Google’s new feature for email marketers, the rise of mobile marketing, privacy plans that will change direct marketing and 5 ways to improve email marketing with social media.

Google Test Shows Paid-Search Ads, Email Marketing Integration – MediaPost
Email marketers may soon have an opportunity to tie campaigns into paid-search ads through a new ad format being tested by Google.

Mobile Will Be King by Year’s End: Return Path – The Magill Report
Email readership on mobile devices is growing so fast that at least by the end of 2012 it will be the predominant platform for email consumption, according to Return Path.

Privacy plans set to change direct marketing – B&T
Direct marketers who breach data laws could face penalties of $220,000 under privacy proposals being discussed by the government.

5 Proven Ways to Improve Email Marketing With Social Media – ClickZ
Email marketing managers are looking for ways to increase their reach and enhance their engagement. If done correctly, social media offers an antidote to fix waning engagement. Here are five specific things you should be doing with social media to improve your email marketing.

Have you read anything from the realm of e-messaging that you’d like to share?

Posted by:
Matthew Johnson
EDM Specialist

The idea is that by asking for less information in your web form, you’re increasing the likelihood of someone submitting it by reducing the friction they might feel about handing over their details.

Makes sense right? It’s a good theory that has certainly proven true in my experience.

But there are times where you need to know more about customers than just their name and email. In order to build a meaningful relationship with a prospect you need to know what makes them tick and what they care about most.

It’s tempting to turn the less is more theory on its head and simply ask for all the information you might ever need to know. But this runs the risk of scaring people away from your web form altogether.

Thankfully there is a better way. A way that allows you to manage the friction whilst still collecting the information you need.

The answer is to align the data collection in your web form with your sales funnel. This helps you ease prospects gently through their interactions with your business by asking only for the most appropriate amounts of information at each stage.

Here’s how it works. The deeper someone is within your sales funnel, the more information you can request. Let’s take a look at three stages of your sales funnel and explore how each can relate to your web form’s data collection.

Top of the funnel

At this stage a prospect is usually just researching and has not yet committed in any way to your company. This is where the less is more theory is most relevant and you need to make it as easy as possible for people to provide you with their details. Here you should limit your data collection to an email address and a first name. An example of a web form that fits into this stage is a newsletter sign-up form.

Middle of the funnel

The only problem is that countless companies know this and send out surveys endlessly. Due to this, many recipients are ‘fatigued’ and no longer complete surveys.

But, you can break through the clutter! In this post I’m going to share with you some tips on how to achieve the highest possible response rates. I’ll also provide some tips about post-survey activities that are great for fostering ongoing engagement.

1. Reward participants: Let’s start with the obvious, reward your participants. They have taken the time out of their day to help you with your business. Say thank you with a discount or other incentive.
2. Set expectations: Tell people how long it will take to complete your survey. There is nothing worse than starting what you think is a two minute survey only to be confronted with a ‘never ending’ questionnaire.
3. Grow your sample size: If you need as many responses as possible (and they don’t need to come from your existing client base) make it easy for participants to share the survey. Also remember to put it on your website, social media pages and promote it via email.
4. Short and painless: Only ask participants for information that you actually intend to use for a specific purpose. If you can’t use the information collected by a particular question maybe it’s not worth asking.
5. Explain why: Tell participants how you are going to use their information so they understand why it’s important. It’s also a good idea to include a link to your privacy policy.
6. STRONG call to action: If your aim is to get recipients to fill in your survey you need to make this call to action very strong and enticing. You can do this by using action orientated words, images, layout, buttons, fonts and colours.
   
7. Correct fields: Make sure that you use the correct field format for each question. For example use a date field for a date of birth, a text field for names and when you only want a participant to choose one option use radio buttons. This makes it very easy for participant to complete the survey and also preserves the accuracy and integrity of the data.
   
   
8. Post survey updates: People like to know that their feedback had an impact and if you tell them what improvements resulted from their feedback they are much more likely to participate in your next survey as well.
9. Breaking it down: Think about collecting information in stages. Realistically how much can you do in response to your findings? Collect some information starting with the most important, make improvements then collect more.
10. Attention: By the time participants reach the end of a survey you generally have their complete attention. This is a good time to ask participants to tell a friend, subscribe to a new offering or check out your social media.

So there you have it. Follow these tips and you will set your survey up for a great response.

Do you have any great tips for getting people to respond to surveys? Let me know in the comments section below.

Posted by:
Kristin Huddleston
Marketing Coordinator

Related posts

• Anatomy of a great email newsletter
• What Mimco can teach us about designing emails that sell
• The secret to growing your database with webforms

   

When email designs break, subject line experiments, when one email just doesn’t cut it, ten data capture tips and five email tips for entrepreneurs.

Why Do Email Designs Break? – Litmus
Ever wondered why emails break? Most of the time, we chalk rendering issues up to poor HTML and CSS support from email clients. Turns out they’re not always the bad guys!

Subject line increases opens 12.7% … here’s why we’ll never use it again – Marketing Experiments Blog
The purpose of a subject line is to get an open. However, the purpose of a subject line is not only to get an open. In our recent subject line contest, there were some curious submissions that made me think this blog post was necessary…

When One Email Isn’t Enough – Email Insider
Although many email marketers are concerned about sending too much email, the simple truth is that one email message often isn’t enough to persuade people to take the actions you want. This article contains four approaches that use automated messages to prompt your customers into acting.

Top Ten Data Capture Tips – ADMA
It is worth taking a long hard look at some of the practices you have in place to ensure you are maximising the breadth, depth and quality of your data. 

Five top tips to improve your email marketing – StartUpSmart
The top five ways entrepreneurs can improve their email marketing efforts.

Have you read anything from the realm of e-messaging that you’d like to share?

Posted by:
Matthew Johnson
EDM Specialist

This is a pearl of wisdom shared by Brian Clark at Copyblogger during an interview over at Daily Success Deals. 

He was talking about the most effective way to get new clients and customers buying from you. But in an environment where email open rates are on the decline, Brian’s remark is more relevant to email marketers today than ever.

The fact is that unless you’re 100% committed to sending email content that is interesting and valuable to your subscribers, you’ll struggle to retain their attention.

So how do you deliver email content that subscribers want?

Let’s explore the answers with the help of some fun little cartoons created by Web Target Magazine. Enjoy!

Be relevant | Your email should have interesting content

Tips & Tricks in Marketingland – Be Relevant

To truly be relevant you need to start by paying attention to your recipients and learn what they find interesting.

You can do this by:

• Asking for their preferences when they subscribe
• Including updates profile forms or options in your emails
• Conducting surveys or even short web polls

You can also identify trends within your campaign reports by monitoring the performance of campaigns and click-through rates in particular. To do this look at the reports from your last 5 email campaigns and create a list of all the links and the number of times they were clicked. Then group these links into categories based on the nature of the content they link to such as product information, competitions and promotions, and educational resources.

Get personal | Customised emails are always the most effective

Tips & Tricks in Marketingland – Get Personal

Once you’ve learnt what your customers find interesting you can start segmenting your database and target content based on their interests. This might sound challenging, but it’s probably easier than you think.

By using conditional content in your emails, you’re able to personalise your email message for each recipient even though you send only one email campaign. This ensures your email is relevant to the interests of each recipient and has the added bonus of being a huge time saver for you.

Whilst email marketing helps you achieve your company’s goals, never forget that you need to ‘give to get’. Recipients don’t care about your goals and interests. They only care about how you can meet their needs and desires. So deliver what they want and you’ll then get what you want.

Posted by:
Matthew Johnson
EDM Specialist

Quite often these emails are forwarded to me because they are great examples of an email marketing campaigns (and some not so great examples).

In some cases they include an offer I just can’t refuse, so of course I want to sign up to make sure I get the next one straight in my inbox. But where is the subscribe link? I have to say it’s so surprising to see the number of emails out there that don’t have a simple ‘Sign Up’ link.

Now if I cannot find this illusive sign up link here’s is what I have to do:

I look for a link to your website.

If there is a link to your website, I look for a sign up form or link on your home page.

No sign up form or link on your home page? Being ever so determined rather than give up, I look for a contact us link so I can write and ask to be put on the list.

Now remember I am in the world of email marketing and an exception to the rule, I will take the time to do this but the ‘average Joe’ will do this:

No sign up link – I give up!

Too often I see email campaigns where the link is nowhere to be seen. I can only imagine that the sender thought it was unnecessary. After all why would you need to add a subscribe link to an email that is being sent to existing subscribers? But let me answer this question with two small and yet very important words. List growth.

Thanks to social media, people are sharing online content (including your email content) now more than ever. So by including a subscribe link in your email you’re making it easy for non-subscribers who stumble across your email campaign to subscribe directly to your email list.

Here is an example from Etsy where this has been done well.

See how they have included a subscribe link prominently in their email? This makes it super easy for non-subscribers who stumble upon the email via social media or have been sent it from a friend.

If you’d like some help with your email design and setting up sign-up links book into one of my free training sessions.

Posted by:
Melina Kellam
Training Manager

So, if you are looking for a cost effective way to acquire more customers, promote your business, and sell more products – email is definitely for you.

A good product email (or series of emails) can go a long way to helping you reach your targets. It will showcase your products, provide information and help to facilitate sales.

Here is a product email that I recently received from Mimco with a list of elements that make it so effective.

1. Pre-header text: This text often appears as an extension of your subject line in many email clients. The pre-header text is also the very first thing readers see after opening an email so it draws your recipients attention, helps you get more opens and is very important if there is any image blocking.
2. Logo and brand: Brand consistency is essential when creating a product email. Brand recognition generally provokes a certain amount of trust thereby reassuring your audience that the email they have received is legitimate. It is also worth remembering that ‘brand’ is more have just a logo. Ultimately it’s everything in your email including the colours, imagery, language and tone that you use.
3. Weblinks: Weblinks help you to drive traffic to your website or shopping cart. They also provide important sign posts for recipients who may not be interested in your email but would like to visit your website.
4. Urgency: Creating a sense of urgency is a very good technique for helping close a sale. I’m not just talking about the good old CALL IN THE NEXT TEN MINUTES ‘shouty’ sense of urgency either. It’s more about reminding recipients when sales end, when stock is running low or sharing the benefit of making a purchase sooner rather than later. Creating a sense of urgency can encourage recipients to act rather than setting the email aside.
5. Calls to purchase: This is the most important (and unfortunately the most over looked) part of any sales email. Make it easy for recipients to purchase your product or service. Don’t make them go hunting for an option to buy. Include buttons that take them straight to a shopping cart. Or if you don’t have a shopping cart, make sure you provide them with a stockist, store locator or an option to buy via mail or phone.
6. Relevant/ tailored content: Make sure you are in-tune with your audience and environment in which you are selling. For example, this email is a seasonal email and it uses a combination of imagery, colours and language to create a theme that is relevant to the recipients. You can also tailor content by using event related news, fashions, trends and your audience’s specific interests and preferences. 
7. Catalogue imagery and information: Like a print catalogue, a product email must showcase your ‘hero’ products and offers. There should be adequate information to prompt a purchase but keep it punchy enough to avoid clutter. Use images, colours and text styles to create an easily scanned structure while remaining conscious of potential image blocking issues.
8. Getting attention with video or animation: A 2010 study by the Web Video Marketing Council found that 73% of marketers say that video-based email marketing is more likely than static content to generate higher conversion and purchase rates. In this email all of the umbrellas open and close so that recipients can see what they look like in both states. Animation and video are very engaging mediums and there are a number of ways you can use them to enhance your emails.
9. Incentives: Providing recipients with free shipping offers, small discounts on future purchases, or the chance to enter a competition can spark their interest and also forms a positive brand connection. I love the way that this Mimco email includes a competition that is really well targeted towards their audience.
10. Social sharing: Use social media to help spread the word about your product. As well as including links for pre-filled tweets and status updates, you could offer an incentive such as a discount in an attempt to encourage your audience to promote you.
11. Relate to your audience: Think about your prospects and customers. What are their tastes and preferences? What are the sorts of things they really care about? Do they have a lot of time to go through a long email or do they just want to know about any sales or specials? Always remain focused on the needs of your audience and let this guide you when designing your product emails.

Over to you. Have we missed anything in this list? Or do you have an example of a product email you’d like to share? Let us know using the comments section below.

Posted by:
Kristin Huddleston
Marketing Coordinator

Related posts

• Anatomy of a great email newsletter

Grow your email list on Facebook

Social updating brought you the ability to post to your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts when you send your emails. The system dashboard social widget allows you to view your news feeds and post status updates directly from your Vision6 account.

Introducing the missing ingredient, soon you will be able to place your forms into any Facebook Page that you are an administrator of. In just a few clicks you will be able to start growing your subscriber list via your facebook page.

We have also created a special web form template (designed to the optimal size for Facebook) so that your web form doesn’t look out of place when added to Facebook.

More flexibility with your social updates

We will be improving Facebook social updates to allow you to select the image and text that is displayed.

All the help you need when you want it

We are introducing a new widget to your dashboard that will display a range of on-demand training videos. So you can do in-system training whenever it is convenient for you. You can even do training on the couch in your pyjamas!

The Knowledge Centre is also undergoing a makeover.

Web Form Editor… it’s getting better all the time

You will soon be able to easily copy any component or field. We’ve also added new font colours and size options for a Field Description.

Uploading contacts and managing fields made even easier

We have made more improvements to the uploading contacts process. When mapping fields to your list you can easily edit field names by clicking on the new edit icon to the right of the field. There is now no need to go to the Web Form Editor to do this.

We are always working on new features and improvements so subscribe to the blog to be first to find out.

Enjoy!
The Team @Vision6

In fact, you find yourself staring at the screen with eyes slightly out of focus and fingers itching to type ‘w-w-w-dot-f-a-c-e-b-o-o…’ into your web browser.

Sound familiar? Well help is at hand. Instead of procrastinating, shake off the cobwebs by going for a walk (depending on the neighbourhood), bouncing ideas around with a colleague, or drawing a mind map to organise your thoughts.

If that doesn’t work, check out the list of ideas below.

Make some friends

1. Invite other staff members to contribute stories to the newsletter.

2. Find that person who’s always taking photos of team activities and projects and ask if they’ve got anything you can use.

3. See that grad student sitting and staring out the window or that guy whose project has just finished? Go and have a chat and ask them if they would like to help brainstorm or have a go at writing an article.

4. Make friends in high places. Many company directors and team leaders often have messages or news they would like to share with clients but they just don’t have the time. So help them out and ask them if there is anything important they would like you to write about.

5. Introduce the new guy or girl in a staff profile or interview. Or re-introduce an existing team member that your audience really needs to know (or know better).

6. Check in with your friendly local industry association. Nearly every industry from Engineering to Hospitality to Advertising has an industry association so find out if they would like to contribute to your newsletter.

Think like a journalist and sniff out a story

7. Find out the news for your industry. Browse industry publications and websites and see what are the latest innovations, trends or scandals. 

8. What’s on the radar? What are people talking about around the water cooler? Yes I’m sure there is quite a lot of talk about the latest Biggest Loser episode but what are people really getting passionate about? Ask 3-5 people this question and see if a pattern emerges. ‘What do you think is the most important thing going on at [company name] at the moment?’

9. Interview someone in the company who is considered (internally at least) an expert on a topic.

10. Talk to clients or other team members who talk to clients. See if you can answer a common question, spot a trend or write a ‘top 5′ list.

11. Know what your clients like? Whether it’s sneakers or coffees, write a review or invite someone else to.

If there’s no news then make some

12. Hold a competition. It could be a staff competition that you take photos of and write an article about or it could be a competition for your readers.

13. Include a survey or poll in your newsletter and use the results in the next one.

14. Write a case study. One of the best ways to demonstrate how great your company is without boasting is to let your successes speak for themselves.

15. Hold an event. Celebrate successes such as when your company wins a new client, completes a project, or organises a team bonding activity. This is not only great for your team culture, but sharing these events with your clients helps them to feel like they know you.

16. Share the love. Clients are the ‘life blood’ of companies and an easy way to make them really happy is to give them a bit of free advertising. Especially if they have something of interest to offer your recipients.

17. Investigate some social media and see if there is something you can get started on. Start by searching for what other people are saying about your company and products and then branch out to other topics relating to your audience.

Be yourself and have some fun with it

18. Tell a personal story or share some company news. Depending on your industry some clients may like to get the ‘inside scoop.’ Knowing what is going on at a company beyond the products and offerings can help your customers get to know and understand you better.

19. Do a bit of research and write an article on the company’s history. All companies have a story. Maybe it was an idea two friends had on holidays or the owner saw a fantastic opportunity?

20. Get creative and instead of writing an article show or teach your recipients something using a presentation, webinar, infographic, photo album or video.

Good luck with your next newsletter! If you have any more great content ideas please share them by commenting below.

Posted by:
Kristin Huddleston
Marketing Coordinator

This week: Purchased lists – is the reward worth the risk? 25 clever ways to grow your list and 5 genius examples of QR codes in Marketing and B2B email deliverability.

Purchased lists – is the reward worth the risk to your reputation? - ACMA
If you’re looking to expand your business, the lure of a purchased marketing list or database as a source of potential customers may be too great to ignore. But before you use one, let’s look at the risks.

25 Clever Ways to Grow Your Email Marketing List – HubSpot
If you’re not working on growing your email list already (or you’ve run out of creative ideas to do so), here are 25 simple ways to build up that email list.

5 Genius Examples of QR Codes in Marketing – KISS Metrics
Still having a hard time wrapping your head around QR codes? Here are some innovative and unique ways companies are using QR codes to boost their brand awareness in the process.

B2B Email Deliverability: 11% of B2B email is classified as spam, these 6 tactics will help – Marketing Sherpa
Read on for six tactics from two email deliverability experts. They cover tactics on reputation, testing, domain distribution reports, mediation and more.

Have you read anything from the realm of e-messaging that you’d like to share?

Posted by:
Matthew Johnson
EDM Specialist