Aja Frost says, “How many prospects respond the first time you email them? One percent? Five percent? The problem usually isn’t your recipients — it’s your emails. Most outreach emails are, to be frank, pretty crappy. They’re boring, lengthy, unhelpful, and generic. Even worse, they’re far too focused on selling to the prospect instead of helping them. Want people to reply? Write more effective messages. To help you, we’ve outlined the eight essential things every outreach email should include. Once yours fulfill these requirements, you’ll be on your way to higher response... [...]

Cynthia Price says, “When done right, an automated email is like a breath of fresh air in the inbox. It’s relevant, personalized and timely — everything your subscribers want when they sign up for your email list. And for marketers, it’s a beautiful thing: They can save time, deliver a great inbox experience and drive top-notch results without ever hitting “send.” Plus, automation works, with Epsilon reporting 75 percent higher open rates and 162 percent higher click rates. Sounds pretty good, right? However, to get the most out of automation, marketers need to think beyond a... [...]

Brandon Olson says, “Running a successful business involves more than just promoting and selling a product. For your company to thrive, you must establish relationships with customers that continue after the sale. Email newsletters can help you connect with your customers. To be effective, newsletters must be carefully crafted and offer something of value to your customers. Today’s consumers are highly selective about the emails they read, but crafting your newsletter around their needs will lead to more opens, more sales and happier customers. To create a newsletter that delivers the results... [...]

Meera Kothand says, “Is your email marketing growing stale? Are run-of-the-mill approaches not working for you? If you’re up for trying something different, here are five relatively unconventional actions that might seem scary… but may also be just what you need to do to boost your email marketing. 1. Ask them whether they truly want your emails Many marketers believe that permission is evergreen, but that’s far from reality. Subscriber’s often outgrow your content, or their preferences change along with their business direction. Your emails may not be relevant to... [...]

Brandon Olson says, “You’ve poured your heart into creating the perfect incentive to attract subscribers andbuild your email list. Now the only thing between you and greatness is your sign up form. While there are several key components that go into creating an effective sign up form, one of the most critical is that little button that screams, “Click me!” I’m talking about your call to action (CTA) button. It’s the last step that stands in the way of having a thriving email audience. When building an email audience, your call to action (CTA) on your sign up form can make or break... [...]

Rieva Lesonsky says, “What’s the most effective way for retailers to both acquire and retain customers? According to a recent survey of retail businesses by WBR Digital for Emarsys, it’s email — by far. More than eight in 10 businesses surveyed (81 percent) say they depend on email for customer acquisition, while 80 percent rely on it for customer retention. In addition, nearly three-fourths say email marketing is a priority in their marketing budgets. How can your retail business best use email marketing to acquire and retain more customers? Here are 10 tactics successful retailers... [...]

Jim Higgins says, “Few things are more valuable to a business than an email subscriber list full of interested customers and prospects. Although many believe that the age of the spam filter has destroyed email marketing forever, the fact is, spam filters are only designed to protect people from unwanted mail. If you build a list of folks who want to receive your emails, you’ll avoid spam filters and stay top-of-mind with your prospects. If you’d like to expand your marketing reach, consider the following ways to build your email subscriber list: 1. Offer sign-up forms on your website While... [...]

Andy Obusek says, “Whether blogging is the heart and soul of your business or just another channel through which you communicate to your audience, you know it’s a great way to keep your community and email list engaged. But as with anything you do, there are ways of making the process more time-efficient, and less frustrating. Now, you may have some not-so-fun memories of times when you’ve wrestled with formatting a blog post in your platform’s WYSIWYG (“What you see is what you get”) editor to get it to look just right. Or maybe you’re the type who spends hours writing HTML... [...]

Laura MacPherson says, “It’s every marketer’s dream: send an email out to hot prospects and get a flood of positive responses. This dream isn’t necessarily a pipe dream. Because even though technology has dramatically changed the way people buy, the human brain hasn’t changed. What it responds to is the same today as it was thousands of years ago. Which is fortunate for marketers, because this means we can take advantage of what the field of persuasion psychology has to teach us about how to influence people’s buying decisions. But this article isn’t going to overview theories.... [...]

Aja Frost says, “Thanks to your attention-grabbing subject line, the prospect decided to open your email. But just because they’ve opened the message doesn’t mean they’ll respond — or even fully read it. If the content isn’t as compelling as the subject line, you’ll quickly lose their attention. How do you make your email more engaging? One strategy is to use “before-and-after” stories. Not only do these mini narratives help you prove your product’s impact, they’re also far more interesting than a straight list of facts. Ready to get started? Let’s dig in. When... [...]