Blue Tent Blog » Email Marketing

Grow Your Email List With Facebook

ryan — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:47:36 +0000

What better way to combine email marketing and social media than to add an email opt-in form to your company’s Facebook page? It’s an easy and effective way to grow your email list by allowing your fans to join your email list directly through Facebook. This allows you to capture the email addresses of key prospects that have already shown interest in your company or brand.

We’ve recently added it to our own Facebook page, so check it out. If you don’t already receive the Blue Tent eBulletin, please take a moment to subscribe, and while you’re there, be sure to “like” us!

Before you get started I recommend creating a separate mailing list to store only Facebook opt-ins. This allows you to track any conversions obtained through your Facebook page, and will also allow you to communicate with your Facebook subscribers apart from your main list. You’ll also need your HTML form code, so create your opt-in form beforehand.

1. The first step is to install the Static FBML application to your Facebook Account. On the left side of the Static FBML page, click “Add to my Page”.

From the popup window, choose the page you would like to add the form to and click “Add to Page”.

2. Now go back to your Facebook page and click on the “Edit Page” link. Then scroll down to find the FBML application. Click the “Edit” link.

You should see a box pop up that lets you set a title and enter FBML. Enter your title – Email Updates, Newsletter Sign Up or something similar. The FBML box is actually where you paste your HTML form code. Try not to use the and tags, so you can format tables, paragraphs, etc – but avoid those few tags. Once this is done hit “Save Changes”.

3. Almost done! Now go back into the edit menu and select the option “Application Settings”. Here you can set up your widget either as a box or a tab on your Facebook page. To add it as a tab, just click “Add”.

And that’s all there is to it. Check your Facebook homepage to view the active tab. Now any visitor can become a subscriber to your email campaign.

Don’t forget to create a custom thank you page so the user is redirected after they sign up. You should also include an auto-triggered welcome message thanking your new subscriber for joining and providing any additional details about your email program. To read more about why having a welcome program is so important, check out our previous blog post Email Marketing: First Impressions Matter.

If this is something you may be interested in please contact your Email Project Manager directly or contact us.

- Mehri Movassaghpour
Email Project Manager

Blue Tent Wins Healthcare Marketing Report Gold!

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 22:21:56 +0000

We’re always stoked when the accolades roll in. Whether it’s from one of our award winning email campaigns, or from the 27th Annual Healthcare Advertising Awards, who just gave us a Gold Award for the innovative internal patient’s blog we created for University Health System, we’re honored to be mentioned among the leading new media marketing agencies.

Due to patient confidentiality we can’t link to the internal blog, but check out the other winners at Healthcare Marketing Report’s site.

Clearing the Deadwood

ryan — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:33:16 +0000

30 – 60% of your email list is inactive. This group hasn’t opened or clicked on any of your emails in 6 months to a year. Sounds crazy, weird and just plain wrong right!?

This number sounds staggeringly high however it’s a common place in all email lists. Many factors are at play here: email address changes, people are disinterested in what’s being presented or perhaps they aren’t even being delivered to their inbox.

While it sounds down right stilly to remove emails from an email marketing list, cutting ties with these emails is best for all parties considered. These email addresses are obviously not interested in what your sending them so why spend the money continually flooding their inbox’s with emails.

Internet Service Provider (ISP) relationships is another huge reason we need to say goodbye to these inactive emails. Say an email address changes and is no longer active. The former recipient knows this email is no good, even the ISP’s know this email address is no longer valid…but you don’t. While you are constantly sending them emails hoping they will sooner or later open one, the ISP’s pick up on this. Since you aren’t following best practices by removing them, they just assume you’re a spammer. This in turn hurts your sender score which can make it hard to get emails to the inbox’s to those who are interested in your company. Going through your list once a year and removing the deadwood is key!

After clearing the deadwood, cost per emails is down, results are up

One of our clients, the Breckenridge Resort Chamber, is a great example of how "clearing the deadwood" can be effective. Upon inspection we realized that they had 22K inactive emails. These folks had neither opened or clicked on an email is close to a year. We sent all the 22K an email trying to re-engage them in the campaign. This email was a simple ePostcard with 3 easy options. They could either click the "stay on the list" link, click the "please remove me from the list" link or take no action and be removed. Making this a pain-free process that required no additional information is the best way to try to reel in those unengaged people. From that email we were able to re-engage 3.5% of that list (that may seem like a small number but when your dealing with that many inactive emails it comes out to be almost 1,000 people). In the end we removed around 20K worth of uninterested email addresses. Its only been a short time since the deadwood was cleared but we are already seeing a large improvement in their stats. Breckenridge’s previously mediocre stats have already seen a 10% increase in terms of open rates. They’re paying less to send out each email campaign and their results have improved.

While list attrition is something that can’t be avoided, there are some easy steps we can take to keep those inactive’s at a minimum.

Have a simple opt-in form. Let the subscriber know exactly what to expect through your emails and how often to expect it. Allowing them to chose how often they will receive emails is a great way to cut down on over-sending.
After the opt-in form, send them to a landing page confirming their subscription.
Send an immediate welcome message to their inbox. Sending a branded email welcoming them to the program right away is a great way to start the relationship on a good note.
Send relevant content. Sending relevant, segmented emails that contain value is a great way to retain your customer’s focus. A good portion of your list at one point was interested in what you had to offer. If you’re not sending them relevant information they’re going to check out. If they don’t unsubscribe they will "emotionally unsubscribe" where they’ll still receive you emails but will immediately hit the delete button without thinking twice of
opening.
Preference center. Have an preference center where the user can update their email address and allow them to change their sending frequency and type of content received.
Email Authentication. Authenticating emails isn’t a 100% guarantee your email with make it to the inbox but its the best step to ensure it won’t be blocked by the ISP’s.
Only send to those who opt-in to your program. While it is enticing to send emails to every address you can get your hand on, a healthy program only sends to confirmed opt-ins.

While these steps are easy to put in the place, they are critical in keeping your email subscribers engaged.

contact your email account manager to dig into your "Most Active User Report" and start clearing the deadwood today.

Eric Taylor
Email Project Manager

Gmail Image Rendering Issue

ryan — Tue, 25 May 2010 17:52:26 +0000

Normally, we find ourselves worrying over Microsoft Outlook using “Word” to render HTML emails correctly, but over the last few weeks we’ve been busy updating our clients’ email templates for Gmail. With their latest webmail update, Gmail caught the email marketing industry by surprise. We’ve noticed problems with the rendering of emails from large companies like REI (see the example at right), and even with some professional ESP’s emails such as Lyris. Here’s a quick breakdown of the email rendering issue, and how to resolve it.

What’s the Problem?
The problem lies in the way that Gmail (and Hotmail) renders images in any HTML email. You might have noticed a few pixels of horizontal space being added under every image– an issue that is very noticeable with emails that are very image heavy. You’ll also notice it with images in a table cell that has a different background color.

What’s the Fix?
Simply add ( style=”display:block” ) to the tag! But how? Of course, it’s best practice to style everything with in-line. So unfortunately, this has to be applied to every image. Below is an example of how it will look in the HTML code when applied to an image tag. If you’re working in a HTML editor like Dreamweaver, it can align the image a little funny but when you preview it the image is aligned correctly.

Example:

We’ll be assisting our email marketing clients that run their own email marketing programs with pre-built templates that cannot implement the fix on their own. For those using a “Do it Yourself” platform like Constant Contact or Vertical Response, be sure to test thoroughly and ask for assistance if needed. Otherwsie, if you have questions or would to discuss email marketing solutions for your company or organization, please don’t hesitate to contact us today.

- Ryan Austin
Director of Email Marketing

Email Marketing: First Impressions Matter

ryan — Mon, 10 May 2010 20:48:34 +0000

In the world of email marketing, first impressions matter. Each and every day our inboxes are overflowing with email and we’re quickly sizing up which messages to scan, read, and interact with and which ones to delete, mark as spam, or unsubscribe from. You’ve got to make sure your email marketing program consistently delivers value and treats your subscribers as VIPs–right from the outset.

When was the last time you evaluated the effectiveness of your email opt-in process? Analyzing the effectiveness of your email opt-in process is one of the best ways to improve the ROI of your email marketing program. As every site visitor is a potential new subscriber showing interest and engagement in your organization, it’s imperative that you create a great first impression before you even send a single email.

Anatomy of the Opt-in Process

Step 1: Ask for permission. Make it easy to subscribe to your email list. Be sure that a “quick subscribe” form or opt-in link is easy to find and accessible from every page of your website.

Step 2: Keep it simple. On your opt-in form, only ask for information that you must have. You can always ask for more information later. Don’t lose out on new subscribers because you’re asking for too much information. Remember, it’s early in the relationship.

Step 3: Reassure your newfound friend. Create a unique subscription confirmation landing page. Say thank-you. Ask your new subscriber to add the reply-to email address to be used in your email campaigns to their address book or safe senders list. This can be the difference between landing directly in the inbox with all images loaded versus landing in the junk folder. You may also want to use this page to ask for additional optional demographic/interest/segmentation/frequency preferences information. It’s also a good time to remind your new subscriber of your privacy policy.

Step 4: Make a good first impression with your welcome message.

The Welcome Message

An auto-triggered welcome message is the most important email to send a new subscriber. It’s a great way to instantly greet them when they are most engaged. It’s about building trust, improving email delivery rates, and establishing your email reputation. Studies show that recipients engaged through a welcome program have a 40% higher open rate than those who haven’t received a welcome email. In addition, a welcome email can significantly increase customer satisfaction, decrease unsubscribes, and increase ROI.

A personalized welcome message thanks your new subscriber for joining and provides any additional relevant information about your email program. The best welome messages offer a clear call-to-action with an incentive that’s relevant to the subscriber’s reason for joining the mailing list. For example, if you’re a vacation rental company, offer a limited-time new subscriber special for 10% off of any new reservation.

Don’t Foget About Analytics

As the saying goes, “if you’re not measuring, you’re not marketing.” A key component to any professional opt-in process and welcome message is analytics. Be sure to tag all links within your welcome message with the proper Google Analytics campaign tracking code. And keep an eye on the conversion rate on your opt-in page as well as the number of new subscribers versus unsubscribes each month. Since “list churn” is an inevitable part of any email marketing program, it’s important to keep your list of subscribers active, engaged and growing.

Real Return on Investment for Search Engine Optimization and Email Marketing

sam — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 21:41:45 +0000

Gift basket material? I’d say so.

Ever wonder what it looks like when a plan comes together with an aggressive Search Engine Optimization campaign and a killer Email Marketing Campaign? Well, if you have Google Analytics tied in properly, it looks just like this.

Skills to pay your web marketing bills…

•   We implemented an aggressive setup and began a recurring custom SEO program December 11-ish. See above.
•   Note* this is non-paid search traffic from Google only.
•   That increase, in that amount of time, is absolutely ridiculous.
•   If your site has been in the dark (SEO wise) for a long time, these are the immediate results you can see with the proper help.

Killing it with Email Marketing…

•   In 9 months we made 7 sends.
•   That equated to $77,370.49 in online bookings alone – That obviously DOES NOT include people that got it, went to the site, then called and booked. We have those stats in another report, but let’s stay focused on online bookings for now.
•   Cost for that particular Email Marketing Campaign is $15k-ish over 12 months, including utilizing our ACE program. Again, we have only sent 7 times and these booking numbers do not reflect the ROI for 12 full months. Looking back, those 2 missed sends hurt, ouch. Consistency is key, and would have made these ROI numbers look even better.
•   Let’s do the math – that is over 500% return on investment………so far.

Congrats to the SEM and Email teams for a solid performance.

Managed Email Marketing Expertise

ryan — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:07:01 +0000

Email marketing is consistently reported as one of the best-performing channels available in your digital marketing arsenal. It’s critical to know how important email marketing is to your business, and most importantly, to understand the R.O.I. of your current email marketing program. We regularly engage our email marketing clients in a Comprehensive Account Review in order to optimize the overall effectiveness of their email marketing campaigns. By investing in four to six hours of time, you’ll better understand annual trends, analyze key findings from campaign reports, gain better understanding of current best practices, and identify action items to address areas that need improvement.

We follow a detailed five-step process to evaluate and ultimately improve your email marketing program:

Phase One: Identify Annual Trends

Analyze your opt-in and unsubscribe numbers and processes.
Identify conversion tracking methods and measurement.
Analyze Google Analytics trends and visitor behavior.
Identify your most active and inactive subscribers.

Phase Two: Review Campaign Reports

Review the performance of email campaign reports over the past 12 months.
Identify best and worst performing campaigns, subject lines, creative and calls to action.
Review and enable monthly subscriber and unsubscriber reports.

Phase Three: Email Best Practices

Review deliverability stats and email authentication process.
Analyze sharing functionality and effectiveness. Share with your network (SWYN) and Forward to a Friend integration.
Review online and mobile versions.
Review the opt-in and unsubscribe process, and email preference administration center.
Review templates and creative.
Review advanced email marketing techniques (segmentation & trigger messages).

Phase Four: Getting the most out of your Email Project Manager

Identify how you would benefit the most from working with your email project manager.
Consider strategic consulting time, and set a campaign schedule with notifications and reminder messages.
Establish a regular schedule for reviewing reports and campaign performance.
Consider taking on more testing to achieve better results.

Phase Five: The Action Plan

Create an action plan to tackle the most important aspects of your email marketing program that need attention and improvement.

Each and every email marketing program is highly-valued and important to us. Taking the time for a comprehensive account review is just one way we’re making sure that your email marketing program is a success. Contact us today to get started and the results will speak for themselves.

– Ryan Austin
Director of Email Marketing

Consistency, Relevancy & Value = High Email ROI

ryan — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:11:39 +0000

In the financially troubled year of 2009, there were some interesting things we saw happen in the email marketing world. The importance of email authentication continued to grow, as did increasing the reach of your email campaigns through the ever-growing social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. But one of our clients in the medical education field showed us that taking a simple, disciplined approach to their email program by staying consistent and relevant produced extraordinary ROI. The annual cost of their email marketing program was $4,200, and it produced a trackable $219,500 in revenue from direct online bookings (and that doesn’t include any enrollments made over the phone)!

Our client didn’t do anything extraordinary to achieve such an astounding ROI – they simply gave their subscribers the opportunity to choose the type of course information they were interested in receiving and then delivered that information on a consistent schedule. They created a targeted opt-in process which they then used to segment by “medical fields” for each send. They also stayed on a strict schedule of the third Thursday of each month with October and November as exceptions by doing two sends during the pre-holiday busy period.

Their content and creative was trimmed down from a lengthy newsletter to a single focus postcard style keeping it super relevant to what their audience was asking for. Their call to action was a simple discount with an expiration date associated with it. They kept the copy simple and gave direct links to the courses that were being discounted for that month. The site offered a direct way to enroll from the site and they also provided a toll free number for inquires in the email. Next, we’ll be proposing to use a unique 800 number so that we can tie those phone orders back to the email program as well.

Tracking the campaign was important not only to show the value of the campaign but also to for the client to know what courses where of most interest. All the links were tagged with Google Analytics and had eComerrce incorporated which was the main tracking tool but we also used a tool called “action tracking”. Check out the GA stats from the entire year of 2009. One major stat to notice is that even though the year campaign was responsible for only 2.95% of all site visits, it was accountable for 11.95% of all revenue produced.

Overall the client taught us that staying simple and relevant plays a big part in every email campaign. Display a clear call to action and always track every interaction from the campaign – and the results will often take care of themselves.

– Ryan Austin
Director of Email Marketing

Holiday Contributions for the Greater Good

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:58:58 +0000

This year’s “Give a Little, Win a Lot” holiday campaign has confirmed our suspicions: We really do work with some of the most amazing companies as well as some pretty remarkable people. We’re so excited to see how our clients and prospects have resolved to contribute to the greater the good this holiday season. Here’s a sneak peek at just a few of the “contribution responses” we’ve received so far in response to our holiday campaign:

From The Lachicotte Company:

We have continued to participate in Toys for Tots and turned in donations from our company agents and staff to children who will enjoy toys for Christmas this year due to these gifts given in love. Also, our Christmas cards to vendors and business associates let them know about donations in their honor given to two local community ministries of which our staff and agents are a part in helping throughout the year: Father Pat’s Lunch Kitchen and Pawleys Island Presbyterian Bread of Life Ministries. We are glad to give back to our area throughout the year and take this time to say Merry Christmas to all!

From Baby Decorator:

Baby Decorator exists to guide new parents to create warm and nurturing nurseries for their newborn babies. However, for the babies that aren’t so fortunate as to be well and healthy, we support the March of Dimes “Fight for Preemies”. Their mission is to enlighten women and to teach through health and prenatal care how to have a healthy, full term baby. November was Fight for Preemies month and on our website we linked to their efforts. We also offered a free nursery design tot he winner of the best blog as chosen by “Bloggers Unite”. We are trying to help the new little ones who need our help.

From Real Estate of Winter Park:

One of our missions as a company is to give back to the great community in which we live so it may continue to be great. We contribute many dollars each year to the Grand Foundation which is an umbrella for giving to most all non-profits in our area. We focus a lot of our contributions toward children’s causes (Grand Kids, the Learning Center, CASA) and we are a sponsor of the Grand County Blues society which funds Blues in the Schools and delivers instruments and music to children around the country. As for other artistic vertures, we give to the Grand Arts Council and again, the Blues Society. We also like to contribute to Mtn Family centers which provides a food bank and clothing to families in our area. We host a food drive each year and have also coordinated the school supply/backpack drive each year.

From East West Resorts – Beaver Creek/Vail:

We have “adopted-a-family” through the Salvation Army. Employees are all contributing gifts and cash to the family. The gifts and a City Market gift card will be delivered to the family on Christmas Eve to help make their holiday happy. EWR emplyees also manned one full day of “bell ringing” outside of Walmart in Avon for the Salvation Army.

From Ranches West Inc.:

I have about a 1/2 dozen charities that I make donations to annually – from St. Judes, Childrens Hospital-Denver, Montana Food Bank,American Cancer Society including a small rural school and my local church. Your propgram to foster philanthropy is great!! Thank you for spreading the word and helping us all realze we all have something to be greatful about! Merry Christmas to you!

These are just a few of the inspiring contribution stories we’ve received so far in response to our holiday campaign. We’re honored to work with such an amazing group of people! Stay tuned to see who the lucky winner will be on New Year’s Day …

Happy Holidays!

– The Blue Tent Team

Leveraging the Persuasive Power of the Social Web

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:47:23 +0000

Today, all it takes is an angry person with thumbs and a Twitter account to start trashing your business online. Recently, a lead came into us that clearly displayed this newfound phenomenon and the persuasive power of the social web:

Please Describe Your Needs: Please help with a few negative comments about our business consisting of 14,000 patients and over 30,000 implants placed to date. Less than 5 negative google comments are destroying 8 years of a business I have spent everyday building 16 hours a day.

Ouch! Less than 5 negative comments posted on Google are destroying 8 years put into building a successful business. The weight of that statement is astounding! This prospect (from the dental industry) is prepared to spend upwards of $10,000 per month to address these negative comments that were posted on the “social web” and are adversely affecting his business in a very severe way.

There are good and bad effects of this evolution of the web into the social sphere. On the good side, consumers have more control, more information, and more voice to affect purchasing decisions. On the bad side, the reputation of a great business, established over many years of hard work, can now be tarnished almost instantly by a few dissatisfied customers.

Which raises the question: How is your business leveraging the power of positive feedback online?

This is perhaps one of the most important questions for a business of any size to be mindful of when evaluating the importantance of social media to their business. The answer is obvious: It’s critically important. It simply doesn’t matter what type of business you’re running. Whether you’re in lodging and vacation rentals, dentistry, dermatology, the ski rental or restaurant business, the end result is the same – it matters what people say about your business online.

I recently returned from a trip to the Victoria House in Ambergris Caye, Belize (it was amazing, albeit a bit pricey, but don’t take my word, see what others have to say). As I was checking out I noticed a beautiful guest book (pictured at right), full of glowing reviews from past guests. The only problem was that these glowing guest comments weren’t reaching the right audience. That’s where we come in.

We create programs that reach out to your most satisfied customers, and turn them into your most enthusiastic online brand advocates – thus leveraging the power of the positive.

Anyone that’s ever read the letters to the editor in their local newspaper realizes that many of the letters are people complaining about something. The social web has made it even easier for people to make their complaints heard. The trick is combat and overwhelm those negative experiences with positive ones. However, expecting these positive reviews to appear on their own is a dubious approach indeed.

This is where the strategic approach to social media comes into play. You’ve got to find ways to first identify who your most satisfied clients are, and then make it easy for them to share their experiences online with the right audience – whether it be on Google, TripAdvisor, Yelp or elsewhere. Think of this type of expense as reputation maintenance. And we all know that it’s easier and less expensive to maintain your vehicle on a regular basis than it is to neglect it and be faced with expensive and inconvenient repairs when they inevitably occur.

Click here for more information about how we can help your company or organization leverage and maintain its positive reputation online.

– Josh Lewis
VP Marketing
@Blue_Tent