2011
Emailing Iphones
How many times have you woken up in the morning and checked your Iphone (because we know everyone has one) to find an email like this sitting in your inbox? I can’t speak for the entire population, but I know that I have already decided what to do with that email before I open it.
The Iphone gives email marketers more opportunities to catch the recipient’s interest than some other email clients. Unfortunately, many marketers take this for granted. Here is a tip that will help you increase your opens and clicks.
2011
To Tweet or Not to Tweet – Is Twitter Useful?
Twitter has become an interesting topic of debate among professionals. Can it be used to bolster your marketing efforts, and is it sustainable in the long term, or just a fad?
Eight Ways Twitter is Useful Professionaly gives some examples of uses in the professional realm.
Although there are some ways listed that Twitter can be useful, it has definitely not penetrated every market and it remains to be seen whether it will continue to be perceived as useful by enough people to ensure its long-term professional use.
2011
Email vs. Social Networking
Social networking has gained a lot of ground in the last few years. With the rise of social media and networking sites, people are wondering whether they need to create a social marketing strategy to suplement their email marketing strategy.
In short, the answer is yes.
Looking at the global trends, we can see that social networking users surpassed email users in 2009. In terms of time spent on social networking, it surpassed email already in 2007, and had in early 2010, almost doubled the time spent on email.
2011
Improve Click-Throughs. How to Format your Email.
Everyone is looking for the best way to deliver content and often this is done through links in an email that direct the recipient to a document, webpage, or video. Let’s talk about some things you can do to increase the percentage of people who are clicking your links after opening the email. In this article we’re going to be specifically looking at the message as opposed to the graphical layout or design of the email.
Rule #1. Be short and concise. Sending long emails with lots of information is a sure way for people to close or delete it. This rule is especially true if your priority is to get a click on a link. If you’ve managed to get someone to open your email they’ll be able to tell within the first sentence that it’s a marketing email. If you have not grabbed their attention, you can’t expect that they will continue reading all the way down to your links. This brings us to the next rule… Read more >>
2011
Good Subject Lines
Good subject lines are key to getting your emails opened. Without prompting someone to open your email, it’s impossible for them to see your content.
There are a few different ways to create catchy subject lines that will grab the recipient’s attention.
Most obviously, if you know what the recipient is interested in, create a subject that is related to that subject. For example, if you sell fruit and you know your recipients are all interested in fresh apples, make the subject “Fresh Apples.” Splitting recipients in groups according to their interest and tailoring the subject lines to suit them will also increase the chance that the email will be read. For example, “Fresh Apples” to those interested in fresh apples and “Fresh Oranges” to those interested in fresh oranges. Read more >>
2011
How to Embed Video in an Email
Before you get too excited, the short answer is this: There is a way, but it’s not ideal.
As video becomes more and more prolific on the web, and as email marketing continues to grow, people are becoming increasingly interested in the idea of embedding videos in emails. Campaign Monitor wrote a great article on The Current State of Video in Email.
In an effort to increase security, many email clients have restricted the content that can be embedded. According to the study, Apple Mail is the only program that allows embedding of multiple media types, and Lotus Notes is the only client that allows Java Applets.
All the clients tested, barring Windows Mobile 5, supported embedding animated GIFs. Unfortunately there are many downsides, including lack of sound, large file size, no playback control, and heavy CPU load to name a few.
Looking at the information, the best bet is still to link to content on a webpage. That way you know that the end user will be able to access your videos.
2011
Will Mobile Clients take over?
Recent research shows that use of mobile email clients is on the rise, at the expense of desktop email clients. A study conducted by Campaign Monitor found that 20% of users are accessing emails from mobile devices. With Iphones accounting for about 72% of mobile opens, that means that one in seven emails is being opened on an Iphone.
Although 20% of mobile email clients seems high, there’s no indication that the trend is going to slow down. In fact, it’s very likely that we will see this number continue to increase.