Kim says, “You know what they say about first impressions. They’re a one-shot deal. Your initial outreach to people who subscribe to your email marketing campaign is no exception. The opportunity knocks once in an inbox. If you don’t hit your first email to new subscribers out of the park, it’s likely the “unsubscribe” graveyard for you. While there’s no one-size-fits-all way to guarantee that your email list subscribers will stick around long after opting in, there are a few smart steps you can take — in your very first email to them — to boost the chances that... [...]

Kristen Dunleavy says, “Anyone who’s ever gone on a health kick with the goal of losing a few pounds knows how tough it can be when your progress starts to plateau. It’s a common problem. Even when you start off strong, maintaining that momentum is a real challenge (especially when things likeOreo churros exist). The same is true for growing your email list. Whether you’ve grown your list to 10, 100 or 1,000 subscribers, it can be hard to reach that next big goal. Don’t give up! Here are 10 easy ways to kickstart your email list growth. 1. Add a Sign Up Form to Your Website or Blog The... [...]

Bella Wu says, “When most people think about email marketing, they picture one-off emails sent to targeted portions of their database. While those emails are certainly a very important part of a healthy marketing strategy, there’s another type of email that can be a powerful addition to your mix: transactional emails. What is a transactional email? U.S. law defines it as any email with a primary purpose “to facilitate, complete, or confirm a commercial transaction that the recipient has previously agreed to enter into with the sender.” Some common examples include receipts,... [...]

Courtney Eckerle says, “The marketers at fitness app RunKeeper needed to find a simpler process for utilizing the data they had available to properly segment RunKeeper’s 40 million global users. Learn how the team was able to improve deliverability and send content to the right people at the right time through a segmentation effort that doubled the open rate for a send from the previous year”. Email Marketing: RunKeeper app results in 100% open rate increase in a single campaign MarketingSherpa  [...]

Ginny Soskey says, “For most marketers, this will sound familiar. You’re sitting around a conference room, trying to figure out how to best engage your leads and customers, sell more products, or just “stay top-of-mind” for your target audience, and someone decides there’s a solution that can solve all of those problems at once: an email newsletter! Suddenly you’re “volunteered” to do it. And you’ve got make sure that open and clickthrough rates don’t dip. Oh, and the first one needs to go out tomorrow. That sound good? I’ve been in that situation before,... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “Do consumers like humor in marketing emails? Do they prefer formal or informal language? Is it acceptable to include the occasional “LOL” and “BTW”? BuzzStream and Fractl recently set out to answer such questions by surveying 1,200 people between the age of 18 and 64 about out their email etiquette preferences. The researchers segmented the findings by gender, age, and level of education to see how demographic factors influence preferences. Below, key findings from the report. Formality and Vocabulary Respondents say an email written in a formal... [...]

Daniel Faggella says, “If you have any kind of working customer relationship management (CRM) system, odds are much of your marketing effort is going toward your database of both customers and prospects. But did you know you can also use your email database to improve your marketing? You should be able to consistently improve your promotions over time — and I’ve aimed to boil that process down to just three steps: “S.O.S.” That stands for: Survey, Optimize and Smooth. If you haven’t used broadcast email messages to actively solicit feedback and make tangible changes to your marketing... [...]

Andrea Johnson says, “Email is more important than ever before. Consider these statistics: 70% of consumers prefer to be contacted via email, even those age 65+ (MarketingSherpa) 66% have made purchases as a direct result of email (Direct Marketing Association) Email is nearly 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter (McKinsey &  Company) However, even if you have the finest email distribution technology reaching the most thoughtfully developed and segmented email list, if the recipient deletes the email instantly, it’s all for naught. In contrast,... [...]

Spencer Kollas says, “As we continue to progress into 2015, it is becoming even more imperative to reassess your deliverability strategy. Historically, marketers have struggled to stay ahead of the constantly changing email delivery landscape and master the practice to ensure their messages reach their customers’ inboxes. In fact, as of January 2015, 78 percent of companies globally have had email deliverability issues in the past 12 months, costing millions in sales in the past year alone. Improving your strategy in 2015 hinges on your ability to understand how messages are being filtered... [...]

Parry Malm says, “Newsflash: email is a great way to sell stuff online. And subject lines make a huge difference to your bottom line. This is a fact. Another fact: there is a science to subject lines. And I did the research to prove it. I looked at about 700m emails, plus billions of algorithmic simulations. And learned a lot. Now you’re about to as well. Get ready for a load of statistics and analysis that will show you how to create sales-based email subject lines that sell. And a whole truckload of Simpsons references too, seasons 2-11 only”. 211 awesome phrases for email subject lines... [...]