People are still saying email is dead. Well I’m here to tell you that email is NOT dead, and in fact, is truly the Internets most dominant application. According to a recent survey from Mediamark Research & Intelligence, email is the most popular online activity. About three-quarters (74.2%) of U.S. adults are using email, up 5.2% from fall 2007.

Sure, with the introduction of social media we have other ways to communicate online, but social media actually complements email. How many times do you see an email address attached to a blog post, or how many times do you take a Twitter conversation to email so you can talk in over 140 characters? Once the initial contact or relationship is made via the social web, email then allows you to develop and build upon those relationships. Besides, social media is still making its way into the mainstream, while most people already have and use email addresses. Raise your hand if you check your email several times per day. That’s what I thought - you can all put them down now. Most business professionals are connected to email 24/7 via mobile devices allowing them anytime, anywhere access to email.

With the economy in its current state, many retailers are taking full advantage of email to reach customers with special incentives, and I know many consumers look forward to those emails for discounts and other news.

Other top Internet uses from the study include obtaining the latest news/current events (46%), paying bills online (39.6%), and making a purchase for personal use (37.2%). None of these even come close to email. Email is not dead, and is not going anywhere anytime soon.

*Source: MRI’s Fall 2008 and Fall 2007 Survey of the American Consumer

Need another reason why email marketing’s awesome? How about because it helps save the environment, or it at least extends its healthy existence a little longer.

Do you remember the ‘old days’ before email communication was widely available - all the way back to the dark ages of the mid 90’s? We communicated with snail mail and the dreaded fax machine. Then email emerged, and if you’re like me you now try to avoid the fax machine at all costs. I’d like to say it’s because I’m trying to save trees and the world, but it’s mostly because faxing is just a real pain. But the reality is that email has, by default, allowed us to cut back on the amount of paper we use. I’m not sure any of us spend too much time thinking about it, but maybe we should.

I don’t have any hard facts to report, but I do promise to try and find some. I’m particularly interested to find out if the overall amount of standard printing paper we use as a society has actually decreased in the last 10-15 years. The weed-like growth of Staples and similar stores would at first glance lead me to say probably not, but that may be because we just buy more, well, staples than we used to. But then what are we stapling if we don’t use as much paper?

I’ve noticed more and more emails I receive having a message at the end of the email about saving the environment. Things like “Think twice before printing this email to help save the environment” or “Save a tree, don’t print me!”. I’m confused - do people need to be reminded about this? If I need to print an email, it’s likely a document that has to be hard-copied  for signature or fax (although I try to avoid the latter at all costs as I mentioned). Otherwise, are people actually taking their normal emails and printing them out on a regular basis? If so, then what’s the point of emailing? Why can’t we all keep these messages that we’re printing as emails and stop the madness?

Irreverence aside, the point is that email is a good thing. It’s effective, it’s efficient, and it’s good on the environment. The more you use email over alternative paper options, the more you help save trees. Besides, nowadays people rely on email to stay connected to family, friends, co-workers, clients, etc. They are either connected to email 24/7 or log in to check it multiple times per day. I know I am much more likely to open an email than read a direct mail postcard sent to my office. So the next time you want to reach your clients or subscriber base, send an email. It’s easy, inexpensive, and the trees will thank you.

Next time maybe I’ll talk about ink.

Used properly, prospect and customer data is one of the most valuable assets a company owns.  All companies have the same goal with their data: increase customer acquisition rates, maximize customer retention, and increase sales (at the lowest cost possible). As more and more communication and commerce take place online, there’s no better time to use this data to help accomplish their goals. Online marketing continues to prove itself as the most profitable channel available. Yet many companies continue to struggle in their efforts to collect, organize and leverage their data.

For the companies that do take the time to explore their options and commit to doing more, they will learn that the process doesn’t have to be complex. With today’s impressive marketing technologies, it doesn’t have to be expensive either. It represents the best chance to maximize marketing’s return on investment. Click here for tips on utilizing data.

Are you receiving our monthly newsletter, Factory Direct? If not, click here to subscribe!

A question that we hear over and over from our clients is, “How can I grow my email list?” Industry-wide, email marketers will agree the best way to grow your list is organically. While this process takes some time and planning, it is certainly worth it in the end, as you will be left with a high-quality list of true opt-in subscribers that have specifically requested to receive your emails. To learn more about growing your email list organically, click here.

Get the latest tips and trends delivered straight to your inbox! Sign up to receive our Factory Direct monthly newsletter here.

Good luck keeping up…..

With over 70 million active blogs, and more than 120,000 new blogs each day, we’re drowning
in blogmania!

Finding good blogs can be a full-time job……which actually sounds like a pretty fun job to me.

Luckily, like most things, good blogs rise to the top, word spreads around and readers are able to connect with the best of the best.

Here’s one such blog worth including on your reading list:

http://www.b2bemailmarketing.com/ by Tamara Gielen

Tamara reads up on all the good email marketing info, attends webinars and trade shows, and keeps her blog current with good updates on key email marketing issues/information. Plus, she lives in Belgium so it’s nice to get her perspective from outside the US.

In addition to her articles, check out these areas as well:

>The ‘About’ tab has a cool map showing where her readers are from, a nice twist for a blog
>The ‘Blogs I Read’ tab gets you a little inside info on where you might want to go for good content
>The ‘Network’ tab offers a chance to join her ‘Email Marketer’s Club’. It’s listed as by invitation only, but if I can get in then….well, ‘nuf said.

You may even find that dream job posted here as well.

Enjoy her blog, good stuff.

Running a growing tech company just isn’t busy enough for our CEO, Greg Cangialosi, so he decides he’s going to carve out time to become an author. Five months later, he’s set to officially announce the release of The Business Podcasting Book, a must-read for everyone interested in learning and applying the fundamentals of Podcasting.

Over the past several years Greg has become a respected Thought Leader and industry expert on everything podcast related. In addition to producing podcasts for a handful of Fortune 500 companies, he produces his own podcast at http://www.roiradio.com/, and regularly contributes and speaks at a variety of events.

We’re psyched that his hard work and energy have paid off with this sweet book, and can’t wait to see what’s around the corner!

Check out a press release on his book release here

And go get a copy ‘everywhere books are sold’ as they say, or make it real easy and just click here.

Congrats Greg!

Email marketing works….but only if you have a good list to market to!

For many companies, one of the popular strategies used to build a prospect and customer list is Paid Search…with Google Adwords leading the way! We work with many companies who want to integrate our email marketing systems with their existing paid search programs in order to automate and enhance the process. Or we work with companies who are just starting paid search programs and want to set their marketing programs up efficiently from the beginning.

Either way, we spend time with our clients discussing the importance of the Landing Page, and how best to optimize the conversion rates….to help build that email list!!

When it comes to Landing Pages for paid search programs, there are several key elements that need to be addressed. After all, you can build a perfect paid search program, with all the right keywords, and bunches of people clicking on your ads, only to find that no one signs up on your Landing Page…..at least no one you want!

Tip #1 - Design your Landing Page to deliver a VERY targeted message based on the Keyword used to reach you in the first place.

If someone’s searching for Product X, or a specific topic of any kind, don’t take them to one of your general web pages that forces them to spend time searching for what they were originally looking for. Take them to a page that addresses the very topic (keyword) they searched for. And definitely don’t take them back to your Home Page!

Specific Keywords require specific Landing Pages…simple as that!

The good news….it’s not difficult to modify your Landing Pages to speak to your audience based on Keywords. Just build a main template and then modify as needed based on the Keywords you use. Repurposing web page templates is one of the many advantages of online marketing…..and it’s worth every penny!

More Tips coming soon!

We all understand how important TESTING is for email marketers. Not the internal testing to check for formatting and grammatical errors, but the comparative testing performed to optimize email performance. Testing content options, various image or link placements, subject lines, or the best day/time to send an email.

Testing is one of the key benefits with email. You can’t easily test traditional marketing (direct mail, ads, etc.), but with email you can.

…..yet few companies bother to test.

We are working to change that trend, and a key Publicaster feature will be an important part of this transition from little testing to a lot of testing!

It’s simple, powerful and quick to set up:

In Publicaster, choose List Manager.
Then choose Manage Segmentation.
Then choose the List or Segmentation that you want to mail to.
Next select the Random Mailing option.
Choose the number of recipients you want to send a test to, and add in that number.
You’re finished.

How easy is that!

Here’s how it works, and how I’d suggest you use it.

Let’s say you have a newsletter that you are sending out monthly. It’s getting decent Open Rates (35%) but poor Click or Conversion rates. Do you know why? Do you know if some format or content changes might improve performance? Maybe the time or day of the week would make a difference?

Why not test a few simple changes in your newsletter to see how they affect performance (I can almost guarantee that testing will reveal key areas for improvement, but since it’s so easy to do, and doesn’t cost extra, even if it doesn’t change your results, you haven’t lost anything from the effort).

Test two different variables to begin: In one version, stick with your current format. In the second version, change the Subject Line, and in the third version stick with the first subject line (so you are only testing one variable change at a time) but send your newsletter on Friday at 1:00p EST (assuming you aren’t currently sending it that day/time).

To do this in Publicaster, you simply choose 1/3 of your list in the Random Mailing Tool as discussed above for the first mailing. This Random Mailing Tool will automatically pull out a completely random sampling of your total list, ensuring that there will be no bias from the list sample. For the second mailing, you do the same thing, and add a segmentation condition specifying that you want the random sample not to include anyone who received the first mailing. Then do the same for the third mailing so the last 1/3 of the list doesn’t include anyone from the first or second mailing, and you are finished.

In a matter of minutes, you will have successfully tested for two key variables to see how they affect your results. After doing this a few times for each monthly newsletter, and testing different variables against one another, you’ll find a perfect format for your audience!

I have always felt that one of the most significant benefits of online advertising/marketing is the ability to TEST. Those who test can actually ‘get it right’, or about as close as anyone could ever expect to get. Testing to find the best option minimizes waste, both financial and intellectual.

Despite more and more press on the importance of testing, most companies still do not test nearly enough. One reason is time…there just isn’t enough of it! So most companies stick with standard strategies and accept their fate, without ever really challenging the status quo and looking for better options.

There is a great website to help those who wish to begin testing, or maybe to improve what they already do… www.sitespect.com. As their tagline says…. “Optimize Your Conversion Rates and Turn More Visitors Into Customers”.

Using A/B, Multivariate or Split testing, you can set up a number of testing options for web pages / landing pages to find out exactly which pages are converting best.

For email marketers, this is a perfect tool to help play around with variations of web pages that you have your recipients click through in your emails. Optimize your landing pages so all of your hardwork to get click-thrus pays off! Sometimes very simple changes to landing pages can make a significant difference in conversion rates, and www.sitespect.com makes it easier than ever to find out.

Test away!

There are at least two constants in email marketing.

First, some people unsubscribe, or complain, about the email you send them no matter what you send, or under what circumstances you send it. And second, some people will get your email, but it will hit their Junk or Spam folder rather than their Inbox.

The good news is that there are a few good techniques available to help minimize both of these situations….even better is that they are very easy to implement.

We’ll talk more over the coming weeks about all of the good techniques, but for now here’s two key ones:

1. Explain Yourself:
Include an explanation of why you are sending the email to the recipient. Use small font and possibly a slightly altered color if it works in your email. Include it either in the Header or Footer…test to see which works best (I would try the header first).

Next, include a brief suggestion about adding your email address into their address book, whitelisting your address if they have that capability, or otherwise approving you as a sender (This safe sender approval process varies depending on what they are using as a spam filtering tool).

Here’s an example:

You are receiving this email from (Company name) because you (purchased a product/service, requested information, subscribed on our website, etc). To ensure that you continue to receive emails from us, add (Company email address) to your Address Book and your Approved Sender list, and have our email address Whitelisted with your Company.


2. Provide Options:
Your email recipients may be less apt to unsubscribe, and complain, if in addition to being very clear about why you are emailing them, you also give them options on how to manage their email relationship with you.

Rather than just put an Unsubscribe Link at the end of your email, put another sentence or two about options you have provided, using the same small font with slight color change if possible. You may be able to give them the option of updating their account information (including a change of email address), asking you a question or making a request, unsubscribing from one mailing you offer, but not from another, taking a quick survey, or any other idea you might come up with based on your email goals. This is typically found in the Footer, but don’t be afraid to test it in your Header and see how it works for you.

The key here is that you are making it very clear that you respect their position as a subscriber and want to be sure they are satisfied.

Here’s an example:

To unsubscribe, update your account information, change the frequency with which you receive emails from us, or submit questions or comments, please use the following links rather than replying to this e-mail: Unsubscribe / Manage My Account / Submit a Question / Comment /

You don’t need to offer all of these options in order to get started….you can begin by offering something more than just the traditional Unsubscribe option and build your choices over time.

You can also continue to have people reply to your email if you prefer, rather than ask them not to as in this example…..just a matter of preference and how you’ll manage the replies.