HOW TO: Create compelling subject lines

Saturday, November 28th, 2009 at 3:21 pm  
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HOW TO: Create compelling subject lines

The subject line of an email message is a specialized headline meant to do one thing: get the email recipient to open the email by revealing what’s inside.
Unlike an article headline, the subject line is totally self-sufficient. It cannot rely on page placement, layout or any other design assistance for pulling readers into the body of an email.

Several key elements should be considered when creating a good subject line:

  • Clearly state your offer in the subject line, but make sure it’s something that appeals to your target audience. If this means segmenting your email campaigns into smaller chucks, then it’s worth the effort it takes to ensure the most powerful, relevant subject line is used. According to a recent study by Return Path, 55.2% of recipients opened the email because the subject line clearly stated the offer.
  • Message personalization increases email open rates. Despite the fact that spammers and phishing emails often add names to the subject line, tests show that personalized subject lines perform better. The trick is to also avoid the spammy look and feel of those types of emails. Using other information such as specific job roles or recent product purchases also create effective, personalized subject lines.
  • Place the most powerful information at the front of the subject line. Many email clients show only a small portion of the subject line. The first few words of the subject line are the most and should include as many of the other elements as possible, especially the offer or action item and the personalization.
  • Use natural curiosity to get subscribers to open their emails and read the important messages inside. Offering answers to insider secrets or insights from leading experts will pull in readers looking for that information. Of course, the message must deliver on what is promised or risk losing credibility on future emails.

Because of the heavy responsibility of the subject line, the best performing ones should be used. The subject line should also be highly tested to ensure the best results. No matter how good your message is, if the subject line doesn’t do its job, the email campaign will probably not meet its performance goals.

Since nobody is going to read an email message they don’t open, crafting a compelling subject line should be top priority for any email marketer. Spending the time to create and test an effective subject line will pay big dividends in with future open email rates. — Arial Software

- Arial Software (www.arialsoftware.com)

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/email-articles/how-to-create-compelling-subject-lines-1514934.html

HTML e-mails with CSS

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 2:27 pm  
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HTML emails are widely used for all kinds of professional correspondence. Beyond email newsletters they’re used for all sorts of application-generated messages, such as receipts and confirmations. Styled messages have lots of appeal for marketers, designers and consumers — but for coders, it’s a real headache to create them properly.

Creating an HTML email that looks right to every reader is a job that makes cross-browser testing look easy. What can go wrong? After reaching its final destination, an email could be read using any of a number of standalone email clients (such as Outlook, AOL, and Eudora), and even more Web-based clients (Yahoo, Hotmail, and Gmail to name a few). Each of these email clients displays your HTML email message a little bit differently, so ensuring that your message displays correctly can be a daunting task.

How are coders coping with this mess? Some say the only solution is to go retro — by ditching CSS and using old-school HTML for formatting, but what about serious CSS coders who can’t even type a font tag with a straight face? Fortunately, we have options.

Stylesheets that Stick

When you’re coding an HTML email with CSS, make sure that you don’t use linked CSS files (.css files attached using link or @import). These are the stylesheets most widely ignored by email clients.

CSS style declarations in the head of an HTML document (using style tags) are ignored by some email clients, such as Gmail, so they should be avoided for styles that are key to the email design. I sometimes use a style tag for styles that are “expendable” — for example, when making all the links green instead of blue isn’t crucial, it’s a good style to define in a style tag.

The most reliable way to include CSS in an HTML email is to use inline styles. They aren’t pretty, but few email clients ignore them. These styles are defined within the HTML tags in the body of the document, like this: < p style=”color:green;font-family:sans-serif;”>green and arial text< /p >. Using span tags to apply inline styles also works well. [Remove spaces before and after "<" & ">"]

Layout Techniques

Most people suggest using table, tr, and td tags for page layout within an HTML email. Tables are the most stable option, especially if you’re creating email messages that require a more complicated multi-column layout. Gmail simply removes div tags, and coverage in other clients like Hotmail is spotty. Also, floating div tags don’t work in several email clients, so any floating elements can be placed in a table (using < table align=”left” >, for example). [Remove spaces before and after "<" & ">"]

Using a div tag for a layout or background color is a better option when you’re working with a single-column layout. Applying styles to div tags using inline styles versus a style tag will help keep that style in place when the email ships out to the masses.

On the bright side, you can scale back on div tags if they’re causing problems, and use the almost universally supported table, tr, and td tags for anything you can’t accomplish reliably with a div.

Formatting Text

The best way to make sure your text formatting sticks is to use inline styles, but applying an inline style to every bit of text is tedious and may add too much extra weight to the HTML. If you aren’t especially picky about details like the exact pixel size of your text, whether your “black” text shows up dark gray, and how your links are underlined, you’ll probably be happier applying text formatting with a style tag rather than inline.

One place where inline styles may make a real difference is in the headings and special notes within your email. When you want to ensure that a certain notice is always red, or that headings are the same shade of orange as your logo, you should use inline styles for that formatting.

Some email clients are notorious for changing text in strange ways that can only only be overridden with inline styles. Hotmail, for example, always displays links in small blue Verdana, regardless of the appearance of the rest of the email. If this is a problem for you, you should use inline styles on each link tag to override it.

Images and Backgrounds

The ability to include images a key advantage to HTML email — they allow you to show as well as tell, plus they’re often used to track email open rates. Like most perks, they have their downfalls. Spammers frequently abuse HTML images, so some email clients don’t display them at all without the user’s permission. Some email clients display images that are included in an img tag, but not images that are included with CSS, or as a background image, or both.

When creating HTML emails, you should also avoid using dark background colors, especially in the background of your email. If one of your lighter background colors is ignored by an email client for some reason, users may see the email as black text on a dark blue background and ignore the message or, even worse, report it as spam.

General Do’s and Don’t’s for HTML/CSS Emails

To wrap up, here are some do’s and don’t’s:

Do …

Use inline style declarations for the most important styles.

Declare styles in a style tag when they’re not absolutely necessary.

Use table tags for multi-column layouts and floating elements.

Test your email in multiple standalone and Web-based email clients.

Don’t …

Use external stylesheets.

Use floating div tags for multi-column layouts.

Expect CSS background images to show up in most email clients.

Rely on images showing up, especially background images.

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Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/email-articles/html-emails-with-css-1390588.html

POP3 Explained

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 4:58 pm  
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POP3 is by far the most popular way to handle your email. Our last article defined the benefits and downsides of using IMAP, and we will now go into the same for POP3. You are most likely already familiar with using POP3 to get your email now, but when you are running your own dedicated server, it helps to know more about how this protocol works.

POP3 stands for Post Office Protocol. It is accessed by using port 110 on your server. Most email clients enter in this information automatically when you set up a POP3 account, since it is standard.

POP3 email is very useful if you are worried about your server’s disk space. Since the email only stays on the server until it is downloaded to your computer, you do not have to be as concerned about this issue.

Each POP3 account will need a username and password in order to access the POP3 server on your site. Some servers require the entire email address for a log-in name, while others just ask for the name before the @ sign. You will need to check with your web hosting company to see which method of retrieval they use.

POP3 works by maintaining text files for each email account on your server. Each time a new message comes in for that account, the text of the new message is added onto the existing file. When you download your email, the file is erased and the process starts all over again.

One of the biggest advantages of using POP3 is simply that it is very easy to use. Most people are extremely familiar with using POP3 email and do not have a problem configuring their email clients.

However, the most popular reason people use POP3 is the ability to read and respond to emails offline. Once you have downloaded your email to your local machine, you will be able to move it to different folders, reply or read your email without any interference.

There are some downsides, such as not being able to retrieve lost or deleted email. If you make a mistake and permanently delete a POP3 message, you will not be able to log-in to your server to get another copy.

However, more email clients are now allowing you to specify if you want to leave certain messages on the server. This creates a hybrid of POP3 and IMAP and allows you to take advantage of the best features of both.

If you are worried about losing a particular email, you can set-up your mail client to avoid deleting that particular message before you download your email for that day. You will need to do this before downloading your email, or your efforts will be in vain.

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Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/email-articles/pop3-explained-1362533.html

Back to Basics: 5 Fundamentals for Building Successful Emails

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 at 2:34 pm  
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Email marketers strive to make an impact and generate response. They tirelessly fine tune strategies for breaking through inbox clutter. Then they fine tune for the next round. However, no matter how much is learned in tweaking and testing, email marketers are always well-served by remembering the basics. It is in fact, when these are overlooked or forgotten, that email marketers get in trouble.

These tried and true basics, used as the foundation for any email marketing campaign, can help boost the success of any email:

1. Focus on the Call to Action – Start by identifying your purpose for sending the email and define the message you want to convey. Then, most importantly, determine what you want your subscribers to do as a result of reading your email. Carry this thread throughout the rest of your campaign – from subject line to email design and the landing page. Make it as easy as possible for your recipients to get the message and keep the call to action simple, prominent and near the top of your message.

2. Craft your Subject Line Thoughtfully – Subject lines are still the most important factor in getting your message opened and read. Make sure the context and benefit of your message is clearly communicated, and that it matches the content of the email. The main benefit should be front-loaded, within the first 30 characters, so the message comes across in various email clients or mobile devices that truncate subject lines. Don’t forget the ‘From’ address, it should also be recognizable and branded with the sender’s name.

3. Design for the Preview Pane/Mobile Devices – The majority of email users view messages in a preview pane or on a mobile device. This means that there is a very small space to communicate your primary message elements – the brand, benefit and call to action. You need to establish rapport with the reader, entice them to open it, read further and act in a small space. These elements should be clearly positioned and not buried under unnecessary graphics. The configuration of the user’s preview pane can be it horizontal or vertical, but either way, the one space that will always show is the upper left corner. This is the prime real estate. Most email users read in an “F” pattern. That means down the left rail, and twice across the top. Leverage this pattern space to identify yourself (your brand), communicate your message (benefit) and lead them to interact (call to action).

4. Remember Image Blocking – Image blocking happens with email more often than not, so focus on the messages first, and the graphics second. And when graphics are used, make sure to use ALT IMG tags to convey the intended message of the graphic. Simple is good; more design is not necessarily better. The general rule of thumb is to have graphics comprise no more than 40 percent of your email message.

5. Stop Unsubscribes – This does not mean “don’t let your recipients unsubscribe.” To the contrary, make it as easy as possible for people to unsubscribe. But you should strive to deliver messages recipients want. According to Marketing Sherpa, the top reasons that recipients unsubscribe are 1) Emails lack relevancy – 58% and 2) They receive too many emails from the sender – 44%.* You can fix this by knowing your customer. Send them what they want and expect. Frequency can be a little more difficult to gauge, because everyone has different preferences. But you can ask your subscribers their preference when they sign up, and send accordingly. Or, you can be very clear about how often they can expect to hear from you at the time of sign up, and stick to that. If neither of these are options for current campaigns, make sure to monitor your email sends for complaints and unsubscribes as they relate to frequency. You will likely be able to identify some trends and adjust your send schedules accordingly.

It doesn’t need to be complicated to create a great email newsletter or other email campaigns, and sometimes it pays to get back to basics. Build on these fundamentals when creating new emails, or even to refresh existing ones, and see how well your campaigns can perform.

Becky Repka is marketing manager of StreamSend, a leading provider of easy and affordable email marketing software.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/email-articles/back-to-basics-5-fundamentals-for-building-successful-emails-1295290.html

What To Look Out For When Considering Bulk Email Software

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 at 10:36 pm  
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If you have that particular email that you need to send to the masses without having too much hassle, it can be wise to consider investing in bulk email software that can cater for your needs. However, if you are new to the entire concept of emailing in bulk, the process can be rather daunting. This article looks closely at this handy marketing tool and some of the features that you should look out for when you are in pursuit of that new piece of software.

 First things first and you should always look for a piece of software that allows you to have a free trial in order you to test the waters. The last thing that you want is to buy into a piece of software that you do not like, as it will invariably mean that you have to spend even more of your hard-earned cash.

 Now, just because you want to send bulk emails as an Internet marketer doesn’t necessarily mean that you are also a nifty graphic designer that can knock up a template for an email in seconds. This is why it could be significant for you to check that the bulk email software of your choice comes with some preset design templates for you to choose from for when you are writing messages to the masses.

 You can spend an infinite amount of funds on email marketing, but the bottom line is that it is of little use to you and your clients if the emails you send are not reaching their inboxes. It’s true that there are a few email clients that will happily catch your efforts in a spam filter, meaning that the significant email you are sending out never reaches the recipient.

 Thankfully, there are a few email marketing companies that offer guarantees and unique systems which surpass spam filters to ensure that the message you need to send reaches who you require it to reach.

 The bulk email software you should go onto choose should depend on your circumstances. Checking the pricing from different companies could help you to get the best deal, but ultimately, bearing in mind getting a licence from a company which means that you can send unlimited bulk emails without subscription can be for you.

 If you choose a membership which limits the amount of emails you can send per month, ensuring that you are with a client that could check for dormant email accounts in your mailing list will help you to ensure that you are not wasting your email allowance on discontinued email accounts and that you could streamline your costs as much as possible.

 Bulk email software is something to invest into carefully as it is the marketing tool that will get consumers to return to your business in order to make sales. This, combined with an effective scheme that gets clients to sign up to your mailing list, can help you to get on the road to success.

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Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/email-articles/what-to-look-out-for-when-considering-bulk-email-software-1278817.html

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