You’ve done it all right so far.  You have built up (and monitored!) your sending reputation, minimized the “spamminess” of your email, set up authentication, and sent the email to a true opt-in list.  The only step left is the final gatekeeper: Your subject line.

I was reminded recently that subject lines can be powerful not just for your emails, but for blog posts as well.  The other day some BSF staffers were taking a look at the highest clicks into Thinking Inbox blog posts from RSS.   Take a look at the top 10 winners:

The Email Standards Project
Growing Your Email List
Combat List Fatigue
10 Email Marketing Resolutions for 2008
New Year’s Resolution: ­ Improve Your Email…
Writing and Designing an Email Newsletter
Issue Brief: Mobile Email Marketing
When Best Practices Become Requirements
9 Ways to “Make Nice” with ISPs and Network Operators
The Anatomy of a Lousy Email   

Clearly the subject line of the blog post is the gatekeeper as well, provoking a click or getting passed by.  The Email Standards Project was an unintentional winner, since that was the name of the site (and just so happens to be compelling all on its own.) The rest are very clear and straightforward in their intent, just as a good subject line should be.

Which of your subject lines is winning in opens?  What can you change to bring the others up to that level?  Every audience is different, so observing the trends of what makes your subscribers open or not open the emails should give you insight into what you should do in the future.

Did you know that many email clients display not only the subject line of a new email arrival, but also the first line of text within the email? Take a look at your current email design. What’s the first line of text? Does this first line of text get your message and call-to-action across, or is it just fluff? If it’s not grabbing your reader’s attention, it’s time to add some snippet text!

The first line of text, or “snippet text,” as it’s been coined, has come up recently as a new way to grab your reader’s attention and display the call-to-action of your email. Here’s an example of the snippet text in action: If you use Microsoft Outlook, you have the option to receive pop-up alerts in the bottom righthand corner of your screen when a new email arrives. This pop-up states the email’s Friendly From Name, Subject Line and the first line of text. Gmail uses this same information to display your email details in the list of Inbox emails.

Click on either of the two images for examples of what not to do. These samples show how your email alert appears in Outlook if you only use a View in Browser link at the top of your email, and also how the email description would appear in your Inbox list in Gmail. As you can see, having a relevant and interesting snippet text above any other links or images in your email is very important to grabbing your reader’s attention.

It has become best practice to add snippet text to every email campaign that you send. This will help you get your call-to-action across, even when the recipient quickly scans through the emails in their inbox. This also helps to relay the message of your email when images are blocked, as this snippet text will come through at the top of your email even when images do not.

Here’s another tip: Make your snippet text different from your subject line so that your recipients aren’t simply seeing the exact same message twice. Maximize the message you can get across in this valuable email real estate. And have some fun with it … try testing different snippet texts to grab your reader’s attention and see which one performs best. Give this best practice a try, and let us know your successes by leaving a comment below.

Most of you have noticed that we redesigned our Factory Direct newsletter drastically a few issues ago. While the general motivation for this was to refresh the overall look of Factory Direct, there is purpose behind the different elements of the design.

While what may work for Factory Direct may not necessarily work for you and your email campaigns, the general message is: don’t be afraid to think outside the email newsletter box! Take the step like we did and inject some personality into your newsletters, along with some elements of uniqueness. If all the positive feedback we’ve received from our readers is any indication, our Factory Direct redesign was a success.  Click here to read more about our re-design and how it could benefit your email marketing campaigns.

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This morning another great example of smart email marketing made its way into my inbox.  I have used Verizon Wireless for years, and today I received my first monthly newsletter from them.  I’m happy to see that they’ve decided to be proactive in their email marketing (as opposed to sending the customary, boring transactional emails that I have received in the past), but what I really love is how they really utilized dynamic content to customize the email to me. 

Dynamic content refers to anything that is added dynamically based on user data or preferences.  This can be something as simple as personalizing by first name, and as complicated as pulling in personalized stories and images for subscribers based on their pre-determined interests.  In this case, Verizon tailored the email to me by pulling in my name, phone number, calling plan, and even an image of my phone.  It really gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling all over.  Everyone likes their stuff to be customized to their interests!

Many of you are already personalizing emails with first names and email addresses, but if you have the data, why not personalize by other things as well?  How about purchase date and an image of the product, or their home address to help them find a store location on a map site?  The possibilities are only limited by your imagination and the data you have collected.

For more information about implementing personalizations and dynamic content, check out our Factory Direct article.

We talk a lot about relevance in marketing, especially in the email marketing realm. The best way to build an email list is to show potential subscribers what you will offer them. The more relevant the content, the most likely they will be to sign up for it. It’s the whole “what’s in it for me?” thing.

Beyond the sign up stage, emails should be kept as relevant as possible for the subscribers to encourage them to keep reading. This is where things can get a little tricky. Without knowing what your subscribers want, how will you give them the most relevant content?

The best way is to use Subscriber Preferences. This gives the recipients full control of the communications they receive, and it’s especially helpful for those who send multiple types of mailings.

One of our most recent clients, Sam’s Wines and Spirits, is a great example of a marketer using technology to enhance relevancy for subscribers. Upon going to their website, there is a simple sign up form which asks for an email address. The next page then lets you know that you will receive a welcome email from them shortly, and that you should click the “Update Your Preferences” link to change individual settings.

When I clicked on my preferences page, I was first met with a description of all of the different types of mailings. This is really key, because it allows the subscriber to get a good idea of what they’re getting into with each different type of mailing.

Next, there were some personal fields to (optionally) fill out or update. This is a great idea if you want to be able to segment based on demographics later on. I then had the option of choosing from a large list of interests, from types of wines to liquor. Lastly, I had the option to add myself to different types of mailings, such as some different newsletters, a mailing about special offers, and an update about their Sam’s Academy program.

Being a lover of wine, I signed up for almost all of them, but the multiple options are a great way to keep the content fresh and relevant for the rest of their list. Kudos to Sam’s Wines and Spirits for their relevancy, and I hope you can put some of these ideas to use in your email marketing!

A comprehensive email marketing program consists of several different communications: promotions, events, special offers, shipping confirmations. While all of these emails are vital to your company, your email newsletters are critical in building relationships with your customers.

When creating an email newsletter, be it daily, weekly, or monthly, it is important to make sure you have relevant content for your audience that is designed to keep them engaged. All of your emails are about your company brand, but your newsletter’s content must connect with your reader. If your content does not positively impact some part of your reader’s life, they will not be interested. When writing your newsletter, it is important to write about relevant and interesting subjects that your audience will appreciate. The more your newsletter is about your subscribers and the more value your articles provide, the longer your audience will stay with you. For more tips on email newsletters, click here.

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When you first started sending emails to your list of opted in subscribers, the results were fantastic. Subscribers were opening your emails with excitement, clicking on every link possible. As time went on, you noticed a drop in the numbers. The “newness” of your emails went away, and some subscribers weren’t as engaged anymore. For tips on how to fight this problem, click here.

This article was first published in our monthly newsletter, Factory Direct. Click here to make sure you don’t miss another issue.

By now, you and your team likely have a Marketing Plan devised for 2008. Too often, email is not included as part of this initial plan. Having an email schedule as part of your marketing plan will ensure each email is well thought out and is as effective as possible. If email isn’t yet a part of your marketing plan, read our article on how to simply and easily plan your email schedule for 2008.

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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.

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Happy New Year! Here is a quick list of 10 email marketing resolutions for 2008. Marketers should step back and reassess their approach for the new year and consider the following 10 smart resolutions for better email marketing:

1. Build Trust

Like all relationships, building loyalty starts with trust. With recipient’s inbox’s being flooded, and the continued challenge of spam, trust in email today prevents many potential end users from opting in. It’s essential that online marketers treat email as a one to one conversation with their recipients, taking into account that today’s consumers pick and choose the emails they want to open largely based on the “what’s in it for me” relevance factor. Be relevant, and build that trust.

2. Hold Yourself Accountable

Those marketers who don’t consider email to be an effective medium need to step back for a moment and evaluate whether their existing technologies offer them the “bells and whistles” they need to accurately measure and show results. Don’t be afraid to examine each campaign with a microscope, and arm yourself with the tools you need to show accurate deliverability, open rates, click through and forward rates, conversion data and more. Email is highly measurable, and is a medium that works for so many different marketing purposes. See this post for more info.

3. Subject Yourself

You have about 50 characters to make magic happen. Consider what you yourself would open when writing subject lines, as they could serve as the defining “live or die” moment in the life of your email campaign. Subject lines determine whether your email will get opened or deleted. Make them compelling, unique and engaging. Be sure to test, test, test!

4. Walk the Line

More than one third of organizations today lack email as a budget line item, according to Marketing Sherpa, despite it being the most widely used online marketing tactic with the highest return on investment. Marketers must fight for their cause and insist that email marketing have its own line item. If you’re going to be held accountable for results, insist that you get the defined budget you need to produce results, and do the job right.

5. Know Your Frequency

A staggering 70% of consumers consider emails that arrive too frequently to be spam. To that end, they are opting out or hitting their delete key faster than you can push send. Examine your frequency, keep a close eye on complaint rates, opt out rates, and be sure to take a good look at your hard and soft bounce thresholds, they should be set low to keep your lists clean. Most importantly, don’t saturate your lists, a steady healthy frequency is what you are looking to achieve. This is very industry specific, so you should test and experiment to see what works for your audience.

6. Get Integrated

With new Web 2.0 applications proliferating the online space, email is in the “drivers seat” when it comes to promoting content, and cross selling services and/or products. Online marketing professionals should brainstorm the most effective ways to integrate email with other mediums like blogging, podcasting / new media and RSS. Email is still the dominant online application for more than 77% of the population (Pew Internet and American Life Project), so make it part of every aspect of your online universe.

7. Get Transactional

Often overlooked, but paramount to building customer loyalty, is the transactional email. Delivered to recipients post purchase, or once a particular action has been taken, transactional emails not only serve as confirmation or acknowledgment of a recipient’s action, they offer an immediate platform to dialog with new or current customers and bolster retention and cross-sell rates. Seize the moment and get transactional in the new year.

8. Get Authenticated

Deliverability remains at the top of list of critical metrics for all email marketers. If you haven’t already, you should make an effort to ensure that some of the basic authentication protocols are in place for your organization. We highly suggest implementing SPF records, Sender ID and Domain Keys to your domain. We have seen deliverability rates jump as high as 10% for some of our clients, just by putting these in place. Your ESP should be able to help you get this in place rather quickly.

9. Capture, Convert, Retain

Developing your list is the first step to email marketing success. Take some time to evaluate how you allow customers to opt in – are you allowing sign ups only on the home page of your website, or have you created multiple opt-in locations across your site? How about landing pages for other online marketing initiatives like search? Sometimes people are willing to provide an email address versus filling out a form with 5-10 fields on it. Finally, are you allowing those who have signed up the opportunity to update their information and preferences? The preference center is a key aspect to effective email marketing, give the recipient control over what content they receive from you and how they receive it.

10. Get Green

If your company isn’t doing something green these days, it’s time to get with the program. You don’t have to install solar panels above your desk to be considered a green-minded company. Email marketing in and of itself is eco-friendly, it requires no paper/trees unlike direct mail, and it also costs a lot less. Is your company still sending out a pricey monthly or quarterly print newsletter? Think about what communications you are sending via snail mail this year, and what could be sent out via email.

As mentioned in a previous post, in 2008, email will remain the common denominator, the one medium that keeps us all connected, and will also continue to drive incredible ROI for marketers. It’s important for everyone in the online space to be thinking about other mediums like mobile, social networks / social media, RSS, search, and more, etc but at the end of the day, it all keeps circling back to one place - the inbox. Happy emailing in 2008!