Here at GetResponse, we recently launched our segmentation feature, and we already have the use of personalization and dynamic content.

So we encourage you to gather as much data as you can on your clients, so you can have the ability to ‘Market to One’.

But is there such a thing as too much data?

Today I am going to talk briefly about some key points to remember when creating your web forms and the data you need to know.

Tools of the trade

First, lets talk what you need. This is of course specific to your industry, but email address and name are a given for any serious marketer. What next?

Fields that relate to location, age, or gender are normally acceptable, however the subscriber is going to be thinking, “Why do you want that data, and how are you going to use it?”

Don’t ask for gender, and then blast your entire list with offers for women’s clothing when there are men on your list. They trusted you with vital info, and you must repay that trust by making your newsletter relevant.

Plan ahead with your newsletters and autoresponders, and think where you want to make it specific. Once you have done this, you can then think about what information you will ask for.

Too many questions can result in subscribers bailing on you!

Here is a stat to show you what asking too much information can result in:

For every additional field of data you ask for, you lose 6% of sign ups. (courtesy of worldata.com presentation at DMA2010)

Test your web form

That doesn’t mean testing the technology, like if your sign up form is working. It means you need to test the ease of your webform, and the commitment it takes for a subscriber to sign up.

Do you make this easy, with only a few fields, or are you driving your customer away by asking for too much data?

How best to test your web forms

I recommend asking a 3^rd party to go over the form with you, and to ask them to answer honestly, giving you a real representative of how easy your form is to use.

Forms that take more than 45 seconds to fill out have a 48% fall out!

So with this in mind, if you’re close to 45 seconds after a completed form, look to make it easier somewhere. Maybe not losing a field, but change a text box for a drop down, or a tick box.

Data collection can be ongoing

My last point within this post is that you do not have to stop collecting data at the sign up form.

Once a person has committed to your campaign, you have the ability to gather more information as time goes by. Include a small survey in a newsletter, or even a questionnaire.

The key is to continue to engage your subscribers and ensure you communicate with them the information that they want.

Do you agree with this? Have you had success by removing a field from your forms like the Name field or drop-down menus and check boxes? Drop me a comment!

Until Next Time

Mick

Takeaway: Don’t ask for more information than you can use or which makes the sign up process too long.

There are still email marketers that view the unsubscribe link as necessary but, a totally scary part of email marketing. They want to keep it as far away from their readers as possible. They use old tricks like putting 50 spaces at the end of the email, or changing the background to match the font color.

But these actions have far worse consequences than a potential unsubscribe. Because, stationed at the top of almost every email viewer is a nice clear button we know as SPAM or JUNK.  Now that is scary!

Subscribers today don’t just use the SPAM button to register a complaint about scams, or emails they didn’t request. It can be as basic as they no longer want to receive that email. They could have double opted in yesterday, but if your content doesn’t appeal to them, then they just decide to “kill it”!

You can’t really blame them. According to a Microsoft security report, more than 97% of all emails sent over the Internet are unwanted¹.^[39] After a while, people get tired of sorting the good from the bad and hit SPAM to cut down on the clutter.  MarketingSherpa says that almost 39% of consumers have used the spam button “…as a way to unsubscribe from emails they had asked to receive.”

So you could be the most virtuous person in email marketing on the planet, and still get SPAM complaints.  Of course, the email client services also know that many spam reports are really unsubscribes, but it’s almost impossible to tell the difference – unless a pattern develops. Then all spam complaints hurt your sender reputation and could be leading to wholesale blocking of your emails.

The bottom line is that, as marketers, it’s your responsibility to inform readers why they’re receiving your email and how they can stop receiving them, and your “pitch” has to be more appealing, relevant, and straightforward than the SPAM button.

We have chosen Ellusionist, an enterprise customer with thousands of magic fans and subscribers, to demonstrate how it should be done. Now if anyone can make an unsubscribe button disappear, it’s this magic trick community.

They start off with an open, clear message in each of their email headers.  Then 4 very simple points – 3 that could reel you back in and 1 that makes it easy to leave.  It’s honest and polite and could save some unsubscribes. No reason for this reader to mouse around his email client and choose SPAM. Smart, huh!

• Web page view
• Why you are receiving the email
• How to stop receiving it
• How to make sure it reaches your inbox every time

So, you may ask, do they really need more opportunities to leave?

The answer is yes.

For any subscriber, signing up for a newsletter is an experiment. They may have some general idea of the content they’ll receive, but not about the quality or how the emails will relate to them.

New subscribers will judge you on the first newsletter or email you send to them.

But if they read your newsletter and decide it’s not for them, and your only unsubscribe option is at the top of your newsletter, which is not in their direct view at the right moment – and guaranteed not to allow “last gasp” emails? That’s right, the SPAM button!

That’s why our clever friends at Ellusionist decided to make sure they gave fans an easy “escape” if they decided the content wasn’t for them – but one that wouldn’t hurt the Ellusionist brand.

So their “best practice” was to offer readers not only the option to remove themselves from the email list, but alternate and additional ways to stay engaged. Easy, yet strategic.

Jason, Ellusionist VP, had this to say about their strategy.

‘We want to offer transparency to our audience and ensure they have the ability to choose how they want to communicate. Their feedback is a great source of information for us and allows us to target and segment much more effectively. We pride ourselves on the credibility of our newsletter content and are confident enough to display the unsubscribe buttons where they are most noticeable and effective.’

Takeaway: The takeaway here is that honesty is the best policy when it comes to unsubscribing. Ensure that your subscribers  are clear on exactly what they are receiving and why they are receiving it. Then give them the option to decide if it’s what they want to read.

Ellusionist was founded by Brad Christian, a professional magician with more than 25 years of experience. With more than 70,000 members, the Ellusionist magic community is the largest of its kind on the internet. No other magic training Web site provides this level of ongoing support to its members.

Find out more at www.ellusionist.com

I know that lots of email marketers use autroresponders. I’m not going to sell you on the value of using an email marketing autoresponder, because I think that’s already clear. Using one effectively is what I’d like to talk about.

I see it happening in two different ways. I either get great emails prior to a purchase, then they stop. Or I get some “how to”, or up-sell emails after I’ve purchased.

‘Customer interaction doesn’t start or finish with the sale’

Many of you have heard of the sales funnel, which is still a great proven theory, however the funnel now has two cycles. As I mentioned way back in January, ‘Retention is the new acquisition’, so it’s very important to continue to engage with new customers way past the point of sale.

Most people will sign up pre-sale at the point of interest. This could be to a newsletter, or blog updates, or a free trial of your solution. At this stage, you’d continue to follow your sales and marketing plan to try and complete the sale. At the point of sale, within your email marketing campaign, you can ensure the customer is moved from pre-sale emails, into post-sales emails, or what I call the post-sales funnel.

Here are 2 good reasons to pay attention to your post-sales funnel. According to a report by Frederick Reichheld of Bain & Company:

1. Acquiring a new customer can cost 6 to 7 times more than retaining an existing customer, depending on marketing methods employed.
2. Over a 5-year period unsubscribe rates could reach as high as 50% if databases are left dormant and new subscribers left out in cold.

Post-Sale Funnel Tactics:

Appreciation

This is a given. Once a sale has been made, make sure your follow-up email is relevant and send it ASAP. I know some of you have to also send invoices or something else, but try to combine this into your ‘thank-you’ email. Being bombarded with 3 or more emails directly after purchasing can be off putting. Remember, too-frequent emails is a major cause of unsubscribes.

Note : It’s important to make the unsubscribe option very obvious here, and to be very clear about what they will receive if they choose to continue. Mention the expected frequency of emails, and either a brief description of the topics or a list of the email subject titles, so there are no surprises.

Education

If the subscriber has chosen to stay, it’s up to you to ensure that he/she is getting the most satisfaction from their recent purchase with a series of follow-up emails. Between 3 and 7 post-sale educational emails is a good range, (depending on frequency standards and preferences). Surveys and multimedia are really useful tools during this stage to keep customers engaged, get feedback, and provide video tutorials for those who prefer it.

Note : Monitor the results of your emails daily. If one email in your cycle returns lower than expected results, it can have a domino effect on the following emails. So if you spot a decline, try to act fast. Analyze the content. Maybe split test for the next couple of days with something new and see if your results improve.

Support

At the end of the educational cycle, remind your new customer that you are there for them and inform them just how to get in touch. Include contact points like phone and email, but also your social links. We also highly recommend a second set of educational autoresponders for advanced users. Give your new customer the opportunity to learn more if they choose.

Note : The second set of autoresponders should be opt in rather than opt out. You’ll get much better results if your audience has chosen to receive additional information from you. After all the work you’ve put in, you don’t want a spam complaint!

Takeaway: It’s important to engage your customers throughout their experience with your company and your product. Helping a customer gain the highest possible value from your product or service will increase the chance of repeat business and overall satisfaction. So stay in touch with relevant, useful emails, but make sure you engage according to their preferences, not yours. And don’t forget to make it easy to unsubscribe from any email marketing autoresponder series. Use these guidelines, and you should fill that post-sale funnel with repeat sales and happy customers. Good luck!

Do you have your own post-sale tactics? Share them with us in the comments below! Your ideas are always welcome!

Until next time,
Mick

With great features comes great responsibility.

Now any email marketing provider worth their salt will offer you personalization, and  it’s easier then ever before. Just a couple of clicks and you’ve personalized your email. ‘Wow, that was so simple. Can’t wait for the results,’ I hear you say. Well, think again, because if used incorrectly, this feature can sometimes do more harm than good.

Though most agree that email personalization is a good thing, there are varying views on how and when to use it. Some encourage you to personalize all your messages, no matter who you are sending it to . There are also voices warning that personalized emails may look like SPAM and end up in junk folders.

Now I am happy to offer my opinion, but it would only be words if not backed up with stats, right? That’s why GetResponse decided to perform a targeted analysis of personalized emails based on real user campaigns, then discuss the results with you.

We analyzed over 53, 000 unique messages sent form GetResponse accounts.  The results clearly show that emails with personalized subjects averaged 26% higher open rates and over 130% higher CTRs (click through rates) than emails without personalized subject lines. Pretty impressive at first glance!

Unfortunately, the same stats clearly show that email with personalized subject lines averaged 26% higher complaints and over 71% higher unsubscribe rates than emails without personalization. This time it doesn’t look as impressive. So are both viewpoints correct? I think I can provide some insight into these weird numbers.

Names catch the reader’s attention, no doubt about it. It’s clear that recipients are more likely to open and click through emails when they see their name in the subject line. They also tend to open personalized messages more often if they recognize (and trust!) the sender.

If recipients are automatically deleting emails with their name in the subject line, it’s probably because they don’t recognize the sender. Or just as bad, they might not find any interesting content in this message and decide to unsubscribe. Can you blame them? Imagine how annoying it must be to receive a message with “Dear Mick” in the subject but, absolutely nothing of interest to you in the entire message. You think someone sent it especially for you and find out it’s just another lame mass mailing. You get angry, label the message SPAM and unsubscribe from the list immediately!

You can reap the benefits of personalization AND avoid the pitfalls if you are conscientious about list hygiene and target your message content as much as possible. Use the name and/or business throughout the message, target the offers and discounts, mention previous purchases and preferences and so on. Then your recipients will know that you’re sincerely trying to give them what they need and would treat you as reliable sender.

Takeaway: Using personalization is a  powerful tool but, powerful tools must be employed correctly with skill and thoughfulness to achieve positive results.

Here at GetResponse Email Marketing we have been busy yet again collecting that important data to help you improve your email marketing!

The battle between HTML and plain text messages continues, but is it waning? And in whose favor? It’s true that HTML messages are much more eye-catching with professionally designed templates and gorgeous graphics and photos. And you can get more and better statistics using HTML. On the other hand, plain text emails can be opened in all email boxes and mobile devices. If you’re sending a really important message or financial statement, that’s a big plus!

We analyzed over 1.1 billion emails sent from GetResponse accounts between July and December 2009. And the results clearly showed that HTML emails averaged 59% higher CTR than plain text messages. So clearly, once opened, recipients were more engaged with HTML emails!

But what makes HTML messages more “clickable”?

Here are a few tips on how to make your HTML messages more “click-friendly”, so you can improve engagement and increase conversions:

• The sender’s logo should be at the top of every well-designed HTML message, telling the recipient that the email is really from this company. Of course the logo should be linked to the sender’s home page for a single-click visit.

• The graphics and color scheme used in the HTML email should be the same or similar to that used on the sender’s website. This consistency is essential for visual branding, but also makes it easier for recipients to follow and understand if the graphics and layout are familiar. It is especially helpful to maintain some consistency in the look and location of critical links and icons.

• “Call to action” buttons are graphical signposts that should almost shout to the subscriber “click here”! These buttons need to be easy to find, with eye-catching colors and graphics, and should take the reader directly to the product or service being promoted. This is your “conversion trigger”!

• Be sure that your most interesting content is at the top and preferably to the left, because that’s how most recipients read emails.

• Use alternate text for all images if you know an ISP blocks them. Subscribers need to know what each image is about before deciding to click on it.

• Be sure to create a plain text version of your email to send alongside the HTML version for those who prefer it (or block images) and for mobile devices.

• Try to keep the width of your email between 600-650px. to provide optimal readability.

• Before you send your message, it’s wise to test it in all available email boxes and ISPs. It doesn’t take long and will help ensure that your spectacular HTML email design doesn’t get demolished or flagged before it gets viewed!

By now, you should be convinced that HTML messages can improve email marketing CTR. So don’t wait another minute…grab one of over 300 GetResponse beautiful HTML templates, then try out our tips and watch your CTR grow!

Until next time…

Mick Griffin

Takeaway: By adding some brand familiarity to your HTML messages, you can increase your CTR. Include your company logo, match your website color scheme and have a clear ‘call to action’ to make your messages more clickable.

I know it’s been along time since my last post. I have been information hunting across the globe for our GetResponse clients. Firstly attending Chris Brogan’s Expo in San Fran, followed up with Ad-Tech. Then a short hop over the Atlantic for Internet World in London. For anyone contemplating any of these events, Chris’s events are a must.

But I’m back with a report I think will help you understand email marketing for your industry.

Email marketing is growing more popular among businesses of all types and sizes! That’s why we decided to track email marketing performance across 10 industries to discover what kind of results they’re getting from their GetResponse email newsletters and campaigns.

We focused on what we considered to be the most critical result categories: Open, Click-through, Unsubscribe, Bounce, and Complaint Rates, then tracked them in more than 160 million GetResponse messages. Finally, we analyzed and organized all the statistics into one report called “Email Marketing Performance by Industry”. So…wondering how your industry did?

Some of the results may surprise you. For example, you might assume that e-commerce companies should do well in all things Internet, right? Actually, the hands-down winner was Associations which, as you can see below, outperformed everyone!

Ok, now to the final scores. Each industry was ranked against the others, with 100 points being the highest possible score. How big was the winning spread? Associations won with an outstanding 93 points! In second place with 77 points was Travel; and close behind was Art with 72. So, Associations gets an “A” on our study!

If you’re wondering where your industry landed on the scoreboard, click to download the FREE report and read “Email Marketing Performance by Industry”!

Until next time

Mick

Takeaway: Email marketing can work for every industry but, success doesn’t happen by itself. If your messages are relevant and you respect your subscribers, it works.

As you all know, GetResponse is used by marketers all over the world. We deliver 5B emails every year, and the number’s climbing!  We certainly have the volume, so we’ve been conducting all kinds of studies to learn more about how marketers use GetResponse and what kind of results they’re getting.  Today we’re excited to reveal the results of the 2010 Email Marketing Trends Survey

We asked a survey group of over 200 SMB email marketers from a wide range of industries and countries to share their opinions regarding hot topics like video emails, social media integration, and the “war on inbox clutter”. We hope you find these stats interesting and useful as you continue to improve your email marketing campaigns.

Happily, it appears SMB marketers are becoming increasingly convinced of the benefits of video email, social media, and personalization or targeting. More than 80% of respondents plan to use video emails in 2010 and more 90 % plan to integrate social media into their email campaigns this year. Almost 64% of SMB marketers who use video emails claimed that it delivers significant increases in conversion rates. Compared to last year’s results, these increases represent a 480 % Increase in video email usage and 90 % Increase in social media integration for 2010.

That’s awesome!

In general, the SMB email marketer’s toolkit is looking a lot more sophisticated and media-rich than at any time in recent history. That’s very gratifying to us. It tells us that GetResponse tools are user-friendly and affordable, even at the advanced level.

Here are a few highlights of the survey:

• Video email marketing: Over 50% of respondents stated that video emails can increase CTR. One in three marketers believes that video can enhance brand image and/or increase customer loyalty. Over 20% of marketers believe that video emails can also reduce support and training costs. Only 4.7% of email marketers do not see any benefits from using video emails.
• Social media: A 113.2% increase in use of links to new messages on social media pages; a 109.1% increase in use of sign-up forms on Facebook fan pages; 88.8% will increase share options and 71.6% more will place “follow us” links in email messages.
• Personalization: 53.80% of SMB respondents said they intend to increase targeting and personalization in 2010; 52.40% will try to improve email title and subject line personalization.
• Behavioral targeting: Nearly 75% of marketers claim that behavioral targeting can result in significant or moderate increases in email marketing effectiveness. Only 2.8% did not consider behavioral targeting an effective practice.

Where do your results fit into the email marketing picture for 2010? Are you ahead of the curve? We hope so! Download the whole report from here to find out!