Mike Renahan says, “Benjamin Franklin once said, “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” I’m going to bet he wasn’t talking about sales when he said that famous line, but the sentiment is still applicable to the field. If you’re writing an email that a prospect isn’t going to get any value from, why put the few minutes into writing it? However, it can be difficult to assess whether or not your email provides prospects something of worth. A good test is to look out for a few problematic phrases in your emails that signal a relatively worthless message.... [...]

Ben Davis says, “We’ve had lots of interesting ‘day in the life’ profiles so far. Most of them have looked at ad tech or content and social roles. For this feature, we delve into the world of email and chat to William Astout, deliverability consultant at SmartFocus. Please describe your job As an Email Deliverability Consultant at Smartfocus, I am the spammer’s worst nightmare. My job, in fact, is to ensure that our clients get their emails delivered. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? Whereabouts do you sit within the organisation? Who do you report to? Our Deliverability... [...]

Olivia Dello Buono says, “Let’s rethink marketing for a second. What if we did away with the notion of bigger, louder and shinier, and started focusing on the things that, y’know, really work? That’s the concept behind Nick Westergaard’s new book, Get Scrappy, in which he addresses a business problem that, in most cases, is self-inflicted. Great marketing isn’t about having a big ad budget or keeping up with the social network of the week; it’s about working smart with what you have. “More isn’t always better. Sometimes it’s just more.” – Nick Westergaard We’ve praised... [...]

Daniel Burstein says, “Testing your email marketing can help power some pretty impressive results – like a 100% increase in clickthrough or a 114% boost in revenue. But … let’s be real … it is harder to test your email than to just send a single version of the email idea you come up with. One challenge with email marketing – to keep your customers clicking and coming back for more, you need to endlessly come up with new messages and ideas for every email you send or set in an automation platform. However, when you test your email marketing, you don’t get to create just one email... [...]

Chirag Kulkarni says, “Running a business is time consuming and takes a lot of effort. You need to find as many ways as possible to gain more time and to avoid any unnecessary losses of productivity. And that’s where email comes in. The fact is that email is responsible for a huge hit in productivity. 28 Per cent of the average workweek is spent on reading and replying to emails. If you want to be a better business, you need to get more productive when it comes to email. There are many tools to help with this, including Pyrus. This revamped email communication tool brings together group... [...]

Ben Davis says, “The Entertainer, the UK’s largest high street toy retailer with 120 stores, replatformed a year ago, choosing a new email and personalisation platform for its ecommerce business. With an increased ability to test and learn, the retailer has increased email revenue by 300% since the change. Rob Wood, Head of Online, explains that these gains are all about creative and segmentation. There hasn’t been big growth of the database, the team has simply sent “better messages to the same people and got a better result”. Recommendations Previously, only 14% of... [...]

Marina Hoffmeier says, ““Grow an email list,” they said. “It will be easy,” they said. Growing an email list isn’t rocket science, but it does take some work. Not just work, but strategy. And part of that strategy should include social media. The number of active social media users in the United States is at an all-time high of 78 percent and that doesn’t include the billions of other users worldwide. Promotions, polls, sweepstakes, contests and quizzes help you grow your email list by providing a personal experience and an interactive way to connect with users. If you’re part... [...]

Lindsay Kolowich says, “The average office worker sends 40 emails per day. That’s 40 opportunities to market yourself and your business in those individual emails you send, every single day. A lot of people treat their email signatures like an afterthought, which makes for a real missed opportunity. Those signatures are a chance for you to make it clear who you are, make it easy for people to reach you, and give people a place to go to find out more — either about you, about your business, or about something you’re working on. So if you’re just putting your name and... [...]

Aja Frost says, “If you think about it, asking a random professional for advice or help should never work. After all, you want them to give up precious time in their day to share their hard-earned wisdom and experience with a stranger — and a salesperson, no less. So, why do people ever say yes to coffee dates or phone calls with reps? It’s possible the person asking got lucky and stumbled upon someone who’s incredibly altruistic. But more often than not, they reached out in the right way. Want to make your own chances of success with snagging time on an important person’s calendar... [...]

Nate Kristy says, “Email marketing is a requisite for small businesses in today’s mobile economy. In fact, the Direct Marketing Association estimates that it provides up to a 4,300 percent return on investment. With those kinds of results, small businesses should make sure that every email is earning its keep, and the best way to do that is through testing. There is a multitude of factors that can influence email marketing performance rates. Two of the most common, subject line and send time, should be tested frequently. For example, does your audience respond better to percentages or dollars... [...]