Are Your Emails Top Priority?

Back in August, Gmail introduced the Priority Inbox - a new tool that filters emails into "Important and unread," "Starred" and "Everything else" sections of your inbox automatically.

After taking some time to experiment with it, it's true that the Priority Inbox really can help Gmail users separate your emails from those less relevant ones out there based on their interaction with all of the messages they receive.

You know how important it is for your email marketing messages to be valuable, so let's make sure you're doing everything you can to make subscribers aware of the value of your emails. Keep reading to find out how!

How To Sell A Service With Follow Ups

In fact, they're a great way to sell pretty much anything: shoes, books, even life experience.

The team at CareerShifters knows this. Each member has experienced career change, and they've turned that experience into a business.

And as Creative Director Neil Collman explains, "Using a follow-up series was the simplest way to build a relationship with visitors and demonstrate the value we can offer them."

See how for yourself...

Discover The Secrets of Email Secret Sales

Everyone loves a juicy secret. Whether you have dirt on your neighbor or your own sneaky tidbit of information to keep under wraps, there's no denying the allure of getting to the bottom of a secret.

When we're not "in the know," it's human nature to exercise our curiosity and seek out the truth. When we're kept in the loop, we feel special and privileged.

Your email marketing can appeal to those emotions, too. You want subscribers to feel privy to select information about your company. After all, that's one reason you have an email campaign in the first place - to keep customers and prospects in the loop.

By positioning promotions as "secrets," you can create buzz and start a game of whisper down the lane with your subscribers, hoping they will spread the word to their friends who weren't as lucky to hear from you first.

When it comes to secret persuasions, Bloomingdale's certainly has the right idea.

For their first ever online secret sale, they rolled out invitations only to email subscribers. The beauty of this tactic? It's not really secret at all. Bloomie's wants their readers to forward the message to friends and chat the event up.

How You Can Do It:

At first glance, it may seem like Bloomingdale's can execute this kind of campaign because they have hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend on email marketing. Looking closer, however, there's no reason that you can't have the same impact with your own campaign.

1. Create a broadcast message that promotes a "secret" limited time event. Use urgent language to inspire quick clicks.
2. You don't have to make a coupon code or get technical about sales deductions. Notice that Bloomie's never mentions a code, they just include a link to the "sale" page on their site.

Everyone loves scratch-off coupons. It's like playing the lottery, but always winning!

Overstock offers email subscribers a virtual scratch-off coupon in this genius email. The added element of the unknown inspired me to click through and see what item I could get a good deal on that day.

How You Can Do It:

1. Pick an item on your site that you want to make the special sale item and copy the URL.
2. Save the following coupon images to your computer, then upload one to your website and use it in your next email. Link it to the special sale item, and you have a mystery sale item instantly!

Rue La La's Secret Suite invitation is another brilliant use of secrecy. The very idea of a guest list oozes exclusivity. If you're not on the list at the hottest club in town, you're not getting in, right?

How You Can Do It:

1. You've already got your guest list, so the hard part's complete.
2. The trick is writing an email that uses language to paints a portrait of limited access. Using phrases like "under-the-radar" and "exclusive" lets your subscribers believe that they are special for receiving the email from you, which increases the odds that they will click through and purchase something from you.

Have You Ever Run a Secret Sale Campaign?

What kind of language did you use to inform subscribers of the sale? Were your emails successful? Share your experiences below!

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Hat Tip To: Inbox Ideas

The People Behind Your Brand

Personality. Some companies have it, others don't, but it's just not the sort of thing you can fake.

Smart businesses develop a personality early on. They find a balance between how their organizations operate and how the people who work there act, then use their personalities to brand themselves.

It's easy to decide how you want your brand to be viewed. It's much harder to project your vision and have your personality stick with your audience.

Email marketing is the perfect medium for building and displaying your business personality. It allows you to show readers that your company is transparent and made up of real people.

By giving subscribers a behind-the-scenes look at who makes up your company, you can build trust and encourage spending at the same time. Here's a look at 4 groups of people that can impact a company's personality.

3 Ways to Set Expectations at Sign Up

"I didn't sign up for this!" An impulsive and angered hand clicks the "Mark as Spam" button.

Spam complaints can tell you a lot about your email marketing campaigns. One thing they can indicate is that it's unclear to your subscribers what they are signing up for and how when they'll receive your messages.

So how can you minimize spam complaints from the get-go?

Keep reading to find out how a few of your fellow email marketers do it by setting expectations!

4 Ways to Set Expectations at Sign Up

"I didn't sign up for this!" An impulsive and angered hand clicks the "Mark as Spam" button.

Spam complaints can tell you a lot about your email marketing campaigns. One thing they can indicate is that it's unclear to your subscribers what they are signing up for and how when they'll receive your messages.

So how can you minimize spam complaints from the get-go?

Keep reading to find out how a few of your fellow email marketers do it by setting expectations!

How To NOT Market Like Nine Inch Nails (And Why)

When you start a new email marketing campaign, you may want to invite subscribers from previous lists to subscribe. That can be perfectly okay.

Or it can be a disaster. Cross-promotion is a bit like a minefield: you have to step carefully.

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has impressed us in the past with his fan-focused, grassroots, defy-The-Man marketing. But when his campaign recently invited subscribers to a new list, someone wasn't watching their feet carefully enough.

To keep yourself on solid ground when cross-promoting your lists, you'll need this guide. Follow it, and the only explosion you'll see will be the size of your list.