Since it’s already late in the game at this point – Thanksgiving is 2 weeks away – this is being written for the marketers who rely heavily on email but aren’t making it their primary focus, such as e-commerce sites or B-C retailers.

Have contingency emails in place: Even the best laid plans go awry sometimes. Take the time now to put together emails to follow-up to some basic emergency situations (such as site crashes, inventory depletions, office closings) so you can quickly make the best of a bad situation. Don’t wait until the problem has happened, prepare in advance. Think of these as umbrella emails – it’s best to have them and not need them than the other way around. (It never seems to rain when I take an umbrella with me, only when I don’t!)

Implement abandoned cart messages: These will pay for themselves. Sending a follow-up email to consumers to remind them of the item(s) they’ve left behind is a proven method to recouping a lost sale. They’re a warm lead that just needs a gentle nudge (or two) to come back and finish the sale they’ve started! If you don’t have emails activated to send to someone who’s left your site without purchasing the item(s) they’ve added to their shopping cart, take the time ASAP to add such a message to your marketing mix.

Test segmentation: Spraying and praying? (That’s a short way of describing mass blasting the same email to your entire list and hoping it gets results.) Try sending tailored messages to smaller subsets of your list. Segments can be based upon information the subscribed has shared (their zip code or industry) or their behavior on your site or with a past email. Vary subject lines and/or content to fit these segments. Monitor results and make note of what did and did not work. With the increased sending volume that usually happens at the end of the year, winter is a good time to learn which segments perform best to begin the new year.

The post Winter is Coming appeared first on I Send Your Email | Email Marketing Consulting.

How much email is too much? This blog post from Emma has some great tips for not turning off your audience during Cyber Month(s).

Forget going down the chimney – you’ll reach your consumers via their mobile device. I’ve referenced this post on preview text multiple times recently. Use a short snippet of text at the top of your email as a way to further sell the open. Most mobile devices will show this after the subject line – don’t waste this space with the standard “View on a Web page” verbiage. (This is just the tip of the iceberg on optimizing your emails to be read on mobile devices. Google “optimizing email for mobile devices” for more.)

Think mobile optimization isn’t important? Here’s a chart that was a part of a recent Litmus webinar:

Not that more than half of the folks they surveyed said they unsubscribed from emails that were hard to read on their smartphones.

Shifting our attention to subject lines…

Mention an offer early in your subject line, don’t bury the highlight at the end since it may get cut off. Shorter subject lines work better (think 50 characters or less).

Develop a plan to succeed. MailChimp has this very comprehensive guide to mapping out your brand’s communications during the holiday season.

From frictionless-buying to segmenting your audience, here’s a list of 15 tips to keep in mind this holiday season. If your emails are mobile-optimized, your landing pages (and your product pages) should be as well.

Lastly, take time to say “thank you” to your stakeholders next week. Here is a post I wrote last year and one the year before about the importance of sending a note that doesn’t include a sales pitch. I suggest you take a minute to craft such a message before Thanksgiving 2016.

With so many moving parts, it’s easy to make a mistake while managing an email marketing program. Hopefully, these links will set you on a path to success this holiday season.

Cheers!

The post Tips for Holiday Email Success appeared first on I Send Your Email | Email Marketing Consulting.

Most people think popups are evil, but ever since adding one to my own site, I’ve seen a sharp increase in signups for this newsletter.

There are many tools you can use to implement a popup box, such as SumoMe, Padiact, MailMunch and OptinMonster. I can only vouch for the first two, which I’ve used at various times on my own site. In both cases I was able to set up rules to target new visitors vs. repeat visitor and/or which pages various forms would appear. Setting up rules to delay the popup’s display can make them less annoying. And, as with other forms of ads, making it easy to remove from the screen is critical.

Now, it is possible to overdo it, but the truth is that even if you think you have too many ways to sign up for your email program, they may still be invisible to your visitors. As such, don’t limit yourself to just a single placement. Where else could you put signup forms? Here are a few suggestions:

The top of a sidebar. Don’t bury it under ads or below a lot of links to other pages on your site. This is an obvious spot that most website owners miss.

At the bottom of each blog post. Someone may come across a single post, read the whole thing and be really interested in what you have to say. Having a signup form right there makes it easy for them to convert to a long-time reader while they’re most interested in your work.

The footer of your website. Similar to the above – they’ve made it to the bottom of your page because they’re interested in reading what you have to say. Capture their address so they don’t have to scroll or search further for a way to signup.

The top navbar. Most sites have a means for making this bar a permanent fixture on every page when the visitor scrolls down. To keep things from getting too cluttered this location may be best for capturing an email address only.

On your “About Us” page. When visitors check out this page they’re obviously interested in you or your brand’s story. Make sure you give them a way to connect by adding an email sign up form.

Essential information for your sign up form

Email sign up forms should be short and sweet. In many cases, just asking for a name and email address is all you need. The shorter the form, the more likely subscribers are to fill it out.

However, sign up forms offer an opportunity to collect information about subscribers that you can use to personalize messages and tailor your content. Collecting additional information can be helpful, but as was just mentioned, long sign up forms can cause friction for a potential subscriber to leave. You have to find a delicate balance. One way may be to have simple forms in the places mentioned above and a dedicated email signup page that includes longer form.

Permission-based program

This isn’t a quantity over quality issue either as these are permission-based tactics. When a visitor fills out a sign up form and asks to be added to an email list, they’re actively agreeing to be a part of your list and giving you permission to send them email. These contacts are priceless because they’ve specifically asked to hear from your business and are highly likely to open, read and click your messages.

As for where and how you use signup forms, it’s likely based upon your industry and how tech-savvy your visitors are. The less your visitors use technology in their day-to-day dealings, the easier you’ll need to make it for them to join your email list, which will mean more forms on your site!

The post Email sign-up forms: the more, the merrier appeared first on I Send Your Email | Email Marketing Consulting.

In addition to making your message CAN SPAM compliant, having a footer resonates with the recipient because it gives them a way to communicate with your brand, manage their subscription or opt out of your list if they choose. Giving these options makes your brand and email program more reputable.

Readers have come to expect to find the “fine print” of an email in the footer. Things such as offer details, like product exclusions or deadlines to use a coupon, are often found in the footer. Customer service-related items are also often found here, such as the phone number to call for help and/or an email address to use for problems.

Here’s a checklist of items to have in your email’s footer to maintain a good reputation with your recipients and their email clients:

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• Have an easily-located unsubscribe link. Do not bury it in an image. Make sure the verbiage related to the link isn’t misleading. All reputable marketing emails have a means for someone to opt-out of future emails.
• Include a postal address for CAN-SPAM compliance. Other contact details, like phone number, make it handy for a customer to reach you if the message triggers a need for them to get in touch immediately.
• Add a link to your privacy policy – this helps with getting whitelisted.
• A link to a subscription management page where subscribers can update their email address or change their preferences (if you have more than type of mailing). These are often called “update profile” links and/or “preference centers.”
• A copyright notice to protect your intellectual property from those who might take it as their own.
• Add a line that explains why they’re receiving the message. “You’re receiving this message because you joined our mailing list when you viewed a recent webinar” can help decrease SPAM complaints if someone has a fuzzy memory about how or why they’re getting email from you.
• Make it easy for your audience to share your email by including social share links and/or “Forward to a Friend” options. These methods also help keep a recipient on your social media list, even if they unsubscribe from your email list.

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Here are a couple of examples of good email footers. The first is from Publix. It’s clean and isn’t bogged down with a lot of small text.

This footer from Scoutmob shows some personality while not obscuring the critical components of the footer.

The post Last but not least: The Email Footer appeared first on I Send Your Email | Email Marketing Consulting.

This post is going to guide you along the path of setting up the tools for your marketing automation program to ensure you’re able to capitalize on reaching your prospective audience. I’ve mentioned a few tools below, but a quick search will return many more options.**

1. Develop meaningful landing pages – also called “lead capture pages”
You’ve done the work to get visitors to your site. Make sure your “front door” or landing page has been designed with the goal of persuading the visitor to take further action on your website in mind. There are plenty of tools available that allow for A/B testing of your pages, such as Unbounce or Optimizely. You want to be sure you’re making the right first impression so as not to lose the valuable visitors you’ve worked so hard to attract.

2. Make use of a CRM (customer relationship management) tool
Be in a position to make your visitors less anonymous. Once someone has taken an action on your website, preferably shared their contact information with you, a CRM platform will help you track and understand the interactions you’re having with your prospects. Tools such as Batchbook, Insightly or Salesforce can help with this endeavor. It is important to consider how well any CRM tool you’re evaluating can interact with other tools in the marketing automation process. Closed tools are pretty useless in this regard.

3. Set up your marketing automation tool
Now it’s time to continue the conversation via follow-up emails, also called drip campaigns. (This blog has covered drip campaigns in the past and message content could be a post in and of itself.) It’s important to use a marketing automation tool that allows for behavior-based segmenting, such as sending follow-up notes based upon messages opened (or ignored) and links clicked. MailChimp allows for this, as does Pardot, InfusionSoft and Marketo.

When setting up this program and evaluating each tool, be sure it will be able to capture and provide the analytics you’ll need to make smart business decisions.

* Per Wikipedia, Inbound Marketing: refers to marketing activities that bring visitors in, rather than marketers having to go out to get prospects’ attention. This could be web site content that’s easily found via searches, a Yelp page or a LinkedIn company profile (for example).
** No compensation has been made to include these tools in this post.

Links of note:

Freelancer Paul Jarvis talks about how to automate your marketing without losing the human touch

Marketing Automation from A to Z by Hubspot

Formstack’s guide to landing pages

Zapier’s guide to marketing automation tools

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