We can hardly believe it, but It’s been almost 2 weeks since our very first exhibition at ad:tech New York! Now that we’re somewhat rested and recovered, we wanted to share some of our many learning experiences with you. But don’t worry – it’s not going to be a bunch of boring statistics. This amazing expo was host to almost 10 000 visitors, and probably the best place in the world to learn about email marketers’ challenges, goals, and innovations. And that is what we will be writing about!

The first thing we noticed was that email marketing was extremely popular. The GetResponse booth was packed with people all the time – which of course made us very happy!  But after spending long hours chatting with hundreds of visitors about email marketing, we realized that they could all be divided into two groups. One group was those prospects crazy to hear about top-notch features like video emails, social media integration, and GetResponse for iPhone application. They followed the latest email marketing trends and wanted to communicate with subscribers using the most popular online channels – before the competition figured it out!  That’s what excites us as well so we enjoyed talking to that group!

But the second group was the complete opposite; let’s call them the “back to basics” group. They asked more “technical” questions and were especially interested in GetResponse’s deliverability performance. How do we check for blacklisting? Do we provide unique IP addresses? How do we handle and report bounces and so on…

We realized that perhaps we take GetResponse’s superior deliverability for granted – and that not every ESP out there provides that level of service. It reminded us that, as fast as email marketing is evolving and integrating with other communications platforms, the basics never change. All the bells and whistles in the world won’t matter is your messages don’t make it into prospects’ inboxes! Sure, it’s not cool, or revolutionary, and it’s definitely not rocket science, but deliverability is one of the most critical services an ESP can provide. So I guess you could say the team left ad:tech feeling proud of GetResponse and our newest release – and with a renewed respect for  “the basics”. That’s a win-win in our book!

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Social Media, autoresponder, autoresponders, email, email marketing, marketing, news, newsletter

A couple of days ago we wrote about why recipients mark your messages as SPAM. We received some good feedback and since we agree that it’s an important subject – especially with the upcoming holiday “spammathon”, we decided to follow up with some more basics…

SPAM is a “four-letter word” that can make you furious when you don’t understand the reasons behind it, or give you a few sleepless nights before a big campaign. Now we’re pretty sure that you know the basic SPAM words such as “sex”, “drugs”, “Viagra” or “for free” and “no cost”. But there are many more words and phrases that can cause that your messages to be blocked by ISP SPAM filters, and the list grows longer every day!

So we decided to do our own research and discover the most common words and phrases you should avoid using in your title, subject line, and message content.
It’s not the entire SPAM list, of course, but at least it will highlight the “big offenders” so you can bookmark or print it out to make sure your email marketing campaigns avoid the “curse of SPAM!” and hit their targets every time!

Source: Profitknowledge.com , Salesnexus.com, Hostdepartment.com. Deliverability.com

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advertising, autoresponder, autoresponders, email, email marketing, marketing, news, newsletter, spam

Hello and Happy Holidays! We hope you’re getting in the spirit of the season and keeping the stress levels under control. We know there’s a lot of pressure during the holiday selling season, so we decided to offer a few tips to help you hear that Ka-ching sound along with the sleigh bells!
We’re not going to get complicated, or hit you over the head with techniques you can review in previous blogs. We just want you to relax, think things through,  then get creative! Here are 4 steps to get you started:

1.    Don’t panic, PLAN! Feed your imagination with some GetResponse Email Analytics! A short review should tell you which types of offers get the best results and why. You could also check your sales stats to identify any product trends or buying patterns. If you ran a Christmas campaign last season, look at what worked and what didn’t.  Now, your strategy – what segments should you target, how personal should you get, and what can you execute in the time you have? Finally, check out the competition…take a guess what they’re going to do, then up the ante!

2.    DISCOUNTS! BOGOs (buy-one etc)! COUPONS! Oh, my! Remember our blog on Coupon Clippers Gone Wild!?  So you know they work, but maybe you want to focus on volume sales this Christmas? Try free shipping or 10% off orders over $xx! It’s an e-commerce tactic that really works! And don’t forget that…

3.    DESIGN MATTERS: We’re guessing you’re sending HTML messages, cards, and coupons this season. Now, let’s get creative! Start by browsing through our 300+ designer templates, but if you can’t find one, we can create a custom template for you! Add face-to-face video greetings and promos to animate your content without clutter!  Just remember to maintain that balance of text, media and graphics…optimize for delivery and leave the glitz and glitter to the malls. That counts double for calls to action – make them pop, but keep it simple!

4.    TARGETING WORKS: The personal touches are more important than ever around the holidays, but it’s not just about strengthening relationships. if you take the time to segment and/or target your subject lines, offers, messages and yes, your design, you could increase open rates by 20% and almost double your CTR!1  That means more Christmas ka-ching for you!!!

Remember, you don’t have to plan it all in one day, but don’t wait too long – the holiday season runs from mid-November through the end of December, so you need to start asap!  Now that you’re up and running, we’ll help you with the next hurdle – crafting and testing your content – in upcoming posts, so stay tuned!

Hope you find these first few tips useful, but maybe you’re way ahead of us. Send your holiday campaign ideas and comments so we can all have a Holly Jolly Christmas!

1 MarketingSherpa “Email Marketing Benchmark Guide 2008″

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Blogroll, autoresponder, autoresponders, email, email marketing, marketing, news, newsletter

If you’re wondering what you could do quickly and easily to reduce spam complaints and increase trust in your brand, we recommend adding a CAN-SPAM complaint footer. If you already use it, you might check into modifying it to make it stronger. Let’s talk about how and why it’s so important.

The CAN-SPAM complaint footer is a long-standing email marketing best practice. This feature provides your company name, street address and contact info. It should be an obligatory and stable footer that subscribers can’t erase.

There are three basic requirements for any CAN-SPAM complaint footer:
·    Unsubscribe link
Never take your readers for granted. Give them the opportunity to choose if they still want to receive messages from you. Include an “Unsubscribe link” in every email and you’ll find out instantly if you’re succeeding! Providing a clear and concise unsubscribe process can prevent spam complaints, so it’s not only a good email marketing practice, it can improve your deliverability and campaign ratings.

·    Privacy policy link
This is a link to a legal document which describes how you or your company retains, processes, and purges customer data. Privacy policies usually contain details regarding what personal information is collected, how it may be used, any persons or entities to whom the information may be disclosed, and the security measures taken to protect the personal information. The exact contents of a privacy policy will depend upon applicable law. For instance, there are significant differences between the EU data protection and US data privacy laws. Detailed information regarding policy laws can be found online.

·    Physical street address
Finally, according to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, a physical street address must be included in every commercial email message. However, the new rule states that a valid post office box or a private mailbox may be used, as long as it is registered with the United States Post Office, or with a commercial mail service that follows all USPS regulations. If the post office box or private mailbox wasn’t accurately registered, or if the registrant failed to comply with applicable requirements, the address will be deemed “invalid” and the sender will be liable for non-compliance.

Example of CAN SPAM Complaint Footer

Imagine you’re a recipient of hundreds of email messages every day (maybe you are!).  You also subscribe to a few select mailing lists and DO NOT want annoying messages from companies you don’t know or remember. Imagine how helpful it would be if every questionable email included the complaint footer!  You’d be able to check the physical address of the company to confirm it actually exists, or simply use the unsubscribe option.  Whether you choose to stay on the list or not, at least you would consider the company trustworthy and professional, as they’re not afraid to reveal their corporate details and allow you to unsubscribe at any time.  What’s more, you can also read their privacy policy to get information about what they do with your personal data. So maybe their content is worth reading after all? And perhaps their products or services are worth taking a look at? If you’re not interested, you can always unsubscribe in a New York minute!

Now if you’re thinking “sure, I can provide my business address and privacy policy statement, but that “Unsubscribe link” could wipe out my entire database!” Don’t worry!  If your subscribers use the “Unsubscribe link” too much, it tells you that you probably need to consider the following:

·    It’s actually better when subscribers click on the “Unsubscribe link” than on “This is SPAM”! That could mean that subscriber wouldn’t be a valuable customer anyway.

·    QUALITY NOT QUANTITY. It’s better to have a smaller database containing high-quality contacts that actually purchase your products and increase your revenues, than a huge database of useless contacts.

·    Finally, it could be you need to double-check your email marketing best practices to ensure your messages are relevant, sent at appropriate frequency, not too personal, you know, everything we’ve been blogging about recently. Be honest! It could mean a big difference in your ROI. And if you’re not sure, time for another survey!

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advertising, autoresponder, autoresponders, complaint footer, email, email marketing, marketing, news, newsletter, unsubscribe link

Have you ever read the Privacy Policy when you create an email account with an ISP, or on Facebook and MySpace? Do you just skim the page, thinking it’s nothing really important or useful? Let’s consider an intriguing question published recently on news.com.au: Have you ever wondered what happens to your emails after you’re gone? How long are they active…and are they stored for awhile?

Now we’re not trying to be morbid, but we are very interested in email security and regulations, and we honestly didn’t know the answer. CAN someone send email from your account or read your private emails if you’re not around to object?

Here’s what we discovered: it all depends on the privacy policy of the ISP or social media site where you had your accounts.  Unfortunately, they vary wildly, and some have their own ideas about how to keep you “virtually alive” after your demise.

For example: Internet giants like Google and Microsoft have a policy of keeping your data after you die and letting your next of kin or the executor of your estate access it. However, when you open your account there is no way to opt out if you want to keep your emails confidential after you die!

This means that when you release this mortal coil, your emails live on. In fact, you could still “receive” emails (including very private messages) which could be read by your kin or executor!

Do have your attention now? So let’s look at how the biggest email providers and social media sites handle this issue in case you want to make some changes before it’s, you know, too late:

·    Hotmail − Deletes email accounts if they are not used after 270 days. However, if you die, your next of kin would be able to access your account within that period by providing ID and your death certificate.

·    Gmail − Also allows the next of kin to apply for access, however,  in addition to ID and the death certificate, the person would need to provide proof of an email conversation between them and the deceased.

·    Yahoo! – The strictest of them all! They let the users’ next of kin request that the account be closed, but will not give them access to it. They advise users who don’t want their emails shared after death to include it in their wills.

The issue is handled with a bit more variety on the most popular social sites. For instance:
·    MySpace – Their privacy policy doesn’t say much about “deceased user” situations, however MySpace doesn’t automatically delete profiles after a period of inactivity, either. They will remove a deceased user’s profile at the family’s request.

·    Facebook − This is really interesting! Facebook offers a service called Memorialization that allows family members to retain a profile of the deceased former user as a virtual tribute. The profile would be locked and all private information simultaneously removed.

You have to admit, it might be worth thinking about! Let us know your views about any of the policies and the issue in general.  After you pass, would YOU like your messages to live on…online?

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Social Media, autoresponder, autoresponders, email, email marketing, list building, marketing, news, newsletter, privacy policy

Poor behavioral marketing…so misunderstood! Apparently lots of consumers think behavioral targeting is a total invasion of their privacy. But then why do they respond in such HUGE numbers to targeted campaigns?! Perhaps it’s because they didn’t know you used behavioral data to tailor their messages and offers? So is there a problem? Let’s take a closer look and see how to make sure subscribers never think your messages are “creepy”.

In a 2009 survey of 1000 adult Internet users titled, “Consumers Dislike Behavioral Targeting”, we get a literary “earful” from consumers about behavioral marketing. If we ever doubted the emotional component to marketing (see “SPAM” blog), this will remind us all!

Let’s look at the initial results:
·    Most US adults (66%) do not want marketers to tailor advertisements to their interests, and only 47% appreciated getting discounts targeted to their interests.
It’s get worse:
·    When respondents were told about three typical ways that consumer information is gathered in order to tailor ads to their interests, even greater percentages—between 73% and 86%—said they do not want to see such advertising!

Again, why do they respond to your targeted email campaigns? It’s all in the definition! Here’s PCMagazine’s: “Delivering ads based on a user’s online habits.” Notice the word “ads” in all these results? That’s the original application of behavioral targeting, but now we know that behavioral marketing isn’t limited to increasing ad views and clicks. For most email marketers, customer behavior includes purchasing history, open and click rates, product purchasing practices, even hobbies and interests, in addition to Google Analytics. So what’s causing the negative publicity? The narrow definition and the one consumers fear is the “online tracking and monitoring” applications, such as cookies, domain tracking, etc. Why? It feels like Big Brother. So better to NEVER mention how you noticed “Julie” clicked on this link, or spent time on this page, because that would push dear Julie “buttons” as follows:
·    Even when told their online behavior would be tracked anonymously, aversion remained with 68% “definitely” not allowing it, and 19% “probably” not allowing it.
·    69% of American adults feel there should be a law that gives people the right to know everything that a website knows about them.
·    92% agree there should be a law that requires “websites and advertising companies to delete all stored information about an individual, if requested to do so.”

As email marketers, we want to give “Julie” what she needs and wants. So what should we conclude from this study? Resistance to behavioral targeting is really tied to:
“A general antagonism to being followed without knowing exactly how or with what effects.”
Wow, but does this mean we can’t use online or even email analytics to determine which sites, pages and content customers prefer? Isn’t that the whole point of being “relevant”?  And didn’t consumers tell us in our last blog that the #1 reason for unsubscribing was lack of “relevance”. What to do?

Once again, solutions and techniques are available and you already use them! We can’t emphasize enough the importance of building brand recognition and relationships before getting very personal and specific with your email messages. We also would remind you to find out what customers want and like before assuming too much, remember? Same lesson applies here! Capture as much information as you can, but use it with discretion, and always clearly state your Privacy Policy!

We’d also like to recommend using a basic tool in a new way to ensure you don’t invade subscriber’s privacy.  In your regular survey, or a standalone version, ask your subscribers if they would appreciate product offers and content based on their preferences.  If they “opt in” to receive targeted promotions, they’ll never be “creeped out” and you keep a customer!

We think GetResponse surveys are the perfect solution to creating “Openness”. But we want to hear from you. Let us know what targeting techniques you use and if surveys can help!

*Published on October 12, 2009: a study of US opinions about behavioral targeting conducted by professors at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California, Berkeley.

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autoresponder, autoresponders, email, email marketing, marketing, news, newsletter

Ever have the feeling that you’re doing everything right with your email marketing, but the “spam demons” are out to get you? Well, we’re here to demystify the issue and to remind us all why certain mundane practices are so important to avoiding the dreaded spam folder.

Let’s review the top 11 reasons (though not always reasonable) why recipients flag emails as spam. Hopefully, this will help you evaluate your subject lines, titles, email frequency, etc. before sending to determine if you’re getting too close to these “danger zones”.

Epsilon International surveyed over 4,000 consume on why they flagged emails as spam. Here are their reasons in descending order:
1.    Try to trick me into opening it (74%)
2.    Offensive subject matter (68%)
3.    Any emails I did not ask for or subscribe to (62%)
4.    Senders who are unknown to me (61%)
5.    Emails automatically filtered into the junk mailbox (43%)
6.    Any email I don’t want, regardless of whether I subscribed (37%)
7.    Email sent from a sender not in my address book or approved sender list (34%)
8.    Email from a company I may have given permission to send me mail at one time, but that I no longer wish to receive (34%)
9.    From companies with an offline relationship, but never gave permission to contact me via email (32%)
10.    From companies I have done business with but send too frequently (27%)
11.    Email that tries to sell me a product or service, even if I know the sender (24%)

Notice that almost HALF are “permission-based”, which can be virtually eliminated by using the confirmed opt-in procedure offered by GetResponse!  Other reasons can be addressed by employing anti-spam best practices and avoiding common spam words. And finally, just taking extra care to ensure that your subject lines and titles clearly communicate your brand and the content of your message – all topics we’ve covered in recent blogs.

Now let’s look at the primary reasons recipients unsubscribe (same survey) to see if there are any common threads.  As you know, we’re all about solutions, so I’ve added some “corrective actions” to provide some takeways:
A.    Irrelevant content – It’s #1 folks! There are lots of suggestions in our blog archives, but we promise to keep researching and offering you more “relevant” tips.
B.    Receive too frequently − #10 on the “spam” list but #2 here…wow! Run a free survey to find out how often your audience (s) wants to hear from you and what content they want to receive.
C.    Suspect email address being shared/sold – Both ”C” and “D” hammer this home. Always publish a concise Privacy Policy and always abide by your statement. Period.
D.    Don’t recall signing up – More common that you think, so it probably wouldn’t hurt to send a “thank you” for being a subscriber/customer every once in a while!
E.    Privacy concerns – Again, always include your Privacy Policy and ask them to read it!

Are you surprised at how easy it is to correct these negative results? And relieved we hope!

If you’d like us to blog further on any of these issues, just shoot us an email and we’d be happy to help!

Source: Ingistics LLC and Marketance™ www.marketance.com

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autoresponder, autoresponders, email, email marketing, marketing, news, newsletter, spam

About three months ago, we were trying to convince you that confirmed opt-in option is much more effective than the unconfirmed opt-in when adding qualified subscribers to your lists. We gave you several important reasons to validate our point of view.

If the last blog post didn’t convince you, we hope the results of our latest analysis will help you understand how well confirmed opt-in works for real-life GetResponse customers, and put all serious arguments to rest.

Now, onto the study: we analyzed over 700M messages sent from GetResponse Pro accounts between August 1st and November 1st 2009, and compared certain “success” factors for confirmed opt-in and unconfirmed opt-in users. We thought we’d find improvements with confirmed opt-in, but the results amazed even us!

According to the analysis, messages sent from accounts using confirmed opt-in returned 71% higher Open Rates and 66% higher Click Rates than unconfirmed opt-in account messages. That’s close to “double” the good results!

That’s not all! The number of “undeliverable” messages in accounts where users applied confirmed opt-in had 75% fewer bounces than accounts where users chose the unconfirmed opt-in option. Moreover, in confirmed opt-in accounts, spam complaints were almost 40% lower!

Based on these stats, just imagine the difference confirmed opt-in could make in the success of your email campaigns. Here are just a few of the advantages of confirmed opt ins:

• Your list is cleaner as your database includes only confirmed email addresses.
• Your recipients open your messages more willingly because they chose to subscribe to your list.
• Usually recipients remember they subscribed and rarely send spam complaints to your email marketing provider (e.g. GetResponse) or your ISP.
• You get much better click-through ratios, which can lead to higher sales ratios.
• You gain higher-value customers and fewer “unsubscribes” overall.

All these factors improve your reputation as an email marketer − and your email marketing results!

Finally, please don’t worry that if you use the confirmed opt-in option, you’ll annoy new subscribers. Most appreciate the reminder and the extra “protection” it gives them from unwanted emails. Believe us when we say, your subscribers will be grateful they are only receiving messages they truly want − and you will enjoy all of the above benefits PLUS have higher deliverability rates and a cleaner list. Remember, that’s your “goldmine”!

To be balanced, if you think there are any disadvantages to the confirmed opt-in option, just let us know. We sure couldn’t find any, but would like to hear from you – pro and con!

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autoresponder, autoresponders, email, email marketing, list building, marketing, news

The GetResponse Team arrived safely at the Big Apple and was hard at work immediately! There was a whirlwind of last-minute activity, but no rest for the weary! As soon as they landed, they caught a taxi and went straight to the Javis Center to prepare the GetResponse booth. Here they are, slaving away to make sure that everything is done in time − and perfect of course!. So, fast lunch, quick check in at hotel, and back to the Javis Center to put the finishing touches on our “stage set”.

When the booth was ready, the Team could finally take a break to admire their work − and take some pictures of course. Magnificent guys!

Here is a member of the GetResponse Team waiting anxiously for the show to begin. We hope you can stop by Booth #2110 and meet them! We guarantee you’ll get lots of useful tips and email marketing knowledge that your competitors wish they had!

What’s happening? The GetResponse Team will be on deck demonstrating how to integrate email marketing and social media across channels, and how to use video emails, surveys and email analytics to double or triple your email marketing ROI. Visitors are invited to test drive their favorite solutions, sign up for free accounts and special discounts, and receive the latest Email Marketing Secrets Guide.

It’s going to be a blast − and a great opportunity to build your skills and your business! Now wave to Agnieszka!

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autoresponder, autoresponders, email, email marketing, marketing, news, newsletter

We’re excited to announce that GetResponse will be exhibiting for the very first time, November 4-5, at ad:tech in New York City! In case you haven’t heard, ad:tech It’s the largest gathering of digital marketers in the world and the place to be to hear about the latest research, best strategies and hottest trends. Everyone who is anyone will be there, and now they’ll all have a chance to discover GetResponse email marketing!

If you, will be anywhere near the Javits Center, we’d love to show you how you can integrate email marketing and social media , and use video emails, surveys and email analytics to double or triple your ROI! So stop by Booth #2110 to meet with one of the GetResponse representatives.  Sign up for free and get our exclusive Email Marketing Secrets Guide! And don’t forget to take part in our “Ad:tech Visitors Only” lottery to win 3 months of Free Email Marketing!

Let us introduce you to the GetResponse Team who’ll be on deck at Booth 2110, ready to demonstrate our power-packed new features and answer all of your questions:

Matthew Clattenburg is a Customer Service team member for GetResponse. He specializes in communicating with customers by telephone, email and live chat to provide email campaign support and advice, as well resolution for common issues. Matthew enjoys tasting new foods, travelling, and spending time with family and friends. In his spare time, he surfs the social media world and plays online games.

Maciej Buchowski works as an Email Solutions Specialist. He is responsible for ensuring optimal deliverability for GetResponse and developing the GetResponse Enterprise sector. In addition, he ensures our clients follow our privacy and anti-spam policies and educates both customers and prospects on permission-based marketing best practices and strategies. His personal interests and hobbies range from hiking to paragliding and outdoor adventure trips,  to being an “indoor” Internet maniac and keen follower of online innovations.

Oskar Jedynasty, Email Solutions Manager at Implix/GetResponse, is responsible for assuring the highest deliverability for all Implix products; coordinating the development process for new GetResponse features; and creating and maintaining positive relationships with GetResponse Enterprise customers. After work, he likes to relax playing basketball or volleyball, but he’s also a Texas hold’em poker fanatic!

Agnieszka Dabrowska, Marketing Specialist, is responsible for internal and external marketing communication and public relations support. She sets up the programs, deploys marketing email messages and creative, and follows email marketing best practices, guidelines, spam regulation, and deliverability issues to continuously improve the quality of communications to the marketplace. Privately, she is a huge fan of contemporary dance theatre and loves travelling and learning about foreign tastes and cultures.

That’s the team! Come and check out the latest trends and features. Hope to see you there!

Tags

email, email marketing, marketing, news, newsletter