IntroductionWelcome| 00:00 | (music playing)
| | 00:04 | Hi and welcome to Email Marketing Basics.
| | 00:07 | I'm John Arnold. Directly marketing to
your target audience via email is a great
| | 00:12 | way to grow your business or organization.
| | 00:15 | In this course, I'll give you a
broad overview of the email marketing
| | 00:18 | techniques to get started.
| | 00:20 | This course begins by showing you how to get
your email marketing program off the ground.
| | 00:24 | We'll take a look at how to build
your email list while complying with
| | 00:28 | regulations and consumer preferences.
| | 00:30 | I'll show you which types of email
content and designs are most effective.
| | 00:33 | I'll give you tips for coming up with
good content, as well as making that
| | 00:37 | content more valuable.
| | 00:38 | We'll also discuss how to adapt your
email for mobile devices, combine emails
| | 00:43 | with social media, and
automate your emails to save time.
| | 00:48 | Tracking your emails and avoiding
bounces, spam filters, and blocked email
| | 00:51 | is important, so I will show you
the best practices for getting email
| | 00:54 | delivered, opened, and read.
| | 00:57 | All of this and more is just a few
clicks away, so let's get started with
| | 01:00 | Email Marketing Basics.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
1. Email Marketing BasicsUsing email in your marketing mix| 00:01 | You don't have to be in business for
very long to realize that you need to
| | 00:04 | communicate with lots of
people to attract customers.
| | 00:08 | Of course, your business also
needs to make sure that your marketing
| | 00:10 | communications bring in revenue over and
above the cost of those communications.
| | 00:15 | Email is a great solution for
building customer relationships
| | 00:18 | affordably, because it's a familiar
communication standard and because
| | 00:22 | it's so cost effective.
| | 00:24 | The fact that email is a cheap way to
communicate isn't the main reason to use email however.
| | 00:29 | Email also has a very high
Return On Investment or ROI.
| | 00:33 | In other words, an effective email
marketing strategy can generate a lot of
| | 00:37 | sales for a relatively small
investment of time and money.
| | 00:41 | In order to get the highest possible
return on your email marketing investments,
| | 00:45 | you first need to understand where to
use email in your overall marketing plans.
| | 00:50 | The first thing to understand is the
fact that sending email to total strangers
| | 00:53 | does not work. You're more likely to
get spam complaints than interest from
| | 00:58 | prospective customers unless you
send to a permission-based email list.
| | 01:01 | Now, I show you how to build a permission-
based email list in another section of this course.
| | 01:06 | Instead of spamming people, use email
to help convert current prospects into
| | 01:11 | customers and current
customers into loyal customers.
| | 01:15 | Use email to educate people about the
features and benefits of your products
| | 01:18 | or services, differentiate your business
from your competition, and to ask for the sale.
| | 01:24 | You can also use email to help
increase customer loyalty and referrals by
| | 01:27 | sending emails that
strengthen your customer relationships.
| | 01:30 | Send them thank you emails, holiday
greetings, and offer special privileges to
| | 01:35 | make your customers feel
like they're appreciated.
| | 01:38 | As you watch the rest of this course
remember that all the tips and ideas I
| | 01:41 | share can be adapted to your
specific type of business or organization,
| | 01:45 | because no matter what kind of business
or organization you have, keeping your
| | 01:49 | customer relationships at the center of
your strategy will put you on the road
| | 01:53 | to email marketing success.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Getting the job done| 00:00 | You'll need at least two technologies
to execute your email marketing strategy:
| | 00:05 | an authoring technology to create the
content of your emails in HTML and a
| | 00:10 | delivery technology that has the
ability to deliver and track emails sent to
| | 00:14 | a large email list.
| | 00:15 | In order to do literally everything on
your own, you're going to need to own
| | 00:19 | your own email server.
| | 00:21 | You'll need extensive
programming knowledge and database skills.
| | 00:25 | I don't recommend doing absolutely
everything in-house, even for a large company
| | 00:29 | with lots of technical resources.
| | 00:31 | Instead use an email marketing
provider or EMP to help you run your strategy.
| | 00:37 | An EMP is a company that offers a suite
of tools to help you create, send, and
| | 00:42 | track your own marketing emails.
| | 00:44 | Most EMPs allow you to create emails
without the need to know any HTML or the
| | 00:48 | programming languages.
| | 00:49 | And you won't need to set up and
manage your own email servers and delivery
| | 00:53 | gateways, because EMP is sending
email from their servers on your behalf.
| | 01:00 | Your customers will never know the
difference and you'll probably get
| | 01:03 | better delivery rates too.
| | 01:05 | EMPs give you tracking reports and
database tools to manage your email lists and
| | 01:10 | some EMPs even provide support and
educational resources to help you gain
| | 01:14 | expertise in marketing and
the use of the EMP's tools.
| | 01:17 | Enterprise-level EMPs give you
access to advanced features, such as
| | 01:22 | point-of-sale integration, email
automation, advanced segmentation, and
| | 01:27 | behavioral targeting.
| | 01:29 | Remember that one of the most important
assets of your email marketing strategy
| | 01:33 | is your email database.
| | 01:35 | Make sure you use a company that
secures your email database properly and
| | 01:38 | protects the privacy of
your email list subscribers.
| | 01:41 | In the next section of the course, I
show you how to protect your database in
| | 01:45 | another way: by avoiding
unsubscribes and spam complaints.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Becoming an appreciated email sender| 00:00 | There are laws against unsolicited
email or spam because people hate it.
| | 00:06 | Since hate is not a buying emotion and
the government makes the rules, here's
| | 00:10 | what you need to know to
become an appreciated email sender.
| | 00:14 | Let's start with the law.
| | 00:15 | Now, what I'm about to say is not
legal advice in any way, shape, or form.
| | 00:20 | It's just a summary of possible issues.
| | 00:22 | Use a licensed attorney to make sure you
follow the law when it comes to email marketing.
| | 00:27 | And the main law governing
commercial email is known as the CAN-SPAM Act.
| | 00:31 | You should read and comply with all
parts of the CAN-SPAM Act, but here are
| | 00:35 | the major guidelines.
| | 00:37 | First and foremost, you need a
relationship of affirmative consent between your
| | 00:41 | business and anyone to whom
you send a marketing email.
| | 00:44 | You also need to provide a simple and
free way for your subscribers to opt out
| | 00:48 | of receiving future emails.
| | 00:51 | The industry standard is one
or two clicks to unsubscribe.
| | 00:55 | Also, make sure the information
in your email is true and accurate.
| | 00:58 | You are not allowed to fake your from
line, use misleading subject lines, or
| | 01:03 | send emails from a false email address.
| | 01:05 | Finally, make sure you include your
physical business address in every email.
| | 01:09 | A post office box is okay.
| | 01:12 | Keeping your emails legally compliant
will keep you out of trouble with the
| | 01:14 | government, but your job as an email
marketer isn't to make the government
| | 01:18 | happy; your emails need to
impress prospects and customers.
| | 01:22 | Here are three tips to make sure your
email marketing is well-received and
| | 01:27 | appreciated by your subscribers.
| | 01:29 | First, ask for explicit
permission before sending marketing emails.
| | 01:33 | I talk about permission and building a
permission-based email list in the next
| | 01:36 | section of the course.
| | 01:38 | Second, ask your subscribers to share
their preferences when they join your
| | 01:42 | email list and send only the
information your subscribers request.
| | 01:46 | Third, make sure that you send emails
with the proper frequency and relevance.
| | 01:52 | In general, people will tolerate
almost any email frequency as long as your
| | 01:56 | email content is valuable and relevant.
| | 01:58 | For example, weather is a daily
occurrence, so weather information is likely to
| | 02:04 | be appreciated on a daily frequency.
| | 02:06 | If you send a daily email asking people
to buy something however, you'd better
| | 02:10 | be pretty sure that your
subscribers are interested in daily deals.
| | 02:15 | Now that you have a basic
understanding of becoming an appreciated email
| | 02:18 | sender, let's leverage your knowledge
by moving to our next topic, building an email list.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
2. Building an Email ListAsking for permission| 00:01 | Email marketing without permission can
spell disaster for your marketing emails.
| | 00:06 | You can't legally send emails to total
strangers and even if you could, you
| | 00:10 | wouldn't make very many people happy by
sending them emails they didn't ask for.
| | 00:15 | Therefore, an email list without
permission isn't very valuable.
| | 00:18 | However, when an email list includes
the email addresses of prospects and
| | 00:22 | customers who have explicitly asked
your business to send them emails to stay
| | 00:25 | informed, you have a very valuable
asset for your marketing strategy.
| | 00:30 | In this part of the course I am going
to show you how to include permission in
| | 00:33 | your email marketing plans so that your
email list is full of people who want to
| | 00:37 | receive your emails.
| | 00:38 | The first step in the process of
building a permission-based email list is
| | 00:41 | deciding on a permission level.
| | 00:42 | Now, there are three basic types of permission.
| | 00:46 | The lowest permission
level is implied permission.
| | 00:49 | For example, when someone hands you a
business card and says let's stay in
| | 00:53 | touch, you could assume that
means sending a few emails.
| | 00:56 | But be extra careful with implied
permission, because people may be unpleasantly
| | 01:00 | surprised if you start sending
marketing emails without first confirming the
| | 01:04 | content and the frequency of those emails.
| | 01:08 | It's a good idea in the case of implied
permission to send an email confirming
| | 01:12 | your decision to add someone to your
email list and include a link for opting
| | 01:16 | out if you're new implied subscriber
doesn't want to be on your marketing email list.
| | 01:21 | The second permission
level is explicit permission.
| | 01:24 | For example, when someone fills out
an online form to join your email list,
| | 01:29 | that person has given you explicit
permission to send the emails your email
| | 01:32 | sign-up form specifies.
| | 01:34 | Explicit permission is the industry
standard for email marketing and the
| | 01:38 | recommended level of permission
for most email marketing providers.
| | 01:42 | The third permission level is confirmed
permission, also known as double opt-in.
| | 01:48 | Confirmed permission works like this:
when someone explicitly opts in to your
| | 01:52 | email list, you send an email asking
the new subscriber to confirm their
| | 01:57 | decision to join the list.
| | 01:58 | Usually this happens by clicking a
link or replying to the confirmation email
| | 02:02 | with a specific message.
| | 02:04 | Confirmed permission ensures that
your email list subscribers are highly
| | 02:07 | interested in receiving your emails and
confirming permission generally improves
| | 02:11 | your delivery rates too.
| | 02:12 | Now let's go over a few forms of
permission that actually have the potential
| | 02:17 | to get you in trouble.
| | 02:18 | You should avoid building your email
list based on someone else's permission.
| | 02:23 | For example, don't send marketing
emails to people on email lists belonging to
| | 02:27 | your vendors, your colleagues,
your partners, or trade organizations.
| | 02:32 | If you want to reach people on other
email lists, ask the owner of the list
| | 02:37 | to send the emails to their list on
your behalf and ask them to explicitly
| | 02:42 | opt in to your email list.
| | 02:45 | Some email lists are sold or leased
out by list brokers and permission-based
| | 02:49 | quality is very important if you
decide to use a broker to send your emails.
| | 02:53 | If you decide to use a list broker
anyway, make sure the list broker you use is
| | 02:57 | completely compliant with all
laws and industry best practices.
| | 03:01 | Since your email list is
valuable, protect it like an asset.
| | 03:06 | Don't share your email list with
anyone and don't violate your permission
| | 03:10 | standards by sending emails your
subscribers didn't sign up for.
| | 03:14 | In the next section of the course I show
you how to collect email addresses from
| | 03:18 | people so that you can build a list
with quality and quantity in mind.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Collecting information| 00:00 | In this section of the course I show
you how to collect email addresses to
| | 00:04 | build your email list.
| | 00:05 | If you haven't already, make sure
you first view the previous section on
| | 00:09 | permission before watching
the rest of this section.
| | 00:11 | Now, when it comes to actually
collecting emails, there are five basic ways to
| | 00:16 | ask people to join your email list.
| | 00:18 | The first way to collect email
addresses is by providing an online sign-up form
| | 00:23 | to your website visitors.
| | 00:25 | You should put the sign-up form or a
link to the sign-up form on every page of
| | 00:29 | your website, not just the homepage,
because you never know when someone will
| | 00:33 | enter your website or exit your website.
| | 00:37 | The second way to collect email
addresses is to collect email addresses
| | 00:41 | from people in person.
| | 00:42 | When someone calls your business on
the phone, ask if he or she would like to
| | 00:46 | join the email list to receive
information about the topic of the call.
| | 00:50 | When you attend networking events or
trade shows and when you meet people for
| | 00:53 | appointments, ask
everyone to join your email list.
| | 00:57 | I call it the 5 Foot Rule.
| | 00:59 | If someone is within 5 feet of you,
ask for his or her email address.
| | 01:05 | Thirdly, all printed marketing materials
should describe a way to join your email list.
| | 01:11 | You can provide a sign-up form by
asking people to write their information
| | 01:14 | directly on the form, and you can use
printed advertising to promote other
| | 01:19 | methods of joining, which brings me
to the fourth way to collect email
| | 01:23 | addresses: mobile devices.
| | 01:25 | You can ask people to scan a mobile
barcode, like the one this poster.
| | 01:29 | This one actually works. Give it a
try right now on your screen to join the
| | 01:32 | email list at lynda.com.
| | 01:35 | You can also ask people to text their
email address to join, and you can provide
| | 01:40 | mobile sign-up forms that can be filled
out on a smartphone or a tablet device.
| | 01:44 | You can use mobile devices for
collecting addresses in person as well.
| | 01:47 | Simply hand your device to someone so he
or she can fill out a form on the screen.
| | 01:52 | The fifth way to collect email
addresses is through social media networks.
| | 01:56 | Place sign-up links to your email sign-
up form on all social media sites you own
| | 02:02 | and promote your email
list in your social posts.
| | 02:04 | Some social sites such as Facebook
allow application plug-ins, so you can embed
| | 02:09 | forms directly into your page.
| | 02:12 | Remember that an email address is more
effective when you combine it with other information.
| | 02:16 | You may want to collect a first name
for personalizing your emails ora ZIP code
| | 02:20 | for targeting local offers.
| | 02:22 | But don't ask for too much
information the first time you sign up or
| | 02:26 | you'll reduce sign-ups.
| | 02:28 | You can also ask for additional
information once you've established a
| | 02:31 | relationship of trust with
the members of your email list.
| | 02:34 | Collecting email addresses and other
personal information isn't always easy, so
| | 02:38 | stay tuned for the next section of the
course where I show you how to create
| | 02:41 | incentives to help you increase the
number of email list sign-ups you get.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Offering incentives to increase signups| 00:00 | It's a common misconception that people
aren't willing to share their email addresses.
| | 00:05 | Actually, they are willing to share.
| | 00:07 | You just have to communicate the
value of your email list effectively.
| | 00:10 | The idea is to exchange value for information.
| | 00:13 | The more valuable your emails, the more
people will sign up to receive that value.
| | 00:17 | Now, there are three basic ways you
can maximize the value of subscribing
| | 00:22 | to your email lists.
| | 00:24 | The first way is to make the information you
put in your emails valuable in and of itself.
| | 00:28 | For example, a consultant could offer
free advice via his or her email newsletter.
| | 00:34 | You can also give your subscribers
immediate incentives for joining the email list.
| | 00:38 | Immediate incentives are usually
provided to subscribers in the form of an
| | 00:41 | automated email sent to the email
address used for the subscription.
| | 00:46 | Use your automated emails to send a
coupon or discount, a valuable download,
| | 00:52 | access to a special video, a free
product or service, or anything else that has
| | 00:57 | immediate benefit to the new subscriber.
| | 01:00 | For the best results, offer something
related to your products or services as
| | 01:04 | opposed to offering a free gift
unrelated to your core business.
| | 01:08 | That way you'll gain a prospect who is
just as interested in what your business
| | 01:12 | is as what you're giving away.
| | 01:13 | For example, a restaurant could offer
a free dessert to anyone who joins the
| | 01:18 | email list by sending a
coupon to everyone who subscribes.
| | 01:22 | In addition to immediate incentives, you can
also offer the same benefits in the future.
| | 01:27 | The benefit of future incentives is the
fact that you can send new subscribers a
| | 01:30 | few emails before they receive the incentive.
| | 01:34 | In the next section of the course, I
am going to show you how to design an
| | 01:37 | effective marketing email so that your
content and your incentives look good,
| | 01:41 | function properly, and represent your
business as professionally as possible.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
3. Designing an Effective Marketing EmailDeciding on a format | 00:00 | When marketers refer to the format of
an email, it means that the layout, the
| | 00:06 | content, and the purpose of a
particular email work together visually and
| | 00:09 | functionally as a unit.
| | 00:12 | For example, a newsletter is an
email format. So is a promotion, an event
| | 00:16 | invitation, and a holiday greeting.
| | 00:19 | This section of the course explains the
email formats that you can choose from
| | 00:23 | to run a successful email marketing strategy.
| | 00:26 | It's important to use a variety of email
formats in your strategy for two reasons.
| | 00:30 | First, people respond to
different formats in different ways.
| | 00:34 | For example, many people wait to read
an email that looks like a newsletter,
| | 00:39 | while an email that looks like an
urgent announcement is more likely to get
| | 00:42 | immediate attention.
| | 00:43 | While getting immediate attention
from every email might sound like a good
| | 00:47 | strategy, the reality is that
urgency wears off if you use the same email
| | 00:52 | formats for all your communications.
Which brings me to the second reason to use
| | 00:57 | a variety of formats.
| | 00:58 | You need as many formats as
you have reasons to communicate.
| | 01:02 | For example, if you send promotions,
event invitations, news, information,
| | 01:07 | greetings, and appointment
confirmations, you should utilize enough email
| | 01:11 | formats to appropriately categorize
your information into logical groupings.
| | 01:16 | Now, here are the most popular email
formats and some tips for making them effective.
| | 01:22 | Email newsletters are typically
focused on information rather than promotion.
| | 01:28 | Newsletters can have columns to give
them the appearance of a paper newsletter
| | 01:32 | and are great for sending loosely
related information in a single email.
| | 01:37 | Newsletters also should have a
periodic frequency, such as weekly or monthly,
| | 01:42 | rather than an event or date driven frequency.
| | 01:46 | For best results, minimize the amount of
promotional content in your email newsletters.
| | 01:50 | No more than 20% of your email
newsletter content should contain promotions.
| | 01:55 | If you need to promote more than
that, use a promotional email format.
| | 02:00 | Promotional email should focus on a
single promotion, such as a single product,
| | 02:05 | a group of related products,
or a theme such as a sale.
| | 02:09 | Promotional emails are usually date
driven or they are triggered by specific
| | 02:13 | actions, such as a
recent purchase or an inquiry.
| | 02:17 | When using promotional emails, it's
best to put some but not all of the
| | 02:22 | details about the promotion in the email itself.
| | 02:25 | Put the rest of the details on a
website to invite a click so that you know how
| | 02:30 | many people were interested in
learning more about the promotion.
| | 02:33 | Another type of
promotion is an event invitation.
| | 02:37 | Event invitations can focus on
one event or a series of events.
| | 02:41 | Events are highly date driven and
usually require a series of emails in similar
| | 02:46 | formats to get a good overall response.
| | 02:49 | Make sure you plan out your event
invitations on a calendar to avoid
| | 02:53 | over-communicating.
| | 02:55 | An email announcement is a format
that's sent when no specific response is
| | 03:00 | expected on the part of the recipient.
| | 03:02 | Examples include greetings, thank
you messages, press releases, and
| | 03:07 | order confirmations.
| | 03:09 | Send these email formats when you
want to focus on relationship building as
| | 03:12 | opposed to generating immediate sales or leads.
| | 03:15 | Sometimes it's nice to receive an
email that doesn't ask you to do anything.
| | 03:20 | Email formats are most effective when
your email designs and layouts are a good
| | 03:24 | match for the formats you choose.
| | 03:26 | That's the topic of our next two
sections: branding your emails and
| | 03:29 | creating effective layouts.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Branding consistently| 00:01 | You need to pay attention to the way
your emails look, because your audience
| | 00:04 | pays attention or not depending on the
design choices you make in each email.
| | 00:09 | The first rule of email design is to
make sure your email designs are a good
| | 00:13 | match with your other marketing media.
| | 00:15 | For example, when someone visits your
website and signs up for your email list,
| | 00:20 | they might not recognize your emails if they
look completely different from your website.
| | 00:24 | To ensure a good match between your
email designs and your other marketing
| | 00:28 | designs, follow these guidelines.
| | 00:31 | Include your logo in all your emails.
| | 00:34 | Use colors that match your logo
for backgrounds, borders, and fonts.
| | 00:38 | And when you send a promotion that
suggests the use of colors outside your
| | 00:42 | brand, such as of running a Halloween
promotion with black and orange, just make
| | 00:47 | sure to work the promotional colors
into your brand instead of replacing your
| | 00:51 | brand with the promotion.
| | 00:54 | Also, use the same type of
images in all your emails.
| | 00:57 | For example, there's a big difference
between the look of stock photography and
| | 01:00 | the look of graphics and clipart.
| | 01:03 | Choose the image type that fits the
personality of your business and then stick to it.
| | 01:07 | When choosing email designs, it's
important to brand each type of email
| | 01:11 | format consistently.
| | 01:12 | For example, make sure your email
newsletter looks similar, but not identical,
| | 01:18 | to your email promotions.
| | 01:19 | That way people will recognize your
brand and the purpose of each email.
| | 01:24 | One of the best ways to ensure brand
consistency with all your emails is to
| | 01:28 | design your emails based on
similar looking email templates.
| | 01:32 | What's an email template?
| | 01:33 | That's the topic of our next section.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating a layout| 00:01 | Laying out your content in an email
usually requires building tables in HTML and
| | 00:06 | using Cascading Style Sheets or CSS to
tell your recipient's computer how to
| | 00:10 | display your content.
| | 00:12 | If you're not interested in
programming your own layouts, you can use
| | 00:15 | pre-designed email templates that
are ready to receive your text, images,
| | 00:19 | links, and other content.
| | 00:21 | Email templates are available
from email marketing providers.
| | 00:26 | Many providers include templates
that are ready to use as is, as well as
| | 00:30 | templates that can be highly
customized without any knowledge of HTML.
| | 00:35 | Content that draws the eye to a specific
section of your email are called visual
| | 00:39 | anchors, because the content acts like
an anchor that causes the eyes to stop on
| | 00:44 | that content while scanning through the email.
| | 00:48 | Visual anchors include the
following types of content:
| | 00:51 | images, headlines, links, icons,
divider lines, background colors, and borders.
| | 01:02 | When laying out your content, the most
important content should reside in the
| | 01:05 | upper-left quadrant of your email,
because most people start scanning an
| | 01:09 | email in the upper-left.
| | 01:10 | Also, most mobile devices display
emails beginning with the upper-left, if the
| | 01:14 | whole email doesn't fit on screen.
| | 01:18 | One word of caution.
| | 01:19 | It's important not to place too many
visual anchors in all four quadrants.
| | 01:23 | Doing so makes your email difficult to
scan, because the eyes can't decide what
| | 01:27 | is the most important section of the email.
| | 01:30 | Organizing your content into
columns is another great way to make your
| | 01:33 | email easy to scan.
| | 01:34 | And columns make it easy to organize
related groups of content so your audience
| | 01:38 | can scan each column as if
it's a mini version of your email.
| | 01:41 | There are three basic choices for
laying out columns effectively in your email.
| | 01:46 | You can use columns of equal width to
avoid emphasizing the content in one
| | 01:50 | column over the other.
| | 01:52 | You can put a narrow column on the
left side of your email to emphasize the
| | 01:55 | content and a larger column to the right.
| | 01:58 | You can also put a narrow column on
the right side of your email to emphasize
| | 02:01 | the content in a larger column to the left.
| | 02:05 | If you feel like you have so much
content in a single email that you need to
| | 02:07 | organize your content into more than
two columns, you may want to consider
| | 02:11 | breaking up your content into multiple
shorter emails and sending with a higher frequency.
| | 02:17 | That way your emails won't be so
daunting when your subscribers receive them.
| | 02:21 | Speaking of email content, the next few
sections of the course show you how to
| | 02:24 | make your content valuable and
effective by including links, information,
| | 02:28 | offers, and a call to action.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
4. Making Your Email Content ValuableIncluding links| 00:00 | A good test of an effective
marketing email is whether or not the email
| | 00:04 | generates immediate sales or moves
people closer to a purchase decision.
| | 00:08 | In short, your email should
invite action and decision making.
| | 00:12 | Actions in emails usually involve
clicking on links, which may include text
| | 00:16 | links, images, buttons, and other graphics.
| | 00:19 | This section of the course explains how to
get the most out of the links in your emails.
| | 00:23 | Email links come in two varieties,
| | 00:25 | external web links and
internal navigation links.
| | 00:29 | External links open up a browser window
so the person who clicks on the link is
| | 00:33 | directed to a webpage.
| | 00:35 | You can also create links to files
stored on a server and links can open up an
| | 00:39 | email program installed on
your subscriber's computer.
| | 00:43 | Emails received on a mobile device
could also interpret a phone number or
| | 00:47 | an address as a link.
| | 00:48 | Phone numbers in the text of your email
dial the phone number when touched and
| | 00:52 | addresses can automatically link to
an online map or a map application.
| | 00:56 | There is no need to
program these types of links.
| | 00:59 | Mobile devices can detect them automatically.
| | 01:02 | Internal links, also known as anchor
links, point to content within the email.
| | 01:07 | Use internal links to help the person
reading your emails to skip to content
| | 01:11 | below the screen from the top of the
email and to skip back to the top of the
| | 01:15 | email from the bottom.
| | 01:17 | You can also use groups of internal
links like a Table of Contents to list the
| | 01:21 | articles or sections of your email and
allow someone to quickly jump to that
| | 01:24 | section of your email without scrolling.
| | 01:27 | When creating text links, the best
practice is to avoid using the phrase Click
| | 01:31 | Here as the link. Instead use an
action word or a phrase as the link.
| | 01:36 | For example, a link to add an item to
an online shopping cart should say Buy
| | 01:40 | this item, instead of To
buy this item click here.
| | 01:44 | The more descriptive you can make your
text links, the better chance you have
| | 01:47 | of inviting a click.
| | 01:48 | For example, a link that reads More
information isn't as descriptive as a link
| | 01:53 | that reads Download the 50 page catalog.
| | 01:56 | When creating image links, the best
practice is to include some text in the
| | 02:00 | image inviting the click and
explaining what the image link points to.
| | 02:04 | Some images are intuitive as
links so text isn't necessary.
| | 02:08 | Examples include pictures of products
that link to more information about the
| | 02:11 | product, company logos pointing to the
homepage of a website, audio icons such
| | 02:17 | as a Play button that looks like a
speaker, or screenshots of videos pointing to
| | 02:21 | a streaming video file.
| | 02:23 | Speaking of videos in other files,
use links to deliver files and videos to
| | 02:27 | your email subscribers.
| | 02:28 | Never attach videos, pictures, documents,
or other files to your emails, because
| | 02:34 | email filters and blockers are
notorious for stripping attachments, bouncing
| | 02:39 | emails with attachments, and filtering
emails with attachments to a junk folder.
| | 02:44 | Creating links and including them in
your email is an important step toward
| | 02:47 | making your emails actionable, but links
all by themselves won't be too inviting
| | 02:51 | to your email subscribers.
| | 02:53 | That's why the next section of the
course shows you how to include valuable and
| | 02:56 | relevant email content to go
along with the links in your emails.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating valuable information| 00:00 | The information you send in an email has
to be valuable on a consistent basis or
| | 00:05 | your subscribers will
quickly become un-subscribers.
| | 00:09 | While it's great to send offers and
incentives to make your emails more
| | 00:12 | valuable, some of your email content
needs to be inherently valuable as well.
| | 00:17 | That's because typically only a small
portion of your prospects and customers
| | 00:21 | are ready to buy when they
receive one of your emails.
| | 00:23 | If you limit your email content to
promotions and offers, your emails will be
| | 00:27 | irrelevant to the majority of subscribers.
| | 00:29 | Now, here are some examples of content that
can add to the inherent value of your emails.
| | 00:35 | Information about products, services,
or your company can be valuable,
| | 00:39 | especially for new prospects or people
who are interested in learning about new
| | 00:42 | products or the latest trends.
| | 00:46 | Tips and advice can be valuable if
buying your products and services involve
| | 00:49 | research, expertise, or sound reasoning.
| | 00:53 | Tips and advice can come from you or
your employees or you can feature tips and
| | 00:57 | advice from your satisfied
customers or product suppliers.
| | 01:01 | Instructions and directions can tell
your customers how to get the most out of
| | 01:05 | your products or services
before a sale and after a sale.
| | 01:09 | Instructions and directions can also
help your customers feel smarter about the
| | 01:13 | purchases they make.
| | 01:15 | Entertaining content can include
humor, engaging stories, and even
| | 01:19 | professional performances.
| | 01:21 | If you use entertaining content, make
sure it has something to do with buying
| | 01:25 | your products and services; otherwise
your email subscribers won't be as likely
| | 01:28 | to recall your brand as
the source of the content.
| | 01:32 | Facts and research are a good idea when
your audience needs more than an opinion
| | 01:36 | to make a purchase decision.
| | 01:38 | Coming up with valuable content can
be handled in-house or through external
| | 01:42 | sources such as copywriters and agencies.
| | 01:45 | If you decide to use content from other
sources in your emails, always ask for
| | 01:49 | written permission so you
don't violate any copyright laws.
| | 01:52 | Assume all content is copyright
protected and consult a licensed attorney if you
| | 01:57 | aren't sure if you have
permission to use someone else's content.
| | 02:01 | Hopefully the information in this
section has been valuable to you, because now
| | 02:04 | it's time to explore all of the ways to
include valuable offers in your emails,
| | 02:09 | to help turn your readers into buyers.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Sending valuable offers| 00:00 | In this section of the course I explain
which types of valuable offers to send
| | 00:05 | to your email subscribers.
| | 00:07 | Valuable offers are incentives that
help to overcome purchase hesitation
| | 00:11 | and decision avoidance.
| | 00:13 | The first rule of valuable offers is to
know your customers, because different
| | 00:18 | groups of people may respond
differently to the same offers.
| | 00:21 | For example, some people love to
know about a discounted product because
| | 00:25 | they like to save money.
| | 00:26 | However, some people associate the word
discount with words like discontinued,
| | 00:31 | cheap, or out of style.
| | 00:33 | These two groups of people
require very different offers.
| | 00:36 | The former may respond positively to
an email announcing a sale, while the
| | 00:40 | latter is more likely to value an email
announcing a sneak preview of the newest
| | 00:44 | and most expensive product line.
| | 00:46 | For the best results, conduct a survey
or watch your email tracking reports to
| | 00:50 | discover what your subscribers value.
Then divide your email list into groups
| | 00:55 | based on the types of
offers that motivate each group.
| | 00:58 | Here are some of the best forms of
valuable offers for emails, along with some
| | 01:03 | advice for matching the
incentive to the type of buyer.
| | 01:06 | Coupons included in an email can be
printed out or shown on a mobile device for
| | 01:10 | in-store redemption or linked
to an item in an online store.
| | 01:14 | Use coupons when your prospects or
customers want to be rewarded with prices
| | 01:18 | that aren't available to the general public.
| | 01:20 | To add a personal touch to your email
coupons use a Mail Merge to include your
| | 01:24 | subscribers name on the coupon.
| | 01:26 | Giveaways are free products or services
offered in exchange for information or a purchase.
| | 01:32 | Use giveaways in combination with
another product purchase when you want to
| | 01:35 | offer more value without
discounting the value of the featured product.
| | 01:39 | For example, if a car dealer offered
a car at 50% off, people might wonder
| | 01:44 | what's wrong with the car.
| | 01:46 | If however the car was offered at full
price with a giveaway worth 50% of the
| | 01:50 | value of the car, the same value is
perceived without discounting the car.
| | 01:55 | If you decide to offer giveaways, make
sure to check your local laws to make
| | 01:59 | sure your giveaway doesn't qualify
as a sweepstakes, contest, or lottery.
| | 02:03 | If it does, you'll need to comply with
local laws for these types of promotions.
| | 02:07 | Loss leaders are another form of giveaway.
| | 02:09 | A loss leader is a promotional price
that results in a loss to the business when
| | 02:14 | the product is purchased.
| | 02:15 | Why would you offer a product in an
email at a price that loses money? Because
| | 02:19 | you want to acquire a new customer
with an extremely low price so you can
| | 02:23 | realize profits through repeat sales
generated by additional emails after the
| | 02:27 | initial loss leader purchase.
| | 02:30 | Use loss leaders when you want to
attract new customers to your business and
| | 02:33 | away from the competition.
| | 02:35 | Once you have an offer that gets people
to respond, it's time to help them take
| | 02:39 | the next step by suggesting one or more actions.
| | 02:42 | That's called a call to action and
it's the subject of our next movie.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Writing an effective call to action| 00:00 | A call to action is a statement that
prompts your audience to take one or more
| | 00:04 | specific actions in favor of your objectives.
| | 00:07 | Calling for action isn't as simple as
including a phone number in your emails or
| | 00:10 | giving people lots of links to click on,
you need to give people a few hints so
| | 00:14 | they know exactly what you want them to do.
| | 00:17 | Contrary to what you see in a lot of
emails, "click here" is not the best way to
| | 00:21 | call for action in an email.
| | 00:23 | Instead of click here, begin your call to
action with a word that describes the action.
| | 00:28 | Examples include
visit, call, download, read, or print.
| | 00:35 | You can turn your call to action
statements into links or combined them
| | 00:38 | with phone numbers or specific instructions
to make the next steps as clear as possible.
| | 00:43 | Sometimes the main reason to call
for action is to ask for an immediate
| | 00:46 | purchase, but there are lots of other
reasons to include a call to action in your email.
| | 00:50 | For example, you can use a call to
action to ask people to read your email,
| | 00:55 | by beginning your email with a statement
like "Read this email before you buy online."
| | 01:01 | You can also use a call to action to
highlight a specific portion of your email
| | 01:05 | as in the statement "scroll
down for a valuable coupon."
| | 01:09 | Sometimes it's appropriate to ask people
to save your email for later instead of
| | 01:13 | deleting it if they aren't ready to
take advantage of an offer in your email.
| | 01:17 | You can also ask people to show the
email by printing it out or showing the
| | 01:20 | email on a mobile device.
| | 01:22 | And don't forget to ask people to
share your email with a friend or colleague
| | 01:27 | when they find the content to be
of value to someone they care about.
| | 01:31 | You may decide to focus on one call
to action in your email, but sometimes
| | 01:34 | including multiple calls to action in
one email can actually increase the number
| | 01:38 | of responses you get.
| | 01:40 | One of the best ways to increase
responses using multiple calls to action is to
| | 01:44 | ask for three different levels
of commitment from your readers.
| | 01:47 | For example, a chocolate company might
send an email promoting a new gift basket
| | 01:52 | with the following three calls to action:
| | 01:55 | order this gift basket today, download
our gift basket catalogue, and like this
| | 02:00 | gift basket on Facebook.
| | 02:03 | Each of these calls to action result in
a positive action, but two of them are
| | 02:07 | still options even if the person
reading the email isn't interested in making a
| | 02:10 | purchase right away.
| | 02:11 | Of course, every email requires the act
of opening the email in the first place.
| | 02:18 | Next I'll show you how to get more
emails opened by including a familiar from line.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
5. Creating Effective "From" Addresses and Subject LinesSetting up the "From" address| 00:02 | Creating a familiar from line is
critical to getting your emails opened and
| | 00:06 | read, because people don't like to
receive emails unless they know the sender,
| | 00:10 | especially when the email comes from a business.
| | 00:13 | Unfamiliar email from lines can also
result in spam complaints, even when people
| | 00:17 | have explicitly signed up for your email
list, just because they don't know you.
| | 00:22 | To make your from lines familiar, ask
your customers how they know you and
| | 00:26 | include that information in your from lines.
| | 00:28 | If you or your employees have personal
relationships with your customers, use
| | 00:33 | your first and last names in your from lines.
| | 00:37 | If your business is a local branch of a
larger organization, make sure your from
| | 00:41 | line includes your location to
differentiate your emails from the other branches
| | 00:45 | and the main corporate emails.
| | 00:47 | If your business uses an acronym,
such as ABC Company, make sure your
| | 00:51 | customers also know you by your acronym.
Otherwise it's best to use your full business name.
| | 00:56 | It's also important to
make your address familiar.
| | 00:59 | For example, the ABC Company could send
their newsletters from the email address
| | 01:03 | newsletter@abccompany.com.
| | 01:06 | Once you decide on a from line strategy,
stay consistent. Then get to work on
| | 01:10 | your subject line strategy by
watching the next section of the course.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Writing effective subject lines| 00:00 | Your subject line is the part of your
email that prompts your recipients to
| | 00:04 | hopefully open your email
and start reading immediately.
| | 00:08 | Subject lines get cut off after about
40 or 50 characters, so the best way to
| | 00:12 | utilize the subject line in an email
is to describe the immediate benefit of
| | 00:17 | opening your email with
the fewest words possible.
| | 00:20 | Subject lines such as July
newsletter or News from ABC Company may be too
| | 00:26 | generic and they're not strong
enough to prompt an immediate open.
| | 00:29 | Instead of generic words, choose
value words for your subject lines.
| | 00:34 | Value words are words or phrases that
describe the benefit your readers will
| | 00:38 | receive by opening the email.
| | 00:40 | Here are a few examples.
| | 00:44 | If the benefit of your email is
financial savings, you can use the word savings
| | 00:48 | as the value word in your subject line,
as in over $50 in savings in this email.
| | 00:53 | If the benefit of your email is
valuable information, you should use words
| | 00:58 | in your subject line that describe the
immediate benefit of reading your information.
| | 01:01 | For example, if your information helps
someone to compare the competition, your
| | 01:06 | subject line may read "compare the
competition in under two minutes."
| | 01:11 | If the benefit of opening your emails
is basically the same in a series of
| | 01:14 | emails, you can work off of a theme
by creating a brand for your emails and
| | 01:18 | including that brand name as the subject line.
| | 01:21 | For example, instead of using the
word newsletter in the subject line for
| | 01:25 | every newsletter you send, you can
create a name for your newsletter, such as
| | 01:30 | Smart Shopper Weekly if you're a
retail store or 5-Minute Sales Tips,if you
| | 01:34 | offer sales consulting.
| | 01:37 | Coming up with good subject
lines consistently isn't easy.
| | 01:41 | If you're unsure about whether a
particular idea for a subject line will work,
| | 01:45 | try testing one idea for a subject
line against another idea using a small
| | 01:49 | sample of your email list.
| | 01:51 | Remember also to avoid
subject lines that look like spam.
| | 01:55 | Using all capital letters, excessive
punctuation, or extreme urgency can be
| | 02:01 | off-putting and cause spam complaints.
| | 02:04 | Take a few minutes to periodically
check your own junk or spam folder to see
| | 02:08 | what the spammers are using in their subject
lines and then avoid copying their techniques.
| | 02:13 | I hope this section of the course
helps you to create a lot of profitable
| | 02:16 | subject lines for many emails to come.
| | 02:19 | And now it's time to move on to
deepening your relationships with the people who
| | 02:23 | open your emails by adding
social media features to your emails.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
6. Combining Email with Social Media and Mobile Devices Adding social features| 00:01 | In this section of the course I show
you how to combine email and social media
| | 00:05 | to increase the number of social
interactions your emails receive.
| | 00:08 | Emails can be forwarded, shared,
liked, tweeted, rated, and reviewed.
| | 00:15 | You can use basic social media
features to promote your social media content
| | 00:18 | to your email subscribers and you can
use more advanced social media features
| | 00:22 | to allow your social media followers
to view your emails without receiving
| | 00:26 | them in an email inbox.
| | 00:28 | Here's how it works.
| | 00:29 | To promote your social media content to
your email subscribers, simply include
| | 00:34 | links to your social media
sites in the body of your emails.
| | 00:37 | For example, you may want to add a
Facebook icon to your email linked to your
| | 00:41 | business page on Facebook.
| | 00:43 | Posting your emails to social sites
is easy with email marketing providers,
| | 00:47 | because they can automatically send
your emails to inboxes, Facebook walls, and
| | 00:51 | Twitter pages when you
schedule your email to go out.
| | 00:54 | That way you can create the email content
once and publish it everywhere as one campaign.
| | 01:00 | When it comes to publishing your
emails to multiple places, don't forget to
| | 01:03 | include mobile devices.
| | 01:05 | To learn how to optimize your emails
for mobile devices, watch the next movie,
| | 01:09 | "Creating a mobile friendly email."
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Creating a mobile-friendly design| 00:00 | Lots of people check and read
their emails on mobile devices such as
| | 00:04 | smartphones and tablet devices, so
it's important to consider these devices
| | 00:08 | when creating marketing emails.
| | 00:10 | Specifically, there are three things to
consider when you send emails to people
| | 00:14 | who are likely to read them on mobile devices.
| | 00:17 | First is the fact that most people
access the same email inbox with smartphones,
| | 00:22 | tablets, and computers, so you
shouldn't design emails for smartphones without
| | 00:26 | thinking about how the designs
will work on computers and tablets.
| | 00:31 | Second is the usefulness of your email
content to a person on a mobile device.
| | 00:36 | When people are using mobile devices to
read email, they are more likely to be
| | 00:39 | sorting through emails and deciding
what to open now, what to save for later,
| | 00:44 | and what to delete immediately.
| | 00:46 | The more useful your email is in a
mobile context, the more likely your email
| | 00:50 | will be opened
immediately or saved for later use.
| | 00:53 | For example, if your email contains a
coupon that the recipient can show in a
| | 00:58 | store to receive a discount, it's more
useful in a mobile context than an email
| | 01:02 | that asks your recipient to go through
an online order process that involves a
| | 01:06 | lot of typing. That may be
easier on a computer keyboard.
| | 01:10 | The third thing to consider is how the
email will look and function on a mobile device.
| | 01:14 | Smartphones have much smaller screens
than computers and it's often frustrating
| | 01:18 | for people to scroll around to
find links, text, and images.
| | 01:22 | The most effective mobile email
designs take advantage of the upper-left
| | 01:26 | portion of the email.
| | 01:27 | That's because most mobile devices
either display emails beginning with the
| | 01:31 | upper-left portion of the email, or
they display the whole width of the email
| | 01:35 | on the screen, requiring the recipient to zoom
and scroll to specific sections of the email.
| | 01:40 | When people zoom and scroll, they often
start in the upper-left of the email, at
| | 01:44 | least in countries where
people read from left to right.
| | 01:46 | Here are some examples of the types
of content that can be effective when
| | 01:50 | positioned in the upper-left of your email.
| | 01:54 | You can place your logo or the name
of your business in the upper-left.
| | 01:57 | You can begin your email message with
the main headline at the top of your email.
| | 02:02 | Images in the upper-left can be
effective too, but you might want to make
| | 02:05 | sure it's small enough for some
text to fit next to it or below it to
| | 02:10 | encourage people to scroll.
| | 02:12 | You can place navigation links in the
upper-left so people can quickly scroll
| | 02:16 | and click to the content in
your email or onto a website.
| | 02:21 | Remember that navigation links are
necessary only when your email has lots of
| | 02:25 | content that your
audience has to scroll to view.
| | 02:28 | If you decide you need a table of
contents because the amount of content in your
| | 02:32 | email is so large, then take a moment to
think about whether you're sending too
| | 02:36 | much information in a
single email in the first place.
| | 02:39 | Cutting down your content and
increasing your frequency might be a better
| | 02:43 | solution to making your emails
easier to navigate on a mobile screen.
| | 02:47 | Hopefully your email content drives
people to take action and when they have a
| | 02:51 | mobile device in hand, those actions
need to be as mobile friendly as possible.
| | 02:57 | I hope you'd join me for the next
section of the course where I show you how to
| | 03:00 | create mobile friendly calls to
action for your mobile friendly emails.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Including a mobile call to action| 00:00 | When people read your emails on mobile
devices, they are more likely to respond
| | 00:05 | if you include a call to action that
makes it easier or more interesting for
| | 00:09 | people to take action using the device.
| | 00:11 | Here are some of the capabilities
that give mobile email so much potential.
| | 00:16 | Smartphones allow people to touch or click on
a phone number to immediately dial the number.
| | 00:21 | So you may want to include your phone
number in your emails to make it easy for
| | 00:25 | people to contact you.
| | 00:27 | Some smartphones and other mobile
devices also allow an address to automatically
| | 00:31 | link to maps and directions.
| | 00:33 | So include your physical address in
your emails if you have one or more
| | 00:36 | physical locations.
| | 00:38 | Before including links to your website
in an email meant for mobile devices, you
| | 00:42 | may want to optimize your website pages.
| | 00:45 | Mobile webpages have simplified
navigation and content that's easier to read
| | 00:49 | on smaller screens.
| | 00:51 | A good web designer can help you to
detect mobile device visitors and serve up a
| | 00:56 | version of your website that's
friendly to each type of device.
| | 00:59 | Links to videos also work well
in smartphones and mobile devices.
| | 01:03 | For the best results, post your videos
to a public site, such as YouTube, to
| | 01:07 | make sure your videos will
play on all types of devices.
| | 01:11 | In addition to links in your email
content, you can also use your email content
| | 01:16 | to suggest mobile friendly actions
such as taking a picture and attaching it
| | 01:21 | when replying to your email,
| | 01:23 | visiting a social media site to
follow your business or write a review,
| | 01:27 | checking into a location on a check-
in site like Foursquare or Gowalla or
| | 01:31 | Facebook, or showing the email to someone else.
| | 01:35 | Showing the email works great for
coupons and other offers in your email if you
| | 01:39 | have a retail store, because you can
tell people to show the email to a company
| | 01:43 | representative to receive the
discount or the offer mentioned in the email.
| | 01:48 | Mobile technology is rapidly advancing,
so the future is sure to unveil even
| | 01:52 | more exciting mobile email potential.
| | 01:54 | Until then, I hope this section of the
course has helped you to develop an email
| | 01:58 | strategy that really
mobilizes your email subscribers.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
7. Maximizing Your Email Campaign ResultsManaging bounced and blocked email| 00:01 | Email isn't delivered a 100% of
the time, but undelivered email isn't
| | 00:05 | necessarily void of opportunity.
| | 00:07 | This section of the course shows you
how to deal with bounced and blocked email
| | 00:11 | so you can turn as many
negative results into future positives.
| | 00:14 | Bounced and blocked emails are returned
to the email sender's email address with
| | 00:20 | code that tells you why the
email was blocked or bounced.
| | 00:23 | Of course, email servers don't exactly
have a way with words, so I recommend
| | 00:27 | using an email service provider that
can categorize your bounced and blocked
| | 00:31 | emails into reports that are
easier for humans to interpret.
| | 00:33 | Bounced reports show you which emails
bounced and why they bounced so that you
| | 00:39 | can take the appropriate action.
| | 00:41 | Emails that are permanently
undeliverable are called hard bounces.
| | 00:44 | A hard bounce means that the email
address does not exist, so it's either
| | 00:49 | misspelled, the email address has been
changed, or it's been abandoned by the owner.
| | 00:53 | When you see a hard bounce on your
bounce report, you should either contact your
| | 00:58 | subscribers via another method to
obtain a new email address or simply delete
| | 01:02 | them from your database.
| | 01:03 | When your email bounce report shows an
email return as mailbox full, temporarily
| | 01:08 | undeliverable, or blocked, these
situations are known as soft bounces.
| | 01:14 | Soft bounces may be temporary or
permanent, so check your bounce report to see
| | 01:18 | how often a particular email is bouncing.
| | 01:21 | If you notice three or more consecutive
soft bounces for an email address, you
| | 01:25 | should treat it just like a hard bounce.
| | 01:28 | If you notice irregular soft bounces, you
can try resending your email at a later date.
| | 01:33 | Remember, the best way to reduce
blocked emails is to make sure your email list
| | 01:37 | stays up-to-date in the first place.
| | 01:39 | Send an email once every three months
or so, reminding your subscribers to
| | 01:43 | notify you or update their subscription
profile if they change email addresses.
| | 01:47 | That way you have a better chance of
catching some of the email address changes
| | 01:51 | before they show up on a bounce report.
| | 01:53 | Another preventative measure is
avoiding email filters that deliver your email
| | 01:58 | to junk and spam folders instead of
bouncing the emails back as undeliverable.
| | 02:02 | In the next section of the course I
show you how to reduce filtered email and
| | 02:06 | get more email delivered to inboxes.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Avoiding getting caught by filters| 00:00 | In this section of the course I
explain email filters and how to avoid them
| | 00:04 | as often as possible.
| | 00:06 | Actually, email filters aren't always negative.
| | 00:09 | Some people set up filters to sort
emails into different folders to keep
| | 00:12 | their emails organized.
| | 00:14 | The filters you want to avoid are the types
that sort emails into a junk or spam folder.
| | 00:20 | Some junk filters are set by users who
want to block attachments, profanity,
| | 00:24 | or specific senders.
| | 00:26 | But most filters are set by email
companies that want to protect their customers
| | 00:30 | from malicious content, spam,
and other unwanted emails.
| | 00:34 | To steer clear of as many automatic
spam filters as possible, you should
| | 00:38 | first check your email content for
anything that shares the characteristics
| | 00:42 | of a typical spam email.
| | 00:44 | Examples include subject lines with
all capital letters, attachments, and
| | 00:50 | profanity, or certain words
that are common in spam emails.
| | 00:54 | Spam emails and legitimate emails
often share similar characteristics, so I
| | 00:59 | recommend using an email service
provider with a spam check feature that scans
| | 01:03 | the content of your email for spam-like content.
| | 01:05 | If you don't use an email service
provider with a spam check feature, check
| | 01:10 | your junk or spam folder once in a
while to see what techniques the spammers
| | 01:15 | are using to get their emails delivered and then
avoid copying those tactics in your own emails.
| | 01:21 | Avoiding spam like content is an
important part of avoiding filters, but it's
| | 01:25 | even more important to make sure you
establish a good sender reputation with
| | 01:29 | email companies like Yahoo!,
Gmail, Hotmail, and AOL.
| | 01:33 | Your sender reputation is
made up of three things:
| | 01:36 | the length of time you've been
sending email from a particular server, the
| | 01:41 | number of emails you've sent from a
particular server, and the number of spam
| | 01:46 | complaints you've
received from your subscribers.
| | 01:49 | One of the best ways to make sure your
sender reputation is well-established
| | 01:53 | is to use a well-established email service
provider to send your emails on your behalf.
| | 01:58 | Email service providers with
established reputations have earned their
| | 02:02 | reputations through close working
relationships with the email companies and by
| | 02:07 | sending high volumes of
emails to permission-based lists.
| | 02:11 | When you sign-up for an email service,
you also sign-up to adhere to their best
| | 02:15 | practices and permission policies.
| | 02:17 | So make sure your email list is
permission-based and compliant with all of the
| | 02:21 | email service provider's policies
before you sign up and pay for a subscription
| | 02:25 | or a software package.
| | 02:28 | Now that you know a bit more about
maximizing your email delivery, it's time to
| | 02:32 | take a look at maximizing the
responses you receive from your emails, namely
| | 02:36 | opens and click-through responses.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Evaluating click-through data| 00:00 | Email marketing doesn't end
when your email gets delivered.
| | 00:03 | In fact, that's when things
really start to get interesting.
| | 00:06 | In this section of the course I explain
how to know who is opening and clicking
| | 00:10 | on your emails and how to use the data
to improve your email marketing results.
| | 00:16 | Email tracking requires some serious
HTML programming, or you can just use an
| | 00:20 | email marketing provider with built-in
tracking and reporting to show you who is
| | 00:24 | opening and clicking on your emails.
| | 00:26 | Once you have tracking capabilities in
your emails, you need to understand what
| | 00:30 | it means when your
reports show opens and clicks.
| | 00:33 | An opened email, according to an email
tracking report, means that the person
| | 00:38 | who received the email enabled the
images in the email to display or clicked
| | 00:43 | a link in the email.
| | 00:44 | No images? No open
counted on the tracking report.
| | 00:48 | This is important to understand,
because a lot of people read emails without
| | 00:52 | enabling the images or clicking on any links.
| | 00:54 | Use your open right as a guide to see
how many people were interested enough in
| | 00:59 | a particular email to enable the
images or click a link, and then assume the
| | 01:04 | people who are not listed in your open
report noticed your email and just chose
| | 01:08 | to scan the email content without
clicking or enabling any images.
| | 01:13 | When it comes to your click report,
things are a lot more straightforward.
| | 01:18 | Your click report shows who clicked
on which links and how many people
| | 01:22 | clicked on each link.
| | 01:24 | Your click report gives you two great insights.
| | 01:27 | First, clicks are indications of
interest on the part of your email subscribers.
| | 01:31 | For example, if 20 people click on a
link to watch a video about dogs and 20
| | 01:37 | people click a link to watch a video
about cats, you can determine which people
| | 01:41 | are interested in dogs and
which are interested in cats.
| | 01:44 | That way the next series of emails you
send can be customized for either the dog
| | 01:48 | people or the cat people.
| | 01:50 | Second, your click report also tells
you whether your email content is valuable
| | 01:54 | and interesting to your readers.
| | 01:56 | When people click to view a web site,
read an article, watch a video, or download
| | 02:01 | a picture, they are engaging and that
helps them to remember your business and
| | 02:05 | your message when they're ready to buy.
| | 02:08 | For this reason, it's a good idea to
leave some of your email content out of
| | 02:13 | your email and link it instead.
| | 02:15 | That way you can tell who
is interested and who is not.
| | 02:19 | When analyzing your click reports, it's
also a good idea to compare your email
| | 02:23 | data with your website visitor data.
| | 02:26 | If your email drives a lot of traffic
to your website but nobody takes any
| | 02:30 | action from there, it's an indication
that your website content or your user
| | 02:34 | experience may be in need of attention.
| | 02:36 | Of course clicks and opens aren't
the only email actions worth tracking.
| | 02:41 | It's also possible to track non-
click responses, and I'll cover those in the next movie.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Tracking non-click responses| 00:00 | Email links that drive traffic to a
website can be tracked electronically,
| | 00:04 | but non-click responses have to be tracked
with a little human interaction and creativity.
| | 00:09 | Here are some common non-click
responses that are worth tracking.
| | 00:12 | First, it's a good idea to track in-
store purchases resulting from your emails
| | 00:17 | if you have a physical store.
| | 00:18 | To track in-store purchases, you can
ask people to show your email either by
| | 00:23 | printing it out or showing
it on a mobile device screen.
| | 00:26 | You can also track in-store purchases
by including a special promotion that
| | 00:30 | isn't advertised anywhere except your emails.
| | 00:32 | That way, when someone asks for the
special promotion, you know the only way
| | 00:36 | they found out about it was
through one of your emails.
| | 00:39 | Including a special promotion also
works well if you want to track phone calls
| | 00:43 | generated from your emails, because you
can attribute any callers who mentioned
| | 00:46 | a special offer to your emails.
| | 00:49 | You can take that concept one step
further by including a unique phone number
| | 00:53 | in your emails, so that anyone who
calls the number is identified as someone
| | 00:56 | who received an email.
| | 00:58 | Another non-click response
worth tracking is event attendance.
| | 01:01 | Of course you can track event
registrations electronically, but sometimes it's
| | 01:06 | good to know how many reminder and
invitation emails contributed to increasing
| | 01:11 | actual physical attendance,
especially if your events are free.
| | 01:15 | In the case of events, you can use
your emails as tickets, and you can ask
| | 01:19 | people to show or print the emails for
admission. Or you can include offers in
| | 01:23 | your reminder emails that people
can show or mention at the door.
| | 01:27 | If the fact that tracking non-click
responses require some manual intervention
| | 01:31 | has you worried about spending too much
time, don't worry. The next section of
| | 01:35 | the course shows you how to automate
the most mundane components of your email
| | 01:39 | marketing program, so you have more
time to keep track of all those happy
| | 01:42 | customer interactions.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Automating your email marketing| 00:00 | One of the best features of email
marketing is the ability to automate your
| | 00:04 | marketing communications.
| | 00:06 | This section of the course shows you
two ways to send automated emails to
| | 00:09 | prospects and customers.
| | 00:12 | You need an email marketing provider
or a really good programmer to help you
| | 00:16 | with email automation.
| | 00:17 | Some automation scenarios are simple
and some are simple conceptually, but
| | 00:22 | they're very sophisticated technically.
| | 00:24 | After viewing this section of the
course, you'll know what type of automation
| | 00:28 | features you need from a provider to run the
automation programs most helpful to your business.
| | 00:34 | The first type of email
automation is called an autoresponder.
| | 00:38 | An autoresponder is a single email
sent automatically in response to a
| | 00:42 | specific event or action.
| | 00:45 | Examples include an email triggered
by a specific date such as a birthday,
| | 00:50 | holiday, or calendar date, an email
triggered by a specific time such as
| | 00:54 | lunchtime, or a few hours before an
event, an email sent in response to filling
| | 00:59 | out a form such as ordering something
online, or joining an email list, or an
| | 01:04 | email sent in response to a click such as a
click on a link to a website page or a video.
| | 01:11 | To set up an autoresponder, you need to
create an email with content that will
| | 01:15 | be the same for everyone who
triggers the autoresponder email.
| | 01:18 | Once you've created the email, you
can use your email marketing provider to
| | 01:22 | assign it to one or more triggers or events.
| | 01:25 | Sometimes it's appropriate to send
multiple emails automatically in response
| | 01:29 | to an action or event.
| | 01:31 | An automated series of
multiple emails is called a sequence.
| | 01:34 | Sequence is perfect for targeting
email content to individuals with different
| | 01:39 | behaviors, interests, or contexts.
| | 01:41 | For example, when a new prospect joins
your email list, you may want to set up a
| | 01:46 | sequence that automatically
responds with the following four emails:
| | 01:50 | a welcome email thanking the person for
joining the email list sent immediately
| | 01:54 | after joining; a follow up email
with links to a product catalog, company
| | 02:00 | information, or other helpful resources
sent three days after the welcome email;
| | 02:07 | an email newsletter with the best
articles and advice sent one week after the
| | 02:11 | follow up email; and a promotional
email offering a special discount as a thank
| | 02:17 | you for joining the email list sent
two weeks after the email newsletter.
| | 02:22 | Sequences make your emails more relevant,
because you can base them on a variety
| | 02:26 | of relevant events and triggers such as
clicks, dates, and periods of time since
| | 02:31 | a prior action or event.
| | 02:33 | When it comes to planning more
sophisticated email sequences, you'll need an
| | 02:37 | email marketing provider that has the
ability to automatically stop or change a
| | 02:41 | sequence based on multiple triggers or events.
| | 02:44 | For example, you create a sequence
for new prospects and one of those new
| | 02:48 | prospects becomes a customer in the
middle of your new prospect sequence,
| | 02:52 | you may want to switch that person to
a new customer sequence and stop the
| | 02:56 | new prospect sequence.
| | 02:58 | To automate sequence changes, your
email marketing provider needs to integrate
| | 03:02 | with your database and link tracking to
identify changes in a customer profile.
| | 03:08 | So switching someone from one
sequence to another may be as simple as
| | 03:12 | allowing the system to track
someone's clicks or purchases and adjust each
| | 03:16 | sequence accordingly.
| | 03:17 | You can also manually add someone to a
sequence or stop a sequence by changing
| | 03:22 | the data in someone's database record.
| | 03:25 | Email automation takes a little extra
time to set up, but I hope you see the
| | 03:29 | potential for making things more
productive in the long run and I hope this
| | 03:33 | email marketing course has helped to
make your email marketing strategy more
| | 03:37 | productive than ever.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
ConclusionGoodbye| 00:00 | Congratulations on completing
this course on effective email
| | 00:03 | marketing strategies.
| | 00:05 | Now that you're familiar with
effective email marketing, it's time to put these
| | 00:08 | strategies into practice.
| | 00:10 | Start by building your email list.
| | 00:12 | And remember, you don't have to send
all of your emails to every subscriber
| | 00:15 | while you're learning.
| | 00:17 | Try sending a few emails to a portion
of your list until you're confident in
| | 00:21 | what works and what doesn't for
your business or organization.
| | 00:24 | Remember, too, that this course is
available to you anytime you want to refresh
| | 00:27 | your memory on a particular strategy.
| | 00:30 | I sincerely hope this course has
helped you to your business or organization
| | 00:33 | with email marketing.
| | 00:34 | I'm John Arnold, and thanks for watching.
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
