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.
I hadn't flown Southwest for a long time. As this was the best choice for scheduling from Indy to Seattle, I boarded the two-leg 6-hour flight.
As the beverage and snack service came by, I grabbed a bag of peanuts and noticed the call to action, "Find out about our next BIG Sale with click 'n save emails. Text your email to 83793." (See Photo)
Delivra staff routinely get asked how to build an opt-in email list. Our answer, simply put, is to ask for them at every customer touch point. Southwest Airlines is not a client, but they have certainly got the message.
Of course, I texted my email and received the following acknowledgement,
Thanks for signing up for
SWA Click 'n Save. You'll
never miss another deal in
your inbox!
Want to try text to subscribe to acquire email addresses for your organization? Contact the email marketing experts at Delivra and we'll show you how.
Extra thought: Read the book Lead with LUV written by Ken Blanchard and SWA president Colleen Barrett. In it, you will discover more secrets of success.
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!
My colleagues Doug, Lavon and I traveled to sunny Hollywood, FL last week for the ever-exciting Email Evolution Conference sponsored by the EEC. In her last blog post, Lavon described it as an "email pep rally" and she's spot on.
There were three extremely prominent themes for this year's conference that I picked up on:
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Rededication to Email Marketing Fundamentals
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Mobile Marketing
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Email Marketers are FUN people! (an observation, really)
It's somewhat of an oxymoron to say marketers need to rededicate themselves to email marketing fundamentals and yet have their eye on the new "shiny object" which is mobile, but that's reality. Marketers are faced with these priorities every day.
The key then is to tackle realistic, bite-sized projects to move you closer to your overall goal. (you do have email marketing goals, right?) It's unrealistic to think you'll return from a conference to employ every single tactic you fell in love with. And, sometimes tactics you love may not be right for your space.
So, here are my top three realistic takeaways and tactics from the conference:
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If you've not read Seth Godin's Permission Marketing since 1999 or ever- do it NOW!
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Budget for an email audit. If you have internal analysts and email experts who can block off a week or more for an email audit- Bravo, you are among the very fortunate. For most marketers, email is just one of the many tactics which fall under the job description. If that's the case, make sure to carve off some budget for an indepth email analysis each year.
An email analysis should paint a clear picture of how you're performing in all key areas of email marketing (i.e.List Growth, List Health, Engagement, Deliverability, Analytics and ROI) as well as clear recommendations for improvement and measurement.
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Mobile adoption in unavoidable. According to Jessica Harley from GiltGroup, over half of their email is opened on a mobile device. Wow! How many of you know what percentage of your subscribers are viewing your emails via mobile (this includes tablets)? If you don't know, find out now.
Intimately knowing the successes and deficiency of your email program will enable you to employ more advanced -shinier- tactics. For more ideas and themes from the conference check out the full agenda, including my presentation called, Combining Text and Traditional Marketing Channels to Boost Subscribers and Sales. We were very lucky to have our wonderful client, Anthony Scott with us from the Eiteljorg Museum to present their personal story with Text 2 Subscribe.
Until next year EEC...
A week ago, three members of the Delivra team and one of our clients attended the 2012 Email Evolution Conference. On several occasions, I heard the conference referred to as "an email pep rally." It was exactly that - a place to meet and network with others in the industry, learn more about the latest email trends, and represent our email marketing agency.
As a group, we shared amongst ourselves information we gleaned from the different presentations we went to. I attended Auditing Your Email Marketing Program to Improve Performance presented by Jeanne Jennings of JeanneJennings.com and Sanije Gjokaj of Scholastic and Essential Email Prospecting Strategies to Test in 2012 by Jay Schwedelson of Worldata. They were both incredibly informative presentations and left me with tangible advice I could consider implementing into our email campaigns.
Unicode: In Jay Schwedelson's presentation he mentioned emails that included Unicode in the subject line received an increased open rate of 18%. Not a perfect fit for all email programs, but perhaps a good addition to some email campaigns. If nothing else, it should be monitored and tested.
Exclusivity: Again in Jay's presentation, he mentioned that a subject line which mentions exclusivity generates an additional 27% open rate in email campaigns. Whether it's presented by 'Invitation Only' or 'For CFOs Only' - might be something to consider testing.
Improvement: Among other things, Jeanne recommended in her presentation to improve how email marketing is managed and measured by justifying sends and by implementing test programs. We've been focusing on the processes of our email marketing program at Delivra for some time now. It was good to be reminded of and motivated by the importance of doing so. It was also helpful to leave with information about how analyzing data can enhance performance.
Anthony Scott from the Eiteljorg Museum and Delivra's Director of Marketing, Megan Glover, were also in the presentation line up. Their presentation was about Combining Text and Traditional marketing Channels to boost Subscribers and Sales. It was a real use case of how Eiteljorg Museum was able to use Delivra as their email marketing consultants to help build and implement a text-to-subscribe program in addition to their email campaigns and other traditional marketing efforts. Based on this success, the museum now plans to expand the text-to-subscribe campaign and include SMS (outbound messages) as well.
Find out more about setting up a text-to-subscribe program or SMS.
If you are like me, you love your mobile phone. I like having so much information at my fingertips, whether it's my email, my social networks, or just being able to Google anything! As most people move towards mobile phones today, you should definitely start considering mobile when discussing any marketing plans. Text-to-Subscribe is one avenue to consider and I'm going to give you three reasons to love it!
1. It's Universal. If you have an audience with mobile phones that allow them to text - you are in. Text-to-Subscribe isn't limited; it works with every major US cellular carrier, such as Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint.
2. It's Easy. For example, all you have to do to sign up for Delivra's emails is text Delivra to 71813. Any company can create a Text-to-Subscribe program equally as simple and just like that, people can start subscribing to your email list with their mobile phones. It's instant gratification!
3. It's Quick. Joining a mailing list by using text-to-subscribe is quick too. Dealing with long lines during the Holiday season? Invite people to sign up as they are waiting in line at a store. Giving a presentation at a conference? Have people sign up as you're speaking. In a rock band? Have concert-goers sign up during a show! j
Setting up text-to-subscribe is easy and the benefits are huge! It makes it so quick and easy for people to subscribe to your mailing list. So, what are you waiting for? Contact Delivra today to get started!
Web forms and filling out cards in order to obtain subscribers are effective methods under certain circumstances; however, text-to-subscribe allows clients to reach your audience more efficiently and have them respond quickly.
Events or Trade Shows: Last February we covered trade show rules of engagement, if you missed that post
you may want to check that out. Trade shows are a great opportunity to grow your email subscriber list and we now have a couple of new tools to enhance your trade show email plan. Bonus: Set up a welcome message so as soon as they sign up via text they receive their first email explaining who you are and what information they have signed up for.
Retail Store: Having a sign up for text-to-subscribe gives your shoppers an opportunity to sign up for your special offers and at the same time can offer them a discount on their in-store purchase. It's a win-win for you and your shopper.
Print Ad, Direct Mail Piece, Banner: Adding sign up info to your print ad or direct mail piece using text to subscribe gives your new subscriber an opportunity to sign up right now rather than waiting until they get online later.
Announcements: Do you purchase advertising from your local sports team? Next time you change that copy include a brief snippet on how to sign up to receive information from you too.
Speaking Engagements: Do you give a lot of presentations? Including text to subscribe information at the end of your presentation will give your audience members an easy way to sign up for future newsletters.
Text-to-subscribe offers you and your future subscribers an easy, accurate and immediate way to sign up for your next email.
Interested in learning more about adding text-to-subscribe to your marketing strategy?
Download the whitepaper or
contact us today to learn more.
Justine Jordan from Litmus has posted a fun infographic that outlines, "ten important guidelines to an amazing mobile experience, as well as six things you'll definitely want to avoid."
See it here.
By the way, Litmus also has a tool to help you determine the kind of mobile device your email subscribers are using to view your messages. Rendering is limited to the following list.
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Android 2.2
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Apple iPhone
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Apple iPad
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Blackberry Text & HTML
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Symbian S60
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Windows Mobile 6.5
Delivra uses their service and we like it!
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.
The American Le Mans Series is a Delivra client. A friend and I recently attended their road race in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. She commented, "No one asked us if we wanted to sign up for their email list. Shouldn't there be some visibility here?" I make a mental note to discuss that at a later date with ALMS.
This week, we met with Chris McMurry and team, ALMS marketing agency. They laid out two strategies, one which was to increase the fan base. Consequentially, they were planning to pass out 3x5 cards at entrance gates for attendees to sign up for their email list.
Seizing the moment, we suggested testing our text-2-subscribe tool. It allows someone with a mobile device to sign up for email announcements directly. This email list building tool eliminates websites and manual data entry thereby providing a more convenient and possibly a more accurate way to subscribe.
ALMS will test both methods (card and text) at their October race in California. I'll get back to you all with the results.
Successful emailing!
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.
I attended a webinar last week. It focused on SMS's (text on a mobile device) emerging role in marketing.
My take away was: Think horizontally - not vertically.
It is more important than every to think cross-channel and cross-device. For years, we have heard traditional marketers should include the web in everything they do. That message is now reality...
However, a new mantra is emerging - Engage in Every Channel.
So, no matter what channel of marketing you are using include hooks to SMS, traditional media, email and social that can be cross-supporting.
For example, scroll a SMS call to action on a television commercial, add an email subscribe form to your Facebook presence, or include a QR code in a print ad.
What not to do? I received a happy 4th of July text from an Indianapolis tourist destination. I replied with a STOP command.
Many of you have heard from email experts and resources that having a quality list is essential in order to get the most from your email marketing program.
What exactly does a quality list mean?
Here are a couple of ways (from A to D) to define a quality list:
1. Acquire Subscribers. There are a number of ways to obtain email addresses, including: text-to-subscribe. For other best practices in acquiring subscribers, check out this Successful Strategies for Building Your List whitepaper.
2. Be Proactive. Regularly ask your subscribers to update their preferences. Updated preferences assure you are sending the most relevant messages to your subscribers and they are receiving the information they desire.
3. Clean Your List. On a regular basis, take the time to manage your list. Cleaning your list means to regularly take a look at those subscribers who are no longer engaging with your mailings.
4. Don't Purchase. Don't purchase a list of email addresses just to increase your list size. Instead, use best practices to organically grow your list and email people who are interested in receiving your message.
Lavon Temple | Marketing
Are you an online retailer participating in email marketing? Here are some features you may not currently be taking full advantage of and may want to consider incorporating into your email efforts to make sure your company stays on the top mind of your consumers.
Abandoned Shopping Cart Programs. Set up an email marketing campaign in response to when a consumer browses through your website, adds items to their online shopping cart, but for some reason gets distracted and does not complete their purchase. Send them strategically created emails to remind them of their abandoned purchase and encourage them to come back and finish the checkout process.
Autoresponders. Use this effective tool to communicate quickly with consumers based on their shopping behaviors. Once a shopper completes their purchase, send them an automatic email thanking them for their purchase and persuading them to come back and visit soon.
Bar Codes. Delivra offers a barcode editor allowing companies to create scannable coupons to add to their emails so shoppers can print them for easy use. Using coupons is a great way to encourage shoppers to visit the physical store location.
Text-to-Subscribe. Have your customers subscribe to your email list via a text and send them a promotion letting them know you appreciate it.
Purchase Tracking. This feature allows companies to see which emails generated the most purchases and what individuals purchased the most based on what clicks were linked. This could be extremely helpful information in creating more targeted emails for consumers.
For more information on features that can boost the shopping experience for your consumers and keep your company on the top of their mind, contact Delivra today!
Lavon Temple | Marketing
In the United States, approximately 96% of the population has a mobile phone. With so many people owning mobile devices, it is pertinent companies focus some attention on their mobile presence. If you are using an email marketing service provider, are you sure they are supporting not only your email efforts, but also your mobile ones? If they aren't, they should be.
Many people are able to receive and check their emails from their mobile smart phone. Therefore, it is important emails are designed to appear properly on these devices. Is your email marketing service provider assisting you in making sure that your email is ready to go mobile? Make your email as mobile as your recipients.
Delivra can help you:
Besides creating an email to look and function properly on a mobile device, you want to be able to connect with your audience in other ways that fit their lifestyle - which is becoming more and more mobile, not less. Along with being always attached to a mobile device, people like things to happen quickly. As a company trying to increase their mailing list, it might be wise to look into text-to-subscribe - an efficient, affordable feature allowing people to sign up for your email list immediately. By using text-to-subscribe, people don't have to hear about your email list and then try to remember to sign up later - which likely won't happen. Instead, they can sign up on the spot. BAM!
With times changing, it's important for you to be able to rely on your email marketing service provider to stay focused on the latest trends and then sharing this information to keep your company current.
Want more information on establishing a mobile presence? Contact us today!
Lavon Temple | Marketing
Just for fun, let me tell you my least favorite email marketing service. It's a company that does invitations, and the reason I'm not a fan is because every email message from them is an "envelope" that I have to "open" to get the information I want. Sometimes I'm too busy to go to their website just to see if I am even available on that date, so I delete the email without even reading it! Email marketing copy editors: write your content so that it can be consumed and understood quickly and easily.
It's not just party invitations that have this problem. Just last week, I received an email marketing message about an upcoming seminar. All of the key information was helpfully displayed right in the body of the message, including the date, location, time and cost of the program. But when I went to copy and paste this text to add to my calendar, I discovered it was actually an image of the content! I had to manually reproduce the details by retyping them into my electronic day planner. Why would you put such crucial words inside a picture, instead of making them plain text?
Finally, it's important to remember that marketing messages are paid for twice. As the marketer, you pay a cost to design, compose, send and support the message. But the recipient also pays a cost: the time and attention to read your message. We can reduce the cost to subscribers by making email marketing messages easier to read and process. But we can also reduce the cost by giving them something for the courtesy of their time: special discounts, exclusive access, or personalized content. Doing so acknowledges the value of their efforts, which in turn, increases subscriber productivity.
Help make your customers be more efficient through email marketing. Ensure that it is as easy as possible to interact with your messages so they get the most out of the time devoted to you.
Guest Blogger | Robby Slaughter
Robby Slaughter is a Principal with Slaughter Development, an Indianapolis-based business process and workflow consulting company. His new book, Failure: The Secret to Success is available now at www.failurethebook.com.
The days of email blasts are long gone. I like to think that the days of just throwing in some content, adding a quick image and share buttons, and pressing send are also long gone. Don't get me wrong there are some email marketing best practices that need to be embraced and always considered when creating an email marketing campaign, but you also want to make sure that you are dedicating enough time and the right people to putting together an effective and compelling email marketing campaign.
Here are some things to look at for your email marketing campaign that are beyond the basics:
Drip Marketing. Drip marketing refers to a group of emails that have been scheduled to be sent at a certain time with precise information to a targeted group of people.
Text to Subscribe. This feature allows people to sign up to your email list by texting a keyword to a short code. Subscribers then receive a text message asking them for their email address, along with a confirmation text, making the sign up a double opt-in process. This is a great way to grow your list quickly and efficiently. Click here to learn more.
Clickstream Tracking. This feature allows marketers to see the internet activity of individuals as they search through their website. Therefore, you can see what kinds of information are appealing to certain segments of your audience and align your email marketing program accordingly.
Abandoned Shopping Cart Program. An abandoned shopping cart program is set up in order to make sure that a plan is in place to remarket to those clients that have made it part way though the buying cycle online, but have failed to make their final purchase and have left their online shopping cart.
For assistance in ramping up your email marketing activities and making them more robust, but without exerting a lot more effort, please contact Delivra today at info.delivra.com or call us at 866.915.9465.
Lavon Temple | Marketing
Did you see Watson on Jeopardy!? What is so awesome about Watson is (most of the time) he can pull out the most relevant data in a sea of information and come up with the right answer (minus the whole Toronto incident). I’ve been thinking, I want Watson as my life raft. He can find the relevant content and offers, and send them my way.
Usually my blog posts come from my account manager role. This time, I’m pulling from my experience as a consumer. I may be a perfect representation of your subscribers or I could represent the exact opposite. How do you know? You should test your subject line and content to find out for sure. We have talked about relevant content before, but this is different. I don’t just want relevant content…I want content that is to the point. My not-so-scientific research determined that marketers sending email to me may get, at the most, about five seconds.
The first second is spent on the “from line” and “subject line”. I ask myself these questions: Do I know you? Am I interested in this offer?
If you have made it past the first second, then your content better be relevant. I will spend three to five seconds scanning through your text asking: Is this something I want or need? Could I learn something new? If the answer is yes to either of these questions, then you probably have an engaged subscriber heading to the website to buy something or read more.
Sure, I am a few years away and a few dollars short for my own personal Watson. Not to mention how terribly narrow minded to think he would have to be just to sort through all of the marketing I am exposed to on a daily basis. On the other hand, e-mail organization has already begun to evolve. Gmail’s Priority Inbox has been a huge help organizing the emails I get everyday. Marketing messages rarely get through unless I have marked them as a priority or if I have read them consistently in the past.
If you are not giving your subscribers relevant content they might unsubscribe or (even worse) mark your email as unimportant and ignore you. What can you do to improve your relevancy to your subscribers? Start with this blog post: Content Marketing...leave them asking for MORE!
Rachel Rewerts | Account Management
Text VOTE to 5710 if you like Casey Abrams.
Idol: This once only msg
confirms your vote for
Casey was received. Vote
as many times as U like
B4 voting closes. See the
results tomorrow only on
FOX!
American Idol's broadcast recently (and my vote) reminded me of the show that launched the marketing SMS/text revolution.
Speaking of mobile, Michael Becker, Managing Director, North America of the mobile marketing association appeared at a recent seminar in Indianapolis. He revealed that 75% of the mobile phones in the U.S. only have text or voice. This number is projected to grow to only 50% in the next two years. Obviously the iPhone is not the only mobile device out there.
He further said that if your customer persona is Hispanic males under 30, for instance, text may be the only way to reach this group as they are not television watchers and don't own a computer. There are other demographic groups that have similar characteristics.
Want to reach people where they are and on the device they have with them during every waking hour? The answer is compelling. Mobile fits the bill.
On another note, I was standing in line at a restaurant in Ann Arbor, MI last week. This facility is but one of many business units of a Delivra client. My contact and I were discussing a planned tour of Tuscany hosted by their travel business when a lady next to us said, "I love Tuscany! I didn't know you did that."
Now, this is no small opportunity as a tour for two costs $10,800. I suggested posting a sign in the restaurant with our text-2-subscribe instructions to get patrons of one business to sign up for information from another. Classic cross-merchandising. And sign-ups are automatic.
Want to see how it works? Text DELIVRA to 71813 (Message & Data Rates Apply.) Want to try a low risk month-2-month test? Email me at nberman@delivra.com or call my desk 317.348.3178.
Neil Berman | President & CEO
Throughout several email marketing resources, you notice “email experts” using the term quality to describe lists, content, etc. In previous posts, I’ve discussed what it means to have a 
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