Thursday, 13 May 2010

Gmail recently changed the way they interpret the code for displaying images

Posted by Unknown at 11:34 am Labels: , , , , ,
Why does this matter?
It matters because it causes unwanted spaces to be added to your email marketing messages potentially breaking the layout of your HTML. Code that used to render perfectly may now render incorrectly.
The change appears to be affecting email marketing messages in Gmail webmail when viewed in Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Safari. However it does not appear to have any effect on HTML emails in Gmail webmail viewed in Internet Explorer.

The solution
This issue is similar to a long-standing Hotmail bug. However, although you can fix this by adding ” img {display:block} ” at the top of your email marketing messages in Hotmail, Gmail ignores this code so that fix will not work.
To ensure your HTML emails render the way they should in Gmail the following needs to be added to every image tag in your email marketing messages: ” <img style=”display:block” src=  ”
There is one exception: when you are displaying images directly alongside text, such as when you are wrapping text or putting images inside paragraphs.

Don’t forget your triggered and transactional messages
The change will not just affect new messages you create, it will also affect any triggered or transactional email templates you have already set up
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Find out who has forwarded your eNewsletter using Facebook, Twitter etc

Posted by Unknown at 11:33 am Labels: , , , , ,
We’ve added to our reporting tools so you can now see reports on your Social Widgets activity
As you are by now aware, you can add social widgets to your email footer and link to social networks so your subscribers can now share your newsletter with their friends and connections using their own social profile – just by clicking on the widget.

So what’s in the social widget report?
The decision by your subscribers to share your newsletter within their profile on any of the social networks means that all of their friends and followers can view it too. This means of course that your newsletter and your brand are gaining exposure within an entirely new contacts network.
The report tells you the number of your subscribers who have clicked the widgets to share your newsletter, who they shared with and which network it was – providing you with an easy way to track the level of exposure that your campaigns are getting through social media and this media gets more and more in the spotlight, it is definitely one ‘bandwagon’ to climb aboard.
After you do, let us know your thoughts
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Tuesday, 11 May 2010

Best advice in acquiring your list of email addresses

Posted by Unknown at 11:35 am Labels: , , , , , ,
One of the main factors in achieving a positive result from your email marketing campaigns is the quality of your mailing list. So the art is to acquire the email addresses of those people who will consider your email to be of value. This “Opt-in” list will, of course, increase your response rate which enhances your reputation and prevents you being labeled as a spammer and, having a positive reputation is a sure pathway to increased business. The alternative, buying an “Opt-out” list which is comprised of people who receive a mailshot which they have not asked for with the ‘excuse’ that if it is unwanted they can “Opt-out” meaning they unsubscribe. As users of this “Scattergun (let’s pull the trigger and see if we hit something) Approach” have discovered; the vast majority of recipients DO NOT want to receive the message, the recipient’s ISP is NOT IMPRESSED and the sender waits an indeterminate period in the misplaced hope that some of those ‘hits’ will respond by buying ‘something……… anything ! ’.

So how do you go about complying with “Best practice” ?

First - spamming should be looked upon in a similar way to theft because, if someone gets an email that they have not opted-in to receive, this amounts to their email address having been ‘stolen’. As someone who is sending marketing emails, it makes sense to have a working knowledge of international spam laws – this, together with knowledge of local legislation helps to maintain your credibility. Whilst some countries legally require ‘Affirmative Consent’, in the USA the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 demands that all recipients have given their Express Consent to receive the message. According to this act, all bulk emails are considered to be SPAM when containing material which may be offensive to the recipient, it displays no unsubscribe option, the [from] address is not visible or not correct, has a subject line which is misleading or the recipient email address has been stolen from other websites or online locations.

Second - It would be pointless to spend hours creating an email newsletter without a list to send to which makes it essential to create your own ‘houselist’. The very best and safest way to gather new subscribers is to create a signup form and direct people to it. It is very acceptable to incentivise this, which can be done very cost effectively if you offer one of your own products or services which has a much lower cost to high retail value. It is recommended that you go for the double opt-in ( DOI ) process. This means that the subscription application will generate a confirmation request email which they need to click to activate their subscription and by following this simple system you will avoid falling foul of the ISPs. Another good idea is to add a { signup to our newsletter } link in the email signature of everyone in your Company, also have it printed on the bottom of your quotes and invoices and posted to a company blog. Why not collect email addresses over the phone to add them as subscribers ? If you do this, put a column in the data specifying the date, time and who took their details,  in case you need to provide the “ OPT-IN “ proof

Third – as more than 80 percent of participants prefer to do business with organisations that use the opt-in, permission-based system to send them emails it is essential to provide a clear link to the privacy policy in your signup form. This optimization can be further enhanced by use of a ‘thankyou’ page or a pop-up displayed to new subscribers – it can also be used to welcome them and point them toward the newest release or tell them when to expect their first email / newsletter. If you are using double opt-in, this page can supply the link to click and confirm their subscription and once subscribed you can direct these confirmed subscribers to a ‘confirmed page’ to see incentives such as a promo-code, corporate gifts and vouchers.

What to avoid when gathering email addresses - 5 DON'Ts 

1 – Don't opt-in to the opt-out approach
Financial pressures can convince otherwise law abiding marketers to consider sending bulk emails to those who have not agreed to receiving emails from them. This is a big mistake as the emails are usually not relevant or valuable to the recipient. Big lists do not mean good lists. The problems that this ‘opt-out process’ causes are not immediately obvious but they can have a very long-term detrimental effect on your company’s brand and deliverability. Recipients of emails that they have not agreed to may not make their complaint directly to the sender but may make their complaint directly to their ISP or, even their social network; Facebook and Twitter are great platforms for posting such complaints.

2 - Don't buy lists of email addresses
The list you are intending to buy may have been collected from a Market Research Exercise, from financial institutions or even obtained from websites by ‘automated crawlers’. These bought-in lists most often result in SPAM complaints which damage your reputation with both the ISPs and prospective clients. Email marketing is all about building up long-term relationships not just one blast, so it’s imperative that you have the patience to build up a quality list.

3 – Don’t overlook those non-active addresses
It’s after your houselist is compiled and you have sent out your first couple of campaigns that the real fun of tracking begins! As you check your reports & statistics you will notice a number of recipients who haven’t ‘joined in’– no interaction; no purchasing, no opens, no clicks. Doing this task regularly will highlight those in your list who haven’t taken any action over a long period, so it’s important to be aware of them and to take action; it’s important that your list is maintained and kept clean as some of the older, inactive ones may lead to blocking or filtering by ISPs, so best to act before you are labeled a Spammer. In a recent survey by the Messaging Anti-abuse Working Group, 22% of users admit that emails that they once asked for but no longer want, they now treat as Spam. Your action can be to either remove them or start some retention marketing which could result in reactivating them, so send them a quality ‘special offer’, a survey or a specially targeted message. Maybe don’t email them as often and spend a bit more time personalising the content for that particular audience. The secret is to segment your database so that you can easily contact active and/or inactive addresses as required.

4 – Don't expect instant results
Your list is comprised of subscribers who have agreed that they want to hear from you but don’t expect a flood of activity from day one! Your list is not a target for a major sales drive, it will need to be tested constantly to cement your customer’s loyalty to your brand. Seek advice from experts, pay attention to what your peers have to say and check what the competition is doing. Sending a generic message could give a response of 0.3% whereas a well thought-out message sent to a highly-targeted, segmented niche list could score in the region of 50%.

5 – Don't separate your email campaign from your overall marketing strategy
When considering growing your database and online community it’s best to integrate your email campaign within your overall marketing strategy. Pull together all the alternative marketing opportunities; press releases, competitions, event sponsorship and attending trade shows.

In conclusion; it is always worth remembering that it is more costly to acquire new customers than it is to look after the existing ones. It always makes sense, and much more so in the current economic climate, to encourage your existing customers to remain loyal to your brand
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