Andrew King says, “The email design and coding process is broken for many companies. Email marketers are spending a disproportionate amount of their lives trying to figure out why Gmail has absolutely destroyed their HTML, rather than working on the things that can actually make a measurable impact on the performance of their email program. This is what the traditional email design and coding process looks like for many companies: Gather images and copy for your campaign. Add your text and images directly to your HTML template through one of the various email-friendly editors”. Why... [...]

Daniel Beulah says, “One of the most difficult aspects of list cleansing isn’t always the drop in numbers — it’s convincing senior leadership why it’s necessary. During MarketingSherpa Email Summit 2015, Courtney Eckerle, Manager of Editorial Content, MarketingSherpa, sat down in the Media Center with Jeffrey Anderson, Digital Marketing Manager, A Place For Mom. The company is a for-profit senior care referral service. Anderson explained why it’s important to cleanse your list of inactive users and how you can convince the senior leadership of your organization that list cleansing... [...]

Olivia Dello Buono says, “If you haven’t heard, AWeber is back for round two of ASCEND Digital Marketing Summit. We couldn’t wait to introduce you to our incredible lineup of industry experts and thought leaders – so we won’t. We’re hosting three special #AWeberHour Twitter chats, so you can get to know our roster before all of the magic happens this October. Our second chat will take place Wednesday, August 5th from 2-3 p.m. EDT. You’ll hear from two content experts who will share the ways that you can create content that converts your readers into loyal customers. And if this... [...]

Niti Shah says, “In the world of email marketing, opens and clicks are everything, which means email marketers are always testing ways to improve these metrics. We’ll tweak subject lines, calls-to-action, images, headers, layout, link positioning, copy, length, tone, content … the list goes on and on. Through all of this testing, there’s one hard truth we’ve discovered: Aside from proper list segmentation, nothing boosts opens and clicks as well as an old school, plain-text email.  Here’s how we came to that conclusion. Beyond Deliverability The (relatively)... [...]

Mashable team says, “Well, maybe not your life. But certainly your reputation with people of good taste. Helvetica, the hip font of choice for brands and typeface nerds, is the default font setting for Apple Mail. Gmail defaults to Arial, a font one designer called Helvetica’s “ugly bastard son.” If the browser doesn’t support Arial, Gmail will use Helvetica instead. While Helvetica is beloved by design nerds for its neutrality, its uniformity and lack of consistent spacing make it hard to read in large chunks of text. “The letters are too close together,”... [...]

Kristen Dunleavy says, “So you have a website, you’re on Facebook, and you’re working on content for your blog. You might be wondering, “Where the heck does email fit into this equation?” and: “How am I supposed to find time for email marketing?” Good news: Email marketing can complement any marketing strategy. Even better news: It shouldn’t take more than about an hour of your time each week. Here’s how you can use email with each part of your marketing strategy”. How Email Fits Into Your Marketing Strategy Aweber Blog  [...]

Sophie Turton says, “Instead of creating content, we should be creating opportunities for content creation: instagrammable moments, inspiring experiences. And instead of broadcasting, we should create opportunities for conversation. Audiences are in control of their own digital story. Businesses are no longer in the driving seat but instead must adopt the role of navigator, cleverly guiding the user’s journey, but ultimately remaining vulnerable to the whimsy of the consumer. The expression ‘content is king’ has become something of an industry cliche and, like all good cliches, it’s... [...]

Pamela Wilson says, “You ease yourself into the coziest chair you own, a warm beverage by your side, a blanket over your legs, and the glow of a reading lamp over your shoulder. It’s time to sink into a nice, long session of reading. You pull apart the pages of the nonfiction book you’re working your way through, and you begin a new chapter. It starts with an inspiring quote. Then the author tells a story. Eventually, she comes around to the topic at hand. Now that you’re warmed up, she’s going to share some information with you. What’s the online version of this scene?“. 6... [...]

Jack Simpson says, “It’s strange to think that email is still such an important tool for marketers, and in fact business people of all types, when there is so much technology at our fingertips now.  I’m pretty sure the only people who communicate via email outside of the commercial world are my parents, but for marketers around the world this platform is still going strong. After writing a list about social media tips for beginners last week and thoroughly educating myself in the process, I thought I’d do the same for email marketing this time. I’m going to focus on five key areas: Getting... [...]

Tyler Rhodes says, “The dreaded “unsubscribe” metric. Taming this number is vital for maintaining a healthy contact list to use for promoting your own products or those of potential advertisers. Unfortunately, often times the more emails you send out, the more this number goes up. Assuming you’ve spent the time to grow your list the right way (and haven’t purchased it), this begs the question: Why are subscribers still dropping off at such a high rate if they’ve opted-in in the first place? Let’s look at two of the top culprits—not spending enough time on coordinating... [...]