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Email marketing effectively builds customer relationships, creates brand awareness and generates sales. Mobile email marketing gives us access to new markets and helps us to better reach our customers. It is imperative that emails should be as accessible on a mobile device as it is on a desktop or a laptop.

Let us consider a few mobile email marketing optimization techniques to make your email design more mobile friendly:

Short Subject Line: The shorter the subject line (not more than 15 characters) the easier is is  for a mobile user to view it and decide whether he should open the mail.

Simple Layout: Limit the email size to 50k because mobile devices are slower to load. Creating an email with a multi-column layout or heavy data content would make the reader abandon the email before it loads. 

Easily Readable: Use fonts and sizes easy on the eyes. Your reader may be on the move and if your email is not easily readable he may ignore it. Use white spaces and bullet points for easy readability.

Mobile Friendly Landing Pages: If your email offers the ability to click through on a link, make sure the page you directed them to is also mobile friendly.

Easy Handling: Mobile users use their thumb to navigate. So make sure while adding call to action links and buttons make sure they are positioned where it is easy for the reader to navigate to.

Click-to-Call: Add a regular text phone number or a buttonto your message for a "call to" function.  Mobile users will prefer to call rather than type a reply.

Quick Sharing: Icons for sharing social media information should be placed where it is easily accessible to the reader. Do not put them at the end of the email, place them within the content, as relevant, so they can share if need be.

Text Version: Always have a plain text version available. Place a link above your message so subscribers can 'view it online' in case their phone does not display the email correctly.

As a marketer, you have to keep experimenting to increase your sales. With the right optimization techniques, it is easy to tweak your email to see what works for your readers.

When Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook, he probably didn't consider what a tremendous opportunity this social media website would present for corporations all across the country and even across the globe. In conjunction with Twitter, Blogger, LinkedIn, and more recently, Google+, social media platforms are quickly becoming crucial components of any successful Internet marketing strategy. 

Despite the opportunity offered by these social media websites, reports have shown that many email marketing consultants are failing to take full advantage by connecting professional email marketing with social media marketing for ultimate exposure. If you want to enjoy greater exposure and subsequent success for your own company, consider the following tips for leveraging social media in your professional email marketing campaign. 

Provide Easy Sharing Features

If you want your emails to be shared more often, you can start by simply making your emails easier to share. If you're thinking, "But our emails already include a 'forward to a friend' feature," you are part of a surprisingly large group that is missing out on incredible opportunities for brand exposure through social media. According to a 2010 study by eMarketer, 48 percent of marketers allow email recipients to forward the email to a friend, while just 13 percent offer special features for sharing emails on social networks. A study by MarketingSherpa discovered that the simple addition of social media sharing buttons in a managed email marketing campaign led to a 25 percent increase in reader interaction and dramatic surges in Internet traffic to a company's website. With the promising results of this study and the slow pace of the competition, integrating easy sharing could dramatically enhance your company's professional email marketing campaign. 

Cross Promote

Cross promotion is a highly effective strategy for maximizing exposure. If there is an unusual imbalance of subscribers on your accounts, this likely indicates that your company could be doing a better job at cross promoting. For example, if your company has 16,000 Twitter followers and only 2,000 email subscribers, it's likely that not all of your subscribers are aware of the benefits of subscribing to your email newsletters. Encourage your subscribers on each social media outlet to subscribe to receive emails from your company and stay connected through other social networks. Asking nicely may not work every time, which brings me to my next point: 

Offer Incentives

Despite the fact not every company makes it easy for consumers to share emails on social networks, nearly every business in the country has at least one social networking account. This poses a problem for businesses because tougher competition leads to higher selectivity from consumers when choosing which corporations to follow to prevent cluttering news feeds with promotion after promotion. To successfully encourage more email subscriptions, or to follow you on social networks, you need to be able to answer the tacit question of the consumer, namely, "What's in it for me?" Incentives can include discounts, sweepstakes, freebies and other attention-grabbing benefits of this nature. 

Because trends in both email and social media marketing change at a rapid pace, an email marketing agency is the most effective way to maintain momentum and stay ahead of the competition. With a world of opportunities available through social networking, your professional email marketing campaign could generate more attention than ever before. 

Since the advent of social media, Internet marketing has evolved at a rapid pace. These dramatic changes have caused many people to question whether professional email marketing is still a profitable component of the marketing campaign. It's true, email marketing has company in the Internet marketing sphere, but those who disregard its marketing potential will miss out on a consistently performing opportunity despite the increasing success of social media outlets. 

Although social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others give users the opportunity to communicate through messaging features, studies have shown email still retains its popularity. During an earnings call in January 2012, Google claimed to have 350 million active Gmail users. In October 2011, Hotmail claimed an identical user base, while Yahoo! reported a figure relatively close at 310 million users -- and this is just coming from the three major hubs. Studies also show most of these users are checking their email every day, which makes this medium a tremendous marketing opportunity for businesses. 

When it comes to the value of email marketing, most companies don't need much convincing. Data has shown they are already willing to invest large sums toward professional email marketing strategies. Forrester Research has projected companies will spend approximately $1.676 billion on managed email marketing in 2012 and approximately $1.649 billion on social media in the same year. These statistics indicate many companies have equally assigned values to both email marketing and social media marketing. Actually, with email marketing leading by $27 million, it appears this component is considered slightly more important than social media marketing alternatives. 

So, we can see email still has a large user base and is still considered highly valuable by American corporations, but does it pass the test of being effective for generating sales? According to Adrian Mullan of WebProNews, email marketing is not only effective for generating online sales, but offline sales as well. A reported 59 percent of email users claim to have made an offline purchase after receiving an email promotion, which indicates that while one email advertisement may not lead to an immediate sale, it certainly leaves an impression on the buyer. Further research reveals that the average shopper comes into contact with an item nine times before making a purchasing decision. This means each marketing technique plays a key role in encouraging a sale. Leaving email marketing out of the equation can cause this exposure to fall short. 

Unlike social media, managed email marketing through an email marketing agency has a unique value because it ensure a personalized and continuous relationship with the consumer. Maintaining the relationship with current customers is highly important, since studies show acquiring a new customer is eight to ten times more expensive than selling to a current customer. New sales are certainly not to be disregarded, but keeping up with current customers through email has proven to generate repeat sales estimated to be four times more profitable than the first purchase. 

To take full advantage of the many benefits that come from managed email marketing, an experienced and educated email marketing consultant is essential. With proper execution, your company can soon begin to see why email marketing truly does matter. 

       

The advancement of technology and Internet marketing has been highly beneficial for the photo and video industry for perhaps fairly obvious reasons. With email and social media marketing, professionals in this industry are able to share their work quicker than ever with greater detail. Having a strong email marketing campaign, in an industry where aesthetic quality has the heaviest influence on whether or not a consumer chooses that particular business, is key to enticing the buyer to take advantage of current promotions, discounts and new techniques or services offered by the company. Although there are a number of reasons that might account for the photo and video industry's email marketing success, consider the following top three contributing factors.

1. More Subscribers Open Their Emails

It may seem like a no-brainer, but the success of many professional email marketing campaigns in the photo and video industry is in part due to the high open rate this industry has overall. Studies indicate a 28.93 percent open rate for all emails sent by companies in the photo and video industry, which proves strong interest among the general public. Even ostensibly more popular industries, such as retail and education, rank considerably lower with just 17.8 percent and 16.64 percent, respectively. Greater interest means greater profit for any business, and for the photo and video industry this certainly holds true.

2. More Subscribers Click the Links in Their Emails

Any experienced email marketing consultant will tell you the click-through rate of an email marketing campaign is one of the most important factors for measuring its success. For the photo and video industry in particular, studies reveal a click-through rate of 5.7 percent. For those who aren't well versed in proper measurement of click-through rates, this figure is exactly 2 percentage points above the average of 3.7 percent. The population used to determine an average click-through rate included several other notable industries, including real estate, insurance and legal industries.

3. Fewer Subscribers Complain or Unsubscribe

An irresponsible or inexperienced use of email can lead to abuse by overwhelming the consumer with excess emails in a manner technically classified as spamming. When email is abused in this way, it often results in customer complaints and a surplus of customers unsubscribing to the company. Although this abuse of strategy, should rightfully only affect the company at fault, it can often have a negative effect on the customer's perception of the entire industry. With the photo and video industry, abuse complaint rates and unsubscribe rates remain significantly low, with a measured 0.07 percent of the former and 0.26 percent for the latter.

Although the nature of the photo and video industry likely helps contribute to its email marketing success, a well-trained and experienced consultant can often have the biggest impact on compelling subscribers to open emails and further encourage them to click the link embedded in the email. In addition to these highly important components, managed email marketing also decreases the likelihood of abuse, which can frequently have a detrimental effect on the campaign overall. Since statistics indicate email marketing favors the photo and video industry's, companies who are currently taking advantage of professional email marketing opportunities can continue to expect positive returns in the future.

Focusing on email marketing may initially seem obsolete when considering how many different forms of media available to businesses as a means of communicating with consumers in the modern digital age. From social media to mobile applications, the consumer base can be accessed with a wide array of media strategies. So, why choose email marketing? One of the best (and most obvious) reasons to stick with the strategy of hiring an email marketing agency is because it has shown incredible success across a wide range of different industries. As a testament to this fact, consider what the travel industry in particular is gaining from this fruitful marketing strategy.

Reaching Out

It may seem elementary, but just being able to get your foot in the door with your consumer base can be a feat in and of itself. To determine the efficiency of email effectiveness, data is collected and analyzed regularly to ensure all emails have been properly sent without error. Measurement of this data is known as the company's "bounce rate," or "non-bounce rate" if the rate of successful delivery is exceptionally high. A 2011 study shows the travel industry has a non-bounce rate of 98.1 percent, with an open rate of 70.7 percent—the latter of which indicates how many email recipients actually open the email. Since the average open rate across several industries is approximately 20.3 percent, this indicates a significant advantage for the travel industry in particular.

Gaining Attention

The real statistic an experienced email marketing consultant would specifically look for is the company's click-through rate in the email marketing campaign. A click-through rate indicates how often a consumer feels compelled to click the link provided in the email they received. Essentially, this rate indicates the appeal of the product or promotion the company is highlighting in the email. Studies have shown the travel industry has a measured click-through rate of 6.4 percent, which is higher than many other leading industries, including the retail apparel industry at 3.5 percent and the consumer services industry at 4.1 percent.

Generating Profit

Let's face it: the bottom line of any professional email marketing campaign is to make money, which is why this is the most important factor in determining the success of email marketing. According to Ken Magill of the Magill Report, the return on investment (ROI) for email marketing in 2011 was $40.56 for every dollar invested. This exceptionally high figure is predicted to drop slightly for the year 2012, with an estimated ROI of $39.40 for every dollar invested. Overall, email marketing is predicted to generate $67.8 billion in sales for the year 2012, indicating businesses involved in the travel industry can expect big gains for the year 2012 by implementing email marketing into their campaigns.

With excellent consumer response to current email marketing strategies implemented by the travel industry, companies who have yet to adapt to these trends or would like to capitalize on the success of the strategy can benefit greatly by utilizing the services of an experienced and well-trained email marketing agency. Integrating managed email marketing not only ensures maximum appeal and outreach to the consumer, but also ensures a substantial profit considering the projected promise of the industry.

More than two-thirds of business leaders (68%) say they plan to integrate social media with their email marketing efforts in 2012 - Marketingprofs.com study released on December 12, 2011

Most companies utilize email marketing and social media in their marketing campaigns, but separately and consequently miss out on the huge benefits of integrating the two. While email gives you an intimate level of contact with your customers, social media is a public forum. Anyone who has something to say can join the stream of conversation in social media. It shares conversations and builds relationships. Email marketing can take these conversations to the next level. 

Integrating social media with email marketing can help you reach out to new customers and prospects. As more people share your email, you also get a chance to connect with new propsects who are interested in you. Once you know who your key influencers are, you can send dedicated email campaigns to them. 

What's the first step? Start by including social icons to your email campaigns. By adding these icons you make it easy for your customers to share your email content with their 'friends'. Another way is by sharing your emails with your social network. This way you can reach a wider audience, while sending email makes you reach only the limited number of people in your list. You can ask customers to share your email within their network. 

When you keep changing the way you connect with your audience it makes them stop and take notice. You can use social media to engage in conversations and pique the interest of your potential customers. Now invite them to your website where they can learn more about you and your products. By leveraging the power of social media you can extend the reach of your email campaigns. 

Sources: 

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/9-ways-to-integrate-email-and-social-media-marketing/

http://www.esoftload.info/marrying-email-marketing-to-social-networking

http://www.pbsmartessentials.com/get-more-customers/pbsmartadvice/social-media-and-email-marketing-improving-roi/

Recently, I had to call the pharmacy to make sure they had been able to refill a prescription for me. The lady was very nice and said it was ready. In addition, she asked if I would be interested in signing up to receive a text message when my prescriptions were ready in the future. 

Of course!

How convenient to be able to get a text message when my prescriptions are ready for pick-up. CVS also allows you to sign up to receive emails to better manage your prescriptions, receive health information, and receive special offers throughout the store. And that's just one example! They're taking advantage of several different types of marketing channels to make their program more efficient for customers. Many email marketing firms are encouraging their clients to expand into other channels to increase their reach to audiences. 

Only working in one channel right now? Pairing with an email marketing agency, like Delivra, can help you implement other programs in addition to your email campaigns. It might make sense to set up an SMS program (outbound test messages) as a way to communicate with you audience. Or they might be able to help set up a text to subscribe program as well. Text to subscribe refers to having people text you their email address to join your email marketing list. It's a great way to build your email list without much effort on your part. 

For the best email marketing results, incorporate it with other channels, whether that's mobile marketing, social media marketing, blogging, or all of them!

I'm looking forward to receiving my first update from CVS via text and email (now that's I'm signed up for it). Want to learn more about managing your email marketing and incorporating some additional channels? Reach out the email marketing consultants at Delivra today! 

Although email marketing has proven effective across a wide range of different industries, the strategy has recently shown especially notable promise in the restaurant industry in particular. This promise is evidenced partially by a recent study that revealed a 20 percent open rate of all emails sent by restaurants in 2010. This may not sound like an impressive statistic by itself, but when compared with other industries surveyed, it ranks considerably higher. For example, the entertainment industry came in at just a 16 percent open rate, followed even further behind by the medical, dental and healthcare industries, which have a 13 percent open rate.

What Email Offers

Again you might be thinking: What's the big deal if customers are opening more of their emails from restaurant companies? According to Forrester Research, this open rate increase is complemented by a 17 percent revenue increase from each customer in this population. This inference is based on a study conducted by Forrester Research, which revealed that there is a 17 percent increase in purchase value of email subscribers versus non-subscribers. Although opening an email may not necessarily solidify a sale right then and there, it can still have an influence on the customer in the future. A reported 87 percent of consumers in the same Forrester Research study claimed email marketing impacted their future purchasing decisions.

The Proof isn't in the Pudding—it's in the ROI

Investing in managed email marketing is something both small and large restaurants truly can't afford to miss out on because of its proven efficacy in generating more business. According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing generates ROI of $57.25 for each dollar spent on the service. Compared with alternative options for online marketing, such as social media marketing, the ROI for email marketing is 150 percent greater. Looking at it from a purely objective point of view, it's difficult to argue with an investment generating such a substantial return.

A Recipe for Success

If the proven efficiency of hiring an email marketing consultant isn't enough of a motive to take advantage of this highly lucrative service, consider the fact that many other restaurants in the industry are already following this recent trend. According to a study by National Restaurant News, an average of seven out of ten restaurants in the industry are actively pursuing an email marketing agency for their own campaigns. This statistic indicates that restaurants which don't incorporate professional email marketing may lose customers to restaurants which are more accessible, and thus could be left behind by the competition.

Intuition Matters

The success seen in the restaurant industry is likely due to the widespread popularity of using Internet resources to find information about a particular restaurant. Studies show that 89 percent of customers always research information about a restaurant online before dining there. The benefit of email marketing is it can bring this information directly to the customer, which increases the customer's convenience and improves the chances they will choose that particular restaurant over another requiring an active search to acquire the same information.

With the prevalence of Internet usage today, it's increasingly important for all kinds of businesses to maintain a presence in the same spheres consumers frequent. Since email is a primary form of communication among so many people, and because of the proven potential of email marketing, the benefits restaurants can enjoy from following this trend are immense.

 As the Super Bowl makes its way to Indy, it's hard to miss the preparations taking place around the city. Personally, I can't wait to see how well Indy hosts such an event. As an email marketer, are you trying to get in on the Super Bowl action too by sending out an email to your subscribers about the big game? 

Papa John's is. As a sponsor of the NFL, it's' not a huge surprise they are, but I was interested in how they were incorporating the email aspect. (For full details about the giveaway, click here to read the full article from PizzaMarketplace.com.) In short, they are doing a Coin Toss Experience with fans where America guesses whether the coin toss will result in Heads or Tails. If they get it right, everyone enrolled in their Papa Rewards program will receive an email with instructions on how to claim their reward. 

Planning on sending out a Super Bowl email? Here are a couple of things to keep in mind: 

1. Make it fun. You are going to be in the inbox with a lot of competition. Not that this, in particular, is anything new, but you'll be competing with several other companies trying to get a piece of the Super Bowl pie. 

2. Rewards. To keep people engaged with your email through the Super Bowl and beyond, include a reward. Papa John's is engaging their audience by incorporating a poll, a reward, and a follow-up email. 

3. Buzz. Once you have established your contest, reward, or poll, etc, start creating some buzz around it. Share the news on social media, blog about it, add a CTA on your website, and send reminder emails. Talk it up! 

4. Test, test, test. You'd hate for a big email campaign around the Super Bowl to flop, wouldn't you? Be sure to test first. 

What examples have you seen of Super Bowl emails? I'm always interested, so send them my way! 

As a marketer, we would love for everyone to actually subscribe to our email updates so we can reach out to them every week to keep our brand in our consumers' minds. However, email is one of the most prominent aspects of our daily working lives, where we are inundated by work emails, social media updates, and email advertising campaigns. Therefore, getting someone to actually subscribe to your email can be tough. 

Instead of immediately asking someone to subscribe to your email updates, my suggestion is to ease them into the process to give them exposure to the types of emails you are sending out. Here are 2 ways to do this: 

1. Use social media to promote your email. 

Every email has a link associated with it, generally located in the header or footer of the email. Use this link to share your most recent email via social media. Mention the most important content of the email, and make sure to ask people to subscribe to your updates. Think of the most important content in your emails as almost a blog post - if people like what's being said, they will most likely subscribe to your blog, or in this case, to your email.

2. Have an email archive widget/page on your site. 

One of the best ways to let more people read your emails is to have them on your site. My suggestion is to have an archive widget on  your site, either located on the sidebar, or having a page specifically dedicated to your email archive. I would organize this by month, week, or whatever works best for your email campaign. You can create an RSS feed for your emails so they automatically show up in these sections. 

I know some brands might be skeptical doing these things since it might decrease email conversions, but they of it this way: if visitors like what you're saying, they will want more. Why wouldn't they want to subscribe to your email updates if the only other option is to continually go back to your site or social media networks every week to read your newest email? 

Email marketing is permission-based marketing at its core. Giving your potential consumers an idea of what content you are providing will allow them to make a more educated decision when subscribing to your email updates. As a result, you will have more dedicated subscribers and less unsubscribes.  

Guest Blogger | Jenn Lisak 

Jenn is a relationship manager with DK New Media. Jenn consults and manages marketing strategies for clients and speaks and writes on marketing and social media. 

Recently, I received a direct mail piece from my dog's veterinarian. It was a Healthy Pet magazine featuring William Shatner (Of course?). Although it was a direct mail piece, there are still relevant lessons that can be transferred to using personalization in emails. See the image of the piece below.
I enjoyed several aspects of the mailing...

1. Personalized Image. The picture of the dog on the front looks exactly like my Henry - down to the crazy pug eyes and the tongue always sticking out. It was perfect and got my attention right away. 

2. Name. I noticed they had included Henry's name on the front as well. (Even though it was spelled wrong, but more about this later.)

3. Last Visit. If you glance through the pages, you notice the vet also included the last appointment date we had.  I added it to my planner right away as a reminder to schedule the next one. 

Here are some factors to consider if you plan to use personalization in your email program...

1. Correct Information. Using personalization can be tricky. You need to be sure you have the right information before deciding to incorporate it. For example, I loved how they used Henry's name, but part of the effect was lost on the fact I was distracted by the misspelling. If you are going to use personalized pieces in your email be sure you have the correct information for everyone in your database. Otherwise, it may not turn out well when sent. 

2. Permission. This is a tidbit specifically for using personalization in emails - make sure you have permission before sending them any kind of emails. Using personalization will be the least of your problems, if you have not previously obtained permission. 

3. Social Media. There were several mentions on the mailing to visit their Facebook page. I assumed it meant for my specific veterinarian, but no. When I got there, it was basically an empty site. I made it to the appropriate one, but still it lost some of it's pizazz. When incorporating social media into your email, be cautious of all sites and aspects. You don't want your subscribers to go astray. 

I read a study by Marketing Sherpa. It said that 4 out of 10 recipients reported emails as spam only because it wasn't relevant. Sherpa also reports that emails which use segments get 50% more clicks. 

Below are a few segmentation ideas to help get you that needed lift. 

1. Geographic: Send invitations to local events or use geographic limitations on service delivery to choose your audience. 

2. Role: For example, a salesperson has different interests than a marketing manager. Segment with targeted content. Industry verticals also may demand a different approach. 

3. Interest: Review the content your recipients have viewed. Re-market based on this information. 

4. Behavior: You can use audience behavior as a filter for your communications. Of course, you need to have analytics set up on your site and you should integrate other purchase behavior into your email marketing system as well. 

5. Brand Advocates: Your brand advocate segment could contain - frequent buyers, social media fans, or customers who have recommended you. 

Segmentation can grow to be a beast, but even the slightest segmentation can increase your email success rates. Start small and expand as you encounter success. 

Need help? Delivra's professional services team is ready to assist. 

This week, the Email Experience Council and Sponsor, StrongMail, released the results of its "2012 Marketing Trends" survey which provides insight into how businesses plan to budget and prioritize marketing dollars in the New Year. Conducted in November 2011, 938 business leaders participated in the global survey. 

The 2012 Marketing Trends Survey highlights: 

• 92% plan to increase or maintain marketing spend in 2012
• 60% plan to increase email marketing budget; 54% social media; 37% mobile/search (tied) 
• 45% cite data integration as primary email marketing challenge in 2012;
• 43% cite lack of resources/staff as primary email marketing challenge; 
• 40% cite content management as primary email marketing challenge; 
• 48% cite increasing subscriber engagement as top 2012 email marketing initiative; 
• 44% cite improving segmentation/targeting as a top initiative; 
• 32% cite growing opt-in email lists as a top initiative; 
• 68% plan to integrate email marketing with social media; 45% with mobile; 17% with search 

2012 is a new year but the survey, for me, merely reinforced what I hear regularly from staff, clients and prospects. 

I was asked this morning "why is email marketing a great tool for businesses?" Wow - where do you begin? But, my answer remains consistent, email marketing is still one of the most powerful 1:1 communication channels a marketer has at their disposal.

Think about it... start making a mental list of all the communication channels available to you:

• Online (Website and Blog)
• Face to Face
• Telephone
• Direct Mail
• Social Media
• Brick and Mortar
• Email
• Other?

Aside from picking up the telephone or having a face-to-face meeting, what other channel can provide real-time, personal, 1:1 communication? Even direct messaging via social media relies on email to deliver the communication.

But, the reality is, this channel is a cluttered one. The key to email marketing success is to respect the people you communicate with. Gone are the days where success is measured by the volume of your list or how many emails you can send in a given day. That's just spam.

Successful email marketers invest time, lots of time, segmenting their lists and developing content to resonate with their audience. These marketers are quick to purge disengaged email addresses and are quick to reward engagement.

So while email still remains a great 1:1 communication tool for businesses, the qualifications for success have absolutely changed. Don't waste this powerful channel on an unreemarkable email.

The last entry for prepping your Holiday email campaign focuses on content and evaluating results. Choosing your content focus should be easy if you completed the tasks from week one and week two.

Test your subject lines and content. Can't decide on a subject line or where to place that "Buy Now" button? Email AB split testing takes the guess work out of it and shows you the results instead. Do not lean on just open or clickthrough numbers, instead keep the focus on conversion.

Keep your content simple. Just because you have lots of widgets does not mean they all need to be in the email. If you need to, refer back to your goals and ask yourself, does this addition to the content help meet our goals? If not, then take it out. Lastly, don't forget to add your social media share buttons. Your members are friend with other peope like them give them an easy way to share the info.

Use your results to make changes to the next mailing. Email is dynamic. Not happy with your results from your last mailing? Change something. Test. Repeat. While your goals should be pretty set by now, your roadmap should be etched in pencil and fine tumed throughout your campaign.

Benchmark and document for next year. Get a head start by writing out clear and detailed notes for next year. Document what worked, what didn't and ideas for trying next year. The longer you wait the more you will probably forget.

Best of luck on your holiday campaigns. Need some ideas for you campaign? Here are some ideas to get the ball rolling.

Holiday Email Campaign Ideas

• Dynamic Sequence- Create a drip campaign for certain interests. Maybe your recipients just want to see gift ideas for mom or a certain interest like running or reading or travel. Use dynamic content to send them one email with all of their choices rather than multiple emails.
• Themed Emails- 12 days of savings (make sure your members optin for this daily email). Need a special opt in? We can help. Contact us to learn more about profile and subscribe forms.
• Come back- Don't forget to set up shopping cart abandonment emails with an incentive to come back to complete the shopping process.
• Early Bird Campaign- Early shopping deals for "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" can stand out in the inbox if done well. Email graphic design has different rules than Web graphic design. Need some help figuring that out? Check out our design gallery for some ideas, thencontact us to learn more.
• Smart Phone Focus- Creating a special campaign for your smart phone users can increase sales and provide valuable information about where your members are reading your emails. Do some testing to make sure your in store check out process can scan the barcode from a smartphone. Need to know where to start? Check out our mobile design whitepaper.

Just in case you missed the previous post, click here to read part one about preparing the plan. Part two focuses on prepping and segmenting your audience.

Get the audience opt in. Create a special category just for your Holiday campaign and start promoting it now on the website, social media and email. You could also use text to subscribe in-store to gain new subscribers. Having some of your larger audience opt in to special Holiday savings will show you how much interest there is and will make your campaign much more targeted.

Give the audience a way to opt out. Make sure your members know they can opt out of the Holiday mailings with out opting out of your future mailings.

Create segments based on past history. If you are struggling with how to segment your audience, consider using past history. Segment based on time since last purchase or last interation with your emails. 

Use this as an opportunity to grow your reach. Make sure your deals can be easily shared with all of your subscribers friends and family. Including a link in the body of your emails will make it easy for your subscribers' friends and family to sign up.

Next week we will focus on content and evaluating results.

What's the plan for your holiday email marketing this year? With a little strategy in advance (thirty minutes a day tops) for each of these tasks and you will have not only a clear plan, but a little extra time this Holiday season as well.

Singing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” while you prepare is totally up to you.

Prep your base line statistics- Deciding your key performance indicators will help define success for your campaign. You may also want to evaluate your campaign data from last year to help set goals for improvement.

Define product/service line up- Once your goals are in place, decide what is going to be promoted this year to meet those goals and how they will be promoted to increase sales. What's the offer?

Make a flow chart- A flow chart can help you decide the order of content execution. Don't forget about adding triggered emails to your campaign this year. Decide where in your flow chart triggered emails can increase overall email engagement. 

Create a calendar of events- Remember, email probably is not the only way you are communicating. In order to successfully tie in social media, in-store and website promotions it's a good idea to create a calendar with key events so you can cross promote with email.

Next week, four ideas to prep your audience. If you will be increasing your email marketing communication, then it may be worth taking these extra steps to not upset your subscribers to the point of unsubscribing. 

As most of you know, Delivra has recently moved. To celebrate, we held an Open House and invited clients, family, and friends. In preparation for the event, we had to determine the most efficient way to send out invitations to guests. 

Lucky for us, our speciality is email marketing...

Like me, you have probably seen several emails in your inbox promoting the latest webinar or confirming your RSVP for the latest event. Email marketing is a great way to promote events. If you pair it with sharing on social media sites, word of mouth, and/direct mail you can really spread information quickly to a number of people! 

Sending an invitation to guests using email is quick and easy. Here are some steps you can take to send an invitation using email marketing: 

1. Add a list of guests' names and email addresses to your email software. 

2. Create an appealing invitation with all pertinent event information. 

3. Including a RSVP link is important if you need an estimated number of people planning to attend. If you do include a RSVP link, send out a confirmation email so people know you received their information was received. 

4. Consider following this up with reminder or thank you emails depending on the event. 

We used email marketing to send our Open House invitations, but other events you could use email for are: 

• Webinars
• Classes
• Meetings
• Speaking Engagements
• Conferences

Want help using email to promote your next event? Contact your Delivra Account Manager today or call 866-915-9465. 

Text-to-Subscribe is a fast and easy way for companies to grow their email list.  Delivra provides a keyword and your clients will send you their email via text.   Text-to-Subscibe allows an in-store guest a quick way to be added to a mailing list.  This tool eliminates the need for the old fish bowl at the checkout counter.  It also takes out the guessing game for manual data entry on forms that clients fill-out.

Benefits include easy to use, real time messaging, automation, and 100% permission.

Ways to use Text-to-Subscribe: 

• Contests
• Today Only discounts
• Buy one Get one Free Offers

Ways to Promote: 

• Website
• Radio
• Print
• Social Media
• Trade Shows
• In-Store

·         Grow your mailing list and offer your clients great specials with our Text-to-Subscribe program.  To learn more contact me at ajohnson@delivra.com or 317-348-3168.  

Neil Berman recently contributed a MediaPost blog discussing a world full of various social media channels and the importance of personal interaction. 

"Email marketers often fall into the same trap of pushing content instead of building relationships," he states.  This is unfortunate considering how email is an easy and effective way to send to a number of people and, yet, still use personalization to connect. 

Read the entire blog post here for three easy steps to personalize emails and show customers you care about them.