Are you a happy email marketer?

Email marketing, in spite of all the skepticism attached to it, remains the marketing tool that fetches the maximum ROI. Sometimes playing by the rules gets you the desired results, but then driving the change and thinking out of the box can take you a long way.

Email marketing is an ever-evolving field. Keeping in touch with the changes is not an option but a necessity. However, email marketing can be sheer fun if you have the right mix of good data, dynamic email marketing software and effective pitches.

In spite of all the precautions you take, things can always go wrong.  But the best part is you can always learn from your mistakes. When you go wrong you need to change your strategy.

Here are a few pointers to keep in mind while dealing with issues that arise while you run an email campaign: 

  

Do not let spam give you sleepless nights

All you should do and can do is take necessary precautions against spamming. Beyond that it is not in your control. Ensure that you follow all rules to keep spam as low as possible

Bounce rate worrying you?

Managing this issue is very important. However, there is no need to panic. Get your mailing list appended or find out from your ISP why this is happening. A good data list will certainly help in lessening your bounce rate.

Get tech-savvy

Technical issues can pour water over all your efforts. All your days of work creating the right content and design go down the drain if there is no proper technical backing for it.  Not every one of us is tech savvy. But you can take the time out to learn about common errors that can spring up. These errors though small may be making a huge dent in your parameters. Little changes can make huge differences.

Let your creative juices flow

The right mix of text and visuals should do the trick. That way you have less chances of missing out on a particular kind of audience. Keep the subject line compelling.

Do not get carried away

Always remember to keep your mail relevant, concise and precise. An honest communication usually is more appealing and elicits response. Do not make lofty claims or proclamations. 

An email marketer has to learn to take all the trials and tribulations that come his way in the right spirit. Instead of giving up, you have to learn to manage the system to make it work for you. And it will!

Prepackaged Marketing Data specializes in database marketing. Along with making your emails relevant and readable it is vital to start off with the right database. Without the relevant database all your marketing efforts will go down the drain.To know more about our services, contact us for a consultation.

Email Campaign: Make the impossible possible

It is quite a challenge to make an email campaign successful. We are all quite aware of this. However it’s not an impossible task. Following are some tips to ensure that your emails are well received and opened:

 

Use a great subject line

Your subject line is the window to your mail, so make it very attractive. Be concise, to the point, and relevant. If you plan to send out same subject matter in multiple campaigns, create different subject lines that are similar to an extent but not exactly same. Your readers won’t open an email if they think they are getting the same email again, so avoid using the word ‘reminder’.            

Be Concise & Precise

Your readers are busy people and do not have the time or inclination to read long-winded emails, just like you. They don’t want to sit for hours to read your mail. Therefore, keep your mail interesting short and to the point.      

Let your website and social media speak for you

Make your website look professional, keep on updating it with great content. Create a campaign that has useful information and links to your website and social media. Similarly, your social media should contain links to your website; and all of these communications should create a channel of conversation between you and your market.

Prepackaged Marketing Data strives to make your email marketing effort a success. Contact us to learn more. 

Plan for your Email Marketing Success

Great news! The 80 year-old ban on general solicitation finally ends. Thanks to the JOBS Act! Now, companies can solicit investors and advertise that they’re raising capital legally. You will not be breaking the law if you seek funding or advertise your shares openly. What a welcome change! This will definitely help growing businesses in a big way by giving them the freedom to seek financing. A big boost to entrepreneurship indeed!

Just as we need the right conditions to make a business flourish, the same applies to having your email marketing efforts succeed. Getting your strategy right along with the right investment is essential. Before you begin an email campaign, proper planning is pertinent. Here are a few quick points to keep in mind:

• The content should be of real interest and value to your audience
• The design of the email is very important
• Have a clear and defined purpose
• Send mails according to the convenient time of your recipients, not yours
• Know your target audience and plan accordingly
• Go for list segmentation to make the message more specific and targeted
• Seek professional help for design and copy if you lack expertise
• Procure resources to implement and track an email marketing campaign
• Do not forget to test, test and test your email thoroughly before sending it to clients

Prepackaged Marketing Data strives to make your email marketing effort a success. Contact us to learn more. 

Smart Marketing during uncertain times

The day definitely didn't begin on a high note for the US investors. The US Federal Reserve has refused to commit to reducing bond purchases this year, saying it is still concerned about the sluggishness of the economy. As a result, the US dollar fell to a seven-month low against major currencies and the price of gold rose more than 4 per cent. The economic growth forecast for the year 2014 remains quite low. However, 2015 is expected to witness a steep hike.

In the given scenario, marketers have to take measured steps to make their businesses succeed in such hostile environment. The first thing most businesses do is to cut down their marketing budget. However, that’s not such a good idea. Studies have shown that in previous economic slowdowns businesses that continued to invest in marketing saw growth in their businesses, while those that pull their budgets saw a decrease in sales.

There are low-cost and even no-cost ways to market your business during these tough financial times. Email marketing is one such way. It is a very cost-effective way of reaching out to your market and if done well, it can pay huge dividends. The investment in this form of marketing is minimal; however to ensure maximum output out of it it is always recommended to go in for a well-defined and relevant prepackaged list. And, this is definitely a low expenditure that can get high returns.This is as smart and as efficient as you can get during an economic slowdown.

Prepackaged Marketing Data strives to make your email marketing effort a success. Contact us to learn more. 

Why buying email lists is a great idea

Some argue that purchasing email lists can mean disaster for your business and give very vague reasons to justify this declaration. Nothing could be further away from the truth.

The truth is that you need people to email, and you need them quickly. And there are people out there working for this requirement of yours for years. These are people who have made procuring these lists their business. So, just consider this, what will be better for your business – an in-house list made up in less time in an unprofessional manner or a list prepared by experts who are specialized in getting data exclusive and specific to an industry or a requirement?

Moreover, money matters! There is no denying the fact that buying a list is pretty cheaper than investing in an in-house team to collect data. And the mindset that 'costlier the better' is not really very smart thinking.

Marketers selling Data also know that squeaky-clean and effective ways to build email lists is the only way to stay on and succeed in the increasingly competitive market. They cannot afford to sell you bad data. This would mean doom to their business as well as yours.

We, at Prepackaged Marketing Data, have been in the business for years and take immense pride in having a loyal and ever-growing clientele. This is because we are a company led by a strong conviction in the importance of opt-in lists. In this age of information overload and cluttered inboxes, sending unsolicited mails can mean the end of the road for your business and our's also. We work towards earning the interest and trust of your contacts because they think you have something valuable and helpful to say.

Do you want to know more about the data solutions we provide? Do contact us for a free consultation.

Let the Subject Line reel in readers

Shockingly, according to Forrester, by 2014 marketers will spend about $144 million on email messages which will never reach the recipients at all!

Why is this the case? Is email marketing such a hard nut to crack?

Unfortunately, a staggering number of emails end up in the spam folder. And a good amount of mails that does reach the ultimate destination – the inbox of the recipient – remains unopened. This is because most recipients are very choosy about the mails they open from their overcrowded and cluttered mailbox. In a given scenario like this it becomes pertinent to make your mail stand out in the sea of wanted and unwanted mails.

Personalization of your emails can make a huge difference. And the subject line of your mail plays a crucial role in this. The subject line is the face of the mail. It should draw the reader in. It should somehow influence the recipient to open the mail. To make the subject line effective it is necessary to understand your subscribers, and their needs and concerns.

Keep your subject line simple. This is crucial, in fact, the shorter the better. Make sure it is to the point and jargon-free. Do not try to make it flowery; avoid quotes, numbers and figures. It goes without saying that spam words are a strict no-no. The only purpose of a subject line is to achieve an open. Do your best to ensure that. A subject line with catchy or clever wording could grab your reader’s attention, which ultimately means getting your email opened and read.

In short, do not underestimate the power of a good subject line.

Prepackaged Marketing Data strives to make your email marketing effort a success. Contact us to learn more. 

Email Design: Do not ignore 'From Address'

When we talk about email marketing, we usually focus on the content, especially the Call to Action. However there is more to an email than an effective call to action.

Designing an awesome email can be so much fun and rewarding. The design of an email campaign can elicit too many discussions and arguments in the team. Everyone has an opinion on what exactly should the email be about and how it should look. The design is influenced by factors like your company style guide, your company’s ‘personality’ and the perception of the person doing the design. Although all these factors guide the basic design, there are some essential design principles that are followed to ensure that your email design is both attractive and functional. 

One of these principles that is most often not given much importance or thought is the ‘From Name and Address’.

It is vital that you choose a regular ‘from address and from name’ to use for your emails. This should usually be your name and/or your organization’s name. This will ensure that these details become familiar to readers so that they immediately identify the email relevance and ideally add you to their address book. Prospects would opt not to open or read mails from unfamiliar senders. All your efforts would go down the drain if that happens. Do not make the mistake of underestimating the relevance of maintaining a consistent and proper from address and name. 
Always ensure that you have got the from address right.

Talk to our consultants to know more about effective email designs. 

Deliver right message at the right time to receive high returns

You live in times when you are bombarded with more information than you need or seek. Naturally, you ignore messages that are irrelevant, unhelpful or just plain boring. The same goes for your prospects. They tune out messages that do not serve their purpose. There are very high chances that your message might get lost in the cluttered inbox of the receiver.

In the given scenario, it becomes pertinent to deliver the right message at the right time. You have to ensure that your mail gets noticed, opened and also results in conversions. To meet this end, the key is to send targeted, relevant and engaging messages when the buyer is ready to take action. Expand your behavioral knowledge base, shape your content and leverage timing to deliver the ideal message at the perfect moment.

Here are some tips that will help you provide the content your customers are looking for:

• Garner user preferences via surveys, forms and progressive profiling
• Measure and monitor user behaviors
• Humanize your marketing content
• Build dynamic content into your messages
• Send triggered messages throughout the relationship
• Send when contacts are most likely to be in their inboxes

Looking for more tips to make your email marketing a success? Let the experts assist you

Email Marketing: Get close and personal

I spoke about creating a personal relationship with your subscriber in my previous post. Did it cross your mind that it is easier said than done? I agree it is not easy but definitely achievable.

A personal message appeals to the emotions, which invariably leads to action. So the importance of personalizing your message is huge. Though attaining this goal may seem difficult.

Everyone knows that it is possible to send effective personal messages if the number of recipients is less. But when you have to send mails to your whole customer database, personalization becomes a humongous task.  Most often, many marketers opt for a generic blast which is a sheer waste of time and effort. Impersonal and undifferentiated message will only elicit cold response from your customers.

   

A personalized one‐to‐one message sent thoughtfully to each of your prospects will get you awesome results. Though this is the most effective kind of email marketing campaign, it seems like an unattainable target. However, the picture is not so bleak. A marketing automation tool can help you with this.  

A marketing automation tool will make it easier than ever to customize your content to make emails more upfront and personal. Depending on demographics or market verticals, marketing automation will allow you to tailor unique customized messages to your prospects. The message templates offered by marketing automation platforms contain fields which represent values or recipient attributes that can be tailored to fit specific marketing goals. These fields can be used for personal greetings, reference to specific purchases, and similar variables.

Opt for a free consultation to learn more. 

Do you know the objective of your email campaign?

It is true that blogging and social media are attaining increasing prominence in B2B marketing. But that does not in any way mean that email marketing is losing out in the race. It remains an important and cost-effective solution to drive lead generation efforts and build long-lasting relationships with clients. A well-crafted marketing email can initiate sales conversation with valuable leads and also help you stay connected to your clients. So no marketer ever underestimates the value of email marketing.

The first thing to keep in mind while starting an email marketing strategy is to define the objectives of the whole exercise. This is the most important activity. Being very clear about what you want to accomplish through your email marketing campaign is very crucial in order to achieve success.

Being aware of your strengths and weaknesses is vital. If you have just started out, experimenting with email marketing, it is best to keep it simple. Give yourself a primary objective and build from there. Trying to do too much with a limited number of contacts runs the risk of abusing your list and turning off prospects before you even have a chance to win them over.

Define your objectives. What do you want to get out of your campaign?

Do you want to inform and educate your audience?

Do you want to introduce your offerings or enhance your brand and reputation?

Do you want more leads?

Do you want to renew relationships with existing clients?

Do you want more sales?

Each of these objectives can be met using the right type of email marketing. Once you have your primary objective determined, you can easily select which email marketing message will best fit your needs.

With the right email marketing tools in place, you can build a comprehensive email marketing strategy capable of achieving a variety of objectives.

Now that the objective is decided, next what? We will help you with that. Contact us for a free consultation. 

Yes, you need Social Data!

We know right data is the foundation for an effective email marketing campaign. We also know that personalization is necessary to ensure good open and click through rates. Here is where social data comes into the picture. Impactful email marketing is not possible without social data.

Social data helps in audience segmentation, which is a crucial requirement for email marketing. The days of mass emailing are over. Social data helps in segmenting the audience into groups based on their tastes, preferences, backgrounds, networks etc. Audiences are never the same, so the same message for all is definitely not going to get you desired results. When you have so much personal information about your audience, you can list them into groups and send them emails or messages customized as per the attributes of the individual groups. You can tailor the email subject line and message keeping in mind the user’s profile. Social data improves the targeting, personalization and performance of all your email marketing efforts.

Crafting right messages to the right audiences is sure to attract more eyeballs to your email content. This means delivering email content that's so relevant to your subscribers' backgrounds, interests, and lifestyles that they're inclined to single it out among the heaps of other messages and actually read it.

Let us know if you are facing difficulty finding relevant data and learn more about how social data can drive email marketing performance and improve the targeting & personalization of all of your Marketing efforts.

Email Marketing Stats 2013

We all know that email marketing is the most preferred internet marketing tool of marketers. Here are some email marketing related statistics (source-salesforce.com) that I think will help you see why:

• 44% of email recipients made at least one purchase last year based on a promotional email. (Convinceandconvert.com)
• Roughly half of an email list will be active – either opening or clicking on emails. (Epsilon)
• 7 in 10 people say they made use of a coupon or discount from a marketing email in the prior week. (2012 Blue Kangaroo Study)
• 39% of marketers have no strategy for mobile email. (eConsultancy  2012 Email Marketing industry Census)
• 72% of B2B buyers are most likely to share useful content via email. (Earnest Agency)
• 56% of businesses say they plan to increase their use of email marketing in 2013. (The Small and Midsize Business Email Marketing Survey 2013)
• Monday emails had the highest revenue per email. (Experian 2012 Q4 Email Benchmark Report)
• 27% of consumers were more likely to say their favorite companies should invest in more email. (ExactTarget)
• 1 in 2 marketers use animated gifs in their email campaigns. (Experian Email Market Study)
• This year, about 84% of all email traffic will be spam. (The Radicati Group)
• Email ad revenue reached $156 million in 2012. (Interactive Advertising Bureau)
• Emails that include social sharing buttons have a 158% higher click-through rate. (GetResponse)
• Email marketing spend grows 10% year over year. (Forrester 2011)
• 40% of B2B marketers rated the leads generated by email marketing as high quality. (Software Advice Survey)
• For every $1 spent, $44.25 is the average return on emailmarketing investment. (Experian)

We can help make your email marketing rock!