6 Ways To Grow Your Email List that Prove You Don’t Need a Website

Growing an email list isn’t just for those with visually captivating, multi-page websites. It’s for anyone who wants to use email to engage their audience and grow their business.

And considering that email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter, you definitely don’t want to put your list growth efforts on hold until your website is ready (or, if you don’t plan on building a website at all).

Thankfully, there are a number of simple approaches you can take in the next hour to help you get moving – and they don’t require a huge chunk of time or a team of design experts. To kick-start your email marketing efforts, let’s take a look at 6 quick ways you can promote your sign up form.

1. Set up a landing page.

Don’t have a website? Not a problem. Using a landing page platform, such as Unbounce, you can create a simple landing page that hosts your sign up form and provides basic information about your business.

One benefit of using a platform like Unbounce is that you get access to pre-designed templates, which means it shouldn’t take longer than an hour to set up a page. To give you an idea of what you’d have to work with, here’s an example of one of their templates:

As you can see from this template, you have a place to brand the page with your business name, inform visitors of your business value, feature a sign up form, and add additional relevant information as you see fit. And even though it’s not visible in the example, you’ll have access to an editor that allows you to change some of the visual elements, such as color scheme, to design it to fit your brand.

If you take this approach, you’ll want to make sure the page includes:

• Your business name
• A logo (if you have one)
• Brief description about what your business does
• Ways to contact you (phone number, email address)
• Sign up form
• Social media links (if applicable)

To optimize email sign ups, I’d also encourage you to include a description of your emails and the value they bring to subscribers. The more you highlight what subscribers will get out of it, the more likely they’ll want to sign up if it resonates with them.

If you have any incentives to offer (ebook, checklist, coupon), be sure to also mention that here as well.

How you can use this page: Since this page has additional information about your business, it’s ideal for individuals who may not be familiar with your brand. You can share the link with prospects at conferences, your social channels, paid ads and more.

2. Create a single-page website.

If you plan on creating a more robust website in the future, you don’t have to wait until it’s finished to start growing your email list. Instead, you can get started by publishing one simple page.

By doing so, you can begin earning organic traffic from people searching for services or products your business offers. You can also direct your existing customers to the page so they can learn more about you and get on your email list.

Using a website building platform like Wix or Weebly, you can select a template design and drag and drop different elements to create a super simple website (no coding required!). Some platforms allow you to publish or hide pages as you see fit, so you can have your homepage with your sign up form live as you continue developing the rest of your website.

Again, you’ll want to at least include your business name and logo (if you have one), information about what your business does, contact information and your sign up form.

How you can use this page: Since this page will have information about your business, you can use this link just as you would with the landing page we previously covered – you can share the link with customers at your store, on your business cards, in social channels and more.

3. Use a web hosted sign up form.

If a landing page or single page website has more bells and whistles than you need, you can take an even simpler approach by using a web hosted sign up form provided by your email service provider.

With AWeber, for example, customers have the option to share this type of form directly from their account. After creating a sign up form, they can publish their form in three different ways: 1) By copying and pasting the code onto their website, 2) Sending the code to their web designer to add it to the website, or 3) Sharing a link that directs to a page (hosted by AWeber) with their form.

The design you create using our sign up form generator will automatically carry over to the page, which means you can customize the content and design to your liking, like so:

Again, be sure to set clear expectations as to what your emails contain.

How you can use this page: This page is perfect if you’re looking for a no-frills web page to promote email sign ups. If you’re publishing social posts that encourage people to subscribe to your email list, for example, you can link to this page so they can easily sign up after they click through. If you have an email newsletter you want clients to subscribe to, you can also feature this link in your email signature.

4. Share your broadcast archive page.

Want to give future subscribers a sneak peek into the emails you send? Simply send a link to your broadcast archive page to show the value of being on your list.

AWeber users have the option to save the one-time emails they send to subscribers. When they do, the emails are stored on a page that can be shared with others:

In addition to being able to view every email you’ve ever sent, visitors to the page also have the option to subscribe to your email list:

 

So if you want to let your emails speak for themselves, the broadcast archive page is a great way to show that off.

How you can use this page: I recommend sharing this link just as you might share the link to your web hosted sign up form (via social posts, in an email, etc.). However, keep in mind that while you’re letting your emails speak for themselves, you’re limited as to the call-to-action and context you can provide to convince someone to sign up to your email list. As a result, this is ideal for those who already have some familiarity with your business, and wouldn’t need an additional explanation as to who you are. 

5. Promote your email list on social media.

If you primarily interact with customers on social media platforms, there are plenty of ways you can promote your email list. While your strategy will depend on the social platform you use, you’ll at least be able to add a link to a web-hosted sign up form or landing page in your social profiles or posts.

You can also explore the unique lead generation opportunities different social platforms offer to help you cross-promote your email list.

If you have a large Facebook following, for example, you can run paid ads that direct people to subscribe to your list. You can also use their Call-to-Action feature on your business page cover photo and link to your hosted sign up form:

6. Leverage offline networking with mobile sign up form apps.

If you often interact with potential customers during conferences, networking events or meet ups, chances are you’ll need a simple way to get them to sign up to your email list.

With a mobile sign up form app, such as Atom, people can easily subscribe to your email list in less than a minute directly from your mobile device:

The benefit of an app like this is that it provides an easy user experience for someone who’s signing up to your list in person. And since it functions just like a sign up form you’d have on your web page, you can include information about your email list and customize the design. The best part of all? You don’t need access to the internet in order for people to subscribe.

How you can use this page: While any event where you’re face-to-face with customers and prospects is ideal for using a mobile sign up form app, you can also set this up at your brick and mortar store. It even comes in handy if you strike up a conversation with someone in line at the grocery store!

Start growing your email list today!

When you get creative with how you think about building an engaged community of subscribers, it becomes easier to see how you can get started with just the basics. And hopefully now you have a few new tricks up your sleeve to make that happen.

Are you ready to start growing your list using one of this tips above? Or do you have a strategy of your own that wasn’t mentioned in this post? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

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Email Marketing Best Practices: Testing Your Emails Before Hitting Send

Editor’s note: What does it take to put together an email? How do you take all the components we write about week after week, and put them together to create a thoughtful, well-executed campaign? We asked our in-house email marketing specialist, Reid Yoshimoto, for a breakdown on his process creating our bi-weekly newsletter, the VR Buzz, to share his expertise.

Twice a month I put together the VR Buzz newsletter, and each time I treat it as if it were the first email I’ve ever sent. Creating an email campaign seems like a piece of cake, but in reality there are a lot of moving parts that need to come together before clicking “send.” We all have some experience with email not working the way it was supposed to. Have you ever emailed (or Tweeted) a company when their links didn’t work, or received an “Oops” email after a company sent you an email with the wrong information in it?

To avoid the dreaded “Oops,” here are five questions I ask when preparing an email:

What will this email really look like?

Sending a test to yourself, friends, or co-workers is one of easiest ways to view your email before finalizing your campaign. You might say, “Yes, it looks great,” but ask yourself additional questions like: Do I want my customers spending a lot time scrolling and looking for things? Would the use of colors help the text be more eye-catching? Are the images appropriate for the message I’m conveying? Most importantly, is the email responsive in both desktop and mobile versions?

Do the links work?

Test all links, images, and buttons in your email even if it’s a template you’ve used a thousand times. Then test it all again. Taking five minutes to check your links helps ensure your customers save time and go to the page they expect to when they click, such as your checkout page versus your home page. And if you’re placing tracking on your links, make sure those are set and appear correctly too.

Do the images complement the content?

Make sure your image(s) enhance the story you’re telling. If you’re a restaurant trying to bring in brunch business, don’t show a picture of your dinner menu. People are visual, and that photo of eggs Benedict or stuffed French toast may be your selling point to get them to book a reservation.

Is this the best subject line for this email?

Don’t be dull. Email marketing might not be the sexiest topic out there, and sometimes we have to get straight to the point, but when possible, give your subject lines (and copy) a voice. Throw in some humor on occasion. Customers need to see a human side to you, and they will remember an email if there was a creative subject line attached to it.

Is this email right for my subscribers?

Test one version of an email against another. Testing your email doesn’t mean just looking at two emails and saying, “This one is great,” or “I like this one better.” It means sending two versions to see which one resonates better with your customers. It’s not hard to do: Create two versions of your email, and segment your main email list into two random groups. Group A receives version 1; Group B receives version 2. Once you have results from your two versions, you can pick the “winner,” and format future emails knowing what your customers like. Do they prefer short, image-heavy emails over text driven ones? You may be surprised what resonates with your customers. The “better” email isn’t always the one you prefer.

Taking a few minutes to ask yourself these questions before you hit “send” will save you a ton of time in the long run — and save you a lot of “Oops” moments. 

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© 2016, Reid Yoshimoto. All rights reserved.

The post Email Marketing Best Practices: Testing Your Emails Before Hitting Send appeared first on Vertical Response Blog.

Your Holiday Marketing Wrapped Up With a Bow — The 2016 Everything Holiday Resource Center Opens Soon!

Prepping your business for the busy holiday season doesn’t have to be a daunting task. Whether you’re trying to establish a holiday marketing game plan or simply looking for a few creative, holiday-themed marketing ideas, we’ve got you covered. The 2016 Everything Holiday Resource Center has all of the holiday tools and guides you’ll need to prepare and manage your seasonal marketing campaigns.

Among this year’s tips, tools, and festive freebies, you’ll find:

Email marketing calendars

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday — there are so many important commerce days to be aware of this time of the year. Highlighting key dates, these calendars will make sure you don’t skip any significant promotional opportunities and help keep your email marketing on track during the holiday frenzy.

Email and social media marketing how-to’s

These comprehensive guides will provide you with all the information and strategies you need to engage your business’s target audience and drive sales during this crucial time of the year.

Guide to seasonalizing your brand

Not only do we have fun and effective ways of sprucing up your website, logo, and social media accounts for the holidays, but also tips on how to bring the joyful spirit of the season to your marketing promotions and events.

All of this is just a small sampling of what’s on Everything Holiday. Beginning October 5, find 24 days of fresh, festive content and useful freebies to help your business stand out from the competition. Each day something new will be unlocked, so make sure you don’t miss out on any of the special offers, content, and other seasonal goodies by signing up for daily reminder emails. With Everything Holiday, your holiday season is bound to be merry and bright.

24 Days of Email Marketing Tips, Tools, and Festive Freebies Everything Holiday goes live October 5, 2016 Everything Holiday

© 2016, Amber Humphrey. All rights reserved.

The post Your Holiday Marketing Wrapped Up With a Bow — The 2016 Everything Holiday Resource Center Opens Soon! appeared first on Vertical Response Blog.

Why a Sign up Form Is a No-Brainer for Email List Growth

A list of contacts is essential for any business that wants to stay in touch with prospects and customers. That list also shouldn’t be set in stone. It should always be evolving thanks to adding new subscribers, attrition through unsubscribes, and email address abandonment.

In order to fuel continued and sustained list growth it’s a no-brainer to have an email sign up form on your website, blog, and other digital properties like social media sites. By providing visitors a quick, easy, and efficient way to sign up for your email list, you can proactively grow your list around the clock. Having a solid email list is important because every dollar spent on email marketing generates $38 in ROI.

In addition, companies of all sizes count on email marketing for its many benefits including its positive impact on revenue. In a survey of more than 350 marketers done by The Relevancy Group for its report “The Relevancy Ring: ESP Buyers Guide 2015,” 37 percent of marketers attribute 20 percent of their revenue to email marketing.

So, if you’re not using an email sign up form, you should make it a number one priority to do so. VerticalResponse provides sign up forms for free with every free or paid account. Plus, we have a list of the top six places you should feature your sign up form in order to grow your list, and a post chock-full of real-life examples of effective sign up forms for B2B, B2C, and nonprofits.

If you’re using an email sign up form for the first time, or you’ve been using one forever (good for you!), make sure you follow these three rules:

3 Golden Rule for Sign Up Forms

1. Don’t hide it:

Don’t make people hunt for your sign up form. If someone wants to subscribe to your newsletter or email list, put it front and center on your homepage (or across all the pages of your site) so it’s easy to find and fill out. Some of the most effective sign up form real estate on your website will be the top right corner or across the top of the page. Also very useful (and very popular across the web) are sign up lightboxes that appear on webpages. Take a look at retailer CB2’s as an example:

2. Explain the benefit:

Provide some context and the benefit that a potential subscriber will get for handing over their email address. The last thing anyone wants is more email in their inbox, especially if it’s not going to have something in it for them. Tell them exactly what you’ll deliver and why they should care. For example, “Be the first to know about limited-time sales, find out about special guests, etc.” The CB2 example above is a perfect illustration of this. What CB2 doesn’t include, but which you may want to, is the frequency that your subscriber will hear from you. Will you mail once a week or once a month or daily? Tell them like we do in our VerticalResponse newsletter sign up form.

3. Stick to the basics: 

You might be tempted to collect heaps of information on your sign up form to aid in the personalization of your emails, but try to resist this temptation. Stick to the basics like first name and email address. The more fields you add, the less likely someone is to fill it out, so only ask for what you need.

These no-brainer email sign up form tips and examples will help you grow your email list easily and efficiently. Here’s one last idea: Don’t forget the power of old-fashioned pen and paper in your place of business. Sign up sheets are incredibly tempting for customers to fill out, especially after you’ve wowed them with your exceptional products and services.

Don’t Have a VerticalResponse Account Yet? It’s easy to use and free to get started. Sign up and send up to 1,200 emails per month for free. Start for Free

 Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in March 2015 and has been revamped and updated for accuracy and relevance.

© 2016, Kim Stiglitz. All rights reserved.

The post Why a Sign up Form Is a No-Brainer for Email List Growth appeared first on Vertical Response Blog.

4 Ways You Can Advertise with a Small Budget

As a small business owner, you’ve poured blood, sweat and tears into your company to get it to a place where you can finally see financial benefits (go you!). But due to all of your hard work, that sometimes makes the decision to spend your hard earned money particularly difficult.

When you do spend it, you want to spend it well – like on something that gets your message in front of an audience who has a problem your product or service can fix. But sometimes, reaching the right people is the biggest challenge of all.

That’s where a wonderful tactic known as paid advertising comes in handy. With paid ads, you can bring valuable visitors to your website, get them to join your email list and convert them into customers with a lead nurturing automated email series. And best of all? It can be done at a price you can afford.

In this post, you’ll get an introduction to affordable paid advertising, and learn about four advertising channels that are wildly effective.

First up? Facebook.

1. Facebook ads

If you’re already involved in promoting your business for free using Facebook, then you likely have felt the impact of Facebook’s algorithm changes over the past three years. Every post you make on Facebook will only reach about 6 percent of the audience you’ve worked so hard to grow.

While that may be the case for your organic reach, however, that doesn’t mean it’s not a great channel for advertising – because the truth of the matter is, it is!

Facebook allows you to connect with your ideal audience by giving you the power to target your ads based on age, gender, interests, occupation and more. And best part of all? You can spend as little as five dollars per day and still reap great rewards. You can also choose what goal you would like pay for, such as impressions, website visits, clicks, actions and more.

To start advertising on Facebook, begin by exploring targeting options and picking a few that are a good fit for your business. Yes, you’ll want to think about age, gender and geographic location, but the biggest areas of impact will be demographic, interest, and behavior based targeting. Typically, a great place to start is to find Facebook pages related to your audience that have large followings. From here, you can launch a few tests, and learn from each one.

Learn more: For an in depth guide on how to get started, be sure to check out 7 Steps To Create and Measure Winning Facebook Ads. You can also read these Facebook success stories (or learn from one of our customers to see how she’s using Facebook ads to grow her community and email list) to get ideas on how other small businesses are advertising on Facebook.

2. Paid search for brand terms

(Fair warning: Paid search can be a complex topic. But if you want to grow your brand awareness and you’re willing to take the time to learn how it works, paid search can have a huge, positive impact on your company’s growth!)

When you search Google using a keyword or phrase, Google displays results relevant to your search. Most of those results appear organically (meaning that no one is paying for Google to show you those pages). But at the top right side of the page, Google (and other search engines like Yahoo and Bing) displays ads which companies pay for you to see.

Typically, paid search advertising is divided into two groups: brand and non-brand keywords. While you may think that appearing in the search results of Google is going to destroy your budget, paid search ads for brand keywords can actually be very affordable.

Brand keywords are words that people will search related to your brand name (like AWeber email marketing, for example). At AWeber, we run ads on our own keyword, as you can see below:

Now you may wonder, “If I appear in the organic listing for my brand name, why would I pay for ads on my own brand name?”

Well, I’d have to say that when you do, you’re more likely to get people to click on your ads.  Studies have shown that the more placements you have in the search engine results page (also known as SERP), the more likely you are to get a click to your website.

This makes paid ads on your brand name a powerful tool for increasing website visits. Also, if you don’t bid on your brand name, others (like your competitors) might! So if you don’t want your competitor taking traffic from you by appearing in the top search results for your brand name, make sure to set up brand name search engine ads.

Beyond increasing clicks to your website, paid ads on brand names are also budget friendly. Although paid search is typically more expensive than other social advertising channels, brand terms are usually cheaper than non-brand terms.

This is due to the fact that Google gives priority and charges less to companies whose content is relevant to the keyword they’re bidding on. Since your website content probably contains your company name, you’re very likely to get a higher quality score, which means lower cost and higher placement in Google.

When choosing which search engines to advertise on, keep in mind that while Google is the most popular advertising engine, Bing and Yahoo tend to have lower cost-per-clicks (CPCs), which could be a great opportunity for small budget ads.

Learn more: Love the idea of paid advertising but need a little guidance? Check out this Paid Search Beginner’s Guide from Wordstream.

3. Native advertising

If you produce content regularly (whether it’s blog articles, ebooks pieces or landing pages), native advertising is a great option for driving significant traffic volume without killing your budget.

Native advertising companies (like Outbrain, Taboola and StackAdapt) offer contextually relevant ad spots for your content on the websites of third party companies that sell ad space on their site, like in the CNN example below:

As with any ad channel, however, there are some pros and cons to consider with native advertising. While it’s almost half the cost of Facebook advertising, ad targeting for native advertisements is limited. Often, you can choose the website where you content appears, but that’s about it. This is very different from Facebook where you can target your ads to the exact type of person you want to reach.

4. Retargeting ads

Retargeting is a great channel for businesses with small budgets, simply because the cost per clicks are lower than paid search ads. Additionally, these ads target people who have already visited your website and are more likely to convert. As a result, retargeting requires little effort and money, but can have a big, positive impact.

Retargeting is typically purchased through display advertising networks like Google AdWords, although many social advertising networks now offer it as an option as well.

For retargeting through Google AdWords, all you have to do is place a piece of code across your website. AdWords will allow you to build your segmented audiences, upload your creative and control how many times a previous visitor sees your ad.

Learn more: To hep you get started, here’s how you can create your first retargeting campaign. Or read more tips on how to increase acquisition with retargeting.

Rolling out big ad campaigns with a small budget

Ready to give paid advertising a try? If you’ve read this whole article, I’d say you’re already off to a great start! A good next step is to pick one of the options above, and start advertising. And remember, all you have to do is spend a little at a time, learn from each test and update your strategy as you go. If you do this, you’ll be attracting valuable site traffic and turning that traffic into email subscribers and then customers in no time!

Want to share how you’re going to get started with paid ads? I’d love to hear about it in the comments section below!

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[Podcast] Episode 40: Highlights From Our Most Downloaded Podcast Episodes

In this podcast episode, listen in on clips from our top 10 most popular episodes to date (as ranked by your downloads) in a curated Ask Me About Email Marketing clip show!

Join Tom T. as he reflects on the inspiring guests and content we explored over the course of the past 40 episodes.

Curious as to what the top downloaded episodes are? You’ll have to tune in to find out!

Episode synopsis

Over the past year, we’ve covered many different email marketing topics – from copywriting and list-building to community management and entrepreneurship. In this episode, you’ll get a wide sampling of the best tips and tactics from some of our favorite guests, like Madalyn Sklar, Nick Westergaard, Noah Kagan, Ben Settle and more.

Click here to download this episode directly. (MP3)

Ask us anything!

Have a question about email marketing that you want answered in a future podcast episode? Leave us a message at aweber.com/podcast.

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Email Design: Let’s Get Typographical

When it comes to design, font may be something you don’t really notice unless it’s glaringly bizarre or just very hard to read.

However, font (the word for the combination of a given typeface, style, and size) is a surprisingly big deal to many people. A broad range of enthusiasts (font geeks?) can tell you the names, virtues, histories, and sometimes the designers of various kinds, though more than a thousand styles have been designed through the years. And while many styles might appear similar to the uninitiated, they’ve come to have common connotations. For example, Comic Sans is often used to denote humor or playfulness, while Times New Roman is frequently the preferred font for writing about serious matters.

As a result, when it comes to planning your email campaign you may want to give font choice as much consideration as you give layout, color, sizing, and other design elements. Below are seven elements to think about when choosing a font:

Varieties per email

In general, designers recommend using only one or two fonts per email message. More than that may confuse the eye and make your copy less appealing to read.

Accessibility

These days it’s crucial to choose a style that’s easy to read on mobile devices. Because some computer systems don’t recognize unusual fonts, you can increase efficiency by narrowing your choices to those recognizable via both Apple and Windows, and viewable by most email service providers. Email vendors allowing broad compatibility include iOS Mail; Apple Mail; Android (its default mail client, not the Gmail app); Outlook 2000; Outlook.com app, and Thunderbird. Here are some brief descriptions of highly accessible fonts commonly used in email campaigns:

• Open Sans: This very legible font has a friendly but neutral appearance and is optimized for print, web, and mobile interfaces.
• Helvetica: One of the most popular typefaces in the world, this easy-to-read style works harmoniously with a number of other design elements.
• Comic Sans: This casual, non-connecting script inspired by comic book lettering is common in informal documents and children’s materials.
• Courier: This style resembles the numbers typed via typewriter and works well in columns. It’s said to denote dignity, prestige, and stability.
• Raleway: This minimalist font is considered modern, yet elegant.
• Droid Serif: This contemporary font is slightly condensed to maximize comfortable reading on small screens.
• Crimson Text: This straightforward Roman-style design is meant to look somewhat old fashioned.

Readability

The last thing you want in an email campaign is your recipients automatically bypassing your message because it’s painfully small to read — or alternatively, so big it requires continual scrolling. In general, sans-serif fonts appear more clearly than serif fonts on pixel-based screens, and the standard size is about 22 – 24 pt. for header text and 14 – 16 pt. for body copy.

Alignment with your brand

Choosing a font has been compared to choosing an outfit that reflects your personality and makes a good first impression, all while remaining appropriate for the occasion. You can probably reduce your brand to three key adjectives, so pick a font design likely to connote those qualities. A font that clashes with your company persona might inadvertently confuse customers and distract from your message itself. For continuity’s sake, you may also wish to match your email font with the lettering in your company logo.

Alignment with your message

Even if you’ve chosen a regular, permanent font that represents your brand as a whole, you can still deviate at times to give impact to messages. For example, a more traditional brand may wish to convey a lighthearted message, in which case a secondary font choice can come into play. Different fonts can also be used for different types of content. As an example, you may choose to use one font for your information-themed newsletters, and another font for fun sales or special offers.

Color

It’s best to incorporate only one or two colors into your email font in the interest of crisp, clean design that doesn’t overwhelm the viewer. In many cases, the readability of basic black text will prevail over creativity. However, if you’re considering incorporating other colors, consider their influence on how we think and feel. Some common color connotations include:

• Red: Associated with the intensity of blood and fire, as in the Red Bull and YouTube logos. Think active, emotional, passionate, love, intensity, and aggressiveness.
• Blue: Associated with depth and stability, as with the Samsung and Ford logos. Earth and sky, comfort, faith, conservative, understanding, clarity, confidence, calm, and trust.
• Yellow: Associated with energy, joy and sunshine, as with the McDonald’s campaign. Alive, energetic, fresh.
• Green: Associated with the harmony of nature, as with the Starbucks logo. Relaxed, trust-worthy, peaceful, hopeful.
• Purple: Associated with luxury and royalty, as with Yahoo! or FedEx. Glamour, power, nostalgia, romantic, introspective. 
• Orange: Associated with happiness, sunshine, tropics, as with the Fanta or Nickelodeon logos. Enthusiastic, creative, determined, stimulation of mental activity.
• Black: Associated with mystery or formality, as with the Blackberry or Tiffany & Co. logos. Bold, serious, luxurious.
• Pink: Associated with feminine traits, as with the Barbie brand. Love, sweet, warmth, nurturing.
• Brown: Associated with nurturing and Mother Earth, as with UPS or M&Ms. Reliability, support, dependability.

Cost

Many computer systems come with their own library of fonts that can be used for free; if you go that route, be sure to check that your choice renders well across multiple browsers. Other companies opt to buy unusual fonts from designers to set their brands apart from the competition. Note that licensing is needed to use certain web-specific fonts in any kind of online marketing.

One word of caution: When browsing fonts, it can be easy to get caught up in all the fun and interesting choices and choose a style that’s so unusual it hugely distracts from your messaging. Some creativity is fine if your company or brand is all about creativity, but in other cases goofy choices will keep your brand from being taken seriously. When in doubt, choose the more conservative option.

Don’t Have a VerticalResponse Account Yet? It’s easy to use and free to get started. Sign up and send up to 1,200 emails per month for free. Start for Free

© 2016, Tori Tsu. All rights reserved.

The post Email Design: Let’s Get Typographical appeared first on Vertical Response Blog.

Activate Your Fanbase With User-Generated Content

In the digital era, everyone is a content creator, and that’s great news for marketers. Brands are boosting awareness by encouraging the public to share their customer experiences on platforms like Twitter and Instagram. Just to name a few notable examples, Coca Cola’s “Share a Coke” hashtag marketing campaign asked fans to snap Coke-themed photos of themselves, and Charmin solicits toilet humor from its Twitter followers. But this kind of user-generated content (“UGC”) isn’t limited to social media interactions between a brand its customers. Savvy marketers are starting to mix UGC into their email marketing campaigns — and it’s working. Recent studies have shown that UGC delivers a 73 percent increase in email click-through rates.

UGC is simply content about your brand that is created by your business’s customers or fans, whether that content is photos, videos, product reviews, or testimonials. One obvious benefit of incorporating consumer content into your email marketing is that it saves you time. Instead of having to constantly come up with new content ideas on your own, your customers are the driving creative force.

But the real key to the power and popularity of UGC is that it humanizes your sales pitch. You aren’t the one telling your subscribers how wonderful your products or services are; real customers do it for you. UGC is authentic, and when used as a part of an email marketing campaign, it builds trust in your brand.

One of the best forms of advertisement is a satisfied customer. As amazing as your email content-crafting skills may be, consumers are more interested in what their peers say about your business. In fact, 70 percent of consumers trust peer recommendations and reviews over professionally written content. Zulily takes advantage of this statistic with a “Customer Picks” emails that feature some of their best-selling products, along with a few brief but enthusiastic customer endorsements:

So how can you start integrating UGC into your email marketing? You can put out a call in your newsletter for subscribers to email photos or stories of their experiences with your products or services. Or you can come up with a brand-specific hashtag, ask customers to submit to you via social media, and feature your favorite responses in your next email. You might consider a theme for the submissions that is tied to an upcoming promotion or event.

To celebrate Star Wars Day and promote a Star Wars merchandise sale, Hot Topic asked its customers to submit photos of themselves in Star Wars gear. The best submissions were included in an email photo collage:

Of course a theme isn’t necessary. TeeFury’s emails showcase photos of happy customers wearing the company’s apparel:

To give your subscribers an extra push to submit, you can hold a contest, with a gift certificate or other prize going to the most creative submission. However you go about incorporating customer content into your emails, make sure that you’ve obtained permission from the original creator to use their content and that you’ve articulated exactly how that content will be used.

Once you get the go-ahead, don’t be afraid to experiment with different types of UGC. Photos might work well for one brand, while testimonials work better for another. But if content development is one of your email marketing pain points, then UGC could be the solution.

Read more about email content development here. 

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© 2016, Amber Humphrey. All rights reserved.

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