If you’re looking for a starter email marketing solution, Mailigen’s Epic Free email marketing solution lets small businesses have up to 5,000 subscribers before it charges a monthly fee. Create newsletters, signup forms and surveys from over 130 customizable templates. You’ll get real-time performance reports, plus, Mailigen integrates with Google Analytics. Mailigen’s branding is part of the emails, but if you ask them to remove it, they will. You can also post to your Facebook or Twitter account when you send out the emails and target your audience so subscribers get exactly the information they’re interested in.
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Posts Tagged ‘Email marketing’
Web.com Small Business Toolkit: Mailigen’s Epic Free (Email Marketing)
March 11th, 2013 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich7 Ways to Make Cold Emailing Work For You
March 4th, 2013 :: Monika Jansen
I have a confession to make: I have always been outgoing and perfectly comfortable talking to total strangers. I have walked right up to famous people I wanted to meet (mostly pro snowboarders and startup founders whose companies have gone big-time) and introduced myself. For some reason, though, cold calling and cold emailing are much harder for me to do, so I always give kudos to people who not only do it, but do it well.
When I was the editor at Tech Cocktail, I got pitched a lot via email. Whoever did a great job got my attention, a reply, and usually an article out of it. Now, I get pitched by companies selling a service I might be interested in, either as a small business owner or marketer.
If you want cold emailing to work for you, here are all the things your email must contain to grab the recipients’ attention:
1. Get basic information right
I cannot stress this enough: Make sure you get my name, company name, industry, location, and any other basic information about me that strengthens your pitch right.
2. Customize the message
Because you did your homework to confirm I am in your target market, throw in references to the industry and what I do to build trust and credibility.
3. Get to the point
If your email is long, there is no way I’m going to read it. Explain exactly why you are emailing me in your opening sentence.
4. Name name
If we have a friend, acquaintance, or client in common, tell me who it is rather than saying, “We have a mutual friend.” Say, “We have a mutual friend, Mark Zuckerberg*.” If Mark told you to contact me, let me know why.
5. List the benefits
Definitely let me know why I should meet with you, do business with you, or buy from you. How will working with you benefit me? And how, in turn, can I help you?
6. Offer meeting times and days
If you want to meet with me in person, let me know when and where you are available to meet. If you are so inclined, offer to pay for coffee or lunch.
7. Follow up
Acknowledge that I am busy, and offer to follow up in a week or so. You can also ask our mutual friend Mark Zuckerberg to follow up if you’d think it would help.
* I do not know Mark Zuckerberg, but if you do, feel free to make an email introduction.
Do you use cold emailing regularly or on occasion? What have you found works best for you?
Image courtesy of colourbox.com
Google+7 Quick Fixes for Common Email Marketing Mistakes
February 21st, 2013 :: Monika Jansen
Because we’re human, we are going to make mistakes. Unfortunately when it comes to email marketing, if you make some big mistakes, you could lose subscribers.
The best way to catch a mistake in your email marketing messages is by sending out test emails to a few people who can check for formatting, grammatical, and spelling mistakes. Before doing that, though, run through this checklist to make sure you avoid these 7 common mistakes to begin with:
1 – Messing up email personalization
If I had a dollar for every time I got an email that said, “Hi [FirstName]” – well, I wouldn’t be rich, but I could go out for a very nice dinner tonight. While it’s not necessary to personalize greetings, it is a really nice touch. Just make sure email personalization is set up properly in the email marketing program you use.
2 – Emailing the wrong people
After you add contacts to your email marketing program, segment them into groups, such as company executives, small business owners, VIP customers, partners, etc. That way, when you send out an email, you know it is reaching the right people with the message you wrote specifically for them. Before you hit send, doublecheck that you selected the right group (or groups).
3 – Forgetting to add an unsubscribe option
It is actually illegal to not offer an easy way for your email recipients to unsubscribe to your email list, so make sure every email contains this option. But make it easy – let people click on a link to unsubscribe rather than forcing them to email you back with “unsubscribe” in the subject line or body of the email.
4 – Offering only HTML versions of your emails
Despite all the incredible advances in browser and mobile technology, some programs and devices just cannot handle HTML versions of emails. Always include a text option to make sure you can reach everyone on your list.
5 – Not adding links
You send out emails to increase sales, so make it easy to convert “maybes” into “yeses.” Link back to products, services, and downloadable content on your website, and, if you include an email address, hyperlink that as well so people can email you with one click.
6 – Leaving out social share buttons
At this point, forgetting to add social share buttons to any of your marketing communications is like forgetting to add your company name or signature. If you want to grow your social media audience and extend the reach of the content you share, always include those buttons.
7 – Not including contact information
This is my biggest pet peeve across online communications – hiding contact information. Make it super easy for people to contact you – via phone, email, snail mail, fax, carrier pigeon – whatever. Display that information front and center. Your customers will thank you.
What other mistakes have you seen?
Image courtesy of coachmunro.com
Google+Why Your Emails Must Be Mobile-Optimized
January 30th, 2013 :: Rieva LesonskyBy RIeva Lesonsky
Are your email marketing messages optimized for mobile? They’d better be. According to the latest Return Path global bi-annual mobile email report, 37 percent of U.S. respondents surveyed now open their email on mobile devices, compared with the 30 percent opening them through webmail in a browser. The percentage of emails opened on mobile devices has increased 300 percent since 2010 and shows no sign of slowing down, says the report. Here’s some more of what you need to know:
Platform matters: While Android mobile phones still dominate in the U.S., Apple device users are more likely to open and read email on a mobile device than any other group. Although Windows Mobile saw an 85 percent increase in email opens since April 2012, it still accounts for just 0.3 percent of total email opens on smartphones.
Industry variation: Certain industries’ emails are more likely to get opened on a mobile device than others. The retail (40 percent), consumer product (40 percent) and real estate (38 percent) industries lead the way.
Is it safe? The information being sent via email is also a concern. For example, banking-related emails were less likely to be opened on mobile devices due to security worries.
Desktops aren’t obsolete…yet: Users check email more often on a desktop than on a mobile device during the day. I’d surmise that’s probably because they are sitting in front of their computers at work, but as more workplaces incorporate tablets into the work day, the desktop is likely to become less and less dominant.
Mobile sitting still: It’s a myth that mobile purchasing is taking place out of home. Just 22 percent of mobile purchases take place on the go; 18 percent occur at work and more than half (51 percent) take place at home. Your customers are more likely to be opening that email in bed or on the couch than in the car, so keep that in mind when designing your message.
If you doubt optimizing email for mobile matters, keep these facts in mind: Return Path found that email marketing messages drive twice as many conversions as social media or search. In addition, the average order value is higher on mobile devices, whether tablet or smartphone. However, since even those who open their emails on mobile devices still make most of their purchases on the desktop, you need to make sure your emails are optimized for both platforms.
Image by Flickr user Brad Flickinger (Creative Commons)
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What Marketing Strategies Are You Spending on in 2013?
January 22nd, 2013 :: Maria Valdez HaubrichBy Maria Valdez Haubrich
How does your small business’s marketing budget for 2013 compare to that of your competitors? A new survey by StrongMail has some insights. Overall, businesses are bullish on marketing for 2013, with a total of 89 percent saying they will either increase or maintain their level of marketing spending in the coming year. (Some 45 percent will increase their marketing budgets and 44 percent will keep them the same.)
Email marketing, social media and mobile marketing will be the main focus of investment this year. More than half (55.5 percent) of marketing executives report plans to spend more on email marketing campaigns in 2013; 51.8 percent say they will spend more on social media; 42.8 percent say they will increase spending on mobile marketing; and 39.8 percent will boost spending on search marketing.
Two-thirds of the companies in the survey report they will spend more on mobile marketing programs such as mobile apps (39 percent) and SMS alerts (21 percent). Overall, mobile marketing spending will increase by 11 percent compared to 2012.
When it comes to social media, where are marketers putting most of their efforts? Facebook dominates, with 60 percent of businesses saying Facebook is the most valuable social media channel for them. Twitter and YouTube ranked second and third, respectively. Google and Pinterest were somewhere in the middle, cited by 31 percent of marketers, while Yelp, Instagram and LinkedIn brought up the rear.
Email is a strong area of growth for marketers, who plan to use it for a variety of purposes this year. While at one point some experts were predicting that social media would make email obsolete, marketers are figuring out email’s value in growing their social media presence and customer engagement. That’s reflected in the 46 percent who say they will spend more on emails to drive growth to their social media channels, such as Facebook or Twitter. In addition, 38.8 percent will spend more on promotional emails, and 34.7 percent will spend more on email newsletters.
Where aren’t marketers spending? Direct mail, trade show participation and traditional advertising will take the biggest hits. Some 37.4 percent report they plan to cut spending on direct mail, 33.6 percent will cut back on trade show spending and 23 percent will decrease spending on advertising in 2013.
You can view a PDF of the full survey results here.
Image by Flickr user Jay Freshuk (Creative Commons)
Google+How Email Can Drive Your Ecommerce Sales
January 8th, 2013 :: Karen AxeltonBy Karen Axelton
While social media may get all the buzz in the marketing world, when it comes to boosting ecommerce sales, statistics show that email is still more effective. Data from trade organization the Direct Marketing Association show that email outperforms social media advertising by three to one when measured in sales per advertising dollar spent. This year alone, during the key Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend, the number of online shoppers who bought something after visiting an ecommerce site from a social networking site declined by 26 percent compared to 2011, IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark reported. On both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, “social sales” accounted for less than 0.5 percent of all online sales.
How can you make your email marketing messages more effective?
- Target your messages. A generic email blast about a sale won’t be as effective as specific emails targeted to different consumer groups based on their behavior. You can target emails based on what consumers have done in the past (such as past purchases) or what they’ve browsed on your site recently.
- Whet shoppers’ appetites. Limited-time offers still work well to drive shoppers from your email message to your website. “Today Only,” “Just 3 Hours Left” or other subject lines that convince customers they’d better act now are a good way to get shoppers to click through.
- Use landing pages. Be sure when shoppers click through your emails they don’t just go to your home page. Create a landing page designed for that specific email that includes strong calls to action to persuade customers to act. For instance, an email touting a sale on children’s clothing should go directly to your children’s clothing sale page.
- Don’t let shopping carts sit abandoned. Many customers put items in their shopping carts, then don’t check out. Set triggered emails to remind customers of their waiting items or update them when a price has changed on something in their cart.
- Use cookies and online advertising. Use cookies to track customer activity on your site. Then when customers browse your site, you can serve up ads later on unrelated sites for the products they viewed on yours. This is a great tactic to keep your website and your products top-of-mind until customers are ready to buy.
- Be aggressive about retaining your email list. Instead of a simple “unsubscribe” option, consider offering a range of choices on your unsubscribe page. For instance, some e-tailers ask customers if they’d like to see the emails less often, such as once a month instead of once a week. You can even set up your unsubscribe to ask customers if they want to take a break (such as three months off) from emails before receiving them again.
Image by Flickr user Jonathon Narvey (Creative Commons)
Google+When’s the Best Time to Send That Marketing Email?
November 28th, 2012 :: Rieva LesonskyBy Rieva Lesonsky
If you’re like many small businesses—and especially retailers this time of year—sending out emails is a huge part of your marketing strategy. But how can you ensure your emails get opened, and clicked on, among the deluge of messages swamping recipients’ inboxes? Email marketing provider GetResponse analyzed some 21 million U.S. email marketing messages and has some useful advice about the best—and worst—times to send emails. Here’s what they found:
Retailers’ newsletters and emails are far more likely to be opened in the first hour after delivery than at any time afterwards. In the second hour, results drop by half; in the third hour, they drop by another 30 percent; and in 5 hours they dwindle by 90 percent.
Open and click rates vary widely depending on the time of day. Recipients’ top engagement times are 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Ideally, you want your email to land in the inbox one hour before these times for maximum attention and results. Sending newsletters during readers’ top engagement times can increase your average open rates and click-through rates by 6 p.m.
However, the study also found that messages sent in the afternoons and evenings were the most likely to be opened or clicked. Although morning is a top engagement time, it’s also the time when most emails are sent, so your email could be more likely to get lost.
There are other factors to keep in mind:
- Time zones. Use time zone segmentation so an email you want to hit inboxes at 9 a.m. arrives at the appropriate time for the recipient’s time zone.
- Know your recipients’ routines. For instance, if you send an email to a busy mom at 3 p.m. when she’s picking up the kids from school, it’s likely to sit in the in-box until homework, dinner, bathtime and bedtime are over….several hours later.
- Know what your competitors are doing. Learn from big companies in your industry by watching when they send their emails and testing similar timing.
- Track results. What works for the competition might not work for you—or you might want to try something “counterintuitive.” You need to assess your open and click-through rates and test different times to see what works for your business.
Image by Flickr user julianlimjl (Creative Commons)
Google+Retailers Plan to Spend More, Make More This Holiday Season
November 9th, 2012 :: Rieva LesonskyBy Rieva Lesonsky
U.S. retailers have high hopes for the upcoming holiday shopping season, and are spending accordingly on their marketing programs to make sure they grab their share. According to a new survey from Retail Systems Research and Bronto Software, more than 20 percent of U.S. retailers say they plan to significantly increase their spending on mobile, social or email marketing channels this year. An additional 22 percent will slightly increase their marketing budgets.
Overall, retailers are very optimistic about the coming holiday, with 68 percent projecting their sales to increase compared to last year. Of those, almost one-fourth believe that their sales will increase by over 50 percent.
Email, mobile and social media marketing channels are all top concerns for retailers this year, with a full 20 percent of respondents planning to allocate more than half of this year’s holiday marketing budget to one or more of these channels. However, out of the three, email is by far the most important for retailers, with a whopping 87 percent using it and more than 50 percent saying they will send more marketing emails this year than they did in 2011.
To prepare for this massive email marketing push, retailers have been spending money on:
- Subscriber acquisition (46 percent)
- Automated/triggered messages (43 percent)
- Personalization (36 percent)
- Segmentation (21 percent)
Other areas where retailers have invested in the past year to improve their service and operations include:
- New email service provider (50 percent)
- Mobile applications (49 percent)
- New ecommerce platform (46 percent)
- Mobile website optimization (43 percent)
“While email is a more established channel and has inherent technologic advantages for communicating with consumers, marketers are getting ready to use mobile and social to break out of the pack,” said Joe Colopy, CEO of Bronto Software, in announcing the results.
Free shipping is the main promotional tool that retailers will use this holiday season; all of the companies surveyed say they will offer some form of free shipping. How will ecommerce retailers lure customers back to abandoned shopping carts? Some 43 percent say they will use an email message offering free shipping, and 35 percent will use percentage-off or dollar-off emails.
Although this survey focused on large retailers, knowing what tactics the “big guys” are planning for the holidays can help you determine your own business’s marketing strategy. How will you beat the giants this holiday shopping season?
Image by Flickr user ccarlstead (Creative Commons)
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How to Grab Price-Conscious Holiday Shoppers
October 31st, 2012 :: Rieva Lesonsky
By Rieva Lesonsky
Consumers are feeling good about the upcoming holiday season. In a new study by PriceGrabber, more than half of consumers say they plan to spend the same amount of money or more this holiday shopping season than they did last year.
But even increased spending doesn’t mean Americans are ending their price-conscious ways. On the contrary, shoppers are looking for bargains with more vigor than ever, and feeling confident in their ability to search out the deals. Two-thirds of consumers surveyed say they expect retailers to offer better prices and discounts this year than last. What will persuade them to buy? Free shipping was cited by 77 percent of respondents, price cuts by 74 percent and coupons by 55 percent.
In fact, customers are already looking for holiday bargains. “Our survey data found that … 59 percent of consumers plan to start shopping even earlier this year to spread out the impact of purchases, compared to 53 percent in 2011,” said Rojeh Avanesian, vice president of marketing and analytics of PriceGrabber. Some 17 percent of consumers started their holiday shopping in September, and 31 percent said they would begin in October this year.
Worried that means it’s already too late to get the business? Don’t be. A follow-up study by PriceGrabber found that while there are those early-birds, more than half of consumers still believe the best holiday deals are found between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Got an ecommerce site? Then you’ve got an edge: When asked where they planned to shop this year, 75 percent of respondents said “online retailers.” By comparison, just 49 percent mentioned department stores, and 41 percent said they’ll shop with local independent retailers.
Even if you don’t have an ecommerce site, you can use local search to give your retail store an edge. A whopping 88 percent of shoppers say they’ll stick to their budgets this year by going online to research products and pricing before they buy their holiday gifts.
Make sure your store is listed on local search directories, on ratings and review sites, and that you use relevant keywords on your website so it comes up in the results when potential customers search for products you sell. You might even want to consider taking out online ads such as pay-per-click or Facebook ads to direct local customers to your store.
Image by Flickr user Steven Depolo (Creative Commons)
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