Sizzling Summer Email Marketing Tips

As summer revs its engines, visions of pristine beaches, inviting pools, and sizzling barbecues now occupy the thoughts of all but the most stalwart of employees. Even the non-working adults on your subscriber list will be occupied ferrying kids back and forth to the pool or hitting the golf green rather than clicking through email. During summer, email marketing often hits a slump because there may be days or weeks at a time when subscribers aren’t checking their email, and when they do check it, marketing emails take low priority. The good news is that by changing up your strategy, you can still capture the attention of your audience, even as they prepare to hit the beach.

  • Make the most of subject lines.

People will be more hurried as they scan through their inboxes during the summer, so capture attention with snappy, engaging subject lines emphasizing summer fun or special deals and giveaways.

  • Use visual imagery to create positive associations.

Visual images such as your product featured in front of a pristine beach or another favorite summer pastime can create “feel-good” associations with your product, encouraging better customer engagement with your message.

  • Associate your products with favorite summer activities.

Demonstrate how your products or services can make a summer vacation more relaxing or a backyard barbecue more inviting.

  • Encourage link sharing with contests and giveaways.

If your products don’t lend themselves to summer associations, you can still vamp up the excitement by running a contest. This will not only entice subscribers to open your email, but will also encourage them to share your link with friends.

  • Track user behavior and change send times if necessary.

As vacation season begins, peak open times may change. Track the behavior of your subscribers to find out whether your emails have a better chance of being viewed on a day or time other than your normal send time.

  • Accommodate mobile users.

Because many people will be away from their computers for a portion of the summer months, it’s vital that you make your emails mobile friendly. Messages that can’t be viewed easily on a smartphone will be more likely to be discarded.

  • Keep it short

No one has time to read lengthy emails in the summer. Get your message across with as few words as possible and keep content light and fun.

Summer months can present a challenge to marketers as their open rates and click throughs fluctuate. Let eConnect Email help you create the perfect summer campaign by designing custom summer templates, testing campaign effectiveness, and ensuring superior deliverability.

Creating an Email Your Subscribers Want to Open

A few years back I subscribed to a newsletter from a gardening company. Each month, they sent me a well-written, informative article that included a plug for their website  and a relevant gardening tip. At the close of each email, they included a sentence that read: “Just ignore the ad. It’s how we pay the bills.” This little tidbit endeavored to reduce sales pressure while at the same time subtly promoting the link. The problem is that the message was undoubtedly a little too subtle—even discouraging. On the other hand, subscribers like me kept opening and reading the newsletter month after month, because it provided relevant information without being pushy. So where’s the balance? How do you create a newsletter that people want to read while still promoting your business and encouraging click throughs?

  • Provide great information to keep people reading.

The best thing about the gardening newsletter above was that it provided thoughtful, well-written information. It included seasonally relevant tips that weren’t common knowledge, meaning that every month subscribers learned something new. Keep your subscribers clicking by giving them something worthwhile to read in every message.

  • Reward readers for their loyalty.

The second best way to keep subscribers clicking is to provide incentives for them to do so. Don’t just announce an upcoming sale—give your subscribers exclusive access to early bird specials and other offers.

  • Create compelling subject lines.

It doesn’t matter how great your content is if your subject line doesn’t communicate well. Avoid spammy phrases and make sure that you don’t over-hype your message. Try testing several different wordings to discover what style works best for your audience.

  • Include personal touches.

In addition to using subscriber names, you can further personalize your messages by tracking user behavior and knowing what your subscribers have shown interest in previously with the goal of making each message as relevant as possible.

  • Know what constitutes spam.

Show respect for your subscribers by avoiding the appearance of spam at all costs. Don’t flood their inboxes and make sure you’re current on the provisions in the CAN-SPAM act in order to maintain the loyalty of your subscribers.

The best way to earn and keep the trust of your subscribers is to treat them the way you want to be treated. People understand that the purpose of your newsletter is advertising, but they also want to know that there’s something in it for them. eConnect Email can help you create compelling email templates, manage your subscriber lists, and track the effectiveness of your newsletters as you seek to create email campaigns that will boost your click through rates.

Email and Social Media: How to Reach “Everyone Else”

Facebook has been hyped to the point where some marketers have pronounced email to be dead. Of course, it should be intuitive that as long as people still have email addresses, email can’t be dead. Email marketing reaches people where Facebook can’t. Just like Facebook reaches people where email can’t. That’s why the two must work together to reach the broadest possible audience. Facebook reaches the “everyone else” of email marketing, and email marketing reaches the “everyone else” of Facebook. Successful marketing campaigns must learn to integrate the two for greatest effect. Here’s how to get started:

  • Provide email signup options on your Facebook page and Facebook like buttons in your emails. Make it possible for people to engage with your company wherever they encounter you. Asking them to sign up for additional marketing options keeps your company in the forefront of their minds as often as possible.
  • Promote Facebook contests in email and announce the winners in an email newsletter.  Let your email subscribers know what they’re missing out on by not being a fan on Facebook. You can use Facebook pictures to showcase your winners, but always get permission and give the subscriber an opportunity to choose which picture he wants you to use.
  • Promote email marketing contests by asking people to provide their email address on your Facebook page.  Again, let people know they’re missing out by participating in only one of your marketing venues. If you intend to add these addresses to your subscriber list, make sure your viewers know that up front or you could end up with disgruntled subscribers.
  • Use the same design in both places for continuity between venues.  People shouldn’t wonder whether the email they got was delivered by the same company who created that awesome Facebook page. It’s important to create brand recognition across multiple venues, so make sure your social media and email follow the same basic design structure.
  • Recognize the differences between Facebook and email.  Email remains much more personal than Facebook—perhaps even more so since people don’t have to give their email addresses out in order to stay in touch. Most people guard their email addresses much more closely than their Facebook pages and will unsubscribe quickly if you bombard them with unwanted messages. To remain on the nice list, keep emails on point and make sure each one provides something of value.

Email and Facebook can work together to accomplish the same marketing goals as long as you recognize and respect the differences between them. eConnect Email can help you create opt-in forms, manage subscriber preferences, and create custom email templates that will keep your audience engaged, no matter where they encounter your brand.

Keeping Subscribers Happy as Your Grow Your Email List

Not too long ago, I saw a fishbowl at the checkout of my favorite store. The sign above it urged me to drop my name and email address in the bowl for a chance to win a shopping spree. Being a normal, red-blooded shopper, I instantly complied, caught up in the fervor of a chance to get free stuff. Weeks passed. Finally, I saw an email from the store. “This is it!” I thought with excitement. But upon clicking, I saw, not the winning gift certificate, but a commonplace newsletter offering me a 20% discount off my next purchase if I printed the enclosed coupon. I promptly deleted the email and a few weeks later after receiving several more similar emails, hit the unsubscribe button.

I know what you’re thinking. Where did the store go wrong? They used a clever gimmick to get people to surrender their email addresses and followed up with a nicely designed email offering a substantial discount to people who didn’t win the contest. But I, along with many other non-winners I’m sure, chose to unsubscribe because they failed to disclose all the information up front. They didn’t tell me that I was not only entering the contest, but also signing up for their newsletter. I was hoodwinked, and therefore I backed out. How, then, can you grow your subscriber list without creating disgruntled customers?

  • Sell It, Don’t Sneak It—Give people a reason to sign up and they will. Offer them something of value in exchange for their email address, like a chance to win a contest. But make sure they know they’ll be added to your list at the same time.
  • Offer Several Ways to Sign Up—It’s not enough to simply add a sign-up box on your website homepage. You need to market your email campaign using a variety of venues such as Facebook, Twitter, refer-a-friend links in your emails, and opt-in buttons throughout your website. And it doesn’t hurt to put a fishbowl at the checkout line of your brick and mortar store either.
  • Reward People for Subscribing—Treat your subscribers like VIPs. They have shown a high level of interest in your company by subscribing, so reward them by offering email-only discounts, early sale notifications, and special offers.

Growing your email list takes a certain amount of creativity, but as you give people reasons to trust you with their personal email addresses, you’ll be rewarded with a larger base of subscribers who invite you into their inboxes. eConnect Email can help you manage those lists, personalize your email newsletters, and track subscriber statistics, resulting in a stellar campaign that increases sales and keeps your customers happy.

Creating a Stellar Email Contest

Contests remain one of the best ways to grab your customers’ attention and to encourage them to sign up for your email newsletter. But it’s also true that a poorly run contest can leave a sour taste in the customer’s mouth, resulting in lost opportunities. So how do you create an email contest that will build your subscriber list and create happy customers at the same time?

Plan Your Contest Well in Advance

Decide not only what contestants will have to do, but also what the rules will be. It’s a good idea to consult your legal department at this stage to make sure the contest is fair. If you ask for email addresses, make sure entrants understand that they will be signing up for your newsletter when they hand it over; otherwise, you may end up with disgruntled subscribers.

Determine Success Metrics

Many businesses leave out this step, but it’s vital to know how you will determine whether your contest was a success or not so that you’ll be able to decide knowledgeably whether it’s worth trying again in the future. Is your goal to build your subscriber list by a particular percentage? To increase clicks on your website among current subscribers? To gain new followers on Facebook or Twitter? If you don’t accomplish your goals this time around, evaluate what you can do differently next time for better success.

Excellent Design

In addition to the accepted rules of email newsletter creation (make it worth your subscriber’s time, don’t look like spam, offer something of value), the email announcing your contest will need to have a design that truly stands out and captures the reader’s attention right from the outset. Consider including a picture of the prize, and keep copy concise and to the point to increase the likelihood that subscribers will read all the vital information.

End Well

How many times have you entered a contest and never heard another word from the company? It’s happened to all of us, and most of us never give the company a second thought after the fact. Don’t let those new contacts slip through your fingers. Instead, send a follow-up newsletter after the contest is over highlighting the winners, and offer a special discount or other incentive to all entrants to keep them engaged with your business.

As you design your next email contest, make sure you plan the entire process through from start to finish before you ever enter the promotional stage. When you’re ready to design that first promotional email, eConnect Email can help you create a custom email template. We can also assist you in designing your campaign, managing your subscriber list, and ensuring that the entire process achieves your desired results.

Using Social Media to Beef Up Your Email Marketing Campaign

With the advent of social media, online marketing arenas have been altered permanently and drastically. People love the instant gratification social media offers as well as the increased possibilities for conversation and relationship. For businesses, that means capitalizing on those aspects of social media that help increase trust and brand recognition among your target audience. However, don’t let the flashy attractiveness of social media overshadow your tried and true email marketing techniques. Instead, look for ways that you can intertwine the two in order to benefit both.

It’s a Big, Big World Out There

One of social media’s greatest attractions for marketers is that it grants potential access to millions of previously unreachable contacts. When people like your posts or share your articles, this is now visible to all of their friends, giving you the chance to win their attention as well. Savvy email marketers have begun capitalizing on this opportunity by posting an email list sign-up form directly on their Facebook pages. Not only do you reach friends of your current fans, but potential fans can find out immediately how to subscribe to your email list without having to dig deep. And Facebook isn’t the only way to gain greater visibility. Encourage fans to share your email campaigns by including options for them to easily share your messages on sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Buzz, etc.

Mobilizing Your Email Marketing Campaign

Incorporating social media into your email marketing campaign is great, but statistics show that ever-increasing numbers of people check their social media accounts not from their desks or laptops, but from their smartphones. Mobile phones have become the go to resource for many people to stay up-to-date on all their digital correspondence, including email, Facebook, and other social media venues. In order to reap the most benefit from an email marketing effort that includes social media, you’ll need to make sure your signup form works with a mobile phone.

Great Openers Demand Great Follow-Ups

Once you’ve engaged the viewer’s attention enough for him to subscribe to your email list, it’s vital that you follow through with an excellent welcome email. Consider including a time-stamped special offer, encouraging readers to take immediate action for further engagement with your company.

eConnect Email can walk you through every phase of your email marketing campaign, from list  building, to email creation and testing, to autoresponders and support. As you start to plan your next campaign make sure to leverage social media.  If there is ever anything we can help you out with be sure to let us know.

Riding the Mobile Wave with Mobile Friendly Emails

Statistics show that approximately 10% of email recipients will check their email on a mobile device. Not too big a splash, right? Should you be worried about the experience those 10% have if it means completely rethinking your approach to email design? Before you write off this segment of viewers, let’s take a closer look at that 10% statistic. Your target audience most likely checks their inbox at multiple locations including their desktop and mobile phone, meaning that of your total audience, the percentage checking email using a mobile device at least some of the time may be closer to 40%. That’s a number that should cause you to pause and consider.

Achieving Mobile Friendly Design

If 40% of your subscribers check at least some of their emails on a mobile device, then it makes sense to give them an easy and readable experience. That used to mean creating a separate mobile version or trying to deal with inadequate HTML displays. But these days, most smartphones can display HTML coding without issues.  People without good HTML rendering capabilities generally only check urgent emails on their phones, saving other correspondence for the desktop.

Reading and Clicking

So then, what should take top priority when designing an email with mobile users in mind? The short answer: screen size and touch capabilities. Because your emails must display on small phone screens, you’ll need to increase the size of both your fonts and your clickable buttons. The goal should be for users to read every element of your email without increasing the overall size, thereby hiding certain elements from view.

Touch capabilities should also play a role in your design strategy. As more and more people click with their fingers instead of with a mouse, you’ll need to allow more room between clickable elements to accommodate clumsy digits. Small changes like these won’t greatly impact the design of your email as it appears on a desktop, but it will vastly improve the experience your mobile audience has.

With the custom email design capabilities of eConnect Email, you can create your own custom email templates that will display beautifully no matter how your audience receives them. Our experienced design team can help create mobile-friendly email campaigns and can also help you gauge their effectiveness using our detailed reporting functionality. No matter where email takes you in the future, eConnect Email will keep your campaigns running efficiently in order to deliver stellar results, every time… guaranteed!

How and When to use Video in Your Email Marketing

Including video in an email can add life to the overall campaign.  It can also cause your messaging to fall short if the video isn’t done correctly. In order to use video effectively, you need to know when to use it, how to include it in your emails, and how to communicate effectively with your audience.

When Video Is Better Than Text and Images Alone

Just because you can use video within an email doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Video should be used as a tool to communicate your message more effectively, not as a cool new gadget to impress subscribers. Specific instances in which video can be more effective than text and images alone include new product demonstrations, how-to demonstrations, and attention-grabbers.  An attention-grabber that makes someone laugh, ultimately results in that person sharing a link with a friend or visiting your site to find out more.  However, attention for its own sake usually isn’t helpful.

How to Use Video in Your Email Campaign

There are two primary options for adding video into your emails: embedded video and linked video. Embedding the video into your email is NOT recommended, as it’s extremely problematic and not widely supported.  In addition, embedding video directly into your email campaign will can also cause it to be mistaken for spam. Embedded videos also make it impossible to track the effectiveness of the campaign since you have no way of determining how many subscribers tuned in to actually watch the video. For these reasons, the better option is to use a linked screenshot in the body of the email instead. By clicking on the image, viewers will be directed to the location of where the video is hosted, enabling you to track click-through rates much more accurately.

Tips for Success with Video Email Marketing

Ultimately, your success with integrating video into emails will depend on how well you can merge the video element with text and images for better overall persuasion. Here are some tips to get you started:

  • Support the video with brief but compelling copy, including a strong call to action.
  • Keep the video short. Videos under one minute long usually perform best in an email setting.
  • Build a strong landing page that restates the message of the video and points viewers toward your call to action.

As email marketing continues to evolve, eConnect Email stands ready to help you remain on the cutting edge. If you have additional questions about using video in next email campaign let us know.

Example:


Writing an Effective Email Newsletter

Think about the marketing emails you receive in your in-box each day. How do you decide which ones are worth the time to read and which ones go in the trash? If you’re like most people, you probably look for messages that do one of three things:

1) offer you a great deal
2) tell you something useful
3) entertain you

The people who subscribe to your email list are no different. Let’s take a look at four ways to create a newsletter your customers will want to read.

Have a Recipient in Mind

Who receives your emails? Chances are you know someone who fits the demographics of your target audience. Maybe it’s women in the workforce like your sister, men who play golf like your dad, or parents of young children like your best friend. Try to have a face in mind as you’re writing your newsletter and ask yourself what they would enjoy reading. What deals make them look twice, what tips will catch their interest, and what will make them laugh? Leverage user demographics to help you create a concrete picture of who you’re sending your messages to.

Be Relevant

Once you know who your audience is, choose topics that are relevant to them. What will make them sit up and take notice? Because your email list consists of people who have opted to receive more information from you, you know that they’re loyal customers, so treat them that way. Notify them first about specials and sales, offer them exclusive coupons and let them know they’re important to you. In addition, include information that will be useful to them right now, such as seasonal tips and ideas.

Be Personal

Instead of treating your newsletter as just another article, be a little less formal and let your personality shine through. Win the trust of your recipients by helping them relate to you or making them smile and then give them something they can take with them like an idea or a special coupon. Also, if you’re an eConnect Email client make use of the dynamic content feature to further personalize your campaigns based on demographics.

Keep it Short

No one has time to read dozens of thousand-word newsletters every day. Say what you need to say as concisely as possible and your audience will be more likely to stick with you.

eConnect Email is here to help you as you develop your personal email newsletter style. Our email creation and testing tools will help you professionally craft each email campaign you send. Using our email templates, campaign wizards, inbox preview, and dynamic content tools, you can communicate your ideas clearly and concisely, keeping your readers engaged and wanting more…