Bringing the Customers to You with a Contest

Internet citizens and anyone who has used email for any length of time knows that they have to be on the alert for unwanted emails.  This suspicion is one of the reasons it is difficult to use unsolicited emails for internet marketing any more.  Instead a far more effective method is to create excitement in customers you already know is through some promotion that they want to hear about in their email box.  And when they are excited to see your emails arrive, they will be sure to add your business email address to their favored email contacts list and you will have circumvented the spam software problem that has been the cause of your email delivery problems all along.

There are many ways to generate excitement in your customer base but perhaps no other one is so additive for your customers as a contest.  For the cost of a small prize, people will work tirelessly to satisfy the terms of the contest.  And by structuring the contest so the customers must get their clues via email, you are opening that door of email communications for future promotions and marketing.  That alone might be worth the price of the prize.

The great thing about creating a contest is you can structure how it works to take the customers to your web site or have them collect clues that are directly related to y our products or services and the contest itself can become a big marketing "commercial" that the customers want to be part of.  A contest, along with the obvious value of helping to resolve your email deliverability problems, can serve to generate web site traffic and energize a sluggish site or a function on your web site that you want to see get more attention.

Do you have a blog that isn't getting enough traffic?  Hide a clue on it and challenge the contestants to come and search for that clue.  Want to see a banner ad get more clicks, let the contestants know the next clue is hidden behind that banner ad and then put the clue on your affiliates page.  The clicks to that banner or affiliate link will skyrocket.  You can often cover the costs of the promotion and the prize through the increased traffic to your web site entirely.

An online contest can also help drive business to a brick and mortar retail operation that you may be using your web presence to support.  This is a wonderful way to meet your online customers face to face by using the contest to take the customers to your store to look for a clue. As they move through the aisles of the store, in addition to eagerly looking for the next step of the contest, they will be shopping and very often, buying things which is exactly what you are looking for.

A contest that you set off via email is also a powerful viral marketing tool.  Your customers will naturally tell their friends and relatives about the contest.  And as more people hear about the contest, you may see a surge of requests to join in on the fun coming through your online message services.  Just be sure to take those customers to an email registration so you can harvest their email addresses and get your business email placed on their favored contacts list too.  In that way you cleverly expand your marketing base while drawing new customers to your web site.

You may find that once you get started having contests via email and contests that incorporate every aspect of your online presence, it might become a habit you want to repeat often.  The increased traffic, sales and expansion of your customer base can be so lively that there is no reason not to use this marketing tool often.

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Designing for Different Types of Email Audiences

Marketers usually send only one type of message to a strictly targeted list of recipients. But in reality, the email is seen by ten different types of audiences who read the message in ten different ways. Hence, it is important to create a message design which satisfies the needs of majority type of audience as possible, instead of creating a different message for each type of audience.

Things get even more complicated when audience keep shifting. It can happen that the same recipient reads the message with a different perspective from edition to edition, depending on the time or mood constraints. This problem can be solved by understanding the major email audience. Then the design tactics can be designed and the potential of the email being read by everyone can be maximized. There are eight types of audiences: Identifiers, skimmers, readers, HTML readers, text reader, mobile, desk, and searchers.

Identifiers have only one goal. They check from address and subject line to make decision among the other emails which have overcrowded their inbox's. They make recognition and delete the rest of the emails which they do not want to read. For such audience great subject lines and clear branding make the greatest impact. Snippet or the top line of the emails is also displayed in the preview pane, so this text is of all importance as it can help to make the difference between reading and deletion. Usually the business people fall into this category who want to clear the inbox after they arrive to the office before the first meeting or when they are waiting for their flight.

Skimmers go beyond from address and subject line by actually opening the email. But they read the email as fast as possible, noticing only headlines, subheadings and calls to action. Then they make the decision whether to delete the email or read it in detail. When the email is being designed, these copy points should be worked upon in order to deliver the central idea and guide the skimmer towards the click through. Skimmers do not even enable images, if they have been blocked. Thus, strong text content should be designed to deliver the content without much focus on the images.




Readers are a little ahead of skimmers. They read from address, subject line and open the email and read few sentences between the headline and call of action so as to learn more about the email topic. This helps them with the click through hurdle. These audience also turn on the images or click on the web version link.

Every email should have both HTML and text version of the message. Since most of the readers now-a-days are using their portable devises for checking emails, here text version will be of more use than the HTML version with images. HTML design dose takes more time, but few more minutes must be devoted to make the text version attractive. Include URLs with text as short and as clear as possible. Easily readable text messages increases the number of clicks by a great percentage.

Email design is encountering new challenge because of the growth of mobile readers. Some PDAs show HTML version correctly, while the others show lines and lines of irritating HTML code. Again, matching the right format with the right reader is important here, but hundred percent is impractical. If an interesting message isn't being displayed properly, mobile readers will save the message to later read it on their laptop or desktop.

Desk readers are the biggest audience for which majority of marketers design emails. This audience is also the one most likely to act on the email. Design strategy used to optimize emails for other audiences will also prove effective for this particular group too. Desk readers can also be skimmers or readers. Therefore, here too, it is important to concentrate on the top line of the email, apart from the subject line.

Searcher audiences start as members of one of the other type of audience. When they see something which they like but cannot deal with it at that time they save it for later. When they have time they want to find the message in a flash. So if the message does not stand out, it will be forgotten about. Again here it is important to design the subject line, top line of email and sender address properly.  

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Costly Email Mistakes

When an email program is designed and executed well it can bring more subscribers and revenue than what was targeted. If, executed poorly it will get terrible results and also anger among recipients and not to forget answering your boss’s innumerable questions.

Outlook is the most used email client, so it shouldn't be ignored, especially the Outlook Junk Filter. But many companies do not spare time to learn about keywords and symbols with the default filter searches for. Some of the common words and symbols, which are also the most widely used, used for filtering the email as spam are ‘free’ and exclamation mark at the end of the subject line. But the word ‘free’ does not always arouse suspicion like many legitimate email marketers think. It can be used correctly and in context with shipping or sample, etc. Nobody can disagree that it is still the most effective email offer. So the key here is to know the words and how to use them so that the email does not get caught by spam or bulk mail filters.

Certainly quality costs money, which also applies to email marketing. Some marketers say that even low cost email list delivers a respectable turn over, but experts advise that more expensive list produces even bigger returns because of high quality. Another point to be noted here is that when you are mailing to an inferior quality list, you are actually harming your brand.

The subject lines of e-Newsletters must not be meaningless. Examples are ‘SE Update #101’, ‘Career Journal Today’ and ‘e-Club Newsletter’. These subject lines say nothing at all, when it is the purpose of the subject line to entice the recipient to open the email. Things such as issue number and words saying that this email is a newsletter are of no value; instead they should include information which will grab the attention of readers.



A target link which will work in one email client won’t work in another. For example, if it was mentioned ‘AB Company’ in the “from” line, it will be displayed as ‘marketing@ABCompany’ in AOL email client. If it is written ‘Order by Sunday for Free Shipping and Arrival by Nov 28’ in the subject line, AOL will render it as ‘Order by Sunday for Free Shipping and Arrival by Nov’. Either some part of the message is missing or the content is manipulated. So such variables must be tested in different email clients and if not, it will have a big impact on the email results.

The ease in email marketing when compared to other marketing is the immediacy of testing. If variables aren't tested regularly then the medium is not used correctly. Successive and regular testing not only builds but refines results. Many marketers like to test on rented list, but wouldn't mail in great number to the best performing email lists.

It is understood that the email campaign is successful when it promotes a compelling offer. Compelling does not mean that the offer should be ‘free’ or ‘50% off’, but it should be of value and relevant to the reader. The lists must be segmented and the offers made must be more relevant to the recipient’s needs, behavior and interest. When lists are being rendered, the most appropriate ones must be selected and the offer must be developed upon the needs of the targeted audience.

Some of the top email clients have emerged as big challenges for the customer oriented marketers. Every ISP has its own issue which needs immediate addressing, such as HTML compatibility issues, spam, blacklisting, and volume based filters, etc. The biggest mistake is not monitoring the results by ISP or domain. Problem is not known until it is discovered.

Everyone is becoming search engine optimized. The key to reach the top ranking on top search engines is search engine optimized content. Since e-Newsletters are the best content sources, they definitely must be search engine optimized by including various keywords, so as to increase the rankings.

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6 Practical Email Marketing Tactics for Successful Business Campaigns

In these times where information technology has become a necessity rather than just a convenient tool in everyday life, the internet has proven to become among the most effective ways to reach the public. As such, email is now seen to be a very powerful tool in marketing since it is among the most often utilized components in cyberspace. With the speed it delivers messages to prospects, its directness in addressing target markets, and the undeniably low cost it entails, it is no wonder why email marketing is considered to be more powerful than other methods of advertising. However, despite the numerous advantages email marketing can provide any business endeavor, some risks are at hand if it is not properly planned or if it is not executed well. Like any marketing move, email marketing could either result into amazing returns if done strategically, or horrible losses if carried out haphazardly.

What does it take to become successful in email marketing? Here are six helpful tips for a sound email marketing plan:

1. Address Prospective Clients Personally

Practically everyone gets spam in their inbox and virtually everybody has developed allergies for email advertisements. To prevent recipients from automatically trashing email ads, it is important to call their attention using the most beautiful words to their ears (or eyes): their names. Addressing prospects personally makes them feel important. The more recipients are made to feel that they are treated as persons and not numbers, the more likely they will be willing to go on reading.

2. Create a Mailing List

It is impossible to do the first tip if one does not have a list of addresses to match the names. Building a mailing list of target prospects is among the most vital steps in a strategic email campaign. As time goes on, the list grows and becomes an important asset as a source of profits from the would-be loyal followers.

3. Try to Avoid Appearing Suspicious

People are getting more aware of the truth in the phrase "too good to be true." As mentioned earlier, people are growing sick of spam, and they treat anything that resembles spam as dirt. It is important to make efforts to compose email advertisements that do not look like spam. To prevent an email ad from being trashed, it is wise to avoid making hyperbolic statements, overusing characters such as dollar signs and exclamation points, and doing other things spammers usually do.



4. Limit Email Advertisements During Holidays

People are usually too busy to check their computers during the merry months and thus they are most likely unable to read messages in their inboxes. Only the most important, business and personal emails are read, and the rest are immediately thrown into the recycle bin. It is therefore wise to avoid doing email marketing during Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and other bustling occasions.

5. Make Email Ads Easy for Recipients to Understand

It is indeed important for email advertisements to catch the attention of the recipient; however, it is also equally vital for the readers to realize the response that is expected of them. Whether it is to click a certain link, or to reply to a certain message, the recipient should be able to fully understand what is supposed to be done after reading the email. Otherwise, the email campaign may be as useless as a trashed spam, despite how effectively it was able to captivate the targeted market.

6. Make the Brand Known Right from the Start

The point of email marketing is to make a certain product, service, or brand known to its target market. While the immediate goal of an email marketer is to get a positive response, such as making a sail or having a subscription signed, from prospects after they receive an email ad, the long term goal is to make the deal not only a one-time shot, but a lasting business relationship. The key to this is recognition. The customer must be able to identify and remember the brand for a long period. This could be done by placing the brand name in key areas such as the “from” and “subject” line, or other notable parts of the email. Granting that the client was satisfied with the first transaction, loyalty is not too far if the client is very much familiar with the brand.

Being successful in email marketing indeed requires effort, but it is not at all daunting to plan a strategic email campaign. To succeed in email marketing, one has to know the target market, treat them well, deliver what is promised, and make a lasting impression. With careful planning, the benefits that email marketing can offer are countless.

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Email Marketing Service Company

Email marketing has made a huge buzz in the online industry these past few years. Studies by AMR Research have shown that targeted email marketing campaign generated about 7 to 12 times the response rate of the traditional snail-mail marketing.

Email marketing has been the easiest strategy to do since the emergence of the internet. It became easy to communicate with people and reach your target audience with the use of this technology. That is why more and more companies have ventured into this marketing campaign for the hopes of better results for their business

A report made by Forrester Research showed that companies spent $1.1 billion just on email marketing during 2001 and has considerably increased in the following years. That is why several vendors that provide email marketing products and services came out to take advantage of this booming market.

There are indeed a lot of solutions and services available for any company’s needs but the thing is, it is difficult to choose which one would suit your company best.

Before starting to evaluate the different solutions available, it is best to understand email marketing campaign and its components better. Email campaign involves strategy, creativity, copywriting skills, list management, process execution, reporting and analysis. Some of the service vendors provide most, if not all, of these categories. Depending on your company’s specific needs, you may avail some or all of these features.



Evaluating Different Solutions and Services
Email marketing service providers can be categorized in three main areas: off-the-shelf, mid-range, and high-end solutions. Evaluate the main characteristics of each solution in terms of the features, benefits and costs.

- Off-the-shelf solutions. This type of service is ideal for small businesses willing to allot internal resources for email marketing. The features commonly included in this type of service include sending personalized HTML emails, list management, basic tracking and reporting, and customer service.

The maximum number of emails off-the-shelf products can handle is 500,000 per month. This kind of service can range for as low as $30 to $350 per month. However, for most of these service vendors, ownership and control of list, reporting and data tracking are theirs.

- Mid-range solutions. An example of a mid-range solutions provider is Pixel Bridge. It provides its clients with fully customized solutions, from strategy formulation to tracking, analysis and maintenance, depending on the clients’ needs.

This type of service provider is ideal for small and mid-sized entities with advanced marketing needs. These companies are usually those that are comfortable in using outsourced marketing services and customized solutions.

The costs of availing the service of mid-range solutions providers range from $500-$3,000 per month. They typically manage 1,000 – 100,000 emails per month. The application that these service providers offer can also be bought outright for $10,000-$50,000.

- High-end solutions. These high-end marketing companies are focused and really specialize on email marketing. Examples of these firms are Carat Interactive, MarketFirst and Responsys. These providers offer sophisticated marketing technologies capable of launching and monitoring online or offline marketing strategies that involve millions of recipients.

These providers offer a more comprehensive data analysis approach such as helping their clients identify historical patterns to improve their conversion rate. The cost of availing the services of high-end providers range from $6,000-$60,000 per campaign, which average from $20,000-$30,000 for most promotions.

Each company has its own unique set of requirements, and email marketing has evolved to offer different solutions to address those needs. When choosing the right email marketing service, keep in mind your company’s needs. List down all possible vendors that you think will suit you best, and then map out each one to identify which among them can address all of your company’s requirements.

Price is always an important factor to consider. However, you do not have to always sacrifice quality of service for a low price. The important thing to be addressed is your internal needs and requirements. If you choose the right service provider for your company, paying a bit steeper price may not matter anymore since you will eventually earn it back with the huge returns that the marketing campaign promises.

Several big organizations have realized that email marketing is such a unique field and most traditional marketing practices just don’t keep up with the online world. So when it comes to choosing your email marketing provider, be sure to make the right decision for more successful years ahead.

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