Email Issues for Designers and Wholesalers - Part 1
SECTION B
For General Information on Email and Autoresponders, click HERE.
To help you keep up with changes,
click HERE to get to Updates.
Latest Update August 16, 2006
Getting Started with a Service
Both
AWeber
and
GetResponse
offer extensive information on how to use their services. I am
registered with
AWeber,
so it is the one I am becoming familiar with. Both companies have
EXCELLENT reputations, so I encourage you to look and compare!
AWeber
provides a pdf of their information, which I printed out so I
could have it handy.
GetResponse
provides their information as web pages, so I went ahead and printed each
one out.
AWeber
makes it easy to create a Sign Up form for your website. Take a
look here:
http://marketingedgeforyarnandthread.com/
The Sign Up form that AWeber provides ends right under the button the says
*Send Announcements!*. I added the addition text about the Opt-In
and Confirm and SPAM, myself.
Look for the *Web Form Wizard * on the first
page of the Customer Control Panel, once you have become a Customer.
This feature can be used to quickly and easily
create
several different types of forms:
In-line (form that's directly on your site)
Pop-up
Pop-under
Exit Pop-up
Pop-over/Hover (unblockable pop up windows)
It will also allow you to split test! I am
split testing between a generic message that says: *Sign up below to receive
a short email each time a new blog entry is posted: *
and one that says: *Sign up below to
receive a short email from Tink each time a new blog entry is
posted: *
I have marked the *Web Form Wizard * below with a RED arrow!
You can use the *Web Form Wizard * to create a Sign Up box to
start building your list. Have them sign up for your newsletter,
for announcements about specials, for free Techniques Tips, or a
free email class. The possibilities are endless and it is easy to
make your approach unique for YOUR company.
The important things are:
1) Start building your list... *the money is
in the list!*
2) Offer something of value... *Content is
King!*
3) This is an effective way to promote your
USP (Unique Selling Position) and an additional way to build your
brand. Your USP and Brand are very closely tied, especially in our
personality driven industries! (I will be going into more detail
about USPs later on.)
Learning to Use the Service
 Read the information provided by the Service
Sign up with your email and use it to
experiment while learning the ropes.
Take advantage of the support offered by
your Service
Ask questions here on the
Designers Forum! I
may or may not know the answers (I am learning all of this too!) but
I can sure GET the answers!
Strategies for Improving Your Sign Up Rate
A large percentage of your web site visitors
are likely to be untargeted. They may also be landing at your site
on a variety of different pages. Consider placing your Sign Up box
on multiple pages, for maximum effect.
Be sure and explain how the Opt-In and
Confirm process works, so they know to look for the confirmation
email and understand that they MUST click on the link in order to
complete the Sign Up process. (See Tink Tweaks below
for a cut and paste explanation that you are welcome to use.)
Achieving Long Term Success with Your List
Take the time to plan strategies to use this
technology to build your Brand and strengthen your USP.
Include this as part of your long range
Marketing and Planning (Remember we have a section of the Designers'
Forum expressly for this!) How to
Organize This!
Put a Folder on
your desktop or hard drive to keep all of the info/messages/whatever
related to your Autoresponder Service
Inside
that folder, create a different folder for each of your lists or autoresponder series. For instance, you may have a sign up for
Technique Tips. Each message in the series would be kept as a .txt
file in a Techniques Tips folder.
Create an email expressly to get messages
from your Autoresponder Service. This makes it very easy to keep
track of sign ups. A Problem We All WISH
We had! ;-) This was posted on a specialty forum I
belong to. The cut off at AWeber is a mailing list of 10,000 ... in
our dreams! Right? LOL Well, being a *Glass is Half Full* kinda
girl, I am going to post the solution!
Actually, depending on how many different lists you are running,
this actually could become an issue, so.... here is the solution!
*Quote*
A few months back. I noticed my AWeber account jumped to the next
payment level (an extra $9.95 per 10,000 leads after the first
10,000 leads which is $19.95), however my actual "Active" total was
less then 10,000.
Because your "unsubscribed" leads are still in the database, you are
charged for this list as well. So.... I deleted all my
"unsubscribed" leads and my payment went back down.
If you're not sure how to delete your "unsubscribe" list, here is
how:
Click on the listname that you wish to delete your
unsubscribed emails from then;
Click on leads then;
Where it reads Display a Stored View (should be near the top)
click the arrow down and go to Unsubscribed Leads then;
Click on Display View button situated directly to the right
of the same bar then;
Scroll down and you should see a list of your "unsubscribed" email
database. On the left, they should all be "ticked" with stop.
It will display around 100 to 200 per page (depending on how big
your database of unsubscribers is).
To delete, simply click on erase in the blue bar on the far
right, then scroll to the button and hit the button that reads
Save Changes & Update Leads List. This will delete all the email
addresses that have "unsubscribed" on that page. Then repeat for
however many more pages you have of "unsubscribed" leads.
*End Quote* Tink Tweaks:
The default text for the button says *Submit*. Online studies show
that a button with *Submit* has a lower response rate than other
text. I find that fascinating, don't you? Go figure!
I used *Send Announcements!*. (The exclamation mark has also
been shown to add to the response rate.)
It is easy to make this change when creating
the form.
Because our customer base may not be familiar with the Opt-In and
Confirm process, I added information explaining the process and inserted it below the button.
You are welcome to copy and use what I posted. I
added the following:
***
This sign up is an Opt-In and Confirm, so be sure and check your
email for the Confirmation, then click on the link within the email
to confirm. If you don't do this, you won't be added to the list!
You can easily cancel at any time, just click the Opt-out link
included in each email announcement.
Note: Your email address is kept strictly confidential and we
operate a Zero Spam Policy.
***
Feel free to cut and paste this and use it or a variation on your
site.
When creating a message in your
AWeber account, there is an
option to insert different personalization variables. These
variables
will allow you to insert information such as Full Name,
First Name, Last Name, Dates in various formats, any custom
field you create, geographical information and much more.
These variables put a personal touch in your messages that
help foster trust and retain relationships with your
subscribers. Here are some interesting statistics regarding the
personalization options: *Quote* Subject line personalization
using the date generated an
average open rate of 51.4% compared to personalization using
the subscriber's first name generating 40.9% open rate.
Newsletters sent without personalization of any type in the
subject line generated average open rates of 28.9%.
17% of newsletter subject lines sent in the last 30 days
contained date personalization while 19% used the subscriber's
first name. 56.3% of subject lines did not contain any type
of personalization. Interestingly, using the subscriber's
full name or last name generated lower average open rates
at 20%. *End Quote* Now before your eyeballs roll up into your
head (I know mine do when I have to look at statistics! LOL), here
on some thought how how to make this work for YOU! Add a custom
field you create, when you get folks to sigh up on your site. Ask
what type of needlework or quilting they prefer... then figure out a
way to work that into your subject line: Hi [first
name here], I know that you are wild about [favorite technique here]
Do you think that will get YOUR email opened? I do!
As you are first getting started with this idea of Autoresponders,
I am sure you will be paralyzed with indecision. I know that I was!
;-) Here are some hints for working past
the fear: 1) Any follow up message is
better than no follow up. 2) Start small
with 1 or 2 messages
and watch your results grow over time. The key is:
Start Now! Every day you delay is a lost marketing opportunity and
revenue. 3) The first step is figuring
out what to write, and I know
what you're saying...
"That's the problem, I don't know what to write."
But you do... Check your email program's sent folder and
go through some of the emails you have written to your stitchers. I bet there are at least several emails in
there where you answer questions. Questions that other people
have as well, or maybe you give them a tip. This can be
great content for a follow up sequence.
4) Just start with message number 1. This is your
Autoresponder message, the first message subscribers
receive immediately after they subscribe to your list.
Login and click on the "Messages" tab then click on
"Create Message 1".
Use this message to welcome new subscribers and thank
them for subscribing. Now, use some of that content we talked
about earlier and give them a tip or answer a question that
you think will be helpful and show them that this is type of
information you will be providing them now that they are
subscribed. 5) Click on Create Message
2.
Use the same technique we used to create the first message
but lets now answer another question or give them another
tip they can use.
It's that easy! In just 10 to 15 minutes you have inserted
your Autoresponder and created your first follow up message.
6) Once you start thinking in these terms, I am
sure that you will see all kinds of marketing opportunities and ways
to reach your list, building your brand AND your business at the same
time!
Important Notes and Updates
NOTE: Yahoo Services are often
unreliable. It sometimes takes hours or even up to 4 days to get a
confirmation email from yahoo. If you do not get one in 5 minutes,
resubmit on the previous page and enter a non yahoo email address you have
that you use frequently.
If you are seeing a lot of sign ups using Yahoo email addresses, you
might want to include a note about this in your Sign Up information.
GOLD Member Bonus
FREE 46 page eBook *Email Secrets Exposed*. This book was written by an
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Pop Over software, there is a LOT of useful information for us to
use. ;-)
Don't worry about buying his software, just read
the book for the ideas. I might try out the software later. If I do,
I'll be sure and report back on it!
Click HERE to Download *Email Secrets Exposed*
Enjoy!
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