Tips For Better Email Marketing Success

In a recent BtoB Online Email Marketer newsletter I received, Mark Organ – CEO of Eloqua Corp. – wrote a good, quick article outlining some valuable tips to increase open rates and overall experience of email newsletters. Email marketing is getting tougher. I’m experiencing this as I work to increase my own click-through rates and decrease bounce rates on my landing pages. Blogs, RSS Feeds, and Podcasts are jumping to the forefront as methods people are using to get the information they want. Plus, corporate email filtering is getting tighter. Email marketing is not dead despite what some industry analysts think, but the road to success is not a smooth ride. The main tips from Mark’s article are:

 

• Success begins with the subject line. Keep your subject line succinct, around five or six words. Stay away from personalization-such as using the prospect’s first name-in the subject line. The golden rule is to make sure that your subject line is something you would feel comfortable sending to an existing prospect.

• They’re in … now what? Your prospect must be able to quickly determine the benefits of the e-mail. Integration with Web marketing tools such as forms and landing pages can impel a prospect to explore these benefits. Include many clear links to click on high up in the e-mail, “above the scroll.” Make sure that hyperlink words conjure up a benefit in the reader’s mind-such as “Learn more”-and avoid using passive words.

• Lead them to a landing page. Drive prospects to a campaign-specific landing page, not your company’s home page. Your e-mail and landing page should be designed with the same look to smooth the transition. Within the e-mail, include a link that offers an immediate call to action. On landing pages, be sure to minimize required information on initial registration forms; prefilling registration forms with known contact information can increase response rates. Creative imagery at the top of the landing page can show the prospect what he or she will get for moving forward. Last, an auto-response e-mail should always be sent when a form is submitted.

• Hone in with dynamic, personalized microsites. Include links to microsites that have personalized URLs and messaging. Dynamic content can be triggered by the prospect’s region, language and industry. Both the personal URL and targeted experience can dramatically increase response and conversion on the site (a 200% to 300% increase from initial rates).

 

Tough Search Keywords and Google AdWords Editor

I’d never seen this site before but came across it while reading a comment to seoroundtable’s post about keyphrases that you should think twice about before trying to conquer. The site is called RankPulse and it ranks the top 1000 most competitive keywords. Good site to find out what to stay away from!

Also, as a side note, I saw on a variety of blogs this morning including Inside AdWords that they have new tutorials available on how to use the AdWords Editor Tool. I tried the tool and was not that thrilled with it, but am thinking about looking at the tutorials to a see if there was anything I missed that would make it more attractive to use.

Turn Those Google Searches into Buyers

I’ve come across another great article on turning search engine searchers into customers. I recently did a post on how paid search has to be more than just click-throughs – it has to be a focused sales campaign with the end goal of converting the searcher. This article on iMedia Connection by Dale Hursh talks about this very topic.

“To maximize search marketing ROI, you must manage the entire search marketing lifecycle, from Search-to-Sale. This includes finding and driving traffic to your website, as well as converting the visitor by persuading them to take the desired action.”

Check out the article…