Did you know that you have less than 60 seconds to get your message across to most of your email subscribers?  Once a subscriber clicks on your email, they typically spend less than a minute absorbing information and determining whether the email is pertinent to them before they decide to keep it or trash it.  Since the amount of text a person can read in 60 seconds is negligible, you’ve got to make your initial impact another way: with graphics!

There are plenty of arguments that deal with why using images in your email newsletters is a bad idea, but when planned effectively and used in proper proportion, they still offer the most bang for your buck in an intensely visual medium. Here are eConnect Email’s tips for using effective imagery in your emails.

• Choose pictures that communicate your message.

If a visitor couldn’t read the text in your email, would he still have an idea what your company does and what the topic of your newsletter is? If not, then your images are just taking up space and creating large files that might get  your email misdirected to the spam folder. With eConnect Email’s unlimited image hosting, you can upload a library of images to store and use within email content.

• Communicate without images, too.

Images are important, but there are two reasons your message should still be communicated even if a viewer can’t see your images. First, viewers who don’t have HTML viewing turned on will miss out on important information if it’s contained only within images. And second, viewers who check email on their smart phones will miss out on image rich messages if they don’t convert easily to mobile format. Either way, you’ve lost a potential customer if you trap vital messages within images.

• Maintain a 25/75 ratio of images to text.

The most effective email newsletters use approximately 25% images and 75% text. This ratio ensures that viewers find your emails visually pleasing but not cluttered and that they can still understand your messages if images can’t be viewed. eConnect Email can help keep your messages balanced by using our predesigned templates provided or one of our talented designers can customize an email template for you to effectively communicate your message.

Creating a visually effective email newsletter depends on your ability to marry text and images so that viewers clearly understand your message whether they spend a few seconds glancing at pictures or whether they have access to text only. The design help you’ll receive from eConnect Email will ensure that you have achieved that perfect balance in order to reach the most viewers with your message. Happy imaging!

Your email campaign’s delivery rate refers to the number of emails sent that reach their destination.  For most email service providers (ESP’s), this rate hovers between 80% and 90%.  eConnect Email’s delivery rate averages 95%-98%, well above the norm, kudos to our delivery team!  Don’t be deceived by that statistic though.  Just because we successfully deliver your email campaigns doesn’t necessary mean viewers actually see them.  If you’re not careful, your company’s emails could be misdirected to the spam/ junk folder, out of sight of your subscriber.  Here are a few tips to help ensure your email successfully reaches the inbox:

• Use Double Opt-ins

Double opt-ins require a subscriber to click a link you send them through email after they have registered on your site in order to begin receiving messages from you. This way, you know that the correct email address was entered and that the person legitimately wants to receive emails from you. You can use eConnect Email’s list management tools to ensure that only the people who want to receive your messages make it onto your list.

• Be Smart About Subject Lines

Spam filters watch for certain characteristics in subject lines. While it’s impossible to know exactly what the filters are looking for, you can bet that subjects in all caps or those with lots of exclamation points are more likely to be flagged as spam than a clear, concise subject line. Strive to communicate your message in as few words as possible and without using gimmicks to grab the reader’s attention.

• Avoid Spammer Behavior

Purchasing an email list is one of the top ways to get your sender address blocked by spam filters. These lists often consist of outdated addresses that will earn a high bounce rate, making a filter more likely to blacklist your sending IP’s (just know using purchased lists is never a good idea, trust us on this one).

• Avoid Spammer Content

Using spammy phrases such as “free,” “sale,” or “buy now” sends up red flags for the spam filter. You should also avoid using a single image as the body of your email with no headers, text versions, or alt tags.  A good rule of thumb for email newsletters is to incorporate one or two well-placed images alongside informative text within the body of each email you send. eConnect Email can help you custom design a template for your emails that will make sure as many of your subscribers as possible get to view your message.

By putting some thought into your email creation and taking advantage of the expert assistance available from eConnect Email, you can ensure a successful email campaign with not only high delivery rates, but also a higher percentage of messages that make it to the email inbox!

Do you read the welcome emails that show up in your inbox? For most people, the answer would be “probably not.”  For me it depends on whether the subject line captures my attention, whether I remember the company, and whether I think it’s going to be worth my time. Fail to achieve any of these goals and you can kiss your readership good-bye. Superb welcome emails show personalization, relationship, timeliness, and value for the reader. With eConnect Email, these key elements are easy.

Personalization

“Dear Stella” works much better than “Dear New Member” when it comes to capturing a viewer’s attention. Make the reader feel like you value him enough to remember his name and he’s more likely to keep reading past the salutation. In addition, sign your letters with a person’s name rather than with a generic “thank you from the team.” Make your welcome emails look like a letter, not like a form. Keep it personal by using the custom fields/demographics feature that eConnect Email offers to merge subscriber data into each welcome email you send.

Relationship

Your welcome email should say more than “welcome.” It should also include a hint for the reader of what they can expect out of their relationship with you. Intrigue them, but don’t put all your cards on the table at once. For instance, if you’re a fitness gym, talk about a six-week program to achieve the goal the user specified at sign-up.

Timeliness

Have you ever received a welcome email from a company you don’t remember interacting with? This usually happens because the company sends welcome emails out in batches, meaning that an individual subscriber might not receive his letter for two or three weeks when the next batch gets sent out. Keep readers interested in your company by using autoresponders to send an immediate message to new subscribers. Also, don’t forget to personalize the messages too by using eConnect Email’s merge tags, or dynamic content to create unique content for each subscriber.

Value

Because of the sheer number of  email messages competing for your subscribers attention, it’s vital that you communicate value to your readers from the very first email you send. Offer a discount, give them a sneak preview of an upcoming event, or provide a tip of the week.

Takeaway

By incorporating personalized, timely messages that communicate value and build relationships, you can capture your readers’ attention from day one. Use the tools available through eConnect Email’s customizable delivery system to deliver brilliant welcome emails that will leave new subscribers hungry to read more.

The most wonderful time of year is upon us! This goes for business as well…so let your client/customers know how much you appreciate them with an email. As things get hectic it’s best to map out a well planned campaign for the next couple of months and keep your brand in people’s minds as they dream of sugar plums and candy canes 😉

Happy emailing, and have a safe and warm Thanksgiving!

For This Month’s Tips & Tricks – CLICK HERE

As the average person’s email habits have evolved over time, the goals and strategies of email marketing have had to evolve as well. People no longer open and read every email they receive and they often maintain two or more accounts to help them filter out promotional messages from personal ones. In order to continue reaching their target audience via email, savvy email marketers must keep up with rapidly changing strategies while maintaining tried and true best practices that win reader loyalty.

• Respect Your Subscribers

Considering the irritation and even anger with which most people view spam, it’s puzzling why so many companies still attempt to send unsolicited emails. If a subscriber asks to be removed from your list, remove him and don’t send additional messages. eConnect Email’s list management options allow you to stay on top of reader preferences and build trust by respecting privacy.

• Target Your Audience

You can build a list of subscribers who are tuned in to your messages by being up front about your email intentions and then by asking them to forward messages to their friends or share it via facebook, twitter, etc. If you provide compelling information, you’ll be able to organically build your subscriber list as newsletters and articles get passed along. eConnect Email offers a social sharing option that allows readers to pass messages along, while also allowing you to track user activity.

• Craft a Compelling Subject Line

Before a subscriber ever clicks through your email, he’ll make a decision about whether your message is worth his/ her time based on your subject line. Avoid clichés and over-the-top claims that readers will ignore. Instead, focus on building well-crafted, concise subject lines that entice the reader to find out more.  For additional tips on how to write a killer email subject line visit the link provided.

• Balance Education and Promotion

One newsletter I received included a statement at the very top that instructed the reader to ignore the ads, explaining they were just there to pay the bills. You know what? I did ignore them. I never bought anything from the company and when I changed email addresses, I didn’t bother to re-subscribe. The company undermined their goal of selling a product by apologizing for the ads in the hopes that subscribers would continue to read. The lesson? Don’t overwhelm readers with ads, but don’t let them off the hook by foregoing a call to action altogether. eConnect Email can help you craft dynamic content for your emails in order to achieve results for your email marketing campaign.

Keep it Interesting

With so much competition in the inbox these days it’s even that much more important to compose great content with catchy subject lines and impressive graphics.  This process is made easier with professional email marketing companies like eConnect Email.  Just remember to have fun and deliver campaigns that you would like to receive because most likely your subscribers will have similar tastes and interests as you.  As always, if you have questions along the way we are here to help!

First impressions make up a huge percentage of the overall impact you will have on any given reader of your marketing emails. Experts estimate that in a face-to-face first contact, you have seven seconds to make your first impression and that 93% of that impression will be based on non-verbal factors. In the email world, this translates into how your presentation makes the reader feel as a he looks at your email, even if he doesn’t read a word. If you want to develop an email marketing campaign that compels readers to find out more, you’ve got to pay attention to details of presentation and appearance.

Let The Preview Pane Work for You

Many email programs provide readers with a preview pane that shows them a snippet of the email before they open it. The good news is that this gives you a chance to reach people that might not actually click on your message if you know how to use that snippet of space effectively. The preview pane is the most important piece of real estate within your campaign so design accordingly.  eConnect Email provides templates to help you design an effective email as well as inbox previews so you can see how your message will look in a variety of different email programs.

Keep Important Information as Text, Not Graphics

Another quirk of many email applications is that they often block images by default. To make sure the largest percentage of readers see your message, put your most important information in text format rather than incorporating it into a graphic image. Then use eConnect Email’s image manager to upload images that support the information you’ve already communicated through text.

Make Your Messages Mobile Friendly

As more and more people check email on their mobile devices rather than from their computers, the need for mobile friendly formatting has become essential. If subscribers can’t clearly read your email, they’ll likely delete it before you have a chance to make that vital first impression. Start by using succinct subject lines with the most important information first and make sure your sending name is recognizable. Incorporate alt tags for your images so viewers can still see text even if images are blocked. You can also include a link to a mobile version of your email.

Choose Your Colors Wisely

Choose colors that work together and that promote the emotions you want to convey. In addition, use dark text on a light background to make your messages more readable. Take advantage of eConnect’s custom design services to help you choose colors and a format that will best convey your intended message.

Let Us Help You

While eConnect Email provides you with a great selection of email templates to choose from, you may want to think about a custom template that will incorporate your brand more professionally and seamlessly.  We can help you design a custom template for your monthly newsletters or design a campaign for a specific event or promotion.  For more information on our custom email template design services click on the link provided or call us at (866) 596-9997.

Purchasing an email list can sound like an easy solution to the problem of how to begin a new email marketing campaign or how to breathe new life into a campaign that’s not performing well. But the truth is that email lists are more likely to undermine your marketing efforts and your company’s customer relations reputation. If you’re trying to justify a list purchase with any of the following arguments, it’s time to rethink your strategy.

“I’ll get a brand-new list of fresh contacts for just a small outlay of cash!”

Sure, you may get a new list of addresses, but how many of those addresses can truly be classified as “fresh contacts?” Most of the addresses in a purchased email list have been gathered by malicious software of automated scripts and haven’t been checked for deliverability. A high percentage of those addresses will be non-existent, expired, or otherwise undeliverable.

“I’ll get 10,000 new viewers”

Average open rates for email lists hover between .01% and .1%. That’s anywhere from one to ten viewers out of a list of 10,000 email addresses. An email list comprised of targeted, high-quality subscribers who opted in specifically to receive your communications, on the other hand, can yield open rates of 50% or more. Was the $300 you shelled out for that list really worth it?

“They opted in to receive third-party offers”

This may be technically true, but most of those opt-ins consist of fine print buried in a user agreement that rarely gets read. For your company, this means that those readers will still hit the spam button when they see your message or worse, your email sending IP’s could be blacklisted.

“The seller promised a well-targeted list and proof of permission”

The reality of email marketing is that it takes a lot of time and effort to build a high-value email list in which subscribers will open and read messages. For this reason, no self-respecting company would ever sell a high-value list because the moment it’s sold they lose customer loyalty and the list loses its effectiveness. No matter how well-targeted the list is, even if it technically has the permission of senders through fine print agreements, people will still consider messages they didn’t know they were signing up for to be spam.

“I don’t know how to build my own email list”

That’s where eConnect Email can help you. We are always working hard to ensure the highest deliverability possible and will closely monitor your account for blacklisting. If you’re ever blacklisted, we’ll work to correct the problem as quickly as possible. Build your list with our built in social sharing feature and monitor user activity with statistics tracking, testing, and suppression lists. With the help of eConnect Email, you can organically build an email list that supports your marketing campaign and increases sales without the negative associations that come with purchased email lists.

Conclusion

Slow and steady wins the race.  There’s no point in sending emails to an uninterested market.  No matter how compelling your text or offers might be, if it’s not in front of the right audience, it’s a waste of your time (and theirs).  There are many creative ways to get opt-in subscribers who are interested in what you have to offer; I would explore some of those options and stick with marketing to individuals who are interested in what you have to say.

We’ve all experienced the feeling of time rushing forward when we step into a retail store in October and see Christmas decorations for sale. While October may be way too early to start setting up your Christmas tree at home, it’s the right time to start planning your holiday email campaign. By keeping these basic principles in mind, you can plan for a successful holiday season long before you hear silver bells ringing.

• Plan Your Strategy

Each holiday email you send will need a compelling call to action and a subject line that grabs the reader’s attention and a creative presentation of information.  eConnect Email can help you design a template that will carry you through the holidays!

• Solidify a Schedule

Your email schedule shouldn’t differ significantly from your past sending habits. If subscribers are used to hearing from you once a month and suddenly start receiving daily emails, they might bail. At the same time, however, it’s important to have a plan in place that reflects the urgency of the holidays. Know what you’re sending and when each message should arrive in subscriber inboxes. Make the deployment process easy by scheduling your email from within your eConnect Email accout.

• Be Creative

Give your readers something different and unexpected that they won’t receive from other retailers. Remember the Office Max Elf Yourself campaign? Office Max received lots of exposure through that campaign because it gave viewers a chance to do something fun and different. You can bet they forwarded those emails to their friends, as well. If you’re not into dancing elves, with eConnect Email you can try giveaways or linking to funny videos to draw people in.

• Cater to Your Customers

Inboxes overflow with promotional emails during the holidays, so you’re going to need to be extra attentive to the personal needs of your customers. If you have a deadline for ordering in order to receive an item by Christmas, let them know that. If they have purchased from you before, use that information to suggest items that might interest them. Don’t forget that not all of your customers celebrate Christmas, so be inclusive of other holidays without estranging your loyal Christmas customers.

• Be Personal

As much as possible, let your customers know that you care about them as people and not just as buyers. Use eConnect Email’s triggers/ autoresponders to make contact with each customer who takes the time to interact with your company. In addition, reach out to those who have opened your email but haven’t clicked or who have clicked but haven’t purchased. eConnect Email report options will help you determine which customers have demonstrated interest but haven’t followed through with the desired action.

Exciting things are happening at eConnect Email.  Our October Newsletter will give you the low down on the release of the new interface and what to expect as we move forward.  Over the last month we have also rolled out our new affiliate program… so make sure to click on the link before for all the details.

For This Month’s Tips & Tricks – CLICK HERE

There was a time in the recent past when email was king of the mountain in terms of online marketing. Nowadays, email has to compete with Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and RSS feeds to even get noticed, much less to capture attention and direct action in a meaningful way. Even so, the question “Is email dead?” is rather simplistic. Of course it’s not dead. People still use email and they still sign up for e-newsletters and promotional emails. But that’s not really what most people want to know when they ask the question. They want to know whether email marketing is still a good investment for their company.

What’s the Right Question?

A better way to consider the effectiveness of email marketing is to ask “How have the habits of my target market changed with regard to email and can email still help me accomplish my marketing goals with that market?” Of course, any great question opens up the field to follow-up questions. Some that you should consider include:

• How and where does my audience check email? (mobile phones, work, home)
• What type of email will my audience most likely open and read? (promotional, newsletter, educational)
• How can I build trust with my audience so they will be more likely to interact meaningfully with my emails?

How Does Today’s Market use Email?

I have two separate email accounts. One I use primarily for business-related communication and personal communication. The other I use for promotional emails and newsletters. However, if there’s a particular company whose emails I think I’ll read more than the average e-mail ad, then I’ll switch them over to my personal account. The majority of your target market probably thinks the same way. The goal for your business, then, should be to move from the “check once a month” account to the “daily” account. eConnect Email can help you do this in several ways:

• Build Trust—Send informational, carefully timed emails that offer genuine value to the user in order to avoid the spam list. Also, eConnect Email deals only with permission-based email campaigns rather than purchased or rented lists in order to protect the privacy of recipients.

• Provide Value—Go heavy on education and light on promotion in order to keep people reading. Most newsletters have seen success with an 80/20 ratio, more or less.

• Respect Unsubscribe Requests—Don’t earn a reputation for spamming people who have unsubscribed from your list. eConnect Email provides easy mailing list management and automates unsubscribe requests immediately.

By understanding the email habits of your target market and by building an email campaign that respects their privacy while providing value, you can achieve success with email marketing.