The Importance Of Auto-responder Emails
Posted by Michael Herman
The Importance of Auto-Responder Emails
Are you interested in taking your email marketing campaign to the next level? If so, then you may want to consider crafting a series of Auto-responder emails. The majority of web hosts enable you to use email addresses that call up a pre-written email which is uploaded to the server. Once an email is sent to that address by a prospect, the email you have already written is instantly sent to that prospect. You can write emails and send them to your email subscribers at intervals of your choosing. Most marketing experts believe that you must send out at least seven emails on average in order to make a sale.
Offer Something For Nothing
Every great email marketing Auto-responder campaign begins by offering something for free. Those looking to sell an eBook (usually about how to get rich) will normally give subscribers a free chapter or a newsletter which outlines what the book is about. Regardless of what you send for free, hold your email fire for a few days or more. You need to give the recipient the opportunity to digest what you’ve just sent them. There is no point in sending someone a free chapter and bombard them with marketing before they’ve even have a chance to use what you’ve sent.
Show Benefits
When creating Auto-responders, you can’t make the mistake of sending fluff because the subscriber will soon block your emails. If you decide to send seven emails, make sure that each one explains a different benefit to the product/service you’re selling. If you can’t come up with 6-7 reasons why someone should use your business, you don’t deserve anyone’s custom! For example, email two could mention discounts, email three could inform the recipient that they are losing money by not using the offer etc.
Formatting
A common email marketing mistake is to send emails which are not formatted properly. Emails with uneven lines (line one is long, line two is short etc.) are unpleasant to read. This occurs when the recipient’s email is in a different format to your own. As a result, you need to ensure that your email is readable by all programs. Generally, line lengths should be set to 60 characters. There are a number of free programs online that enable you to do this automatically.
Statistics show that around 90% of customers purchase a product/service by the seventh email. However, less than 30% make purchases after one or two emails. Therefore, you need to be prepared to create several informative emails and start sending them via the Auto-responder mechanism if you wish to increase your bottom line.
Why Email Marketing May Earn You More Money Than Your Website
Posted by Michael Herman
Why Email Marketing May Earn You More Money Than Your Website
When email marketing is performed correctly, it can annihilate any other form of advertising when it comes to increasing conversion rates. In fact, email marketing is arguably more important than your website. While a site that correctly uses SEO will generate a lot of traffic, there is a big difference between someone visiting your site and actually spending money on your product/service. Naturally, you need to get your site in order if you want to get people seeing what you have to offer but well crafted emails are a crucial way to twist their arm and get them to make a purchase.
Expenditure
One of the biggest mistakes made by companies who do their business online is to pump the vast majority of their money into their website while ignoring other sales avenues. It’s understandable that so much money is spent on a site because this is where a business displays its goods. Hours of work and thousands of dollars go into the site to make it look as professional as possible. Email marketing on the other hand, is not glamorous and often forgotten. It’s seen as inconsequential when in fact, it could be what a flagging company needs.
Email marketing is a hidden goldmine because of its ability to directly contact prospects as opposed to generic website content that is uninteresting to the person concerned. Ask yourself: How many sites have boring content that talks mainly about how great the company is while neglecting to mention the benefits of using their product/service? With email marketing, you can explain why your company is the best choice.
Conversion
Besides, websites alone rarely turn more than a few percent of visitors into customers. Email marketing increases your visibility because you can send a message to an incredibly large number of people. It also builds relationships which is a key element when it comes to generating repeat custom. Instead of viewing a customer as a one-time spender, you need to look long-term and calculate the amount of money they can place into your bank account over their lifetime. Remember, the real profits come from repeat custom because this lowers your overall marketing expenditure.
When you use email marketing as an advertising tool, you must always have high quality content and offer an easy way to unsubscribe which should always be located at the bottom of each email. Get email addresses of customers, hit them with a clever marketing campaign and enjoy the rewards.
Designing Customer Survey
Posted by Michael Herman
Designing Customer Surveys
It’s easy to be so engrossed in crafting new messages for your email marketing campaign that you completely forget the importance of allowing customers to have their say. Your profits may well be down or up and it could be a complete mystery unless you stop typing and start listening. After all, how are you supposed to know what’s right or wrong about your product/service/business unless a customer tells you? Without the consumer, there is no business so start considering the prospect of creating customer surveys to find out what the public really think of your company.
Planning The Survey
You’re used to painstakingly creating email marketing messages so taking the time to carefully plan and execute your survey should be no problem at all. You may have 100 questions that you would like to ask your customers but it’s best to keep it to 20 or thereabouts because most people’s attention tends to wander after this point. If you issue a survey that takes half an hour to finish or threatens to do so, very few people will bother completing it. Begin by explaining the purpose of the survey and the benefits. Perhaps you can offer potential prizes to those who complete the form. Many companies issue discounts which are awarded to a certain number of people.
Don’t Annoy The Customer!
Have a few gentle introductory questions and don’t go fishing for personal details straight away. It’s also important to ask one question at a time and not confuse the issue by posing multiple queries in a single sentence. This has a habit of irritating and confusing the respondent which will see the survey left incomplete. Assuming you are allowing multiple choice questions, please ensure that you have exhaustive answers that cover all bases without overlapping one another. When two or more answers appear to be virtually the same, this is an example of a poorly designed customer survey.
You must always use neutral language in the surveys to ensure that you don’t come across as biased. The questions must be posed in such a way that your preferred answer is not apparent. Essentially, you have to think carefully about the questions you ask and the order they appear in as well as offering all-encompassing choices. The purpose of customer surveys is to learn more about your company through the consumer as well as knowing more about potential customer’s preferences. Hopefully, the information you
Avoiding Spam Filters
Posted by Michael Herman
Avoiding Spam Filters
When email marketing, you have to be careful not to get your message tossed into the junk folder. The amount of computer viruses and scams that take place online means that people who receive emails are wary. The CAN-SPAM Act became law in 2003 and had a number of revisions added in 2008. The Act is designed to fight against spam, viruses, pornography and other internet problems. Also, email servers have become more vigilant and have added virus and spam filters which block out unwanted emails. Some of these filters are so powerful that even legitimate emails can be blocked. Clearly, this would be a disaster to your email marketing campaign, so what can you do?
Filtering
Once upon a time, getting your email opened was the single most important thing in email marketing. In the modern era, getting your email delivered is even more vital. No longer can you assume that everyone on your mailing list will receive the message you send. The filters in email programs enable people to add emails which contain certain words to their junk mail list. It’s also possible to create a blacklist which blocks emails from certain senders. You need to be aware of this if you’re planning an aggressive email marketing campaign. Too aggressive and you will be blocked forever.
They’re Only Words?
When you’re creating emails, you have to avoid the use of certain words. Obvious words and phrases such as ‘Free’, ‘Winner’, ‘Investment’, ‘Sale’ and ‘Cash Bonus’ should not be used. Most email programs will filter out messages with these words. In actual fact, there are hundreds of words and phrases that should be avoided to guarantee that your email passes spam filters. Terms like ‘big bucks’, ‘get paid’ and ‘call now’ may see your message blocked by filters. You should also avoid the use of $ signs, exclamation points and words that are all capital letters. Failure to do this will see your messages go to the email equivalent of purgatory and never get opened. You can use symbols between words to beat the filters. For example, say ‘ca^sh’ instead of ‘cash’.
If you’re worried about the email you’re sending, there are dozens of content checkers online which will tell you if the email will potentially be blocked by spam filters. It should be noted that there is no program online that is 100% accurate. Most of them only check emails against the filtering rules of certain spam filters. This is why you should leave out a word or phrase if you aren’t sure of its validity.
The Importance Of The Subject Line
Posted by Michael Herman
The Importance Of The Subject Line
What do you think is the most important part of email marketing? Some people still believe that using certain keywords is essential. Why? You’re sending someone an email, not trying to get seen on search engines! Keywords are irrelevant because the email is being sent to thousands of people. This doesn’t mean it will be seen however and having compelling content is not nearly enough. The vast majority of emails sent by customers to prospects never get opened because the subject line isn’t compelling enough
Make Them Curious
People are exposed to thousands of adverts per day. Whenever they receive an email, they immediately look at the subject line. If it contains a generic phrase it will be discarded. If it appears to be some sort of advert, it will be binned. You need to create emails which have subject lines that arouse curiosity. Some great subject lines that have been used successfully by companies include ‘You got me worried’ and ‘Are the rumors about you true?’ because they seem personal and have made you want to see what’s inside.
Don’t Follow The Herd
Certain companies who attempt email marketing campaigns go overboard when it comes to personalization and start to use the recipient’s name in the subject line. While ‘Hello John’ may have worked at one time, so many companies are now using this device that it is deemed to be generic and is immediately deleted. When crafting a compelling subject line, remember that there is a CAN-SPAM Act which prevents companies from using deceptive practices in a bid to get the recipient to open the email. Therefore, you can’t use a subject line which is completely different to the contents of the email or else you will violate the principle of being non-deceptive.
Join The Dots
As we have already mentioned, it’s vital that you avoid making your email look like an advert. This includes the subject line which must be devoid of phrases such as ‘profit’, ‘free’, ‘sale’, ‘buy’, ‘discount’ or similar terms which give off the scent of commerce. Include any of these terms in your subject line and you can be sure that the recipient will delete the email without opening it. One of the best devices to use in a subject line is an incomplete thought. The human brain hates an incomplete puzzle and is desperate for information that helps it close the topic. Only by opening the email can the brain rest.
Don’t worry about what to put in the email until the subject line has been sorted out. Once it is and an interesting title has been found, you’ll have completed the most difficult part of email marketing which is to get the prospect to open the email and start reading.
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