Design and Conquer Your Emails

Vimi Mirchandani is an Account Manager at List Engage, and has worked for the company since 2007. Vimi, who specializes in graphics, design, and HTML, works closely with the List Engage design team to ensure quick, creative and visually appealing campaigns for all of List Engage’s clients. Prior to her employment at List Engagement she spent five years as a Member Relation Manager at TiE Boston.

Since we’ve already talked about Data and Content in this newsletter, it seems fitting to combine them both here and discuss how email marketers can integrate them both into specific and targeted messages that vary content based on list demographics, and can make for some very happy subscribers (and marketers too!). In laymen’s terms, a feature called Dynamic Content.

Dynamic Content is a feature that seamlessly combines data and content and results in a deployed email that features content to a specific user based on their data set.

So, if you’re Cindy and you live in Minnesota and it’s January, and you receive emails from the National Outdoors Warehouse you will get a lovely email featuring winter jackets, tips to avoid frost bite, and a coupon code for 20% off Cross Country Skis.

If you’re John and you live in Southern California (and it’s January) you’re email will feature wet suits for surfing, information on bike tune-ups, and a 20% off coupon for deep-sea fishing gear.

How would either of these subscribers feel if they received an email about “Staying Active and Healthy in Winter”? Probably not as pumped.

But Dynamic Content isn’t just for B2C users, it’s also valuable for B2B companies who may be setting up emails to sent based off of past purchases, notes from specific sales contacts, or who may vary part of their internal newsletter content based on an employee category such as HR, Sales, Development, Marketing Dept., and beyond.

So how would you use Dynamic Content, or do you use something similar now? Tweet us and let us know, or drop us a line.

Want to learn more about Dynamic Content – read more here…

Our friends at ExactTarget said it first in their marketing whitepaper, aptly named, “Data is the New Creative”: it seems that in this real-time web environment where demographics and real-time reactions are often the key to a subscriber, fan or follower’s heart, that “batch and blast” messages just aren’t going to cut it anymore. Users want to be hit with the exact message they’re looking for in a ridiculously timely fashion; hence where data takes the front seat for the first time in this equation that used to center around creative first, then data.

Now it appears, or at least in the very near future for most companies, the best way to engage users is to use a combination of traditional data points (CRM, Web Analyitcs) plus real-time data from the web and social media (websites visited, check-ins, “Likes” in Facebook) to create content that reflects most accurately what your subscribers, fans, and followers are suggesting they want from their online actions.

Sounds complicated, right? Well, yes, partially if you’re manually trying to aggregate all of this information and make a decision from there – but with emerging marketing technologies like all-in-one dashboards that integrate all of your social and traditional data (hint: ExactTarget would be a good place to look first) huge projects like this start to look a lot easier and carry a much heavier ROI.

If you want to hear all about it straight from the source, you can check out the whitepaper, here, and get some Web 3.0 thought-leadership dropped on you just like that… or, if you just want to talk YOUR data and better ways to reach out to your fan-base, let us know and we’d be happy to discuss your options.

After the bouquet is tossed, the honeymoon comes to an end, and all of the wedding gifts have been put away… then begins the real marriage.

Oddly enough, marriages are a little like the relationships we have with our Opt-In emails. Depending on your lead generation and emailing practices, your business could have a variety of relationships with your subscribers. For instance, you’ve got your:

	“Shotgun Wedding” Subscribers: forced into the relationship at the point of sale, or by implicit opt-in before they even knew what was happening. These relationships usually fall apart once everybody has fulfilled their end of the bargain.
	“Just Married in Vegas” Subscribers: things moved pretty fast, and they don’t remember much except giving away their email address and waking up with a feeling of remorse the next morning. Don’t expect their unbridled enthusiasm to last much longer than their inevitable hangover.
	“Long Bumpy Road” Subscribers: although they definitely knew what they were signing up for, these subscribers never participate but also never quit. Sometimes you just sit and wonder, “what are we still doing together?”
	“Hot and Cold” Subscribers: when it’s good it’s good, and when things are bad, well, it’s a cold and lonely world out there. Cherish the good times, and don’t dwell if their love suddenly goes cold.

And your...

“Match Made in Heaven” Subscribers: these subscribers value what you give them, and send the love and appreciation right back. Treat them like your “1(to-1) true love” and they’ll keep coming back for more..

Ultimately, most businesses would like to find their “Match Made in Heaven” subscribers and the way to achieve these loyal fans and advocates is through setting expectations and guidelines, and letting your subscribers know what you plan to provide them. Build your subscribers through trust and great value, and they’ll join you for the long-haul.

And remember, no matter what kind of marriage you’re looking at with your subscribers, find a way to make it work for the time you have them. Though the ultimate goal is a lifetime of love and appreciation for everyone–always enjoy one-another while you can!

If you don’t know much about QR codes, know this: they are the gateway to sharing information with any prospective supporter/user/buyer who owns or uses a smartphone.

With mobile technology moving forward at light-speed, you’ll be seeing these codes pop-up on more advertising—in magazines, emails, and even on outdoor billboards—and even in everyday use like on business cards, for tracking busses, and on product packaging. That’s because with the use of an easily downloaded Bar Code Scanner on any smart phone, anyone interested in learning more about an idea, product, or organization can simply pull out their mobile device, scan a QR code, and be brought to a specific location to learn more about whatever they just scanned.

The best part is: companies and organizations get to decide exactly where their interested mobile device user lands. The possibilities are pretty endless, just think:

• For clothing retailers, a QR code on a label could be linked to more information about that clothing line on their website.
  
• For an electronics company, a QR code on the box could be linked to a video on how to assemble their product
  
• For a wine company, a QR code on its label could link you to a site filled with customer reviews
  
• For a B2B company, a QR code on a business card could populate the email address of the sales rep you just met at an industry tradeshow.

Using these codes can help you build relationships with your prospects in limitless ways. Best of all, any time someone takes that first step to interact with your brand you both help strengthen the connection!

Have you used QR codes? With what sort of success? What other ways could you imagine people using them? Tweet us your thoughts @ListEngage or post on Facebook.com/ListEngage.

Oh no, here it comes! We’re all gonna dieeeee! It’s… Gmail Priority Inbox!

(This article is part of a 2 part series – learn more about Gmail Priority Inbox here or watch Gmail’s video)

Don’t worry, this isn’t the end of email marketing as we know it… it just means that companies need to provide VALUE in their emails more than ever! No more “Dino-digs November Dinosaur Newsletter” – but rather “Dino-digs finds Rare Dinosaur – and wants to name it after you!”

Businesses that want to “make the cut” need to promote value to their subscribers, and the easiest ways to do this are through targeted messages that make your subscribers want to open, read, click, reply, share and beyond. Here are several ideas to make any email a high-priority for your subscribers and Gmail’s Priority Inbox:

- List Segmentation: Segment your lists based on subscriber values: if a subscriber liked a certain product, what are other similar ones they may like? Then, use some ridiculously excellent dynamic content and populate a few options that may interest the individual based on past purchases.

- Killer subject lines: customizing subject lines with the subscribers name is not enough these days (but it’s a good start!). Tell the subscriber what they’re going to get by opening this awesome email!

- Clear and urgent call to action: Simply telling your subscriber to “purchase now” leaves them thinking they have all the time in the world to grab your offer: change it to “purchase now – expires in 24 hours”. Not only will you increase urgency, but your click-through rates will go through the roof!

- Number of email marketing messages: Don’t over-send emails – optimize your 1 message and its perfection will drive your readers “click-happy”. Over-sending can dilute your value proposition.

- Remember what you promised: If your readers signed up for discounts on clothes sold in your store, make sure they get just those. Don’t get tempted to blast an unrelated email.

Just in case you hadn’t turned on your laptop lately, or walked out the front door in awhile, we thought it would be helpful to let you know that it isn’t the 1950’s anymore. Things are moving fast, people are getting bombarded with messages and information at lightning speeds, and businesses now have to cater to a global clientele in order to keep up.

The further we venture into the 21st century, the more we’ll see not only just how important email marketing and online presence will become – but we’ll also begin to see how essential it is to get your message across in the right language as well. We live in a global economy – and it’s hard to sell a product when users can’t understand the language that you’re speaking to them in.

A client of ours, Parametric Technology Corporation, or PTC, is one shining example of how to cater to multiple audiences the right way, by using email marketing. Several years ago, PTC approached ListEngage with a problem: they wanted to send a monthly newsletter to customers around the world, but they didn’t necessarily have a language of choice database for each subscriber. Here’s where we came in: ListEngage helped PTC to design a process that allowed the creation of one newsletter in 10 different languages that would be emailed to subscribers by country. People in Italy would receive the Italian version and their audience in China would receive the Chinese version .

But what if a reader in China received the email in Chinese and wanted to view its content in English? ListEngage helped PTC streamline this problem by creating a “language bar” at the very  top of each email which links  a specific language to a web page version of the newsletter that is posted as a HTML document  in that particular language. So, if a reader in Italy wants to read the newsletter in Spanish, all they have to do is click on “Español” and their  newsletter will pop up for reading right there. The multi-language emails are great for readers and even better for PTC who can connect with more prospects and possible customers with just one click of a button.

PTC “Maintenance Minute” readers can currently enjoy their emails in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese, and Russian.  And though ListEngage doesn’t have the talent to read and translate in 10 different languages, our platform and employees certainly have the expertise to coordinate the “heavy lifting” of getting emails like these out the door in a timely fashion.

James Winokur, Director, Business Development Global Maintenance Support had this to say about the email creation process and ListEngage’s efforts: “[ListEngage] now helps us with all aspects of the 10 language versions of the Maintenance Minute that we send out world-wide on a monthly basis. ListEngage has had a huge impact in our monthly production of this newsletter endeavor and has made this… a success for us.”

Ho ho hoooo nooooo! It’s too late. You’ve already hit send, and your seemingly perfect Happy Holidays email is now going to be the laughing stock of your clients’ Christmas parties. Let’s face it: email mistakes happen, but they happen a lot less to experienced senders who follow specific steps and check their final product meticulously before they send it out. Although you may be forgiven for your big email mishap, it’s better to just avoid it all together.

This year we wanted to spread our Holiday cheer by helping you send a cleaner, crisper, error-free email, to all of your clients, prospects, and friends. All you have to do is follow these simple steps:

The 5 Best ways to Avoid Email Blunders this Holiday Season

From all of us at List Engage:

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes in the New Year!

ShareThis_BigSliceAs List Engage rolls out the new ShareThis feature for all of our email marketing clients, the social networking world just got a whole lot closer. Now, with the click of a button you can instantly connect your emails to your social networks– and simultaneouly sync all that time, money, and effort you’ve invested in your email campaigns into your social networking efforts as well! And with the 2010 media buying budget looking to have email marketing and social media neck-in-neck on ad spending– now’s the time to make your marketing dollars work overtime.

Keep Reading…


To learn more, specifically about ShareThis and our other Social Forward features, click here.

Recently, Seattle based outdoor clothing retailer Filson came to ListEngage with a challenge—create an email marketing campaign that reached their valued customer’s inboxes with a time sensitive offer and in turn help them increase their campaign performance and sales. They wanted to see positive results, and ListEngage delivered!


By following best practices in email design and rendering, smart list segmenting techniques and moving away from an all-image based email to a combination of images and text seen above the fold ListEngage was able to achieve a much higher success rate than average email marketing campaigns. The campaign generated much better open and click-through rates and even reported “higher than expected sales” – the ultimate dream for any online retailer and what every e-marketing company should strive for when helping clients with their online marketing efforts.

To learn more about Filson, or to sign up for their exclusive offers and events click here.

To learn more about ListEngage and our “Don’t Go It Alone” philosophy or to sign-up for our newsletter click here.

When creating and designing emails, it is often difficult to determine what makes for the “best” note to be viewed in several different email clients: While Gmail and Yahoo may render the email perfectly, Outlook might align images left or perhaps display the font type incorrectly. Meanwhile, while you’re viewing your *perfect* newsletter in Internet Explorer with a big smile on your face, it might be rendering completely backwards in Firefox!

Although you never know for certain until you click send (or you make this your vocation, like us!), there are some “tried and true” practice for email design and rendering which will certainly help eliminate some of the guesswork and “aftermath” headaches of email marketing– and we’ve outlined the Top Ten in our most recent newsletter..

Take a look for the Top 5 Best Rendering and Design Tips, or dowload the Whitepaper here.