WSI Blog - Internet Marketing Tips and Strategies

Any email marketer wants to grow their email opt-in list. It's necessary as 10% - 30% annual churn can be expected for every list. Growth is required to keep reaching your audience effectively.

When economic times challenge marketing budgets many businesses have turned to email marketing because it is inexpensive and easy to measure ROI. This increase in email marketing has led to cluttered in-boxes and makes it harder to obtain quality opt-ins.

There are three groups to target when trying to grow your opt-in list.
    
    1. Current Opt-in List
An important rule to growing your list is to work to keep the names you already have. You can strengthen your list by requesting double opt-in from the beginning. This will ensure that opt-in's are serious about receiving your emails. Then stay consistent with what you've promised your subscriber. If you guaranteed emails containing coupons you need to hold to that promise.  And finally test the messages you send out and experiment with the way you present your content. Does one style garner a higher open rate? How can you get those that haven't opened your emails in several months to begin opening again? Keeping your current list engaged and interested will grow your list by reducing churn.

    2. Easily Added Targets
These potential opt-in's are already familiar with you and your product and they should be given the opportunity to opt-in to your list whenever they cross paths with your brand. On your website your most visited pages should include a link to opt-in to your e newsletter. Make the opt-in prominent on these pages and consistent. To reach this audience offline consider an in-store handout or discount incentive for signing up for the email list. Use materials you are already distributing such as sales receipts and packaging to share your message. Lastly, include opt-in options within your social media pages. These are effective and inexpensive methods to grow your list.

    3. Bought & Bartered
The third and final group that you can target involves an audience that is a good potential fit for the service you offer but they have yet to have any direct contact with your brand. The downside of this method is that it can be costly. You can reach them by renting a list and creating a message that the owner of the list will send on your behalf. Another option would be to use a pay-per-click campaign with the goal to grow your list. Your PPC ad should click through to an opt-in page. If money is an issue consider bartering with a logical partner. If you build houses, partner with a plumber or window manufacturer. Once you've found a partner send out promotional emails on each others behalf.

Initiating these three tools or a combination of them can help ensure that you keep the contacts you have and grow your list over time.

These days website traffic can be increased through numerous methods. Whether you're initiating a PPC campaign, sending targeted emails or adding valuable content to your site you need to keep one constant in place. Your goals!

The ultimate (macro) goal may be to sell a product or gain a customer. Other macro goals may be:
    •    Downloading a whitepaper
    •    Signing up for an e-newsletter
    •    Requesting a quote
    •    Submitting information in return for something of value
    •    Viewing a product, service page or consuming some form of content (article, video, blog, etc.)

These macro goals can take time to achieve. Equally important to success are smaller (micro) goals that help build to your ultimate goals. Micro goals are the steps it takes to complete the macro goal. These may include:
    •    Opening an email
    •    Clicking on a PPC ad
    •    Browsing your website and viewing multiple pages
    •    Putting products into a cart and providing billing information
    
Initiating an analytics package can easily help you track the actions of consumers during a visit to your website. Where did they spend the most time, what actions did they take and what was the bounce rate upon the initial arrival? Understanding the steps taken prior to completing a macro goal can help you better understand your consumer and how to direct them where you want them to end up.

Sending out an email message to your opt-in list? Just because they asked to receive information from your business does not mean they'll automatically open every email you send. Emails are initially judged by the subject line. It's important to make that subject line compelling enough to entice the recipient to open your email.

The first step in creating an email marketing campaign that gets opened is to create a successful headline and keep it to 50 characters or less. And those 50 characters need to catch the readers' attention. Consider highlighting a discount, offer or news item in your subject line. These items can drive open rates. Personalization is another tool that can drive consumers to open your email.

The formula for a subject line should include exactly what your readers can expect, what's in it for them and what exactly do you want them to do. Take it a step further and personalize the subject line with the reader's first name. This will secure their interest and action. Another tip to drive action is to instill a sense of urgency such as: "Sale Ends Today."

Subject lines can also flag spam filters. To help ensure your email stays out of spam folders avoid putting words like 'Free' in full capitalization and avoid using extra punctuation such as FREE!!!! It's perfectly acceptable to use the word 'free' in your subject line but keep it simple and understated.

Make sure you continuously test how these tips work for you and how your audience responds to them. Consider spitting up your email list and try a personalized message on the first groupt and an email with no personalization on the other group. Try this method with mentioning price savings vs. no mention. Analyze what your audience responds to and alter your subject lines accordingly. Always testing the success of your messages and evolving with your results will keep your subject lines fresh and your open rates high.

Email marketing can be an extremely valuable method of marketing to your target audience. Every dollar spent on email marketing generates as average of $57.25 in revenue. That is a fantastic statistic however there are some methods to making your email as successful as possible. Consider the design of your email. Below are some key areas to evaluate your design practices.

1. Design for the most popular email clients
Different email platforms will all display your email in a slightly different way. Design your email in HTML, plain text and perhaps a rich text version. Make sure you review how your email will appear in the top email clients such as, Outlook, Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail, Yahoo Mail and AOL Mail.

2. Follow the best HTML practices
~ Use HTML coding
~ Validate HTML content
~ Avoid using scripts
~ Avoid using forms
~ Use universally supported fonts such as Arial, Times New Roman & Tahoma in 10 pt or size 2 copy.

3. Use color & graphics/buttons effectively

Color should pull the eye to your content, not make it harder to read. Evaluate the readability of your design and adjust as necessary. Use buttons and graphics to draw attention to your email content and make it clear to the viewer what their next step should be, clicking through.

4. Consider the size of your email design and graphics

Keeping an email to 500-650 pixels means that your email will reach the viewer without the need for them to scroll through the email. 54% of consumers will be viewing your email in a reading pane. Cater to them and avoid large image headers, and put key content and links at the top. It is also a good practice to keep your email to 40-50 kb.

5. Use alt tags to make your emails disabled image-friendly

Some email clients do not automatically download images and mobile devices will often show emails without their images. Make sure your email works without its images by using alt tags through out.

6. Make it easy to click through

Place text, image and navigation links throughout your email. Including 25+ links will get you a 12% higher open rate and 29 % higher click-through rate. Links should be relevant and call-to-action links should appear several times. Never use a full URL as a link, hyperlink keywords instead.

7. Promote yourself

Consider including a link in your email to forward the message to a friend. Use emails as an opportunity to promote your social networking pages such as Facebook, Twitter & your blog.

Email marketing is a simple and inexpensive way to speak to your client base. However simply having a list of interested contacts does not guarantee you a successful email marketing campaign. Here are 10 tips to make your email campaign more successful.

1. Grow your list
Your list will fluctuate by 25-30% each year. Most of this is attributed to unsubscribes and new email accounts. You want to make sure your list grows at least as much as it decreases. Find out what pages on your website are most visited and put a field on them to newsletter sign-ups. Engage through social media outlets and offer sign up opportunities frequently. Asking people to double opt-in may grow your list more slowly but it will ensure that you are getting addresses who are extremely interested in what you are offering.

2. Clean up your list
Sending to addresses that will bounce is a waste of money. Do an overhaul of your list every 6 months to ensure you are sending to good addresses. Look at who on your list is opening your emails. If they haven't been opened re-evaluate how you can better connect with those people. Give them content they will want to open.

3. Minimize Opt-outs
By managing expectations and giving options you can keep contacts happy. When someone opts into your email list give them an idea of how often they'll hear from you and what you'll be sharing with them. Consider offering a preference section where they can set their own guidelines. Such as only receiving one email a month rather than weekly.

4. Divide your list to increase relevance 
If a large group of your list is Chicago based while the rest are in the Boston area consider sending two different emails to these groups. Give each group information tailored to their area. You can do the same with retail locations vs. home improvement companies. Speaking directly to these specific groups will make your emails more successful.

5. Design for the inbox
Put your company name in the 'From' field rather than your email address. This will help you be quickly recognized by the recipient and free up space in your subject line which needs to be under 50 characters.

6. Test your message
Make sure you know how your email will look in every major email browser. Using fewer images will ensure that your message is received even in emails that don't automatically load images such as gmail. Lyris HQ includes a tool that does all of this for you.

7. Don't forget mobile devices
1 in 10 consumers only read email on their mobile device. Design emails for a small screen or consider including a link to click on if you are viewing on a mobile device. You can also offer contacts the option of communicating with you via text message.

8. Manage your sender reputation
Make sure that everything you're sending works. Links, photos etc. This will help keep you out of spam folders.

9. Follow laws and email etiquette
Follow federal spam laws (www.ftc.gov) and check for state and country laws where you are sending emails and make sure your emails include your privacy policy. Double opt-ins are a good practice although not a law. Your list may grow slower with double opt-in but you'll ensure that the names you get really want your information and are likely to stick around longer.

10. Test deliverability
Test your message against spam filters. Make sure you do not have "spammy content" such as unnecessary punctuation ***FREE*** You can use the word free but do not capitalize it. Keep it understated.

These simple steps can make a big difference in the success of your email marketing and help grow and maintain a quality list.

Earlier this week, eMarketer published an article that reaffirmed what WSI is always telling our clients - even in a poor economy, you have to invest in your online marketing spending to make money. In fact, for a lot of businesses, increasing your business spending or reallocating marketing dollars into cheaper and more effective (read: online) media during a downturn can help you come out on top as the economy picks up.

The eMarketer article goes on to discuss the correlation between businesses that are continuing to succeed and greater marketing spending. The bottom line: "Almost two-thirds of small businesses that expected increased revenues had raised or planned to raise marketing spending, compared with just 32% to 36% of businesses with flat or declining revenues." Additionally, "the survey showed small businesses shifting marketing initiatives toward cheaper digital media and away from traditional channels. The top three marketing tools used were social media, e-mail newsletters and search."

Contact us today to find out how WSI can help your business leverage these three (and other) marketing tools to maximize the effectiveness of your business spending. You may think you can't afford to increase business spending or increasing online marketing spending right now, but the truth is you can't afford not to if you want to survive and thrive in the current economy.

We encourage you to read the eMarketer article in its entirety here. 

The short answer - yes and no. Most of the population have come a long way from learning how to send an email a couple of decades ago to updating our Facebook status and "tweeting" on a daily (sometimes hourly?!) basis. But is there a practical use for business in the hyperconnectivity of today's social networking sites? The answer, again, is yes and no.

Email and email marketing are still effective ways to communicate for many businesses, and offer an opportunity to stay in touch with your clients in a cheaper and easier way than traditional snail mail campaigns. And for many of our clients, email is still going to be an integral part of the internet marketing mix. That said, there is a tremendous opportunity to also connect with your existing and potential clients through these other social media channels.

For example, I was shopping in a local toy store this weekend and the shop owner reminded me they were having a fall sale beginning the following week. She was having a hard time locating a coupon for the upcoming sale during a particularly busy sales rush, then remembered "I'm planning on putting it up on Facebook tomorrow, are you a fan?" I was not a fan, but now I am and I have received the coupon information and plan on visiting the store during their upcoming sale. This is a great example of how retail is a great fit for social media and why. We have also found that certain service industries like spas and hair salons can create fun and engaging social media campaigns. There are also a select few clients for whom these tactics just aren't a great fit.

I'm not sure that email will ever become obsolete, especially as the method of preferred communication in the workplace and for the remaining few who like to be somewhat disconnected when they aren't in the workplace. An article in today's online edition of the Wall Street Journal has some interesting points, though, about where email and online communication in general may be headed. Our recommendation, as usual, is that you should never become too dependent on any one form of internet marketing. The best return on your investment comes when you work with WSI on a dynamic integrated internem marketing strategy that constantly evolves with new technology. And for now, for most of you, that still includes email.

As companies continue to struggle in the current economy, many are seeing their marketing budgets cut with more cuts anticipated for the last quarter of 2009 into 2010. During this time of change and scrutiny over every advertising dollar spent, it is important to note that the online advertising sector continues to grow as business are taking their marketing strategies online. According to eMarketer, digital spending will account for 17% of total ad spending in the US by next year, up from 15.4% currently and 13.9% last year. An "Interaction 2009" report done by GroupM Interaction indicates that companies are also increasing spending on search and mobile marketing and decreasing traditional media spending. According to this report, the future of marketing is so-called "intention marketing" with a combination of paid and organic search along with mobile and social media marketing.

Savvy marketers are already following this trend, according to a 2009 accountability study done by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and Marketing Management Analytics (MMA). The number one strategy is taking offline marketing online, and reallocating spending into lower-cost digital media like SEO, PPC and Social Media Marketing.

WSI can take a look at your current marketing strategies online (and offline) and provide the online marketing how to that every business needs in this economy. For every industry, there is a correct marketing mix online that will get you the best ROI possible. And one of the significant benefits of WSI's online marketing strategies is that everything we do is 100% trackable so you know almost immediately how well your campaigns are working and where there is room for improvement.

To find out more about the online marketing strategies WSI can provide, as well as a complimentary analysis of the marketing mix online for your business, please contact us today. As we kick of the fourth quarter of 2009, there's still time to end the year and start off the new year with a bang!

At WSI, we have been saying this for years....SEO (Search Engine Optimization), PPC (Pay Per Click), and E-mail marketing are the most effective ways to increase company wide "conversions", and now Forbes Media has just completed a study that confirms this.

Forbes Media "Ad Effectiveness Survey" polled 112 marketers online back in February and March to learn more about their attitudes towards digital marketing. Not only were these forms of internet marketing considering most effective at increasing conversions, but also considered most effective in demand fulfillment rather then demand creation. That is the true beauty behind effective internet marketing, your message appears at the exact time the prospect wants it to appear, its not forced, the prospect has the control.

Internet marketing is not a "demand creation" marketing medium like TV or radio. TV, Radio, and even magazines can be effective in creating demand for your product, but we get bombarded everyday with thousands of marketing messages and most people are simply tuning out. A greater ROI can be derived from effective internet marketing campaigns because we are focusing only on those who want to learn more about our products and services, and not wasting our time/money on those who don't. In today's economy, a great website marketed effectively on the internet, can be the difference maker between those companies who survive and those who don't.

Here are the Top 15 Best Practices for Email-Marketing

By Mitchell Harper

Introduction
As you may know, most people now spend more time reading their emails than they do surfing the web. Email is one of the most powerful mediums that you can use to talk to visitors, customers and prospects.

In this article I will discuss 15 best practices that you can use everyday in your email marketing activities. Used wisely and consistently, there’s no doubt you’ll see an increased response from your subscribers -- whether it be for more feedback, more product/seminar registrations, or even more orders.

1. Avoiding the Spam Filters
The majority of large Internet service providers now use rigorous spam protection mechanisms to trap unsolicited email before it gets into their customers inboxes. Spam filters generally "rank" each email by a number of different criteria, and, if that email rates above a certain level (such as 10 spam points), then it is flagged as spam and deleted.

To make sure your emails don't get flagged as spam -- and deleted before they even get to your subscribers -- avoid using words such as 'Free', '$$$', 'Save', 'Discount', etc in both the subject line and the content of your email.

2. Maximizing Click-Thru Rates
Both web pages and emails can contain a lot of text and graphics, and this sometimes makes it harder to get your subscribers to perform a certain task, such as clicking on a link to see your special offers.

Numerous research papers tell us that the majority of Internet users respond better to a plain, bold, blue text link -- such as this -- as opposed to a banner or button. So, if you're going to include links in your emails, make sure they are bold, blue and underlined. This will mean that more subscribers click through, meaning more conversions/sales for you.

3. The Power of Personalization
If you were standing in a crowded mall, which of these would get your attention: "HEY, YOU!" or "HEY JOHN" (assuming your name is John). The power of personalization can and should be used in your emails. In-fact, by simply starting your email with "Hi [subscriber_name]" instead of the boring "Hi there", you can increase both your reading and click-thru rates by up to 650%. Why? Put simply, it's because your subscribers feel like they already have a relationship with you as you've addressed them by their
first name.

4. One-Click Unsubscription
If you want to grow your mailing list, then there are 2 things that you absolutely must have: a double opt-in process, and a quick way to unsubscribe. In some countries, it's actually mandatory by law that every email has an unsubscribe link in it. The unsubscribe link should take the recipient directly to a page where they are then removed -- courteously -- from your mailing list.

5. Signup Confirmation
Don't get accused of spamming -- always, and I mean always use a double opt-in confirmation process. Double opt-in means that after your visitor initially enters their email address to subscribe to your list, you should then send them a "confirmation" email. This email should contain a special link back to your email-marketing program, which will then verify that this visitor did indeed sign up to your mailing list.

6. Tuesday / Wednesday = Increased Response
Studies conducted by online research analysts have shown that the best days to perform a mail-out to your list are Tuesday and Wednesday, as this is when people are more receptive to communication. This means that they are more likely to read your content and click on links, meaning more sales.

On Mondays, everyone is still recovering from a hectic weekend. On Thursday and Friday, people are already too busy looking forward to the weekend. We've actually experimented with this, and received the best results by sending out emails at around 2-3pm (American Pacific Time) on a Wednesday.

7. Repeat Email Communication
An auto responder is an email that is scheduled to be sent at a certain time interval after someone subscribes to your mailing list. Auto responders are a great way to automatically follow up with your subscribers or provide them with more information on your products/services.

For example, if you provide a free newsletter, you could setup 3 auto responders for new subscribers: the first is sent 1 hour after they subscribe. It contains a thank you message and a link to get 10% off your newly released eBook.

The second is sent 24 hours after they subscribe, telling them about your community message boards, and the third is sent 72 hours after they subscribe, in which you can offer them a special deal on becoming a paid member of your site.

Auto responders help your subscribers build trust in both your company and your brand, and this can help make it easier when trying to close sales in the future.

8. Consistency is the Key
If you're running a newsletter or frequent email publication, make sure you keep the look and feel consistent from issue to issue. By keeping the look and feel consistent, you help to maintain and strengthen your brand and your image to your subscribers, which again will make it easier to close sales when you need to.

Create a template for your newsletter and whenever you need to create a new issue, use that template as the basis for each issue.

9. On Time, Every Time
When sending a regular email to your subscribers, always make sure that it's sent on the same day, at the same time. For example, every Wednesday at 3pm. Your subscribers will come to "expect" your email to arrive in their inbox on the same day at the same time every week, meaning that they want to read your content and are generally more receptive to any special offers or promotions you may include.

10. The Half-a-Second Subject Line
When your email arrives in your subscriber’s inbox, you generally have about half a second to catch their attention with the subject line of your email. After this, they will either delete your email or ignore it. In your subject line, try and specify a benefit that the subscriber can expect by reading your email. For example, instead of using 'OurSite Newsletter Issue #1', use 'OurSite Newsletter: 10 Tips for Financial Freedom'.

11. The Free Bonus Hook-In
Free is overused these days, especially on the Internet. However, if you're looking to grow your subscriber list, then create or source a product of value to your visitors (such as an eBook or discount coupon) and offer it to them for free when they signup for your newsletter.

To make sure they don't simply type any email address into your subscription form,
setup an auto responder to send them the free bonus 1 hour after they subscribe to
your newsletter.

12. The Preview Pane
Popular email clients such as MS Outlook show a preview of an email when it's selected in your inbox. Always have some interesting content at the very top of your email, as this is the part that will show in the preview window of your subscribers email program. If it's interesting enough, then your subscriber will open your email and continue on reading.

13. Link-Click Testing
When creating marketing emails, try using different text for both content and links. Also try re-positioning images such as logos and buttons. After sending about 3 different emails, compare the click-thru stats and see which one worked best. Now, when you need to send marketing emails in the future, you know that you will be sending the right mix of content and images that will attract the most click-thrus, and ultimately the most sales.

14. Email-Based Learning
Add value to your website, build trust in your visitors, establish your credibility and collect more subscriptions to your mailing list by setting up an email-based learning course. To do this, simply create a series of auto responders (for example, 5) containing unique content. Then, schedule the first one to be sent after 24 hours, the second after
48 hours, etc.

15. Always Sign on the Dotted Line
Always include a signature at the bottom of your emails, as it's one of the easiest ways to attract more traffic to your website. This signature should include your personal details, your company details, and an unsubscribe link. You can use your signature to link back to your website, and even to other products. Here's a sample signature:

Regards,
John Doe.
President - Company XYZ.
Visit our website at http://www.companyxyz.com
Unsubscribe from this newsletter at http://www.companyxyz.com/unsubscribe...

Conclusion
By implementing the 15 best practices described in this article, you can take your email marketing to a whole new level –- attracting more subscribers, and building both your brand equity and credibility at the same time.