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Posts Tagged ‘Email’

Qualcomm engineer Viji Raveendran knows first-hand the benefits and pitfalls of the culture of email among engineers in the information technology arena. Possibly more than in any other profession, engineers are immersed in the culture of email—they are inundated with them every day (and this does not even include personal emails). Some of the emails contain information that is vital to a project on which they are working, but many are less important since they are related to activities in which the engineer is only peripherally involved. Part of the reason for the massive amount of email, says Qualcomm engineer Viji Raveendran, is that she and her colleagues at Qualcomm are working at the leading edge of technology and it is important for them to be in contact with multiple groups in their industry. For instance, in addition to being part of a team within Qualcomm, Viji Raveendran and other engineers in the company connect with like-minded individuals in other companies and groups with similar interests. This occurs through cross-industry collaboration and standards development organizations (SDOs), which play a major role in advancing technology through promoting interoperability. Qualcomm and other organizations usually monitor several SDOs, but only participate actively in a few of them. This of course varies over time depending on the interests within the organization. Given this amount of interaction and communication, Viji Raveendran says Qualcomm engineers rely and thrive on email. They typically receive hundreds of emails every day on projects they are actively working on, in addition to dozens on topics of marginal relevance (or on topics in which they are not actively involved). These emails are usually organized into groups and subgroups for tracking purposes, and are automatically redirected to specific folders. The vast majority of these redirected emails go unread unless the information is needed for a given Qualcomm project. Often the engineers may not even be aware of their existence. Regardless of their source, emails maintain continuity of conversations while keeping a record of everything said. Viji Raveendran says this is important because Qualcomm engineers are constantly multitasking. It is not uncommon for an engineer to be juggling fifteen things at any given time. As a result, low priority emails are often redirected to folders. The engineer probably never reads or pays attention to this folder, and is not even aware of the amount of email that has collected in it. But these folders serve an important purpose. For instance, when a subject arises in a discussion, Viji Raveendran and her Qualcomm colleagues can perform a search to find any emails related to the topic. But Viji Raveendran says this email culture has consequences, and engineers should be aware of them. If an engineer’s firm is ever involved in litigation and he or she is called as a witness, it is critical that the company’s attorneys clearly understand the email culture. An extensive email search of all folders in the system should be conducted to see if any emails related to the topic were automatically filed away and the recipient was not even aware of them. This information might be important to a case, whether the engineer or attorneys know about the email or not. Just because you have never seen an email on a subject does not mean you do not have any association with the context. Qualcomm engineer Viji Raveendran notes that there is always a possibility to find an email buried in your mailbox that can be used against you even if you have never seen it, and you may not have an opportunity to explain the message in its context. And never forget: Emails remain in the system forever. They are permanent records of conversations. Viji Raveendran makes the point that while email makes communication quick and easy between coworkers, engineers from other companies, and the various groups to which they subscribe, the sheer volume of emails can negatively affect companies and individuals. The bottom line? Even if it is buried in a folder somewhere and never read, a seemingly innocuous email could wreak havoc years after it is sent.

The open rate, and its related metrics, the click-through and unsubscribe rates, have become the holy yardsticks of email marketing campaigns and newsletters. The marketing trade press is full of case studies and how-to articles geared toward boosting open or click rates. No wonder everybody obsesses over these metrics. However, they won’t tell you if your campaign truly was successful or not. Most email-specific metrics are “process” metrics, which measure external aspects of a specific email campaign or delivery. Others are “output” metrics, which measure the goals you want to achieve, either in a single campaign or in your email program at large. Process and output metrics measure different factors in your email campaign. You need to learn which metrics matter most for what you’re trying to achieve with your email program. Once you learn the differences, you can build a framework of relevant metrics that will measure your campaign’s outcomes. Process vs. Output Metrics Process metrics focus on the email message itself, such as the open and click-through rates, unsubscribes and bounces. Think of them as diagnostic tools. If you aren’t seeing the results you want from your email campaigns, these metrics might help you spot problems with delivery, opt-in procedure or reader engagement. These are typical process metrics, reported in each delivery but most useful when tracked over time to spot trends: Email Open rate- The percentage of delivered email messages opened by recipients. Tracked over time to measure customer interest or engagement. Email Bounce rate- The percentage of sent emails that failed delivery. Tracked to measure deliverability and list quality. Unsubscribes-The percentage of email messages that generated removal from your list, usually by recipients clicking an email link or a link to a Web unsubscribe page. Tracked to measure customer engagement. Email Click-through rate-The percentage of recipients who click on one or more links in the email. Measures customer interest, offer quality and engagement. Email Delivery rate-The percentage of total emails sent minus undeliverables. Used to measure deliverability and list hygiene. Spam complaints-Complaints that the message is spam, sent automatically by ISPs or manually by recipients. Usually expressed as a total number, not percentage. Referrals/forwarded messages-Expressed as a total number or a percentage of delivered emails, the number of times recipients clicked a forward-to-a-friend link in the email. Measures customer interest, word of mouth and offer quality. “Output” metrics, on the other hand, measure the results of an email message. If you set goals for your campaign – say, a 15% increase in revenue per email or 500 new mailing-list subscriptions – these metrics will measure those and show you how close you came. Some output metrics: Total revenue generated- The total revenue generated from the start to finish of the campaign. Revenue per email delivered- Total revenue divided by number of emails delivered. Used to compare different campaigns on offer quality or campaign effectiveness or progress toward goal. ROI per email- Measures return per email delivered. Used to compare results between campaigns or progress toward goal. Total orders per email-Total number of orders generated by email message. Order size per email- Total number of orders divided by number of delivered emails. Used to measure progress toward goal or to compare campaigns. Customer lifecycle steps- Measures successful efforts to upsell customer or to move customer through sales or life cycle. Leads generated- Total number of customer referrals or self-referrals generated by the email or over a period of time, e. g. , 12 months. Measures offer quality and customer engagement. Site registrations, contest entries, subscriptions: Measures customer interest and engagement. Build Your Email Marketing Framework These eight steps will help you set up and implement a metric framework to use in measuring results: 1) Establish the key goals for your email program and campaigns – that directly support business/marketing objectives. 2) Choose the metrics that will measure those goals, while distinguishing between process and output metrics. 3) Make sure your email marketing software tracks the kinds of metrics you need most. If not, you might have to figure them manually or look for a third-party program to track them. 4) Set up the necessary reports. 5) Create a spreadsheet to collect and analyze the numbers. Use charts when possible to spot trends. 6) Compare results from testing, such as a classic A/B split on subject lines, content, offers. Also track results over time, highlighting highs, lows and averages or means. 7) Determine which goals you meet and which you miss most often. Review each aspect of your email program for improvement. Still Seeing Poor Performance? If you’re consistently missing a goal or seeing no improvement over several campaigns, these factors may be sabotaging your best efforts: Poor permission practices- This is one of the top drivers of weak results, especially if you collect names from dubious sources (buying names or acquiring through co-registration without a permission guarantee, using email appends, not confirming opt-ins). Incentivized subscribers-These subscribers sign up for your list through a sweepstakes, download or other come-on, not because they’re interested in your email program. False expectations-You might be promising more in your opt-in promotions than you deliver in your mailings. Poor content or format- Your message content may look like spam or be hard to read. If you cram all the content into one giant image, readers who block images from downloading or read email in a preview pane will see nothing but a blank screen. Irrelevant email content-People’s needs and interests change over time. A parent of a toddler doesn’t need the baby-care advice she signed up for three years ago. You either need to diversify your email offerings or give users the ability to update their preferences or unsubscribe easily. Low email deliverability- You can’t expect good results if 20% or more of your messages fail to reach your subscribers’ inboxes. Check your delivery reports during and after each send to identify which ISPs may be blocking your emails or which addresses are failing. Make sure your email marketing software removes bouncing addresses and processes spam complaints. Wrong frequency- You might be sending too many emails and causing your subscribers to ignore you. Or, you don’t send often enough, and they forget about you or find someone else who fits better. A preference page allows users to tell you how often they want to hear from you. Old email list- Names on a mailing list start to decay after three to six months, generating lower opens, clicks and conversions than newer names. You may need to contact older subscribers periodically, either to reinvigorate them or give them the chance to unsubscribe. Two Closing Thoughts Get buy-in from higher-ups. One reason why you must understand which metrics matter is that you’ll eventually have to explain them to others in your organization, including your managers. Especially when it’s time to ask for more resources or justify the money your company is spending on email marketing. More metrics available. Once you get the basics down, you can start looking at alternatives that can give you even more precise measurements. This list includes hurdle-rate metrics (how many subscribers you have to add to either maintain or grow list size, minus inactives and unsubscribes), the referral rate, your initial drop-off rate, orders per delivered emails, opt-in page conversions and the seeded delivery rate.

Email marketing software is a computer application which gives people the ability to send bulk emails. The software is intended to be used by businesses wanting to communicate with current and potential customers through newsletters and promotional material. The software should be used to contact subscribers that have chosen to opt-in to a company’s email marketing, but the software can also be used to send unsolicited emails. The main reason for the software is it includes a database which is able to store contact details, provide campaign statistics and give companies using the software a message history so they can see what has been sent. The price of the software ranges from free to hundreds of pounds, but depending on whether or not a company is employed, you may have to pay a monthly fee. The features of most email marketing softwares are similar in that they assist the user in the organising of contacts, creating campaigns and the scheduling of communication. As an extra, some softwares provide an “unsubscribe check” feature in compliance with anti-spam laws. Other softwares that can be provided include tracking functions which allows the user to see details such as how many people have opened an email, how many emails have bounced back, how many links in the marketing email have been visited and even how many direct sales have come as a result of the message being sent. There are obvious advantages to investing in email marketing software, these include speeding up the process of marketing through personalised email messages. Most internet users check their email daily if not more so which means marketing by email will ensure your message will be seen. Some pieces of software provide email templates, so the program can even be used to make a businesses communications appear more professional.

Email marketing is a form of promotion where an advertiser sends newsletters or advertisement copies to the target customers through mails. It is a distinct and effective form of promotion which if used effectively may prove to be beneficial in building as well as strengthening the relationship of a merchant with a customer. One can establish a foothold of the company in the market through Internet. There are several kinds of email marketing software tools used for managing an email marketing campaign successfully. These tools offer a user with a variety of features or characteristics so that it becomes easy and convenient for a user to manage vast amount of mails and lists of customers. If you happen to select an advanced and modified computer program, then things become easy and swift for you and you avoid entangling yourself into Spam. If not handled with thoughtfulness and good tools, you may hamper your online reputation and block your mails or even existence on the Internet as the search engines rate you as Spam. Some computer programs enable a user with an ability to prepare as well as manage in a well-organized manner a long list of potential customers. Such programs enable a person to delete redundant or repetitive names and mail-ids. You can even maintain your past history of the campaign conducted previously and refer to it whenever you desire. Other tools equip an advertiser to send bulky mails to various addresses all together at right time. This feature does not end your mails in being bounced back. You can even send an auto-response to the customers as a reply to similar queries or when you are out of office or not working. There are many other advanced as well as modified computer programs that enable a user to keep a track of the responses of the customers. All these are the features that you may find in a good computer program to make the campaign successful.

Everyone wants to see a return on their email marketing – but what’s the difference between those emails getting an ROI on email marketing and those that don’t? Strategy. Most businesses adopt email marketing because it’s a low-cost, effective marketing tool. The problem is that often, they sign up thinking that they can send newsletters on a trial-and-error basis, trying different things until they find a winning formula for their email campaigns. After all, with email it’s possible to do just that – at no great expense. Unfortunately most companies then get stuck in that mode – they keep sending random mailings, never finding the time to truly test and strategize their campaigns. Devising a strategy for your campaign is the key to making the most out of your mailings. Here are three questions to get you started: What do you want to achieve with your email campaign? Back to basics: Set objectives for your email campaign. Do you want to create brand awareness? Grow your mailing list? Improve on customer relationships? Boost sales? Promote a particular event? Generate more traffic to your website? How about “all of the above”? How are you going to go about achieving this? Whether you have one or two objectives, or a whole list, every send needs to have a purpose. (It will also help you define a clear call to action. ) Just remember that one email won’t miraculously fulfill all the above mentioned objectives. Stick to one or two objectives per send. The objective of each send can vary, as long as each send is focused. One way of doing this is to create separate campaigns for each objective. After all, that’s one of the benefits of the low cost of emails. It also makes it easier to track how you’re progressing on reaching each of your objectives. Another way of going about it is to simply segment and target your mailing list according to which recipients are most likely to fulfill which objective. For instance, new subscribers might need more generalized brand or product information if you’re trying to create brand awareness, while subscribers with a history of purchasing your products might be more likely to purchase again, thereby boosting your sales. How are you going to know when you’ve achieved your goal? Your send reports already provide you with the statistics you need to keep track of your campaign, but having clear objectives will give you a clear indication of which stats to keep an eye on. For example, if your objective is to grow your list you may want to keep track of the number of recipients who clicked on the “forward to a friend” link, or the number of social shares you had (if you’ve inserted social widgets in your footer). Of course, the subscribe statistics are not to be overlooked. Taking note of your reports will also enable you to set realistic objectives in terms of how much you can aim for your list to grow, sales to boost, traffic to be generated, etc. So, whether you’re running a campaign for your non-profit organization or focus on B2B email marketing, the principle remains: An email marketing campaign without a plan is one that won’t survive in the long term. Take some time to devise your strategy and you’re likely to see a much better ROI.

You can explore other formats of communication too. Another of the more effective things that you can do to enhance your blogging experience is to write some email newsletters to send out on a regular basis to the people you know and the people that are reading your blog.

These newsletters should have a purpose and focus. It is not just about blatant promotion and that sort of thing. It is about keeping people in touch with what is happening on the blog and with your business each week as well as giving extra tips and information to help build a sense of community and belonging.

You also do not have to keep your blog a secret to the physical world. There are many viable and valuable offline techniques you can use to promote your blog and its existence as well. Think about how you might promote your blog offline and you could just bring in some new readers/customers at the same time.

Here are some ideas you can look into when thinking of what routes to travel. Think of including your blogs URL on your business cards, letterheads, using press releases and other assorted methods. There are others and you may even come up with some novel ways that work too if you put your mind to it.

For instance there are a lot of bloggers these days that are adding links to their posts which allow readers to bookmark their posts in social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us and digg. Other bloggers have features that allow bloggers to email a friend about a particular post. Others like ProBlogger allow readers to subscribe to comment threads via email.

All of these types of plugins allow your readers to do the work for you with spreading the word about your site. And speaking of social bookmarking there are also other great ways of writing your blogs content that will have a greater chance of being picked up more readily with this scene.

An entrepreneur makes use of newsletters to establish and build strong relations with the clients. These newsletters are used to promote and build a positive image of the identity of the business. They can be sent through emails to the recipient. It markets your brand image of an organization. This form of advertisement or promotion also plays a crucial role in alluring web visitors towards the website of the company. A marketer can promote the site of the company through newsletters. In this way, you can popularize your online business among the customers.

How to write a successful newsletter?

An online letter sent to the customers contains latest updates about an organization. It contains all the necessary information required by the customer. This letter should be written from the perspective of the customers. A message written from a reader’s perspective is understood by a target reader. A writer is able to send the message to a target audience with ease and success. A person can use this letter to give updates of the products and services. It is not beneficial to boast about the features of the products. A business owner should be able to highlight the benefits of the product or service to the users. In order to make a potential customer believe in what you are saying, you can also mention the testimonials of your present customers. Do not forget to give the link to your organization’s website. This gives an impression of online presence of the company. Having an online presence contributes in conveying the sense of credibility of the company. It also helps you in drawing maximum web traffic towards the company. The formatting of the content leaves a positive impression on the minds of the customers. The format and structure of a letter should be clear and lucid in appearance. You can use bullet points so that the content can be easily scanned. The results are also traceable by sending these newsletters. You can easily trace the response of the customers and convert the leads into sales for your organization. In this way, you can effectively conduct the brand promotion of your enterprise.

An opt-in email means that the customer signs up or accepts the offer of the entrepreneur to receive business newsletters or advertisements of particular interest. This is a safer method to make the email campaigning successful. The advantage of using this mass mailing list is that the marketer does not face the risk of entering into Spam. An advertiser does not face the risk of losing the customers but gain more new customers though this method. By building this list a marketer can focus and segment the target customers. The segmentation helps the marketer in customizing newsletters to match the customers’ needs. You do not have a chance of giving unsolicited mails to the customer and derive maximum profits for the company.

There are several ways to motivate the customers to sign up for receiving the newsletters. You can fetch the customers by posting the registration form on your company website. A marketer can write useful content in the blogs. The blogs provide the customer with productive informational content. You can allure many visitors to sign up for your messages announcing offers and sales events. A person can also include the offer in online classified advertisements and article directories. You can offer free subscription to the members of the companies related to your organization. The option of opt-out should also be provided to the subscriber.

Using an opt-in list is beneficial and cost-effective for an entrepreneur. A person can reach out to the large set of customers through mails. It is easier and affordable as compared to any other form of marketing such as door-to-door sales, telesales or direct mailing. In all these forms of advertising you need to invest time, money and resources. The method of obtaining feedback also consumes time and effort. Through electronic mail communication you can elicit instant response as the customer can reply or ask a query with a single click of button. This does not take any time and it is an effortless method. In such kind of mail, a customer needs to opt-in by signing up or filling a form for registration. The form should not be very lengthy or complicated. Effective handling of an opt-in list is beneficial for the sales of the company.

A few months ago my inbox had 678 messages in one account and another 142 in the other. I didn’t want to delete the messages because I hadn’t read them yet. Many of them were newsletters and Ezines I subscribe to that had good information I wanted to save. There were also free downloads, free give away links, 30% off coupons for books I might want to buy someday. Oh yes, there were emails from friends sending me funny cartoons and pictures. It got so bad that my Internet carrier started bouncing back emails because there was no room. So I deleted everything. Well, that didn’t help. Within a couple of weeks, the same scenario was occurring. The monster was hungry.

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Place any apprehension you have about email marketing to the side—HTML email newsletters are wonderful and effective marketing tools. There is a multitude of ways to use them, such as…

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