Campaign Monitor free email template builder

This is something special... anyone can make and send an email using the Campaign Monitor template builder, without paying a penny!

Try it yourself here:
http://www.campaignmonitor.com/templates/

Within 5 minutes I made this very basic email (as a test!) and sent it to two recipients completely free of charge. 

The builder is very intuitive, all kinds of links, images, share to social networks can be added within the builder. the colours, layout, fonts can all be changed to create an almost unlimited selection of email designs. It is amazing simple and so very fast.  

How to add Unicode Characters to a Subject Line

I recently found adding a Unicode symbol to the subject line increases my open rates. I have also noted it is becoming more popular. But how do you add these symbols?

To be honest I think you just have to try, it appears to be different in every ESP. This is how I added one...

First thing to do is find the Unicode symbol you want to use. Go to all programs, Accessories, System tools, character map.











Once in the character map choose Arial Unicode MS and choose your character. 

In the above example I have chosen a heart, you can see the character and at the bottom the character code U+2764.
Try copy and pasting the heart into your subject line and send a test, if not try and type the code into the subject and send a test. 

I use Silverpop and I had to us an email encoder to get the Unicode symbol to display. I visited this link and pasted in the heart character along with my subject line text. http://cs.silverpop.com/encoder/wizard.php

Result:

=?utf-8?B?4pmlIGhhcHB5IHZhbGVudGluZXMgZGF5?=

Display Example:

♥ happy valentines day

How to get more people to forward your email

Many ESP’s offer a function to forward the email to a friend and report on the number that did so. I always include a ‘forward to a friend’ option on my promotional emails, but decided to experiment and see if I could increase the number of forwards by amending the creative.

I usually place a forward to a friend button in the top right hand corner of the email, up in a prominent area in the header.

I did a split test: One mailing using its usual position, the second mailing using the usual position and a dedicated section in the email body...

The above screen grab shows how I made the forward more of feature, and it did increase the number of forwards.

RESULTS (% of opens that used the forward feature):
Standard forward (button in header) - 0.07%
Feature forward (button in header + dedicated section) - 0.17% 


The feature forward had a 61.7% increase in the number of people that forwarded it. 

A New Email Template Created for a Client

I recently designed this email template for a UK parking company, I'm not sure if they are going to use it yet but I had fun making it. This template design is based on their website theme, I simply took elements and re-packaged it in the email design. The design is simple, clean and clear.

Creating html emails from design is my favourite part of being an email marketer, I like getting my hands dirty with Photoshop and html code...

Using Unicode Symbols in Email Subject Lines

I recently tested using a Unicode symbol in an email subject line to see if it made any difference to the open rate %.

The subject lines I tested:

✈ Save 20% on your Next Flights
Save 20% on your Next Flights

The results after 3 days were...
✈ Save 20% on your Next Flights - 19.00% open rate
Save 20% on your Next Flights - 17.85% open rate

So a 1.15% increase in opens, not game changing but putting something new in your subject line is likely to surprise your audience and increase opens. Use with care, if used to frequently  people will soon get used to seeing them on your emails.

Animated Gif in Email

I have recently seen an increase in Animated gifs in email. So I decided to test the following animated gif against a static gif to see if it increased the click through rate.

The animated gif did not make any difference to CTR, both the email with the static gif and the animated gif had an almost identical CTR %. 


So I may use animated gifs in the future, but only really for a design purpose. One thing to bear in mind is that Outlook 2007 onwards does not support animated gifs (not surprising!), instead the first transition shows as a normal static image. 

Personalisation in Subject Lines

I recently tested 2 subject lines against each other to determine how much of an impact personalisation has on open rates. The personalisation fields I worked with were title and surname.

Subject 1: 

TITLE  SURNAME – Your 20% Holiday Discount

Subject 2:
Your 20% Holiday Discount

The result...
After 4 hours Subject 1 (with personalisation) achieved a 12% open rate which was 2% higher than Subject 2.

So personalisation does increase opens but I believe you will condition your customers not to open if you use it every week.

Increasing Facebook Likes and Social Buzz through Email

 We recently launched a Facebook campaign for a travel extras company with only 50 followers (mostly staff) and zero social buzz.

An email was created with a focus on the new ways to keep in touch, such as Facebook, twitter, youtube and the email was sent to the customer database. This campaign was not acquiring new customers, but instead increasing the interaction between company and customers through the new social channels.

A prize was also on offer for people that ‘like us’ on Facebook, this was only possible before the new timeline. The incentive and campaign was a success and increased likes to almost 2000 and the customers started immediately talking about the company on the page. 

Tips for a successful social email:

• Keep it social – be brave and don’t use a sales message
• Use a competition or incentive
• Keep the email simple, clear and easy to digest
• Show the benefits of connecting socially with you (watch our Youtube videos for tips on how to…)
• Monitor and respond to all comments left as quickly as you can

Best day of the week to send emails

Have you wondered which is the best day of the week to send email marketing emails?
I recently tested the best day of the week and used open and click rate as the metric.

 Sunday, Saturday followed by Tuesday has the best open rate.

However Saturday also had one of the worst click through rates, suggesting to me people opened the email but did not click through. Sunday has the second largest click through rate and the largest open rate so must be the clear winner in this test.


Considerations..
Every week is different, 
A pay day may change behaviour
weather can have an impact


I believe school holidays made a difference to the above test as I sell a travel related service and this week of testing was one week before a half term holiday. I will retest again and I expect I will see different results on a different week.

Social media, QR codes & Lettuce

While unpacking my lettuce from my weekly shop, I noticed a QR code with ‘find us on facebook’ next to it. A simple way to integrate social media with the product packaging and the consumer.

 After scanning with a QR reader on a mobile device you are taken to this page...

 Like them for recipes etc. QR is also a fantastic way to build email opt-ins too.

Silverpop Engage Fundamentals Certification

I recently completed the Silverpop Engage Fundamentals Certification exam.
This is a fantastic way to educate marketers on Silverpop's services and functions, it also educates the user on best practice.


The exam consists of a multiple choice test of 100 questions, once this is passed you then have a practical exam. The practical exam is where you bring all your knowledge together to create lists, contact lists, a mailing with dynamic content, landing pages and more.

 

Impressive Welcome Email

I recently made set up an account with a new website and i was really impressed by their welcome email...

What makes a great welcome email:

1. Welcome the customer to your site, take it a step further and make them feel special and part of a community or family.
   
2. Tell the customer who you are, what you are about, what you believe in, plus awards you may have. Keep it punchy, nobody wants to read boring corporate mission statements.
   
3. Set expectations, how often will you email? Can they expect offers and latest products or news?
   
4. Listen to what customers want, you have just introduced yourself, time to hear what they want to say. Provide email address, phone numbers or links to contact us web forms.
   
5. Ask them to add your sender address to their address book or approved senders, there are no guarantees with deliverability, this email got through try and ensure the rest do.
   
6. Be sociable... link to your Facebook, twitter, blog, you tube channel and any others.
   
7. Unsubscribe, in the unlikely event they don’t want to hear from you again provide an unsubscribe link to an email preference centre.

The 5 most important elements of email marketing

Deliverability
Without good deliverability your email wont be seen. Using an established ESP and building up a respected sender reputation is paramount.

Data
You can have the best offer in the world such as 80% off wine! If your recipient does not drink they won’t buy. The quality of data is a very important element, within your own database you will find more responsive segments.

Message / offer
A strong well timed and targeted offer is the key to a successful campaign.

Best practices
Adhering to industry best practices will help deliverability and accessibility. Keeping the right balance of test to image and having clear opt out options is vital.

Creative
Creative is your brand recognition. Test layouts and buttons to find a winning combo, but don’t radically change creative too often as customers should be able to easily recognise your brand.

4 Reasons not to Send Single Image Emails

1. Deliverability – ESP’s want to see a ratio of text to images of about 70:30
2. Not Smart – People using smart phones on the move won’t wait for the image to download
3. No message – The recipients will only see your message if they download the image
4. Blank – the majority of webmails and Outlook 2007 block images as default

Social V Email

Can social media kill email?

Social media plays a big part in all of our online lives, but it does seems to need email to really connect with us.

So when facebook wanted to sell me advertising, guess how they did so? via email...

Despite all the power and punch of facebook, they still use email to add ROI to social campaigns.