Losing Subscribers? 3 Ways to Keep Them From Leaving!

If you have people unsubscribing from your list at about the same speed you’re getting new ones, then your list isn’t going to grow. Fortunately, there are things you can do to fix that.

After I worked with customers to optimize their email campaigns, I was able to put together a list of effective email marketing tactics. I’ve already shared tips for getting more subscribers, but that was only the beginning. Now the focus turns to keeping those subscribers on your list.

In the hundreds of campaigns I’ve looked at, I’ve found three strategies that will help keep subscribers on your mailing list.

Set Expectations

We’ve stressed the importance of setting subscriber expectations plenty of times before and there is a reason why- it works. I noticed campaigns with high subscriber retention all explain what the subscriber will be getting right from the start. When subscribers understand what’s going on, they are less likely to unsubscribe or complain.

Here’s how you can set expectations:

• Start with your web form
  
  The web form is where the sign up process begins, so you need to do a good job explaining what the potential subscriber will get for entering their information.

  Check your form and make sure it lets subscribers know what they’re signing up for. You want to detail what you’ll be sending them and how often they can expect to receive messages from you.

• Have subscribers confirm
  
  The confirmation message is sent immediately after the subscriber submits their information. You can customize the confirmation message so the subscriber knows what’s going on, and what to do next.

  A previous blog post included examples of effective confirmation messages, so you can take a look at those before you start your own.

• Welcome new subscribers

  After subscribers have signed up and confirmed, it’s time to welcome and remind them what they signed up for.

  The welcome message should reiterate what you’ll be sending them, how often they’ll be receiving messages and what they can do if they ever want to stop getting your messages.

• Assess and re-assess your campaign

  After you have set expectations you need to periodically assess your campaign to make sure you are following the guidelines you’ve set.

  For example, if you said you’d be sending twice a week, make sure that’s what you’re doing.

As long as you stick to the expectations you set, you shouldn’t have any subscribers leaving your list due to misunderstanding. However, there are still a couple other things you can do to increase retention.

Create Brand Loyalty

When people begin to associate your brand with positive things, they’ll stick to you.

Everything that comes in contact with your subscribers should have your brand represented. Subject lines can be branded by including your company name in them, and messages can be branded by putting your logo at the top like this example:

Keep in mind that whenever you interact with subscribers and customers, you’ll be creating opinions about your brand. Zappos, for example, has successfully associated their brand with superior customer service. Same goes for AWeber.

Pay Attention to Subscriber Behavior

If someone purchases something from you, they are more likely to purchase from you again.

Keeping this is mind, AWeber allows you to track who’s opening messages and who’s clicking on links.

Setting up analytics will take this one step further. You’ll be able to track sales, clicks through your site even if that URL wasn’t specifically in your message and downloads.

Tracking subscriber activity allows you to use their information to send more personalized messages by sending to segments. Sending messages that are more personalized will help encourage subscribers to remain on your list.

You might also want to consider setting up subscriber preferences right at sign up.

IKEA is a good example of this:

Giving subscribers the option to enter more detailed information about who they are and what they’re looking for will allow you to create messages relevant to what they need.

If you want to learn subscriber preferences right away, you can set up custom fields in your web form and use that information for segmenting, or even to place the subscriber in the appropriate list.

You’re on Your Way!

Using these tips to keep subscribers on your list along with the tips to get more subscribers, will help make your list grow faster. There’s more to come though, so be on the lookout for the next optimization post that will have tips on how to improve your messages.

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

Support Hours – Independence Day 2011

AWeber’s customer support offices will be closed on Monday, July 4th 2011 for the Independence Day holiday.

As always, we’ll be keeping an eye on things to address any critical issues.

We’ll be here on Saturday the 2nd and Sunday the 3rd from 9:00AM until 5:00PM EDT to answer your questions by email and live text chat, and we’ll return on Tuesday the 5th at 8:00AM EDT.

Thanks, and have a great holiday!

Source: Email Marketing Tips

Become the Publicist to Your Email Campaign

You may be familiar with Samantha Jones, the outrageous yet brilliantly successful publicist of the popular series Sex and The City. Or, maybe you saw Jessica Biel and Queen Latifah take on publicist roles in last year’s hit flick Valentine’s Day.

Either way, there is no denying that Public Relations is getting plenty of publicity these days and applying the publicity angle can do wonders for your email marketing campaign.

A publicist aims to create and build mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its audience. Read on for tips on how to be your campaign’s publicist by focusing on building a relationship with your subscribers so that they remember your messages and get involved in your campaign.

The Web Form or, The Day We Met

In any relationship, the first impression is key. A publicist creates an attention-getting strategy to make a solid first impression in any campaign. In email marketing, the web form is the first chance to greet the subscriber and ask them on the first date.

While setting expectations during sign up, you can say a lot more than just “sign up for my newsletter” in order to really connect with interested visitors. Take a look at this sign up form located on CalorieCount.com:

By adding this snippet to their web form, Calorie Count has initiated a relationship with their subscribers. The word “personalized” creates a one-on-one tone telling the reader they will not be a numbered subscriber. By offering support, they are really offering a relationship rather than just the opportunity to receive messages.

The Love Letter = The Newsletter

To progress a relationship, its important to make your feelings known. To get their point across, publicists frequently send out press releases.

Like an email newsletter, the goal of every press release is to effectively present your idea in a way that stands out. In the quest for uniqueness, publicists relate to their readers by applying the human interest angle.

This angle puts the emphasis on creating a common ground. Like identifying shared goals and interests in a relationship, newsletters can work this angle by telling stories and appealing to emotions.

CalorieCount takes this angle by including testimonials that double as uplifting success stories. Check out this excerpt:

A good testimonial uses the human interest angle to tug at the heart strings. Furthermore, it builds the relationship by establishing trust, credibility and common goals between you and your readers.

Make Sure the Feeling is Mutual

No relationship thrives if it is one-sided. To fully establish a mutually beneficial relationship, encourage subscribers to get involved. The success of a PR campaign is measured by the public’s response and a newsletter is no different.

Calorie Count includes this Ask Mary button at the bottom of each newsletter. The button takes subscribers to the Calorie Count site where they can ask Mary a question.

This button promotes two-way communication between the subscriber and the organization, while also bringing more traffic to the site.

CalorieCount also invites subscribers to submit their own success stories. Inviting feedback improves any relationship including the one between you and your subscribers.

Speaking of Relationships, Let’s Further Ours

In every relationship, communication is important. In our relationship, it’s now your turn to speak. Is the feeling on the importance of relationships mutual?

Public relations is an exciting field for anyone who craves communication and interaction in the work place. As marketers, this is your area of expertise, so what do you think?

Is building a relationship crucial in getting your subscribers to take action? How do you build relationships with subscribers?

Origin: Email Marketing Tips

Are Blacklisted Link Shorteners Getting Your Emails Blocked?

Have you ever used a link shortener on any of your email marketing campaigns?

They’re a handy way to send a long URL to someone using just a few characters. And while they’re nothing new (TinyURL turns 10 in January 2012), they’ve become particularly popular since the rise of Twitter, Facebook and other communication mediums where space is at a premium.

Chances are, you’ve looked at a long link in one of your emails and thought, “It’d be nice if that link weren’t quite so long,” and been tempted to use a link shortening service.

But did you know that link shorteners could potentially hurt your email deliverability rates?

How Link Shorteners Can Affect Deliverability

Link shorteners are handy for trimming down long URLs.

But in addition to offering that convenience, they perform one other function: they mask where a link actually goes.

This makes them appealing to spammers who either:

• Don’t want recipients to see their actual website domains, or
• Don’t want ISPs and other organizations to be able to filter out their spam by blocking emails that have the spammer’s domain in the body of the email.

Of course, some legitimate email marketers may find the idea of shortening links appealing, too. This is particularly true for those who send plain text emails, since in an HTML email you can simply link whatever text or image you want, as you would on a webpage.

The potential problem happens when both a spammer and you use the same link shortener in your emails. If one or more ISPs start blocking emails that include that link shortening domain (to block the spammer), they may inadvertently block your emails, too.

So Which Link Shorteners Are Blacklisted?

I wanted to find out how much of a problem this could really be – after all, everything I’ve said above is true in theory, but I didn’t know how much (or if) it was actually happening – so I cracked open my browser, a spreadsheet and got to researching.

I checked 24 popular link shorteners against three popular URI blacklists:

• Spamhaus DBL
• SURBL
• URIBL

These lists are used by some ISPs to determine whether an email should be placed in the inbox, bulk folder or neither. If the body of your email includes a link to a blacklisted domain, an ISP may choose to not deliver it to subscribers’ inboxes.

Before you look at the results below, keep in mind these results can change at any time. This data is as of June 23rd, 2011. A blacklisted domain could be delisted now, or tomorrow, and an unlisted domain could get listed at any time.

OK, with that said, here’s what I found. Results are ordered by Alexa Rank, starting with the most popular, bit.ly:

Link Shortener	Alexa Rank	Listed in DBL?	Listed in SURBL?	Listed in URIBL?
bit.ly	152	Yes	No	No
tinyurl.com	747	No	No	No
goo.gl	855	No	No	Whitelisted 1
ow.ly	1966	Yes	No	No
t.co	2403	No	No	No
su.pr	6539	Yes	No	No
budurl.com	6907	No	No	No
is.gd	8149	No	No	Whitelisted 1
lnk.co	10,250	Yes	No	Yes
fb.me	11,564	No	No	No
cli.gs	41,012	Yes	No	Yes
deck.ly	72,661	No	No	No
snipurl.com	73,378	No	No	No
tr.im	202,662	No	No	No
fur.ly	249,983	No	No	Yes
twurl.nl	307,728	No	No	Yes
u.nu	585,984	No	No	No
short.ie	695,684	Yes	No	No
blinky.me	1,108,121	No	No	No
kl.am	1,206,876	No	No	No
zi.ma	1,997,505	No	No	No
poprl.com	4,471,928	No	No	No
hex.io	5,784,912	No	No	No
ad.vu	N/A	No	No	No

Yes, I know Alexa rank isn’t a perfect measure of popularity, but Alexa had traffic stats on more of these link-shortening domains than Compete, Quantcast or anyone else I tried.

What Do These Listings Mean?

As you can see, none of the popular link shorteners were listed on SURBL as of June 23, 2011. A couple, goo.gl and is.gd, were actually whitelisted by URIBL.

However, eight of the link shorteners were listed in URIBL or the Spamhaus DBL. So if you sent out an email that included a link to one of those domains, your email delivery rate could have been affected.

Now, the point here is not “OK, so just avoid those ones that were listed.” To re-emphasize from before, these results don’t mean unlisted link shorteners will never cause problems. Any of them, even the ones currently whitelisted, could potentially be blacklisted in the future.

Here’s what you should take away from these findings:

• Link shorteners are handy for trimming long URLs in tweets, Facebook statuses, and similar venues where space is at a premium. But space isn’t at the same premium in an email as it is on social media.
• Whatever convenience link shorteners offer in an email is outweighed by the potential for those shortened links to hurt your email deliverability.
• If you’re currently using these or other potentially abused link shorteners in your email marketing campaigns, stop!

Don’t Like Long Links In Your Emails? Here Are Some Options.

• Set up your own link shortener. If you’re sufficiently tech-savvy, you can install a link-shortening script on a domain of your own. (You’ll need to come up with a short, available domain and register it.)Here are a few different options if you’re interested in this: YOURLS, Phurl, urlShort.
• Send HTML email instead of plain text. If you’re sending HTML email, all you need to do to not have long URLs appear in your emails is to link up appropriate text or images instead of just putting the full URL on display for subscribers.

One last note on links and emails: if you’re sending subscribers a link to a page on your website, isn’t it best for them to be able to see that’s where the link goes? If you see a shortened link in an email, don’t you pause and wonder where it’s going to take you? I sure do.

That’s why with AWeber’ email analytics you can track clicks using your own domain.

Sure, not all links in your emails go to your own website, but a lot of them do. Showing subscribers that they’re going to end up on your site may be the difference between someone clicking and not clicking.

Have You Used Link Shorteners In Your Email Marketing Campaigns?

If so, what was the reason? (I’m not being sarcastic; I really want to know, because I’m not seeing a reason. Enlighten me. ) Have you seen any impact on clicks or email deliverability as a result of using them?

UPDATE: Steve at Word to the Wise has more on bit.ly blocking issues.

1. URIBL’s whitelist “contains legit domain names that [they] do not want to show up on any other URIBL lists.” More on their lists here.

Source: Email Marketing Tips

Optimize Your Email Campaign: Boost Subscriber Growth

Building a list full of subscribers who are interested in your company means more interactions with your website and more sales. But how can you attract more subscribers?

Last year, I worked with some AWeber customers on optimizing their email marketing campaigns. This experience allowed me to see which marketing tactics perform exceptionally well, and which tactics don’t perform so well.

Are you ready to learn the best ways to optimize your campaign to boost subscriber growth? Here are four things you need to start doing to see your subscriber numbers take off…

Location, Location, Location

The location of your web form will impact the number of submissions it gets. I found that it’s best to have your form be immediately visible upon landing on the page, and easily accessible.

Check out the form location on the Runner’s World page:

If you hover over the image, you’ll notice I had to scroll down before I finally found the form amidst other calls for action.

Placing the form closer to the top of the page will work much better. You might also find that including it in your sidebar or header is an easier option, since this will put your form on every page of your website.

The Lost Canyons site is a good example:

No matter what page you’re on, the option to sign up is always available in the sidebar.

The location matters, so pick a place on your site that visitors will see right away and can easily enter their information.

The Power of Influence

Before someone submits their personal information, they might want to see what others think of your company.

People like to read reviews of products they’re thinking of purchasing, and the same concept can apply to email subscribers.

You can include testimonials on your sign up page to influence the visitor’s decision. Seeing what good things others have to say about you builds your credibility.

Take a look at how Drawing Tutorials Online sets this up on their page:

If you don’t have testimonials, you can also provide a counter of the number of subscribers you currently have. AWeber provides a chicklet for you to use to display your current subscriber totals. Note that this works best for large lists.

Happy with your sign up form? That’s good, but there’s more than just your form and website to optimize.

Be Social

If you haven’t heard yet, social media and email marketing work very well together.

Thanks to features like the AWeber Facebook app, you can include forms for people to sign up to your mailing lists on Facebook pages. This allows you to get your social media followers on your mailing list.

Here’s what a Facebook form can look like:

You can also choose to have your broadcast messages published on Facebook and Twitter. This will provide those social media followers a link to a web-based version of your message. The more you share, the more potential subscribers see what you have to offer.

If blogging is more your thing, don’t forget to include a web form in your blog posts or on your blog pages.

Don’t miss out on all the opportunities social media gives you to bring in more subscribers. Start getting in the habit of promoting your material across different platforms. Sharing is easy when you use your AWeber archive…

Build an Archive

You have the ability to publish your broadcast messages to an archive. This enables you to share those messages with more people. The archive will help give your campaign more exposure in two ways:

1. It allows you to share with social media platforms
2. Your messages will appear in search engine results related to your content

With more people viewing your messages, you want to make sure you’re giving everyone a chance to sign up to receive your emails directly to their inbox. Including a form on your archive page will help with this.

Here’s what the archive page looks like with a form on it:

This page is hosted by AWeber, so think of it as bonus advertising.

Start Optimizing!

You know what to do now, so begin implementing the four tips we went over today to start getting more subscribers.

We have more optimization tips for you, so stay tuned to find out how you can keep subscribers on your list! Fill out the form below to join our blog newsletter and you’ll get the next optimization post on increasing subscriber retention 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.

Source: Email Marketing Tips

Do This! (Not That) For AWesome Emails

The AWeber “Do This, Not That” approach was introduced when we realized that email marketing could use the equivalent to the food industry’s Eat This, Not That book. We started off with some tips to improve your deliverability.

Your deliverability might be better now, but that doesn’t mean your email campaign is mistake free. Perhaps the emails you’re creating are what’s hindering your path to success.

This is the second part of the series which deals with mistakes to avoid in the email creation process, and what you can do instead.

Don’t Use a “No Reply” From Address

What this is: Your subscribers see the emails are coming from an email address that has “noreply” in it.

If you’re approaching your email campaign as a one-way conversation, you’re on the wrong track.

A “noreply” address makes your emails sound distant and automated. You’re closed off from your subscribers and discourage developing a relationship with them.

Also consider the fact that your subscribers are getting tools to increase control over their inbox, and Gmail’s Priority Inbox bases its filtering process on your subscribers’ interaction with your emails.

Do this instead:

• Encourage communication!
  Ask your subscribers for feedback on how you’re doing. Let them know you’re available if they have any questions. People like to talk to people, so let your subscribers know there is a person behind the emails.

GreenAnswers encourages communication in their emails by including a question box that directs the reader back to their site to ask a question:

Remember, Not Everyone Can See Images

What this is: You have the ability to create your messages in both HTML and plain text formats. While some subscribers may have their email client set to display HTML messages, others may not.

HTML messages allow you to track open rates and create beautiful messages. However, if you send only HTML, it can make your messages more likely to be filtered. Some of your subscribers may not even accept HTML messages in their email client.

Plain text messages aren’t as likely to be blocked, but they lack the tracking and formatting capabilities that HTML has.

Do this instead:

• Include both HTML and plain text versions
  When you set up both and HTML and plain text version of your message, HTML is sent by default, but if the subscriber does not accept HTML emails it will revert to plain text. Since some subscribers may have trouble with HTML messages, you can include a link to view your broadcast message on a web page when your message is published on the AWeber archive.

Notice how Bon-Ton’s message includes a link to their web-based message:

No matter what you do, make sure you test your message by sending it to multiple email clients and checking that the message appears correctly

Don’t Treat Your Subscribers Like Numbers

What this is: Sending all your subscribers the same message.

You might think you don’t have the time to write personalized messages, so you just use the same campaign for everyone. Or maybe you’ve enabled campaign sharing to use messages someone you know already created and you’re afraid to stray from what you have.

What you’re doing is assuming all your subscribers are the same. This can prevent you from building a relationship with them, and they may be more likely to leave your list. Who likes getting generic messages?

Do this instead:

• Use subscribers’ data to create personalized messages.
  You have the ability to send broadcast messages to a segment within your list. This way you can separate subscribers into different groups, and each group gets messages that are best for them. You can also ask for email preferences at the time of sign up to make sure subscribers are getting emails they requested.

You can choose to send a message to a segment near the bottom of the message editing page:

What Else Belongs on This List?

Can you think of other mistakes email marketers make? What emails drive you nuts? What should be done instead?

By: Email Marketing Tips

Beyond Email: 5 Tips for Marketing Your Business

Yes, email marketing can do a lot to get the word out about your business.

But as a business, you’ve got quite a lot of other irons in the fire. And you’d like them all to get hot.

We know that. We also know that when you do well, we do well. So we hunted up a few little articles that, alongside email marketing, can help you get your business to sizzle.

The 100 Rules for Being an Entrepreneur

Some of this will shock you. Some might upset you. But it’s straight talk on what it really takes to get your business off the ground, from a guy who’s launched several, so it’s all valuable.

You don’t have to agree with every point, but each is worth a moment of thought.

We suggest putting your favorites into your own list. Then you can pull it out whenever you need inspiration – or a reminder of how to stay sane amid all you have to do.

Small sample: “Depressions, recessions, don’t matter. There’s $15 trillion in the economy. You’re allowed a piece of it.”

Google Wonders – Is This Place Still Here?

In an effort to keep search results accurate, Google Maps now highlights listings for businesses it suspects might be closed. Searchers who stumble on those listings have a chance to set the record straight.

If your business has a physical location, you may want to search for your listing and see if your status is in question. And if you’re not listed, for goodness sakes, register now.

The Single Most Powerful Use of Social Media for Small Business

If you’ve ever wondered why your business should be on social media (and what the heck it would do there), here’s your answer. (Make sure to pay attention to John’s advice on who to start engaging with!)

Serendipitously enough, if you take this approach to social media, you should end up with lots of great content ideas for your marketing emails!

Get Your Website Ready for the Mobile Web in 10 Steps

Within two years, half (or more!) of the views of your web site and emails will happen on mobile devices.

Which means that (you’ve heard this a thousand times, say it with me now) now is the time to get ready for mobile.

But what you haven’t heard a thousand times are the practical ways you can do that. What sizes should things be, specifically? What if your site has JavaScript? And how can you tell what it looks like on mobile devices you don’t have?

This 10-step guide has your answers – with practical links to the tools you’ll need.

101 Uses For Quick Response (QR) Codes

In case you missed the post on it, you can use QR codes to get email subscribers: people scan your code with their smartphones, you instantly invite them to sign up for your emails.

Making your codes is easy (again, see this post). The trick is getting them out to the public.

Fortunately, a few of those tricks are laid out here – 101 of them, to be exact – along with links to real-life QR marketing stories.

Are You On Fire Yet?

Put one or two of these in place, and you’ll start to see sparks. Implement all of them, and things will really catch fire.

And of course, if you want to keep the fire of your business blazing brightly, the best marketing tool of all is email marketing through AWeber – just look at what you get!

So if you don’t have an AWeber account yet, get yours now.

Hat Tip To: Email Marketing Tips