The Messaging Times

How to Write the Perfect Email

Wired published a wiki that explains how to write a perfect email when you want to get a quick and relevant response. The first instruction on the wiki discusses the importance of brevity. Because we all have too many options and a multitude of decisions to make each day, being brief is becoming more important [...]

Email Marketing: Why the Obvious is Often Overlooked

In his post, Before you buy your next ad… Seth Godin shares an interesting video. If there are any problems with the embedded video, click here for a linked version. … The clip above illustrates how something apparently obvious can be overlooked in a message. It also shows that we are conditioned to focus on what we’re [...]

The Economics of Email Marketing

Email marketing enjoys the best Return on Investment (ROI) of any online marketing channel. In 2007, the average ROI for email was around $49 dollars for each dollar spent. In 2006, it was around $52 and in 2005 it was as high as $57 on average. While the ROI for email seems to be dipping [...]

13 (plus) Tips for Effective Email Marketing

MarketingVox provides 13 tips for effective email marketing. You may have heard most of these before, but it is certainly worth taking the time to reacquaint yourself with them. The following posts from this blog add to the list: Email Marketing: Call to Action Tips 3 Quick Tips to Improve Your Email Marketing Campaigns in 2008 5 Holiday Email [...]

The Cost of Effective Email Marketing

One of the benefits of working with a company whose products are used in over 160 countries by individuals and organizations of all types and sizes, is that you get to talk to some really interesting people. Recently, I talked to the Harlem Globetrotters and the guitarist for the Oak Ridge Boys, both GroupMail customers. More [...]

Will Your Halloween Email Campaign Be a Treat?

Here’s an example of a clever campaign by LeapFrog that found its way into my inbox last October. Notice the request to whitelist their new email address and a link to a web version in case the colorful HTML promotion below gets suppressed in some inboxes. … The Subject Line “This Halloween, Give Treats for their Minds” [...]

The Semantics of the US Economy and Email Marketing

All eyes and ears around the world are on the current state of the US economy. How something is communicated makes a great difference in how it is interpreted. A simple phrase or even a word can sway perceptions, regardless of the nuts and bolts of the situation (often which aren’t understood when it [...]

How to Send Personalized Email-to-SMS Text Messages from GroupMail

GroupMail Business Edition customers can send personalized email to SMS text messages using GroupMail’s email-to-SMS gateway. For details, read Setting Up and Using the GroupMail SMS Add-on. Get more information about this and other GroupMail features.

How to Create Custom Content for Online Surveys with GroupSurveys

GroupSurveys allows users to create custom content for their online surveys. You can change the language of your survey, add custom welcome and finish messages, custom error messages, headers and page numbers. To customize your survey, please see the short video below: How to Change the Content of Your Online Surveys from Tom O'Leary on Vimeo.

What Good Copywriters Do to Optimize Their Words

Copywriting is a skill that must be practiced. When writing in competition for an audience, it simply isn’t enough to provide quality content. First, you must attract readers to your piece. Here are four tips that will almost always drive traffic to your content and turn browsers into readers. Practice Daily Every morning, I force myself to [...]