Author Archives: Jodi Kaplan

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Which is the Best Email Service Provider?

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Image via Wikipedia

There are quite a lot of email service providers out there.  You can choose from AWeber, Emma, MailChimp, Constant Contact, etc.

But what should you look for?

And which is the best email service provider?

Or can you just use Outlook or Webmail (hey, those are free)?

Outlook

In the name of all that’s holy (or even not) don’t use Outlook. Please. Angels will weep. There are several problems with using Outlook as a messaging system.  The biggest is that it’s easy to send your message to everybody (with all the addresses showing), which is a violation of privacy and trust.  Secondly, any new names have to be added manually; so do any names you want to remove.  Thirdly, your personal mailbox is not a known or trusted email provider, and doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt that AWeber or another big name does when they send out emails.

Webmail

This has many of the same problems as Outlook. Plus, your web host may not allow you to send more than 100 emails in an hour. If you have a decent-sized list, it’s a problem.

Why you should use an email service

Delivery

You want a provider with a good record of actually delivering emails sent through their system. Your email doesn’t help you (or your readers) if they never receive it. Check on their delivery rates, and the systems they use to confirm delivery, use of security keys, and attempts to redeliver (if the first attempt fails).

Stats

What stats do they provide? You’ll want to know how many emails were delivered, how many bounced, and how many were opened (the tracking isn’t perfect, but will give you a rough idea). Can you see exactly who opened your message? You’ll want this so you can see if there’s a pattern, which messages or topics are most popular, or convert best.

Autoresponders

An autoresponder allows you to send out a series of messages automatically. This could be a course, a series of newsletters, a welcome message, or anything you like. You set it up and forget about it.

Customer Support

Look for lively forums, an in-depth FAQ or answer center, tutorials, and videos to help you get started. If you’re still stuck, you want a company with lots of live people to help on the phone, and with long hours (in case you’re not in the same time zone). I know many offer “live chat,” but I personally find it easier (and faster) to talk. It also leaves my hands free to open windows and type.

Database Download/Upload

They’re your names (and it’s your list). Look for an easy way to back it up and download it. Some ESPs let you upload your own names and add them. I personally think this is a bad idea (AWeber doesn’t allow it, MyEmma does), as it’s easy to abuse by signing people up without their permission.

Pricing

Pricing, is of course, important. Some charge a flat fee, others charge by volume (how many messages you send, how often you send them, or how big your list is).

AWeber
A one month $1 trial offer (affiliate link).  After that, it starts at $19 a month, but you can send as many emails as you like.

MyEmma
Charges by volume, but gives a 20% discount to non-profits.  Monthly fee for 1,000 emails starts at $30.

MailChimp
Free if you keep your list under 2,000 names, and agree to have their badge on every newsletter. Some of the functions and design options are also limited. Nonprofits and schools use this quite a bit for internal messages. If you want all the features (and no badge), it starts at $10 a month for 0-500 subscribers. but includes free simple surveys, and social sharing tools.

ConstantContact
Starts at $15 a month and has nonprofit discounts. For additional fees, you can add surveys, a stock image library, and a web-based email archive (to make your emails into web pages).

All offer price reductions if you pay in larger blocks (quarterly or yearly, rather than monthly).

Templates

Many providers have pre-designed templates you can use for your messages.

AWeber
Use one of their templates (they have over 150), or use your own. You can also create sign-up forms that match your newsletter layout.

MyEmma
Asks you to pay an upfront design fee (at three different price levels) to get a customized template. A good choice if you’re not a designer, or don’t have one on staff.

MailChimp
Templates that you can customize, or even download and work on in your own text editor.

ConstantContact
Add your own logo, colors, etc. to their existing templates. If you want something that’s one of a kind (truly custom), they will charge you for it.

You may use all of these features, or not, but print this out and keep it handy (or bookmark it) when you’re making a decision.

Have You Made This Common Web Writing Mistake?

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writing web copyHave you done this?  It’s a common web writing mistake, and something that many companies, both large and small, often get wrong.

It’s a mistake that’s easy to make, but it can be a disaster.  Doing it can drive readers away from your site, reduce sales, and lower the time visitors spend looking at your site.

Luckily, it’s something that is fairly easy to fix, once you realize you’re doing it.

The gobbledygook trap

Can your readers understand your site? Do they find what they need easily? Or does it need a translator?

I don’t mean Google translate, or even copy that’s in two languages, such as English and Spanish.  I mean translation from “geek” to English, or “designer” to English, or even “web developer” to English.

Can your customers understand your web site?

Here’s some sample copy from Microsoft’s web site (for Word, under the heading “Work Together More Successfully”)

If you work for a company running SharePoint Foundation 2010 this functionality can be used within the firewall. With Microsoft Lync and Office Communicator now integrated throughout several Office 2010 programs, you can view presence information that shows the availability of other authors and initiate instant messaging or voice calls directly from Word.

That paragraph is written in English. I haven’t the foggiest idea what the heck it means.  And I speak conversational geek.  It may make sense to the head of IT, but surely there are other people who use Word and would like to be able to collaborate with their colleagues and clients.

Simple, clear copy

On the other hand, here’s a sample from Apple’s site for Pages  (under “Advanced Writing Tools”):

When it’s time for comments and feedback, change tracking makes collaboration with anyone easier, clearer, and more concise. And it’s always easy to find your place. Next to your document, you see thumbnails of all your pages and sections, including changes that have been made. Quickly copy or delete a section. Or drag and drop to move sections around. Scroll through thumbnails to preview your document or enlarge them for a better view.

That’s English.  I can understand that.  No translation or IT degree needed.

How does your site measure up?

Is it closer to Microsoft? Or more like Apple? Does it talk a lot about pixels and HTML5? Is there lots of discussion about rendering or APIs?

More importantly, will your intended (or current) clients and prospects be able to understand it?  It’s OK to use a bit of jargon if you’re certain your audience knows exactly what you mean.  Otherwise, take it out.

The more friction there is, the more likely readers will leave, bounce, or click somewhere else.

Go over your copy, or get a professional to go over it for you.  See what a difference clear language makes.

Image via Wikipedia.

How Postcards Can Help Your Email Marketing

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What’s a postcard got to do with email anyway? You can’t send those things through the internet!

Postcards and email marketing may seem to have very little in common, but it turns out imitating a postcard can be a successful way to run an email campaign. Actual postcards can also be a great way to follow-up on an email campaign or website visit, but more on that later in the post.

Postcard-style emails get more clicks

If you’re not sure what that means, a postcard email looks like a postcard.  It’s landscape (meaning wider than it’s tall), and doesn’t have very much text.  Just your logo and address, a headline (or a salutation), a few lines of writing, and a signature.

Bacon photo by cyclonebill (Bacon) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Bacon photo by cyclone bill via Wikimedia Commons cc 2.0 sa

A newsletter style email looks more like a newspaper (portrait, or longer than it is wide), like a portrait of a person.

newsletter style email

It’s a lot more text-heavy, and it’s generally longer, and has fewer graphics.  Think The New York Times, but in pixels instead of print.

The postcard style is more effective in certain situations than the newsletter style.  The important thing is to tailor your text and design to your audience and their needs.

If they want a list of “top five backpacks for hiking” and a quick list is all they need to make a decision to buy one, then a postcard format is ideal.

If your sale (or offer) is something more complex, such as a design service, then you’ll need more time and space to explain the benefits.

According to Marketing Sherpa, one non-profit used the postcard technique for their year-end fundraising campaign. They sent a series of emails that looked like postcards, with a headline, a photo, and a few short sentences.  Then one link, leading to a donation page. It boosted their response by 50%

One-two punch: paper postcards and email marketing

Or, you can even use actual postcards.  Make it part of a two-step campaign.  First, mail a paper postcard to drive potential new users or existing users to your site for a special offer, a free analysis, or a report.  Then, ask them to enter their email addresses on your site, in order to get that offer. Once they’ve signed up, follow up electronically.

This is a also good way to build your email list (make sure you use double opt-in (signup plus confirmation). SInce many good rented lists don’t include email addresses, sending a  paper postcard can help you reach prospects you might otherwise miss.  And, since postcards are low cost, it won’t blow a big hole in your marketing budget.

A third (and brand new) option comes from PebblePost. They’re using using information from website visits to send a customized follow-up direct mail piece highlighting exactly the items that web visitors were looking at.

It’s currently only working for web visits, but they say it can be adapted for use with email too. It’s less intrusive than retargeting and following people around the web with your ads, but far more targeted and relevant than a generic mailing would be.

 

What Online Marketers Don’t Want You to Know About Direct Mail

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All Freelance Writing has a post today by Chris Bilbey asking, “Is direct marketing dead or alive?” Internet marketing is so big now, does direct mail still work?
Kaunas-Phone Booth
Chris decided to find out whether direct mail still worked.  He sent out 2,000 postcards to local businesses. It’s only been a couple of weeks, but he’s already gotten nine reply calls, six emails and three brand-new clients.

And, it’s still early.

Does direct mail work?

Yes, it does. It even sometimes sneaks into a phone booth, spins around really fast, and emerges (in a burst of light and pixels) as… internet marketing. Shhh, don’t tell.

Direct marketing is really internet marketing’s secret identity. It works the same way.  The principles are the same.  Find an audience.  Create products or services to help them.  Tell them about it.  Rinse and repeat. The only difference is that you’re writing a postcard that sells (instead of an email).

And direct mail won’t eat your computer.

Refine the results

Now that Chris has some data, he can review his results and refine future campaigns to get even better results.  Maybe he got a better response from a particular type of business. Or, his results might have been stronger from companies that are within 5 miles away.  Or, he might try a different headline.

Have you tested direct mail? Sent any postcards?  What happened?