2012
Ban Email – It’s too distracting. Wait, what?
A few months ago the daily mail reported that Atos, an IT company employing almost 80,000 people was going to ban company-wide email. The reason? Email is too distracting, and employees are spending too much time sifting through SPAM and switching tasks, constantly replying to incoming emails. Instead of emailing, they will try to use face-to-face communication or chat-type platforms.
While there’s no question that email can be distracting, there are a couple issues here…
Have you ever used a chat or instant messaging platform before? Sure you have. So then you’ve probably also realized that that blinking icon on your taskbar can be quite distracting. You may have also noticed that stopping what you’re doing to open your messaging program to see someone has messaged “hey” can feel like a real waste of time.
We can all complain about the amount of time being wasted by doing something a certain way, we can also look at ways of improving what works before taking drastic, and seemingly ridiculous action.
There will always be applications we use that can cause distractions. The truth of the matter is, that how much of a distraction it is, is largely dependent on the way in which it’s used and the individuals using it. If the individuals are not managing their time properly, or the technology is not being managed properly, it doesn’t matter what you use, you’ll end up at the same place time and time again.
2012
Email Tracking – Bananatag Review
After our MailChimp review we did some searching for similar services, and found one with a twist. Bananatag lets you track your emails like MailChimp, but instead of signing into an online account it lets you track them from the program you already use.
It’s different from Mailchimp in that its not a Mass Email Marketing program. You wouldn’t use it to send emails to your 10,000 contacts to let them know about your current promotion. But, it does a great job tracking those follow-up emails you send to clients, or full conversations between you and a prospect, coworker, or anyone actually.
Check it out at www.bananatag.com
Did we mention they have integration with Outlook? Oh, we should mention that, and the other stuff too…
2012
Email Marketing Services – MailChimp Review
MailChimp is one of the leading Email Marketing Services available today and with good reason. Compared to many other services MailChimp has a very simple, easy to use interface. Although it is easy to use, it is also very powerful and feature rich.
Want to know one of the best parts of Mail Chimp? It has....
2011
Opens vs. Clicks – Whats more important?
Email Marketing Services generally have three different point of data that they report on after sending an email campaign: Delivery Status, Opened, Clicked.
The Delivery Status lets you know whether the email was delivered to the recipient, if it bounced, was blocked, or if the address is non-existant. The Open rate shows you the number of people or percentage of people who received the email that opened it. The Click rate shows you the number of people or percentage of people who opened the email that clicked a link.
So which one is most important?
2011
How to get people to Join Your Mailing List
Many businesses struggle with creating good email marketing lists. Many other businesses feel just a little bit guilty when they click the box in their email marketing service, indicating that the contacts have all willingly signed up. So how do you get people to sign up so you can rid yourself of the guilt?
2011
Do I need to use an Email Service Provider?
Most companies employ email marketing in one way or another, and many choose to use an Email Service Provider to send out their emails. But why do they choose to go this route instead of just sending them themselves?
This is a common question asked by companies interested in starting out with an email marketing campaign. The simplest approach is definitely to use a service provider. We’ll go into the why below….
2011
CAN-SPAM, Are you following the rules?
When planning your email marketing campaign make sure that you are following CAN-SPAM regulations as part of your strategy. Most email marketing companies require CAN-SPAM compliance in order for you to use their services.
You can find details about CAN-SPAM here. In essence it lays out guidelines for commercial emails, which it defines as “any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service (including content on an Internet website operated for a commercial purpose.” The FTC, which is tasked with enforcing the act, approved new provisions in 2008.
2011
Internet vs. Print Marketing?
Many many things have changed since the internet first arrived, including marketing. However, studies by Morgan Stanley seem to indicate that marketers have not kept up with the changing environment.
The study compares time spent on different types of media vs. the percentage of advertising spending in that media. What they found was that although only 12% of peoples time was spent on print media, it accounted for 26% of advertising spending. Conversely, Although time spent on internet media was 39%, advertising spending in internet media was only 13%. So what does this all mean? Read more >>
2011
Drip Marketing
If you’ve run an email campaign or two and followed up on the stats, you’ll know that not everyone on your list is opening your email. You’ll also soon realize that you can send the exact same email to someone multiple times, and they may only click on it the third time they receive it, and actually be interested in what you have to say. Ever wondered why that is?
The reality is that it can take a few emails before you reach the intended recipient at a time that is good for them. Day to day, peoples schedules can be drastically different. Emails can also end up in Junk Mail (How often does your Junk mail get checked?) or come in on a day off. Not only that, people can also read your email and be interested, but the timing for them to take action may just not be right at the moment. There are lots of different legitimate reasons for this, which is why drip campaigns or “drip marketing” is so important.
2011
Improve Response to Marketing Emails
When using email marketing sites to send out emails there are many different options and layouts to choose from. If the end goal of your email is to provoke the recipient to reply, there is a format that can be hepful to do that. Unfortunately, this format is not typically available exactly the way you want it as a template. It may require some setting up using HTML or XHTML if the site allows you to do advanced editing. The below method has been proven to be quite helpful in prompting a response from recipients.