Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Calls to Action: 50 that Sell and 10 that Repel

When a customer opens your email, they usually skim it for relevant information. Subscribers typically read the first line, check out the picture and glance at your call to action. That’s why creating a compelling call to action (CTA) is so important. It’s one of the few items within your email that can draw attention and encourage the reader to act.

What makes one call to action better than another? We’re glad you asked. To help distinguish between good and bad calls to action, we’ve created a list of CTAs that sell, and a list that repels. At the end of each list, we explain why they work, or don’t work.

50 calls to action that sell

We scoured inboxes and created a list of 50 CTAs that sell, and broke them up by category.

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Why these calls to action sell

  • Descriptive and informative

All of the calls to action are descriptive and provide enough information for subscribers to act. You don’t even need to read the entire email to understand its purpose.

  • Urgent language

Calls to action should encourage an instant reaction. All of the CTAs above use urgent language to do just that. Words like “now,” “today” and “limited time offer” show a need to act immediately.

  • Creative

There are a few traditional calls to action like “shop now” and “read this post,” but the list also has quite a few original ideas too. For example, “Love to share? Please do” isn’t a call to action that you see every day. It’s okay to think out-of-the-box and be creative when you write a call to action. 

10 calls to action that repel

Now for the not-so-great calls to action. Here’s a list of 10 CTAs that could repel your customers.

Click here
Shop
Review
Get our custom report
Next
Add your contact info
Continue
Get it later
Go
http://ift.tt/1LPJ3S3 

Why these calls to action repel

  • Lack of information

Most of the calls to action on this list don’t provide any real information. For example, what does the call to action “continue” mean? Is it encouraging a customer to continue to a website? Is a customer supposed to continue shopping? Or should a subscriber continue on to a brand’s Facebook page? There just isn’t enough information to inspire a customer to act.

  • Not focusing on the customer

The call to action “Get our custom report” focuses on the business, not the customer. A call to action should focus on the customer. In this case, it’s better for the call to action to explain how the report helps a customer. For example, “Download now to increase your traffic” is a better call to action because it defines the value of the report to the customer.

  • Bad practices

Some of the calls to action are just bad habits. You don’t need to tell customers to “click here” anymore; everyone understands the concept of clicking on a link.

You want customers to act quickly so why would you ever use a call to action that says “get it later?”

You don’t need to write out your entire website address. Instead, just create a call to action that says, “Learn more on our website.” 

Conclusion:  Remember, a call to action is one of the most vital components of your email. Take some time to create one that’s descriptive, creative and encourages customers to act fast.

 To have more tips and tools delivered to your inbox every Monday, sign up for the VR Buzz newsletter.

© 2015, VerticalResponse Blog. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

The post Calls to Action: 50 that Sell and 10 that Repel appeared first on VerticalResponse Blog.

For Beginners: The Best Advice on Email Marketing From Around the Web

This is for you: a custom curated roadmap on what you need to know to get your email marketing off the ground.Related Articles
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5 Ways to Create an Irresistible Call to Action

A successful email series is only as strong as its call to action (CTA). Read through our top tips to make sure yours are truly clickable.


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An Email Marketer's Guide to Smart Automation

Email automation doesn't have to be impersonal. Used correctly, it can actually help marketers get hyper-personal messages to the right subscribers at the right time. Read our guide to find out how.


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Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Platinum Bay: Cracking the Code on Special Needs Employment

Steve Andrews was diagnosed with Asperger's at the age of 33. Gaining a new understanding and perspective on his life led him to create Platinum Bay, a company that allows individuals on the Autism spectrum to gain employment by learning to code.Related Articles
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Quick Tips Video: How to Create an AWesome Email Newsletter

The email newsletter. It’s one of the most iconic types of emails out there, and it’s easy to see why. The newsletter provides the perfect format for communicating a variety of information with your subscribers, such as company updates, new blog posts and more.

But what’s the right formula for creating one that people want to engage with?

In the latest episode of Quick Tips, we discussed a simple recipe for creating the perfect email newsletter:

In case you missed a tip, read the transcript here:

Oliva (O): Hey everyone – welcome back to Quick Tips. I’m Olivia.

Monica (M): And I’m Monica. Today we wanted to take a couple of minutes to talk about a popular type of email: the newsletter.

O: You know, I’ve always been a big fan of those.

M: Me too.

O: It’s a great way to get a sample of different types of content and updates from a company, and it usually means that I get less frequent emails too, which my inbox definitely appreciates.

M: Agreed. And if you’re looking for an easy way to engage and grow your email audience, the email newsletter is a perfect format for you.

O: What if you’re not sure what to write in a newsletter?

M: Here’s a good place to start: Come up with a template for your newsletter that consists of 3 or 4 different brief topics. This can include your most recent content (like a blog post), curated content, and company updates.  

O: Since you’ll be covering different topics, keep your list of updates brief. Many of your subscribers will be reading your emails on mobile, so your email content should be easily scannable.

M: So now let’s take a closer look at what you can write in your newsletter.

O: If you regularly blog or create long-form content or host weekly podcasts, your email newsletter is a perfect channel for which to share it with your audience.

M: This gets your content in front of more people and lengthens its life. Not to mention, it’s also an easy way to drive traffic back to your website.

O: Why not include your most popular post of the week, and even one that didn’t get as many views.

M: You can do this for any type of content you regularly produce, whether it’s a blog post, podcast, YouTube video, ebook –  you get the idea.

O: You can also use this as a chance to share any contributions you made to other blogs or news outlets. If you authored a unique post that was published on another company’s website, share it with your subscribers to spread the word!

M: Aside from content you’ve written, you can also curate content from your favorite reliable sources. This is a great way to share trending information related to your industry/niche that your subscribers should be aware of.

O: For example, a food blogger might link to an article that talks about a recent food recall. In addition to summarizing the article in a couple of sentences, consider adding your own views on the matter.

M: This helps present yourself and your business as a thought leader in the industry, and it shows that you really understand the people you’re talking to.

O: Now you already have two slots filled in your newsletter – your own content and a piece of curated content. For the final section, consider adding a company update.

M: This can be an upcoming event, webinar, podcast or a new contest – whatever you want to spread the word about, this is your chance to tell your subscribers! It’s a great way to breathe more life into your business and get subscribers engaged.

O: Just make sure the update is relevant to your subscribers and their interests.

M: While that pretty much wraps up our three-pronged approach to creating an email newsletter, there are other things you can share in your newsletter too.

O: Maybe you want to create a newsletter that only has recent blog posts, or has two posts and one company update.

M: There’s no right or wrong approach, as long as you’re meeting the needs of your subscribers. But using your own content, curated content, and company updates is always a great place to start.

O: What ideas do you have for your email subscribers? Tell us about it in the comments!

M: And of course, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to make sure you never miss a quick tip.

O: That’s it for today; we’ll see you in two weeks!

The post Quick Tips Video: How to Create an AWesome Email Newsletter appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.



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No Time to Maintain a Business Blog? Use LinkedIn Instead

Creating and maintaining a blog is time-consuming, which is why many business owners give up on it. However, sharing content with your audience can attract and support customers.

If you don’t want to take the time to set up and contribute to a full-fledged blog, consider writing a few posts each month on your LinkedIn page. LinkedIn has a blog-like publishing feature that allows you to post content that is attached to your profile.

With 300 million users on the platform, you have access to a captive audience. Plus, a report from Econsultancy shows LinkedIn is responsible for referring 64 percent of traffic from social sites to business sites. That’s more referral traffic than Facebook and Twitter combined.

Ready to start blogging on LinkedIn? Here’s what you need to know:

How to post

Look for the “Publish a post” button at the top of your homepage. This takes you to the publishing tool. Write your long-form post, adding hyperlinks, images or video. Click the “Publish” button at the top right. Then confirm that you’re ready to publish your post by clicking either “Yes, publish it” or “No, not yet.”

What to post

Like other social media platforms, your LinkedIn page lets you publish virtually every form of content: articles, photos, quotes, company news, videos and even SlideShare presentations.

You’ll want to include a mix of useful, entertaining and promotional information. LinkedIn recommends that for every post promoting your company you create or share four that focus on industry trends or information that positions you as an expert in your field.

As for length, aim for a minimum of 300 words. If you can naturally add a link to a partner or relevant expert on LinkedIn, do so. While it can be tempting to always write short posts, more in-depth pieces are more likely to be featured on LinkedIn Pulse, a content hub that recommends articles to users.

Be sure to tag your post to increase its chances of being found. Current tags include industries like retail, skills like web development and fields like project management. You can choose up to three tags per post, but you can’t create your own.

When to post

According to LinkedIn, posting 20 times per month reaches a minimum of 60 percent of your audience, but even writing a few posts a month is beneficial.

In addition to frequency, it’s important to know the best days and times to post to maximize your reach. According to LinkedIn, most members use the platform during business hours. If you write something at night and on Saturday morning, wait to post it on the next business day.

Promoting your posts

Be sure to create a call to action at the end of each post. Encourage your followers to “like” your post, comment and share it. Add a question at the end to encourage people to comment, or add a sentence that asks readers to like your post.

Share your post on other social media sites. You can also include in an email campaign or newsletter by writing a summary paragraph and link back to LinkedIn. If you’re in LinkedIn groups and your post is relevant, share it with the group.

Responding to comments

Comments are flattering because they mean someone took the time to read your post. Keep the conversation going to build trust, establish your role as an expert, gather additional feedback and strengthen brand loyalty.

Like other sites, you can flag offensive comments made on your posts.

Analyzing your reach

Curious which topics garnered the most reads? Check your posts’ analytics by clicking on “View stats” next to “Edit post” underneath the cover image. You can see statistics like number of views, shares, and demographics.

You can use this information to tweak your content to improve traffic. See which days get the most views and which topics spark conversation. Use your demographics to gear content to that crowd.

LinkedIn is an excellent marketing tool that has the power to position your company as an authoritative figure and increase your customer base. Try creating a handful of posts each month and see what kind of results you get. 

Learn more by checking out, “What LinkedIn’s New Blogging Tool Means for Your Business.”

 

Wendy Burt-Thomas is a full-time freelance writer with four books and thousands of published articles to her credit. Contact Wendy at WendyBurt@aol.com.

 

© 2015, VerticalResponse Blog. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

The post No Time to Maintain a Business Blog? Use LinkedIn Instead appeared first on VerticalResponse Blog.

Getting the Most from Your Email Content

Email is a vital tool in distributing content across all channels.


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Monday, September 28, 2015

Grow Your Business with Data Insights From Dasheroo + AWeber

Real business goals rely on real data.

Unfortunately, they’re not always the easiest thing to obtain, analyze and digest. Data typically exists in multiple reports or websites, and aggregating all of the metrics into one place can be tricky. As a small business owner, entrepreneur, or whatever your career path may entail, you probably have way too many spinning plates to get bogged down in the numbers.

However, the moment you neglect the metrics, you can start losing sight of your goals. If only there was an application that could pull it all together… (Spoiler alert: There is).

Delightful data insights for the modern marketer

Enter Dasheroo, the simplest way to capture all of your top marketing metrics in one easy-to-use dashboard. Now that Dasheroo integrates with AWeber, you can easily monitor your list growth, email engagement, bounce and unsubscribe rates, and get a list of recently sent emails alongside your other important marketing metrics. Having your AWeber stats displayed with your Google Analytics, Facebook, Twitter, eCommerce, and other custom insights allows you to do more than just track your goals – it helps to connect the dots that’ll help your business grow.

Dasheroo dashboard

Dasheroo’s insight displays can help marketers easily see the correlation between sent emails, social engagement, site traffic, and sales. When side-by-side, it’s apparent what social campaigns may have lead to a jump in email subscribers, and what emails aligned with increases in conversions. You can even create custom insights from feeds or Google Sheets, to leverage and display data from unconventional places.

Turning a Novel Idea into a Successful Project

Last April, I challenged myself to write my first novel in one year. I’ve never written a book before, but wrestled with the desire to do so for over a decade. Finally, I set this big ugly goal, with no plan or metrics to measure myself along the way. Big mistake.

I quickly discovered that without tangible metrics for success, I wouldn’t be able to grow my audience, track my writing progress, and ultimately complete the novel. After outlining milestones, I used Dasheroo to help me along my journey by setting up the following insights.

AWeber Email Marketing

I didn’t want to write my novel in a vacuum. My plan from the beginning was to build an audience and platform through email marketing using AWeber while I was writing, not after it was released. This required me to begin creating regular content on a new blog, and use contextual opt-in forms in my articles to attract subscribers. As the list began to grow, I became focused on improving my email engagement stats. Dasheroo insights can display the overall open and click rate on your emails, and the percentage of bounces and unsubscribes, which is key to gauging engagement.

I was also able to monitor recently sent broadcasts and total number of subscribers.

Dasheroo AWeber screenshot

Dasheroo AWeber screenshot 2

This information also comes in handy, as it reveals areas for you to make improvements and increase engagement. If you notice your open rate is fluctuating, for example, consider tweaking your send times and subject lines. Do emails sent in the early morning get a better open rate than emails sent late at night? Do your personalized subject lines perform better than those that aren’t? These are a few questions you can begin to ask yourself as you dig into the data and analytics.

Custom Charts

Aside from email stats, one of my favorite features within Dasheroo is their ability to display custom data from Google Sheets. Using this integration, I created two custom word count insights to keep track of my most important metrics. With these data points, I can see how many words I’ve written to date, how many words I have left, and my average word count per day. These stats help me see how much closer I’m getting to completing my novel.

dashboard4

If I can create a dashboard to measure the progress of my novel, think of all the awesome things you can do for your business. If you have a goal that can be represented in Google Sheets, you can easily create multiple custom insights to help you measure and achieve success.

For example, you can use this to track inventory of a physical item, track employee performance on a custom leaderboard or track daily events that happen in the physical world – like the amount of high fives your customers might give you each day! With this integration, the possibilities are truly endless.

Google Analytics

If you have a website, you are likely capturing a slew of metrics through Google Analytics. However, the Google Analytics interface can be difficult for novices to navigate. Using Dasheroo, I was able to connect my Google Analytics account to view various insights (e.g., top pages, total daily sessions) alongside my other data to track my blog’s progress.

With this data, you can begin to see how your email, social and content strategies all work together to yield results. And when you can look at it in one place, you can analyze trends and iterate on what works best.

Dasheroo dashboard

Dasheroo dashboard

Dasheroo dashboard

For example, using a Google Analytics insight, you might easily be able to identify that content published and promoted on a Tuesday performs significantly better than content published on a Thursday. Identifying top pages also helps you identify where users are flocking on your site, which can speak volumes about their interests and needs.

Facebook and Twitter

To continue building a platform for my project, I set up a Facebook Page. Dasheroo’s Facebook integration allows you to track a variety of metrics, including clicks, shares, likes, comments, total number of new fans and overall reach. Although my Facebook traffic is admittedly dismal at this time, this dashboard serves as a constant reminder to create and experiment with more engaging posts.

Since my novel is a bit of a hobby, I haven’t invested in any paid social efforts to expand my reach. If you are investing in Facebook’s paid options, these Dasheroo insights will be of much greater use for your brand or business.

Dasheroo dashboard

I purposefully didn’t create a separate Twitter account for my book project, but that didn’t stop me from syncing with my everyday Twitter account and taking advantage of some awesome charts. Dasheroo can pull in a graph of your follower growth, highest engaging tweets and much more. Seeing which tweets received the highest engagement in the past 30 days can have a strong impact on how you plan and create your Twitter content.

All the data, all the time.

I recently read a fantastic blog post by Michael Hyatt titled How to Jumpstart a Stuck Project. In the post, Michael writes, “If we don’t know where we’re headed, it’s impossible to know what it takes to to arrive.”

Whether you want to grow your subscriber list by 20 percent or increase your revenue by 1000 percent, the first step requires setting the goal.

Using a tool like Dasheroo can help you visualize your goals and progress. As an email marketing fanatic, I’m most excited to see my list growth alongside my Google Analytics, social stats and custom wordcount metrics. Checking all of these sources individually would be so time-consuming, and I probably would have given up by now.

So here’s my advice… set the goal, track the data and don’t give up.

Get started with Dasheroo + AWeber and continue to grow your business and hit your goals.

The post Grow Your Business with Data Insights From Dasheroo + AWeber appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.



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Benchmark Email Zoho Integrations: Relationships Delivered

Don't forget, with the Benchmark Email Zoho integration you can directly import your Zoho contacts into your Benchmark Email account and further your relationships via email marketing campaigns.Related Articles
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Thursday, September 24, 2015

4 Ways To Grow Your Email List with YouTube

If you’re producing content for YouTube, you already know the benefits of the platform. Every day, viewers watch hundreds of millions of hours of video content on YouTube – and every year viewing stats increase at an astounding rate.

While YouTube is the undeniable King of Video on the Internet, it can still be a bit of a passive experience. If you have a product or service to sell, you need engaged viewers who don’t just watch your content, but act on it as well.

With email marketing, it becomes easier to build a loyal audience for not only your YouTube channel, but your business as well. While there are a number of benefits for using video in your marketing strategy, we’re going to look at different ways to encourage viewers to sign up to your email list and increase engagement.

But first, let’s take a look at why tying email marketing to your video strategy is important in the first place.

Using email marketing to engage your viewers.

Email is still one of the best ways to keep in touch with an audience. Why? Because it allows you to connect with them in a place they check every day: their inbox.

While YouTube does send email digests about your content to your subscribers, it also contains content from other channels to which they’re subscribed. And not only will your content have to compete with others, viewers also have the option to turn off these email notifications altogether.

When you have your own email list, you’re able to communicate exclusively with an audience of engaged viewers who enjoy watching your videos and are interested in your products or services. With email, you can let viewers know when a new video is released, or share other content they might find valuable, such as a blog post or ebook. And as you build trust with your subscribers, you can use email to educate them about your products and their benefits.

It’s simply a win-win.

Building your email list on YouTube.

Thankfully, there are a number of ways to turn your YouTube viewers into email subscribers. Let’s begin with step number one.

1. Create engaged video viewers.

When you have a loyal YouTube audience who enjoys your content and looks forward to new videos you post, they’ll be more willing to receive communication from you on other channels. To develop your fanbase, there are three key factors that will be essential to your success: consistency, on-screen personality and communication.

  • Consistency: Video should not be a one-off pursuit. Instead of producing just one great video, you need to continually create great video content that keeps viewers coming back. Develop a content schedule so viewers will know when to expect new episodes in your series.
  • On-Screen Personality: With video, your voice and on-camera appearance are important to making a connection with your audience. Are viewers coming back just because your topic is interesting, or because you’ve explained it in a fun way and added some humor? Develop an on-camera personality that invites people to become repeat watchers.
  • Communication: Every time you produce a video, you need to let people know it exists. While videos are super-shareable on social, they may quickly disappear from your fan’s feeds. When you have a way to keep in contact with your viewers, such as email, you can let them know every time you release a new video.

2. Encourage viewers to sign up to your list.

While your video content should help influence a viewer to sign up to your email list, that might not be enough to get them to subscribe. To get them to sign up, try offering an incentive such as a free ebook, coupon or exclusive video in exchange for their email address.

If you’re a photography blogger, you might give away a free ebook of your favorite photos with how-to tips on camera gear and settings. Or a clothing store owner might offer an exclusive discount to your email subscribers that can be redeemed on their first purchase. Whatever you decide to offer, it should relevant to your niche and deliver additional value to your subscribers.

3. Make it easy to subscribe to your email list.

Turning a viewer into an email subscriber isn’t always easy, but don’t be afraid to talk about your email list directly in your video. If you feature yourself on camera, tell you viewers about your incentive and encourage them to sign up for your email list to receive it.

YouTube also has some tools that will display text within the video, and they’re perfect for capturing your viewer’s attention. Here are my favorites:

Cards

Cards, which are visible in the YouTube player on both desktop and mobile devices, are an interactive element that are overlaid on top of your YouTube video. On a desktop, cards will be displayed first as a teaser with a line of text. The link will still be accessible when viewers hover their cursor over the video player and click the “info” icon.

youtube-card-resized 2

Here are the elements you can customize on a card:

  • Website URL: You can link your card to any URL associated with your Google account. To prevent abuse, verify that you own the domain you are linking to by either uploading a small file to the root of your website, or verifying through your Google Analytics account. You can add URLs to your account through the Advanced Settings panel of your YouTube account.
  • Title/Headline: This should be descriptive of the page to which you’re linking. In this case, it should mention your offer and your email list. This is displayed when the card is clicked either from the teaser or the “info” icon.
  • Call to Action: This text will display below the title/headline on the full card. This text should motivate viewers to click your offer, such as “Sign Up Now” to promote urgency.
  • Image: You can upload your logo or an image to support your offer here. Images are displayed as squares, so you’ll need to format your image accordingly.

You can also control when the teaser text is overlaid on your video by moving the card around the timeline of your video, as shown below:

Annotations

Annotations are another way to add interactivity to your videos. With annotations, you can add a text block on top of your video, position it and link it to your sign up form.

youtube-annotation-resized 2

There are a number of display options such as a speech bubble, title, spotlight, label and note. If you’re in the video, clickable annotations come in handy because you can physically point to it so people won’t miss it.

Do note that annotations only display on desktops, so your mobile viewers won’t see anything in that space if you’re pointing to it. Annotations can also be turned off by viewers in the player settings.

Here are the elements you can customize on an annotation:

  • Website URL: Just like cards, you can link an annotation to any URL associated with your Google account.
  • Text: Customize a message to encourage people to sign up to your list. Be sure to highlight your offer. Try something such as “Subscribe to our email list and get a free ebook!”
  • Text Size: You can change the size of the text to maximize its impact, but be careful of overwhelming your viewers by making it too big.
  • Label Color: You can also customize the color of the background label on many of the annotation types, which is great for matching your brand/video colors.
  • Start & End Times: These values determine how long your annotation is displayed. Reference the time indicator in the YouTube player to determine when your annotation should begin and end.
  • Reposition: You can drag and drop the annotation so that it is positioned where it will be most effectively viewed.

Description Text

The description text of your YouTube video allow for your people to find it in search, but be sure to mention your email list and incentive (if you offer one). An effective description should accurately describe the content of your video, and link to your website and sign up form.

If you’re using tracking links in your description text, consider using a URL shortener such as the one provided by Google or Bitly, as the full URL will be displayed in the description.

4. Create an email and video strategy.

Once you’ve captured the email addresses of your YouTube viewers, you’ll need an autoresponder series that welcomes them to your list. This is also a good opportunity to share more information about yourself and what subscribers can expect from your emails. If you promised an incentive such as a free download, be sure to deliver that as well.

Aside from providing a welcome autoresponder series, you can keep in touch with subscribers by sending one-time broadcast emails every time you upload a new video to YouTube. These broadcasts can be much more personal than the automated emails that YouTube generates, and you can customize the message to include additional information about your paid products as well.

Turning your viewers into valuable subscribers.

YouTube is a great platform for attracting new people to your brand. And when you add email marketing to the mix, you gain a unique opportunity to build an engaged and loyal audience.

Now that you have the tips you need to turn your YouTube viewers into subscribers, you’re ready to get started!

Have you found success turning your YouTube viewers into loyal email subscribers? Tell us about it in the comments!

The post 4 Ways To Grow Your Email List with YouTube appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.



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Getting it Right: Gifs and Memes in Email Campaigns

Gifs and memes are tools to further your message – but they’re not calls to action.Related Articles
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9 Questions to Ask When Selecting an Email Agency

Here are nine questions to consider as you search for an email agency that can raise the bar on your current messaging program and meet the all the needs of your business.


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Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Getting it Wrong: The Issue with Using Graphics in Email Campaigns

The use graphics or to not use graphics – that is the question for many many in marketing.Related Articles
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HTML vs. Plain Text: Which Will Your Subscribers Open?

Two types of emails will enter the inbox. One will win.

Actually, it’s not that simple. And your inbox (hopefully) is not the Thunderdome.

When we covered the HTML vs. plain text email debate last year, we explained that deliverability was a big concern for many people when it came to choosing which type of email to send. Some people avoid sending HTML emails altogether for fear that email service providers won’t properly display their messages. But that’s not the case – at least not anymore.

HTML or Plain Text: Which Will Display?

These days, every major email client (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) should have no trouble displaying the images, graphics, colors and all the other great stuff in your HTML emails. The only exception is when something is broken in your HTML.

When you create any message in AWeber, we auto-generate a plain text version – just to be on the safe side. We couldn’t help but notice that some of our customers were spending a lot of extra time editing the auto-generated plain text versions of their HTML messages. They just weren’t convinced that all email clients would display HTML messages.

It got us thinking: Who is really viewing emails in plain text instead of HTML? We ran a little experiment to find out.

The Hypothesis

At AWeber, we send out a weekly newsletter (like the one above) that contains our top blog posts and latest news. Like most of the emails we send, it’s a nicely designed HTML newsletter. We hypothesized that the vast majority of subscribers would interact with the HTML version, and very few would interact with the auto-generated plain text version.

The Experiment

Before we sent our weekly blog newsletter last week, we tagged the links in the plain text and HTML versions with different UTM parameters. After a week, we used our own email analytics to check out the results. Only 1.6% of our total clicks happened in the plain text version of the email.

The Winner: HTML

Our hypothesis was correct: most subscribers interact only with the HTML versions of emails. Yay!

So what does this mean for you?

You don’t have to hold back from sending great-looking HTML emails anymore! There is also no need to edit the auto-generated plain text versions of your emails. Most of the people on your subscriber list will never see the plain text version anyway.

Still worried? AWeber not only auto-generates a plain text version of your emails just in case, if you’re using our drag-and-drop editor we also automatically make sure your HTML is correct.

Want to start sending great-looking emails? We have more than 700 HTML templates available in our template gallery. Just plug in your content and hit send!

Need something a little more customized? Our design team can create a tailor-made template just for you. Get in touch with them today!

Not an AWeber customer yet? Start your 30-day free trial today!

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Holiday Fun Facts to Share on Social 2015 Edition

In our continued effort to provide “snackable” tidbits of information to share with your audience via social media, we’ve collected another 10 interesting holiday fun facts for you to share. You may remember our list from 2014 as it was one of our most popular posts from last year’s holiday season.

This year we’ve dived back in and found some facts that will bring a smile to your face while others will leave you scratching your head. Simply click the Tweet button next to the fact to post it on Twitter or copy and share on your other social networks.

1. In 2014, 40% of holiday shopping occurred online. (Google

2. In 2015, five million Americans finished their holiday shopping before the end of summer. (CreditCards.com

3. $2.4 Billion was spent online during Black Friday in 2014. (Adobe

4. Americans purchase nearly 600 million pounds of candy each year for Halloween. (visually

5. People spent an average of $126.68 on holiday gifts for themselves in 2014. (National Retail Federation

6. More than 50 million people watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV. (Macy’s

7. Americans spent an estimated $6.6 Billion on food for 4th of July in 2015. (National Retail Federation)  

8. 53% of those that shopped online in 2014 used smartphones or tablets, up from 41% in 2013. (Google

9. More than 4 in 10 consumers will do the majority of shopping in December or later (Deloitte). 

10. There are approximately 25-30 million Real Christmas Trees sold in the U.S. every year. (NCTA

So now you can dazzle your Twitter followers with your vast knowledge of the holidays. If you’re interested in learning more about holiday marketing for your business, hop on over to our ‘Everything Holiday’ website and get in front of the holiday rush. 

© 2015, VerticalResponse Blog. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

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