Friday, September 28, 2012

Deliverability is a #1 Priority

Here at Kobemail, deliverabilty is our number one priority. Below are some elements of email messaging that can cause blocks on ISP’s and ultimately effect the outcome of your email marketing campaigns.
Technical sending problemsthat include, but are not limited to, incorrect message headers, errors in authentication records, and improperly set up domain name servers.
Excessive Bed Emails such as invalid email addresses and sending to individuals who have not opted in for your emails – It is important to cleanse your list regularly.
Numerous Spam Complaints which ultimately cause the ISP to stop allowing messages through for a specific period of time after which messages will be closely monitored to combat complaints.
Email Content – It is important to analyze and test the content of your emails to determine what elements may be causing your emails to be blocked. Below are some content issues that could lead to blocking:
- Vague subject lines
- Sexually explicit terms
- Mention of drugs, gambling, alcohol
- Strange and unqualified language in content.
- Repetitive text content
- Not having a 60/40 text to image ratio
- Presence of multiple phone numbers
- Marketing Terms (free offer, satisfaction guaranteed, etc)
If you find that your address has been blacklisted you can contact the ISP for which the block occurred to locate and resolve the issue. We’re always here at KobeMail to help with email marketing advice and deliverability assurance.
Happy Friday!
- The KobeMail Team

Monday, September 17, 2012

Content is King

I recently came across an interesting LinkedIn discussion claiming content was “King” when it comes to communication in social media. Here at Kobemail I’d say we not only have to agree with this article but have extended this theory to be correct for our industry as well, email marketing.
Here are some tips on how to have successful content within your email:
Audience – Understand who you are reaching and what they want to read about. Make sure that what you are writing about is of benefit and relevant to the user. Understand their culture and cater to their tone of language. If these are professional don’t write to them as if you were speaking to a group of high school students and visa versa; know your target audience.
Get personal - Including a user’s name in an email can give the recipient a sense of familiarity and recipients appreciate this type of personal approach. Don’t force a highly personal relationship but formulate your emails so that users feel as if you care about their needs. Implement a familiar tone and give your mailers a personality in an attempt to build strong and lasting relationships with your readers.
Engagement – In email marketing you have a very limited time to convince your readers that you have something to offer i.e., that you aren’t sending junk mail. Keep your content short and to the point. If you have a lengthy newsletter, you can always add links to shorten articles and drive traffic to a site where the rest of the content is displayed. It is also important to consider your fold line, above which is what the user sees when first opening and before scrolling down, and make sure to include some sort of call to action or attention grabbing content.
Hope these little tips help you to create and optimize engaging campaigns with the “king” of email marketing success – content.
- The KobeMail Team

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Grow Your DB Organically

Bought a bad email list? Left with a small database of inactive recipients? Frustrated because the price doesn’t seem to be worth the payoff? You’re not alone. Purchasing email lists is a risky choice and is generally not recommended as the most valuable users are shown to be the ones who have opted-in to receive your mailings. These opted-in users are the ones most likely to generate conversation and help increase your bottom line. Before you go out and buy an email list you may be disappointed with consider the factors below.
Website – As this is the end location you are trying to drive traffic to its important to make sure that the signup process is as simple as possible. Keep in mind the below:
  • Have signups to your mailings available in different pages within your website.
  • Make sure to make it visible and encouraging for users to sign up.
  • Consider offering some sort of coupon or promise exclusive promotions.
  • Send a follow up email confirming their email address to confirm successful signup and let the user know what to expect next
Online Traffic Mediums – Not only are the users already in your list valuable as potential shoppers they should also be leveraged as a tool to increase other signups through word of mouth. Try this out:
  • Allow all emails sent to have the option to share with a friend to promote more signups.
  • Offer a reward for a certain amount of friends referred; this strategy can also be applied to all social media channels that can help promote signup.
  • Have redirect links to your website from social media outlets or better yet allow users to sign up then and there.
Offline Medium – Any outside mediums you have access to should be used as another tool for promoting email list growth. Offering email signup at a physical store, event, customer service center or using direct marketing through mail can be very valuable when trying to grow your list.
If you feel that your list size is not as large as you like it to be, you can always resort to other online marketing strategies like SEO, SEM, affiliate advertising and banner ads. Be creative, spread the word and help others spread the word for you by making processes easy and outcomes beneficial.