3 Reasons Why You Should Love Unsubscribes
If you are like most new marketers you just dread logging into your autoresponder and seeing that you have lost list members due to them unsubscribing. Well I am here to tell you three good reasons to look forward to getting unsubscribes.
The first is that you are actually using your list. The only way that I have ever seen to not get an unsubscribe is to never send an email. If you are not going to use the list why go to the time and effort to build it. So congratulate your self when you get the unsubscribe because you are actually using your list.
The second thing is that someone is opening your email. To unsubscribe they had to at least open the email and click the unsubscribe link. The good thing is that your headline worked and got them to open your email. Now if you are using dishonest headlines, (You have won, your account status, and other headlines along those lines) this is not a good thing and you are reaping what you have sown. If you are using a solid headline that matches your email and it gets opened this is a good thing. Your headline is doing its job.
The third good reason to be glad to get unsubscribes has to do with personality. Now here is a shocker (said with sarcasm dripping from the keyboard) Not everyone is going to like you or your writing style. Those that don't will unsubscribe. The good thing though is that if they don't care for your style you will never build a relationship with them. If you can't build a relationship with them they will most likely never buy from you. So each unsubscribe will make your list more targeted to people who actually like your style and are more likely to respond favorably to your offers that meet their needs.
So now you have three good reasons to no longer dread seeing that people have decided to unsubscribe from your list. Rejoice in the fact that you are actually making your list stronger and more profitable for you in the longer run.
3 Ways To Build A Quick Profitable Opt In List
The following paragraphs summarize the work of opt-in list experts who are completely familiar with all the aspects of opt-in lists. Heed their advice to avoid any opt-in list surprises.
You finally realize that you need a good opt-in list. After reading countless articles and sought expert advices and have read many success stories of people creating a small fortune with opt-in lists you finally decide to have one of your own. Then it happens, you think you have known everything there is to know about opt-in lists and have followed their advices to the T and you still weren’t able to make a profit.
In fact, you may be losing money. You maybe hiring writers to help you out, or there are some expenses incurred, even if you have a big list, but only a very small percentage actually buys from you, your still losing profit. You’ll realize that after a few months when you see your statistics and sales figures.
So what could have gone wrong? Why have others succeeded where you have failed? The most common mistake is that you dived straight right in. You chose a topic where you think could be quite popular and would earn you money. This just not the case. Just because you wrote people from the list doesn’t mean they are going to buy instantly.
Here I will offer more advice, for those who have started an opt-in list and have failed, you can rejuvenate your failed venture. For those who are starting, here are three quick and easy ways to build a profitable opt-in list.
1) Get your customers to trust you and your products first. Just launching your opt-in list would not make you an expert and a believable seller. Put many articles first before you start an opt-in list. Write about the topic you know and have started and used for your site. Try to put forums first to gain knowledge about your customers about their wants and needs and target those wants and needs.
Join forums from other sites as well. Provide expert advices and recommendations. When you feel that people trust you already, you will be able to start your own opt-in list. You can build a base as well with other forum users. You can ask them to join your list. Friends are always good customers. Put up a link to your site so that they may be able to see what you're business is all about.
If you find yourself confused by what you've read to this point, don't despair. Everything should be crystal clear by the time you finish.
The certain truth is, the money will only come in when the consumers and subscribers believe and trust in you. They want a product or service that could be a good exchange for their money. People are not going to buy something out of your recommendation if they don’t know you.
2) Find a product or service that people want and need. Although it may not be your forte, if you provide a service and product that you have researched and learned about well, you can carry it on forward. Invest your time, effort and money that you could sell as well as the buyers or subscribers of your opt-in list can use.
While it is true that it is best to sell something that you have interest in, there are not many people who have the same interest as you if you decide to sell something that is not entirely popular or profitable. Do your research well and you would see the profits come in. Also provide your subscribers with promotional material that they could actually use and spread around.
3) Make friends with other opt-in list users. This is basically beneficial especially if it is someone who has already launched a successful opt-in list. These are people that have the experience in this venture and experience is still the best teacher. While there are many articles available for you in the internet to use, there is nothing like getting a first hand account from someone you trust.
Experienced opt-in list users will be able to tell you what to do and what not to do because they have gone through it. While different situations occur for different people, the general concept can still be very helpful. There are many things to avoid and these people will be able to tell you which ones.
Building a profitable opt-in list don’t just happen overnight. There are many preparations and effort to do. Opt-in lists are built from scratch, as your list grows, you should also maintain the quality of your list. Keep it organized and manageable. Get or hire help if need be, just make sure that your subscribers are happy and satisfied and they will be willing to buy from you.
Now you can understand why there's a growing interest in opt-in list. When people start looking for more information about opt-in lists, you'll be in a position to meet their needs.
4 Miscellaneous Email Marketing Advices
Email is one of the most personal advertising medium ever invented. Here are four of the many ways you can improve your email marketing results.
Spread the Word
Get others to sign up for your mailing lists with their consent. Spread the word about your mailing list through word of mouth. The beauty in this is that the list of emails will be self-screened and the database will only contain the people who are interested in your offers. Make sure you have their consent beforehand. You don’t want to risk losing reputation or SPAM penalties.
Persistence
Before the internet, they used to say it takes around 7.3 impacts to make an impression with an ad. Today I would guess it to be over twice as high with the internet present. Make sure you are reaching out to your clients at least once a month in emails or other medium. Just because you emailed a list of people and had little or no response does not necessarily mean your audience isn’t interested in your product. Experiment with different emails, get to know which email strategy works best, and keep using it to reach out to your audience.
They Want Useful Information
Emails should contain something that the customer wants. It shouldn’t be just a summary of your company or your resume. Focus on giving more than just what you sell. Specific content, messages, and other targeted information that interests your customers are good to include. For example, if you were selling makeup, you may want to include advice on how to apply the makeup or any makeup in general.
Make Sure Your Audience Reads Your Emails
Graphics, Flash animations, logos are often blocked by email filters. Although they look impressive on an email, they will often lower your impression statistics. I recommend using flat text with hyperlinks to your site. Once they get to your site, you can show them as many graphics as you want. Although some businesses have both a plain and a rich text edition of their email, for starters, stick to the plain text.
4 ways to achieve online success with email autoresponders
An email autoresponder should come as natural to every business. Web surfers stopped looking at ordinary websites years ago. Now every internet visitor wants a website that is caring and will build a positive relationship with its visitors. It is for this reason that online companies are investing huge millions into Customer Relationship Management programs. But if you are a start up businesses without the huge capital outlay to put into customer relations, you can use auto responders to deliver an amazing warm reception and interaction with their visitors.
To conduct a successful online business, you may want to be guided by available research on customers. Research has long established that, positive and timely responses are important ingredients that visitors use to judge how friendly websites are and how they would want to interact with them. And you may want to know that visitors are more likely to establish relationships with sites that provide excellent feedback and timely responses.
Auto responders therefore positively answer the call of website owners seeking automated interaction with customers at all facets of their customer relations.
An email autoresponder can securely perform 5 principal business boosting roles for every website which needs to get a high rating in customer relations and therefore enhance customer loyalty.
Acknowledgement:
Autoresponders can let people know you have received their emails and that you will soon respond to their enquiry. Even when you are not available to reply immediately, you will do so at some later time. You see, buyers are predominantly in a state of anxiety and it is a good marketing strategy to allay such anxieties.
People buy with several reasons; one of their being an urgent need to do something. So acknowledging their emails sets their minds at ease and then they are confident that a reply will be forth coming on their enquiry. If you have one thousand emails a day, there is no way you can efficiently reply to all these manually and that is where an auto responder comes in.
Notices:
Assuming you were out of the office for two days and a customer interested in bringing you a hundred thousand Dollar deal writes to you with the hope of receiving a response so business is transacted. It will be quite discouraging for him to wait and wait for no answer to come forth. If you have an email autoresponder installed, some preliminary email marketing messages can be sent to the sender; at least informing him of products/services available or explain your absence and when you will be back. If the sender wishes to wait, you can come back to respond appropriately and get the deal finalized.
Confirmation:
In this age of scam and fraud on the net, every buyer will want a confirmation of his purchase. An autoresponder confirmation serves two purposes – it assures the buyer that the goods will be forthcoming and it relieves him of the thoughts that he had transacted with a fraudster. An auto responder performing this function will make your customers happy and buy from you always.
Appreciation:
Buyers do businesses a great favor by buying. Although you are giving away a product or service in return, customers need to be appreciated for buying from you. At least they had other several options but they chose to buy from you because they like you or how you conducted your business. You can use an email auto responder to send follow up messages to customers thanking them for their business and assuring them of continued support.
Every business must make it a point to rely on an email auto responder to generate customer satisfaction and loyalty. Modern online businesses cannot afford to lose this part of everyday web-based transactions. There are many auto responders on the market available for free or a fee but the most versatile that can effectively perform the vital duties mentioned above can be
5 Surefire Tips for Effective Email Marketing
Over the past few years, research has continued to prove the benefits of e-mail marketing for business: low costs, high conversion rates and detailed tracking are all notable features. But e-mail marketing is becoming much more than just a tool for spammers and e-businesses. Consumers are becoming increasingly savvy on the differences between spam and permission-based emails, and more and more of them are accepting permission-based e-mail marketing as a positive replacement for direct mail.
The best news is that the majority of people who receive permission-based e-mails open, on average, 78% of them.
Jupiter Research reports effective email marketing campaigns can produce nine times the revenues and 18 times the profits of broadcast mailings. But crafting an effective business email is both an art and a science. Here is a list of factors, potential problems and effective solutions to keep in mind:
1. Spam! Spam! Spam! I don't need any Viagra!
The average consumer receives more than 300 emails a week, 62% of which are spam. No wonder there's such hostility towards the industry. But spam filters, bulk folders and "report spam" features are helping consumers become more at ease about the perils of spam. While 89% of users cited spam as a major concern in 2003, that number dropped to 85% in 2004, proportionally to an increase in the use of spam-fighting tools.
So as a permission-based business email marketer, what can you do? One tip is to remind your subscribers to add you to their "safe senders" list. The second, and most important, tactic is to make sure your email marketing service provider has a good relationship with ISPs. This will ensure that your email marketing campaigns go into your subscribers' inboxes, not their junk mail folders. When choosing an email marketing software, make sure the company has strict anti-spam policies and complies with the guidelines of Can-Spam.
2. Images and formatting: Why do my emails look broken?
Broken email campaigns are an increasing concern among email marketers, especially since several companies and web-based email providers now block graphics as a measure to combat spam. In fact, according to ClickZ, 40% of email marketing messages delivered to inboxes are "broken."
This was actually something that came up during Eliteweb's beta-testing phases, as we had a client in the Canadian Government whose recipients were mostly using highly secure email programs. The solution we came up has now become one of our key competitive advantages.
What Eliteweb does is it publishes every single email marketing campaign sent to a secure location on the web (a location only original recipients of the email can access, thanks to encrypted technology that automatically authenticates the user). The technology also ensures you can track your users' behaviors, even if they are reading your email campaign at the secure web location.
3. Personalization and relevant content: In a business e-mail, one size does not fit all.
In a recent study by DoubleClick, email users were 72% more likely to respond to a business e-mail if its content was based on the interests they had specified. That number points out the absolute importance of allowing users to choose their own interest groups and have control over which business e-mails they receive. The most popular interest categories, according to the study, are coupons and household goods.
But your coupon is no good unless the user opens the email. Users in the study said the most compelling reason for them to open a business email is the name in the "from" field. So it's a good idea to make sure your company name is clearly stated there. Another major factor is the "subject" line. Users cite discount offers and interesting news as the most compelling subject lines, followed by new product announcements and free shipping offers.
4. Click-through and conversion: Show me the money!
So the user has opened your email and read the content. Great. But where's the sale? There's good news here. For one, consumers are increasingly likely to make purchases as a direct result of a business email campaign. One-third of users in the DoubleClick study had purchased something by clicking a link on an email. Another 42% clicked on an email link for more information, then purchased the product at a later time. Second, online couponing is booming: 73% of consumers have redeemed an online coupon for an online purchase, and 59% have redeemed an online coupon offline.
In terms of industries, the top performers are travel, hardware/software, electronics, apparel, food, home furnishings, gifts/flowers and sporting goods. All companies sending business emails in those categories said between 71% and 80% of recipients have purchased their products because of an email campaign.
There's no need to fret if your company doesn't fit in to one of those industries. The overall landscape for email marketing conversions is looking brighter every day. The average click-to-purchase rate has increased nearly 30% since 2004 and the average orders-per-email-delivered rate has increased more than 18% since last year.
5. Stats tracking: who are my real consumers?
E-mail marketing is an increasingly popular tool in effective CRM, and it's about time more businesses recognize that. First off, if your provider's email services for business do not include detailed, real-time tracking, you're getting a raw deal. Real-time tracking is now an industry standard, and it's highly valuable, as it allows you to see the exact moment a user opens your campaign, clicks on your link and makes that purchase. Studying your users can help you improve your communications efforts, so each campaign performs better than the last (several email service providers also let you compare the performance of your campaigns).
But many marketers are still in the dark. According to a recent WebTrends research, only 5% of marketers are very confident in the measurement of their online marketing efforts, while 26% admit they're "flying blind." WebTrends says the low confidence comes from a lack of knowledge when it comes to measurement, which means there's still a lot of work to be done.
In email marketing, a blind shot won't take you very far. But if you aim properly by following these essential rules of play, you should soon be reaping the same major results as so many online and offline businesses.
6 Eye Grabbing Subject Lines
Your subject lines plays a crucial role in any email campaign ads whether you're using safelists, autoresponders, ezine solo ads or any opt-in list where email is involved. Your subject line will make or break your return on your investment so make sure you get their attention first.
Here are six headlines that have worked for me in the past which I'm sure will work for you too. The technology will always change but peoples desire to succeed and curiousity will not.
1. Promote Your URL Here - Free!
For whatever reasons, I've had so much success using this subject line when promoting free classified sites, safelists, and those viral ad boards.
2. Hi, My name is Paul
This works simply because it raises prospects curiosity. I'm always a sucker for this subject line. Who's this Paul anyway? I've had succeess with this using ezine solo ads.
3. I need your help, please?
There's something about being a human, always wanting to help another human being, It's hard to explain, it just works.
4. Bob, I haven't received your shipping address yet.
What! my shipping address? why do you need my shipping address for. This particular subject line really piqued my interest. If you are sending post cards to your members or prospects, this will improve your sales especially if you personalize it.
5. How my site got listed #1 on Google, for free!
This one made several sales from Trafficswarm traffic exchange program when I was promoting an affiliate program about search engine e-book. Even made more sales with ezine solo ads using the same subject line.
6. Paul, Please accept my sincerest apology.
When I saw this subject line from an email, my first reaction was, "who/why/what are you sorry about?...huh?" Exactly it got my attention and my curiosity. The sender was apologizing for not sending that email sooner which was about a new traffic exchange program. Good grief.
In conclusion, make your subject line so compelling that it's almost irresistible for your prospects not to open the email message. If you can hypnotize your readers with cleaver subject lines, you are half way to making a sale. Also when people can recognize where that email message came from, that will help getting your email message open as well. Don't use fake names, use your real name instead.
Of course, I am not recommending that you use any of these headlines if they are not true in relation to the content of the e-mail message. If you rely on deception in e-mail marketing, all you will do is tarnish your reputation
and your credibility.
6 Profitable Ways To Use Autoresponders
1. Offer an email course.
Write up a course or use your articles to create a course that you can offer to your visitors.
You'll be able to educate people about your product, and increase your sales by showing them the benefits they'll get from purchasing from you.
2. Send excerpts of your ebook.
Increase your sales by showing your visitors firsthand the valuable information you have to offer them.
Simply string together excerpts of several or maybe just one chapter of your ebook, and then offer your autoresponder series to your visitors.
If you have an affiliate program, increase your sales by making this autoresponder series (as well as any email course you offer) available to your affiliates.
3. Publish an ezine.
With broadcast capable autoresponders, you'll be able to double opt in all your new subscribers and send out your issues on the schedule you want.
Promote your ezine on your site, and submit it to ezine directories and ezine announcement lists.
If you write articles, you can also get more new subscribers by using your resource box to promote your ezine.
You can also promote your ezine in your signature file and get more new subscribers through your day to day emails and also from your posts to discussion lists and forums that you're a member of.
4. Offer a sample issue.
Make one of your best, current ezine issues available by autoresponder.
Then offer it on your site, and also, when you can, include it along with your other ezine information when you submit your ezine to ezine directories.
5. Publish an article announcement list.
Get more ezine publishers and webmasters to publish your articles on a regular basis by creating a list that announces when you've written a new article or articles.
You'll be able to keep in touch with people that enjoy your writing, helping you to get your articles published more often and increase traffic to your site.
6. Make a training course available to your affiliates.
Offer a generic email training course that your affiliates can use to learn how to successfully promote your products and earn commissions.
Your affiliates will have a handy resource that they can print out and go back to again and again, and you'll be able to increase your profits by helping your affiliates get started on the right track.
7 Steps for Improving Your Email Marketing
The success of your email marketing campaign is often based on a set of complex factors. However, a number of these issues can be proactively managed to ensure an optimized response. When developing your next email campaign, consider the following guidelines.
1. Your list.
Certainly one of the most important aspects of any email marketing campaign, your list is directly correlated to your success. Are your names recent? Have they agreed to be marketed to? Have they shown an interest in products or services similar to your own? Make sure that you are using a house list (names you collected on your own) or have been purchases from a reputable broker.
2. Your subject line.
Getting a user to open your message is paramount any email marketing campaign. The best way to determine the subject line that works best is to break your emails into three random yet equal groups. Measure the response to each email and use the highest producing one as your control. In follow up emails, try to beat the response rate of your control email.
3. Your sender information.
What information appears on the sender line of your email? Will your prospects recognize it? Do they want to hear from you? Often times, emails are deleted without ever being opened due to an indiscernible sender name. Your sender name should be brief and easily understood.
4. Track your results.
Tracking allows you to determine who opened your message and clicked on a link or multiple links within your email. By determining what worked and what didn’t, you can replicate success on your next email. As described above, tracking is particularly important when testing subject lines, imbedded links, and other direct response vehicles.
5. Make sure your unsubscribe method is in place and working.
The CAN-SPAM act of 2003 requires that all email messages contain clear directions on how to opt-out from subsequent mailings. Provide an unsubscribe mechanism that allows those receiving your email to send you and email and indicate their desire to opt-out from receiving further emails from you or your business. If recipients no longer want to hear from you, it’s in your best interest to remove them from your list.
6. Your images are correctly referenced and you've used alt tags in each image.
Improperly referencing your images can cause them to appear broken when you send your message - the dreaded red x. To insure the image is referenced correctly it must appear as, img src="http://www.yourdomain.com...." rather than, img src="/images/picture.jpg". Alt tags are another important part of your images. The new security features on almost every email client these days disables images automatically. Having alt tags in place allow your reader to identify the image and determine if it is safe to enable.
7. Test, Test, Test!
No matter what your involvement with email marketing happens to be, it is essential that you follow the guidelines above for successful results. In addition, the key is to test, test, test! After each email campaign, measure your opens, click-throughs, and purchases. Document the specific date, time, list, subject line, and content used to produce your results. Refer back to your documentation prior to your next campaign.
Email doesn't have to be a complex form of marketing. There are many best practices you can follow and some simple rules that ensure effectively delivery, open and conversion. By following the simple rules presented in this article, you’ll not only deliver and effective email campaign, you’ll discover a consistent method for generation revenue for your business.
8 Advantages Of Using An Email Marketing Software
If you decided to use email marketing to promote your business, then let me congratulate you on this very wise decision.
You might have read over the internet the buzz created by this type of marketing, and I’m sure you have already learned that “The money is in your list” – this is 100% true.
Even though email marketing is a very powerful way to transform leads into hungry buyers many people are discouraged to use this technique because of the time they need to invest in it. A recent study has showed that about 75 % of people who use email marketing need between 15 and 50 hours per week to handle it.
If you’re like me, then you’re a very busy person who can’t afford to spend that much time just on email marketing. So this is why I decided to make a list of the great advantages brought by Mailloop 7.0. , the best email marketing software on the net.
1. You get an opt-in form template which comes with full instructions so you can easily add it to your site.
2. It automatically stores every email saving you precious time and headaches.
3. It e-mails new subscribers a welcome message just moments after opting in. No more preparing and sending e-mails to hundreds, even thousands of subscribers manually.
4. Mailloop gives you attractive looking templates to use for your newsletter so that it looks friendlier to your subscribers.
5. It keeps your e-mail safe from spam complaints, blacklists or filters so that it doesn’t get trashed.
6. You can schedule your promotions so that you can go on your vacation without worrying about interrupting campaigns.
7. You can use as many autoresponders as you need, create as many campaigns, write as many emails as you wish … the sky’s the limit.
8. Manage all of this from a complete user-friendly control panel.
8 Steps To Irresistible Email Copy Every Time
=> Step #1 - WHO DO YOU THINK YOU`RE TALKING TO?
Before you sit down to write your email sales letter, you`ve got to determine exactly who your audience is. This is a master key to getting results from email marketing.
Ask yourself these questions:
- What do your prospects/customers want?
- What frustrates your prospects/customers most?
- Who else is selling something similar to you?
- Why should your prospects/customers believe you?
- Why should prospects/customers respond to you instead of someone else?
- What kind of appeals will your target market respond to?
=> Step #2 - A GREAT SUBJECT IS YOUR OBJECT
Before an email can generate results, recipients need to open it. But what can you do to spark their interest and get their interest "motor" revved up?
Your SUBJECT LINE is the key.
There are four types of email formulas you can use as a guide in crafting your email. Each has a different PSYCHOLOGICAL APPEAL that works like magic on consumers. Here are some examples:
- State a powerful benefit - "Empowerism Satisfies Your Need for Leads"
- Pique curiosity - "Empowerism Has Uncovered the Secrets of Success"
- Write your subject line with a news angle - "Empowerism Launches RSVP For Those Who Want to Double Their Money Fast!"
- Offer Immediate Gratification - "With Empowerism RSVP, you can start the money wheels turning before the sun goes down tonight"
Here`s an important "homework assignment": Write at least 25 SUBJECT LINES before you decide on which one to use. Take the best two and test them against each other in your marketing campaign. (Save the "losers" to use for other purposes or spruce up later.)
=> Step #3 - WHAT`S IN IT FOR THEM?
Sit down and write every conceivable benefit your product has. Don`t know the difference between features and benefits? Features describe the product; benefits describe the results of using the product. Features appeal to logic...logic justifies emotion...emotion drives sales (see below).
Here`s a rule of thumb for benefits: ask yourself "What can my product or service do for my customer?" Then begin to write your letter telling your reader WHAT`S IN IT FOR THEM. Tell them how much better life will be for them after they buy from you. Tell them how much better they`ll feel. Tell them how their peers will respect them more.
=> Step #4 - AN EMOTIONAL APPEAL
When promoting anything to anybody, you must remember that buying decisions are based upon emotion and later backed up by logic. Before you write a single word, determine what emotional hot buttons you need to push to "jumpstart" your prospect.
Selling health supplements? Go for the "fear of illness" button with "A Natural Way to Save Your Eyesight." Selling political bumper stickers? Hit the "anger" button with: "Let the President Know What You Think of His Policies." Other buttons include: curiosity, greed, ego, vanity, hope, and/or fear of scarcity or security.
=> Step #5 - A NAME YOU CAN TRUST
To convince people to buy your product or service, you must make them believe that your offer is credible and that you (or your product) will deliver as promised.
How do you do that? Here are three ways you can build credibility with the readers of your sales letter:
- Provide testimonials.
- Include endorsement letters from authority figures in your industry
- Make your offer and promises sincere and believable.
=> Step #6 - A GUARANTEE
Nowadays, trying to sell without some type of guarantee is a losing proposition. You`ve got to have one. And the stronger your guarantee, the better your response will be. And, believe it or not, although most people will NOT ask for a refund, they`ll trust your offer knowing that you stand behind it.
You can offer a 24-hour, 30-day, 60-day, 90-day, or even a full-year. And here`s an interesting fact: The longer the time period, the fewer returns you`ll have! It`s human nature to procrastinate, so the more time someone thinks they have to get a refund, the more they`ll put it off or forget about the refund altogether.
=> Step #7 - DON`T FORGET TO ASK
It happens all the time. Someone makes a fantastic sales presentation, and then doesn`t close the deal because he/she didn`t clearly ask for the order or made the process confusing rather than simple.
- From the Research Department: Statistics show that you need to ask for the order at least three times to close substantial sales. (Some studies put the number at 7!)
If you can, offer several ways for your prospects to order -- consumers love choice. It tells them, "You`re talking directly to me and meeting my unique needs." If you only offer one way to order, make it crystal clear how AND how easy it is. Describe it in detail and ask for the order. Then ask again.
=> Step #8 - THE EYES HAVE IT
It`s a well-known fact: Large blocks of copy are intimidating and will often send people running for the hills or at least the Delete button.
The solution? Break up paragraphs into two to four sentences. Use several subheadings throughout the email letter. And use asterisks, dashes, and ellipses (...) to give your copy more rhythm. Bullet points are excellent eye-catchers - use them whenever appropriate.
10 Best Tips to Write Effective Emails
Hello Reader,
Nowadays, we communicate more and more through email. We use Email communication to write something to friends, relatives, colleagues or clients. Whoever the recipient of your email, it is becoming very important that you write email effectively. As you know, by writing effective email, you can save your time, other person’s time and you can win more trust & confidence from the other end.
Give Reply of Email As soon as Possible
More and more people contact each other through email. Even if they mention directly or not, they expect prompt responses. One of the study by Jupiter Research indicates that 35% of customers expect a reply within six hours, an additional 55% expect a response within 24 hours. Though many people focus on response time, content is just as important. The same study indicated that lack of a thorough response (45%) will cause on-line customers to view a company negatively when considering future purchases.
Learn the art of writing Email
Poorly crafted emails will generate additional emails back & forth, which potentially eating up more of your time. Worse, they can drive unnecessary calls to your most costly channel – your phone. And at that point, customers are bound to be angry and frustrated.
Here are some tips for writing email responses that are both thorough and appropriate:
1. Format your response so that it’s easy to read on a screen. Do not write email using very long sentences, which are lengthy horizontally. Each line must be short. Ideally, write 5-6 words in each line only and not more than that.
2. Make sure the subject line is concise and meaningful to the recipient…not just a generic
“Response from Marketing Team” But also be careful that it doesn’t look like spam.
3. Have one subject per paragraph. Mention this separately by blank lines, so that its easy to read and understand.
4. Be brief. Use as few words as possible to convey your message. More is not better when
it comes to email. An email is not perceived as an electronic letter.
5. Use simple, declarative sentences. Write for a third or fourth grade audience,
particularly if you’re creating templates that are sent automatically. You do not know the
education level of your sender or the sender’s level of comfort with the English language.
6. Be sensitive to the tone of the original email. If the sender is upset because of an error on
your part, acknowledge the error. Clearly state what you are doing to correct the situation.
7. Make sure you answer all the questions posed in the original inquiry. A partial answer
frustrates the sender and results in additional contacts. It also makes the company sending
the response look inept.
8. Make it clear what actions you will be taking next and when the writer can expect the
next contact from you.
9. Don’t ask for an order number/case number or any old information which you remember out of your mind only when one is included in the original email…sounds pretty basic, but sometimes people miss very obvious info in email.
10. Don’t just tell the sender to go to your web site. In many cases, they have already been to
the web site and couldn’t find the answers they were looking for. If you want them to go
back to the web site, provide a direct link to the exact information the reader needs.
10 Quick and Easy Steps To Building A HIGHLY Targeted And Responsive Opt-In List
We've all heard it that in order to stay in business online you need to build a Targeted 'Opt-In' list.
Well... I truly have to agree with that simply because this is where you'll always have a consistent source of FREE Targeted traffic(also referred to as 'Sticky Traffic') to promote your offers or related information to for years to come.
It just makes sense, wouldn't you say?
And, we all know that 'Email' is where the $MONEY$ is truly made when it comes to marketing your business online because it gives You the ability to Follow-Up your potential customers until they decide to buy from You.
But, the problem that usually takes place is that people don't know where to start when it comes to building there own targeted Opt-In list.
Now, for those of you that are new Internet marketing and don't know what a 'Opt-In' list is, here's a quick definition:
An 'Opt-In' list is simply a database of peoples Names and Email Addresses that have subscribed to an email list via a web form giving that list owner permission to send them periodic emails on the topic they are interested in.
Notice how I said, "giving that list owner permission to send them email".
When they subscribe to your Opt-In list they are giving You permission to send them offers or related information on the topic they are interested in, this is known as 'Permission Email Marketing'.
This is the ABSOLUTE safest form of email marketing where You won't get accused of 'SPAM'.
This is very important that You understand this from the beginning.
So, now that you have a clear idea in your mind of what an Opt-In list is and how it will benefit You and your business, I guess it's time to share with you the simple 'Ten Step Process' that I have put together for you on How-To build your own targeted Opt-In list that you can email your offers to at any given time for $Profit$.
Step #1. Pick your Target market or Niche.
This is a very important step because this is where you need to figure out who your target market is going to be for the Product or Service your going to offer.
So, for example, if I was interested in selling a book related to Internet Marketing, well then, my target market would be Internet Marketing related.
Step #2. Can your Target market or Niche be reach online?
This step is where you need to do a little research on whether or not your particular target market can be reached online.
In order to do this you need to do some keyword research using keywords related to your target market.
You can do this by using the Overture keyword research tool located at the URL I've provided below.
Simply type in the keywords related to your target market in the form provided.
This will give you a detailed history of how many searches have been made in the last 30 days on the keywords related to your target market.
As a general rule, if your targeted keywords aren't pulling in 15,000 or more searches per month, then this is a market I wouldn't pursue simply because there isn't much demand for it.
Step #3. Are they making money in this Niche?
This is where you need to do some research on your competition to see if people are spending any money in this Niche.
You can do this by going to Google at http://www.google.com and type in your targeted keywords related to your Niche in the form provided.
This will give you a list of search results.
Those results are your competition, but even more important, to the right you'll notice little ads.
These are paid ads offered through Google Adwords.
This means that somebody is willing to pay to advertise and is paying attention to this particular Niche and must be making money if they're willing to pay for advertising.
That's good news for you.
Step #4. Use Forums to find your Target markets problems.
Forums are a great place to find out exactly what your potential customers TOP problems are by simply scanning there posts and looking for the most common threads.
By doing this you'll be able to know right away what your target markets TOP problems are and how you can help solve there problem.
To find Forums related to your Niche simply visit Google http://www.google.com and type in your targeted keywords with '+ forums' after your keyword.(ex. internet marketing + forums)
Step #5. What's keeping them from getting what they want?
This is where you have to figure out whats keeping them from getting what they want in order to fix the problems they are dealing with, meaning, this is where you need to work with them to find a solution to there problems.
Whether its a Product they need or a Service of some sort.
Step #6. What can you offer them to solve there problems?
This is where the money is being spent.
Now, the only thing you need in order to receive your share of the revenue is a Product or Service that will solve your potential customers problem.
If you don't have a Product or Service of your own don't get discouraged.
I'm going to give you two resources where you can find products or services that You can become an affiliate for that are related to any Niche that will pay you a commission for every sale you make by simply referring your traffic to there website.
Step #7. Set-Up a simple direct response mini-site.
Here is where you Set-Up your lead generating website with a Follow-Up System that your potential customers will come to and Opt-In to your list to start receiving offers or related information on the topic or problem they are having.
This is a very simple process to do and you can view my website as an example of how one would look.
http://www.internetwondersezine.com
If you don't know how to build your own website you can always hire someone to do it for you by going to... http://www.elance.com
Step #8. Get an Auto-Responder account.
This is where you'll be laying the foundation down for your list.
You MUST have an Auto-Responder account Set-Up before you make your mini-site go live because this is where your potential customers are going to come and submit there Name and Email Address so that you can start building a list to send your offers or related information to.
So, do not miss this important step.
Step #9. You need to figure out what 'Bait' to use.
What I mean by 'Bait' is... what are you going to offer them for FREE to get them to subscribe to your Opt-In list.
Here are some examples of what you can use as 'Bait': ebooks, special reports, mini-courses, coupons, etc.
These are the most common. It really depends on who you are targeting, so be creative.
Step #10. Reach out to your target market.
This is the part where you send traffic to your website in order to get subscribers.
I'm going to mention only two methods.
These methods are the most POWERFUL and for good reason, they work.
The first method is Writing Articles.
By Writing Articles your showing your target market that You are someone who knows how to help solve there problem and may have a possible solution for them.
This is the quickest way to build INSTANT credibility in your Niche.
The second method is to send targeted traffic to your mini-site through Pay-Per-Click search engines.
Pay-Per-Click search engines are where you bid on the keywords terms related to your target market and are listed according to the highest bid for that keyword term.
By using PPC search engines, it will get you infront of your target market Instantly.
Writing articles gives you INSTANT credibility and will put you infront of thousands of readers, and Pay-Per-Click search engines send you HIGHLY targeted traffic to your website within minutes depending on which PPC search engine you are using.
The More traffic you send to your website, the More subscribers you'll receive.
It's simply a numbers game.
Well... there you have it, "10 Quick and Easy Steps To Building A HIGHLY Targeted And Responsive Opt-In List".
Now... it's up to you to take the neccessary Action in order to get started with your own targeted Opt-In list.
If you already have an existing web business online simply implement the steps outlined above to your existing website.
These are the 10 basic steps required in order to get your Opt-In listing building started in the Right direction.
Simply follow them and you'll be on your way to receiving your first subscriber in No Time.
10 Steps to Make the Most of Autoresponders
So you've worked hard in creating your website, regularly adding content to it, and building links and increasing search engine placements. The next step, that many overlook, is to capture your visitors by using an autoresponder.
Here's a scenario for you to consider. A visitor finds your site through one of the many ways that you have been carrying out to generate traffic, and finds just what they are looking for and is about to make a purchase. They are distracted while at their computer and leave the site.
Although the example above is hypothetical, the reality is that visitors may leave your site for a number of reasons without you making the most of your opportunity. That is unless you are using an autoresponder.
Capturing the email address of this visitor would have allowed you to contact them at a later date to potentially make the sale that you originally missed out on. Autoresponders are remarkable, flexible programs that do much more than just automatically answer your emails. I'll outline below a number of ideas that you can use to creatively and productively use your autoresponder to transform the casual visitor into a profitable customer.
1) Publish a newsletter.
High quality autoresponders will manage subscriptions and follow-up with those interested prospects that have signed up. This allows you to keep your autoresponder list updated about your products or services, and also build your reputation as an expert in your chosen business area.
2) Contact affiliates.
If you have an affiliate program you can easily contact your affiliates to inform them of any offers you may be running, or to provide them with promotional material that they can use to increase their commissions and your sales. You could provide any tips and advice that you feel would benefit your affiliates.
3) Promote advertising opportunities.
You may provide, or plan on providing advertising on your website, ezine or newsletter. You could setup your autoresponder to send out information about the cost of advertising, and how to find out more information. Of course you could also notify your list of any advertising discounts or offers that you may have.
4) Write reviews.
Write reviews on products and services that you found to be useful. Send this review out with your autoresponder along with your affiliate link to the product.
5) Provide email courses.
Provide valuable information in the form of email courses. These can be setup to send out each lesson at certain intervals. It is important not to solely provide a sales pitch but to provide quality content. You can then provide a paragraph at the end of the email course to entice the prospect to make a purchase of your product.
6) Distribute free reports.
Give your visitors a taste of the information that you provide, and the quality of your product and service. Again, do not make these out to be sales letters, or you stand to lose customers instead of gain.
7) Product tasters.
Provide your prospects samples of your product, whether it be an ebook, software, course, membership, etc. You can capture email addresses from your website this way, and follow-up to make the complete sale.
8) Provide hidden links to pages.
In exchange for a visitors email address, you could provide a link to an affiliate page containing promotional material. You can then gather a list of visitors that are interested in becoming your affiliates.
9) Order page autoresponder.
Provide a form on your order pages that allows visitors to be kept notified of special offers or discounts. This offers a great opportunity to create a mailing list that contains the names of people who are already your customers, and who are interested in any future products.
10) Distribute articles.
Allow visitors to sign up to your autoresponder in order to receive articles. There are many ezine publishers and webmasters looking for content, and this allows you to provide this content whilst including your bio and description of your service or product in a resource box.
Here I've provided ten examples of how autoresponders can be used creatively, but there are many more. Autoresponders are valuable to all internet marketers, and you should seriously consider using one if you do not already.
A Beginners Guide to ISP Inbox Delivery
We’ve discussed blacklisting, I wanted to spend some time looking at where the rubber hits the road for email delivery: the ISP inbox.
Let’s be very clear about this for consumer facing campaigns there are 4 major ISP’s that manage the majority of consumer inboxes.
• MSN/Hotmail
• Yahoo Mail
• AIM Mail
• Gmail
What Does this Mean?
Basically unless each of these mail platforms relays your message to the primary folder, your email campaign is far from optimized.
What Causes mail to be delivered to a bulk/spam Folder?
All of these ISP’s allow their users to report spam with a “report spam” button. The ISP uses this feedback to create a profile for your mail. If users are reporting your mail as spam you will run into problems.
What Can I do to make sure I do not create ISP Spam complaints?
AOL recommends keeping spam complaints below 1-3 percent of traffic, depending on volume. This figure is unique to AOL's user base; it's too generous when applied as a general standard. Be at or below the range of one complaint per 6,000 to 8,000 messages, or 0.013 percent.
Minimize Complaints
Minimizing complaints always starts with practices used to collect e-mail addresses. It should be obvious by now sending unsolicited e-mail only gets you in trouble. Mailing lists with the lowest complaint rates are either confirmed opt-in or properly managed single opt-in. If you have a solid permission-based list but still find incoming complaints are higher than the optimal rate or are rising, consider the following:
• Brand your subject lines. Mail systems with spam complaint buttons offer it at the inbox level. A recipient need only to scan subject lines and decide which messages not to delete immediately. A subject line such as "Exciting offers for you, Bob!" will surely be marked as spam. Consider using your company or newsletter name in brackets at the beginning of your subject lines.
• Consider including unsubscribe instructions at the top of your e-mail, in addition to the footer. Some users use the "report spam" button as an unsubscribe method and won't scroll through an entire message to find that link.
• Include instructions for users to whitelist your domain. This prevents a user-based filter from mistaking your message for spam and either diverting it to the spam folder or prefixing "[SPAM]" to the subject of the message.
• Provide a preference update page. Disclose how your organization will use a subscriber's e-mail addresses, and how often. Allow subscribers to select preferences on the opt-in form, and link from e-mail to a preference or profile update page.
• Avoid spammy looking content. Try not to use garish, bold fonts; large, red letters, and the like. Avoid images with poor compression quality. A clean, readable design isn't as likely to be mistaken for spam.
• Don't over e-mail. If recipients expect to receive a few informational e-mail messages each month from your company, don't suddenly start sending two or three each week.
• Don't send unexpected e-mail. If subscribers opted in to receive your "Trends & Tips" newsletter, don't send them your hard-sell e-commerce messages, unless they clearly requested them.
• Include opt-in information. If possible, add to your e-mail admin area information, such as the subscriber's e-mail address, date of opt-in, and how she potentially subscribed (product registration, white paper download form, sweepstakes entry, etc). With many subscribers receiving dozens of commercial e-mail messages daily, it's easy to forget signing up for your newsletter -- and then to file a complaint.
What Can I do to test my ISP deliverability?
We recommend you use a service like EmailReach. Their trial is free and let’s you know where you stand in about 5 minutes.
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