StreamSend Email Marketing Blog

Email marketing tip of the day - Always include a text only version of your message

2009-07-15T08:02:00.000-07:00

You should always create a text version of your message for recipients who view their email on older mobile devices. StreamSend will send both the HTML version and the text version of your message - if both are created, and the recipient’s email client will choose which version to display.

Email marketing tip of the day - Send on a regular schedule

2009-07-14T07:25:00.000-07:00

Keeping to a regular send schedule will help list members from forgetting why they are receiving your messages.

Email marketing tip of the day - Keep the HTML code simple

2009-07-13T07:27:00.000-07:00

When creating your message, use a table based layout with inline styles, and always specify margins and spacing, so the email client does not make them up.

StreamSend will no longer support IE6 as of September 1

2009-07-10T21:13:00.000-07:00

On September 1, 2009 we will begin phasing out support for Internet Explorer 6 (IE6).

Although you will still be able to access your account with IE6, we won't be able to guarantee things will look or function as well.

Why are we doing this?

IE6 is nearly eight years old — a lifetime in the rapidly evolving world of web technology and standards. In order to continue to provide you with the best email marketing experience around, we need to take advantage of all the tools at our disposal, tools that IE6 just doesn't provide.

Therefore if you're currently using IE6, we strongly recommend that you upgrade to any of these newer browsers:

Thinking outside the inbox

2009-07-10T13:37:00.000-07:00

I recently ordered a stand for my laptop and in the box along with the stand was a sheet of paper with some general instructions. I briefly looked over the instructions and then turned to throw it away when I noticed something on the other side of the sheet. When I turned it over I found instructions on how to turn that piece of paper into an origami bird. What a great idea, take a piece of trash and turn it into something interesting.

I thought this was a great idea and immediately told a co-worker who then copied the instructions sheet for himself onto a blank piece of paper and made the bird. Throughout the rest of the day we discussed the bird and the company’s idea to turn what ordinarily would be garbage into what is now a desk top decoration.

One simple idea to take something that is going to be sent to the trash and turn it into a piece of art is thinking outside the box. It made me think of other things that I could modify into something useful or just out of the ordinary. Of course I am not telling you to ask subscribers to print emails just to make a bird but to take time to think of something out of the ordinary in your email that will catch the attention of your subscribers. It just might make someone’s day or even give them a reason to discuss your company beyond reading over the email you sent.

Email marketing tip of the day - Test with a customized seed list

2009-07-10T06:51:00.000-07:00

Test all messages by sending them to email accounts created solely for testing. All the big ISPs offer free email accounts, so open one or two accounts per ISP. Sending to this list of addresses can provide insight into whether the message is going to the inbox, bulk folder, or is being filtered by the ISP. These test accounts are also an excellent way to check message rendering, and to verify that the ‘call to action’ is above the scroll bar fold. Sending to these seed addresses before, during, and after a mail campaign can be very helpful in gauging overall deliverability to major ISPs.

Email marketing tip of the day - Build your list membership with "forward to a friend"

2009-07-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

Highlight the option to forward your message to friends, family or colleagues. Also include a link to your list’s subscribe form for people who have received a forwarded copy of the message, and would now like to join.

Email marketing tip of the day - Best practices for the big 4

2009-07-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

Know the best practice guidelines for the big 4 email domains. For many email marketers these 4 domains deliver mail to more than half their list members.

Yahoo -- http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/mail/postmaster/basics/postmaster-15.html

AOL -- http://postmaster.aol.com/guidelines/bestprac.html

Hotmail/MSN -- http://postmaster.msn.com/Guidelines.aspx

Gmail -- http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=81126

Email marketing tip of the day - Do not send one big image

2009-07-07T07:31:00.000-07:00

Make sure the HTML portion of your content has a nice balance of text and images. If your content is only one big image or series of images it is more likely to be filtered as spam, or ineffective to recipients who block images. A good rule of thumb is to keep messages at about 60 percent text and 40 percent graphics.

Email marketing tip of the day - Want more list members?

2009-07-06T07:51:00.000-07:00

The best way to build a subscriber base is to drive traffic to a subscribe/sign-up form that highlights the value in being a member of your list. Check out our easy to follow screencast on creating forms.

http://www.streamsend.com/kb2/idx.php/17/095/Forms--NEW/article/Forms-Screencast.html

Nice work Ngan!

Email marketing tip of the day - Do an open rate by domain analysis

2009-07-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

Take the time to make sure that the top domains within the mailing list are actually opening messages. For example if your mailing list is 15 percent yahoo.com addresses, but only 3 percent of opens are from yahoo.com members, this is an indication that your messages may be bouncing or going to the bulk folder. Hotmail, for example, is notorious for filtering messages, meaning that they do not deliver the message to the recipient, but nor do they bounce it back to the sender. An easy way to determine if this is happening is to look at the open report for any discrepancies as describe above or abrupt declines in open rates.

Email marketing tip of the day - Make it super easy to unsubscribe

2009-07-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

Try moving your unsubscribe link to the top of your content and make it very visible, so if a recipient no longer wants to receive your messages they can easily unsubscribe instead of hitting the spam button. You can go to the following knowledge base article for instructions on moving the unsubscribe link

New feature: mail merge defaults

2009-07-01T09:46:00.001-07:00

We've recently added default mail merge support to StreamSend. This will allow you to send out more personalized e-mails to your subscribers and improve customer relationships. If you subscriber does not have the a value for the mail merge, you can specify a fall back, or default, value for StreamSend to use. This feature is incredible easy to take advantage of so you can start right away!

In the sample code below, you can see that we wish to merge in the subscriber's first name. If the subscriber's profile does not contain a first name, then "Valued Customer" is merged in instead. The default value the text content after the pipe symbol, "|".

For more information, please refer to our knowledge base article. We hope you enjoy this new addition, Thanks!

What if your email messages are never opened?

2009-06-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

The next time you create an email campaign, try to use a ‘from address’ and ‘subject line’ with the assumption that no one is going to open your message. I know this seems backwards, but trust me on this one. Most of us put our energies in to creating a clever subject with the sole intention of getting the content opened. But more than three out of four commercial email messages are never opened, and if they are, the content is scanned in less than three seconds. That is hardly enough time to get your entire message across. But if the ‘from address’ and ‘subject line’ get the same three seconds, that is definitely long enough to make a positive brand impression and possibly a website visit before the delete key is pressed.

Let’s start with the ‘from address’. The simple fact is this: if the recipient does not know who you are as a sender, the likelihood that your message is opened falls to less than one in ten. So brand your ‘from address’! Tell the recipient who you are, and use the entire ‘from address’. The ‘from address’ has two parts, the actual email address and the name associated with the email address. Most email clients will display the name associated with the email address, if there is one. This part of the email address can be a person’s name, the organization’s name or division, or it can even be used as a mini subject such as: “Special Offers” companyxyz-news@companyxyz.com . Once you pick an effective ‘from address’, stick to it, and ask your list members to add the ‘from address’ to their address book or contact list. This will keep your messages out of the spam/bulk/junk folder. A quick “don’t” before moving on to designing a message subject: Email marketers should never use the infamous “do-not-reply” in any part of the ‘from address’. This type of ‘from address’ is reserved for transactional notices, and it really takes away the personal connection you might make with your list members.

The key to an effective subject is pretty straight forward. Keep it short, clear, and have it convey relevance and urgency. A well-designed subject can deliver a meaningful message that will drive traffic to a website without the message being opened. The length of the subject definitely matters, and the shorter the better. Most email clients will display around 50 characters, and many mobile devices will display half that. This is not a lot of space, so you have to focus on one key point that really summarizes or highlights the message content. Always front load the subject; keeping in mind that some recipients will only read the first 3 or 4 words before hitting the delete key or moving on to the next message. Also adding a sense of urgency to the subject can help to strengthen a call to action. Simple but effective subjects that allow the recipient to bypass the content and go straight to the website might be:

Win a free iPod when you try companyxyz.com

Save 25% on all orders for the next 3 days at companyxyz.com

Coupons and More – Your savings start now at companyxyz.com

Notice in the example above how the organization’s name or website is at the end of the subject. This is because it is also displayed in the ‘from address’ and could be considered redundant, so if it is cut off by a mobile device the subject does not lose its relevance.

A subject should never be intentionally deceptive. This will only lead to unwanted spam complaints. Also, merging in a list member’s name or company into the subject is a waste of valuable real estate. As I mentioned before, only so many characters are displayed, and I already know what my name is, so you do not need to remind me.

My goal is not for marketers to forget about the importance of well thought-out, targeted content, but to highlight the time restriction their email audience is under when it comes to reading mail messages. If your message is only going to be scanned for 3 seconds and never opened, you want to make sure you have it well branded and given every possibility to be acted upon later.

US Email Marketing Growth Predicted by Forrester

2009-06-22T14:32:00.000-07:00

In a recent report, "US Email Marketing Forecast, 2009- 2014," released by Forrester Research this month, email adoption by consumers and businesses is projected to remain strong through the year 2014.

Forrester estimates that 153 million online adults will be regularly using email, compared to 47 million users of social media inboxes. Email marketing growth will be spurred by the continuing decline in use of US postal services. Forrester suggests that retention emails will make up the most of the email in the inbox, growing up to an average of 3,670 permission-based retention messages received annually by email users in 2014. This means increased competition for all marketers reaching out to customers via email.

Additionally, as email usage continues to grow, email marketers will continue to be faced with the challenges of getting emails to the inbox and engaging their customers.

Successful email marketers will:
* Make sure to know their customers well to create highly relevant emails
* Effectively use triggers and segmentation to further improve relevancy
* Be diligent in practicing good list hygiene and mailing practices (See StreamSend's Free Deliverability Webinar for tips on list management and mailing practices)

VIDEO: Does your Email Marketing "Scale"?

2009-06-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

We had a new prospect contact us for a quote. They have a unique service and are planning to grow to the point of sending out millions of emails per month to a fully double-optin email list. They asked us if we could scale properly to meet their needs. For us, it's no problem. We send out half a billion emails a month, and we can easily scale to increase this number.

The prospect was happy to hear this and said that we were Top 3 for their choice. We decided to have some fun and actually mail a proposal to their office. We ended up creating an actual scale and mailing it along with the proposal! See below.

How many Millions of Emails do you think you weigh? I weighed 110 Million emails! Sounds like I've had one too many frozen yogurts!

:-)

The Email Standards Project

2009-06-05T15:12:00.000-07:00

Our support department regularly receives tickets asking why certain emails do not look the same between email clients. Any web designer knows the importance of testing a website in multiple browsers. The different browsers do not have the same level of support for every HTML and CSS tag. Email clients are the same way. Before you start designing your next email, take a look at the email standards project. This site provides information on what HTML and CSS tags are supported in which mail clients. If you build your email with all of the mail clients in mind from the beginning, you will avoid any embarrassing mistakes that could cause your email to be unreadable for some of your subscribers. Here are some Do’s and Don’ts to get you started:

DO:

Use full paths when including images and links
Test your email in multiple email clients
Keep in mind your email may not be viewed full-screen or may be on a small screen

DO NOT:

Customer Experience: Shopping as a Timmy @ Zappos!

2009-06-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

Our IT Director, Alex, shared a link with me today regarding Zappos! One of their creative customers named Todd decided to become Timmy (South Park fans, e.g. Alex ehhm ehhmm, will no doubt appreciate the name) and began to have some fun with a Zappos! employee named Jonathan. Jonathan handled the situation beautifully and ended up becoming a bit of a customer service rock star across the Internet.

My favorite line: "Jonathan would be happy to neglect the use of pronouns for the duration of this conversation."

Zappos! (I love adding the exclamation mark) hires great people and has created a culture where you can be yourself... so much can be learned from that!

Read the post on the Zappos! blog or on Todd's Blog (aka Timmy).

Creating Email List Filters

2009-06-02T09:18:00.000-07:00

Segmenting or filtering your subscriber database allows you to slowly build up your sender reputation with the Internet Service providers (ISPs) or fix a reputation that may have been damaged due to a high volume of spam complaints or invalid email addresses in your list.

When starting with Streamsend we recommend building a reputation with the ISPs (hotmail, yahoo, aol, etc.) by sending to 10,000 subscribers or less if the list is older per blast. You will also want to have at least 8 hours if not 24 hours between blasts. Once you have sent to the entire list in this fashion you will be able to send future emails to the entire group all at once if needed. This ramp up process can be sped up if needed, just contact the support department for assistance.

Using a filter also allows you to break up your subscriber database into smaller more targeted groups. These smaller groups allow you to send emails to subscribers based on their demographic information or specific interests. If you are sending all of your emails to your entire database then you are likely sending emails to subscribers that may not interested in the content of that email they more likely to unsubscribe or ignore future emails sent.

Example of targeting emails based on subscribers interest:

I signed up to receive emails from a local store because I was interested in some of the weekly specials the company was advertising. I had been a member of this list for several months and had only been interested in a few of the products they were advertising. I looked into editing my profile with them but cannot specify products of interest so I unsubscribed from the entire list. If they would have segmented their lists and only sent me emails that matched my interests I would still be an active member of their list but because they regularly sent emails that I was not interested in they lost a subscriber.

Useful Links:

How to create filters

How to apply a filter

Battling the Spam Button

2009-05-28T09:13:00.000-07:00

Nothing strikes fear in the heart of an email marketer like the thought of a recipient hitting the spam button. All that time spent on creating content, sending and reviewing test messages, only to have someone completely reject the message as “Junk.” It truly is a cold, hard world.

But what is a recipient to do? Hit delete? That’s like shoeing away a fly with the back of the hand – it will be back. Or even worse, use an unsubscribe link? That might let the sender know that they have reached a valid email address.

Do not blame the recipient! They know the definition of spam - "unsolicited commercial or bulk e-mail." And guess what? Your opinion does not count! If the recipient believes the message is unwanted or unknown, the big bad button on the top of the email client is going to be pushed.

Since you can only control what happens before you hit the send button, try these steps:

Follow the golden rule of email marketing: never send to anyone who did not give you explicit consent to email them. As I mentioned above, recipients are now conditioned to use the Spam button as a way of disposing of unwanted and unknown email messages.

Do not send to old addresses that have been sitting idle in some database. This is like going up to an adult on the street and telling them you were their preschool teacher and asking if they remember you.

Send regularly. Do not wait too long between messages, but do not send too frequently. Remember, the key here is to have the recipient recognize and appreciate your message.

Clearly identify yourself in the from field. Using your company or brand will get your message recognized, and hopefully opened.

The subject line needs to truly represent the message content, and should not try to trick the recipient into opening the message. Use the subject line in tandem with the from field to build brand awareness and highlight the value of the message content.

Add a couple of sentences to the top of your content to let the recipient know why they are receiving your message, and where the unsubscribe link is. The “click here if you have trouble viewing this message”, and the “please add our from address to your address book” is great for people who know why they are receiving your message and want to receive it. But what about those who do not?

Make sure the message content looks professional, is engaging, offers value, and is not too long.

The unsubscribe link needs to be easy to find and easy to use – two click max!

Move your unsubscribe link to the top of your content and make it very visible, so if the recipient no longer wants to receive your messages they can easily unsubscribe instead of hitting the spam button. This works well in reducing complaints, especially when you are sending to new list members. Please go to the following knowledge base article for instructions on moving the unsubscribe link: http://www.streamsend.com/kb2/article.php?id=010

And lastly, honor all unsubscribe requests. Nothing will get you a complaint faster than sending to someone how has previously unsubscribed from one of your lists.

How E-mail Became a Direct-Marketing Rock Star in Recession

2009-05-15T16:58:00.000-07:00

Tamara Gielen, through her blog BeRelevant!, brought to my attention this interesting article in Advertising Age. For some reason the link to the article worked the first time but when I went back to read the Advertising Age article again, it asked for a subscription to read it. I have removed the article but have replaced it with something that makes some of the same points and more. See a link to a blog post by Mark Brownlow below.

The article talks about how permission-based email marketing may not be the most glamorous marketing tool but it is relatively inexpensive and still effective. In short, it continues to have positive ROI even in hard economic times.

Mark Brownlow, in his blog, has an excellent article called, Why Do Email Marketing?.

Some Elements of Good and Bad Subject Lines

2009-05-12T20:42:00.000-07:00

It is hard to overstate how important the subject line is to the success of your permission-based email marketing campaigns and email newsletters. First, the subject line is the first writing recipients see and is often the determining factor on whether they open the email or move on to something else. Second, because spam filters flag words or punctuation in the subject line, your subject line can make the difference between the email arriving in the inbox or the junk folder.

A subject line should achieve something fairly simple: It should set proper expectations as to the subject of the email itself. Beyond that, here are some elements of a bad and a good subject lines.

Elements of a Bad Subject Line

A bad subject line is sort of like the proverbial old school, high-pressure salesman in a polyester suit. He made inflated claims and wanted you to sign on the dotted line right now before it was too late to take advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity. Fortunately, this species of salesman is much more rare these days.

The good, modern salesperson is knowledgeable, conversational, persistent, and honest about the product. The good, modern salesperson does not speak the language of hype but talks to the prospect or repeat customer as though they were having a cup of coffee together. Your email marketing and email newsletters should model this friendlier, more relaxed type of interaction.

Avoid ALL CAPITAL LETTERS in the subject line as that is widely thought of as the Internet equivalent of shouting. You would never shout at a prospect so do not shout at your email list subscribers. Avoid exclamation marks!! When I see exclamation marks I think of Mr. Polyester Suit. It is worth noting that if it looks like hype to you, the spam filters probably agree. For example, the filters are likely to flag emails that have ALL CAPS or exclamation marks and send them to the junk folder.

A good litmus test for a subject line and for email copy writing in general is does it past the read test? If you read it out loud does it sound even vaguely how you would talk to the customer over coffee?

Elements of a Good Subject Line

As mentioned earlier, set proper expectations regarding the subject of the email. Most good subject lines are straightforward, clear, and do not cram in too much stuff. Many good subject lines are fairly simple. If the content of the email is interesting to the reader, they will appreciate your straightforward subject line describing the content.

This does not mean you cannot use the subject line to sell, as you definitely can. Here is the From and Subject I got today from one of my favorite online publications.

From: MarketingProfs Events

Subject: Early Bird Ends Friday: Grab Your Discount

First, notice that they branded the From address so I recognized the source instantly. This made up for the non-branded subject line. Second, notice the sense of urgency and anticipation. There is an event and I can get a better deal if I act by Friday.

The copywriting in the email itself supports the subject line very well with a description of the event, some humor, and a strong call to action with links to a good landing page.

It is worth noting that everything from the subject line to the copywriting in the email was compelling while being slightly understated. This slightly understated tone takes away the feeling of high pressure, while still maintaining a sense of urgency. Well played.

Two Radically Different Approaches to the From Address

2009-05-12T12:16:00.000-07:00

I recently got an email from a company, let's call them XYZ, Inc., and the From address showed a person's name. The Subject Line looked sort of interesting but since I did not recognize the From name I almost hit the junk email button. I opened the email anyway and then could see the email was from someone@xyz-inc.com, the company logo in the email, etc.

The second email came from a company, let's call them Acme, and the From address was Acme not the name of an individual so I immediately recognized the Acme name and could then focus my attention on the subject line and the content of the email.

The conclusion I came to is that in order to avoid confusion, always brand the From address with your company name. The exception might be if your subscribers know the name of the sender of the emails.

How I Got Our Web Site from Page 5 to Page 1 Using 'White-Hat' SEO

2009-05-03T21:55:00.000-07:00

Marketing Profs asked me to write a guest blog post about our success in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for the StreamSend Email Marketing service. Read How I Got Our Web Site from Page 5 to Page 1 Using 'White-Hat' SEO.

StreamSend is a permission-based email marketing service and the key phrase I focused on the most was "email marketing." We are really pleased with with the results!

StreamSend Integrated with the MaxHire Recruiting Software

2009-04-29T14:05:00.000-07:00

It's always interesting to see how our API is used to integrate StreamSend with another solution. MaxHire has created a nice integration for their desktop software solution with StreamSend.

A little about MaxHire... they offers tools to all members of a recruiting staffing firm so they can find new clients, source the right candidates, and fill jobs faster. To help clients market new services and job opportunities to candidates, MaxHire wanted to enhance its CRM suite with an email marketing system. MaxHire opted to integrate with StreamSend. The integration took them 2 weeks! Impressive! Over 10% of their customers started using it the first day it was out, and more are quickly following.

View an online video demo of how the integration works.