There is an interesting article at Target Marketing about leveraging human behavior when preparing direct sales pieces.

Since email marketing operates under the same principles (direct sales into an inbox as opposed to a physical mail box), it’s worthwhile considering how to incorporate these techniques into an email campaign.

People respond to authority figures. Studies have proven that the right spokesperson can lend credibility and add dollars to a company’s bottom line. This is especially beneficial if your company or product is not well known. Having a testimonial from someone famous may lend enough credence to your offering for your prospect to read your message instead of hitting the delete key.

Bill Gates too busy, you say? Who is the “go to” guy or gal in your niche? It certainly doesn’t have to be someone world famous. In fact, we’d all think it a joke if old Bill was doing a testimonial for your pop up blocker! Choose someone with name recognition and credibility in your niche.

One caveat: Be sure to choose someone whose reputation and expertise tie in with your product and service. If you are promoting “Better Parenting in a Hectic World”, I wouldn’t suggest you use Britney Spears as your spokesmom.

Long copy is more trustworthy. Personally, I hate long sales copy. I skim the headlines, check the price and THEN decide if I’m going to read anymore. (Actually, if you read this article on Long vs. Short Copy from Marketing Experiments Journal, that’s actually one of the advantages of long copy!

However, it DOES work. Study after study shows that long copy sells, whether it’s the direct mail kind or on a website. And it’s especially true in non-Internet Marketing niches, where most people haven’t been hit with long sales copy with every link they click.

The only caveat for email marketing is to have your long copy on a web page, NOT within your email message. The longer your message, the more likely you’ll use a word that may flag your email and it will end up in a spam box.

The best way to send people to your long copy is to put a few sentences or the first paragraph with a note link that says “Read More” or “Read on for the other 5 steps”.

The negative can be more compelling than the positive. You may recall Anthony Robbins talking about pain and pleasure back in the 90s. Relieving pain is a huge factor in getting people to take action.

How to incorporate this? If you are sending an email series, be sure to talk about how your prospects and customers alleviate that pain by using your products.

For instance, in the United States right now, the foreclosure rate is off the charts. The thought of losing one’s home would certainly cause emotional pain and stress. People have an immediate need to alleviate this pain. If you can solve that pain, people will listen.

People want what they cannot have. “While supplies last”….”Expires at Midnight Tonight”…”Only One Per Person”…”Do You Qualify?”

I’ve seen people pay more through an auction than they could have paid at retail….because they refused to be shut out. This human psychology works. The key requirement, though, is that you must be willing to follow through with your promise, or watch your credibility go down the drain. If your offer says, “Price goes up at midnight tonight” and I come back to your website in a week – only to see the exact same offer and takeaway – you’ve just branded yourself as a liar.

Be smart: Use these techniques to benefit you and your customer and NOT to manipulate.

Debbi Bressler
Email Marketing Specialist
GetResponse

The blogs and forums were chattering a lot recently when it was reported that Russian spammer, Vladimir Kushnir, was found murdered in his apartment. The public waited with baited breath … anticipating the demise of spam-filled inboxes.

No such luck.

As reported by Information Week, the whole thing was a hoax. (Sounds like a viral marketing campaign gone bad!)

The whole bludgeoning story sounded quite a bit like the real story of the murder of the infamous spammer, Vladimir Kushnir, back in 2005. Even then, his murder was attributed to a robbery and not to murder caused by spamming. Wired has an interesting article on Kushnir’s life and death. This is NOT the kind of guy you’d invite to dinner with the folks!

Debbi Bressler
Email Marketing Specialist
GetResponse

Thanks to all of you who have sent great questions and comments about our blog posts. Because of all the interest, we’ve started a new category called ‘Mailbag’.

Our first Mailbag post is from a reader who responded to our Email List Building Ideas and asked for some tips to improve the open rate for his newsletter.

This is a GREAT question and one I’m sure other readers also wondered about, so I’m going to give you some suggestions. This is Part 1; the second part will follow shortly.

Simon gave a great answer in the comments section of Email List Building Ideas, when he explained why you should not be overly concerned with email open rate statistics. If you haven’t read that comment yet, please do so.

I concur with his observation. My email client, Thunderbird, does not display images unless I request a specific email. So, even though I could be reading and re-reading your newsletter, you’d never know it because I won’t be included in your email open rate tracking.

This does not mean that email open rate statistics are useless. Using them as a guideline for making comparisons, such as comparing Test Mail A vs. Test Mail B, is certainly feasible. Just don’t consider them to be exact measurements of your readership.

While there’s nothing we can do about ISP, email hosts and email client programs, there are still things we can implement to improve open rates. Below are a few I’d like to share with you. (If you have more….or have questions about the list… please let us know!)

Easy Email Open Rate Ideas – Part 1

• Can I recognize you or your product by your “From” line? When you email me, what will show in the From line? I’d suggest it be your name, your newsletter or product name, or something that will be immediately recognized by the reader.
• Is your Subject line specific or does it create curiosity? I get a LOT of email every day. The two things that determine if I will read your email immediately, delete it, or put it in the “when I have time on my hands” pile, are: the From line and Subject line. If the From line doesn’t ring a bell – Strike One! If the Subject line doesn’t make
  me stop and wonder what it’s about – Strike Two!The easiest way to demonstrate this is to give you some current examples of what Subject lines I like and which ones would immediately get deleted. (This may or may not conform to any “rules”; they are just my opinion.)

  My likes:

  Tele-Sales Tip of the Week, (weekly newsletter; easily identified)
  (Newsletter) Link Building and Blog Marketing – Outsourcing Secrets, (curiosity)
  Your Daily Motivation – Thursday, Sept 5, (daily tip; easily identified)
  How to Beef Up Proof in your copy, (maybe I could learn something!)

  My dislikes:

  Final Notice – your tickets expire at 4PM today! (What tickets??)
  Debbi, in case you were waffling… (What are you trying to sell me??)
  Debbi, before It’s Too Late… (Sorry; it’s ALREADY too late!)
  Exclusive offer! (Yeah…exclusive to everyone you are spamming)

  Just because an email passes my “From” test, doesn’t mean I’ll open it. In fact, all the emails in my dislike pile were from recognized names in the From line.

  But – can you see which group looks value-driven and probably has some great content vs. the group that is just going to send me to a sales page or affiliate link? If your email box is full, which group will you check out and which will you delete?

• Do you email on a schedule? If you look at the lists above again, you’ll notice that the first list ALL mail on a schedule. Some are weekly and one is daily. But the senders have trained me to anticipate their next mailing because I know when to expect it.Personally, I like to send emails weekly or bi-weekly. Although many marketers mail several times a week (or several times a day) – you and I will quickly part ways if I feel you are badgering me. The only exceptions are daily emails recapping blog posts.On the other hand, if you email too infrequently, people will forget who you are, why they signed up for your list, or even IF they signed up for your list. The very outer time-limit I would consider would be monthly, IF you promote a monthly newsletter.
• Do you provide valuable content? I remember when I started online in the late 90s. The rule of thumb was two emails of content for every promotional email. That may have disappeared about the same time as floppy discs, because there’s enough content-less emails to last me the rest of my life!If you want to build a brand, virally build your subscriber list, and have them begging for more; give before you receive. Don’t simply hammer people for money.
• Does your email have personality? Creating curiosity convinces me to open your email, but if your message is bland and boring, that will be the last time. You don’t have to be the Last Comic Standing for your personality to shine through. But if your email has no LIFE, your bank account will be DEAD.Be sure to check back or, better yet, sign up for our RSS Feed. There are still 9 more tips about how to improve your email open rate that I’d like to share with you.As always, your comments, questions and suggestions are welcomed. If these questions hadn’t been asked, I may not have thought to even put this together! (And… for those of you who are marketers and want some publicity, I always attempt to get email approval to use your name and website in my posts… so it’s a great opportunity to build some traffic and get another backlink to your site!)

See you soon!

Debbi Bressler
Email Marketing Specialist
GetResponse

I may not be the biggest physical fitness nut out there, but there are two things I exercise – without fail – almost every day. The first is my wrist, as I whip out my credit card for the latest must-have item. (Luckily, I have a husband who understands how much money I am saving him – ha ha!).

The second is my delete finger.

Recently, Simon Grabowski (the tall, dark, handsome leader of GetResponse) forwarded an email to me which demonstrated everything you should NOT do when writing an email. This got me thinking … what you should NOT do – unless you want your marketing message to languish in the black hole of undeliverability and deleted messages across the globe!

So, here’s my top 10 ways to get your message undelivered or deleted.

• Offer to enlarge or enhance my penis. First of all, last time I checked, I didn’t have one. Secondly, I am more concerned about reducing my body parts, not enlarging them. Thanks for reminding me – delete!
• Write “Personal” in the subject line when it’s actually a personal email to your entire list of 400,000. Trick me once – shame on me. Trick me twice – delete!
• Use all Caps. C’mon….did you ever try to read anything in all caps? At least you saved me time because as soon as I see that I immediately – delete!
• End each sentence with at least 7 exclamation points!!!!!!! After extensive research (actually, I was cruising the Internet while watching Oprah), I have determined that the number of exclamation points used are inversely proportional to the substance of the email. Too many of them – delete!
• Whether you are the brother-in-law of your country’s dictator or the barrister of Mr. Magoo’s millions, please understand I cannot pay any fees or percentages into your bank account until I have received and deposited the funds in my Swiss Bank Account and left the country for a tax haven. In order to cement our trust, I will be pleased to provide my voice mail number, hotmail account, and P.O. Box. If this is not acceptable to immediately forward me a truck full of unmarked hundreds – delete!
• Don’t copy and paste affiliate promotions. Do you really expect me to believe that you – and 78 other marketers “twisted John Doe’s arm” into getting me a great deal? How about you fax me a copy of the emergency room admittance to fix Mr. Doe’s arm? Listen, if you can’t take the time to do your own impartial review, you won’t earn my respect nor my money – delete!
• Ask me to verify my bank account, social security number, ebay password, hip measurement or age. Don’t you think I know enough to see that the hyperlink to www.paypal.com is actually going to www.IloveToRipPeopleOff.com ? Don’t insult my intelligence – delete!
• Send me an obvious spam message with the note, “If you don’t want any more messages from us, please reply to this email.” Yeah…right – delete!
• Your email comes from “HookUp Tonight”, “CamGirrl”, “Drink Survey”, or “Leslie the Lesbian” (I am not making these up….they are in my spam folder as we speak!) – delete!
• You didn’t pass first grade spelling and think you’ll make it through my spam box because you write Viiaagra and 4ex. Or you put X@@*#Y, ~~~~~~~~~, and other cutsie characters in the subject line thinking I will be curious and open your spam. It’s just not gonna happen – delete!

As great marketers, we want to stand out from the crowd. But this is not the way to get yourself noticed!

Debbi Bressler
Email Marketing Specialist
GetResponse

Have you ever thought of email marketing in the realm of hard goods costing thousands of dollars?

For many people, they use (or receive) emails promoting information products or lower priced goods and services. And, most people think of emails encouraging a click through to an online store where the purchase is made without leaving your computer.

But the power of email marketing can be seen in a case study I recently read at Marketing Sherpa. Not only was email used to launch a high-end product (retailing in the $2000-$8600 range), but the email campaign had to convince prospects to visit a bricks-and-mortar location rather than an online store.

Trek Bicycle Corp. had previously used email to promote clothing and accessories for their bike line through their online store. But this was a whole other ballgame. In this case, they were promoting a four-figure bike which could be only purchased by walk-in traffic.

I took away several important points from this case study. These can be applied to your audience no matter WHAT price point you offer and what products or services you provide.

• Test, test, test your email marketing campaigns. The team at Trek Bicycle had to continue testing until they got the package right. Don’t waste time or money by guessing. Always test.
• Create an email marketing sublist. For instance, I may be on the newsletter list at your gardening site. But my passion is antique roses. By creating a sublist of antique rose enthusiasts, you can speak directly to our desire for information and the latest antique rose products for sale. Because the message is not diluted by talk of herbs, landscaping, etc., conversion for your antique rose products will probably be higher than your general email population.
• Incorporate pictures. Images grab your attention and illustrate your points. Even if I don’t have time to spend reading your newsletter at the moment, your pictures should create enough curiosity that I will (at a minimum) save your email to read later.
• Drive your prospects to a minisite specifically about the subject in question. Don’t distract them by sending them to your general website. Include an FAQ page and a blog where prospects can get more detailed info and interact with other customers.
• Add an opt-in box on your minisite. Even though the majority of people will arrive through the link in your email, some people may arrive through organic search. You won’t miss out on the opportunity of them signing up for your list if you include an opt-in box on every page of your minisite.

To Your Continued Email Marketing Success!

Debbi Bressler
Email Marketing Specialist
GetResponse

From the “Dark Side”

Professional email marketers not only avoid, but openly criticize, the following list-building ideas. Choosing any of the below solutions is the best and quickest way to lose time and money.

And we won’t even mention your reputation!

Still, it’s worthwhile to specifically state what should definitely NEVER be considered as email marketing.

• Harvest 32,433,771 email addresses from the web using email harvesting software.
• Get a quick boost of an extra 12,309,448 email addresses by grabbing emails from newsgroups, too.
• Rent a server farm in Russia and spam the heck out of the 44,743,219 email addresses you harvested in the previous two steps, asking these millions to join your legitimate newsletter. (This insidious practice is also known as “list washing”).
• Use a “viral marketing” strategy. Literally. Hire a h4rdc0r3 programmer to code an email virus. The virus should spread silently and add victims’ entire Outlook address books to your mailing list, but it shouldn’t do any serious damage (no profit in that).
• If you get busted because of the previous idea, blame it on Microsoft for creating insecure software. Send out a shocking press release. Give interviews to the press. Use the resulting free publicity to build an even bigger list.
• Pay people for signing up for your newsletter. “My newsletter is so good that I’m gonna pay you for joining it!”
• Promise to pay people for signing up. Promise to pay even more for signing up their friends, relatives and business associates. Then never send them a check. Why would you.. they’re already signed up. Next!
• Pay (or promise to pay) your potential subscribers for confirming their email address.
• Trust these Google ads and get a really huge list really fast!
• Create a fake MySpace profile. Be interesting and add nice photos. If you don’t look good enough, use a photo of someone that looks better. Add your newsletter subscription form to your profile (MySpace allows HTML code). Put the following in screaming bold red: “If you are truly a friend of mine, you’ll sign up for my newsletter, or else I will delete you and post nasty comments”. The remaining piece of the puzzle is to add friends. Download a MySpace friend bot and add thousands automatically. This is a powerful tactic. It not only builds your list, but it also makes you famous.
• Buy an opt-in permission-based list. Yes. Permission-based. The previous owner gave you the permission to mail it.
• Hassle your subscribers to sign up for your newsletter, add them to 7 other lists. After all, they already are “your” subscribers.
• Use pre-checked opt-in checkboxes in the subscription form. Surely, they should want to subscribe, so make it difficult for them not to…
• … or better yet, make it impossible not to subscribe. Simply deactivate the pre-checked opt-in box, and make it impossible to uncheck it.
• Put everyone who’s ever contacted you for any reason on your mailing list. After all, these contacts belong to you, so you have every right to mail them.
• Start a FFA (Free-For-All) links page and build a mailing list of addresses from those who added a link on that page. Don’t add their free link until they give you the addresses of their 3 friends. Then ask for 3 more. Nothing like word of mouth!
• When confirming subscriptions, offer a “free bonus” or another incentive for clicking on the confirmation address. (It’s scary, but marketers actually think that this is a good idea.)

Okay, okay. Quit writing!!!

In case it’s not crystal clear, using any of these techniques might make you and Jeremy Jaynes cellmates for the next NINE YEARS in Spam Jail!!! Believe me, this is not the kind of fame you want!

Debbi Bressler
Email Marketing Specialist
GetResponse

Visit marketing discussion boards on any given day and you are likely to see the question, “How Do I Build My List”. In fact, there were 531,000 listings to “build a list” in Google.

If you’ve ever wanted some tried and true methods for building your list, you’ll want to bookmark this page immediately. Because we’re going to cover 64 ways you can begin to build your subscriber base TODAY!

First, we’ll cover the “good” ways. In my next post, I’ll mention some ways that would make your mother blush and possibly deny any knowledge of you (only to make sure you never, ever do them!).

1. If you don’t have a newsletter yet, start one. People always want to learn more about their topic of interest. GetResponse is a great web-based email marketing software for publishing newsletters and hosting your mailing lists.

2. Add a subscription form to every page of your website.

3. Make it quick and easy for your visitors to sign up. A first name and email address is all you need initially.

4. Be sure to state your privacy policy in your subscription box. Or add a link to a separate privacy policy page right next to your subscription form.

5. Be clear, persuasive and honest as to what your subscribers will receive and why your visitor will gain by subscribing.

6. Tell them how often they can expect to receive your newsletter or other emails. Do not inundate them.

7. Link to a sample issue before they sign up, so they have an example of what you provide your subscribers.

8. Archive your past newsletters and make them available on your website. (Bonus: This also produces additional organic search traffic!)

9. Don’t be afraid to link to other websites or recommend other good newsletters. Your subscribers will love it and the recommended sites / newsletters may even return the favor and recommend your newsletter!

10. Joint venture with other newsletter publishers and mention each other’s publications.

11. Create an ebook and offer it free as an incentive to subscribe.

12. Create an informative PDF report on your business topic. Only a few pages of useful content are needed for a report.

13. Start with your immediate contact list and generate buzz to draw visitors to your site and subscribers to your newsletter.

14. Offer a product discount for purchasers who subscribe to your newsletter.

15. Give away useful software or web-based tools to subscribers. If you’re not a programmer, hire one through RentACoder or Elance

16. Conduct a webinar (a web-based seminar) for which your visitors must register. On the registration form, get permission to send them future mailings.

17. Mention your newsletter during your webinar and provide a subscription link. This will give those who haven’t opted-in an additional chance to do so.

18. Ask your subscribers to tell their friends about your newsletter.

19. Add a link or button on your website and newsletter taking them to a “Tell-A-Friend” form, where they can invite 3-5 of their friends.

20. Allow others to reprint your newsletter as long as the content and links aren’t modified and your bio box is intact.

21. Add a “Subscribe” button, or a link to the subscription page, in every issue. Then, if your newsletter gets forwarded, the new recipient can sign up.

22. Optimize your website for search engine rankings. If you think SEO means “search engine optimism” instead of “search engineoptimization”, check out SEObook.com by Aaron Wall.

23. If your newsletter or campaign is newsworth, submit a publicity release at services such as PRWeb or BusinessWire. You might get a surge of new subscribers, as well as a number of inbound links.

24. Make your email marketing campaign “newsy”. Run a controversial survey and turn the results into a story. Then let the world know about it and get free exposure.

25. Include Opt-In information on Customer Satisfaction Surveys. Ask permission to communicate valuable info via email newsletters and promotions.

26. Create a squeeze page designed solely to capture new subscribers.

27. Find hundreds or even thousands of relevant keywords with services like Wordtracker,and then promote your squeeze page using PPC(pay-per-click) advertising, such as Google Adwords, Yahoo Sponsored Search, MSN adCenter, and more.

28. Track the effectiveness of your advertising and test changes with services like HyperTracker. Keep the best – scrap the rest. Always keep testing.

29. Spice up your squeeze page with a pre-recorded audio message to tell your visitors why they should subscribe. Record it yourself or write a script and hire a voice talent to do it.

30. Add video to your squeeze page. Not only can you speak to your prospective subscribers, but even point where the subscription form is located on your webpage!

31. Incorporate social proof through testimonials on your squeeze page (written, audio, or even video!)

32. Remind double opt-in subscribers to watch their email for your confirmation link and ask them to be sure to click it to confirm.

33. Start a free blog with WordPress or Blogger. It’s another way to communicate with your visitors and nicely complements your email marketing and list building.

34. Add your newsletter subscription form to every page of your blog.

35. Research similar websites and newsletters with Google Blog Search or Technorati. Post relevant, helpful comments with a trackback to your blog or squeeze page.

36. Keep your blog readers notified of new posts when they sign up for updates. This has a 3-prong benefit: build your email list, maintain relationships with your readers, and get more traffic to your blog.

37. Use a responsible co-registration list-building service like GetSubscribers

38. Perform a cross-registration campaign with other newsletter owners by adding a link/banner to the other newsletter on the confirmation page. Subscribers won’t see it until after they’ve joined your list.

39. Advertise in ezines and other newsletters. Use a directory like Ezine-Dir to find newsletters reaching your target audience.

40. Submit your newsletter to ezine and newsletter directories.

41. Promote your newsletter / promotional emails in industry directories and websites.

42. Sponsor other people’s contests and get exposure for your newsletter. Give away freebies that don’t cost you money.

43. Submit articles to Article Directories like GoArticles, SubmitYourArticle or EzineArticles. Include a bio box at the bottom with a link to your website or the email address to be added instantly (if you are using an autoresponder).

44. Visit discussion boards, forums, Yahoo! Answers and similar sites to provide helpful answers, while including a link to your newsletter subscription page in your sigfile.

45. Add your newsletter sign-up link to your email signature.

46. Promote sign-ups in Confirmation and Transaction emails.

47. Include an opt-in link on customers’ credit card receipts.

48. Add an opt-in message to Warranty and Product Registration Cards.

49. Use sign-up message on all Invoices.

50. Network at trade shows and conventions. When exchanging business cards, ask permission to send them your newsletter / report. If they say “no”, write an “X” on the back of their card. Otherwise, add them to your list.

51. Hand out sign-up forms promoting your newsletter when speaking to groups or at seminars.

52. Include newsletter subscriptions in Trade Show Lead Generation form. Ask booth visitors for permission to send your monthly newsletter to them. (see 50 above)

53. Make it easy for your audience to subscribe by including a link to your newsletter subscription page on the footer of your PowerPoint or webinar presentations.

54. Look for ways to collect email addresses if you are a brick & mortar business.

55. Display opt-in forms at the Cash Register to receive weekly discounts, etc.

56. Advertise email promotions on Product Shipping Boxes, Packing Slips and Direct Mail Cards, with links to your site.

57. Offer customers a VIP or loyalty program for signing up for your list.

58. Request employees use an email signature such as “Subscribe to the Company X Email Newsletter”.

59. Call Center and Sales Employees can ask customers and prospects if they’d like to receive newsletters or promotional emails and get their information by phone.

60. Encourage email subscriptions by printing on Direct Mail, Catalogs, and all Print Ads.

61. If you have a physical mailing list from your offline business, send a postcard to your customers, offering a special for opting-in to your email newsletter.

62. Study each offline advertising piece with the thought of integrating a list building component into it.

63. Collect email address at each point of contact with customers and prospects.

64. Get more traffic to your website. Even if your opt-in percentage doesn’t change, this will automatically result in more subscribers.

As I mentioned in the post “Taking Action”, I’ll be revisiting this list to provide more detail on the who, what, when, where and how of these ideas. If you have questions on anything, please comment below and we’ll get you an answer.

In my next post, I’ll talk about THE DARK SIDE… the wrong way to build an email list.

In the next few days, we’ll be sharing an incredible list of marketing techniques you can use to build your email list. Like going to Sunday brunch, you’ll have so many ideas at your disposal that it will be impossible to implement all of them.

So, just like a buffet, you’ll have an opportunity to choose a few and try them out. If you like them, simply repeat what you enjoyed and brought your results. If you don’t like the ones you chose, there are many more to try.

Yet, given this myriad of proven techniques, some people will have no success.

Why is that?

One reason people are unsuccessful is they don’t have a clear plan to follow. We can trip over numerous web sites that tell us WHAT to do, but not HOW to do it.

Rest assured….you won’t have that experience here. Because we plan on showing you the who, what, where, when and how!!

Does that mean everyone will be successful with email marketing?

No.

While we can show you HOW to do it, we can’t MAKE you do it! You must take action.

This “taking action” phenomenon is not limited to business. It’s a part of human nature.

This weekend I heard a discussion on the Clark Howard Show about Bally’s Fitness, which is a fitness chain in the United States. Bally’s business plan, Clark said, was to sell multi-year contracts to their fitness centers….and then hope that nobody showed up! In fact, the exercise time per member averaged ½ session per week.

Bally’s members are not stupid people. I can’t imagine that they decided to throw their money out the window and I’m certain that they had ever intention in following through and using the membership they had purchased.

But they took no action….didn’t follow through…and, thus, got no results.

The ACT of purchasing a fitness club membership won’t get your fit. You are to USE it and TAKE ACTION.

Don’t let your email marketing efforts suffer the same fate. Follow through and take action on the tips and techniques you’ll read about later this week.

Then – stay tuned – because we’re going to dissect some of these ideas and show you how to implement them in detail.

And – if you still have questions – you’re encouraged to email us. We have a myriad of experts on staff that can fill in the blanks.

We’ll provide the knowledge if you’ll provide the ACTION!!

Deal?

Debbi Bressler
Email Marketing Specialist
GetResponse

The question about email marketing being dead comes up frequently on message boards and, since we provide one of the premier email marketing and autoresponder services, it’s an issue that needs to be addressed.

In my opinion, the answer is yes…

…and no.

When I first started marketing online, email was almost a novelty. Will Rodgers said, “I never met a man I didn’t like”. Well, “back in the day”, I never met an opt-in list I didn’t like! I signed up for them all, I think.

Autoresponders were just taking hold as a serious way to market online and I was awed by their potential. You might be surprised at the number of people who personally wrote me to apologize that they hadn’t responded to my email from last week – when, in fact, that email had been written a year prior and was loaded into my GetResponse autoresponder!

Most people were not as web savvy as they are now. And the inbox explosion (or implosion, depending on how you want to think about it!), which would take place in latter years, had not yet begun.

But things have changed.

A lot.

And if you are still operating like the early 90’s then – yes, Virginia – your email marketing is either dead or dying a slow death.

If, on the other hand, you have adapted to the new rules of the game, email marketing is stronger than ever. For instance, this article at Marketing Charts states, “Direct mail and email generated the best return on investment along media channels in 2006, according to respondent – both B2B and consumer marketers – to a new Harte-Hanks survey done by CSO Insights.”

When surveyed, email marketing came in third relative to its overall success of target marketing, as well as third out of 11 areas in strategies that were increasing the most in importance.

So, is Email Marketing Dead?

Not on your life!

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “The money is in the list.” Believe me, that’s hasn’t changed. What HAS changed is the methodology to build, support, communicate and effectively sell to that list.

We, at GetResponse, are committed to helping you get the most from your email marketing investment. Be sure to bookmark this page or sign up for our RSS feed, so you can keep up to date on the key email marketing strategies and up-to-the-minute news that can affect you.

And, whether you are a newbie or an advanced marketer, send us your email marketing questions so we can address them in future posts.

To your success!

Debbi Bressler
Email Marketing Specialist
GetResponse

To better serve you, effective Wednesday, June 6, we will be expanding our weekday Customer Care hours. You will now be able to reach our Customer Service Representatives from 8AM – 8PM Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday. You can also reach us on Saturdays from 9AM – 5PM.

It’s easy to contact us. You can reach our representatives by live-chat,
email and telephone support. Whether you have a simple question
about using your autoresponder or need help with your email
marketing campaign, our trained support personnel are here to serve you.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you, our valued customers,
for your business. We are always striving to provide you with cutting
edge technology, backed by the best service available. Please call on
us if we can help you in any way.

Regards,

Simon Grabowski
CEO
GetResponse