Newsletters:
Utilizing emails to send your website news around is a great way to spread your name. This technique is commonly called Newsletters. Newsletters include information about your website and is emailed to the recipients. The look of your newsletter can be designed or put in a basic format. A great site that makes newsletters easy is www.mailchimp.com, they also have a newsletter subscriber plugin for WordPress. Mailchimp is free but your only limited to a certain amount of subscribers.
When designing your newsletter it is best to use tables because using divs requires external files, which wouldn’t work because your emailing your users. You must always include your business name, signature and logo. When sending your email to other always include the type of update and the name of your business in the subject bar. You should also have a relevant email address (johnb@usa.com).
My newsletter sample:
Andrew NL - Blog Newsletter
Here are some helpful suggestions when emailing your visitors:
Provided From: www.mendozadesigns.com/blog/category/email-marketing-techniques-andor-utilities/
| You Can Segment A List To: | Why You Should Try It |
| Send a campaign to people within a specific interest group. | You can provide more relevant content than when you send “general interest” newsletters to everyone. For example, a website for car fanatics can send an email about the newest Ferrari only to people who like sports cars (and not to people who like fuel-sipping hybrids). |
| Only send to people who subscribed within a certain date range | So you can send your newsletter to your most recent subscribers, who might have missed your previous campaign |
| Send a campaign to people who clicked a link (or opened) a previous campaign | Use this option to send followup campaigns or event invitations to people who expressed interest in a previous campaign. |
| Only send to “active” members of your list. Create a segment of those who have opened one of your 3 most recent campaigns. | This is an easy way to “weed out” the non-responders of your list. |
| Send to “NON-active” members of your list. Create a segment of those who have NOT opened any of your 3 most recent campaigns. | This is an easy way to send a followup to the non-responders of your list. Perhaps you can try a different subject line, date/time, or send in plain-text only to get better results. |
| Send to subscribers within a specific domain name | If you have a group of customers in one company, you can target them by domain name. Or, test your delivery to yahoo.com, aol.com, etc. |
| Send to subscribers who did NOT open a recent campaign | Maybe your subject line wasn’t very intriguing, or got your campaign spam filtered. Use this technique to send a followup campaign to non-openers with a different subject line. |
| Send to people in specific states, ZIP codes, etc. | If you collected “ZIP codes” as a field on your signup form, you can send special, locally specific offers to your customers based on that field (or any field, for that matter). |
| Send to members whose birthdays are in a certain month | Include special gifts if they print out the email and bring it into your store (you can even pre-schedule birthday campaigns for the entire year). |
| Send to email addresses on your list that contain or do NOT contain specific text | Narrow your list down to members of one organization, or exclude everyone from one company (like your all your competitors who are signed up on your list). |
Email Campaign:
When working on your emailing campaign, there is a couple things you should ask yourself before you get started.
Here is a list of things to check:
- Are you using a good permission policy? Make sure you have a preexisting business relationship and/or affirmative consent.
- Preexisting business relationship – The recipient of your email has made a purchase, requested information, responded to a questionnaire or a survey, or had offline contact with you.
- Affirmative consent – The recipient of your email has been clearly and fully notified of the collection and use of his email address and has consented prior to such collection and use.
- Your Subject” Lines
- Does your “From” line include your company name or brand?
- Is your “Subject” line the right length? (5-8 words, 40 characters including spaces)
- Does your “Subject” line incorporate a specific benefit?
- Does your “Subject” line include your brand (if for some reason your “From” line does not)?
- Does your “Subject” line create a sense of urgency?
- Your Email Copy:
- Is your email targeted, relevant and timely?
- Is your email personalized with the recipient’s first name, last name or both, if appropriate?
- Is your email copy clear and concise?
- Does it contain a strong call-to-action?
- Does it focus on benefits?
- Does it create a sense of urgency?
- Important Details:
- Are you prepared to handle inbound email responses and questions resulting from your outbound email campaigns? Follow through is as important as the first contact. Do not miss the opportunity to open a two-way dialogue
- with these interested recipients.
- Have you used appropriate graphics while also making good use of white space?
- Have you proofread the “From” line, “Subject” line and email copy thoroughly?
- Have you checked all links to be sure they work properly?
- Have you previewed and sent yourself a test in both HTML, and text?
- CAN-SPAM Compliance:
- Does your email include a way for recipients to unsubscribe, e.g. an unsubscribe/opt-out link and/or instructions?
- Are you prepared to handle all unsubscribe requests within 10 days of the request?
- If you use multiple email products, or have multiple databases from which you send emails, are you prepared to process all unsubscribe requests across all lists?
- Are you using good mailing practices? Have you been honest and truthful?
- Have you used a legitimate header?
- Have you used a valid “From” address?
- Is your “Subject” line straightforward, vs. misleading?
- Is your physical address included in your email campaign?
