Monthly Archive for September, 2011

Email Marketing: Realistic Budgets Boost Return on Investment

Published on September 29, 2011 in Best Practices. 0 Comments Tags: budget, email marketing campaigns.

Email marketing is extremely cost-effective. With no outlay for paper, printing or postage and an average response rate of up to 4 percent, email marketing delivers a healthy return on investment (ROI). According to the Direct Marketing Association, the ROI from email marketing is around $43 for every dollar spent on it. This compares favorably to direct mail and print advertising, which have a typical ROI of between 1 and 3 percent.

However, you must plan your email marketing outlays as carefully as any other part of your marketing budget. Businesses that do not set a realistic budget for email marketing may run out of funds before the campaign is complete. Your email marketing budget should include design, content, delivery, and analytics.

Distinctive Design
Recipients respond to attractively designed emails that display your company logo, reflect your corporate branding, and contain relevant images. However, over 60 percent of emails are opened in email clients or browsers which remove graphics by default. As a result, it can be difficult to design an email format that is both eye-catching and readable on multiple browsers and mobile devices. Emails optimized for image blocking can increase ROI by up to 9 percent. Unless you are lucky enough to have a staff member knowledgeable in HTML, you should set aside money in your budget for professional email design.

Compelling Content
You can write email content yourself. However, most business owners find it difficult to think of different topics to write about on a regular basis – and even more difficult to write about them in a way that email recipients find interesting and engaging. Business owners are skilled in their own field, not in content writing. Consider including professionally-written content in your email marketing budget to improve your open rate and click-throughs.

Continue reading ‘Email Marketing: Realistic Budgets Boost Return on Investment’

Restaurants Email Marketing Tips

Published on September 27, 2011 in Best Practices and Tips & tricks. 0 Comments Tags: email marketing, restaurants.

U.S. casual dining restaurant sales have grown by 8 percent between 2006 and 2011, according to a study by Mintel. Total casual dining restaurant sales are expected to reach $107.8 billion in 2011. Restaurant owners can secure a share of this competitive market through a well-designed email marketing campaign.

Here’s a short list of tips for restaurant owners:

1) Encourage Subscribers to Opt In
If diners have enjoyed their meal, provide them with opportunities to sign up for a regular email newsletter and special offers. Provide space for an email address in a comment card presented with their bill, offer entry into a free prize draw if they leave their business card, and have a short subscriber opt-in form prominently displayed on your website.

2) Build a Relationship with Regular Customers
Regular customers bring in steady revenue without the high costs of acquisition, making them increasingly profitable. Regular customers also provide free advertising for your restaurant through word of mouth. Rather than waiting for your name to come up in conversation, give customers something to share. By filling your emails with compelling content and including a “send to a friend” button, you can encourage your regulars to promote your establishment to their friends and family.
Continue reading ‘Restaurants Email Marketing Tips’

The Value of Email [Infographic]

Published on September 23, 2011 in Infoghaph. 0 Comments Tags: infographic.

Email is still the most used, most valuable and highly-prized real estate on the Internet.
According to SmarterTools, there are “nearly 3 times as many email accounts than Facebook and Twitter combined”.

This infographic “places email side-by-side against social media sites Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and even demonstrates email’s ubiquity when compared to the number of searches Internet users perform”.

Click the image for a full-sized version

5 Ways to Show You Care About Your Subscribers

Published on September 23, 2011 in Best Practices. 0 Comments Tags: email marketing, subscribers.

Email marketing isn’t just about withdrawing cash from your list every time you push an email into an inbox. It’s about building a relationship with your users so that they see you as the only source of the products they need. That means doing more than sending them emails about your products. It means showing that you care about your customers and their needs as much you care about your own business. There are a number of different types of content you can create that shows you care — and the best news is that each of them brings a real benefit to you too.

1. Create a Special Offer
Special offers might be the workhouse of email marketing and the most powerful way to bring in immediate sales but when they’re exclusive and pitched as a reward for being a subscriber, they also help to build a closer relationship with leads. They prompt subscribers to believe that they’re receiving gifts that others aren’t getting and that it’s worth continuing to receive those emails.
And they generate immediate sales too!

2. Community News
News emails don’t push products. The call to action might lead to a conference site or a partner’s blog instead of a sales page. They don’t generate sales… at least, not directly. But an email informing subscribers that you’ll be attending a conference and hope to see them there, or informing them that a platform has upgraded its software and that they should download the new version brings you closer to your subscribers. It’s the equivalent of a chat around the watercooler in which you’re giving valuable, interesting information to a friend for free.
You wouldn’t want to send too many of these messages — there’s always the chance that your subscribers will know the news as well as you — but an occasional news post keeps your messages read.

Continue reading ’5 Ways to Show You Care About Your Subscribers’

Get The Most Out Of Recovery Modules

Published on September 21, 2011 in Best Practices. 0 Comments Tags: recovery module.

Experienced email marketers agree that the first few lines of an email are very precious, where main content and key messages should appear. But that does not mean that the remainder of the email is wasted space. There are ways that you can use the bottom of the email to catch the interest of recipients and increase your click-through rate.

By using a recovery module, you can list links to your website or additional incentives to grab the attention of a reader whose attention has slipped down to the bottom of the page. You can use the links in the recovery module to take readers through to related pages on your website. Link to in-depth information on the products or services referred to in the main body of the email. Alternatively, you can take the opportunity to highlight unrelated items, to list links to web pages containing clearance items or your most popular products or services.

Another feature that sits well within the recovery module is an incentive to encourage readers to respond to the offer outlined in the email content. For example, you could include a link to a discount voucher, white paper, or free sample.

Image source: www.retailemailblog.com

In addition, take some time to A/B test different types on recovery module content to find out which links or incentives work best for you. You will be sure to make the most of your final opportunity to catch the reader’s eye before he clicks back into his inbox.

Is Your Email Marketing Style Stuck In A Rut?

Published on September 17, 2011 in Best Practices. 0 Comments Tags: email marketing, email style.

In our daily lives, we adjust our style of written communication to suit the situation and the audience. Formal business communications, whether by letter or email, require structured paragraphs, accurate grammar, and professional language. Whereas arranging to meet a friend for a drink can be a short message full of textspeak and emoticons.

Email marketing should work on the same principle, but the reality is that many email marketers use a one-size-fits-all template for every campaign. If you use the same template every time, recipients may ignore the content of your emails, thinking that they’ve seen it all before. Cramming your content into the wrong layout may mask the message and result in a poor response rate.

If you send out alerts to keep your email subscribers up to date with news or current events, keep the email brief and avoid cluttering it with unnecessary images. By keeping alerts quick and easy to create, you can reach recipients with breaking news ahead of your competitors.

Newsletters should combine informative content and engaging images. HTML can be used to create an attractive layout. However, some recipients will not be able to read HTML, especially if they access their emails using a mobile device. Consider adding some plain text to your newsletters to ensure every recipient can read the content.

Continue reading ‘Is Your Email Marketing Style Stuck In A Rut?’