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... [...]

Lindsay Kolowich says, “Practicing good inbound marketing means sending emails to people who actually want to hear from you. But oftentimes, your emails still end up getting lost in the inbox clutter — or worse, in the spam folder. And then, when someone actually opens your email, they don’t actually click through. You may often think to yourself, “Ugh. I just can’t win.” I’ve got your back, though. Here are eight little things you can start doing immediately to improve the open rates, clickthrough rates, and lead generation for your emails. 19 Tips for... [...]

Emma Brudner says, “Which of the following two emails would you respond to? Here’s the first: —————- Hi [first-name], I was really hoping we could just get on the phone or maybe have a meeting about my product, BestThingEver and how it could do great stuff at [company-name] because goals are met every day thanks to BestThingEver, for instance BestThingEver does a lot of really super cool stuff like separate loaves of bread into individual portions and deliver your offspring from their place of learning to your residence. Just a very few minutes of your... [...]

Monica Montesa says, “If you use an ebook or another type of lead magnet to incentivize people to subscribe to your email list, you want to get the most out of it. After all, you put a lot of time and effort into creating that beast, and you want to make sure it’s living up to its full potential. Aside from simply promoting your lead magnet using a sign up form on your website, you can also use it in other areas where you’re currently driving traffic. One place that’s worked well for us (which we think will work well for you, too!) is… our blog. Sharing Your Lead Magnet on Relevant... [...]

Brian Westnedge says, “It is no secret to digital marketers that email delivers business value. 72 percent of customers rate email as the most preferred method of communication and for every $1 spent, email marketing generates $38 in ROI. Unfortunately, the most valuable marketing channel is also the least secure. Every day, marketers pay a hidden phishing tax—in lost brand trust, in reduced email performance, and in diminished ROI. Email fraud costs companies around the world billions, and can destroy brand reputation—customers are 42 percent less likely to interact with a brand after... [...]

Ben Davis says, “We all know the importance of testing. Everything else is mere conjecture. One of the big ecommerce brands that continues to test and learn is RS Components, a huge distributor of electronic components. The brand was winner of a Masters of Marketing Award in 2015 for user experience. We’ve previously detailed some of this award-winning UX work on the blog. Improvements included: – Image-supported predictive search. – Surfacing popular categories in search, above returned products. This has increased clickthrough. – Increasing the speed of faceted search... [...]

Olivia Dello Buono says, “ICYMI, we’re huge fans of using interactive content in email. Whether you’re trying to improve your campaign, tell a story, or simply add a bit of flair to the inbox, interactive content is the way to go. And one of the easiest ways to do so is by adding animated GIFs to your emails. “GIFs are a great way to engage your audience with interesting, eye-catching content,” says Jay Moore, AWeber’s Educational Video Specialist. “At the same time, they’re easy to create and allow you to show off your product, concept or idea.” There’s pretty legit research... [...]

Amalia Bercot says, “Email deliverability is a hot topic. Although countless articles have already been written about this subject, marketers are still looking for a way to crack Gmail’s (and other email service providers’) algorithm in an effort to guarantee their ticket into the inbox. I’m here to explain how deliverability really works, so that you can reach the inbox without resorting to tricks that could actually hurt your reputation! Let’s talk about how you can send emails that reach the all-important inbox. The core principles behind email deliverability are... [...]