check Out the Library of Guides

There’s Even More to Come

That’s right, we’ll continue to update this page with even more guides to help your email marketing.

We’d still love to hear your suggestions, so feel free to drop us a comment about what you would like to see on the page!

By: Email Marketing Tips

How to Send An Apology Email

When you spill the proverbial milk all over a marketing email, it can be tempting to hold your breath, cross your fingers and hope no one notices.

And since your audience is behind computer screens elsewhere, you probably won’t see many reactions (especially if they’re not on Twitter).

They’ll certainly notice some things; they may not notice (or care about) others. When do you play it safe and apologize? And when do you leave it alone?

Incorrect Info

This one’s a given. If you send out incorrect information, you’re going to have to set the record straight with an email like this one from Wawa:

Though you can certainly give your readers a way to respond by linking back to your site, your emphasis should be squarely on the correction. Since your original message has people operating under false information, corrections are best sent out as soon as possible.

Details Left Behind

It’s difficult to catch every little detail before sending out an email. Sometimes, missing one little detail can mean subscribers get a hugely different message from what you intended.

So it’s important that you fill in the blanks as soon as possible, like Shoo Foo does here:

Now, depending on how long your error went without being corrected and how deep of a discount you’re offering, you may want to consider adjusting the sale to run the way you advertised it.

If that’s not possible, make sure to communicate to subscribers how truly sorry you are for the inconvenience.

Tiny Typos

If you accidentally send a typo, it can be tempting to tell your readers that you caught it, like Shopify‘s first paragraph here. Not only does this help you recoup some dignity, it’s shows transparency, which can build trust in your company – your readers know you’re always giving them the straight story.

But there can be such a thing as too much transparency. No one needs to know every breath your business takes. If a mistake’s tiny enough that readers, if they noticed, wouldn’t care, it’s probably not worth wasting their time by calling it out.

Jokes Gone Wrong

April Fools Day can inspire all kinds of business-to-customer fun. Which, unfortunately, can result in all kinds of customer-to-business panic. Depending on the size of the uproar, you may want to quiet it with an email, like Dreamhost did.

Notice how their apology was tucked among other content in their newsletter? It’s likely that anyone extremely worried about the situation had already sought out the straight story. So this response isn’t urgent, but it does answer any lingering questions.

One more thing – in the case of a misunderstood joke, it’s important not to make anyone feel…less than intelligent. Dreamhost used silly humor; whatever approach you take should be just as gentle.

A Serious Slip-Up

Occasionally, you might really mess up and offer readers something they can’t actually get. Along with your regrets, you may want to send them something to make up for their disappointment, like Dot Perkins does here.

A word of caution, though: it’s poor taste to use apology emails to push an offer. If you’re including a discount or coupon in the message, make sure it’s significant enough to be appreciated. Otherwise, it may look like a poorly masked attempt to make sales.

So When Should You Send That Apology?

Ask yourself these two questions:

• Would subscribers be inconvenienced if I didn’t send an apology?
• Was it a bad enough mistake that I truly do owe them a heartfelt message of regret?

If you respond with a “yes” to either questions, then you’ve got your answer.

What Are You Sorry For?

Of course, we’re hoping you have nothing to be sorry for.

But we do all make mistakes. Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you needed to apologize to your subscribers?

How did you handle it?

Original: Email Marketing Tips

The Hipster Marketing Handbook

Hipsters. They’re elusive, yet they’re everywhere. They defy definition, but you can often tell when you’ve spotted one. They’re an American sub-culture of fashion stereotypes that embraces what’s obscure and makes it cool, and they have plenty of inspiration for email marketing.

Wait, what?

Being “hipster” is often described as a state of mind: An independent attitude, vintage style, a sense of irony. Believe it or not, these pillars of Hipsterdom can improve your email marketing in engaging your subscribers.

Here are four ways to draw some inspiration, whether you’re into labels or not:

Indie Cred

If there’s one thing hipsters are known for, it’s their love of independent art, music, film and fashion. The more obscure, the better. Building indie cred is the first step in forging your hipster identity.

You probably don’t want your email campaign cloaked in obscurity. Instead, take the idea of building “cred” and apply it to your reputation as an email sender. Sender reputation is the indie cred of email marketing and it’s not measured in vinyl. Reputation is influenced by your list, complaints and how well your subscribers know and trust you.

Email Marketing Take-Away:

Build a good reputation and keep it that way by cleaning up your list and engaging your subscribers with relevant content.

Vintage Trends

For the hipster, Grandma’s closet is the cutting edge of fashion. It’s all about the vintage.

Vintage can also be the cutting edge of marketing. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter offer new and interesting ways to start conversations with your audience, but email is still the best way to build relationships that keep the conversation going.

The Be Relevant! blog indicates that email’s effectiveness is a matter of a passive versus active audience. Someone who takes the time to deliberately request information from you by filling out your web form is already more engaged in your brand than the passive Facebook “liker.”

Email Marketing Take-Away:

Integration with new media is good, but don’t abandon what works for you just to follow the next new trend. Sometimes old but proven is most effective.

A Sense of Irony

You don’t need a pair of horn rimmed glasses to embrace a hipster’s sense of irony. In your campaign, irony can mean doing things that might go against traditional marketing sense.

Smart Insights recently debunked standard advice on subject line length, the best time to send emails and what to do with inactive subscribers. What works well for one marketer might not make sense for your own campaign.

Could sending a plain text message grab your subscribers’ attention better than HTML? Or improve your reputation with a prominent unsubscribe link? Some marketers think so. The point is to test and do what makes sense for your subscribers, which may not always follow intuitive advice.

Email Marketing Take-Away:

Doing what makes sense for your campaign sometimes means going against popular advice. Use tested methods that bring you success, which might not always follow expert opinion.

Living in the Moment

A part of the hipster mindset is being present in the moment, living in the here and now. There’s not much thought for the future, it’s all about being here today.

Kind of like your subscribers.

Your subscribers’ time is valuable, leading to an emphasis on relevancy in your emails. Send content that matters to them to keep them engaged once you’ve captured their attention. We’ve offered some advice in the past on ways to keep your emails timely.

Relevance can increase loyalty and trust. The more you can offer content that speaks to your subscribers’ needs and interests, the more responsive they will be with their valuable time.

Email Marketing Take-Away:

Relevance and timeliness equal valuable content. Your subscribers are living in the moment, and so should your emails if you want to keep them engaged.

Going Mainstream

If you want to put a label on it, being hipster in your email marketing is about reputation, relationships, relevance and sometimes bucking trends to do what works.

Do you stick to the mainstream in your own campaigns or take a more indie-inspired approach? What works best for you?

Original: Email Marketing Tips

AWeber Drupal Module Adds Opt-In Forms to Your Drupal Site

Web forms are a crucial part of any email marketing campaign. Without a form, you couldn’t build your mailing list in the first place.

In most cases, creating and installing a web form is simplicity itself. However, when using a Content Management System (CMS), you may want to work with plugins or modules specifically designed for that platform rather than editing raw HTML.

We’ve got you covered, Drupal fans! Today, we’re proud to announce the AWeber Web Form module for Drupal, using the AWeber API to add signup forms to your Drupal site. Keep reading to get the module running on your site in just a few steps.

What’s Drupal Anyway?

If you’re already familiar with Drupal and just want to get the module installed, just scroll down to the step by step instructions below or take a look at our knowledge base.

If you aren’t familiar with Drupal, it is a CMS often used to build websites. Drupal is an open source project with a wide range of modules like ours available to cater to website owners’ needs.

If you’re interested in learning more about Drupal and how to use it, you can get started on Drupal’s website.

Step By Step Instructions

Note that you will need to have already created your list and a web form on that list before using the Drupal module to add that form to your Drupal site. Also note that this module is made for use with Drupal 7, so you may want to check your version number if you’re having problems.

1. Download the module here.

   Download Module

2. You can unzip and install the module manually by uploading the folder to the /sites/all/modules/ directory in your Drupal install (consult Drupal’s help for more information about installing contributed modules).
3. Log into your Drupal admin, then click the Modules button at the top of the page.



4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and find the “AWeber Web Form” module, then check the “Enabled” box and hit the “Save configuration” button.

   

5. Next, click the Configuration button at the top of the page.

   

6. Here, click “AWeber Drupal” under the Content Authoring section.

   

7. To authorize the connection between your Drupal site and your AWeber account, click the link below the Authorization Key box.

   

   You’ll be taken to a new page where we’ll prompt you enter your AWeber login information and click Allow Access.

   

   Copy the code from the box that appears -

   

   - and paste it into the Authorization Key box back in Drupal, then hit “Authorize.”

   

8. Then, just select the list you’d like subscribers to be added to.

   

   And finally, choose the web form that you would like to add to your Drupal site and hit “Save”.

   

9. Finally, to actually have the form appear, click the Structure button at the top of the page.

   

   Here, click “Blocks”.

   

   On this page, scroll down until you see “AWeber Web Form,” then use the drop down menu to choose where you would like the form to appear.

   

More Integrations to Come!

If you’re a follower of our blog, you may have already seen us talk about some of our previous integrations, such as Facebook, WordPress and Unbounce.

We’re always looking for more services to integrate with, so if you have a favorite, speak up!

Also, if you or someone you know is a developer, take a look at AWeber Labs, home of the AWeber API, and get started on your very own apps and integrations today.

Origin: Email Marketing Tips