Analyzing which direction online marketing is heading is not easy this year: social, mobile, online, offline – so many tendencies, dimensions, audiences and means of influence. That’s why integrating the many available forms of communication with the audience is the greatest challenge for the coming year. And that’s why your new motto should be: integrate and cross channels.

January – the month of New Year’s resolutions, strategic planning, creating outlines, redefining your objectives. Some love it, some hate it. Here, at GetResponse, we just couldn’t resist barging in with a couple of our own ideas on how to set a new course for the next few upcoming months. Here are the most effective email marketing strategies to help you integrate more channels and get through to more audiences.

1. Multi-channel integration

Email remains the top channel for communicating with adults – the most profitable marketing segment, with a high level of disposable income. However, for different people the paths to conversion are rarely as straightforward as: click to buy.

Example: some prospects first look for product and brand reviews via social media, others utilize the “search online, buy offline” model (or the other way round), some search for the best available offer via all channels.

Tip: Use all types of GetResponse integrations with social media to engage more audiences and increase your brand exposure. Try to connect offline and online: collect leads via QR codes or sign-up forms printed on receipts; get more customers to your stores via email alerts and coupons.

2. Segmentation

The different ways in which your leads convert means that you need to address them with highly customized offers and content. Only relevant messages stand a chance to survive in the crowded inbox environment. Those classified as irrelevant will instantly increase your unsubscribed and complaint rates. This is not just about geo-location, age and gender.

Example: A customer who’s just bought software from you might not be interested in your marketing offer anymore, but he’ll gladly accept information about available updates and add-ons.

Different groups use the Internet for different purposes and expect different things: some only socialize, some need alerts and notifications, some shop online, and others search for information. The innovative email marketer will need to respond to those diversified needs and expectations.

Tip: GetResponse one-click segmentation, available from the analytics panel, helps you define targeted audiences in the blink of an eye, with no expertise needed. So you’ll be able to exclude all the newly converted customers from your standard promotional offerings and send them only highly targeted updates.

3.  Content marketing

Different channels and peoples’ expectations also influence the content. Brands should not only sell products but also to provide high quality informative or entertaining content that goes beyond plain-text product information. And you need their engagement to go beyond a one-time sale.

Example: Tell your stories using images and videos: product demos, event coverage, etc. Offer useful content: events calendars, downloadable and printable files, site maps, customer testimonials, recommendations, content that’s easy to share and forwards.

Engaging content that offers more than trading value for money will help you build brand recognition, customer relationships and true reputation.

And when handled in a creative way, it can as well quickly foster your sales too:

This year there is no escape from the need for advanced online marketing strategies. Your audiences become more demanding and choosy. They expect the right content to come at the right time via the right channel. That’s why you’ll have to double your efforts to keep ahead of your competition. The above tips will help you create a perfect next year strategy or be an extension of your existing marketing plan.

So – did you make any new years resolutions? Let us know – your ideas are the best source of inspiration for us.

Setting the course for 2012–Multi-channel Marketing is a post from: Email Marketing Tips - Blog GetResponse

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Halloween is just ‘round the corner, so we wanted to show you a few email monsters (ear-splitting scream) that have visited our inboxes. And although Halloween is all in fun, these howling blunders are best avoided altogether – in these cases, it’s always a trick and never a treat.

1. “Ghost” Writers

Remember the original Halloween movie? Part of the scary fun was the suspense of wondering about the identity of the mysterious heavy-breather stalking Jamie Lee Curtis.

Does the identity-mystery strategy work in email marketing? Not on your life.

Example:

Who sent these messages? For all the reader knows, they may be from Michael Meyers, escaped from Smith’s Grove Sanitarium, now heading toward Haddonfield Illinois … and Jamie Lee.

If you cast yourself in the role of Mysterious Unknown Sender, don’t be surprised if you scare all of your subscribers away.

Even more terrifying, readers may never see your email. ISPs think the word spammer is an online word that means stalker with a hockey mask and a big, big knife. They’ll banish your messages to spam-folder-hell in a heartbeat.

Our advice: When it comes to “From” fields, mystery works against you. Readers want to know what to expect before they click.

2. Mystery Messages

Ah, the subject line. That’s the place for a macabre touch: a mysterious door to be opened; (it will have a rusty hinge that will creak as it opens to reveal . . . O-M-G!)

But be careful. A subject line that reads (no subject) isn’t mysterious; it’s just creepy.

Example:

Not even a haunted-houseful of babysitting teenagers would open an email with no subject line.

If you leave squeamish subscribers to wonder about the contents of your email, (while the swinging tail and swiveling eyes of the Kit-Cat clock tick back-and-forth,) they may arrive at all the wrong conclusions.

Our advice: Pay close attention to your subject line. Give it a touch of mystery. But make sure it’s the “wow-I-really-need-to-read-this-now” kind of mysterious, not the “Who-IS-this-Creepazoid?” kind.

3. Creepy Jokes

When you and your friends watch Halloween for the umpteenth time this year, it’ll be fun to make jokes about all the horrible stuff that’s about to happen in the movie (OMG, look out! He’s behind the door.)

But email jokes can have unintended consequences.

Example:

A certain email marketer targets people aged 20-30 who love extreme sports. They use “young” language and creative newsletter designs. They sent a newsletter promoting outerwear and rainwear with the line:

Mother Nature hates you. Deal with it.

The problem? The newsletter was sent on the 28^th of April, 2011 to customers in the southern US who, just a day earlier, had suffered through deadly tornados. 300 people had been killed.

Our advice: Keep your finger on the pulse. If the context of your campaign suddenly changes, change the campaign. Otherwise you’re in for a disaster. And if you make a mistake, consider sending an apology email, perhaps including your CEO’s signature, to show your customers that you take these things seriously. They will appreciate it.

4. Real-Life Monsters

Scary movies like Halloween help us deal psychologically with life’s real and imagined dangers. And there are many all-too-real dangers, such as cancer and heart disease, and many wonderful organizations work tirelessly to raise our awareness of them. We salute their fine work.

But it’s also true that people don’t want to be made afraid of a problem. They want to know what to do to avoid or solve it. There are some emails people simply don’t want to open.

Example:

Or how about the one below? Do you really want to see ticks gnashing their teeth in your inbox?

Our advice: Save the weird stuff for Halloween. Don’t scare away your potential customers or make them flinch at an email that they’ve just opened.

5. Unwanted Guests

Any time you see P.J. Soles in a movie, (in Halloween, she plays Jamie Lee’s not-so-smart gal pal) you know she’s the one who will answer the doorbell and get whacked by the mystery man.

Your email readers are smarter than P.J.’s callow character. They only want to hear from people they know. They open the door to permission-based email marketers only!

Purchasing email lists is one of the riskiest moves an email marketer can make.

Example:

.

In August 2009 the White House (the one in Washington, DC, not the two-story Victorian one in Haddonfield, Illinois) sent out a newsletter encouraging people to buy additional health insurance.

The problem? The newsletter was sent to millions of Americans who never had agreed to receive emails from the White House. Unfortunately, they used a purchased list. Even worse, the message encouraged the readers to forward the newsletter to their contacts. Viral marketing, you’d say? We say unsolicited emails.

Of course, the gaffe made the news, and no wonder. And it became famous as a cautionary tale for email marketers.

Our advice: Don’t ever buy email lists. Never assume a contact wants to receive your emails if they haven’t explicitly agreed. And as for the viral marketing? Try using attractive content people love to share, rather than chain letters.

6. Inappropriate “Gifts”

Private information is private for a reason. As an email marketer, you hold valuable data in trust, including email addresses that your readers have entrusted to you. It is your duty to make sure the information never falls into (cue creepy organ music) the wrong hands.

Example:

One Monday morning back in April, fans of the New York Yankees received yet another newsletter with information on how to buy tickets for the next season, along with news from the team members. The message was absolutely fine. What wasn’t fine was the attachment.

Each of the 22-thousand subscribers received a file with the personal details of other ticket holders, including names, addresses, age, phone numbers, bank account details and, of course (eerie piano music) credit card numbers. Yikes!

The result? The data was immediately sold on internet forums and used by cybercriminals, including (heart-thumping dramatic pause) Michael Meyers at Smith’s Grove Sanitarium.

Okay, to be honest, I made up that part about Michael Meyers, but the rest of the horror story actually happened, in a little town called New York City, just this year.

Our advice: Don’t EVER do that!

So go have fun on Halloween – and steer clear of the monsters! If you have other interesting examples, be sure to share them with us in the comment section below.

Spooky Errors that Murder Email Campaigns is a post from: Email Marketing Tips - Blog GetResponse

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We constantly get new tips on how to expand our mailing lists by attracting new subscribers from social media accounts. However, there are two sides to email-to-social-media integration, and you can engage your subscribers in other channels of communication too.

How? The migration can work the other way too – your active email recipients can become engaged followers, ready to spread the word enthusiastically by liking, sharing, following and retweeting.

This is not just about collecting fans and followers.

There are at least two more reasons for email-to-social-media integration:

• You already have the attention and interest of your email subscribers – and addressing them via other channels, each with a different offer, can help build true brand loyalty.
• But more importantly – paraphrasing the old adage – their friends can become your friends. Customers engaged across several channels create  “buzz” that circulates virally through their contacts, increasing their brand awareness – even though their contacts are not (yet!) in your circle of contacts.

So, if you think your collection of fans and followers needs fresh blood to extend your reach even further…

… here’s what you can do.

1. Analyze who and where your targets are,

so you don’t waste your time and resources on social media that will give you no ROI. Depending on your subscribers’ profile, you can reach out to limitless new audiences. Facebook and Twitter are only a start. Offer content via LinkedIn, Digg and as many others as you can manage. GetResponse offers 6 social media share buttons for your newsletter – integrated in the newsletter editor with just a click.

2. Make sharing intuitive.

The buttons need to be visible, and definitely “above the fold.” The click needs to be a natural and logical step – a clear call to action can encourage sharing.

3. Make sharing worth it;

Incentivize. Offer participation in a contest, survey, charity, etc. – anything that’s entertaining or promotes something that you believe is important.

4. Don’t repeat yourself;

Define the functions and objectives of each email and social media account strictly (e.g. newsletter for offers, FB for announcing events). But make sure that your subscribers know the advantages of participating across all of your channels of communication – e.g. inform them in an email that they will find listings of upcoming events on Facebook.

5. Make your Facebook offers exclusive

for fans, and don’t duplicate them for email recipients.

6. Generate two-way communication.

Send a newsletter inviting your subscribers to share comments, ideas, and opinions on your social media channels. Your subscribers will welcome the opportunity to become recognizable individuals (and not just another address on your list).

7. Promote your social media walls

as a place for a more relaxed style of communication. This is especially important in B2B marketing, where official style and format sometimes limit email communications.

8. Add a personal touch

by providing links to the accounts of real people behind brands, such as Zappos below. Just make sure the person is the true and recognizable face of the brand. Being able to exchange views with brand’s “decision makers” can be a real buzz booster.

Remember

None of these tips will help you if your soon-to-become-fans aren’t informed directly – so send an email to all your new subscribers letting them know about the advantages of liking and sharing. Otherwise it’s a no-go.

Email and social media now go together – complementing each other and reaching audiences previously inaccessible.

Now it’s your turn to optimize their integration and explore the new possibilities they offer.

So, are your emails optimized for the new challenge, yet?

Create More Buzz with Email-to-Social-Media Integration is a post from: Email Marketing Tips - Blog GetResponse

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Some of you probably have several email addresses for different aspects of your business and personal lives. But have you ever wondered what those email addresses say about you? And, more importantly, what they say about your subscribers? Are some email clients trending upwards, or does it relate to demographics in some way?

Bottom line… there are several aspects of each email address to consider if you’re an email marketer. First and most obvious is choosing the one for your “From field”.

Sitting next to the subject line, it’s a key factor in whether subscribers decide to open (or not) a message, so a trusted sender address is a must – we can’t stress that enough.

.
Now, about your other email addresses – have you ever thought of how they’re perceived in general? Does the fact that you’re an AOL, Hotmail, an @domain.com or a Gmailer affect how others perceive you? Could any of these make you appear more established, or hipper, or perhaps “old school”?

And again, what do email addresses say about your subscribers? And how do you separate opinion from fact?

There are certain stereotypes on the one hand, which tend not to be fair at times, and some interesting studies on the other.

But first, some facts:

• IT Managers rely on email addresses when assessing job applications. An aol.com email will most likely be thought of as old-fashioned and ignorant, while a hotmail.com address might be associated with young people.

• Usually, though, the user name is much more important than the domain. An email that looks like: firstname.lastname@yourdomain.com is more likely to look serious and business-like than totallybonkers888@hotmail.com, which was fun back when you used it for communicating with friends online.

• In business, there’s also a very clear distinction between using a free email address compared to a professional-looking domain with the company name. I’m sure you know what I mean when you see emails like: gringobingo133@aol.com vs. firstname.lastname@companyname.com.

But what does this mean for your email marketing?

First of all, an email address with your own domain, whether from your own professional website or that of your company, is a must for respectability and legitimacy in the 21st century business world. After all, how can we expect others to trust in our expertise or services if we don’t even have our own web presence?

But apart from setting up a professional business email address (or addresses for that matter) it might also be a good idea to analyze your subscriber base and give their addresses some consideration when targeting your messages.

Not to leave you hanging and give you a bit of food for thought, we took a closer look at our own database to find out which email address are the most responsive – in terms of opens and click throughs. Here’s what we found out.

We took a look at subscribers who signed up during one month last spring:

• The most popular domain address was Yahoo (over 960k), followed by Gmail (almost 670k), and Hotmail (470k).

• This sequence was retained when it comes to how many of them opened the email, but with much less variation.

• In terms of clicks, Gmail users turned out to be more active, clicking almost twice as often as Yahoo users, who clicked twice as often as Hotmailers.

• Aol came in fourth in all aspects.

See what I mean? This could be useful research in relation to the value of a single email address Mick talked about last time. Now this is getting more interesting, don’t you think!

Of course, these results might be completely different for your particular business, but we always encourage you to analyze your campaign results to target them as accurately as possible.

We’re curious if you have any thoughts and experiences related to your subscriber list and their email addresses. It would be great if you could share them with us!

What Does Your Email Address Say About You? is a post from: Email Marketing Tips - Blog GetResponse

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How important is your email inbox to you? Have you ever tried to place an actual value on it? Mick found an interesting study and decided to share his thoughts with you (and in person ). Check out the video so you can follow his suggestions.

Now over to Mick:

If you watched the video, were you surprised at the value participants placed on inboxes that delivered everything from sales to social media?

Now do the same thing with your inbox. Next imagine how your customers would value their inboxes. If you think it would be pretty high, ask yourself if you’ve been contributing to that value. What do you think they’d say? You may be pleasantly surprised.

Here are a few tips to keep that inbox value climbing:

• Segment your list and send targeted messages.
• Produce relevant, engaging and valuable content for your readers − and make it look great.
• Your subscribers use multiple channels of communication, like social media. And so should you! According to the study, it adds a lot of inbox value.
• And never, ever take your readers for granted!

But I guess you knew that already? Then again, it’s always worth reminding.

As always, the value of your comments on this blog is really high – so please, share your thoughts with us. What’s the true value of your inbox? And why?

How Much Is Your Inbox Worth? is a post from: Email Marketing Tips - Blog GetResponse

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It’s all about using the possibilities provided by HTML. Without any programming knowledge whatsoever, you can insert photographs and graphics, and format the text any way you want – from preheaders and headers, sections and indentations, to background and font colors, highlighting and bulleted lists.

To jump-start your HMTL newsletter or campaign, GetResponse gives you more than 300 gorgeous HTML templates, ready for you to customize. You don’t even need any additional software. Our WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, launched from the Create Message section, allows previewing and editing of the HTML code in each template. You can save the changes you’ve made at any point and return to them later.

If you’re a power user and feel like tampering with the HTML code yourself, there are four basic rules I would recommend you follow. These will help your emails display properly while making it much easier for your subscribers to find what they need in no time. Remember – if you’re in a hurry, you can still rely on our ready-made templates.

Be readable – get the structure right!

The best way to establish the structure of an HTML message is with the use of tags needed for the creation of tables, such as <table>, <tr> and <td> and attributes: border, cellpadding, cellspacing, valign, align. This is a proven and safe method to avoid many errors in code rendering that you might still come across in email-displaying software. The golden rule is: the simpler the HTML code, the higher the chances of getting it displayed correctly in email clients.

When designing an email message in HTML, divide it into four basic parts:

• preheader
• header
• content with call-to-action elements
• footer

Make sure the width of the email does not exceed 600 pixels to provide optimal readability. Most email clients display each message in a small preview window. Place the most relevant information at the very top of the email, and don’t forget about the hyperlink, which will enable the previewing of your message in a browser window (described below in detail).

The preheader and header are the first elements of your message that your subscriber will see on the screen. Make them attractive – remember the power of first impressions!

Be appealing – make your content look good!

People are visually-oriented beings. In other words, it’s absolutely true that what you see is what you get! To increase the chances of successful communication with your subscribers and attract (and keep!) their attention, use the options provided by HTML to organize the elements of your newsletter:

• Divide the text into paragraphs, spacing them out evenly. This way you’ll make the text easier to read by introducing a “rhythm”. You’d be really surprised how helpful this is in getting your message across.

• Use inline CSS (or use our editor) to style the colors and shapes of the fonts, create bullet lists, modify indentations and spaces.

• Use appropriate contrast between the color of the background and the color of the text. The lighter the text, the darker the background, and vice versa. Remember that the human eye has more problems reading text on a computer screen than on paper.

• While inserting images, don’t forget to fill in the alt, width and height attributes. Email clients often block images, but this will make your message display correctly while keeping the structure intact. Avoid using images as the background for your emails. Even the popular Outlook 2007 has problems dealing with those.

• Try and keep the total size of images under 30 kilobytes. The fewer images you use, the faster the message will display on the subscriber’s computer. Another reason for this is that some email services only allow messages through that are under 24 kilobytes. A well balanced proportion of text and image will prevent your email from being classified as SPAM.

• Remember − inserting images in your newsletters via GetResponse’s Multimedia Studio will dramatically decrease the risk of your message being directed to your subscribers’ junk mail.

Be professional – test before you send!

No email should be sent without thorough testing. After all, you don’t want any kind of software to get in the way of effective communication with your customers. Most are probably using one of the most popular desktop applications, such as Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, Lotus Notes, or managing their emails in web-based applications such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail or Hotmail. Each of them has its own way of rendering incoming email code, often leading to unexpected results. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to decrease the risk of appearing unprofessional.

• It’s a good idea to set up several email accounts and install a few email applications to test and compare the way each message is displayed. It’s your task to ensure your subscribers don’t experience problems reading your emails. There’s no better way to discourage them from wanting to know what you offer than with a message created with an incorrectly prepared HTML template.

• Check and double-check all links to ensure they will take your customers exactly where you want them to. You don’t want any annoying surprises in your newsletter!

• It’s always a good idea to send an email to yourself first. Put on your customers’ shoes and you’ll see exactly how they see your email.

• To prevent potential problems displaying the message and the images embedded in it, use the system created by GetResponse. It generates a special link so that the message you are sending can be previewed directly in the Internet browser. Simply type View This Message Online in the text of the hyperlink and place it in the preheader, which is displayed once the message has loaded.

Use the optimization power of GetResponse Split Testing to look after your campaign results.

Be flexible – let your subscribers choose the format!

Let’s get this straight, I’m not encouraging you to shy away from plain-text messages completely − simplicity can also be an asset. But if you send your HTML messages in two formats – HTML and plain text − you can let your subscribers choose what’s suitable for them. On top of that, your messages won’t get classified as SPAM, and you’ll increase the chances of your email being delivered and read. For your convenience, the GetResponse team has prepared a system that automatically converts your email message from HTML format to plain text and combines both before sending. All you need to do is click!

Now you can see how simple it is to send professional email messages that will make all the difference to your subscribers – and to your business! To begin your adventure creating customized email messages in HTML format, log on to your GetResponse account today. Feel free to use the functionalities we have prepared to make the creation of HTML messages easier.

Write a comment below and let us know how are HTML emails working for you. And don’t forget to show off your templates!

Want to impress? Try These HTML Email Power Tips! is a post from: Email Marketing Tips - Blog GetResponse

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The battle between HTML and plain text messages continues, but is it waning? And in whose favor? It’s true that HTML messages are much more eye-catching with professionally designed templates and gorgeous graphics and photos. And you can get more and better statistics using HTML. On the other hand, plain text emails can be opened in all email boxes and mobile devices. If you’re sending a really important message or financial statement, that’s a big plus!

We analyzed over 1.1 billion emails sent from GetResponse accounts between July and December 2009. And the results clearly showed that HTML emails averaged 59% higher CTR than plain text messages. So clearly, once opened, recipients were more engaged with HTML emails!

But what makes HTML messages more “clickable”?

Here are a few tips on how to make your HTML messages more “click-friendly”, so you can improve engagement and increase conversions:

• The sender’s logo should be at the top of every well-designed HTML message, telling the recipient that the email is really from this company. Of course the logo should be linked to the sender’s home page for a single-click visit.

• The graphics and color scheme used in the HTML email should be the same or similar to that used on the sender’s website. This consistency is essential for visual branding, but also makes it easier for recipients to follow and understand if the graphics and layout are familiar. It is especially helpful to maintain some consistency in the look and location of critical links and icons.

• “Call to action” buttons are graphical signposts that should almost shout to the subscriber “click here”! These buttons need to be easy to find, with eye-catching colors and graphics, and should take the reader directly to the product or service being promoted. This is your “conversion trigger”!

• Be sure that your most interesting content is at the top and preferably to the left, because that’s how most recipients read emails.

• Use alternate text for all images if you know an ISP blocks them. Subscribers need to know what each image is about before deciding to click on it.

• Be sure to create a plain text version of your email to send alongside the HTML version for those who prefer it (or block images) and for mobile devices.

• Try to keep the width of your email between 600-650px. to provide optimal readability.

• Before you send your message, it’s wise to test it in all available email boxes and ISPs. It doesn’t take long and will help ensure that your spectacular HTML email design doesn’t get demolished or flagged before it gets viewed!

By now, you should be convinced that HTML messages can improve email marketing CTR. So don’t wait another minute…grab one of over 300 GetResponse beautiful HTML templates, then try out our tips and watch your CTR grow!

HTML messages improve your CTR! is a post from: Email Marketing Tips - Blog GetResponse

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Everyone talks about the “crash” kids experience after the presents have been opened, but not many of us adults talk about the post-Holiday blues we experience. Let’s be honest…after you’ve taken down the decorations and scooped all the best sales, it gets boring pretty fast.  So why not perk everyone up with a contest or 2!!

More than half of all Americans participated in a sweepstakes in the past year (FTC, 2009).

Apparently  we like contests, and that doesn’t just apply to the US! But we also know that unscrupulous marketers have used contests to con people out of their personal information − and sometimes their cash! So let’s get the basic rules out of the way NOW! Fortunately, they happen to be email marketing best practices anyway, for example:

• Identify your business clearly and provide your contact information.

• Be crystal clear about the contest rules, terms and conditions

• Offer customers an obvious and easy way to stop further solicitation (opt out).

• No “pay to play”, in other words, no one has to purchase anything to participate.

Now let’s start brainstorming! First of all, what do you want to achieve with your contest? Surely more than just list building, though that’s part of it for sure! Maybe you need to get your audiences primed for a new product launch? Or you’d like to find out how customers are using one of your products to stimulate more interest (and success stories!). Contests will perform for you IF you’re clear about your goals and follow through every step of the way.

Have your goals clearly in your mind? Good, now what’s the perfect theme, prize, and channels for your business and your high-value customers and prospects? Let’s brainstorm! We know everyone has their own processes, so use this as a “cocktail napkin” plan only. After all, YOU know best how to design the perfect contest for your business!

• Establish a clear goal for the contest and list what you hope to achieve.

• Decide which channels you’d like to use for your contest promotion (and how).

• Create a draft plan, with action steps, communications, timelines, and follow up.

• Identify the ideal audience(s) for your contest and create an audience “profile”.

• Create your target segment lists and message (s).

• Check your message headers, etc. against the “SPAM” list.

• Test your messages and groups with GetResponse Split Testing.

• Set up, schedule, and roll it out!

Of course, cool graphics and videos, promotion on social media sites, and teaser emails are all a “must”, but we’ll go into that in our next installment. For now, let us know about your favorite contests, success stories, or even disasters (what to avoid!).  Any contest topics you’d prefer to hear about? Finally, and most importantly, give your poor subscribers and prospects out there a bit of fun…and perhaps a nice gift to cheer them up! They deserve it − and it could cure your post-Holiday sales slump!

Use Contests to Chase Away The Post-Holiday Blues! is a post from: Email Marketing Tips - Blog GetResponse

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We’re back with more stats! So far, we’ve provided data that shows that Video emails and Confirmed Opt-in improve your campaign results. This time around, we’re demonstrating how personalization can influence results in several different ways.

Though most agree that email personalization is a good thing, there are varying views on how and when to use it. Some encourage you to personalize all your messages, no matter who you are sending it to . There are also voices warning that personalized emails may look like SPAM and end up in junk folders.

Now we are happy to offer our opinions, but it would only be words if not backed up with stats, right? That’s why we decided to perform a targeted analysis of personalized emails based on GetResponse user campaigns, then discuss the results with you.

We analyzed over 53, 000 unique messages sent form GetResponse accounts between  September and December 2009. The results clearly show that emails with personalized subjects averaged 26% higher open rates and over 130% higher CTRs than emails without personalized subject lines.Pretty impressive at first glance!

Unfortunately, the same stats clearly show that email with personalized subject lines averaged 26% higher complaints and over 71% higher unsubscribe rates than emails without personalization. This time it doesn’t look as impressive. So are both viewpoints correct? We think we can provide some insight into these weird numbers.

Names catch the reader’s attention, no doubt about it. It’s clear that recipients are more likely to open and click through emails when they see their name in the subject line. They also tend to open personalized messages more often if they recognize (and trust!) the sender.

If recipients are automatically deleting emails with their name in the subject line, it’s probably because they don’t recognize the sender. Or just as bad, they might not find any interesting content in this message (or the last) and decide to unsubscribe. Can you blame them? Imagine how annoying it must be to receive message with “Dear Ron” in the subject, but absolutely nothing of interest to you in the entire message. You think someone sent it especially for you and find out it’s just another lame mass mailing. You get angry, label the message SPAM, and unsubscribe from the list immediately!

You can reap the benefits of personalization AND avoid the pitfalls if you are conscientious about list hygiene and target your message content as much as possible. Use the name and/or business throughout the message, target the offers and discounts, mention previous purchases and preferences, etc. Then your recipients will know that you’re sincerely trying to give them what they need and would treat you as reliable sender.

You may remember that last year we also wrote a blog post about personalization where we advised that when sending a message to a new customer, it might be wise to use a catchy subject line to get them to open, and include any personal information in the message.  After 1-2 messages are accepted, everyone should be on a first-name basis.  Of course, it’s always best to split test both subject line approaches and see what works with each target audience, so experiment! After all, you can test up to 5 versions for free!

Let us know your views on email personalization in subject lines. Have you had similar results…or not? Maybe you have some suggestions or experiences to share. Feel free to leave us your comments!

Do personalized subject lines improve campaign results?! Check out these stats now! is a post from: Email Marketing Tips - Blog GetResponse

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Have you checked out any of our brand new video tutorials yet? If not, we’d like to get you up to speed on these super new learning tools…and maybe brag a little!

We know that many of you prefer to watch video tutorials to get user-friendly instructions on how to use GetResponse more effectively. That’s why we decided to add to your selection of useful “tips” tutorials. The brand new videos talk about:
-    Adding New Email “From” Fields
-    Save and Load Message Template
-    Personalize Message Using Custom Fields
-    Editing the Opt-in Confirmation Email
-    Exporting a Contact List
-   Preload Messages from Existing Campaigns

But that’s not all we have ready for you. We integrated the new GetResponse Video Player into the Tutorials! So now, not only the new, but ALL video tutorials can be watched in one video player. It’s much easier and faster to find and watch the tutorials that interest you in a single application.
What’s more you can share our tutorials with your friends or clients in three unique  ways:

• Post them on Twitter or Facebook where your fans and followers can watch at their convenience.
• Upload your favorite videos to your website, or
• Just copy the video URL and send it to a friend, customer, or business acquaintance.

Couldn’t be easier, right? Now just kick back and watch our all the new GetResponse Video Tutorials so you can become a true email marketing expert!

New Video Tutorials in New Video Player is a post from: Email Marketing Tips - Blog GetResponse

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