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Casual Articles - Email Marketing Best Practices
Congratulations on the decision to run your own business. As exciting as it is, there are so many things you need to be aware of. One of the biggest decisions is of course if you decide to have a partner, or more than one partner. There are pros and cons for what ever you decide. You just want to make sure what you decide is best for you. Make sure you are compatible with this person, that you two share in the same business way of thought and doing things.To decide if you need a partner make a 'for' and 'against' list. This makes it very easy for you to see the pros and cons, and to weigh the difference. After all, this is one of the biggest decisions you will make before you even open the doors.The most common reasons for having a partner are: There is safety in numbers. You have someone else to talk things over with and two heads to decide if the decision you are making is best for your business. You'll have someone to share the work days and hours with. This will bring you peace of mind for the days you are sick, or you have to be somewhere else. And of course one of the main reasons is they can help with capitol, and all of the risks won't fall only on you and your pocket. Some arguments against having a partner are, you have to agree on all decisions – so if there is something you wish to bring into the business and
Dear [fname];
Your September edition of the Gardening Tips Monthly Newsletter is now available. You can read it online at http://www.gardentips.com/newsletters/septnews.html.Regards,
Betty Sampson, Editor
Gardening Tips Monthly
http://www.gardentips.com
When to Email
In marketing timing is everything, but with email marketing it can make the difference between emails being read and being trashed. Naturally every person has his or her own preferential time to deal with email, but there are a few general rules of thumb for when it is best to send email messages.
If you’re mailing to business recipients it’s best to sent email Tuesday
Start With the Real Facts about FailureEveryone knows that 95% of businesses fail within 5 years. Not so many people realize that even in the top 500 businesses in the world, within 2 years if history is any indication, more than 50% of them won’t be there!So even the size of a business is no guarantee of survival, let alone success. To survive, a business must continually grow its sales, and the only way it can do that is to remain relevant to the market, and retain the capacity to communicate its relevance in a meaningful way.Whereas one of our previous reports covered this question from the business marketing perspective, this short report now looks at how the sales person should integrate his/her own activities in order to leverage the whole sales process!It’s true that the notes provided in this report are necessarily simplistic – such a subject demands a book! Nevertheless you’ll see the steps that are required, and you’ll certainly be able to make positive changes that will result in a better understanding of what it takes to achieve your sales goals, together with some solid steps to get there.Step 1: You Need to Understand, Much More Precisely, What Parts of What You Do Actually WorkWe have shown over and over again that in every business there is a Unique Selling Eq
From Names & Subject Lines
For most people, a majority of emails received are junk email. As a result, each of us has developed a little ritual we follow when checking our email. Initially, most people looked first at the subject lines to determine whether to read a message. Today, however, studies have shown that recipients glance at the “From” field to see if they recognize the sender’s name or email address. Then, only if they recognize the From Name do they look at the “Subject” field to see if it’s of interest to them. This is why we recommend using a From Name that is either your organization’s name or a well-known person within your organization—and to keep that name consistent with every mailing.
Regarding subject lines, we have found a good strategy to be having one part of the subject line be consistent, and the other be variable. This way recipients can recognize your newsletter when it comes in as well as get a small taste as to what type of information might be featured for that issue.
Some examples of bad subject lines are:
The Permission-Based Email Marketing Monthly for September, 1 2005 from IntelliContact Pro
This subject line is simply too long. We recommend keeping subject lines between 20 and 50 characters whenever possible. This 80 character subject line is likely to get cut off in most email clients and could cause the message to have a higher chance of being blocked by a content-based spam filter.
[FNAME]’S ENTREPRENEURS CHRONICLE FOR SEPTEMBER
This subject line is in all caps, which will increase the change the message will get blocked by content-based spam filters.
Garden Tips
This subject line doesn’t provide any information as to what the message is about. We would recommend adding at least what month the message is for.
Oxy-Powder Special – Save $10 Today Only Buy Now!!!!
This subject line includes both a dollar sign and multiple exclamation points. Both of these things would cause the message to have a higher chance of being blocked by a content-based spam filter.
Here’s is a revised version of each of these subject lines:
1. Permission-Based Email Marketing Monthly for September
2. [fname]’s Entrepreneuers’ Chronicle for March
3. Garden Tips Monthly – Are Year Round Orchids Possible?
4. Oxy-Powder Special: 15% Off
By following these tips on From Names and Subject Lines you can maximize the chance of your message being opened by your end recipients.
HTML or Plain Text, or Both?
In the early days of the Internet, say 1998 and before, when most surfers were using Internet Service Providers such as Prodigy, AOL, and CompuServe, all email messages that were sent were plain text emails.
Then, with AOL 5.0 came the ability to send Rich Text messages that allowed you to bold or italicize text, insert pictures, and add links. Still, however, most email clients (the software tools that allow you to view your email, such as Outlook, Eudora, Thunderbird, Hotmail, etc.) did not have the ability to display full HTML messages.
Today, almost all email clients have the ability to display HTML messages. While some organizations still send their emails as plain text, there are a number of advantages of sending your message as an HTML message, especially with the easy to use WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) HTML editors that are available. The difficulty is, even today around 5% of email recipients either are unable to view HTML messages or have turned this feature off within their clients. To solve this problem, almost all marketers today send in a format called Multi-Part MIME. Multi-part MIME is a method by which one can send both an HTML message and a text message within the same document. When using Multi-Part MIME, you simply create your regular newsletter, announcement, or promotion as an HTML message and then create a separate text version. Then, when your message is sent, all the persons who can see HTML, will see your regular HTML message, and the 5% or so that cannot will receive the text version of the newsletter. Today’s email clients can automatically detect a Multi-Part MIME message and display the proper message.
It is for this reason that one should always create a text version of every newsletter that is sent out. Without a text version, the message will either show up blank or show up as garbled HTML code for the percentage of recipients who cannot view HTML messages. On a final note, you can go about creating your text message one of two ways. The first option is to recreate the message in the text-only section by copying and pasting the text from the HTML message. If you choose this method, be sure to type out the URLs of each link). The second option is to upload your HTML message to your web site and then send a message like the one below:
Dear [fname];
Your September edition of the Gardening Tips Monthly Newsletter is now available. You can read it online at http://www.gardentips.com/newsletters/septnews.html.Regards,
Betty Sampson, Editor
Gardening Tips Monthly
http://www.gardentips.com
When to Email
In marketing timing is everything, but with email marketing it can make the difference between emails being read and being trashed. Naturally every person has his or her own preferential time to deal with email, but there are a few general rules of thumb for when it is best to send email messages.
If you’re mailing to business recipients it’s best to sent email Tuesday
A Successful Appointment Is About Reaching A Mutually Beneficial Agreement Between The Parties Involved.Would you ever make an appointment with someone you knew would waste your time, money and resources? If you are smart, I am sure you wouldn’t.Let us change the question. Would you ever make an appointment with someone you knew would deliver value and increase your worth in relation to your time, money and resources? The most obvious answer is yes. If your answer is ‘YES’, then why on earth do you think people still go to appointments thinking of what they want out of it rather than what’s in it for their clientele (this could be a buying customer, an employer, investors or anyone you are trying to gain a commitment from). When your focus is about getting what you want rather that giving them what they want, you will most likely walk out of the meeting empty handed.Why?Another question for you to consider answering: Would you ever make an appointment with someone who was not willing to give you want you wanted and needed but was seeking to get something from you? Probably not. It does not benefit you in anyway. That’s why!No wonder most appointments never result in a total success. Everyone is thinking in terms of what’s in it for them. I wonder what would happen if we did the following: subject lines, we have found a good strategy to be having one part of the subject line be consistent, and the other be variable. This way recipients can recognize your newsletter when it comes in as well as get a small taste as to what type of information might be featured for that issue.
Some examples of bad subject lines are:
The Permission-Based Email Marketing Monthly for September, 1 2005 from IntelliContact Pro
This subject line is simply too long. We recommend keeping subject lines between 20 and 50 characters whenever possible. This 80 character subject line is likely to get cut off in most email clients and could cause the message to have a higher chance of being blocked by a content-based spam filter.
[FNAME]’S ENTREPRENEURS CHRONICLE FOR SEPTEMBER
This subject line is in all caps, which will increase the change the message will get blocked by content-based spam filters.
Garden Tips
This subject line doesn’t provide any information as to what the message is about. We would recommend adding at least what month the message is for.
Oxy-Powder Special – Save $10 Today Only Buy Now!!!!
This subject line includes both a dollar sign and multiple exclamation points. Both of these things would cause the message to have a higher chance of being blocked by a content-based spam filter.
Here’s is a revised version of each of these subject lines:
1. Permission-Based Email Marketing Monthly for September
2. [fname]’s Entrepreneuers’ Chronicle for March
3. Garden Tips Monthly – Are Year Round Orchids Possible?
4. Oxy-Powder Special: 15% Off
By following these tips on From Names and Subject Lines you can maximize the chance of your message being opened by your end recipients.
HTML or Plain Text, or Both?
In the early days of the Internet, say 1998 and before, when most surfers were using Internet Service Providers such as Prodigy, AOL, and CompuServe, all email messages that were sent were plain text emails.
Then, with AOL 5.0 came the ability to send Rich Text messages that allowed you to bold or italicize text, insert pictures, and add links. Still, however, most email clients (the software tools that allow you to view your email, such as Outlook, Eudora, Thunderbird, Hotmail, etc.) did not have the ability to display full HTML messages.
Today, almost all email clients have the ability to display HTML messages. While some organizations still send their emails as plain text, there are a number of advantages of sending your message as an HTML message, especially with the easy to use WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) HTML editors that are available. The difficulty is, even today around 5% of email recipients either are unable to view HTML messages or have turned this feature off within their clients. To solve this problem, almost all marketers today send in a format called Multi-Part MIME. Multi-part MIME is a method by which one can send both an HTML message and a text message within the same document. When using Multi-Part MIME, you simply create your regular newsletter, announcement, or promotion as an HTML message and then create a separate text version. Then, when your message is sent, all the persons who can see HTML, will see your regular HTML message, and the 5% or so that cannot will receive the text version of the newsletter. Today’s email clients can automatically detect a Multi-Part MIME message and display the proper message.
It is for this reason that one should always create a text version of every newsletter that is sent out. Without a text version, the message will either show up blank or show up as garbled HTML code for the percentage of recipients who cannot view HTML messages. On a final note, you can go about creating your text message one of two ways. The first option is to recreate the message in the text-only section by copying and pasting the text from the HTML message. If you choose this method, be sure to type out the URLs of each link). The second option is to upload your HTML message to your web site and then send a message like the one below:
Dear [fname];
Your September edition of the Gardening Tips Monthly Newsletter is now available. You can read it online at http://www.gardentips.com/newsletters/septnews.html.Regards,
Betty Sampson, Editor
Gardening Tips Monthly
http://www.gardentips.com
When to Email
In marketing timing is everything, but with email marketing it can make the difference between emails being read and being trashed. Naturally every person has his or her own preferential time to deal with email, but there are a few general rules of thumb for when it is best to send email messages.
If you’re mailing to business recipients it’s best to sent email Tuesday
This is the fourth in our medical billing series on the EA0 record. We pick up our discussion of this record with one of the most complex pieces of information that is sent with every medical claim.EA0 fields 32 - 35, positions 179 - 198, are the four diagnosis codes fields. Diagnosis codes are probably the most important pieces of information that is transmitted to the payer of services. There are probably around 15,000 different diagnosis codes, though it is doubtful that anybody knows the exact number as they are constantly being updated with new diseases being discovered all the time. Each code is assigned a three to five digit number of combination of numbers and characters. These are commonly referred to as ICD9 codes, but there are other codes as well, depending on the physician specialty.The reason these codes are so critical is that each diagnosis code corresponds to a particular illness or procedure that may or may not be covered, in full, in part, or not at all, by the particular insurance the patient has. Diagnosis codes are one of the first things that the payer looks at to determine if a claim is paid in full, part or not at all. There are four fields for diagnosis codes but only one is required to be sent. Each claim must have at least one diagnosis. Additional codes are usually sent if additional
Here’s is a revised version of each of these subject lines:
1. Permission-Based Email Marketing Monthly for September
2. [fname]’s Entrepreneuers’ Chronicle for March
3. Garden Tips Monthly – Are Year Round Orchids Possible?
4. Oxy-Powder Special: 15% Off
By following these tips on From Names and Subject Lines you can maximize the chance of your message being opened by your end recipients.
HTML or Plain Text, or Both?
In the early days of the Internet, say 1998 and before, when most surfers were using Internet Service Providers such as Prodigy, AOL, and CompuServe, all email messages that were sent were plain text emails.
Then, with AOL 5.0 came the ability to send Rich Text messages that allowed you to bold or italicize text, insert pictures, and add links. Still, however, most email clients (the software tools that allow you to view your email, such as Outlook, Eudora, Thunderbird, Hotmail, etc.) did not have the ability to display full HTML messages.
Today, almost all email clients have the ability to display HTML messages. While some organizations still send their emails as plain text, there are a number of advantages of sending your message as an HTML message, especially with the easy to use WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) HTML editors that are available. The difficulty is, even today around 5% of email recipients either are unable to view HTML messages or have turned this feature off within their clients. To solve this problem, almost all marketers today send in a format called Multi-Part MIME. Multi-part MIME is a method by which one can send both an HTML message and a text message within the same document. When using Multi-Part MIME, you simply create your regular newsletter, announcement, or promotion as an HTML message and then create a separate text version. Then, when your message is sent, all the persons who can see HTML, will see your regular HTML message, and the 5% or so that cannot will receive the text version of the newsletter. Today’s email clients can automatically detect a Multi-Part MIME message and display the proper message.
It is for this reason that one should always create a text version of every newsletter that is sent out. Without a text version, the message will either show up blank or show up as garbled HTML code for the percentage of recipients who cannot view HTML messages. On a final note, you can go about creating your text message one of two ways. The first option is to recreate the message in the text-only section by copying and pasting the text from the HTML message. If you choose this method, be sure to type out the URLs of each link). The second option is to upload your HTML message to your web site and then send a message like the one below:
Dear [fname];
Your September edition of the Gardening Tips Monthly Newsletter is now available. You can read it online at http://www.gardentips.com/newsletters/septnews.html.Regards,
Betty Sampson, Editor
Gardening Tips Monthly
http://www.gardentips.com
When to Email
In marketing timing is everything, but with email marketing it can make the difference between emails being read and being trashed. Naturally every person has his or her own preferential time to deal with email, but there are a few general rules of thumb for when it is best to send email messages.
If you’re mailing to business recipients it’s best to sent email Tuesday
The process of setting up a new business is an exciting one but for a first time entrepreneur, the initial steps needed to legally set up a business entity can be a trifle confusing. Based on my experience as a first time entrepreneur myself, I have compiled a list of things that need to be taken care of for incorporating and starting the operations of a Private Limited Company in India. This is just a guide and usually, the best people to seek clarifications from are Chartered Accountants and Company Secretaries. It is just too difficult for a layman to keep track of the ever changing procedures, forms and laws and therefore, professional Chartered Accountants and Company Secretaries are of immense help in this process! The list mentioned below provides an overview of the important steps involved. 1. Company Registration 1.1 Memorandum and Articles of Association: Before approaching the Registrar of Companies (RoC), it is preferable to complete the process of preparing the draft Memorandum and Articles of Association, bring in the share application money and appoint the directors. First director is usually a shareholder of the company and a minimum of 2 directors is required for a company that is going to be a Private Limited Company.1.2 Ascertaining Name Availability: The proposed name of the business n
It is for this reason that one should always create a text version of every newsletter that is sent out. Without a text version, the message will either show up blank or show up as garbled HTML code for the percentage of recipients who cannot view HTML messages. On a final note, you can go about creating your text message one of two ways. The first option is to recreate the message in the text-only section by copying and pasting the text from the HTML message. If you choose this method, be sure to type out the URLs of each link). The second option is to upload your HTML message to your web site and then send a message like the one below:
Dear [fname];
Your September edition of the Gardening Tips Monthly Newsletter is now available. You can read it online at http://www.gardentips.com/newsletters/septnews.html.Regards,
Betty Sampson, Editor
Gardening Tips Monthly
http://www.gardentips.com
When to Email
In marketing timing is everything, but with email marketing it can make the difference between emails being read and being trashed. Naturally every person has his or her own preferential time to deal with email, but there are a few general rules of thumb for when it is best to send email messages.
If you’re mailing to business recipients it’s best to sent email Tuesday
An uncompressed digital music file (such as that on a music CD) uses 10MB or more per minute (at least 30MB for a 3 minute song).These files have to be compressed to the more usual levels of 3-5MB per song. Compression rearranges the sequence of numbers, sometimes throwing away less significant information, in order to reduce the file size. The way the compression is achieved leads to the many different audio file formats available. Below is a list of the popular formats used by MP3 players.MP3 (MPEG Layer 3)MP3 is a perceptual audio coding algorithm, developed by the MPEG group. Although its a lossy compression, the digital audio sounds exactly as, or very close to, the original sound. The algorithm attempts to adapt the compression to the characteristics of the human perception of sound. This compression algorithm can handle both constant and variable bit rate compressions.For good quality music, a bit rate of at least 192Kbps is recommended - this is near CD quality. 256Kbps per second is better. There is very little quality difference between 256Kbps and 320Kbps, but the later will have a larger file size. MP3 files have no Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology built in - meaning they are freely portable. That's not to say its legal to move music files from one device to another.AA
Dear [fname];
Your September edition of the Gardening Tips Monthly Newsletter is now available. You can read it online at http://www.gardentips.com/newsletters/septnews.html.Regards,
Betty Sampson, Editor
Gardening Tips Monthly
http://www.gardentips.com
When to Email
In marketing timing is everything, but with email marketing it can make the difference between emails being read and being trashed. Naturally every person has his or her own preferential time to deal with email, but there are a few general rules of thumb for when it is best to send email messages.
If you’re mailing to business recipients it’s best to sent email Tuesday thru Thursday, between 9:30 am and 3 pm. Studies found that Monday’s are generally reserved for meetings, organizing, and catching up on all the tasks left over from the week prior and emails sent Friday afternoons are often ignored or show up at the bottom of the list when downloaded on Monday morning.
If you are emailing consumers directly, emailing between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. is generally more successful than other times of the day. Friday thru Sunday emails are the most effective, generally because consumers are more likely to be online over the weekend and have more leisure time to ponder your offer.
These mentioned times may change based on which time zone you are in and which time zone most of your customers are in. For example, if you are based in San Francisco but most of your clients are on the East Coast of the United States, you may wish to adjust the sending windows by three hours. In some cases, we have seen some international clients segment their list by geographic location to be able to more easily send messages during the most optimal time window.
Email Sending Frequency
As with all marketing, balancing the frequency of your messages is extremely important. If you don’t send enough messages, it is difficult remain in the forefront of your customer’s mind and be considered when they are ready to buy. If you send too many, you may annoy your recipient and cause them to unsubscribe.
We have generally found that either a bi-weekly or monthly sending schedule produces the best results. This may vary, however, based on your type of newsletter and subscriber that you have. One strategy could be to create a signup form that allows your subscribers to specify what mailing frequency they prefer. Then you could tailor how much material you send to each specific subscriber preference. Make sure, however, that each message you send has something of value to the end recipient. We’ve found that it is better to send a high quality monthly newsletter than a medium-quality weekly newsletter.
Personalization
Email marketing tools like IntelliContact Pro generally have a powerful method of improving open rates and response rates. This method is personalization. Message personalization can be done by inserting what is known as mail-merge fields into your message. For example, if you wanted to insert the first name of a subscriber into a message subject or body in IntelliContact Pro you would just type in [fname]. Take a look at the two below messages and see the difference inserting mail-merge personalization fields can have.
Message 1 – No Mail-Merge Personalization Fields
Dear Subscriber,Thank you for purchasing one of our products in the past. Today we have launched a new online catalog that may help you in your future purchases. You can find this catalog at http://www.autobodycorp.com/catalog/.
We appreciate your business. Please know I am always here if you have any questions about your past purchases.
My warmest regards,
Frank Desean, President
Autobody Products Corp.
http://www.autobodycorp.com
Message 2 – Using Mail-Merge Personalization Fields
Dear [fname],Thank you for purchasing [productname] on [purchasedate]. Today we have launched a new online catalog that may help you in your future purchases of [productcategory] products. You can find this catalog at http://www.autobodycorp.com/catalog/.
We appreciate having the business of [businessname]. Please know I am always here if you have any questions about your purchase of [productname] or any [productcategory] purchases that you may make in the future.
My warmest regards,
Frank Desean, President
Autobody Products Corp.
http://www.autobodycorp.com
As you can imagine, message #2, using mail-merge personalization fields, is a much more personal communications and would likely lead to a greater message response rate.
List Segmentation
There is no doubt that specifically targeted emails with valuable and relevant content work the best. By dividing your database either by interest or demographic, you will be able to appeal to the needs and wants of your consumer and improve your sales results. An effective segmentation strategy, however, begins with the sign up form. Make sure you are collecting the information during the initial signup that you will want to segment by later. IntelliContact Pro includes a list segmentation feature that makes it easy to segment your lists by any field in your subscriber database.
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