Category Archive: All things email marketing
A savvy agency gets acquainted with Emma’s new API
Tim Frick, founder of Mightybytes, talks about the integrations he's building for his clients
Tim tells us what's next for Mightybytes + Emma.
And we want to help simplify their jobs. As part of our Featurepalooza, we’re releasing a slew of new features to Emma accounts, and our new API is at the center of the action. Tim Frick, founder of Mightybytes, jumped at the opportunity to be an early API beta tester.
As a smallish shop with an eye toward design-driven marketing solutions, Mightybytes has many things to manage on top of their client workload. Tim quickly identified some integration possibilities using Emma’s API, and we were thrilled to have him share the details with us.
What are your clients looking for when they decide to start doing business with you?
We navigate the waters of corporate and nonprofit clients with equal proficiency. A lot of the clients we deal with are cause-driven – we help them prosper, grow and achieve their goals in a measurable way. We work with them on everything from strategic business and digital marketing consulting, which often includes email and social campaigns that build brand awareness, to developing and building online applications for core business function.
Why did you decide to get involved in our API project early on? Tell me about the work you’re doing and planning.
We’ve been exploring web-based product development for some time now. We’ve even prototyped a few things but haven’t brought any of our own products to market yet. The release of Emma’s API and the company’s invite to be part of the beta development program gave us the perfect opportunity to put one of our product ideas — a syncing tool for CRMs (like Highrise, Salesforce, SugarCRM) and email marketing systems — into full swing development.
We are currently working on two projects using Emma’s API. The first is an integration app called Swapley, which will manage communication between Highrise and Emma. We’re about 50% complete for version 1.0.
The second, which we’re mapping out now, will be an Emma module for a content management system (CMS), Drupal. The Drupal module will help us expand our service offerings and give customers better tools to integrate content marketing strategies with easy-to-use tools that support integration of multiple systems.
What are some of your goals for the Swapley and Drupal projects, and how do you see them working for your current clients?
Our clients turn to us for online solutions that integrate good marketing, design and content with other core online business functions (like a CRM, donations, content management and so on.) Having the ability to integrate Emma and Highrise features will not only help with our internal prospecting, but will also streamline efficiencies on solutions we build for clients.
Specifically, with our proposed Drupal integration, our clients will be able to easily create Emma-based mailings with branded templates from within a content management system. Also, many of these sites and tools have registered users. We envision the Emma/Drupal module offering would help customers cross-reference those who have registered on their site versus those who are email recipients. Eventually, it would be nice if this information could be easily shared with a CRM as well, so all systems are in sync.
How will this integration affect the way you think about on-boarding new clients and prospects?
Having access to the Emma API will definitely increase our productivity and allow us to build tools that make it easy for clients to choose Emma as a preferred ESP alongside other services we offer. Before, as a firm with a reputation for implementing technically challenging yet design-driven web solutions, we often wrestled with how to roll Emma’s great email marketing services into our process. The release of Emma’s API definitely set off light bulbs above our collective heads. We see huge opportunities to integrate Emma’s services directly into the solutions we build for clients via the API and apps we build with it. Mightybytes has already lined up several potential clients for our Highrise integration app and interest seems to be great there. Several other ideas for using the Emma API to build web apps are piquing our interest as well.
Do you have any advice for other Emma agencies that are considering whether to dedicate resources to API integration?
The new API documentation and forums should go a long way in helping developers understand the application development process. Using Emma’s tools makes it easier for them to bring new integrations to market. You all (Emma’s tech team) have been very supportive as we develop our own apps. We appreciate Emma’s commitment to good design and excellent usability — these are traits we share. With that in mind, agencies looking to create their own integrations should undergo thorough user testing throughout the entire development process to keep standards high and apps usable.
Learn more about Mightybytes:
- Visit their website.
- Signup for their newsletter, Mightymail Quarterly.
- Check out their blog.
- If you’re currently using Highrise and are interested in connecting with Emma, sign up for more information about Swapley.
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Ready to try Emma’s API?
We’re rolling out Emma’s new platform and brand new API on a limited basis. If you’d like to be first in line, let us know.
Every picture tells a story
How stock photos add visual appeal to your emails
Jessica enjoys a ferry ride from Victoria to Vancouver. (We're jealous.)
Today’s guest post is written by Jessica Hughes, social media and public relations specialist at Fotolia. Learn more on the Fotolia blog, or follow Fotolia on Twitter.
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When you think about your creative content, many factors come to play: your copy, your font choices, the layout and, of course, the images you choose to communicate your message. In short, looks count.
It’s no secret – incorporating an image is powerful! It’s a fun way to engage and capture attention. What’s more, including imagery boosts your campaign’s impact and drives traffic to your site. The key is finding the right image to match your message. Here are seven rules and examples that show how to pack the perfect visual punch.
Rule 1: Grab your reader’s attention. You only have a few seconds to get your reader’s attention, and a sharp image will reel them in fast. Use clever imagery to compel people to read on so that your overall message is delivered from soup to nuts.
Rule 2: Use visual aids to enhance communication. You know that old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words?” Considering that you don’t have a thousand words to interest an email recipient, why not let an image state your case? Choosing unique visuals that tell the story for you is an efficient way to get your point across.
Rule 3: Be bold. Avoid being too literal. Yes, your image will be subjective and influenced by your content to some degree, but consider other angles to make an impression. There are millions upon millions of royalty-free images available to you, so enjoy your image browsing and dare to be different.
Rule 4: Consider images that feature people. People like to look at people. Studies show that one of the reasons Facebook is such a hit is because of our fascination with what other people do. By nature, humans feel a need to relate to others. Using images with a person increases your chance of drawing your audience in.
Rule 5: Stay current. As tastes and styles change, so should your mindset for the way you choose images. While your intention for a certain image may be to show that you’re edgy, you wouldn’t want to turn anyone off. Get a feel for the lay of the land before you send. What’s new politically, socially or stylishly? You can be retro and still be cool, but do keep up with the Joneses.
Rule 6: Know your (image) rights. Get your pictures from a source that specializes in royalty-free stock photography. As tempting as it is to snag a picture from a free source like Google, it’s just not legal. Stock photography sites give you peace of mind and creative license. When you have rights to an image, you can modify it and turn it into something that completely embodies what you want to communicate. The avenues for creativity are limitless, and you better believe no one else will have an image like yours if you play it up.
Rule 7: Mind your specs. Aside from selecting an image that suits your concept, pay attention to colors and contrast –- they’re part of the “wow” factor, too. The colors in your image should complement the remainder of your content, including font styles and other branding. Resolution, aspect ratios and formats vary, so check out Fotolia’s usage guide to help determine what kind of image is the best match for your project.
There you have it. Seven tips to help you pick a fantastic image for whatever your needs may be. Remember, your image should be the butter to your bread. The dynamic sidekick to your content’s super hero. Helping fight crime and take the world one villain at a time. Or, wait … What I’m really trying to say is that the right image can help your message resonate with a resounding “POW.” So sock it to ‘em.
Growing your email audience
A primer to start building your email list easily and effectively
Taco Mamacita wisely mixes required and optional fields in their signup form.
It’s a frustrating feeling to have a great announcement to make, but no audience to hear it — just ask any business owner who’s just beginning to build their email audience list. Your news may be more about software updates or new product lines than cupcakes, but the challenge remains: If the classroom doesn’t come to you, how do you find the right folks to share in your celebration?
Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to find the right audience members and play well with Emma’s permission policy, too. With a little advance planning, you’ll set yourself up to share your brand with the right folks — and engage them from the start.
If you’re new to email marketing and not sure how to attract subscribers, follow these tips to get your program up and running:
- Create a strong signup form. Your signup form is the perfect place to gather all the subscriber information you need to know. Make a clear distinction between what you must have (mark it as required) and what can be shared at your subscribers’ discretion. You might need to know their zip codes to send them accurate info about a store in their area, but you don’t need to send birthday coupons to everyone — just the folks who choose to fill in their date of birth. Remember, subscribers may abandon your form if they feel that the process is too long or intrusive. Also, let your subscribers know what to expect as a new member of your list. Will you be sending daily, weekly, monthly or on some other schedule? Will they see promotions along with newsletters? Can they pick and choose the news types they want to receive?
- Identify all of your customer touch-points, and get used to asking folks to join your email list. Think beyond your website for a moment. Does your company send transactional emails? Do you tweet? Have a Facebook page? You’ll reach the biggest audience by making your email signup forms as visible as possible in as many places as possible, so identify your points of contact. And think beyond your online presence. Put a fishbowl near your store’s register so customers can sign up by dropping in their business cards. Encourage your sales team to bring up your newsletter in their daily calls or demo classes. Even include a link to your signup form in your own email signature. Every interaction is an opportunity to build a relationship.
- Create a welcome trigger. Catch your subscribers when their curiosity is piqued: right when they sign up. Your automatic welcome emails can net four times the normal open rate and five times the normal click-through rate. A welcome email is the perfect time to reinforce the benefits of your newsletter, give subscribers a discount on their next purchase or simply thank them for signing up.
- Ask subscribers to share your emails with their networks. Then, provide unique and entertaining content so they can’t help but do so. Incentivize the share, too. Reward those who share with a special coupon or unique content from your brand. That’s a built-in loyalty program!
Give a little thought (and a lot more action) to these four tips, and you’ll be growing your email list in no time.
This is part one in our blog series on audience growth. In our next installment, we’ll talk about more ways to maintain a healthy, engaged list.
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Want to read more?
- Learn how to create a smart signup form
- Meet your customers where they are (and ask for their email address)
- See a few welcome triggers that work
- Read about Emma’s Social Sharing feature
What’s in an email subject line?
Ten tips for effective and memorable subject lines
As is the case with many puzzlers, coming up with a winning subject line is a hit and miss operation. Thoughtful experimentation will help you hone in on what works for you and your audience. And while there are no hard and fast rules about subject lines, a little know-how goes a long way. I’ve compiled ten of my favorite subject line tips and included links to some further reading, if you’re so inclined.
- Plan ahead. Don’t make writing the subject line the last thing on your list. As you’re dreaming up your next campaign, why not start with the subject line? After all, it’s the only part of your email some recipients will see. Moreover, crafting a descriptive subject line from the get-go will bring your overall campaign to a focus. When you’re waffling about word choice, check Google to see what terms trend highest.
- Mention your brand. Studies show branded subject lines really work, so if you aren’t including your business name, website or publication in the subject line, start now. Branding your emails will result in increased familiarity with your organization and remind recipients why your email is in their inbox.
- Stay relevant to the campaign’s goal. Make sure your subject lines express the overarching theme and purpose of your message. Decide what you want the recipient to do as a result of reading your email, and begin drawing them toward that action in the subject line (think verbs!). There isn’t a one-size-fits-all formula, but descriptive subject lines that match the tone of the content inside will be most effective. For a content-rich newsletter, informative subject lines work best. Similarly, event invites need to say what’s special about the occasion and provide a registration deadline. And if you’re sending a purely promotional campaign, be upfront about the value inside to convey a sense of urgency, like “Fairytale Books: Celebrate Dr. Seuss; 40% Off Today Only.”
- Pay attention to your audience. Writing subject lines people love may seem like magic, but unless your audience is made up of Muppets, “a la peanut butter and jelly sandwiches” won’t cut it. Nevertheless, put yourself in the Amazing Mumford’s shoes for a minute and think about why everyone remembers that line. Jim Henson knew a thing or two about childhood appetites, and you’re likely to have the inside track on what your audience likes, too. So have a little fun and design a subject line that puts your audience’s interests first.
- Be enticing without being pushy. Avoid subject lines that read like something Mr. Radio Announcer Guy would squawk over the airwaves louder than your toddler in the back seat. Email recipients can spot a hard sell a mile away, so anything that sounds like it belongs in the Sunday circular should be rewritten. If you’re struggling to figure out which email subject lines are most likely to convert, try running a few pay-per-click ads with various subject lines to see which one has the highest click-through rate.
- Avoid spammy words and slogans. Including the word “free” may seem like a good way to get customers in the door, but since spammers throw “free” around like cheap lipstick, your email could wind up in the trash if you combine it with other frequent spam offenders like gratuitous exclamation points, typing in ALL CAPS or terms like “blowout” and “cheap.”
- Be clever, but don’t get too kooky. When getting attention is the name of the game, it’s tempting to write a Page Six worthy subject line. But since subtlety is lost in the inbox, your reader may pass over your line before taking a moment to get the joke. Check out Matt’s tips for more advice on creating a catchy hook.
- Test, measure and repeat. Testing variables such as branding, length and punctuation can demonstrate what subject lines carry the most weight with your audience. Coming soon, Emma’s Split Testing feature will give you the ability to send up to three subject lines to a portion of your audience and automatically distribute the winning subject line to the rest. Read more about Emma customers who split test, and learn about Emma’s split testing feature (and a whole slew of other cool enhancements coming your way).
- Review past results. Emma lets you compare the results of up to five mailings at a time so you can see at a glance just which campaigns — and subject lines — performed the best. Use this information to craft your next subject line, and keep an eye on how it stacks up.
- Steer clear of industry clichés. One surefire way to stand out from the crowd is to find an original way to state the obvious. Think about it: If a person has signed up for your emails, they probably have emails from similar brands in their inbox. To make sure yours is the email they read, find out what the competition is saying and do something different – tell your audience something they don’t know.
Ultimately, though, a winning subject line can’t stand alone. A successful campaign depends upon the audience’s level of engagement with your brand, the relevance of your previous campaigns and at least a dozen other factors ranging from time of day and general busyness to the blood sugar level of the recipient. The subject line and “from” name, however, are the two main factors in encouraging recipients to open or delete. Sure, there’s no secret formula that will work for everyone, but these ten principles are what great subject lines are made of. Next time you’re grasping at straws, put one of these tips to the test, and don’t forget to report back — we’d love to hear what’s worked for you.
This is part six in our holiday series where we answer email marketing questions provided by our customers. Visit part five here.
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Optimized email signup forms look smart, and act even smarter
Six tips to make your opt-in form do more
We see lots of consternation over list growth, and we get it. Inbound marketing is a two-way street with a single point of access — permission to engage. That’s why you’ve optimized your website six ways to Sunday and deployed a small army of pay per click (PCC) ads to bring traffic, right?
Visitors are primed for engagement when they hit your site, and your email signup form has mere seconds to snap up that attention; in short, your signup form is the nexus of your conversion funnel. So make sure you’re optimizing it to attract the right leads.
Here are six tips to optimize your form for new subscribers:
- Generate curb appeal. Your signup form needs to draw the viewer’s eye. Lead site visitors to your form by placing it in a high-traffic area where it doesn’t have to compete with other centers of attention. Making sure your signup form is seen is job #1, and it never hurts to stack the deck. Gilt Taste has a very welcoming homepage, with not one but two places to subscribe above the fold.
- Build trust. Of course, you wouldn’t sell someone’s email address or share it with another company. We know you’re better than that, but potential subscribers may not. Tell them in no uncertain terms that you’ll respect and maintain their privacy.
- Lead with the benefits and explain what’s in store for subscribers. An email address is a precious commodity so make this an appealing transaction. While you can and should employ your brand’s signature wit and wisdom, your pitch is about what’s in it for subscribers. Do your emails make people smarter than the boy next door? Will joining your list score a table at Sunday brunch? Giving people an idea of the email goods you’ll deliver (and when) will head buyer’s remorse off at the pass. Creative firm Rule29‘s newsletter signup form does this very well.
- Be quick on the uptake by limiting your form to three or four fields. We marketers and our precious databases are insatiable when it comes to numbers. Be aware that for every required field, there’s a 20% decline in signups. Put the email field front and center, and unless you require additional information to survive on a desert island, don’t ask for much more before subscribers click submit.
- Encourage self-segmenting. Enabling your audience to choose from a menu of available groups during the opt-in process is a great way to show you care about their preferences, and it’ll sustain their interest over time. If your content strategy has more than one track and your sending schedule’s hopping, let people decide for themselves what they’d like to read and when. To learn more about newsletter menus, see this Ask Emma article.
- Ask politely to learn more about subscribers. It’s quite possible to collect email addresses and demographic data without turning people off. Consider sending a survey with your welcome trigger to give new signups an easy way to tell you their likes and dislikes. If you’re hooked up to Emma’s API through a custom web form, why not create a multi-tiered signup process to keep the opt-ins *and* the data flowing? You’ll want to put the email field on the first page, next to the benefits and submit button. After people click submit, you’re free to direct them anywhere to share their birthday, favorite ice cream flavor and what-not. Lastly, be sure to thank subscribers for what they’ve shared. Read more about thank you pages here.
Gilt Taste's signup is pretty irresistible .
Rule29's signup has perfect pitch.
No sizzle, no signup, no sale
Inbound leads are personal now. It all begins with an email address and, if you’re lucky, a name. An optimized website deserves an equally optimized signup form. So take that signup form off the blocks, test until you find what works best for your audience and watch the people meter wave them in.
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If you like this post, take a look at these:
- Molly highlights an opt-in form that leaves an impression
- Megan shares five ways to jazz up your signup form
- How to add an email signup form to your Facebook page
Keeping it real(tor)
How real estate agents are using email marketing in a tough economy
If there’s one thing realtors are good at, it’s staying positive in the face of unexpected challenges. They greet screwy inspections, needy clients and delayed closings with a smile and a can-do attitude. The past few years have presented plenty of opportunities to push agents to get creative, especially in marketing their own services.
With restrictive lending regulations, higher foreclosure rates and fewer Americans making the jump into home ownership, an agent’s precious advertising dollars need to make a lasting impact. Savvy realtors are developing cost-effective email strategies — turning these challenges into new opportunities.
Are you a real estate agent and not sure where to start? Check out examples from three realtors who sold me right away …
Keeps clients in-the-know.
Cindy Kelly | A monthly newsletter
The monthly newsletter is a real estate staple, as important as freshly baked cookies at your Open House. Your newsletter should be branded, relevant and, most importantly, packed with helpful information. I love this example from Cindy Kelly in Bellevue, WA. Cindy continues to service her clients after the sale by offering them information on home care. Each article provides information about preventive maintenance, and Cindy provides a referral to a local expert. In doing so, she’s also reminding them that she is a housing professional. Going the extra mile no doubt earns Cindy the recommendation of her clients.
+ See a recent newsletter
+ Follow @Cindylive on Twitter
+ Visit Cindy’sblog
Call out multiple listings in one email.
Stephanie Lawrence | Current listings feature
Your monthly email is a great place to share your current listings, link each to your website and track which recipients show interest (via click-throughs). That’s exactly what Stephanie Lawrence of Zeitlin & Co. is doing. Each listing gets an image and a short blurb that links back to her blog and the embedded MLS information. With one click, a buyer can get more information or even schedule a showing. The best part is every click is tracked so Stephanie can keep up with her subscribers. For example, let’s say there’s a price reduction on a home. Stephanie can log into her Emma account, see who clicked to view that home, then email a follow-up with the new pricing info to those folks only. The buyer is excited to receive the news, Stephanie closes the deal, and the home seller is wowed by the quick sale. (That’s the plan, anyway.) Win, win and win.
+ See a recent newsletter
+ Follow @agentsteph on Twitter
+ Visit Stephanie’s website
Hit the highlights of one property.
Angela Barnshaw | Specific property details
As a real estate professional you come into contact with lots of other agents, home inspectors and lenders. Ask them to join your email list and you’ll not only build a strong, permissions-based list, you’ll also create professional relationships that will return more sales. Angela Barnshaw (aka Agent 06) does a splendid job of creating an email specific to each property and sending the campaign to her industry contacts. Each email provides all the information an agent needs to match the home to a potential buyer, and recipients can share the information with their social networks. It’s a powerful marketing tool to add to her arsenal.
+ See a recent campaign
+ Follow @GetAgent06 on Twitter
+ Visit the Agent 06 website
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Want more examples? Take a look at the slideshow below.
Click to view the slideshow.
New to Emma? Get 2 months free when you join today.
Email click-throughs aren’t as elusive as you may think
Small changes in your campaigns can increase your click-through rates
Getting clicks on your newsletter is one of the elusive goals that requires a combination of the right information at the right time to the right recipient. No sweat, right? Well, it makes sense that the percentage of people who click is usually in the single digits. According to the Email Stat Center, the average click-through rate is 5.9%. You aren’t going to be able to meet everyone’s need in the right stage of the purchase cycle. However, there are a few things that you can do to encourage those on the fence to go ahead and learn more.
Right off the bat, you need to know that you have very little time to engage the person who has just opened your email. Think about that person for a moment; she has just deleted 12 other emails, she’s drinking her morning coffee and she is checking her day’s schedule. Or maybe your recipient is wrapping up before lunch (because at least one time zone always seems to be at lunch). He is seeing your email amongst social media notifications, YouTube videos from his sister, and all he can think about is that club sandwich in his future.
All that is to say, after you spend the time perfecting the content of your email, consider that you only have two seconds to capture the attention of your subscribers. That means that you must share what you’re offering in a clear, swift and appealing manner.
Here’s a good test: Hand your email to a colleague who has not helped design or write it in any way, preferably one who’s unfamiliar with your campaign. To be generous, give him 5 or 6 seconds with it. At the end of that time, he should be able to answer the following questions:
- What are you offering me?
- How can I get it?
You don’t have to be offering a coupon for this test to be relevant. If you are offering your expertise on choosing a wine to pair with dinner, that’s valuable. It just has to be clear.
The “How do I get it?” question is where you really figure out if your message is effective and actionable. Here are some tips (and some of our favorite click-related articles) for optimizing your emails.
- Make it easy to find. Your “click area” should be immediately obvious. Is it a different color? Does it have a giant arrow pointing to it? Is the model in your image looking toward the button? (That has been shown to increase clicks.) It should be very obvious, and you should use visual design techniques to grab the attention of readers. Try different shapes, colors and sizes of your buttons. Experiment with different areas of the page, too. Put the button above most of your copy and see if more people convert.
- Make it easy to click. Again, an immediately apparent button is going to help. (For mobile readers, make sure that your button is at least 44 by 44 pixels and preferably a few lines away from another button to avoid mis-clicks.)
- Make it convincing. The text matters, and slight variations can really make a difference. “Learn More” and “Buy Now” may bring you to the same landing page, but they will appeal to people on different ends of the buying spectrum.
- Limit your subscribers’ choices. Giving too many places to click may overwhelm or confuse your readers. Remember, you only have 2 seconds!
- Use some psychology. Did you know that we lose far more joy by missing out on something than we gain by actually getting it? Consider this as you design your messages.
The small changes go a long way, so give one or two a try and report back — we’d love to know which strategies work best for you.
This is part four in our holiday series where we answer email marketing questions provided by our customers. To see part one, click here. Visit part two here and part three here.
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Not yet an Emma customer? Join now — your first two months are free.
Frequently asked questions about email marketing
In a series of posts, Emma answers your questions about email design, delivery and more
In our recent holiday survey, we asked our email subscribers, Facebook fans and Twitter followers to weigh in on this question: Say that Santa has a magical elf who only answers North Pole mail dealing with email marketing questions. What would you ask him? We were thrilled to receive a bevy of survey responses — and some really solid questions for our magical elf. (Want to take a look at the survey responses? Visit this post.)
Now, allow me to put on the proverbial, if figurative, elf hat and answer four of the most common questions we received. Oh, and be on the lookout for even more blog posts of this sort. We’re really excited to answer even more of your questions.
1. How do I continue to grow my email list with the “right” people?
Great question. Rather than asking how to grow your lists any ol’ way, so many of you recognize the importance of gaining the right subscribers. That is, folks who want to hear from you and are engaged with your brand. First things first: make it easy to sign up. Post your signup form in easy-to-spot locations on your homepage, blog, Facebook page and relevant landing pages. And keep the process short ‘n sweet. Folks may not hit submit if they’ve got to weed through 15 required form fields. Most importantly, be super clear about what you’ll send, how often and what subscribers will get in return for signing up. Want an example? Take a look at this smart signup form by Social Fresh.
2. When’s the best time of day or week to send an email campaign?
There’s really no magic answer to the question of email sending times because it’ll vary depending upon your audience’s behavior — Do they read email at work or home? Have they signed up to receive your emails from their professional email address or personal address? — and depending upon your message — Are you sending an invitation that needs to go out prior to an event? Does your promotion have an expiration date?.
Of course, there’s plenty of data on email sending times, if you’re looking for it. A study by Pure360 suggests that people are receptive to marketing emails during the first hour of their workday. And the Email Experience Council reports that the most popular days for retailers to send emails are Tuesday, Thursday and Monday. (Want to see some more stats? Check out the Email Stat Center’s section on email deployment times.)
Our recommendation? Go straight to the source. Create a survey and ask your audience how often they’d like to hear from you and when they’re most apt to check their email. Then, test various sending times with different segments of your audience and see which times of day and week perform solidly over time.
At the end of the day (no pun intended), don’t sweat your email’s sending time. If you’re writing compelling emails that speak to your audience, your subscribers will make time to open them, no matter what time they arrive.
3. Can recipients change their preference on how often they want to receive emails?
Yes! And this is a terrific way to increase audience engagement. When given a choice, folks will be more attentive when they receive your emails. We’ve created a help page to walk you through the steps of setting this up, and our support team is on hand to answer any questions you have along the way.
4. How do I keep my email from going in a recipient’s spam folder?
It’s the million dollar email marketing question! While it’s easy to get upset when your emails don’t land in your recipients’ inboxes, spam filters are in place for a reason. They keep all of our inboxes much cleaner than they’d otherwise be by filtering out tons of junk mail everyday. Of course, you might worry that your email — which is quite lovely and isn’t junk at all! — will end up in the dreaded spam folder. Here’s something to remember: You can’t please all of the spam filters all of the time, but you can certainly take steps to increase your email’s deliverability. A few tips:
- Ask your recipients to add your “from address” to their address book or trusted sender list. This is still the number one way to reach their inboxes.
- Update your organization’s SPF record and register Emma as an authorized sender on your behalf.
- Limit the amount of formatting changes in your email. It’s a good idea to spruce up your headlines, customize your link colors and add images, but don’t go overboard.
- For a broader discussion of sending reputation, plus more tips, take a look at Art’s post.
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Stay tuned for more answers to your burning questions, and if these have sparked any other ideas, please weigh in here!
The results of Emma’s holiday survey
How you responded & what we've got in store. Plus, we announce the winner!
Last month, we asked you to take our holiday survey and tell us a bit about your email marketing goals, habits and interests — especially as they relate to your holiday marketing plans. We were thrilled to receive so many thoughtful responses, and I’d like to share the results with you. Some of the answers really surprised us, and the experience highlights just how important it is to eliminate assumptions and ask your audience.
Take a look at how you answered below, and hear what we’ve got in store this season to assist you. Plus, find out a few tips for creating your own surveys and the winner of our survey prize!
1. Choose 3 things from the list below that you’d like to learn more about.
Since we asked you to pick three answers, we knew there’d be a healthy split among them. And we’re already thinking of ways to provide quick tips and to make your holiday emails look as fresh and festive as possible. Take a look at Mary’s five tips for retaining and attracting subscribers. Then, head on over to Emma’s 2011 Holiday Design Spectacular, and check out the holiday templates we’ve designed for your seasonal invitations, promos and greetings.
2. What article types on the Emma blog are most beneficial to you? Choose all that apply.
We’re glad to know that you continue to find value in our posts with email best practices and tips, and that you like our design showcases as much as we do. Throughout the holiday season, we’ll provide even more, including this recent holiday design showcase.
3. Where do you most often read your emails?
There’s lots of talk about designing emails for mobile these days, and with good reason — nearly 31% of mobile users in the U.S. access email on their phones. But, it’s also important to remember that the vast majority of subscribers haven’t booted email activity on their computers in favor of their phones. If we’re ever in a pickle where we must decide between how an email looks on a desktop computer versus a mobile device, we can make a case for designing for our desktop readers.
4. How many email inboxes do you manage? (Choose closest answer.)
This response surprised us more than any other. Boy, you guys are busy! Three inboxes is a lot to manage, and 14% of you manage even more than that. Your responses encourage us to keep our Emma Roundups packed with solid offerings each month — we want to make sure ours is an email worth opening.
5. How many emails do you send out from Emma on a monthly basis?
These results are a fairly close match to the sending behaviors of our entire customer base; in fact, more than 60% of our customers send 5,000 emails or less each month. In an industry where it’s easy to get hung up on list size, remember that it’s the quality of your list, not its size, that matters.
6. Which social network do you use most frequently?
Another surprising answer. We expected Facebook to lead the pack, but we didn’t expect it to lead by such an overwhelming margin. Perhaps it’s a false consensus bias of mine: I use Twitter so frequently that I wrongly assumed that more of you did, too. This becomes a question that could launch a separate survey. We’d love to know more about why you use Facebook most frequently, if you manage a personal or business account and, if you use multiple social networks, how you differentiate your usage. And do say hi to Emma on Facebook, too!
7. What sites, blogs and resources do you use to improve your email marketing?
We had two motives when asking this question: to find out which sites you find most useful and to add some new sites to our everyday reads. We received too many great answers to list them all, but here are some of the sites that came up again and again (go ahead, add ‘em to your Google Reader): Mashable, HubSpot, Email Experience Council, iMedia Connection, MarketingProfs, Marketo, Inc., Fast Company, ClickZ, CMO, Which Test Won, American Marketing Association, Sender Score, Open Forum, Marketing Sherpa, Seth Godin’s blog and eMarketer.
8. Fill in the blank. When it comes to my holiday emails this year, I’m most concerned about ______.
Based on your response to this question, we’re excited to be planning some style-specific articles for your holiday email campaigns. Stay tuned, and in the meantime, check out these articles:
- 5 tips for better-looking campaigns
- Stylishly formatted campaigns, parts one and two
- How can I make my plaintext pretty?
- Building a slice and dice campaign
9. Say that Santa has a magical elf who only answers North Pole mail dealing with email marketing questions. What would you ask him?
This was a fun one! We received so many excellent questions — some serious, some a bit silly — and we’ll be featuring the most common in a series of Q&A posts this season.
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Want to send a survey to your customers? Here are five tips:
- Provide some intro text to explain the purpose of the survey, how long it’ll take to complete and what respondents should expect to get out of it. If you neglect to provide this information, why should anyone respond? You’ve got to know your purpose first, then design and promote the survey.
- Start with a few fun, engaging questions. This helps to hook respondents and set momentum right off the bat.
- Design questions that get at what you really want to know. When I first designed our survey, question #6 asked, “Which social network is your favorite?” A colleague pointed out that it’d be a difficult question for respondents to answer — Favorite right now? Favorite of all time? A network I like the most but maybe don’t use a lot? — and that it wouldn’t provide information we’d be able to draw reliable conclusions from. So, instead, I changed the question to “Which social network do you use most frequently?” This more clearly gets at what I want to know — where folks spend most of their time.
- Save demographic questions for the end — and make them optional. Putting your demographic questions at the beginning is boring at best and alienating at worst. Leave them for the end, and give folks the freedom to answer some or none of them.
- Keep it short. Appreciate that your customers are busy, and they’re probably not inclined to take a survey that requires more than five minutes of their time. You can still collect very valuable information in 10 questions or less. Giving yourself a limit also forces you to cut out the fluff and make each question matter.
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Who won the survey prize, you ask? We used random.org to pick a winner at random, and the winner is … Lauri Young of Quantum Bank. She’s won a month’s worth of free emails on us. Congrats, Lauri!
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Get into the holiday spirit. Request a Readymade design from Emma’s design team.
Trick-or-treat, email marketing style
With Halloween around the corner, here are a few sweet moves to try & a few sticky situations to avoid when it comes to your emails
With Halloween just three days away, the holiday season is officially upon us, and we’re kicking things off with an email-friendly set of tricks and treats. As you prepare your fall- and winter-themed campaigns, consider implementing the three treats below — and avoiding the three tricks. Your campaigns will bewitch your subscribers (in a good way).
And, remember, if you’re looking for some design inspiration, you can request a $25 Readymade holiday design from our design team all season long.
TREAT: Birthday triggers that turn a profit
If you’re capturing your subscribers’ birth dates, consider sending birthday coupons by way of an email trigger — it’ll increase engagement and profits, especially in the months leading up to Christmas. And it may have unexpected bonuses. Take this, for example: I recently received a birthday email with a coupon for a free breakfast sandwich from Star Bagel, a bagel shop here in Nashville. It’s one of my favorite places so I was thrilled about the email. While I was busy running a few holiday errands (I’m starting early this year!), I redeemed my birthday coupon, and then I ended up purchasing more. (Nice work, Star Bagel.)
Read more from Clickz about birthday triggers bringing in the business.
TRICK: Not taking advantage of social media
Are you interacting with fans and followers on social media sites? If not, you could be missing out on an opportunity to boost customer loyalty and increase customer spending by 20%- 40%. Starting conversations on Facebook and Twitter is likely to increase the engagement of folks who may not engage with you in other ways (on the phone, for example), and as the become more engaged, they’re likelier to turn to you for your expertise. (Engaged customers also spend more. See that bit about me and the bagel shop.)
Check out a solid 12-step social media plan by MarketingProfs here. And if you need a hand getting your email and social media working together, stop by to ask us on Twitter and Facebook, or send a note to our friendly support team.
TREAT: Using video to mix things up a bit
We recently posted a video blog, and we recorded and produced the whole thing with just a laptop and iMovie. Have your own computer camera or smartphone handy? Give video a try. It’s a great way to add a human touch to your posts. And there are lots of helpful how-to’s out there. Our friend, Tom Martin, shares 8 tips over on Social Fresh for creating a video with an iPhone alone.
Read how one online floral retailer boosted response metrics and conversions just by adding video to email campaigns.
TRICK: Forgetting your images’ alt text or creating image-only campaigns
I recently got an email in my inbox with the enticing subject line “Get Dressed.” I clicked to open, and to my surprise, I landed on a blank white page. If your campaigns are filled with images, make sure to include some alt text. (If you fill out all of the fields when adding your image to an Emma layout, alt text will be automatically generated.) Alt text ensures that you’re providing some context to readers who don’t have images displayed by default. It’s much better for them to see “Click here to view our gallery of outfits,” than nothing at all.
And make sure you’re designing your campaigns to render beautifully without relying solely on images. Marketing Sherpa found that click-throughs increased over 83% when tables were used to add color and design to emails that had images blocked.
TREAT: Enable Social Sharing to grow your audience list
This might just be the easiest treat of all. With a simple click of the Add Social Sharing button atop your email campaign (in edit mode), you can add the ability for your subscribers to share your email on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Oh, and in doing so, you could be increasing your campaign’s click-through rate by 30-55%. Not too shabby.
Want a refresher on how to enable your subscribers to share the love? Grab our Social Sharing how-to here.
TRICK: Sending your campaign to your audience without testing
Giving your campaign the once over and clicking a link here or there in preview mode might seem like sufficient testing when you’re pressed for time, but it’s not enough if you want to ensure a solid delivery. Your emails will render a bit differently in the major email programs, and it’s a good idea to test all links from the inbox. Plus, getting another set of eyes on your email’s content and formatting will help you spot typos and formatting inconsistencies. Emma makes comprehensive testing easy by way of your free Test Group. Store up to 10 addresses there — try to represent a mix of different email programs — and send unlimited campaigns without affecting your monthly sending total.
If you need a hand getting your Test Group set up, visit our Help Guide.
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I hope these treats and tricks have sparked a few ideas of your own. Please share your tips with our community in the comments here. And if you’d like to show off your holiday-themed campaign, share the link, too. We’re ready to see the spooky and the spectacular. We may just feature yours in an upcoming post!
Emma is a member of the Email Sender & Provider Coalition and the Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group.
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