By: Benchmark Email Ever since the dawn of email marketing, there has been the admonition to perform A/B split testing in order to accurately fine tune your campaign. This form of testing is simplicity itself: Send out half your emails with Subject Line A and the other half with Subject Line B, then check the metrics to see which one worked best. There is, of course, no end to what you can A/B test,... [Read more]
By: CampaignMonitor Finally getting atop an annoying email rendering bug gives geeks like us near-endless, t-shirt removing satisfaction. Especially when it’s plaguing our newsletters. In this instance, our adversary was 3px spacing to the left and right of tables with align="" applied to them. The stage was Outlook 2007 and 2010. While this has been a long-running issue, things really came... [Read more]
Before you test, track! It’s easy for an email marketer to develop and embark upon a comprehensive test plan before they even have a baseline—especially across their segments. For example, when it comes to testing subject lines, most email marketers simply do an A/B split across their entire database and use the open rate to determine the winner. The findings, if any, may or may not be applied... [Read more]
Email Newsletter Image blocking: Why It Sucks and How to Rise Above It A staggering 2 out of 3 email users have images turned off in their inbox by default (MarketingSherpa 2010). This makes image blocking a serious issue for email marketers. Particularly when you consider all the time, effort and money that goes into designing a beautiful, compelling email. Take this email design, for example. It’s... [Read more]
How to improve the body copy of an email marketing message by Kenny Van Beeck The email body is certainly the most important element of your email campaign. It is this space that will determine the final effectives of your campaign. The email body is all about relevance – bringing the right message to the right person at the right moment and in the right tone of voice. Remember the 5-30 rule.... [Read more]
By: AWeber Is it ever okay to break email marketing best practices? Which ones are breakable? And when? Best practices describe tested email techniques that other marketers have found successful. Best practices establish a baseline for your campaign. But a lot of times, these practices come down to what works best for you and your subscribers. So when is it okay to bend the rules and when should... [Read more]
By: The Lunch Pail Email is a great direct digital marketing tool. Marketers are always on the lookout for ways to improve their campaigns and one area of focus should be the headline of the email. The goal of a headline is not to sell and not to yell (though some may appear to do both), but to pull people into the content of the email. Just as the subject line invites people to open the email, the... [Read more]
10 Sure-Fire Ways to Optimize Your Email Marketing for Lead Generation by Sarah Goliger @sarahbethgo
Email marketing is a critical component of a strong lead generation strategy, and lies at the very core of lead nurturing. But with all the messages that are inevitably piling up in your leads’ inboxes, how can you make yours stand out from the crowd? Here are 10 ways you can increase the likelihood that your prospects and leads will open, read, and take action from your emails. 1. Better segment... [Read more]
Are you looking to increase your opt-in email subscribers list? After hearing so many positive comments about lightboxes or pop-ups we decided that we would test one. We chose PopUp Domination since it came highly recommended to us. It has great features and supports most mailing list services – including AWeber, iContact, GetResponse, MailChimp, and Constant Contact. We plugged ours into ExactTarget. This... [Read more]
By: ClickMail Loren McDonald of Silverpop is right on target with hisarticle about subject line testing (Subject Line Testing: Tips for Getting It Right). A couple of his tips really jumped out at us, however, as worthy of emphasizing. As an email marketing agency, we are adamant about encouraging our email marketing clients to test, test and test again. From the subject line to the call to action... [Read more]
When was the last time you created an email and sent it out to your entire subscriber list? Last week? Lifecycle marketing offers a more personal approach to creating emails by targeting them toward customers at various stages in their relationship with your company. By segmenting your audience based on their current interest level, you can create emails designed to elicit the next logical response.... [Read more]
It’s been predicted that five million Kindle Fire tablets will sell in the next six weeks. At just $199, it should at least make a dent in iPad sales. Here’s my quick first impressions. 1. 600px wide Kindle Fire uses a custom build of Android. Just like other Android devices, it doesn’t scale content to the width of the screen. This means in portrait mode emails are lopped off at... [Read more]
A recent study by SmileyCat Web Design showed that only a minority of major retailer email templates which are being sent out in 2011 adhere to the recommended width of 600 pixels or less which facilitates their display on a broad variety of tablets and smartphones. It seems that many of the largest American retailers have not quite caught on with the fact that we are now firmly ensconced in the mobile... [Read more]
By: Travel Blackboard We have put together a list of email mistakes that almost everyone makes and what you can do to avoid it. Like all marketing, some are common-sense, while others will cause your marketing department to pause and reconsider its strategies. 1. Blatant lack of permission Carelessly sending enewsletters to email addresses that haven’t duly shown permission in your registration... [Read more]
By: Clickz Email marketers have always been affected by the technical limitations of the channel. In short, you can’t build interactive emails: forms get stripped out in Outlook, Flash doesn’t work, you need to design to the lowest common denominator, etc. For years, email marketers have been patiently waiting for Microsoft and other ISPs to widely roll out interactive email, but despite... [Read more]
By: Clickz In part one, I discussed how email fundamentals still rule when it comes to getting your email opened in the inbox. Today, let’s examine more recent strategic trends and how digital marketers must adapt their email program to prevent being ignored as inbox engagement evolves. The Smartphone and Tablet Impact Speaking of mobile consumption of emails, any forward-thinking digital... [Read more]
How to create powerful subject lines by Kenny Van Beeck When people receive an email, it is just a matter of seconds to decide which emails they are going to read. Email marketing can be very effective and the open rate can be very high, if it is done correctly. The most important thing to pay attention to is the “subject-line”. After all, the purpose of the subject line is to intrigue readers... [Read more]
Even though email marketers are constantly challenged to increase email deliverability, an estimated 20 percent of all emails sent in North America never even reach their recipients’ inboxes. As an email marketer, this statistic is frustrating at best, maddening at worst. After all, you’ve spent a significant amount of time crafting engaging and relevant messages that you know your customers would... [Read more]
By: Promotion World Everyone knows that images make an email more appealing, more entertaining and in some cases, easier to understand to the average reader. That being said, there are a lot of people out there who are weighing down their emails with images and backgrounds. Depending on how many images you decide to use and where you place them, you can greatly enhance someone’s experience with... [Read more]
By: Email Marketing Reports Having no life to speak of, I’ve been thinking about subject lines. Much of the advice I read is pretty absolute. Like: “You dare not put everything in capitals.” Or: “Only Satanists use long subject lines.” But there are few absolute truths in life, and even rules have exceptions. Shouldn’t use all capitals? Probably not, but it works for Overstock and the... [Read more]
