Email Marketing Blog

Email Marketing Best Practices and Advice for Marketers

5 Email Marketing Goals Worth Pursuing

Posted by on in Email Marketing Best Practices

Have you ever wondered why certain businesses excel at generating revenue through email marketing, while others fall short?

There are an endless number of metrics to point at and blame, but the problem for most mailers starts at the source. 

Goal 1: Grow Your Email List

This is the most obvious goal of email marketing, and it is always relevant.

The more list members you have, the more likely it is for your content to convert.

While there are many ways to grow an email list, some of the most effective methods include:

Add more touchpoints. Create a ‘contact us’ section on any print media, add a sign-up form on invoices, or host a giveaway at a trade show.

Evaluate your website. Make sure that your newsletter sign-up form is apparent and appealing on every high traffic page of your site.

Convert offline prospects. Reach out to potential list members in the places they frequent the most. Advertise on a website they visit, sponsor an event they attend, even send a postcard! 

Let Your Readers Help. Invite list members to write a segment for your newsletter or incentivise members to share your list with like-minded people.

By adding sign up options or incentives to your print media, website, and real life ventures, you will increase the number of opportunities a target audience member has to join your email list.

Goal 2: Increase Open Rates

No open rate is too high. The more people are opening your emails, the greater the chance that they will engage with your content and ultimately convert into a customer.

When it comes to improving open rates, we have limited control over a few key factors. The subject line, timing of the send, and relevance of the content.

For this reason it is necessary to create iterations of your content, then conduct A/B split tests to see which strategies work better for you.

Send different variations of your subject lines and content topics to segmented members of your list, and keep track of what time that you send your email. Looking back on this information can give you powerful insight on what methods lead to a higher open rate.

Goal 3: Boost Your Click-Through Rates

Your click through rate, or CTR, is one of the most important metrics to keep your eye on. A high CTR means that your email content is resonating with your audience, while a low CTR indicates that you need to improve your messaging. 

On average, a CTR of 1-5% is acceptable, while a CTR of 3% of more is considered good. 


To achieve an increased CTR in your email, start by segmenting your list members into specific niches, and then develop interactive content such as a surveys or polls, embedded games, or even a digital scratch card like this one from Bose.

For more engaging email element ideas to boost your click through rate, check out How to Implement Interactivity into your Email Marketing.

Goal 4: Reduce the Unsubscribe Rate

We all want to maintain a healthy list, that is part of the reason why the unsubscribe button exists! 

However if your unsubscribe rate starts to pass 0.5%, it is time to re-evaluate your content strategy.

The gold standard is to implement double opt-in options, where users will be sent a verification email to accept after subscribing to your list. Or, consider adding an opt-down menu to your unsubscribe page that allows users to choose the content type, pause the newsletter, or limit the frequency of emails they receive.

Either process will give the subscriber more control over how they see your newsletter.

By giving your subscribers more options, you are building trust and showing that you care about their preferences which will ultimately lead to better open rates, CTR, and an overall a more active list.

You can learn more about opt-ins and opt-downs in The Ultimate Guide to Opt-Outs.

Goal 5: Generate (more) Revenue

Generating revenue from email marketing can be a lucrative task. Some individuals have been able to make a full-time living from their lists.

What is their secret?

Community.

Building a loyal following who trusts and values the information you provide is key to generating revenue from email.

To do this, provide educational content, drill down to the important topics in your industry, offer discounts or other incentives, and make sure to personalize your emails to the best of your ability.

By consistently providing quality content and building relationships with your list members, over time you can turn your email list into a powerful revenue-generating machine.

Resources

Net Atlantic: https://www.netatlantic.com/

Seven Handy Email Marketing Tools: https://www.netatlantic.com/resources/articles/seven-handy-email-marketing-tools-to-help-you-write-and-create-your-best-email-newsletter

The Ultimate Guide to Opt-Outs (2023)

Posted by on in Subscription Management

Introduction

As a marketer, you don’t want potential customers to opt-out of your email campaigns. While it is important to allow subscribers to control the emails they receive, which can help prevent spam complaints and improve engagement rates, opt-outs can harm your marketing efforts. 

In this article, we will explore the causes of opt-outs and provide practical tips on how to minimize them. We will also discuss how to measure the impact of opt-outs based on industry guidelines to improve your email marketing campaigns.

What is an Opt-Out?

Opt-outs are a feature in email marketing that allows subscribers to remove themselves from a mailing list. It is the opposite of an opt-in, where subscribers voluntarily sign up to receive emails from a company.

The Importance of Opt-Outs

While it may seem counterintuitive, opt-outs are a critical component of email marketing. They allow subscribers the freedom to control the emails they receive, which can help prevent spam complaints and improve engagement rates.

Two Types of Opt-Outs

There are two types of opt-outs: explicit and implicit. Explicit opt-outs happen when a recipient specifically requests to be removed from a mailing list, while implicit opt-outs occur when a recipient ignores or deletes emails without engaging with them.

Common Reasons for Opt-Outs

Subscriber opt-outs are caused by a few factors, including receiving content too frequently, irrelevant content, poor timing, lack of personalization, technical issues, and spammy or overly promotional content.

Understanding opt-outs is crucial to preventing them, so let’s dive a little deeper.

The Negative Impacts of Opt-Outs

Despite the importance of allowing subscribers the freedom to control their inbox, opt-outs can have a negative impact on email marketing campaigns.

Deliverability

When a subscriber opts-out, it can affect the deliverability of future emails. Too many opt-outs will signal to ISPs that your emails are unwanted, leading them to mark your future emails as spam. This can harm your sender reputation and lower your deliverability rates.

Engagement Rates

Opt-outs can also negatively impact overall engagement. As subscribers opt-out, the overall size of your email list decreases, leading to fewer opportunities to engage with your audience. Additionally, opt-outs can signal that the audience is not resonating with your content.

Revenue

Ultimately, opt-outs can have a direct impact on revenue. When subscribers opt-out, it reduces the number of potential customers who could convert, leading to a decrease in revenue. Furthermore, if too many subscribers opt-out, it is an indication that your email marketing campaigns are not effective, and it may be necessary to re-evaluate your strategy.

What Causes Subscribers to Opt-Out?

Email Frequency

Bombarding subscribers with too many emails, even if the content is valuable, can be overwhelming and lead to frustration. While some subscribers may enjoy receiving daily emails, others may prefer a weekly or monthly cadence. Consider sending a survey or asking for feedback to understand your subscriber preferences. Finding the right balance of frequency is crucial to keeping subscribers engaged.

Irrelevant Content

Sending relevant content is important when preventing opt-outs. If subscribers receive emails that are irrelevant or not what they signed up for, they are likely to lose interest and eventually opt-out. Personalization can go a long way when curating relevant content and maintaining a strong email list.

Poor Design

Poorly designed emails can be difficult to read, confusing, or unappealing, leading to subscribers opting out. Ensuring that your emails have a clear hierarchy and are easy to scan can help maintain subscriber interest.

Technical Issues

If subscribers encounter problems when trying to read or open an email, they may become frustrated and opt-out of the mailing list. It is essential to ensure that emails are optimized for different devices and email clients to prevent potential technical issues.

How to Prevent Opt-Outs

Segment Your Email Lists

One of the most effective methods of preventing opt-outs is to segment your email lists. By dividing your subscribers into smaller groups based on factors like demographics, interests, and behavior, you can send targeted emails that are more relevant to each group. This can increase engagement rates and reduce opt-outs as subscribers are more likely to interact with content that is tailored specifically for them.

Personalize Each Email

Personalization is another key factor in preventing opt-outs. By using subscribers’ names, past behavior, and preferences, you can create a customized experience for them. Between the plethora of personalization strategies and the introduction of AI tools, there is no shortage of possibilities.

Offer Opt-Down Options

Instead of just offering an opt-out option, consider providing subscribers with an opt-down option as well. This allows them to choose the frequency or genre of emails they receive from you, instead of just completely unsubscribing. As an example, you could offer the choice of receiving one email per week, or one per month. This can help retain subscribers who may still be interested in your content, but are overwhelmed by too many emails.

Provide Valuable Content

One of the most effective ways to prevent opt-outs is to provide valuable content that is relevant to your subscribers. Deliver high-quality content that solves their problems or meets their needs, and your audience will continue to be engaged and interested in your brand. In turn, lowering the chance for subscribers to opt-out.

Ensure Technical Compatibility

Before sending an email, it is vital to ensure that your emails are technically compatible with as many devices and email clients as possible. Test your emails on different devices, in different browsers, and on different apps. This can help prevent technical issues that may frustrate subscribers and lead to opt-outs.

Measuring the Impact of Opt-Outs

To understand how your email marketing campaigns are performing and identify areas for improvement, it is important to measure the impact of opt-outs alongside industry standard KPIs.

Unsubscribes

This metric refers to the number of people who have opted-out of an email list. This is essential data for marketers to track as it can provide insight into why customers may no longer be interested in their email content. Understanding the reasons for opt-outs can help reduce their frequency and improve overall campaign effectiveness.

Opt-Downs

These are the users who clicked the ‘unsubscribe’ link, but did not remove themselves from the email list. Measuring this metric over time can help gauge the effectiveness of your opt-down page. Also, consider further segmenting your list based on opt-down users who have made purchases or shared your newsletter.

Making Data-Driven Decisions

By tracking the above metrics and identifying areas for improvement, you can make data-driven decisions to optimize your email campaigns. For example, you could analyze the revenue generated from subscribers who chose to opt-down to find the percent of users who made a purchase after almost unsubscribing. Or, you can track the engagement of list members who chose to opt-down separately to understand where your content can improve.

Use the insights gained from measuring opt-outs and opt-downs in combination with unsubscribes and other industry standard KPIs to develop a successful email marketing strategy that engages and retains your subscribers.

Final Thoughts:

Preventing opt-outs should be a top priority for email marketers. By using the strategies mentioned above and measuring key performance metrics along the way, marketers can minimize opt-outs and improve the overall ROI for their email campaigns.

How to Use Email to Promote Your Social Media Accounts

Posted by on in Email Marketing Best Practices

by Hayley Martin

Introduction

Social media is a key aspect in today’s world, whether it be for businesses, influencers, or personal enjoyment. As a business, making your social media platforms appealing and easy for others to access is extremely important. Using email to promote your social media platforms is a great way to capture the attention of others and conquer your business goals.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, eighty-three percent of B2B marketers use email newsletters for content marketing purposes. Having social media for your business is important as technology advances and since now most people rely on the internet for their information and learning about a business. When people are trying to decide if they want to purchase a product or service, they look at reviews, but they also check a company’s social media presence to be sure they are a reliable and trusted company. Having active social media platforms can be appealing to people and make your business more trusting. In the emails, you should make sure: the email has appealing images and limited words to grab the attention of the recipients, it’s organized and easy to navigate, and that the emails are sent at the right time to be sure they are being read. You should also be sure to include buttons promoting your social media accounts at the bottom of each email so that consumers and businesses are aware of your social presence.

Appealing Images and Limited Words

If the emails are nothing but words and in paragraph form, chances are that people are not going to take the time to read through all of it. You need to be sure to include bullet points to keep everything brief and easy to read. Start by giving your audience a call to action to gain their attention right away, then, use the bullet points to tell your audience why they should follow your social media platforms. To get through to people, you need to get right to the point. Along with bullet points, the emails need to be appealing and eye-catching. Just using bullet points will not be enough to fully get through to people. If there are images or even interactive links, it will capture their full attention. Including pictures of your social media platforms, screenshots of your social media posts, or including eye-catching links to your platforms will engage your audience. The perfect combination of bullet points and images/interactive links will be the key to promoting your social media.

Branded Email

Organization is the key to looking professional and a well put together company. Having your emails branded for your desired audience makes them more likely to continue reading. If your emails appear unorganized, unfamiliar, hard for the reader to get through, they are most likely going to stop reading since it lost their attention. Having your social media platforms separated with bold headings will be easy to read. If the platforms are all pushed together in the email and not separated in any way, the reader will never be able to get through your promotion. Along with using bullet points and appealing images, this will help people keep their attention on the email and interact with your social media platforms.

Sending Emails at the Right Time

Being punctual and understanding when your audience reads your emails will help you further understand when you send out your emails to promote your social platforms. When targeting other businesses, you should send emails during business hours, as this is when they are checking their work emails. When targeting a consumer, you should email in the early morning or the nighttime. This is when they have more downtime and are more willing to want to check your social media.

Links or Buttons on Each Email

With each email you send, you can gain more attention to your social media platforms by creating interactive buttons that include links to your platforms at the bottom of each email. Not every email you send is promoting your social media platforms, but to actively promote them, always include links to them at the bottom of the page where readers can easily find them and leads them directly to your page.

Conclusion

Using the four techniques above, you and your business will be sure to attract the attention of other businesses and consumers. They will be able to view your social media platforms so you will have more eyes on your company. If these tactics aren’t gathering enough attention to your social media, you can also simply send out emails specifically promoting your social platforms! In the emails promoting your accounts, be sure to tell everyone why they should follow you on social media and what advantages it could have for them. Promoting your social media platforms via email is the best way to know that others are receiving your emails and can effectively interact with your social media platforms.

Resources

Content Marketing Institutehttps://contentmarketinginstitute.com

Validity https://www.validity.com/blog/how-use-email-marketing-promote-social-media-accounts/

Infographic for Hipmunk https://www.pinterest.com/pin/198580664794053772/

Hayley Martin is a rising senior at Wells College. She is currently on the Wells College Women’s Soccer Team and is pursuing a career in marketing after graduation. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

6 Easy Ways to Level Up Your Email Marketing

Posted by on in Email Marketing Best Practices

By Cara Chatellier, Founder & Creative Director at Bubbly Creative

Let’s talk about email marketing. Your inbox is no-doubt full of emails from all sorts of businesses. So, what makes you click and open?

Some businesses choose to send out simple email blasts from their account, while others work with professionals to create captivating graphics and designs. According to DMA, for every $1 you spend on email marketing you can expect an average return of $42! If you’re looking to capitalize on your ROI and make email marketing work for you, here are a few tips to improve your email marketing strategy!

  1. Automate Emails

When you plan your emails, you can take the time to design them any way you’d like. Instead of choosing a font or design last minute and potentially losing some of your brand continuity, when you use a service like Net Atlantic, you’ll gain access to designers who have rock-solid knowledge of HTML and know the Dos and Don’ts of email design. They’ll work with you to create unique email marketing templates that render correctly and consistently, reflect your brand, and provoke action from your recipients. They’ll also take the time to build and test the final design to ensure it looks correct for all of your subscribers.

2. Don’t Skimp on the Visuals

Embedded content like images, gifs, and infographics can lead to significantly better email responses. Images, gifs, and infographics, allow you to connect with your subscribers and include information you can’t get across through copy alone. According to wishpond.com, “by using GIFs in emails, senders can see a 6% increase in open rate and a 109% increase in revenue!”

Many subscribers skim or completely ignore large blocks of text. Visuals allow you to get information across to your subscribers at warp speed.

3. Improve Subject Lines

According to Convince & Convert, 35% of email recipients open an email based on the subject line alone. The opening line is your first chance to grab subscribers’ attention and show them what your brand has to offer.

We recommend using:

  • Emojis 👋
  • Intriguing language “Don’t miss this limited time offer!”
  • Personalizations “Hey, Cara… we think you’ll love these!” (these can increase open rate by up to 50%!)

A subject line is like a first impression, make sure it’s a good one.

4. A/B Test

If you’re looking to try some new ideas with email marketing but are not sure how your subscribers will respond- A/B testing is your next step. Simply put, A/B testing is the process of sending multiple versions of an email out to clients and analyzing how they respond.

For example, to find out what embedded content is most successful for your subscribers, you could send out two separate emails:

  1. One using infographics.
  2. The other using a GIF.

If you receive more sales or traffic from one or the other, you’ll know what your subscribers prefer. A/B is often offered by professional services (like Net Atlantic) and can help your business create a clear path to success.

5. Use an Email Marketing Platform

Your options are endless when it comes to choosing an email marketing platform. Services like MailChimp, Constant Contact, and more have free programs where you can design creative and simple emails. However, their free versions leave a lot to be desired. Many need a knowledgeable partner who can support your business as it grows. With a platform like Net Atlantic, you’ll reach more customers, increase engagement, and generate more revenue.

With over 20 years in business, Net Atlantic takes your phone calls, discusses strategy with you, ensures great delivery, and gives you deep, insightful actionable reporting. A pioneer in email marketing, Net Atlantic provides the best combination of a great email campaign sending platform, personal technical support by phone email, and chat, and competitive pricing.

6. Hire a professional

If you’re reading these ideas and feeling overwhelmed, one of the best things you can do for your email marketing is to outsource! Working with an email marketing expert or digital marketing agency, like Bubbly Creative, who can help guide you to choose fonts, subject lines, gather your client list, learn what your subscribers respond to, and send out your emails, can be a big weight off of your shoulders. Why not free up your time to allow you to focus on what you do best?

Email marketing can be wildly impactful for your small business. But doing it well will take some time and effort to master. Don’t worry, Net Atlantic and Bubbly Creative have you covered. It’s time to make your small business pop!

Cara Chatellier is the Founder & Creative Director of Bubbly Creative in Salem, MA. Bubbly Creative specializes in making small businesses POP through digital and content marketing.

Top 3 Newsletter Advertising Networks to Monetize Your Email Newsletter

Posted by on in Email Marketing Best Practices

Make More Money with Your Emails by Including Selected Advertisers

Advertising Networks Defined

What are advertising networks? They are companies that act as an intermediary between publishers and advertisers to create a meaningful and profitable advertising experience. They connect publishers that want to sell space in their newsletter with advertisers who want to pay for the space.

Depending on your business model as a publishers of an email newsletter, advertising revenue can be a major source of your income.

The Opportunity for Increased Revenues from Your Newsletter

Ads in emails are used by many publishers who want to monetize their newsletter. Email advertising revenue can be bread and butter for lots of companies. If you’ve worked hard to increase your subscriber list with thousands of subscribers, this is a big opportunity to at least consider. Further, if your newsletter subscribers are an audience demographic that an advertiser would want to target, even better opportunities are possible.

Although you may be reluctant to do so, you can make good money from your newsletter by allowing advertising in your email newsletters. In fact, it may create a whole new revenue stream for you, a stream that may pleasantly surprise you with results.

Also, don’t forget that readers expect to see advertising. It’s part of life. We get many quality newsletters ourselves that have ads in them, and we feel that the reader experience is not negatively impacted, especially if the advertisement is relevant.

Some Guidelines and Standards to Aspire To

There are some standards that should be met to maximize the earning potential. First, you should have a large enough email list. This should be over 2,500 subscribers, but having more than 10,000 will really help your monetizing potential. Second, ideally your open and click through rates should be average or above average. This is important, as it determines how many people click on the ads in your newsletter, and how much money you will ultimately make. See if your industry is listed below and if your newsletter compares to the industry standards.

How to Get Advertisers for your Email Newsletter

So, how can I advertise in my email newsletter? These three vendors below are viable and reputable newsletter advertising networks to consider when selling advertisement space in your newsletter.

  1. Letterwell

Letterwell makes it easy to source various types of newsletters, reaching more targeted and niche audiences.

They have stringent background checks on their vendors, so the authenticity of newsletters’ engagement rates are truthful. Not just any newsletter can use Letterwell; everyone has to go through an application process. Their acceptance rate is 35%, which means only reliable newsletters are chosen. It has an easy to use dashboard for all users.

It is 100% free, unless you want to gain extra exposure and pay to move up in their search results. Letterwell is a reliable and easy-to-use platform for anyone. Start selling your space here.

2. LiveIntent

LiveIntent is another newsletter advertising network. They have 2000+ publishers and 290 million unique readers.

Actual LiveIntent users have said that the platform is easy to use and has helped them generate a large amount of revenue.

LiveIntent works with small and large companies, one being General Mills. They increased their email newsletter revenue by 26%. The LiveIntent team was able to work with the company and reformat their templates to increase premium bid rates and receive better engagement.

If your company wants a more personalized and hands-on company to work with, LiveIntent is your best bet.

3. BuySellAds

BuySellAds works with many different companies like Firefox, HGTV, and Roku. Their customers have seen an average of 15x increase in revenue, 38% increase in ad sales, and 45% lift in remnant earnings.

They connect email newsletters with top brands to make direct sales with their marketplace. You deal with the advertisers directly so you have a chance to see exactly what the ads look like.

As the publisher, it gives you financial control by allowing you to set the rates for your advertisement space. They also offer ad block recovery, where you can recapture your lost revenue due to ad blockers.

If you want more control over the ads being placed in your newsletter, BuySellAds is definitely the platform to use.

Resources

Letterwell: https://letterwell.co/

LiveIntent: https://www.liveintent.com/

BuySellAds: https://www.buysellads.com/

Net Atlantic: https://www.netatlantic.com/

How These Surefire Strategies Turned Around a Poorly Performing Newsletter

Posted by on in Email Marketing Best Practices

There are many challenges that come with improving delivery statistics.

As email marketers, we spend hours developing strategy, finding content, perfecting formatting, and eventually sending to our subscribers. We all know there is nothing more gut-wrenching than finding out the message wasn’t delivered to subscribers. This was occurring to one of our current clients before they came to Net Atlantic.

The Elijah List is an organization that gives trustworthy and daily prophetic worship and intercessory content to their followers. This organization sends about 50 million emails per month. A few years ago, while sending through their former email service provider (ESP), they noticed that their delivery statistics started to decline for their several hundred thousand subscribers.

Email deliverability is one of the biggest ongoing challenges for email marketers. Email deliverability asks a simple question, does my message get to the inbox?

The choice of an email service provider can directly affect deliverability. First, your ESP can affect how long mailings take. If you’re a company sending multiple emails a day, your morning email campaign might not even be completely sent before your afternoon send begins. Second, if your ESP’s server is shared with other client email, your list could suffer. If other clients of your ESP have a bad reputation or invalid email addresses, your list could suffer from low inboxing. Lastly, if the shared server was blacklisted by an Internet Service Provider, your mailings might not even be received at all.

There are many different ways to figure out Why Your Emails Are Not Going Into the Inbox. After signing up with Net Atlantic, our email delivery team was able to provide The Elijah List with a series of carefully executed recommendations to dramatically increase their inboxing.

Net Atlantic realized that these deliverability issues were based on multiple factors, including subject line text, server sending speeds, and message formatting. The first fix, that being increasing sending speed and capacity, was easily solved. Amazingly, our large number of servers and email sending volume allowed the ramp-up time to take only one week. The email delivery time was reduced from three hours at the former email service provider to just thirty minutes. After just a few sends, the Elijah List saw improved delivery rates, open rates, and conversions. Other fixes were also applied for improved results.

Deliverability is crucial. Successful deliverability leads to success in email marketing, increases and conversions, and helps win inbox competition with other competing email and newsletters. Working alongside with you, Net Atlantic gives you the tools and resources to continually monitor inboxing rates, activity, and engagement levels to better understand what a subscriber wants and then to tailor your email marketing to their wants and needs.

Read more about the Elijah List in this case study and subscribe to The Elijah List here.

Resources

The Elijah List: https://www.elijahlist.com/index.php

Net Atlantic, Inc: https://www.netatlantic.com/

Why Your Emails Are Not Going Into the Inbox: https://www.netatlantic.com/resources/articles/how-to-find-out-why-your-emails-are-not-going-into-the-inbox

26 Real Ways to Increase Engagement in Your Email Newsletter

Posted by on in Email Marketing Best Practices

By Alyssa Rice

One of the most important things that can happen when you send email is that your readers engage with your email.

What exactly is email engagement? It’s when your readers open your email, keep it open for a while, click on a link in your email, forward your email to a friend, reply to your email, drag your email from a promotions tab to their inbox tab, respond to a Call To Action (CTA), and other positive behaviors.

So how do you generate email subscriber engagement? How do I get a reader to complete a call to action (CTA)? Read on!

1) Craft a great email subject line

This is where your reader begins their journey. If you do not capture attention here, they will not even enter your email. Here’s a list of 164 eye-catching subject lines.

2) Leave a cliffhanger

This is our #1 tip, even though we have it listed as the second item on this list. Do not reveal everything in your email. One of the goals of increasing engagement is to receive more clicks. Start to tell a story, leave it on a cliffhanger, and add in a “read more” or “finish the story here” links to get the readers to your website or blog. If you put it all out there in an email, then what’s the incentive for a subscriber to click through to your website?

3) Tell a story

You want to tell a story in the most creative and unique way possible. Do this through tips, tricks, success stories, news, and more. Add in personal experiences that pertain to your business. Better yet, include your employees and photos of your employees. According to PixelFish, customers “may feel more comfortable reaching out when they think they know who will be answering their call”.
The take-away here is to make your message personal. That alone adds interest. And it increases engagement.

4) Create dynamic visuals

How unappealing is an email with solely words? Dynamic visuals, moving pictures, and more will catch the eyes of your readers and will lead them to click on your links. Nobody likes to just see a blob of words. Canva is a great free tool to easily create great looking graphics to use in emails and on web sites.

5) Segment email lists into specific groups for increased relevance

When users sign up for your email list, do you ask for anything specific? Categories like gender, age, geographic location, and more can divide customers into different target markets. You can split these users into segmented lists. Paying customers could be on one segment. Free trial customers prospects could be on another segment. Certainly your messaging to these two groups will likely be different. 
According to WordStream, click-throughs are 100.95% higher in segmented email campaigns than non-segmented email campaigns. The more you know, the more you can increase engagement.

6) Supply a conversation avenue and next step

You can create a “conversational avenue” with your clients. A conversation avenue is simply a way to empower your readers to continue the conversation. Many readers want to. You can ask them to comment on a blog, begin a discussion group, share their own story or experience, or plan to host a virtual Zoom meeting. This way, a more personalized relationship is made and will increase the chance of engagement. People like to have conversations, in whatever form that may take. Be open to expanding outward into new methods, platforms and technologies to enable conversations.

7) Include incentives

Create an incentive for engaging! Including a coupon or a free gift with an order is a great way to increase clicks.

8) Write about timely or breaking news and events

Everyone wants to be the first to know. People cannot resist clicking on late-breaking information. This can generate high engagement.

Check out the other 18 real tips on our Net Atlantic website.

How to Write a Great Newsletter

Posted by on in Email Marketing Best Practices

Writing a great newsletter is not for the faint of heart. There are many intricate details that will make or break your subscribers’ attention. Here is a list of must haves that you need to utilize:

1) Craft a hard-to-forget subject line

When you look at an email, what is the first thing you read? The subject line encapsulates the entire content of the newsletter. Draft a line that makes the email impossible not to open.

Here, you can see the use of offers.

2) Balanced content

Trust us, nobody wants to read a newsletter that is just selling business. To avoid people unsubscribing, balance your newsletter content between educational and promotional. Mix in a current event, and explain why your business can offer a product or service to help the current event.

3) Frequency

Create a specific day to be sending your newsletter. Nobody wants to read a newsletter sent twice a week. Choose one day a week or month to include all the information needed. Content is king and consistency is queen.

4) Maintain simplicity

Big blocks of text and long articles are not a sight for sore eye. Use subheadings, a bullet point list, bolded phrases, and shortened a paragraphs to create an easy to read newsletter.

5) Offer freebies

Who doesn’t love free swag? Offering a discount or a prize will catch their attention in this email and the rest of them. They will always be coming back to read your newsletter in case there are more deals on the way.

One of the most influential email marketing thought leaders is Writer, Speaker, and Digital Marketing pioneer Ann Handley. In this article, she discusses 17 short and sweet ideas on what makes for successful emails in 2020.

Sign up for our Net Atlantic newsletter here and receive exclusive tips, industry tricks, and maybe even some freebies!

Keep Marketing in Economic Tough Times

Posted by on in Email Marketing Best Practices

Many businesses have felt the financial impact of the closures and changes in 2020 due to COVID-19. Some companies have made the strategic decision to lessen their marketing budget. However, keeping your marketing consistent and on-track is crucial for the success of your business. Interactive marketing – especially email marketing – offers cost-effective options that can help your company survive and thrive, and be well-positioned for the return of better days.

If you stop advertising and marketing, you may inadvertently give your customers and prospects the impression that you’ve gone away or given up. Don’t set the stage for your competition to move in. Instead, move your dollars to more effective marketing channels that give you maximum return and results. And if your competition is pulling back, all the more reason to seize the opportunity to make your company more visible, and build awareness and relationships for the long term.

Research shows that companies that consistently advertise even during recessions perform better in the long run, according to a Knowledge@Wharton article titled “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Don’t Skimp on Their Ad Budgets.” A McGraw-Hill Research study looking at 600 companies from 1980 to 1985 found that those businesses which chose to maintain or raise their level of advertising expenditures during the 1981 – 1982 recession had significantly higher sales after the economy recovered. Companies that advertised aggressively during the recession had sales 256% higher than those that did not continue to advertise. Check out the article here.

Stopping your marketing efforts can also incur more costs in the future. Regaining your voice and share of the market will be a difficult task if your marketing efforts stop.

Another authority on the subject is veteran copywriter Craig Huey from Creative Direct Marketing Group, an accomplished California marketing company. Craig Huey, President of CDMG, has shared valuable insights on this issue on his website and in webinars. On March 19th, 2020, he wrote “…if you continue your marketing throughout the disruption, you’ll most likely be the one to emerge as the dominant player when normalcy returns to the world”.

Putting your marketing to a halt will only be a detriment to your brand and finances. In times like these, consumers are looking for trust. If you maintain success during troubling times, consumers will view your brand as trustworthy.