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Analyzing email data today to build a better program tomorrow.

Turning the corner to 4th quarter, it's time to review, regroup, and rebuild.

Your marketing might need a fresh face, even and especially after surviving 2020.

It's well known that analyzing email data today to build a better program tomorrow. One possible improvement, for example, would be to begin to segment your audience if this has not already been done.

Here are 3 ideas to segment your small business email subscriber list:

1. Create a high-impact segment based on your subscribers who have clicked 2 or more times on links in your emails. Then craft a different type of message for these "most active" fans.
   
   
2. Create a new list just for new subscribers, for example those who have signed up within the past month. Focus a new series of messages for people who are still developing their trust in you.
   
   
3. Create multiple segments based on the type of clicks. Create categories, and build segments based on this behavior.

Another factor to consider when analyzing email marketing data is a group of outliers. Outliers are "small groups whose behaviors are so extreme that they skew the overall behavior of your marketing channels," according to Chad S. White, Head of Research at Oracle CX Marketing Consulting.

For more information on how outliers affect your data:
https://smartercx.com/watch-out-for-these-5-trouble-making-marketing-outliers/

#emailmarketing

Best Practices: Steps to Inbox Success

Be the email message that stands out.

It's a battle for attention in the inbox almost every day as email is the most reliable and most used digital communication tool available. 

Any highly successful email marketing campaign demonstrates use of a powerful subject area. Make it clear that your subscriber knows you and can trust you. Give a reason your email message needs to be opened. Try the following steps to Inbox Success:

1. From Line - Sender: the sender should be whatever or whoever is most likely to be recognized. If this is your business name, then send from Business Name. If this is a person at the business, then send from John Person. 
   
   
2. From Line - Email Address: the email address you send from needs to be familiar, and also to display professionalism and trust. It is best to include your business name in your email identity, and it's more professional to have that business name as the sending domain. Example - Choose to send from [email protected] (NOT [email protected]). 
   
   
3. Subject Line: Depending on your target audience, there's actually a better chance your subscriber will be seeing your email for the first time on a mobile phone than on a desktop computer. A great subject line is short, honest, enticing and relevant - all within just one line of text. Consider adding one or two very specific details toward the end of the subject line. If the front end of the subject line is short, honest, enticing and relevant, then your reader is more likely to scroll or tap to read the remainder of the subject line. And remember your subject line is NOT trying to convert a new client or get a sale. The entire goal of the subject line is to move your reader to open the email message. 
   
   
4. Preheader: This is the sentence that appears below the subject line on a mobile device. This is the second chance you have to entice readers to open the message. Make sure your preheader is not a string of HTML code prescribing a link to a web page. A preheader needs to be deliberate, and it can accomplish many things, such as more details, personalization, even a call to action. 
   
   
5. Test: Test your subject line for maximum success. Try an A/B split at the exact same time to two different groups. Try running an online subject line test at one of many resources such as SubjectLine.com.

Related Resources:
Improving email open rates 
Email Best Practices: Subject Lines 
9 ways smart email marketers are using preheader text 
WinCommunications Email Marketing

Mix a little social into your email!

Small businesses often cannot afford big spends on marketing. So it comes down to choices. 

Will we get a better return on an email campaign, or should we create a social media campaign? Where do you spend your time and money?

Keys to this discussion are target audience and actual tracking data. If you know your audience spends time on social media, that seems the perfect choice. But statistics show you that email marketing has the best return on investment. 

So the best option? Do both. Integrate social media with your email campaign. This is a simple and solid solution to extend the reach of your campaign and reinforce your message.

Three simple steps to integrate include:

1. Use social links within the body of your email.
2. Add social buttons to the landing page of your email campaign.
3. Post your email campaign to your social media sites. 

Once an efficient and reasonable process is developed for your business, the marketing campaign is more likely to be accomplished. For more on a good process for small business internet marketing read:

Creative Strategies - Web and Social Media >

Read more about integrating social media and email marketing here:

• Integrate Email and Social Media Marketing to Combine the Benefits of Both
• 7 Creative Ways to Integrate Social Media and Email Marketing

 An hour of marketing advice can go a long way. Get in touch soon with the Email Marketing Pro at WinCommunications.com.

Best Practices - Email Call-to-Action

I've opened your email, now what do I do?

Too often an email grabs my attention then veers off message, leaving behind my 3 wasted seconds and a deleted email with no clear call-to-action. You know the ones - where finding the BUY button is a virtual game of hide-and-seek. Or searching for the REGISTRATION link is like an online Word Search Puzzle.

Even more frustrating are landing pages which have nothing to do with the email's main message. If your email event invitation says "Click to Register" but takes me to a Home Page with a two-year-ago video and nothing about the upcoming event, well, "ba-bye." 

So make the most of your email by developing a landing page that follows through with the promise you are making in your email campaign. Call-to-Action is a process that begins in the email and does not stop until action is complete. The landing page should look and feel similar to the email. It should offer all the details that didn't fit into the email. It should display a clear and final call-to-action.

Useful article on at Clickz.com on Landing Pages:
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2380783/3-steps-to-improving-your-lead-generation-landing-pages 

Build a Landing Page with WinCommunications! Visit WinCommunications today.

Best Practices - List Cleaning

Looking for better results when you open your email marketing tracking data? For improved delivery rates, more significant open rates, and higher performing click-through rates, it is important to sweep away the clutter in your database.

1. A clean list starts with a review of subscriber acquisition processes. How are you acquiring subscribers? Are online sign-up forms clearly labeled to get permission for your next email? Do you get permission before you enter a new subscriber or upload files full of new subscribers? Is your data complete, accurate and without typos? Do you have a process for acquiring user preferences?
   
   
2. Export your existing list into an Excel file for a Subscriber Review. Do you really need each of these subscribers on your list in order to reach your goal? Have you assigned subscriber attributes that are actually helpful in segmenting your subscribers for targeted campaigns. Are you still sending to bounced email addresses? If so, remove these to improve delivery rates. Also, check for typos. 
   
   
3. Separate active and inactive subscribers. Using data from previous campaigns, segment your most active subscribers. Send occasional thank you notes to this group. Send occasional confirmation emails to the inactive group asking them to confirm their email address and their subscription. Those who reply move to your high-priority active list. The rest stay on the low-priority inactive list. Send emails accordingly, understanding that the active list will show much better results.

List cleaning services are available, for example at EmailAnswers.com or TowerData.com. Related articles include this one by Martin Corbin, 4 Ways to Clean Up your Email Marketing List.

Best Practices - Building Your Email Marketing Campaign

It's like warm-ups before stepping on the track, or packing before getting on the plane. Great email marketing begins before your fingers hit the keys. Take time to ask questions first.

Two questions to ask yourself before beginning the process of building your email marketing campaign:

1. Do I have the skills and knowledge that I need to succeed?
2. What will success look like once the campaign is completed?

If you decide you're short on email marketing skills, go online and learn - there are resources out there for learning these skills (Try this one for beginners at UDEMY.com). Once you are sure you know what you are doing and what you are trying to achieve, then ask more detailed questions. 

Questions to ask as you begin designing your email marketing program:

• What is the strategic goal of this campaign?
• Who is my target audience, what do they need most, where are they when they read my email?
• Do I have permission to email them, if not how do I get permission?
• What email system will I use, does it have limitations?
• What is my budget for this campaign?
• What email design will work best for my audience?
• What action am I asking them to take?
• How many and how often will I email in order to achieve my goal?
• Can I integrate social media to make a difference?
• What day/time should I email in order to achieve my goal?
• How will I measure success?

One more resource on creating an email marketing plan from tutsplus.com >>

Hire help if you need it, any step in the process: WinCommunications.com

Best Practices - Email in Email Signature?

Inc. recently reposted Kevin Zawacki's Slate article titled, "Stop Putting Your Email Address in Your Email Signature." Of all things that would be bothersome about email signatures, this one really does not deserve the rant.

In fact, I prefer the at-a-glance professional identity to be complete and to include the email signature. It simplifies a few of our daily tasks, for those in sales, customer service, business ownership, networking professionals... 

For example, I will look to a saved email to for details to refer someone to another client, or to add to my prospect database (STEP 1). If the email address is missing in the signature, I need to scroll up and look to to the sender bar (STEP 2). In Gmail, senders appear as their full names - in the sender area the email address often is not displayed. So then I must hit reply or the more-info-arrow in order to grab the email address in order to include in my referral or to add to my own CRM database (STEP 3).

In Outlook (second most widely used email client), the email is displayed in the sender bar. However, when I try to copy the email address (ALTERNATIVE STEP 3), the system also copies the full name and the [] characters. So the next step, once pasted into my database, is to remove the full name and special characters from that field (STEP 4).
 
It would be  so much easier to just see that email address in the email signature where the rest of the professional identity appears. 

What do you think?

Best Practices - Email Etiquette

Found at Voddie.com  http://bit.ly/eDDhJg 

What is so powerful that it could spoil your customer relationships, blemish your reputation, entangle you in a legal battle, or even put you out of work?

Email is that powerful tool. To maintain control over it, you must know the rules of email etiquette.

Email, although a form of written communication, behaves much like verbal communication. Email can be expressed quickly, and a response returned within seconds.

Kathryn Towner has written a very good article at Marketing Profs, showing you how using the correct etiquette when sending emails will always provide a greater response.

 

Best Practices - Blogging vs Email Marketing

When it comes to measuring time spent, analyzing dollars budgeted, and calculating successful marketing strategies, it seems that their impact, value and effectiveness are often up for debate, regardless of the method or medium.

For example, email marketing came along a decade ago or so with a whirlwind of activity and applause, and the percieved value depended on numbers sent, numbers clicked and easy-to-measure statistics newly available. As email marketing matured, the lines were drawn regarding privacy, overload and qualified senders. And measure of success these days is often put in terms of how it compares.

Email marketing is beyond comparison, however, as the most targeted, widely used one-to-one "push" marketing strategy with results that are measurable. Professionals agree, email marketing is the backbone of most cross-marketing and social media strategies.

Recently the web site Mashable.com posted an article comparing blogging with email marketing. Read their article here:
http://mashable.com/2010/12/16/generations-internet-infographic/# and read the whole thing, it's great stuff.

Blogs are useful, but more in the same way web sites are, as storage areas for resources and information – they are the libraries, service centers and storefronts.

Blogs are NOT push medium, and they don't pull very well either, but they are handy if you have advice to give and don't want to repeat yourself each time a question is asked. That's how I use my blog, anyway. Every time I answer a question via email, I save post the explanation to my blog. That way next time I can just send a link!

Great email marketers send the right message to the right people at the right time. That is an art form, and it is appreciated by those who have asked to be sent those permission-based emails. No other marketing medium is based on being asked, what a fantasticly welcome idea!

Great bloggers write when they have something worthwhile to say. They integrate the blog information into their next Tweet or Facebook post and point fans to their blog for details. They understand how all these content areas are used for search marketing. For tips on optimizing your blog post for web search, visit Typepad's reference area and read:
http://www.typepad.com/tips/blog-seo-tips.html.

For best practices in email marketing, visit WinBlogger.com.

Best Practices - Blogging vs Email Marketing

When it comes to measuring time spent, analyzing dollars budgeted, and calculating successful marketing strategies, it seems that their impact, value and effectiveness are often up for debate, regardless of the method or medium.

For example, email marketing came along a decade ago or so with a whirlwind of activity and applause, and the percieved value depended on numbers sent, numbers clicked and easy-to-measure statistics newly available. As email marketing matured, the lines were drawn regarding privacy, overload and qualified senders. And measure of success these days is often put in terms of how it compares.

Email marketing is beyond comparison, however, as the most targeted, widely used one-to-one "push" marketing strategy with results that are measurable. Professionals agree, email marketing is the backbone of most cross-marketing and social media strategies.

Recently the web site Mashable.com posted an article comparing blogging with email marketing. Read their article here:
http://mashable.com/2010/12/16/generations-internet-infographic/# and read the whole thing, it's great stuff.

Blogs are useful, but more in the same way web sites are, as storage areas for resources and information – they are the libraries, service centers and storefronts.

Blogs are NOT push medium, and they don't pull very well either, but they are handy if you have advice to give and don't want to repeat yourself each time a question is asked. That's how I use my blog, anyway. Every time I answer a question via email, I save post the explanation to my blog. That way next time I can just send a link!

Great email marketers send the right message to the right people at the right time. That is an art form, and it is appreciated by those who have asked to be sent those permission-based emails. No other marketing medium is based on being asked, what a fantasticly welcome idea!

Great bloggers write when they have something worthwhile to say. They integrate the blog information into their next Tweet or Facebook post and point fans to their blog for details. They understand how all these content areas are used for search marketing. For tips on optimizing your blog post for web search, visit Typepad's reference area and read:
http://www.typepad.com/tips/blog-seo-tips.html.

For best practices in email marketing, visit WinBlogger.com.