Nine Ways to Keep Up With Increased Inbox Competition in 2009

photo by Gaetan Lee

I've talked about how companies are increasing spending on email marketing during the recession and how email marketing is more relevant than ever in 2009, so this will lead us to another point to discuss about email marketing this year.

With so many companies planning on INCREASING their email marketing expenditures because of it's affordable pricing and ROI, that means there is going to be increased COMPETITION as well.

Are your email marketing campaigns ready to face the increased competition? Will your email list messages stand out from all the others in your customers inbox? Let's review a few questions that will help judge the potential of your email campaigns:

1. What do your emails offer that the competition does not?
2. Are you offering short term value, long term value or both?
3. Is everyone in your company on the same page about you email marketing?
4. Are your emails reflective of your brand image?
5. Are your email campaigns well targeted?
6. Are you sending too many emails?
7. Are you offering clear benefits to signing up?
8. When you have and exceptionally good or exceptionally bad campaign, are you taking the time to find out WHY?
9. Do your email marketing campaigns have clear objectives?

Ask yourself these questions, discuss them with your sales team and find ways to improve your campaigns for 2009 so you can stand out from those full email inboxes and keep your customers opening your offers.

Companies Love Email Marketing During Recession

photo by Sharat Ganapati

Even as the economic climate has a lot of people watching their budgets carefully, email marketing remains at the top of many marketers lists as a favorite method of ad spend.

The reason is simple: Email Marketing continues to show a consistent return on investment.

When times are tough and budgets need to get cut, the last thing you want to do is cut spending on marketing campaigns that continue to show a positive return on investment for every dollar spent. It's low cost, targeted and measurable effective. That's not the type of thing anyone needs to be cutting their budget on.

Companies are still seeing results from their in house email lists. Your in-house email lists are interested customers who are interested in what you have to offer and have signed up to learn more and receive the benefits your products and services have to offer.

29% of marketers are planning on increasing their spend on email list rentals. These are email lists put together by outside companies and segmented by demographics so they can be rented to other companies. This reverses a trend of recent years where budgets for rented lists have shrunk. The recession though is causing people to reexamine list rentals and to realize that used correctly they still generate a good ROI and can boost your sales in tough times.

Contact Orange Email Marketing for a free consultation about our email list rentals, bulk email broadcasting and email marketing software.

Explode Open Rates with "Front Loaded" Subject Lines

photo by Scott Robinson

So far in my posts about email marketing subject lines, we've talked about the importance of keeping your subject lines short, words that can trigger spam filters and being clear about the contents of an email. I'm going to return to the matter of subject line length and talk about how to maximize the short amount of space you have.

Testing shows that shorter email marketing subject lines have better open rates. Keep it short and simple. This gets your point across quickly and a short subject line has less of a chance of getting cut off in the recipients email program.

One of the main reasons this works is because then you can trim the fat from your subject down to the basic essentials. The person on your email lists can tell right away who it's from and whether or not it's worth opening.

To sweeten the deal, "Front Load" your email messages with the "trigger words" that are most likely to get that point across and get the open. Let them know what the benefit to opening your email will be, and let them know within the first three words. You can see how I applied that same theory to this email marketing blog post, with "Explode Open Rates". That's something that all email marketers want, right?

Get that point across QUICK! Let them know there's a BENEFIT they will receive for opening your email.

For more information and a free consultation, contact Orange Email Marketing, a full service email marketing company.

If You Want Them to Open It, Tell Them What's Inside

photo by Chelsea Oaks

So you want the people on you email marketing lists to open your email? Tell them what's inside!

Sounds easy right? Well it should be yes but lots of people manage to botch this by not being clear in the subject line. Let's take a look at a few poorly written subject lines that just don't make things clear.

"You have to have one!" - One what?
"Extremely important announcement" - Sure it is! Sounds spammy.
"This is so Easy" - What is so easy?
"Top Secret Just for You" - What's this about again?
"Special CD ROM Offer" - Ooooo, I feel special.
"We have the answer" - Did I even ask you a question?
"You asked for more..." - Did I? Did I really? What was it I asked about again?

These just don't make it clear why I should open them. They have answers to questions that I didn't ask. They have less chance of being opened.

How about "Introducing the new Product X"
"Important Product Announcement from Email Marketing Blowout"
"Product X makes cleanup so easy"
"Exclusive Information for Email Blowout Subscribers"
"Free CD ROM for Product X Customers"
"Answers to common questions about the new Product X"
"You asked for more information about Email Marketing Lists"

These do make the subject lines a little longer but they provide information. They give you an idea what's inside. They help inform who it's from and why you may be interested.

Just be clear. No trickery needed. No sales pitch necessary. If you're sending your monthly newsletter than say "Email Blowout Monthly Newsletter" so people no what they're getting.

It is simple after all.

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Visit Orange Email Marketing for more email marketing solutions.

Words to Keep Out of Your Email Subject Lines

photo by Danny Hope

We've talked about how you should keep your email subject lines short, now lets talk about some words that you should KEEP OUT of your email subject lines. We'll spend a lot of time talking about how to get people to open you emails (All about the SUBJECT and FROM) but you also have to worry about your emails getting there in the first place.

You don't want your emails to get marked as spam, filtered out, and never make it into the inbox. Email marketing has been abused so much that many spam filters have designated certain words as "too spammy".

You may have a great opt in email list of people who want your emails, but if you use the following words in your email subject lines, they will trigger spam filters and never get there.

Words that will trigger spam filters if used in the subject line

$$$
100% free
cash bonus
ad
apply now
Earn $
earn extra cash
explode your business
double your income
eliminate debt
extra income
f r e e
You're a Winner!
fast cash
financial freedom
financially independent
free gift
free info
free membership
free offer
home based
homebased business
income from home
increase sales
increase your sales
incredible deal
info you requested
information you requested
internet market
limited time offer
make $
opportunity
serious cash
web traffic
weight loss
online marketing

Some of these sound like spam - I'm looking at you, "You're a Winner!" but others you might not realize could send you email to the spam folder.

This list is by no means complete. Spam filters have lists that continually grow over time as those spammers try new words to slip by and eventually get caught. I also didn't include the really obvious ones: "Viagra", "Cialis", "penis" and "increase your length". There's really no good reason to us these and if you were planning on using these, well... you're already a spammer anyway :-)

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Contact Orange Email Marketing for a free consultation about email marketing, bulk email software, email lists and online marketing.

Email Marketing Subject Lines - Keep it Short and Sweet

photo by Angie Schwendemann

Email Subject Lines! I could talk a lot about their importance in email marketing because they're the most important part of your campaigns. Your email message and offer is extremely important but many recipients will never make it that far if you don't have a good email subject line. Today we'll discuss the optimum length of your subject line.

In the general sense, shorter subject lines are associated with better open rates for your email marketing campaigns. This is a widely excepted general rule and with some testing, you will see the shorter subject lines will usually beat longer subject lines.

Too long of a subject line is worthless because it will end up cut off and unseen by the recipient. The display length will vary depending on the email program being used but you will be limited to somewhere between 45 - 75 characters.

Take advantage of that limited space. Your message has got to be short and sweet, convey the intended message and most importantly, entice that buy email list recipient to open it.

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For full service email marketing solutions, contact Orange Email Marketing for a free consultation.

How Many Emails is Too Many?

photo by Gaetan Lee

You've got your targeted email list. You've got permission. You've got content that you're sure you list is going to love, and lots of it. How many marketing emails should you send? How frequently should you send them?

There's no simple answer. A lot of you decision will be based upon your target audience and their buying cycle. This will differ for every business and you should know your customers best.

You certainly need to send more than one message. In direct mailing and advertising, three impressions is considered optimal for generating a response. The goal is to get them to think of you enough so that when it's time to make a purchase they'll think of your company.

The key to having your email marketing messages is that every one of them needs to offer value and usefulness to the recipient. The more sales-y and pressure filled language in the email and the more likely it will be perceived as unwanted. Your audience might be responsive to a strong sales message though. Most don't want the hard sell. Again, it's best to know your customer and what they want.

So what's the optimal number of emails to send a month? It's all up to you. Or better yet, you could leave it to your customers and offer them personalized frequency options, (daily, weekly, monthly, as needed basis). Tailor it right to your audience and you'll get the best results.

Contact Orange Email Marketing for full service email marketing, email marketing software and internet marketing consulting.