eMarketing Advisor Blog

Increase your ROI with a tailor-made message

Studies show, one of the top reasons cited for unsubscribing from email is irrelevant content. If you’re looking for a way to decrease the amount of unsubscribers, then it’s time to focus on maintaining your subscribers' preferences.

Giving the option for people to indicate their preferences will allow you to tailor everything from content to frequency for your subscribers. The more tailored a message, the better results your email or campaign will receive, which means increased ROI for you!

Start by having subscribers fill out a preference form as soon as they sign up for your email program. When creating this form, the first thing to keep in mind is that it should be short and concise.

The preference form should also be set up so that depending on the answers one gives, they will be dropped into different target groups, enabling them to receive customized messages from you, instead of being “blasted.”

Over time, your subscribers’ needs and preferences are sure to change. To ensure that you are maintaining preferences on an ongoing basis, be sure to include a link to your preference form in every email you send. Allow people to update their frequency, profile information, and interests as they wish. To take this even further, incorporate routine, short surveys into your regular mailings to collect feedback on your communications.

To create an effective preference form gather key information, such as:

Type of mailings
Are they interested in your newsletters, event promotions, or legislative updates? Maybe they’ll want to join every list, but maybe they’ll want to be on just one. Either way, let them pick! On the form, make the title of the publication linked to a brief description that includes the type of content the email will include and the frequency – that way they know exactly what to expect.

Frequency
Another top reason cited for unsubscribing is that people felt like they were receiving too many emails. Subscribers may not want to receive your newsletter on a weekly basis. Provide a chance in which these subscribers can dictate how often emails are sent to them. Give people an option to sign up for the regular communication or a digest version to control frequency. Once the frequency rules are created, make sure you stick to them!

Topics
There’s no better way to figure out the content of emails and future events than to find out what type of topics your subscribers are interested in. Use this chance to find out what topic areas they’re most interested in reading about.

Format
This could possibly be one of the most important pieces of information you can gather from your subscribers. Find out how they want to be communicated to. Is it through text message or a mobile-friendly email layout? Customize the delivery of the message and subscribers will be more likely to open, read and take action.

Overall, you must start gathering information on your subscribers to ensure you are delivering a customized email experience to each and every one. By gathering preferences and placing subscribers into their preferred lists, if a subscriber unsubscribes, they will only be doing so from that specific type of email, and not all of them. Hopefully, though, they’ll be happy that you took the time to hear what they really want to hear about, and be a happy subscriber for a long, long time!

Debunking Email Myths: Busted and Confirmed

Every once in a while, we hear rumors circulating from the email rumor mill. Some are true, and some aren’t. We’re here to set the record straight!

Over the next few months, we’re busting email myths. We’ve compiled a list of email myths and investigated whether they’re fact or fiction. Did social media really kill email? Is there a best time of day to send email? And what about smartphone usage; are my subscribers really using them?

Read on to find out if we’ve busted or confirmed some of the most talked about email myths. (Note: No one was harmed in the investigation of these myths!)

Myth: Social Media has killed the need for email.
Results: Busted

If anything, social media has only increased the need for email. Just think, how do you know of activity on your social sites? How will you inform your audience that you even have a social media presence? That’s right, from email.

In the end, social media and email really do complement each other nicely. Email is a great tool to drive people to your social media sites and to reinforce the value they will find there. Try using social media as a way to make your email content interactive. Use email as a vehicle to deliver topics and news - then ask your readers to post comments or videos on your social sites in response. The key to success is to create unique content on each channel so that subscribers have a reason to both read your email and visit your social sites. Don’t duplicate articles on Facebook; find a new twist, such as a video or a quiz. The possibilities are endless!

Myth: There is no one best time to send to everyone.
Results: Confirmed

We hear all the time, “What is the best day of the week to send email?” In our recent benchmark report, we found there was almost no impact on the results of open or click-thru rates among the days of the week or the time of day an email is sent. Instead, targeting had the biggest impact on results. So if you want to improve your results, revisit your content and how you segment your audience. This does not mean that you can’t still customize the timing of your emails to your members. Try testing out three different times in a day and then compare the results. Or, take the guesswork out and use the Informz Send Time Optimization tool, a feature in which you set the email to be sent over a 24-hour period based on past behaviors for each individual subscriber. You can’t customize it any more than that!

Myth: My readers are too old to have a smartphone.
Results: Busted

One of the best parts of email marketing, is all of the great tracking and reporting that is available to you. Use this tracking for insight into what your audience is using to read your emails. For example, the Informz Email Client will report will show details down to the specific mobile device an individual uses. It doesn’t get much easier!

And if your mobile audience isn’t growing yet – it will be soon. The number of smartphone users is expected to more than double by 2013. In a study of Informz Association clients, we found that mobile readership of email has more than doubled in the past year alone! So, before you start thinking your subscribers don’t fit the “tech savvy” group, think again.

One thing that we know is definitely true: don’t believe all those rumors out there. Email reports, marketing studies, and testing prove that blanket statements almost never turn out to be true. While it might be easy to believe such statements, take a look at all the evidence – such as your own email marketing reports – to determine what is true for your subscribers.

We’ll be back next month with more email myths! Is there a myth you’ve heard and don’t know what to believe?

Email and Social Media: A Match Made in Marketing Heaven

With so many ways to reach out and communicate with your members, are you faced with deciding which marketing channels to focus your resources on?

It can be a tough decision. Instead of just relying on one vehicle to communicate with your audience, focus on integrating all of your marketing channels together so that they all complement each other. No two channels work better together than social networking and email!

Follow these three easy steps to unlock enormous potential for your marketing programs.

1. Find out where your members "hang out"

The first step is to decide where your association should be in the social media realm. Is it Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, a closed online community or all the above? Don’t just jump into social media because you think you “should,” make sure your members are there first and you understand how they want to interact with you on social media sites.

The easiest way to do this is to just ask them. Send a quick survey and have them identify which sites they are on and how they use social media. This will not only let you know what social communities members are using, but some insight as to what value you can offer them.

2. Grown and sustain friends and followers

Once you determine what social sites your members are on, it’s time to let everyone know where you're going to be! Email is a great vehicle to make this happen. When first launching your social media strategy, or if you want to try to revive these pages, send out an email or include an article in your enewsletter, featuring the value members may find if they visit these sites. Many members are already there, but they need to know the value of joining your group online.

When developing content, don’t re-create the wheel, but put a new twist on the information or offer something that your followers can’t find elsewhere, such as a video related to an email topic. Ask a question and then link to the article for explanation. All of these ideas will help your followers to stay engaged and look forward daily to your posts.

3. Email + Social Media = BFF

Email and social media go together like PB & J. Email is an essential vehicle to keep a variety of social media sites growing. Use email as a way to highlight what is going on your social media sites. You can do this by highlighting top bloggers or popular topics in your enewsletter. You want to give just enough information to reinforce the value of the social sites and pique their interest.

Also, use your social media sites to help grow your list by promoting membership and enewsletter subscription forms in your status updates.

Remember most individuals want to “test drive” an organization before joining or signing up to be on your list. Build the relationship with them first and establish yourself as an expert in the field and you will see the benefit email and social media can have on your membership numbers and engagement.

For more information on the benefits of an email and social media strategy, check out our Take 5 On Demand Webcast!

Top 3 Tips for Successful Subject Lines

When you look at your email reports, one of the first things you probably look at are your open rates. Are they increasing? Decreasing? How do they compare to others in the association industry?

The subject line is one of the most important factors in getting your email opened, and open rates are the key metric that affects others, like click-thru rates and conversion rates. If you’re not already spending 50% of your email creation process on the subject line alone, you might want to revisit your tactics. It’s worth investing your time in creating the perfect subject line if it will increase your open rates, click-thru rates, and in turn, your conversion rates!

Here are our top three tips to help you make your subject lines the best that they can be:

1. Short and sweet.

Depending on a person’s email program, they could only be seeing a small amount of subject line characters. As a general rule, keep it to less than 50 characters and if designing specifically for mobile devices, less than 30 characters. Don’t let anything get cut off!

2. Personalize it!

Creating relevant content should not be done for just the body of your email message. The subject line is the first thing your readers see and is the main driving factor if they open up the email. Make sure the subject line relates to the reader and the body content.

3. Test, test, test.

Don’t assume what you chose as a subject line is working; you need to test it out throughout the year. Split your group randomly and see if a new subject line works better than what you have been using. Try using hot topics or numbers to catch the readers eyes. There is no sure-fire subject line tactic that works for everyone, so try combining some of the different techniques listed here and find the right recipe that garners you the best results with your audience.

For more information on creating successful subject lines, click here. Short on time? Watch our Take 5 On Demand Webcast!

Top 3 Tips for Successful Membership Retention

We’ve been talking about membership retention a lot lately and the importance of converting those silent members to lifetime members. It might seem like a pretty daunting task, but it is possible! Here are three easy tips for successful membership retention:

1. Don’t forget.
Just because they renewed, doesn’t mean they have allegiance to your group forever. The time and effort you put in to get them to join and renew after their first year, you have to keep it up every year. Don’t forget about your long-term members. Create a strategy to continue to inform them of benefits they still may not have used or known about.

2. Survey, survey, survey.
Don’t wait every two years to ask your members what they like, dislike or want for your organization. Surveys with a few questions tend to be completed in full more often, so ask your members more often what they want from you as an organization. This is a great opportunity to adjust throughout the year before it’s too late.

3. Be aware of your checkbook members and don’t neglect them.
Identify those members who have not been engaged with your organization through their email activity — those who have not opened or clicked on an email in a certain amount of time. Then, segment them out and target them with special messaging, such as a preference form so you can know how they want to be communicated to. Not only will you increase engagement among this group, you will find your retention rates grow.

For more information on membership retention, check out our Take 5 On Demand Webcast!

Time For a Little Spring Cleaning

Yes, I know, it’s also getting close to the official start of summer, Memorial Day, but with a winter so miserable as many of us had this year, spring has just started! We clean our houses, catch up with old friends, and clear out bills, all in the name of springtime. But what about professionally? Do any of us really do a deep spring cleaning of our desks, files and lastly, our marketing contacts?

These contacts can be your members, subscribers or both. Just like that pair of hot pink shoes that you swore you would find a place to wear somewhere, we keep sending to our non-engaged subscribers that we believe one day will open our emails. Well — news flash! It’s time to approach this differently and think about spring cleaning your list.

Some easy steps to cleaning your lists are:

1. First, identify those individuals who have not opened or clicked on an email from you for a certain period of time (3 months for example).

2. Send a different email to them, encouraging them to update their email preferences, possibly stating that if they don’t, they will no longer receive the newsletter (or whatever emails you state) anymore.

3. Send a series of these emails; I suggest 3-4, so subscribers have fair warning before they are removed the list. You may also want to test out the subject lines during this campaign. Reason being, this group is much different than the active you group you send to on a regular basis. You may need to change things up a bit for them.

4. Once you have identified those who want to stay on your list and those who did not respond, you can then take the final, sometimes scary step, and remove them from your list.

Remember, even though you will end up with a list of subscribers who were not engaged but still want to receive emails from you, don’t lump them back into the mass group. Find what works for them and segment them out to deliver the customized email experience they want.

Creating a Customized Email Experience for your Subscribers

The world we live in today is filled with a lot of noise and because of this, we have all grown accustomed to expecting everything to be on-demand and customized to our liking. The same goes for email. It is not good enough to “batch and blast;" you need to customize the content and timing to achieve relevancy and success.

Utilizing integration can lead to not just a change in your analytics for the better, but it will also improve data integrity. Creating an integrated marketing strategy will take your marketing from good to great! Integration can help you achieve relevancy, engagement, and data integrity.

Relevancy
Creating messages that are of personal relevance to the recipient is essential to them opening and taking action on it. To do this, you need to send the right message, to the right person at the right time. Using data that is already in your database to segment specific stories to individual audiences in combination with your email analytics will allow you to achieve relevancy. One report to look at would be where your highest engagement levels have been at certain times of day and schedule around that time.

Engagement
Achieving relevancy is one thing, but the next step is to ensure the recipient takes action on the email. This relies on sending an email that is relevant and at a time in which they are more likely to take action on it. Implementing an automated campaign, which can be achieved relatively easily, can improve efficiencies while also improving your engagement levels. Utilizing a seamless integration between your email software and your database, you will be able to set up triggers that will send out an email based on an action a recipient took, either transactional or because they clicked on a certain link, or based on time, such as new subscriber engagement campaigns. This not only delivers a message to the recipient directly based on what they just did, but it does so in a timely manner when they are already engaged with you.

Data Integrity
Automation is not just for outgoing emails; it can be used to improve your data. With a seamless integration, real-time write backs from your email analytics to your database and vice versa, is possible. Storing all of your information in one system is key to improving data integrity and customer service. Once someone unsubscribes, it is marked immediately in their profile and will not mistakenly be pulled again; when a subscriber calls to order a product and the staff member notices that their email address was a bad one based on the past few emails sent, they can update it right on the spot.

This article just touches on the surface of the powerful results that can be achieved with integrated email. For more information on this topic, join us for our webinar, What We Learned from Sending 685,163,990 Emails Last Year on Tuesday, April 19th at 2pm.

More than Just a First Impression: Tips to Achieve Winning Deliverability...and Winning Over the Parents

Do you remember the first time you “met the parents” of your significant other? You were unbelievably nervous, afraid you might say the wrong thing or that you won’t live up to their expectations. Sometimes, you don’t get the best vibe from your significant other’s folks. But other times, well, they couldn’t be happier! Getting an email to your subscribers can often feel like getting the stamp of approval from the parent – spam filters are determining the future of your relationship!

Due to the infinite number of spam filters out there, and the fact that no two filters are alike, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach that will help you avoid them all, 100% of the time. Luckily, just as in meeting the parents, there are rules you can follow, guidelines to reference, and a look you can pull off to increase the chances of getting your email into the inbox.

From Address (A firm handshake)

Your handshake is one of the best ways to make a positive, genuine personal impact – just like your from address – and who doesn’t want to establish good rapport right of the bat? Spam filters want to validate who the email is coming from, make sure they are trustworthy – and they won’t accept fakes. Here are some guidelines for crafting effective from addresses:

• The from address should always contain a real name. Select a recognizable person from your organization and keep it consistent. This will help to build trust. Let your subscribers know who you are -- and the spam filters, too.

• Reply-to emails should be valid, working emails. If they can’t talk back to you, how can they be sure that you’re real?

Subject lines (Your First Impression)

A frown on your face and lack of enthusiasm when you first meet probably isn’t going to impress the parents. This first impression of you counts, just like it does with email. Your subject line is a first impression, and it can create a red flag for spam filters. Here are some tips for effective subject lines:

• Avoid use of certain words. Top filtered words you should never use: FREE, Free Instant, For Only, Double Your, As Seen, Offer

• Avoid using exclamation or question marks. One might be ok, but never more than one. Use proper capitalization, which means avoid using ALL CAPS. This mimics yelling, and is a huge negative.

• Be sure to have a subject! An email without one is a big red flag.

• Make sure your subject line does not contain G.a.p.p.y T.e.x.t or lots of whitespace between words.

• Don’t throw your money around - avoid use of the dollar sign - $$ - this is seen as a cheap ploy to impress parents and spam filters alike!

The Body of the Email (How you’re dressed, your conversation)

A great first impression means nothing if the real you (your content) is sloppy, high-maintenance, and irrelevant. While it’s important to focus on your subject lines, don’t forget that what’s INSIDE the email counts, too. The body of your email isn’t exempt from the rules and regulations of the spam filter! Here are some things you can do inside your actual email to help it get through:

List Removal Instructions -- don't be high maintenance!

Of course you have to have an unsubscribe button – we all know that. But don’t be high maintenance and make subscribers jump through hoops to get removed from your list. The best way is to use custom-encoded instant removal links. This allows your subscribers to unsubscribe with the simple click of a button. This is not only a good practice, but is also part of being compliant with the new CAN-SPAM regulations.

Do not ask your subscribers to email someone to get unsubscribed. This is not only against current CAN-SPAM regulations, but it can also get your message filtered. Be careful about the language you use for this list removal - don't say "we honor all removal requests" or “this is not spam” – it’s something spammers do and get you wrongly filtered.

Copy and Content

Here are some best practices when it comes to the copy and content of your email:

• Be careful about the phrases you use in the body of your email. Avoid common spam phrases like "be amazed,” "your income," "subject to credit approval," "earn $xx per week,” and "check or money order.” Sometimes, this means even look closely at what your advertisers are saying in their ads.

• ALL CAPS shouldn’t just be avoided in the subject line. The body of your email should contain less than one line of ALL CAPS, if you are going to use them at all. Yelling just doesn’t get you anywhere.

• Leave your extra baggage at home! Video, audio, and forms in emails are just that – extra baggage. Do not embed these things into your email - link to it instead.

• There is the saying “beauty is only skin deep.” And while this may be one point where club bouncers and email filters differ, image isn’t everything – and shouldn’t be everything when you’re designing an email. Excessive images without a good portion of text are often seen as spam, since spam filters can’t actually read the images. It’s also a bad practice for anyone who has images disabled and will get large red X’s in the email, but no message.

• No one likes a sloppy dresser – or a sloppy coder. So keep your code clean! A common mistake is to design HTML email in Microsoft Word and export the code to HTML – this results in sloppy behind-the-scenes code and spam filters hate it!

Whitelisting (Get Invited Back)

Even if you do all these things right – it still doesn’t hurt to have someone looking out for you. Get on your subscribers “safe sender list” by asking them to whitelist your From Address. That way, from the beginning, you are asking to be put on a list of people that should always get that stamp of approval!

So there you have it – the do’s and don’ts that will boost your popularity with those who control your access to your subscribers’ inboxes. And the best part – all of these guidelines will not only give you the nod, but when implemented consistently will improve your reputation.

Interested in learning more? Register for Signed! Sealed! Blocked?! Tips for Improving your Email Deliverability on Wednesday, March 9th at 2:00pm EST.

What Facebook Messages Means for Marketers

Last month, Facebook revealed their newest offering: Facebook Messages. This announcement has been causing quite the stir, and has left marketers wondering – where do we go from here?

Just like the new priority inbox systems we’ve seen developed this year, Facebook Messages will give consumers complete control over what ends up in their inboxes based on their priorities and preferences. Here are the three main features of Facebook Messages, and what they mean for you as a marketer:

Seamless Messaging

What it’s all about
Not everyone likes email – we know that. But not everyone likes text messages, or phone calls, or instant messages. Everyone has their own preference, and sometimes it’s hard to remember who prefers which type of communication. Facebook Messages will now do this for you. You choose the person, and they’ll send the message to the recipient in the channel they want it in. Messages is not email, but a conversation tool. Email addresses with @facebook.com will be available to people who want them, but they are not required.

What this means for you
Don’t worry – email is not dead (phew!), but you may need to be more flexible. Increasing the types of channels in which you communicate with your subscribers is not just optional, but required. Create mobile-friendly emails and ask subscribers for permission to contact via SMS messaging. Online messaging has evolved over the years, and it will continue to do so.

Conversation History

What it’s all about
This one is pretty straightforward. Whether the messages exchanged between two people are via email, SMS, or chat, they will all be bundled together in one place. Every conversation between you and a friend can instantly be viewed with the conversation history feature.

What this means for you
Pay attention to your frequency. It might be a good idea to survey your subscribers now, before these changes occur, to see how often they like to be contacted. Once they see your messages piling up in their Facebook Messages inbox, will they want to remain on your email list?

Social Inbox

What it’s all about
This is where the “priority” messages come into play. Your Facebook Messages inbox will not include things like bills, bank statements, and impersonal marketing messages – those will go into the “Other” folder. Messages from friends, family, and those you have a Facebook relationship with – they’ll be right in your inbox. You can easily mark items placed into the “other” folder as important, and from then on they’ll be in your inbox, but it is a manual move.

What this means for you
Personal, meaning conversations are the only way to secure your emails a spot in consumer inboxes. Connect with your subscribers on Facebook (and other social sites, too, to strengthen your bond), and include “like” buttons on your emails. Segment your emails to ensure relevancy. Relevancy is now more important than ever!

These changes aren’t going to happen overnight, but eventually flexibility, frequency, and relevancy are going to be three very important things to keep in mind when contacting your @facebook.com subscribers. The sooner you implement smart email marketing strategies, the sooner your subscribers will take notice and thank you!

What Facebook Messages Means for Marketers

Last month, Facebook revealed their newest offering: Facebook Messages. This announcement has been causing quite the stir, and has left marketers wondering – where do we go from here?

Just like the new priority inbox systems we’ve seen developed this year, Facebook Messages will give consumers complete control over what ends up in their inboxes based on their priorities and preferences. Here are the three main features of Facebook Messages, and what they mean for you as a marketer:

Seamless Messaging

What it’s all about
Not everyone likes email – we know that. But not everyone likes text messages, or phone calls, or instant messages. Everyone has their own preference, and sometimes it’s hard to remember who prefers which type of communication. Facebook Messages will now do this for you. You choose the person, and they’ll send the message to the recipient in the channel they want it in. Messages is not email, but a conversation tool. Email addresses with @facebook.com will be available to people who want them, but they are not required.

What this means for you
Don’t worry – email is not dead (phew!), but you may need to be more flexible. Increasing the types of channels in which you communicate with your subscribers is not just optional, but required. Create mobile-friendly emails and ask subscribers for permission to contact via SMS messaging. Online messaging has evolved over the years, and it will continue to do so.

Conversation History

What it’s all about
This one is pretty straightforward. Whether the messages exchanged between two people are via email, SMS, or chat, they will all be bundled together in one place. Every conversation between you and a friend can instantly be viewed with the conversation history feature.

What this means for you
Pay attention to your frequency. It might be a good idea to survey your subscribers now, before these changes occur, to see how often they like to be contacted. Once they see your messages piling up in their Facebook Messages inbox, will they want to remain on your email list?

Social Inbox

What it’s all about
This is where the “priority” messages come into play. Your Facebook Messages inbox will not include things like bills, bank statements, and impersonal marketing messages – those will go into the “Other” folder. Messages from friends, family, and those you have a Facebook relationship with – they’ll be right in your inbox. You can easily mark items placed into the “other” folder as important, and from then on they’ll be in your inbox, but it is a manual move.

What this means for you
Personal, meaning conversations are the only way to secure your emails a spot in consumer inboxes. Connect with your subscribers on Facebook (and other social sites, too, to strengthen your bond), and include “like” buttons on your emails. Segment your emails to ensure relevancy. Relevancy is now more important than ever!

These changes aren’t going to happen overnight, but eventually flexibility, frequency, and relevancy, are going to be three very important things to keep in mind when contacting your @facebook.com subscribers. The sooner you implement smart email marketing strategies, the sooner your subscribers will take notice and thank you!