So far this year we’ve rolled out a couple of big changes to help you organically build your email lists. Following the introduction of our subscribe form app for the iPad, the subscribe button and the subscribe page, we’ve turned our attention back to the original website subscription form builder.

After we spruced up the “Grow your audience” pages in “Lists & Subscribers,” it became quite evident that the trusty option to generate your own subscription form code within “Copy/paste a form to your site” was well due for an update. While the old website subscription form builder did the job, it was well, looking a bit tired and not at all consistent with the rest of the eConnect Email platform.

After a large amount of work, we’re happy to announce that we’ve overhauled the “Add a subscribe form to our site” section of your account, to make it easier to create a form, get the code and preview the results. It’s also a lot more intuitive and user-friendly.

Flexible forms with and real-time previews

While many of our clients have no trouble customizing our website subscription form code to their heart’s delight, we’ve gone the next step with our form builder. For one, it’s now easy to re-order the display of form fields – for example, if you want the “Email address” field to display before “Name”, you can now drag-and-drop it into place. As you make changes to the forms, the preview alongside it will update automatically.

An improved workflow

Once you’ve tailored your website subscription form to taste, you can simply copy the code, or move on to other popular tasks, like customizing your subscribe confirmation page, confirmation email or setting up an auto-responder. All it takes is a few minutes to build a form, and then customize what your subscribers see, before and after signing up for your lists.

While these changes are all fairly subtle, we hope that they make the process of creating subscription forms for your website a touch easier. Of course, if there’s anything we can improve to make it even easier to build your website subscription forms, please sound off by posting a comment below.

Hot on the heels of the new Subscribe Button, today we’re happy to announce another simple tool that makes it easy to grow your audience with eConnect Email. As of today, every list in your account now has its very own Subscribe Page, a simple, customizable page that lets anyone join your list – no coding required.

Unlike the Subscribe button, or our copy/paste forms, which you need to integrate into your site and touch code, the Subscribe Page is just a simple, webpage/URL that you can easily share with anyone. Check out a real-world example of it in action.

Customize everything

We’ve made it easy to tweak everything on this page so you can keep it consistent with your own brand. Change the background color, choose from a range of font styles, or add your own logo.

Just like the subscribe button, you can also choose which fields you’d like to show, in what order, and even set certain fields as required. You can also customize the confirmation message when a new person joins your list.

Looks great on mobile

Just like our Subscribe Buttons, we made sure every Subscribe Page looks great on any mobile device but still stays true to any customizations you’ve made.

Easily track signups

Just like we do for the Subscribe Button, we’ll keep track of how many subscribers have joined your list via the subscribe page so you can see at a glance how it’s been working for you.

Subscribe Pages are live and available in all accounts now. You can find them in the Grow your audience section in the sidebar for each of your lists. We can’t wait to see how you guys start using them.

In nature, “nurturing” always implies a particular relationship between the nurturer and the nuturee: the party with more knowledge/experience/information/power shares those qualities with the party possessing less, with the goal of bringing about positive change. Appropriately, “lead nurturing” in the email marketing world refers to the educational relationship you create with subscribers, with the goal of persuading them to act. When you get it right, you’ll not only get more customers to say yes, you’ll also build a core of loyal clients who throw their business your way again and again.

Basics of Lead Nurturing

Lead nurturing isn’t just sending emails once a week. It involves providing relevant, useful information to the subscriber about the offer you want him to accept. And it requires planning.

• Create a target audience persona. Your email list includes a variety of personality and customer types, but in order to create the most effective email campaign, you’ll need to choose one target persona to focus on. Create each email with that personality in mind. What motivates them? What information do they need? What questions do they want answered? Focus on building a relationship with your target audience in order to earn their loyalty.
• Determine a consistent email frequency and sequence. Every new lead on your list should receive the same emails in the same order and at the same frequency. Each new message should have a specific goal and call to action. Frequency should be no less than once a week; every five to six days works well in most cases.
• Create content. Each email should contain helpful, actionable, and educational content. Be creative. Try videos, FAQs, surveys, special reports and other formats to get the most important information about your company and your offer into the hands of your subscribers. Emails should build on each other, creating forward momentum and culminating with your ultimate call to action.
• Use offer-based opt-ins. Provide an incentive for opting in to your email list that is related to your ultimate offer. If you’re selling a weight loss e-book, for instance, your opt-in offer could be a free report detailing seven secrets to reducing the risk of Type II diabetes.
• Use autorepsonders. Autoresponders ensure that each new lead gets the same emails at the same frequency. It’s the smartest way to keep your email campaign ducks in a row.

Securing Action With Lead Nurturing

Once your campaign is up and running, keep a close eye on your analytics. Monitor which links are being clicked, how many subscribers convert, how many new leads you get, and where those leads are coming from. Tweak your campaign based on subscriber behavior.

Persuading your target audience to say yes begins with a strong lead nurturing campaign designed to educate and build relationships. Strong content, effective planning, and a solid approach to email creation and distribution will create a loyal audience that wants what you have to offer.

You’ve outlined a game plan, picked an email-marketing provider and even typed up some traffic-generating content but you failed to pull the trigger on the campaign. Why? Because you read some article about the migration to social communication and how it’s more effective than email? Well let me be the one to tell you that is an absolute fallacy and there is no quicker, more cost-conscious and measurable platform than email marketing. None. Don’t get me wrong, I love social media and the revolutionary candidness it is creating in people but no one likes to login to their Facebook or Twitter and see a bunch of ads or posts about a new polyester sweater that comes in a fruity sherbet color and runs two sizes too small. Social media is just that, social. The companies who are successfully using social media to market their business are the ones who are interacting and engaging their audience with real-life questions, answers and at times, unrelated content. So save your sales pitch for that email marketing campaign you’re about to send off as soon as you finish reading.

As pointed out in the infographic by b2bmarketing.net, there are numerous irrefutable metrics further solidifying my point that email marketing is:

• More visible
• More measurable
• More effective

And it’s a great tool for:

• Generating leads
• Building your brand’s identity
• Driving sales

Now if those aren’t some insanely valuable statistics then I don’t know what is. So log back into your email-marketing provider (hopefully eConnect Email), choose a catchy and thought-provoking subject line and hit the SEND button. You’re welcome.

Source: CRMSoftware.TV

Is your email marketing campaign not producing the results you’d like? You’re not the only one. Many users of e-mail marketing services are running into several hurdles that these three critical steps are sure to overcome.

1.    Saying Hello

After obtaining a customer’s email most marketers don’t send an introductory “Hello” email but rather wait for the next newsletter to roll out. This is a big mistake as the first 48 hours are crucial in client retention, as you will never have a second chance to make a first impression. Brian suggests that marketers touch base with their newly acquired follower just as a courtesy. Reach out and introduce your company, suggest a service, give them a preview of what’s to come in next month’s newsletter, etc. This will guarantee some type of engagement and make your new follower feel welcome.

2.    Keep The Conversation Alive

So they signed up for your newsletter, you’ve touched based with them and you’ve received a reply. Now what? Keep the conversation going. If you know what your product does and how it creates value for the end-user then formulate a 2 or 3 step process that will guide your follower toward a purchase.

3.    Follow Up on Abandoned Carts

The last and probably most important part of the process is the follow up. You have managed to guide your follower through the majority of the purchase process but right before they commit they abandon ship. It’s like running the yardage but not scoring a touchdown. If you notice this happen, try your best to follow up with them within 24 hours. Thank them for filling out the form/stopping by/adding items to their shopping cart/etc. and ask if they have any questions. Let them know that you are there to help by giving them a way to communicate with you should it be your blog or a direct line. Most of the time, you will find that the only thing stopping them from completing a purchase was a question they had. The follow up is key in converting those people that just need a light push in the right direction.

Mobile marketing has received a lot of press lately, so much so that some short-sighted marketers have loftily proclaimed email marketing to be dead. But before you send flowers, stop and check the pulse of your email marketing campaign. It may be much more alive than you think.

Is Texting the New Email?

I’ll admit it. I don’t have a smartphone. I was the last of my friends to get a cell phone of any kind. And at the end of the day, I still prefer sitting down at my computer to texting. I realize I’m not the typical consumer (there are now more people using smart phones than basic cell phones and texting is the most popular use of phones of any kind), but think about it for a minute. If you don’t have a smart phone and you receive a text with a link or URL in it, how likely are you to go find a computer and type that URL in so you can shop? Not very. That means that for the 41% of people who still use basic cell phones, your marketing message was wasted.

Which One Is Better?

Although it’s a natural question, it’s really not the right one to be asking. Don’t think of email and texting as being in competition with one another. Think of them as being partners on the same team, with different jobs.

• Email Marketing: Your Online Powerhouse

Email marketing lets people click on a link immediately, visit your full website, and take action. There are no usability problems and no worries about whether the subscriber has a phone with web browsing capabilities. People can visit social media pages, interact with your call to action, browse your website, and make a purchase using a coupon much more easily via email.

• Mobile Marketing: Your On-the-Go Solution

Mobile marketing, on the other hand, is perfect for quick, on-the-go messages. People tend to check their phones more when they’re out and about, and texting is the communication medium of choice for those situations. Use SMS messaging for appointment reminders, quick alerts, interactive messages, and instant access.

Which Basket Gets Your Eggs?

Dividing your marketing efforts between texting and email marketing is a smart move, but how do you know which basket gets the most eggs? You’ll need to observe your audience, learn how they typically interact with your content, and invest the most resources in the medium that promises the greatest return.

Both texting and email bring benefit to the marketing table: determining which one is best for you is simply a matter of determining objectives, knowing what each tool can do, and using the right one for the job.

Almost everyone who uses the internet has interacted with affiliate marketing in some way, though you might not have realized it. Affiliate marketing enables merchants to partner with a third party, or affiliate, to promote their products and services. It seems like a match made in heaven: the merchant gets free advertising, and the affiliate makes a commission on each sales. And in many ways, it is a perfect set-up. But before you jump in with both feet, make sure you’re making an informed decision.

The Good: A Beneficial Partnership

Both merchants and affiliates can reap huge benefits from an affiliate marketing program. Amazon, one of the largest affiliate marketers in the world, has more than a million affiliates happily making money from their ads. Let’s take a look at the pros for both parties:

• Merchant Benefits: Free ad space, broader audience, greater brand exposure, and—did I mention?—free ad space. Merchants benefit from placing their ads on a wide variety of website types, reaching a much broader audience than they otherwise could—all for free (mostly—see below).
• Affiliate Benefits: Cash, cash, and cash. Affiliates can make money at home, at work, on the golf course, or on the beach. Just by devoting a small square of their website to advertising.

The Bad: A Risky Proposition

Just as both sides can benefit from affiliate marketing, both sides assume some risk as well. Don’t assume that affiliate marketing is all a bed of roses. Grit your teeth and take a look at the cons:

• Merchant Cons: False advertising and commission costs. An unscrupulous affiliate can use shady methods to promote your advertisement, causing significant damage to your brand’s reputation. Merchants can also take a hit in the commission department, especially if the advertisements require significant investment of time and resources to create and maintain.
• Affiliate Cons: No cash, low cash, stolen cash. Fraudulent merchants may end the affiliate program without warning and refuse to pay what they promised. They might also hook affiliates into the program by promising high commission rates and paying less than promised. Finally, affiliates face the risk of getting hacked and having their commissions stolen.

The Ugly: Schemers and Scammers

Because affiliate marketing offers potentially high dividends, it has become a target for nefarious internet bandits. Schemes and scams abound, but if you do your homework and know the risk, you can still benefit greatly from entering into an affiliate marketing agreement.

While affiliate marketing does carry risks, the potential for earning money and gaining exposure far outweigh the negatives. The key is to know as much as you can about the company you’re dealing with and talk to people who have dealt with them before in order to avoid the scammers.

Did you know that eConnect Email has an affiliate program?  Visit the following link for more information on the eConnect Email affilate program.

You don’t have to spend hours each day reading emails and blogs in order to have heard the dialog about whether or not email is dead.  People on both sides of the debate are passionate over that—and whether or not RSS will rule the world anytime soon, or whether social networks really are the future’s communication and marketing pot of gold.

I recently read Gary Vaynerchuck’s new book Hustle! It’s an interesting read.  Reading it caused me to think of a company called HubSpot.  In addition to releasing their own book entitled Inbound Marketing, HubSpot has recently received $16 million of funding.  The firm is obviously doing something well.  As Gary V. would say, they’re really crushing it.

“So,” I asked myself, “what is Inbound Marketing and why is it working so well for HubSpot?” Here’s what I have decided.  HubSpot has identified existing marketing tools, combined and repackaged them, and then offered them to a marketplace that is eager to have what they are offering.  Analytics—like Google—have been combined with blog tools—like Typepad, Blogger and WordPress—and wrapped up via the use of content management tools that are already available.  The result is that the firm now has a great product AND one of the latest buzzwords in marketing–Inbound Marketing.

The idea the drives inbound marketing is that today’s technology  makes “shopping” so simple, and today’s consumers are so savvy, that consumers will look for you if they want the product or service you are providing.  You don’t need to spend time and money with sales calls and traditional media sources designed to lure buyers in.  While that scenario may be partly true, there are certainly lots of small firms that simply don’t have the manpower or the knowledge to set up an attractive, effective website and a blog, much less the savvy to tackle to mine field of tracking hits, measuring search results and optimizing leads. The gist of Inbound Marketing is that a firm attracts customers through content. If you can create content that is riveting as well as relevant, you’ll find that the search engines will find you!!  I think the guys at HubSpot are right.  Once the search engines find you and index you, you’re on your way.

Is that the whole story?

No!  When I talked with the folks at HubSpot, I learned that they use “outbound” marketing tactics frequently.  These would include things like email marketing, social media and phone calls.  For their company, email marketing is their best outbound marketing tool.  For yours, some other tactic may be best.  The point is that it’s wise to combine both inbound and outbound marketing methods. If you want to see great marketers in action, I suggest that you follow their Twitter feed.  I think you’ll learn something.

So, let’s get back to Gary V. and today’s marketing setting of creating and sharing great content so that interested customers will pay attention and then click our site and purchase our product. Is that all there is to it?  In a word—NO.  There are mobile phones everywhere with all sorts of applications that bring the Internet—and a whole world of products and services—right to a person’s fingertips. One trick is to know how to integrate this technology and its text messaging mania with email marketing software and other electronic tools.

Another tricky, but critical, step is to get your message where people will see it.  I don’t mean that they’ll simply run their eyeballs over it, but that they will really see and respond to it.  Statistics say that increasing numbers of consumers of all ages have blogs and mobile phones as well as followers and friends on twitter (we love to tweet) and facebook.

So here are my two decisions based on what I’ve seen and read:

• Concentrate on being where the eyeballs routinely are.  This will require you to be able to adjust your focus and your marketing mix as the media of choice evolves.
• Combine inbound marketing and outbound marketing. You have customers with savvy.  They’re blogging, emailing, talking and texting. Some of them appear to be able to do two or three of those things at once.  Follow the customers’ lead—combine your efforts to reach them, and you may find that success will come find you.

Is your writing full of jargon and technical-ese? Most writers, myself included, have been guilty of boring readers to death with a hard-to-follow style, just for the sake of sounding intelligent. Unfortunately, in the lightening-paced realm of the blogosphere, readers have become less and less forgiving of such a mistake. But the good news is that you can grab reader attention and communicate your message in a memorable way by paying attention to the new rules of writing for an online audience.

Rule #1: Be a real person.

Share experiences, talk in first person, and let readers see not only your strengths but also your mistakes—especially if you learned something from them that’s worth sharing. Think through every post and determine your message and main points before you just dash off something for the sake of having new content.

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Remember the old movie “His Girl Friday”? Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell deliver a stellar depiction of life in the newsroom: hectic, loud, frantic, and intensely competitive. Now, imagine dropping a press release on the desk of brash newspaper editor Walter Burns and standing back smugly waiting for him to drop everything as he gobbles up the breaking news about your company’s new acquisition. Likely? Not very. And in today’s newsrooms, the internet has brought about a whole new level of competitive demand when it comes to deciding what’s newsworthy and what isn’t.

The good news is that you can take some tips from the email marketing world in order to grab that reporter’s attention and convince him that your press release is more newsworthy than the eighty-seven others he received that day.

Grab Attention Right From the Get-Go

Just as the subject line of an email will make or break the success of any given message, the headline you use for your press release will either shout “Newsworthy!” or “Boring!” If you’re pitching an item about your company’s growth, phrase it like this: “20% of new car shoppers are making decisions to go green with their vehicle choices.” Not like this: “XYZ car dealership experienced growth in the first quarter.”

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