Engaging the Newsletter Readers

In this email saturated period, the subscribers will get bored if the emails they receive contain messages such as ‘SALE’ or ‘Buy me’. Every other commercial email and spam has such kind of information which fills up the inbox. Thus to avoid this, information in the newsletter must include expert advice, latest trends, how to use the products, and tips. There should be numerous ways for interaction and the products should be displayed as the most anticipated products of the season. This will make the readers invest more time and eventually more money in the company’s products.

The links for interaction should be counted and not the ones for unsubscribing. The newsletters must get the readers involved in it. The reader engagement should be increased by adopting certain creative strategies. A good newsletter should have a perfect blend of interactive content, purchase behavior and also, entertainment value. Effort should be made to add at least some value to the email, irrespective of the fact that the receiver is a regular customer or a new recipient. Value can be added by giving information of latest company news, off sales announcements. Transactional emails can also be sent which includes updates and regular information such as registration, subscription and order confirmations.

Customer feedbacks are very important for revamping marketing techniques. A minimum of one web link, contact email address, telephone number and postal address should be included for collecting feedbacks. Short surveys can also be designed which have one question pop quizzes regarding company’s products, instead of statistically valid queries. The introduction to the quiz can be used in the email as a link to the actual quiz located on the website. A display of running vote’s total can also be included in the quiz topics upon improvement of the newsletter, website, or products; new ideas for product improvement; how the product changed the life of the user and others are good ideas for taking feedbacks. The best feedbacks can then be published in the next issue. Noteworthy questions can also be collected under the ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ section. A small prize can help to increase the interest of the newsletter readers.

Choosing the best recommendations can be tricky, because you wouldn’t want the customers to give negative comments besides the glowing ones. The most useful among the good comments must be selected to be featured in the product spotlight. Storytelling can be added in the email as everyone is curious to know what is happening behind the scenes. History of the company, fun facts, employee perks, personnel changes and other company operations can be divulged. If the company falls amongst the Fortune 500 Company or is one of the fastest growing companies in the area, the booming business can also be discussed about. Job openings can also be posted as every company does need employees at one time or another.

Blogs are another wonderful thing. Get a blog and link it to the newsletter. A blog dedicated to the subscribers and customers helps in receiving feedbacks and comments, among which the premium quality and problem solving ones can be chosen for display. If a post generates many good comments, publish those and let the conversation carry on. Videos can also be used to promote the company and newsletters which can eventually lead to vblogs.

Personality can also be added to the newsletter, which means that if the newsletter was a live person, what it would be, male or female, fun guy or serious authority, smart or shy. Like if the newsletters are relating to pregnancy, the newsletter can be given a personality of an old and wise grandmother, who is witty and also at the same time enjoyable. Once the personality and the distinctive tone are pictured, it gives way to topic selection and copywriting. A personal note from the editor in a commercial email message can strengthen the relationship with the newsletter readers.

Getting More Out of Unsubscribing Option

The unsubscribing link helps the marketers to understand their customers better. This makes them to look for alternatives which would help to retain the customers for a longer time, sometimes even forever. The whole procedure will give an insight about the view of the subscribers, how they picture the company and what are their expectations from the company. Unsubscribing customers force the company to think of a counter-option to restrain the customer from unsubscribing. So, if the whole process is designed well, it actually helps the email program in reaching its goal.

Also, it is considered as a good practice to provide the customer with the opportunity to unsubscribe.

The major reason being that if you do not provide the unsubscribe link, it is more likely that the consumers will report you to their individual ISPs as spammer. The unsubscribe link should be easy to locate and use. Marketers include the unsubscribe instruction in every promotional emails, but they should understand that building customer trust is also very important. The customer should be given the chance to manage their inboxes by giving the unsubscribe option at other critical contact points. The first step towards this is to send the welcome message soon after the customer subscribing in order to confirm the request. Sometimes it may happen that the customer will subscribe unknowingly, especially because of pre-checked boxes on the registration form. In this case it is very important to include the unsubscribe method in the welcome email, otherwise the recipient will be forced to receive unwanted emails which can bother him to the very extend. This increases the risk of clicking the spam button.

Apart from being easily locatable, the unsubscribing method should also be very easy. This discourages the recipient from clicking the spam button or from ignoring the messages. Although one-click URL, which is a one step process, is used by most but a better option is a two step process. Sometimes the recipients do an address change; in this case one step process is the worst option. His interest or needs might even change or he might want to receive mails from you less or more frequently. Here the profile pages will be of help in reduction of unsubscribe and in giving the customers a more fruitful experience. In this method, some links takes the customer directly to the profile page and some ask for passwords to get through. If password is asked for, it is compulsory to add a ‘forgot password’ option. This adds another step to the complete process and increases the chance of the recipient giving up and clicking on the spam button out of frustration.

The best bet is to use a two step process. The first step takes the recipient to his profile page with the help of a click. The second step helps in confirming the removal request or changes in the individual’s profile. Adding other request removal opportunities works as bonus, such as contacting the customer support if the profile page isn’t working or including web form contact information. Along with this other options for receiving information should be provided to the recipients. It is helpful to give the subscriber a chance to explain the reason for unsubscribing.

Another good practice is to acknowledge the unsubscribe process. This helps in building trust in the email program as this tells the subscriber that his request was processed, immediately. If the subscriber has intended upon leaving the email program, a graceful goodbye and vote of thanks for their past patronage helps in strengthening the relationship. The medium used to do this can be same as the request removal.

The unsubscribing and subscribing process should be checked minimum once a month. Nearly half the marketers do not test the unsubscribe method once it has been set up and only one in four check the process only after receiving the complain about it being not working.

Mistakes Made In Email Opt-In Usability

The reader needs motivation in order to subscribe for emails from a company. This is the very first step towards increasing the email opt-in rate. The website should have display the benefits of subscribing. Simple, nondescript boxes inhabit the homepage which say ‘Subscribe to the company’s newsletter’ and nothing more than that. There is lack of reason why the user should sign up unless they already find the content of the website interesting. It is agreed upon by many that the content should be kept basic. But how basic is the question. Lonely sign up boxes are a big no-no. There should at least be a brief promotional line which gives a specific and concrete benefit that would get the reader motivated to fill the box with his email address and click on the sign up button. The promotional matter should answer questions such as ‘Why should the reader sign up for the newsletter?’, ‘What are the solutions being offered by the newsletter?’, and ‘Is the newsletter focused and specific, concentrating on the needs of the reader?’

The same technique is to be used with the type of words and language being used in the promotional copy or more better, on the complete website. The links should be clear and shouldn’t have any empty, vague or generic matter. The content should be able to solve the problem which the reader is looking forward to be solved. The readers must be offered with back issues and sample to give them a good idea about what they can expect from future newsletters they will be receiving.

After the reader signs up, many of them receive a big nothing. They get big blackness and dead silence. The subscriber wants something to happen in his inbox immediately. Therefore, it is a good idea to send a welcome email right away which can include the latest newsletter or sample of the best newsletters. Try to include some email-special offer. At the end of the message tell them they will be expecting such great offers and newsletter in a short while. The new subscriber should feel that he has joined the club and has already received some benefit. He should feel the signing up process worth the effort. The welcome email also does the job of confirming email, which checks for the validity of the email address.

On one hand there are people who have barely any motivating information on their website and on the other there are people who have too much information on their website. The information is not organized and the users are overwhelmed with innumerable choices. If the company has too many things to offer, it should narrow them down by grouping them into categories. On the basis of these categories, the newsletters too must be sent out. The newsletters should have specific content and any new material posted on the website should be posted in just a link and not more than that.

The last thing which puts off the subscriber is asking too many questions. In the sign-up page they are asked for their email address only. Next they are linked to the preference page, followed by twenty more pages. This is a really blown opportunity. Initially, it is good to keep it sweet and short by asking information like first name, last name, and email address. Then send them a confirmation email where they can click the link for making choices. Marketers should know where to draw the line. A box asking just for the email address is a great way of not getting any subscriptions.

How to Optimize Email Opt-In Pages

To optimize email opt-in pages is amongst the most important jobs to do and is also amongst the most forgotten job. The way the opt-in forms and pages are presented determines the quality of list, rate of growth, and meets the subscriber’s expectations which in turn help in email performance. The very first step towards optimization is to get the people to fill in the opt-in page. Immediately following it is designing the layout of the opt-in page and form.

Making one come to the website is another issue. But once they get to the website, they should be allured into signing-up by making them go to the opt-in page. Firstly, the path to the sign up page must be made easier and clear. Links to sign up page or form must be included on the home page and even on other pages too. Promotional boxes should appear in the areas of side bars. The visitor shouldn’t search whether the website offers email newsletters or not. The links to the navigation area should send out clear message. Terms and names which aren’t obvious shouldn’t be used. Words such as Email Newsletter, Newsletter or eNewsletter are very appropriate.

If there is sufficient space, promote the latest newsletter on your home page by pasting its link. The website should have a ‘Knowledge and Resource Center’ area where extract of articles and archived issues can be placed. This area can then be used to promote sign-ups to the company’s newsletter. It is good to include the subscribe link in the back issues.

Since the purpose of the opt-in page is to make as many readers into subscribers, the design, copy and layout of the opt-in page should be similar to the landing page. The page should be designed with form, copy and images which should reflect confidence, value and trust. Links to samples must be included which can give an idea about the quality of the email to be received upon sign-up. Email’s small screenshot display is optional, but beneficial too. Testimonials from readers to the email publications can be included in pull quote format. The content of the testimonials can be either text or images.

In today’s world, everything comes for a price. So when a subscriber is giving his valuable email address, he is certainly looking for something in exchange. This is why images and copy should be included on the opt-in page which conveys the basic value of emails to be sent. Subscribers can be given ‘email only special deals’. Any kind of regular incentive goes a long way. Whether it is ‘$2 off the next purchase’ or ‘free white paper’, even discounts can increase conversion.

Extra precaution must be taken by writing short email policy near the submit button. A link to the company’s detailed privacy policy must be included at the end. The frequency, format and content of emails should be clarified and the sign-up process must be confirmed via a welcome email.

Certain details about the opt-in page should also be considered. A right balance needs to be maintained of the information that is collected through the opt-in form or page. Neither too much information must be asked; nor must too little information be asked. The future must be planned from the start. Obviously asking only the email address is very quick; information required for email delivery will be missed. Information which is not required for email delivery and segmentation or personalization should be avoided. If there are too many fields, the not so important ones must be marked as optional. To check syntax errors, a script should be included for that purpose. Two boxes should be present for entering email address twice. This reduces the risk of typing invalid email address. The minimum form fields to be included in the form are first name, last name, email address, and format preference. Optional form field can be based on secondary email address, frequency, preferences and demographics.

Tips on Reducing Number of Email Bounces

Reducing and managing the number of email bounces has never been so critical for an email marketer. Frequent managing of email bounces reduces the email delivery costs and boosts the conversions and transactions. This is a sign of a good email program.

The list needs to be cleansed on a timely basis. The cleansing process can be done manually or through list hygiene service by which incorrectly formatted addresses, and invalid typos and domains can be checked for. Most of the companies experience an email address churn of two to three percent per month. Here the Email Change of Address service or ECOA service can be employed to deal with this problem. According to reports, many of the ECOA companies receive at least one million email address changes every month.

Email addresses need to be confirmed regularly. This can be done by sending auto-reply confirmation to customers when they register, subscribe or make a purchase. If the message bounces, attempt can be made to correct the email address. The problem can be tackled by including a second email address line in the opt-in form which can confirm whether the email address entered was correct or not.

One of the basic steps to be taken is to make the update process easier by including the website account and subscription management link in the emails. The customers must be prompted to update information. They can be asked to verify or to update information at the time of completion of transaction in the shopping cart. If any transaction has not been made in a while, phone or direct mail can be used for information update. People who have bad email addresses and whose phone numbers or postal addresses are stored with the company can be contacted for email address correction.

Major domains such as Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail, etc. can be used to track bounces and open rates. If one is different from the others or if there is a sudden change, this can be attributed to blacklisting or filtering. Therefore, it is also a good idea to check major blacklists and spam databases for your company’s or email provider’s name. If the name has been blacklisted, no bounce message will be received even if the message wasn’t delivered. Monitoring and understanding of spam filters helps in dealing with spam complaints more efficiently. The terms and conditions of the spam filters must be reviewed carefully. Quite often the spam flag addresses are added maliciously. These flags must be removed. Email providers also process bounces. Only understanding them can solve the problem. The basis on which soft and hard bounces are to be pronounced should be studied and later on, managed accordingly.

Because of financial troubles, mergers, and other announcements a big list of service users of one particular ISP decide to shift over to a different ISP or account for their email. Such members on the subscribers list must be emailed with a question raised on the domain name. They should be asked whether they want to update their email and other information. It is a good practice to pretest the emails before distributing the email to the entire list of subscribers. The test can be performed on oneself, company employees and a trusted group of current readers. Try including all the major email services being used by majority of the subscriber list members.

When every other attempt fails, it is best to delete or suppress recurring bouncers. For this purpose a suiting bounce deletion and suppression strategy should be designed according to the email program. Hard bounces should land directly in the trashed list as they are permanently undeliverable.

Spicing up the Snippet Text

Snippet is the top line of the email which is displayed apart from the subject line. Usually the inbox snippet displays the first line of the text message or HTML message. It is tiny but a very significant part of the email message which helps to tilt the balance in the marketer’s favor, when the readers zip through their messages, searching for the most important ones and deleting the rest. Therefore, it is more important to juice up the snippet in order to optimize the email and make your message stand out from the rest of the crowd.

Different service providers have different types of display pane. Yahoo displays the snippet in a pop-up text box when the cursor is brought over the subject line. Gmail shows the snippet in a shaded part after the display of a truncated subject line. In Outlook, a short part of the text is shown in auto preview.

Some marketers give the invitation to join their list of subscribers in the snippet itself. Although the service is valid it still shouldn’t be mentioned in the first line. Instead it must be used to generate interest, value and excitement in your email. A correctly framed snippet helps the reader, especially the one on the run, in deciding whether they should read the email immediately or delete it. Apart from the subject line alone, more words are available in the snippet or the top line of your email to build brand recognition. This top line facilitates the snap decision of the reader when he is in the middle of inbox triage. Some preview panes block images by default, which again increases the importance of the top line.

According to a survey, some of the common top lines are ‘View the email with images’, and ‘If you are having trouble seeing this email, Click Here’. At face value, there is nothing wrong with the message. But according to another statistics, the required number of people does not click on the link to go to the web version of the email. And none of the above sentences convey an offer or the purpose of email, leaving the reader to rely on the subject line alone for hint. Not other common failing is that it dose not even include the company’s name or brand. Another great opportunity to stand out is lost here.

The basic thing to keep the snippet spicy is to make a new one every time, even if few extra minutes are required for this job but its worth can be seen in better open rate. So the magic word here is to rejuvenate the top line, even if the same offer is being repeated. Retail email should have the offer in the top line like free shipping, festive discount or try our new product. The news publications should have the headline as the snippet like the quirky tidbit, top story or company announcement, followed by the web version link. If the email is a transaction confirmation then the action must be referred to and thanks should be offered, if required. If an order confirmation or thank you page is to be included in the transaction confirmation email, a link should be included to that page but otherwise, links can be skipped and templates can be used instead.

Before sending out email with the revamped top line it is important to revise the snippet. It can appear in a different method in different web email and desktop clients such as Yahoo, Gmail, etc. and on different platforms such as PC, mobile, Macintosh, etc. Testing should always be done. Divide your group of testers which can include employees and trusted old readers, into two groups. Send the first group your standard email and the other group the revised email. Notice the opinions of the two and choose the one with the best feedback. Always check the click rate of the snippet, to see the attention it is attracting.

The bottom line is that not even a single line of the email message should be wasted. The aim should be all business and no nonsense text.

Building Email List Based on Permission

The biggest challenge for email marketers is to build a cost effective list. This is because at least thirty percent of the email addresses change on most lists. Therefore, marketers have to go for a more aggressive approach in order to expand the list and to get more significant investment returns.

Taking permission is the basic key to maintaining a almost constant email list, along with other steps. Permission is certainly not the optional thing. If permission is not taken it means direct landing up as a spam complaint or even greater, breaking the U.S Law for spamming. The sign up form should be featured on every web page. No opportunity should be missed for turning the visitor into a subscriber. Subscription value can be enhanced by adding sample emails, screenshot of an email, testimonials and good copy on the sign up and registration page. To attract more number of subscribers, incentives can be offered upon signing up. The incentives can be as small as white papers and as big as special discounts. Incentives increase the conversion rates to great extent.

Today everything is becoming search engine optimized. Therefore it is the need of the hour to optimize the website in order for the website to land in first hundred search result. The current and archived web pages and newsletters must be optimized for increasing the traffic rate of the website and subscription rate. Search services such as Google AdWords can be made use of, for including subscription link on the landing page and for promotion of the website. Opt-in check boxes must be added on the demo requests, registration forms and white papers. This increases the conversion rates by at least fifty percent.

Very simple method to increase new subscription is by including the ‘Send-to-a-friend’ option. If the current subscribers find an email interesting, there are greater chances that the email be liked by their friends too. And if they like the emails, there is an even greater chance that they will subscribe to receive future emails. Email subscription can also be encouraged by print ads, catalogs, direct mails, radio and television. Employees can be directed to include the ‘Subscribe to the company’s newsletter’ link in their signature lines. The sales employees and customer support can ask customers whether they would like to receive promotional email, in appropriate situations. Sign up forms can be distributed at seminars and public speaking engagements and presentation on newsletters can be given at such locations. Permission can be taken to include opt-in forms in trade show lead generation forms so that booth visitors can subscribe.

If the postal information of the customers is in the database, post cards can be sent to them which ask them to subscribe to newsletters. Sign-ups can be promoted in transactional and confirmation emails. It is optional to include opt in link on receipts of credit card, product registration cards, invoices and warranty. The company’s email and newsletters can be promoted in other company’s publications. Sites and industry directories can also be used for promotion. Product shipping boxes are the next important place to include the opt-in form. Many catalogers and retailers even include promotional offers of non-competing companies. Newsletters which have topical articles can be used for press release, along with information such as how to subscribe and content being offered. This option is useful to smaller companies.

Designing for Different Types of Email Audiences

Marketers usually send only one type of message to a strictly targeted list of recipients. But in reality, the email is seen by ten different types of audiences who read the message in ten different ways. Hence, it is important to create a message design which satisfies the needs of majority type of audience as possible, instead of creating a different message for each type of audience.

Things get even more complicated when audience keep shifting. It can happen that the same recipient reads the message with a different perspective from edition to edition, depending on the time or mood constraints. This problem can be solved by understanding the major email audience. Then the design tactics can be designed and the potential of the email being read by everyone can be maximized. There are eight types of audiences: Identifiers, skimmers, readers, HTML readers, text reader, mobile, desk, and searchers.

Identifiers have only one goal. They check from address and subject line to make decision amongst the other emails which have overcrowded their inboxes. They make recognition and delete the rest of the emails which they do not want to read. For such audience great subject lines and clear branding make the greatest impact. Snippet or the top line of the emails is also displayed in the preview pane, so this text is of all importance as it can help to make the difference between reading and deletion. Usually the business people fall into this category who want to clear the inbox after they arrive to the office before the first meeting or when they are waiting for their flight.

Skimmers go beyond from address and subject line by actually opening the email. But they read the email as fast as possible, noticing only headlines, subheadings and calls to action. Then they make the decision whether to delete the email or read it in detail. When the email is being designed, these copy points should be worked upon in order to deliver the central idea and guide the skimmer towards the click through. Skimmers do not even enable images, if they have been blocked. Thus, strong text content should be designed to deliver the content without much focus on the images.

Readers are a little ahead of skimmers. They read from address, subject line and open the email and read few sentences between the headline and call of action so as to learn more about the email topic. This helps them with the click through hurdle. These audience also turn on the images or click on the web version link.

Every email should have both HTML and text version of the message. Since most of the readers now-a-days are using their portable devises for checking emails, here text version will be of more use than the HTML version with images. HTML design dose takes more time, but few more minutes must be devoted to make the text version attractive. Include URLs with text as short and as clear as possible. Easily readable text messages increases the number of clicks by a great percentage.

Email design is encountering new challenge because of the growth of mobile readers. Some PDAs show HTML version correctly, while the others show lines and lines of irritating HTML code. Again, matching the right format with the right reader is important here, but hundred percent is impractical. If an interesting message isn’t being displayed properly, mobile readers will save the message to later read it on their laptop or desktop.

Desk readers are the biggest audience for which majority of marketers design emails. This audience is also the one most likely to act on the email. Design strategy used to optimize emails for other audiences will also prove effective for this particular group too. Desk readers can also be skimmers or readers. Therefore, here too, it is important to concentrate on the top line of the email, apart from the subject line.

Searcher audiences start as members of one of the other type of audience. When they see something which they like but cannot deal with it at that time they save it for later. When they have time they want to find the message in a flash. So if the message does not stand out, it will be forgotten about. Again here it is important to design the subject line, top line of email and sender address properly.

Costly Email Mistakes

When an email program is designed and executed well it can bring more subscribers and revenue than what was targeted. If, executed poorly it will get terrible results and also anger among recipients and not to forget answering your boss’s innumerable questions.

Outlook is the most used email client, so it shouldn’t be ignored, especially the Outlook Junk Filter. But many companies do not spare time to learn about keywords and symbols with the default filter searches for. Some of the common words and symbols, which are also the most widely used, used for filtering the email as spam are ‘free’ and exclamation mark at the end of the subject line. But the word ‘free’ does not always arouse suspicion like many legitimate email marketers think. It can be used correctly and in context with shipping or sample, etc. Nobody can disagree that it is still the most effective email offer. So the key here is to know the words and how to use them so that the email does not get caught by spam or bulk mail filters.

Certainly quality costs money, which also applies to email marketing. Some marketers say that even low cost email list delivers a respectable turn over, but experts advise that more expensive list produces even bigger returns because of high quality. Another point to be noted here is that when you are mailing to an inferior quality list, you are actually harming your brand.

The subject lines of eNewsletters must not be meaningless. Examples are ‘SE Update #101’, ‘Career Journal Today’ and ‘eClub Newsletter’. These subject lines say nothing at all, when it is the purpose of the subject line to entice the recipient to open the email. Things such as issue number and words saying that this email is a newsletter are of no value; instead they should include information which will grab the attention of readers.

A target link which will work in one email client won’t work in another. For example, if it was mentioned ‘AB Company’ in the “from” line, it will be displayed as ‘marketing@ABCompany’ in AOL email client. If it is written ‘Order by Sunday for Free Shipping and Arrival by Nov 28’ in the subject line, AOL will render it as ‘Order by Sunday for Free Shipping and Arrival by Nov’. Either some part of the message is missing or the content is manipulated. So such variables must be tested in different email clients and if not, it will have a big impact on the email results.

The ease in email marketing when compared to other marketing is the immediacy of testing. If variables aren’t tested regularly then the medium is not used correctly. Successive and regular testing not only builds but refines results. Many marketers like to test on rented list, but wouldn’t mail in great number to the best performing email lists.

It is understood that the email campaign is successful when it promotes a compelling offer. Compelling does not mean that the offer should be ‘free’ or ‘50% off’, but it should be of value and relevant to the reader. The lists must be segmented and the offers made must be more relevant to the recipient’s needs, behavior and interest. When lists are being rendered, the most appropriate ones must be selected and the offer must be developed upon the needs of the targeted audience.

Some of the top email clients have emerged as big challenges for the customer oriented marketers. Every ISP has its own issue which needs immediate addressing, such as HTML compatibility issues, spam, blacklisting, and volume based filters, etc. The biggest mistake is not monitoring the results by ISP or domain. Problem is not known until it is discovered.

Everyone is becoming search engine optimized. The key to reach the top ranking on top search engines is search engine optimized content. Since eNewsletters are the best content sources, they definitely must be search engine optimized by including various keywords, so as to increase the rankings.

Making the Year End Email Marketing Review

At the year’s end everyone needs to look back on their email marketing efforts to see how successful their program was and if it wasn’t as successful as they were expecting, then what steps should be taken in order to make the program successful.

The main points to be looked upon are:

* Key performance metrics

The first step in the process of annual review is to note down the newsletter or campaign’s annual result in a spreadsheet. All important statistics such as clicks, referrals, complains, unsubscribe, bounces, spam, etc., should be included in the spreadsheet. After assembling the results must be used to calculate the overall averages. By this the best and the worst performing message can be calculated for every metric. Beyond standard metrics like click through, open, and bounce rates, corporate newsletter publishers must also look at metrics which are more appropriate for achieving the company’s objectives and goals. The major metrics which should be looked upon based on objectives are open rate, click to open rate, click through rate, deliver rate, bounce rate, referral rate, unsubscribe rate, spam complaints, net subscribers, subscriber retention, unique clicks, unique clicks on certain recurring links, website actions, orders, downloads, transactions, total revenue, conversion rate, average order size, and average price per email.

* Content

The content of the actual messages should be analyzed. Every aspect should be relevant and should also involve creativity. The style, tone and the length of the subject line should be reviewed. It is very important to include the company’s or brand’s name in the subject line or easy recognition by the reader, otherwise the email will land in the spam folder. If the format of the emails is being changed constantly, the samples must be compared to see which one is more effective. If personalized emails have been sent, observe the results to see whether the attempt was successful or not.

* Recipient feedbacks, web site analytics and surveys

An email account can be created to receive feedbacks containing both negative and positive comments, which can be reviewed upon at the end of the year. If the number of feedbacks received isn’t adequate, the feedback procedure must be made easier. Another problem could be of not creating a motivating personality which could make the subscribers to respond. Readers surveys helps in finding keys which can be worked upon in the next year. Analyzing the website statistics also helps a lot. If there are articles present on the website, figure out which ones interest the readers the most. If the website sells products, check out for the product categories which are visited the most and produce the most revenue and orders. Also ponder upon the offers which draw the most attention from the subscribers.

* And finally comparison between internal and external benchmarks

The co-marketers can share information in an organization which produces more than one campaign or newsletter. This helps in benchmarking the key metrics. The company’s performance can be compared to the industry averages to see whether the program is going according to the plan or if it needs attention immediately.

After the internal audit has been done and the review has been completed, it is now time to make an improvement plan for the future, which should include:

* Analysis and reporting

* Testing

* Creativity

* Maintenance

* List building

* Personalization and segmentation

Optimizing Holiday Email Marketing

The holiday email marketing season takes the overdrive with the onset of Halloween. Certainly, this isn’t the time to design the marketing program from the scratch. But a small fixes can do the trick to raise the deliverability by a few percent without the need to shift to another completely new program. These fixes won’t take major investment in money or time.

As they say the first impression is the best impression, a very important aspect is to include the brand or company name as the sender and not individual name or email. The “from” line acts as the basis for the readers based on which they recognize and trust the sender. So it is best to use the brand name which is widely used by the readers for recognition. Following it is the subject line. It also plays a major role in the opening of the email. The subject line should not only be irresistible but trustworthy. Many subject line tools are available on the internet which can be of great use. The trick followed by most is to phrase the first twenty eight characters with the most important information. Usually the first twenty eight characters are of high importance to get the message across to the client. Putting the brand name in the from line helps to free up space for the critical information, which is the heart of the message, in the subject line. If the email is send to a mobile, the brand name should be first thing the reader should see. If there is space, special offers will be worth mentioning.

The email should have a link to the complete information which is posted on the website. The link should redirect the reader to the complete article just by one click. Subscribe and unsubscribe links should be working always and the directions should be displayed promptly. If this isn’t done, it is going against the US email marketers law. The email should also include information about the company’s name, address and other contact information such as telephone, link to web contact page, and email. It is good to have links to other offers and services provided by the company. Effects of the previous offers and customer testimonials can also be included to draw attention.

The email shouldn’t resemble to a print ad which has bright colors within which the information is contained. Although, most of the HTML designers love to design this type of emails, but another fact is that most of the readers would have their block images option activated which will stop the image from downloading and the recipient will not be able to see any part of the message. The email should be broken down into manageable chunks. One large image should be replaced with many smaller images and important information should be placed in a text boxes which will be displayed in spite of the images being displayed or not. Alt tags can also be used to describe the images or the offers contained within it. This information will be displayed if the images do not show up.

Coding and spelling mistakes are a big no-no. If there is, this is a sure sign of a spammer. Miss spelt brand or company name can never be forgiven. It is a good habit to get the entire email proof-read by a professional before sending it to the readers. The links should be check individually to see whether they are working or not. Although it is a tedious task, it will save the readers from getting irritated and from losing sales. Past performances shouldn’t be trusted upon and regular checks must be made constantly.

The most important thing is to keep an eye on the competing company and the offers being offered by them. Try to design a better offer and test it on sample readers before committing to the offer. Like every one will be offering free shipping during the holiday season, so try to think of something which will differentiate you from the rest.

The last point to be considered is that because of the overwhelming flow of emails during the festive season, the subscribers can get irritated and complaints may arise. This can be tackled by throttling the frequency of emails. Delivery logs should be read constantly to handle the problem at the proper time.