6 Ideas To Refresh Your Email Marketing Strategy

Photo: © Jacob Lund, YFS Magazine

Email marketing requires a lot of planning and work in order to be effective, but when done right it can drive more traffic to your website and boost your sales.

If you are ready to improve your email marketing campaigns, here are six tactics you can leverage.

1. Try a new list growth strategy

When was the last time you introduced a new way for people to sign up for the email list? You can create a prominent “above-the-fold” email sign-up message on your website home page. Another popular option is to use a sign-up incentive like a informative ebook, cheat sheet or even an entrance into a giveaway.

Meanwhile, whenever people contact you through various lead gen forms on your site, give them the opportunity to opt-in and automatically receive regular communications, like an email newsletter, from you. These are just a few ways you can grow your list by maximizing simple strategies.

2. 
Create a focus group

Email marketing is an uphill battle if open rates are low, meaning you can’t entice your subscribers to open your emails in your very first place. A moderated audience of your customers can give you insight above and beyond standard email metrics.

3. A/B test subject lines

If open rates are low, start A/B testing your email subject lines and make sure you are adhering to best practices. For example, keep them short and simple. Studies confirm that, “Most people quickly scan subject lines to decide if they’ll open or ignore the email, so don’t expect subscribers to dig through your subject line to figure out if they’re interested. Keep your subject line to 50 characters or fewer.”

You can also add a bit of personalization. Add the “recipient’s first or last name to improve open rates. MailChimp research suggests including a city name is even better.”

4. Add video

Emails with videos are known to improve click through rates. Videos are educational, entertaining, and one of the best alternatives to written content. Vidyard recommends a quick and easy option that takes very little tech savviness.

“Within your email, include an image from your video and put a play button over top of it to mimic the look of a typical video player: Here you’re adding a visual indication that a video is part of your email with the play button. When readers are prompted with this play button, they’ll click the image and be directed to a landing page – or a branded video sharing page – with your video embedded. Using a compelling image to link readers to your video content within email works really well to increase click through rates.”

5. Extend email reach

Do you have an active social media presence? If so, then make your newsletter available to your social media fans. If you’re sharing your newsletter on other platforms, don’t forget to add an “Add Me to Mailing List” call to action so social fans can easily opt-in to receive updates.

6. Incorporate storytelling into email content

The best brands are great storytellers. You can easily integrate relevant and compelling storytelling to your email content by sharing a behind the scenes look at activities that will interest your audience. For example, if you own an antique store, sharing pictures highlights from a recent buying trip would be a great start.

Also, consider highlighting conversations you have had with employees and customers to use in a podcast, available only to email subscribers.

http://yfsmagazine.com/2016/10/07/6-ideas-to-refresh-your-email-marketing-strategy/

Exploring The Most Cost Effective Online Marketing Channels

What are the best online marketing channels? There isn’t a straightforward answer to this question. Every business is different. But, there are certain channels that tend to be more cost-effective and provide higher conversion rates.

If you are looking for a way to stretch your online marketing budget, then explore the most cost effective online marketing channels.

Here’s a quick overview of the online marketing channels that’ll be covered:

• Email marketing
• Pay-per-click advertising
• Social media advertising
• Blogging

Email Marketing

For some reason, many entrepreneurs believe that email marketing is outdated or ineffective. This is simply not true. Email marketing remains the most cost-effective way to increase conversion rates and boost sales.

Compared to all other online marketing channels, email marketing offers the lowest cost per lead. While social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, have millions of users, everyone has an email address.

As long as you’re smart about your email marketing strategy, you will get positive results.

Make sure that your emails encourage your subscribers to take action. This could include visiting your website or purchasing a product or service. You should also create a sense of urgency in your emails.

Also, don’t ever purchase an email list. You should always build your own list using opt-in forms and other methods.

PPC Advertising

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is another marketing channel that is thought of as being past its prime. Again, this isn’t true. PPC is affordable and effective. You just need to optimize your PPC campaign.

Before you put together your PPC campaign, you need to perform thorough keyword research. The key to an effective PPC campaign is choosing the right keywords. Use the Google AdWords Keyword Planner to research keywords and find phrases with low competition and medium search volume.

Along with keyword research, you need to have a title and description that grabs attention. You have limited space available. Your title and description used in your PPC advertisement shouldn’t be vague. It should be clear and direct.

By having a clear message in your PPC ad, you’ll naturally notice higher conversion rates. Focus on a specific demographic and speak directly to the customer.

Social Media Advertising

While email marketing and PPC advertising have been around since the beginning of online marketing, social media marketing is relatively new by comparison. There are two methods of using social media as a part of your online marketing strategy – regular activity and advertising.

First, you should be active on social media. Create a schedule for sending out new posts or tweets. This helps you build your subscriber or follower base.

Along with regular activity, you should include social media advertising in your marketing strategy. This could include Facebook Ads, promoted Tweets on Twitter, and advertisements on LinkedIn.

As with PPC advertising, you’ll need to optimize these advertisements to increase conversion rates. Again, use Google AdWords Keyword Planner Tool to find the most effective keywords. Focus on a niche category.

Blogging

Here’s one more online marketing channel to include in your overall strategy – blogging. Blogging is extremely cost effective. You likely already have a website. You just need to start adding regular blog posts.

Blog posts can be shared on social media, linked to from advertisements, and are incredibly beneficial from an SEO standpoint. Blog about topics relevant to your products or services.

You should also create a schedule for your blog posts. With a regular schedule, visitors will know when to come back for more posts. This increases repeat traffic and allows you to develop a loyal group of followers while also establishing yourself as a voice of authority in your niche market.

As you start developing and refining your online marketing strategy, consider using the marketing channels described above. Along with these tips, don’t forget to check out my simple lead generation system. Click here to learn more about my done-for-you system.

Feel free to add some more, I know there's plenty out there!

Regards,

Mark Swift

Developing a Conversion Funnel to Increase Sales

If you want a solid marketing campaign that generates positive sales, you should consider using a conversion funnel. This is a tool that is often used by successful internet marketers. By learning how to build a conversion funnel, you’ll be able to create a structured campaign that actually converts.

Here is a simple guide for developing a conversion funnel for your next marketing campaign.

What is a Conversion Funnel?

First off, what is a conversion funnel? It’s a structured outline of your method for acquiring new customers and completing a sale. You’re funnelling your potential customers through a planned campaign, starting with the acquisition and ending with a sale or inquiry.

The reason for the funnel shape is that the number of prospective customers drops off the further along you go. You can then determine where the largest drop-off occurs and come up with solutions for fixing the leak in the funnel.

For example, you may get 1,000 visitors to reach your landing page. Half of those visitors may follow through with the next action, such as subscribing to your email list. Half of those subscribers may follow the link in your next email. The number trickles down until you reach your final conversion rate.

The standard conversion funnel can be broken down as follows:

• Attraction
• Interest
• Desire
• Action

You first need to attract potential customers. This is done through your standard marketing channels, such as PPC ads, press releases, social media marketing, and search engine optimization. From there, you need to capture their interest, such as with a landing page.

You then use desire in your calls to action to get them to move to the next step – completing an action. The intended action is usually a purchase or contacting you to learn more about your offer.

Attracting the Right Customers

The first part of the funnel is attracting potential customers. You need to attract the right customers to boost your conversion rates and make your funnel more effective. There are multiple solutions for this. You can perform market research to learn more about the interests of your prospective customers.

You could also focus on the copy used in your advertisements and marketing. Use long-tail keywords to narrow the focus of your advertisements. Targeting a niche category within your industry is always a good method for attracting the right customers.

Build Interest and Desire

Building interest and desire gets accomplished through landing pages and emails. Your landing pages should build interest in the solution that you’re providing. Your goal should be to gain subscribers. You can include a call to action on your landing page to complete a sale, but include an opt-in form for subscribing.

Some of your visitors may not be interested in making a purchase right away. But, you could still end up getting their email address. This is an essential part of the funnel. You’ll need to create an email marketing campaign for targeting visitors that left without making a purchase.

Send a Follow Up Email

You can attempt to plug the leak in your funnel by sending follow up emails. The opt-in form that you include on your landing page should be separate from your other subscriber lists. Create a follow-up email that you can send to these visitors.

Your follow-up email should build the desire to come back to your website and complete a purchase. You could include an additional offer, discount, or promotional code to entice the visitor back to your website.

Create an Effective Call to Action

The final part of increasing sales through a conversion funnel is to create a killer call to action. Your call to action needs to convert. If you need help creating an effective call to action, use split testing to fine-tune your final message.

Conversion funnels are incredibly effective at increasing the effectiveness of your marketing campaign. It makes it easier to keep your campaign structured and maximise your conversion rates.

You can easily look at each stage of your conversion funnel – advertisement, landing page, email, and sale, to determine which area needs to be optimised. Focus on the areas where your potential customers start to drop-off and then come up with a solution to plug the leak and improve your funnel.

You can develop your own conversion funnel now or for additional internet marketing tips – click on the following link and learn more about my done-for-you system.

Email Marketing Tips: Successful Email Marketing

6 tips to create a winning email marketing strategy 

If you’re looking for affordable, effective marketing ideas for small business, email should definitely top the list. Email marketing offers some definite advantages that can make it one of the most valuable forms of online marketing that small businesses can pursue. It can be easily personalized to rev up its appeal, is extremely affordable, and gives you the opportunity to market your business directly to your customers without having to wait until they stop by your website or social media pages. Simply sending out emails and hoping for the best isn’t going to get you very far, though. Just like with the rest of your online marketing strategies, there are certain guidelines you should follow to get the best return for your emails.  To help you on your way, here are our top 6 email marketing tips to ensure your email marketing efforts succeed.

Tip #1: Make your emails mobile-ready 

The majority of customers now access their email using a smartphone or other mobile device, and Litmus reports that a whopping 71% of these on-the-go subscribers will delete an email if it isn’t mobile-friendly.  Choose a responsive email design to ensure your emails perform perfectly no matter how they’re accessed – there are a number of free templates available online to show you how.

 Tip #2: Create winning subject linesA killer subject line is the key to successful email marketing. Create interesting subject lines using these tips will help entice recipients to open your emails:

• Keep it short – 28-39 characters is optimum
• Make sure your subject lines are directly relevant to the contents of your emails – “bait and switch” tactics are just going to annoy your readers
• Motivate recipients by including a call to action
• Create a sense of urgency
• Include a specific offer or discount

 Tip #3: Provide meaningful calls to action

Crafting meaningful calls to action is the best way to boost the click-through rates on your emails, according to Ascend2’s benchmark email marketing trends report. Make your CTA stand out on your email by using contrasting colors and bold, clear language. Motivate your customers with dynamic CTAs that urge them to directly take action such as “Join the conversation”

 Tip #4: Choose a simple, clear layout

You only have a small window of opportunity to grab your recipients’ attention with email marketing. Don’t overwhelm them with a cluttered layout design that features so many graphics, flashing gifs, and decorative fonts that your message gets lost. Trust in the strength of your message and go with a simple, clean layout with information divided into two or three sections. That will offer just enough visual stimulation to provide interest and capture your readers’ attention without distracting them from your message.

Tip #5: Use short, succinct wording

Don’t make the mistake of overloading recipients with so much text that it puts them off from reading your email. The purpose of your email is to get readers to click through, so present information in a few easy to scan sections that readers can take in at a glance. Positioning CTAs strategically throughout text will entice recipients into taking a desired action to discover more information.

Tip #6: Choose your graphics carefully

It can be tempting to use big, showy graphics to catch readers’ attention, but loading down your email with too many images or ones that are too big can cause your messages to load slowly or appear distorted in email. Some email clients even gray out images, leaving only broken-link symbols. Recipients aren’t going to wait for your email to load; they’re going to trash it unread and move on. Consider sending out emails that are primarily text-based, using contrasting colors and just a few well-chosen images to enhance the message. This approach will help your message to come through clearly and quickly, which can help increase your open and click through rates

https://www.blueinteractiveagency.com/seo-blog/2016/07/email-marketing-tips-successful-email-marketing/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BlueInteractiveAgency+%28Interactive+Marketing+News%29

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The Ultimate List Builder's Resource Guide: 111 Links to Double or Even Triple Your Subscribers

It’s okay. You can admit it.

When people ask about the size of your email list, you either exaggerate, or just plain lie.

Why? Because the real answer is embarrassing.

Particularly when you keep hearing that subscriber numbers even trump traffic as a measure of blogging success. (If that’s true, your numbers paint a bleak picture.)

You keep meaning to work on getting more subscribers – and you’ve read plenty of tips on how to do it – but in truth, your list size has barely changed.

Unfortunately, when different experts give you contrasting tips, you can struggle to know which tip to follow. And so the only smart solution is to become an expert yourself.

Fortunately, a surefire way to become a list-building master in record time exists.

Totally immerse yourself in the topic.

Because when you study a subject in detail, patterns emerge that more easily allow you to choose the right path for you and your blog.

So here’s a monster list of links to tips, tools, case studies, and other list-building resources that will make you an expert – fast.

Are you ready to jump in?

The List-Building Links That’ll Make You an Expert – Fast!

1. Copy the strategies Michael Hyatt used to grow his blog from 1,000 subscribers to 20,000 subscribers in one year.
2. Learn the three strategies Noah Kagan used to triple email subscribers for AppSumo.
3. Or take your cue from Derek Halpern and get 17,000 subscribers in 11 months.
4. Discover the simple formula that explains how four powerhouse bloggers attracted almost 500,000 subscribers.
5. Then see what the other pros are doing with these list building tips from 9 world-class bloggers.
6. Find out how StartupDigest got 100,000 subscribers in a year.
7. Hear how Social Media Examiner grew their list by 234% using a simple pop-up.
8. Follow The Honest Company’s lead and use Google AdWords to drive signups.
9. Embark on a 30-day list building challenge inspired by this case study.
10. Consult Marketing Sherpa’s chart to discover the most effective list building tactics based on research.
11. Go from zero to 1,634 subscribers in five months using these 12 strategies.
12. Or use one of these eight strategies backed by research.
13. Dodge the more obvious pitfalls by reading MailChimp’s 10 common rookie mistakes.
14. And avoid these 19 surprising list-building mistakes too.
15. Convert more traffic to subscribers by plugging these 3 website “leaks.”
16. Make sure you don’t miss out on these 7 ways to attract more loyal subscribers.
17. Double your email list in 90 days by using the Pareto Principle to get more from less.
18. Focus on just one social media channel and get 10 times more conversions – just like Quanticate did.
19. Share the list-building workload by getting other people to happily build your list.
20. Design a high-converting opt-in landing page by following these 35 examples.
21. Make sure your landing page answers these four questions.
22. Try using video on your landing page to double your opt-ins.
23. Remove landing page friction to boost your click-through rate by 173% and get more signups.
24. Get serious about optimizing your opt-in page by learning about A/B testing.
25. Then test these 23 elements of your page.
26. Use Heat Maps to discover where people are clicking so you know where to put your opt-in forms.
27. Or cut to the chase and learn the 4 high-converting places to put them.
28. Include bullet points on your opt-in box telling people what they’ll get when they sign up – you could get 83.75% more signups.
29. Test different opt-in form button colors to boost your conversion rate by 21% or more.
30. Boost your conversion rate by using fewer fields on your opt-in form.
31. Follow the “one column” rule and boost signups by arranging your fields vertically, not horizontally.
32. Or break all the rules with a Mad Libs style opt-in form that could boost your conversions by 25-40%.
33. But avoid CAPTCHAs at all costs – research shows we suck at figuring them out.
34. Test different images in your opt-in box to double or triple your signups.
35. Use an emotive image, like a picture of a sad puppy, to get 20% more people to confirm their subscription.
36. Use an exit intent popup to sign people up just before they leave, to enjoy a 10-15% uplift in the conversions.
37. Use benefit-based headlines for popups to increase conversions by 40%.
38. Use a 5-second delay on your popups to more than double your opt-in rate.
39. Get nine different ideas for creating an irresistible bribe to give readers a real reason to subscribe.
40. Learn how to create a bribe in record time.
41. Become an author and write a Kindle book that uses a free bonus to boost your email list.
42. Get into the heads of potential subscribers to understand what’ll motivate them to sign up to your list.
43. Quadruple your opt-in rate by giving people at least one persuasive reason they should subscribe.
44. Give people a nudge to subscribe with Qualaroo and grow your list by 500% in less than a year.
45. Use social proof to convince new website visitors to subscribe to your list.
46. Prominently position your testimonials – it could improve your conversion rate by 34%.
47. Remember to keep these 7 key things in mind whenever you’re using social proof to attract more subscribers.
48. Leverage media mentions to grow your email list.
49. Prominently display your media mentions to help bump your conversion rate by 400%.
50. Learn how to simplify your messaging around your signup offer. (If you confuse people, you lose them.)
51. Take advantage of a friend to discover if your landing page is clear enough.
52. Don’t say, “We will never spam you” – it could decrease your conversions by 18.7%. Say this instead.
53. Get three times more signups simply by changing the wording on your opt-in form button.
54. Learn why people unsubscribe from your list so you can make sure more of them stick around.
55. When people want to opt out, first give them the option to “opt-down.”
56. In fact, why not optimize your email preferences center so your subscribers have more control and fewer people unsubscribe completely?
57. Follow these 5 tips from a former White House writer to boost your conversion rate by 3,000%.
58. Turn your opt-in page into a social squeeze page to lift your conversion rate.
59. Optimize your blog posts for conversions so that more readers become subscribers.
60. Decrease your page load time to boost conversion rates. (And use Google PageSpeed Insightsto find out what needs fixing.)
61. Be smart and add social media share buttons to your thank you pages.
62. And while you’re at it, create a “share this with your friends” link too.
63. Optimize the images on your opt-in page to attract more subscribers on social media.
64. Create a blog series to encourage signups from people who don’t want to miss the next post in the series.
65. Make your popular posts work harder by using them to create more opportunities for people to subscribe.
66. Convert a popular blog post into a SlideShare presentation and use an embedded opt-in form to get signups.
67. Get 492% more subscribers with a content upgrade on your blog posts.
68. Use the Skyscraper Technique to get 1,000 subscribers from your next blog post.
69. Add an opt-in form on your About Page to increase your conversion rate by 446%.
70. Send first-time commenters to your opt-in landing page using the Comment Redirect plugin.
71. Or let all blog commenters subscribe with just one click.
72. Simplify your website design to boost your conversion rate.
73. And make sure your opt-in forms are mobile friendly – or risk losing 50% of potential signups.
74. Give the top-bar method a shot and you could boost your subscriber rate by 532% in one month.
75. Make sure your opt-in box is above the fold to triple the number of subscribers you get.
76. Add a link to your opt-in landing page in your site’s navigation bar.
77. Learn how to add an opt-in box to the bottom of every blog post.
78. Use one of these 67 tools to skyrocket your list growth.
79. Install one of these 9 WordPress plugins that work so well it feels like cheating.
80. Display different messages to new and returning visitors to entice signups with the What Would Seth Godin Do plugin.
81. Spy on your competitors using BuiltWith to find out what technologies they’re using to build their lists.
82. Make your Facebook page’s cover photo clickable to drive more traffic to your opt-in landing page.
83. Turn Facebook page likes into subscribers using any of eight different ways.
84. Create a nifty Twitter autoresponder that prompts new followers to sign up for your email list.
85. And when you thank people for tweeting your stuff, remind them to subscribe.
86. Use Lead Generation Cards to get people from Twitter onto your list with a single click.
87. Check out 6 ways the pros are using Google+ to get more subscribers.
88. Use LinkedIn groups to grow your list (most people miss this trick.)
89. Get visual and follow these 3 steps to using Pinterest for attracting more subscribers.
90. Create a YouTube video with a clickable link to your opt-in page.
91. Run a podcast? Remind people to join your email list in every episode.
92. And turn your podcast listeners into email subscribers using this formula from Clay Collins.
93. Use a webinar as the ultimate email bribe and get 1,054 subscribers in 28 days.
94. Or find a partner for a joint venture webinar and grow your email list from 700 to 12,000 subscribers in nine months.
95. Run a simple contest and add 500 new subscribers to your list.
96. Advertise a giveaway on Facebook to attract 17,800 subscribers in just 6 weeks.
97. Use these five tips to create a successful Facebook contest that will grow your list.
98. Try using a “lucky URL” to boost contest entries – you could get 200,000+ subscribers in 11 days.
99. Use sweepstakes to get current subscribers to grow your email list for you.
100. Use tests or quizzes to boost your conversion rate by 1,900%.
101. Use the guest blogging strategies that Gregory Ciotti used to grow his email list by 36,733 subscribers.
102. Write an expanded guest post and get 500 subscribers in just one week.
103. Build mutually beneficial relationships with influencers and get 1,000+ subscribers in 24 hours.
104. Turn “Page not found” errors into new subscribers by customizing your 404 page.
105. Put a link to your opt-in page in your email signature using WiseStamp.
106. Get customers to give you their email addresses at the checkout.
107. Go offline and use direct mail to create a unique experience, grab attention, and compel more people to sign up.
108. Or pick up the phone to grow your email list by 23,028 subscribers.
109. Copy this old-fashioned technique that a speciality beer store used to get 8,400 new subscribers.
110. When networking at conferences and events, ask new contacts if you can add them to your list.
111. Got a booth at a conference or tradeshow? Collect business cards in a fishbowl, or use a tablet to collect email addresses.

When Will You Become a List-Building Master?

There you have it. 111 list-building links to help you double, triple, or even quadruple the size of your email list.

If you immerse yourself in these hand-picked resources, you’ll know more about list building than 99% of the bloggers out there.

And when you’re done, pick just a handful of ideas to implement. (Don’t worry, you’ll know which are right for you.)

Remember, success is a combination of knowledge and action. The knowledge can be found in the list above. The action … well, that’s up to you.

So get to it. Become the expert list-builder who can grow your blog faster than you ever believed possible.

After all, you must be curious to know.

Just how big can your list go?

http://boostblogtraffic.com/email-list-building/

7 Easy Ways to Avoid Email Spam Filters

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again; one of the most powerful tools for building and sustaining customer relationships is email marketing. It’s cheap, easy-to-use, and is able to reach large quantities of people in no time at all. Although it is easy-to-use, it is still crucial that you follow the correct steps to ensure your emails will be delivered to your distribution list. To say it another way, you must keep spam filters top of mind whenever building out email campaigns for your brand. It is an absolute must.

Luckily, it isn’t too difficult a task to build your emails to avoid spam filters. Let’s take a look.

How Spam Filters Work

Every email server has some type of filtering software that attempts to identify spam based on a long list of criteria, but usually they consider:

• Relationship with subscriber
• Quality of email subject line, teaser, and content
• Reputation of the IP address and sender domain
• Quality and safety of links in email
• Inclusion of text version of email
• Ratio of images to text and links to text

As previously mentioned, the list of criteria is much larger than this, however I would place a heavy amount of focus on the list I provided above when crafting your emails. Let’s take a look at the following tactics to avoid each of these criteria and, in turn, avoid spam filters.

1. Ensure you have been given permission to communicate

This first one is pretty straightforward. The best way to ensure you have been given permission to communicate is to avoid sending emails to purchased lists (I would suggest avoiding the purchasing of lists entirely) and rather, grow your database and email distribution lists ethically and organically. If an individual has opted in to communications from your brand via a form on your website, they have given you permission to communicate with them. You’ll find this tactic to be immediately effective in ensuring deliverability.

Keep in mind, it is important to communicate consistently with your contacts. If you are sending emails too frequently, recipients may be more inclined to unsubscribe or mark as spam. Alternatively, if you do not reach out enough, recipients may forget that they subscribed to your communications and forget about your brand. Find that sweet spot and be consistent.

2. Make unsubscribing easy

Be sure to provide an unsubscribe link within the email such that it is prominently visible to the recipient. It is much better to have someone unsubscribe rather than mark the email as spam. Also, please make sure to respect a subscriber’s decision to unsubscribe; that should be obvious enough, but I feel that I must say it.

3. Choose subject lines and body content carefully

I encourage you to take your time with this tactic. Subject lines and body content should be well thought out when piecing together your email messaging. Intriguing subject lines are the gateway to getting your message across; poor subject lines drive your emails to the trash without even being read. Even if the subject line is so fantastic that 100% of people open your email, you need valuable body content to drive the action you are seeking.

Tip: Use content personalization in your subject lines and body content to increase engagement.

After crafting your email copy and subject line, I urge you to read through everything one more time and imagine yourself as a spam filter. Look especially closely for spam trigger words and phishing phrases; avoid them at all cost!

4. Use a reliable email service provider

Email Service Providers are evaluated as senders based on the reputation of the IP addresses and domains of their clients. Be sure to send emails from a reliable provider; fail to do so and your emails are destined for spam folders.

Also, the “From Address” matters! I suggest sending them from a real human being’s email address within your company if possible, as doing so will give your emails a much better chance of making the recipients feel special and unique. Whatever you decide, be consistent to ensure the people on your distribution list won’t experience confusion when hearing from your brand via email.

5. Use descriptive text instead of URLs when linking

Spam filters are configured to block phishing attacks. Phishing is an e-mail fraud method in which the perpetrator sends out legitimate-looking email in an attempt to gather personal and financial information from recipients. A common phishing technique is to hide the phishing link behind a well-known link to get recipients to take the bait and click the link. To avoid the appearance of a phishing attack, I encourage you to link descriptive text as opposed to including a URL in your email body. To be honest, it looks more professional anyways. Bonus points!  

6. Include a text version of your email

Nowadays, most spam filters have advanced enough to examine the HTML anyway, but it is still a good idea to include a text version of your email. It appeals to spam filters and subscribers using older email services, as well as those who have setup text-only reading settings. This tactic should be simple enough to execute considering most email service providers send text versions automatically.

7. Design professional-looking emails

The use of images in a well-designed email can do wonders for engagement and allows more room for interaction. The use of header images, CTAs, and other images throughout your email can also increase click-through rates. Just be sure to have enough text to get your message across without depending solely on the images (not all email service providers populate images automatically).

Happy Emailing!

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Perfect Timing: The Very Best Time to Send Email Newsletters

Timing is everything – right? It may not be everything, but it certainly matters, especially when it comes to getting subscribers to notice and open your emails.

So when is the best time to send newsletter emails? We have some advice and we’re eager to share.

Best Email Send Time: General Advice

These general email send time tips are widely accepted by the email marketing community. They are great when you’re starting off, but be sure to read on and see why they won’t always work.

• Daytime vs. Nighttime. While this one may be obvious, it’s usually better to send out your email campaigns during the daytime. You know, when people are awake. Not asleep.

Mad Mondays. The general consensus is that should avoid sending out email blasts on Mondays. Why? People are already bummed out about the end of the weekend. They march into the office and are flooded with emails they’ve collected over the past few days. What’s the first thing they do? Delete those emails of course!

• Weekends. Historically, weekends are the days when folks are out running errands and going on adventures. Weekends tend to have low open rates, so most marketers avoid them like the plague.

• Give Heads Up for An Event. While 23% of emails are opened within 60 minutes after being sent, there are some lingerers who may not check out your email until a day or two later. To be safe, send out event-oriented emails 3-5 days prior to an event.

• Fan Favorites: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday have traditionally been favorite days to send email campaigns, as email marketers seek to avoid the Monday angst and Friday’s itchy-feet. MailChimp confirmsthat Tuesday and Thursday are the two most popular days to send email newsletters.

• Mid-Week, Mid-day: The tried-and-true traditional approach of sending out email campaigns in the middle of the week and in the middle of the day tends to do pretty well. General know-how suggests sending emails between 1-3pm (9-11am is recommended as well). It’s safe. It’s reliable. It’s not a bad choice. Just remember, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

MailChimp suggests 2 pm as the optimal send time based on their data.

That’s the Advice. Now Ignore it.

The tips above are considered general best practice advice for email marketing. However, there are many, many, situations which quickly challenge the classical suggestions above.

Just take a look at our own WordStream data.

Best Time to Send Emails: Thursday 8 – 9 am

Most email marketing articles would claim that 8am is too early to send an email newsletter, but it works great for WordStream blasts – we get over 25% open rates with this time!

Worst Time to Send Emails: Tuesday & Wednesday 8 – 10 am

Many would claim that Tuesday and Wednesday mornings should be great times to send emails, but we’ve found that Tuesday mornings result in under 5% open rates, while Wednesday mornings have below 5% click to open ratios.

Our WordStream data shows that the status just ain’t always quo.

There are several reasons why these old classic tips don’t mean squat in the end.

Beating the Rush.

So everyone agrees that Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are the best days to send out an email campaign. Unless your competitors live north of Winterfell, they probably have heard this sage advice as well. This means that you’re facing a ton of competition by sending out emails on the “recommended” days and times.

If you don’t want your email newsletter to get lost in the hustle, swimming upstream may be your best bet. Although Mondays and Fridays are generally not recommended, who is to say they won’t work for you?

It Depends on the Device. 

Traditional “best time to send an email” numbers are being thrown to the wind as user habits change across devices. The standard mid-week, mid-day makes perfect sense for desktop users who are opening emails at work. Mobile users, on the other hand, tend to be pretty active even late in the evening.

It’s worth noting that although activity on mobile devices is plentiful on nights and weekends, a Brafton study shows that 55% of consumers open emails on desktops, while only 25% open emails on mobile devices. However, this study was done in 2013, and with users growing more reliant on mobile devices each day, these number could easily change. I also suspect that as businesses learn to craft more mobile-friendly emails, we’ll see greater email open rates on mobile devices.

Demographics: Know Your Peeps.

Understanding your demographics is the single most important thing you can do for email marketing success. They’re your audience - you should know their habits and cater to them.

Some examples of how demographics override the safe “best time to send” general advice:

• If you’re targeting the young, tech-obsessed crowd, you would probably ignore the general tip about not sending emails at night. Evening emails could work just fine for younger audiences.

• The much-maligned Friday could be a great choice if you’re in the entertainment industry, with folks looking for fun things to do over the weekend.

• Weekends don’t have to be off-bounds either. What if you’re interested in reaching tech-savvy audiences in cold-weather climates? I bet they spend plenty of time checking emails on Saturday and Sunday.

Don’t forget to consider your target demographics’ time zone – you definitely want to customize email send times depending on where your recipients live.

The Ultimate Answer to the “When to Send an Email” Question

The answer to “what is the best time to send an email campaign?” is that there is no single “best time” to send an email – it depends on your audience.

I know, what a cop-out answer! It’s true though. While there are certain days of the week and times that are generally recommended by the larger email marketing community, we’ve shown today how easy it is to refute those claims.

Maybe you’re thinking – come on Megan, I came here for an answer, not some Nietzsche-esque statement about subjective truth. To which I’d say fine; the mid-day, mid-week motto is a great place to start and should perform decently enough.

However, if you really want to rock email marketing and send out your email newsletters at the very best time for optimal opens and clicks, you need to TEST!

A/B test your send times like crazy. This is really the best way to find the perfect send time for your particular audience.

Not Getting the Open Rates You Want? Don’t Blame the Hour.

Bad open rates aren’t just about your send times. If your open rates aren’t looking so good, consider these factors as well:

• Do You Have a Standout Subject Line? Subject lines are HUGE when it comes to email marketing. You could argue that subject lines are even more important the email copy, since it’s the subject lines’ job to get people opening your message to begin with. Make sure you have a saucy, enticing subject line. Try checking out our post on the best email subject lines to increase open rates.

• Are You Sending Too Many Emails? No one likes a blabbermouth. Could your low open rates be the result of sending out too many emails? Maybe you’re bugging the heck out of your email subscribers.

• Is Your Message Mobile-Friendly? Your emails absolutely need to be mobile-friendly, end of story.

Do you have any tips on the best times to send email blasts? What works for you? What doesn’t work for you? Share your experience in the comments!

http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/09/04/best-time-to-send-email-campaign