Better Ideas Blog » email

There are many e-mail programs out there, Constant Contact works best for me.

Kathy — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 20:44:35 +0000

If you are in the field of marketing and haven’t heard of or used web-based email marketing program,’ Constant Contact’, it’s time to get with the program! This service is a must for business professionals who wish to promote permission based, effective email campaigns. It’s simple to understand, and great for those who need to reach a lot of people, but don’t have a lot of time, or money to spend on the entire process.

Constant Contact is a Web-based email marketing service that’s ideal for anyone who looking to get immediate feedback when sending out mass emails. This tool is an ideal solution that lets you create professional email communications, build a permission-based email database of your customers, and manage your email campaign. The reports are the best thing about this program. You get to see who actually opened the email, clicked through to a link or forwarded it to a friend. You can also manage bounces and incorrect emails from this super easy platform.

Whether you’re interested in sending out promotional emails with special offers or informational newsletters, the program offers a wide selection of ready-to-use templates to choose from.

You can also build code into your web site and it allows visitors to sign up for any lists you may have. For example I manage multiple lists and guests can choose to sign up for my e newsletter, Trenton events and coupons, Festival information, Rotary information and much more. When they sign up, it automatically is added to your account, no need to retype or collect in any other manner.

Constant Contact offers a free 60 day trial to give new users a chance to explore the benefits of their service, while working on building a list from their website or email campaign. We can refer a link and you get an additional $30 credit to your account! Let me know if you’d like one kane@marketinsights.us.

They even have a Facebook page if you want to check what others are saying. http://www.facebook.com/constantcontact

My Best,
Kathy Kane
Market Insights, LLC

Are Your E-Mail ’s Exciting Your Target?

Kathy — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:10:03 +0000

Hopefully you answered YES to this question. If not read on…

There’s a paradigm shift under way that you need to be aware of. Measuring your success, and ultimately the success of your emails reaching your customers’ inboxes, is now becoming less determined by your complaint rates, open rates, and non-existent bounces. The new determinate is called Email Engagement.

Weekly new ways of measuring results pop up, this is the newest. These new metrics include variables such as, “Are the recipients deleting your mail without even reading it,” “How long does the piece of email sit in your subscriber’s inbox before it’s read,” “Are recipients saving your mail once it’s read,” and “Do your subscribers re-read your email.” The old metrics are still being used, but the new measurements of Email Engagement are now being factored into filtering models as a better means to separating the good marketers from the bad ones.

Real evidence of these changes was in late November when AOL announced significant changes to its Enhanced Whitelist policies. This indicates that AOL will give a heavier weight to Email Engagement in the future.

So what does this mean to you? You now need to clean up your subscriber lists and focus on what your subscribers really want. First at the top of your to-do list should be that you must obtain explicit consent from your contacts on your email list(s). You must remove your bounces, segment your list(s) to ensure your messages are truly targeted, and obtain a better understanding of your relationship with your subscribers to insure better engagement. If you don’t do these steps it potentially puts your business’s reputation in the crosshairs of the ISPs.

There is a science to this method of marketing. Keep researching, keep on top of it and if you understand and embrace these new changes, you will reap the rewards.

My Best Regards,
Kathy Kane
Market Insights, LLC

More Email Marketing Tips

Kathy — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:17:57 +0000

A few things to double check before you send that next group email….

-Make sure it’s permission based! Do what you have to collect them yourself through events, points of sale, facebook contests ect.

-Double check the field address- Does it come from a “real person” Or does it look like spam? Even if you have to forward email to another account, make sure it comes from a person with a name “not info @.”

-Subject line…Is it interesting? Avoid spammy words like hello, hi, sale, only for you, opportunity.

-In the message- Is it interesting? What’s in it for them?If the list knows you, how do you remind them it’s their group? Do all the links work? Did you spell check?

-Is it easy to read? Is it well designed or will you use plain text?

-Professional. Are you using their template and your logo? Are the colors and pictures appropriate for your message?

-Reporting…Make sure you are viewing your reports to see who opened your mail, who bounced and if recipients are clicking thru to your links. Make sure to track your results.

-Video friendly- make sure your link is easily downloadable. Do not send video files, they jam up email boxes and you will not get downloads.

-Keep up on the latest techniques. The rules are always changing, make sure to correct, inspect and inject new ideas as you go!

My Best Regards,
Kathy Kane
Market Insights, LLC