Understanding Email Content Filtering

Most email programs will come with some type of email filtering program. Within the email filters are options like spam characteristics allowing the consumer to filter certain content. A consumer can access the email filter and set the options to their preference.

Four techniques to keep in mind when sending email, so your not simulating spam.

* Always use a subject line with a meaning. Do not use a generic subject line. People will always delete an email that has the from line reading Anonymous. Always have your business or name in the from line.

* Do not attach a PDF document only containing advertisements. Some email programs will let you send the attachment notification without actually attaching the attachment. This will give the recipient the option to download the PDF file from the actual website. This works well for trustworthy.

* Always include plain text in any image advertisements. This looks like a real person has created this email specifically for you.

* "DO NOT" use excessive promotional phrases or words.

Most people do not alter their email filtering programs. So keeping these few things in mind when creating an email should exclude you from the most common filters.

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Read RSS Feeds

Earlier I talked about how to use RSS feeds and understanding what feeds are. Today I will talk about the importance of Grouping your feeds in folders or labeling them with tags.

Obtaining Feedback From Emailing

Email is designed in the form of a two way communication. It is used to gather feedback from your audience. Many people love to voice there opinions. So email has been used in a way of accomplishing this.

Two categories people use to obtain feedback in an email form.

1) Stated feedback

A. Filling out an online form
B. Filling out an online survey
c. A person sends a reply to an email

2) Behavioral Feedback is used to track people's motives.

A. Links are clicked within the email
B. The rate at which an email is opened.
c. E-mails forwarded to friends, family, colleagues, etc.

Feedback is very important in an email campaign. If you don't acquire feedback, then you may or could be wasting your time.

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Identifiable Emails

Potential customers, business partners, are more likely to respond positively to your email messages when they can identify your brand, or are familiar with your content. Always plan all your email messages as if they were just one. For example: If you were to send out one email with a certain logo or design. Always make sure all the following emails have the same identical logo and design. This way your emails start becoming familiar to your audience.

Seven marketing materials your logo and colors should be identical on.

* Advertisement signs or banners.

* A potential customer ordering something from your order form.

* Signing up for your emails or newsletters.

* Most important, your website.

* Any type of receipt you may give to your customer.

* Business cards should all look the same.

* E-mails should always be identified by the recipient.

Always include your company name on all your marketing materials with some type of contact.

Five types of marketing materials that should always include your company name.

* When sending an email, always have a from line.

* Try to include your company name in the URL.

* A great form of marketing is using an e-mail signature. Make sure to include your companies name in the signature.

* Any directories you submit your website or blogs to.

* Of coarse, your blog and websites.

Make sure you have consistency in your emails.

Five consistencies to keep in mind when sending an email.

* Keep all the fonts to a bare minimum which include the size.

* Make sure the layout is set to what you are sending.

* If images are included, make sure it pertains to the content of the email.

* Headlines are the key to a person opening the email. Make it a good one.

* Include some type of contact for a person to take action.

Keeping these few ideas in mind when creating an email, should give you a better response in your e-mail campaigns.

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Email Legal Practices

Spamming emails are illegal. You must get permission from the recipient before sending any type of commercial email. Email is classified in 2 different categories.

* Commercial email: Any email that is sent in the name of your business to advertise, promote, or any content from a business website.

* Transactional or relationship email: Any other email that is not commercial email.

Keeping your email clean and in compliant will make a better relationship with your recipient. Listed below are the 2 CAN-SPAM acts that were implemented in 2003 and 2008. Check them out to make sure your emails are in compliance.

* 2003 Act
* 2003 revision to the 2008 Act

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Clicking the Spam Button

Consumers may not even perceive your email as spam. But they may click the spam button for a few reasons.

Four reasons a consumer may mark your email as spam but not intentionally.

* Where you have the unsubscribe option may be hard to locate. So to make it easy, they will just click spam option. Now your email is labeled as spam.

* A Lot of emails perceive to be spam. So if the unsubscribe option looks spammy, you may wan't to change the appearance.

* The spam button is located right around all the other options when sorting their mail. So this can cause the consumer to accidentally click the spam button.

* Most people who delete spam will do it in groups. So they may include your address unintentionally when selecting emails.

So I suggest that you try and make every email professional and spam free.

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Obtaining Subscriber Information

So far for the last few weeks I have been talking about email marketing. If you have missed my posts, feel free to go back to review and make comments. Today I will talk about, what you should do when you obtain an email for the first time.

You do not need to have all information for the first when obtaining an email. Always make sure the first email is a permission based email. If so, then you can request more information in future e-mails.

Four ways to gain more information in future e-mails.

* Send a quick to the point email with any relevant information regarding a survey.

* Upon sending a regular email, just include in the email any additional information you may want.

* In your web site you can include any forms or links that collect the information from the customer of prospect.

* As time goes on, they develop more trust, you can ask them through other marketing media you may have.

It's important to "not" ask for to much information at the beginning. People will either not start the form or quit after they have entered there name, email and phone number. That is pretty much all the information you need to start building a relationship.

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Email Campaign Displayed Information

In my last post I talked about "Creating an effective marketing email." Today I will talk about, what should be included in an email when creating an email campaign using a form.

Always ask yourself this question. How would your audience always recognize your emails? Then include that information in the email. Most email service providers or (ESP) will let you use an unique header for each email campaign.

What is needed in your email campaign when creating the form to get noticed.

* Include your name in any email if the recipient can only identify you by your name. Without a name, the recipient can label you as a spammer. Of course you always want your recipient to know who the email is from.

* A person may not know you by your personal name but by the business name. Always include your business name in the email's. Exactly like they found you and nothing different.

* You may be a representative of a well know business or franchise. So in this case, you will want to use your name and the company name. Most network marketers fall into this category.

* You may have to divide your email list into separate categories. For example, you may be a leader in your MLM and send out mass emails. You would want to know who there representative is or sponsor, so they know who to label the email to.

* Using your location can also help. You may have people in your down line from all parts of the world. For example: if you are putting on a live meeting in your area, you can just send out the mass email to people in your geographical location.

* Many people may only recognize you from your business domain name. Even if your business uses abbreviations or initials, you still want to use the full name. This is for branding purposes. This portion of the form will be in the from line.

* Creating an email address that identifies you and your business. This would be included in the from address line of the form. A recommendation would be to create an address that identifies who you are and what your branding.

Keeping these few ideas in mind when creating an email campaign, can save you some trouble in the long run.

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Email Matching to Your Brand

In my last post I talked about branding your emails to increase your image. Today I will continue talking about, branding your emails to match your business.

Every time you are making communication with people always use the same branding elements. Emails are no exception. Always matching every email with your brand will give your audience more confidence in your brand and will put a mental picture in there head of your brand.

Seven ways to create and email to match your brand.

* Place your logo in the email where people can see it. I would suggest in the upper left hand corner or centered at the top of an email. Using company logos will reinforce the image of your company.

Now you need to understand, not all MLM companies will let you use the company logo. You must read your companies "policies and procedures." If they don't just be creative in your design.

* Use the colors from your companies logo. You can do this by placing the colors in the border and backgrounds of your email.

* Always use the colors from your web site to match your email. People may be hesitant, if they click your web site in an email and see something totally different.

* Make sure to match your web site offers with your email offers.

For example: You are emailing out an offer that is directing people to your web site to complete the offer. Make sure your web site uses the same colors and elements as your email.

* Any type of print communications you have, always make sure it matches your email.

* Using the same fonts all the time is very important in every email. You do not want to include in your email a variety of different fonts. This will distract your reader and chances are they will leave. Stick with two, maybe three.

* Make sure your emails reflect the personality of your business. Just as the design of your email is important so is the writing.

Hint: Before sending any email have a friend or colleague proof read your email. Get their feed back about what changes need to be made if any.

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How to Use RSS Feeds

For the past 2 weeks I have been talking about How to write for a blog. Today I will talk about how to understand the feeds and using a feed reader within a blog or website. After a post has been written and then published, it will then go into an RSS feed. Which is a standard way of delivering headlines and articles in a streamlined text.

If most people are like me, they use a feed reader to read all their favorite blogs and websites. It is an easy way to get all your information in one place. This will keep you from having to access all your favorite blogs or websites individually. Every time you access your feed reader, it goes and checks the RSS feed for updates. In return your feed reader will update you of the newest post. Feed readers will give you an opportunity to sort through all the news and organize it and ignore the rest.

My favorite reader is google reader. It is easy to use and has lots of powerful tools. Even though I use google reader, there are lots of different readers that are just as nice to use. All people who have a google account will already have a google reader. You can either go to www.google.com/reader or just sign into your google account and find it in the top tab.

Subscribing in google reader is quite easy.

* Sign into your google reader and click add subscription link.

* Type the web address of the blog to which you want to subscribe.

* Click Add and google reader will detect the blogs RSS feed and subscribe.


This was just a post to enlighten you, how life could be so much easier if you just had the right tools.

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RSS Feed Advertising

RSS feed gives a visitor an option to subscribe to your posts using a feed reader. Such as google reader, microsoft outlook or one of many other readers. RSS stands for "Real Simple Syndication." Within the reader, it posts the headings and a summary of your post. This gives a person an opportunity to read many blogs in one location.

Most blogs have a build in RSS generation to provide the RSS feed. I prefer to use a feedburner service provided by google. Using this feedburner is an excellent marketing tool for your business.

Five advantages of using googles feedburner.

* You can add any sort of advertising to your RSS feed.

* Delivers your feed in multiple formats for the best compatibility.

* Gives you the opportunity to track the number of subscriptions.

* Has the option to add social networks to share within the feed. Also, you can email a friend directly from the feed.

* Add email subscriptions straight from the feed.

Simple steps to set up your feed burner.

* Visit www.feedburner.com

* Create an account.

* Go to your blog and locate your blogs feed.

* Paste the blogs feed address right in "Burn a Feed Right This Instant field and click next.

* Log into your blog and replace the old feed address with the new feed burner address.

Most people think that there is only one way for people to get information from your blog. Tons of people will receive your content without ever physically going to your blog just by using the RSS feed.

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Establishing Your Reputation

Last week or so I have talked about ways of keeping your email off the block list and avoiding a fire wall. Today, I will talk about how to avoid being part of the 77% email delivery issues which occur by the senders reputation.

Choosing the right ESP is very important when researching for the right ESP. Most servers are not known as a respectable email server. So you need to make sure you choose the right ESP with a good reputation with deliverability.

Five key points to make sure the ESP can do before choosing the right ESP

* Always have an authentication in your emails. This will give the email servers the opportunity to identify the sender of the email.

* Eliminate customers with high spam complaints. Because to many customers with high spam complaints can end up on the block list.

* Because ESP's cannot predetermine the quality of their customers. Make sure the ESP requires the customer to adhere to strict permission policies.

* Confirm permission from the ESP's customers list subscribers when possible.

* Keep their customers from sending repeated emails to unknown users. If your ESP sends an email two or three times to an unknown address, it will stop automatically and will not continue sending them. This is done through a reputable ESP.

These are just a few ideas to keep in mind when determining the right ESP.

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Dodging Email Firewalls

Yesterday I talked about how to avoid your emails from being put on a blocked list. Today I will talk about Email firewalls. They are a piece of software used to block untrustworthy emails. An email firewall can be configured to block any level of emails.

Example: A person may configure there emails to block an email with certain content. Another person may block there email from certain senders.

To target if your email is being blocked from a firewall is pretty tough to do. Since fire walls have so many different variables there really isn't a way of detecting this. If your ESP provides a report of bounced emails you can at least see what email addresses are being blocked. This will give you the opportunity of taking action on your emails.

3 tactics you can use to keep your email from possibly getting blocked.

* Ask your subscribers if they can add your address to their address book so your emails will no longer get blocked. You can do this by adding it to your subscribers welcome letter.

* Ask your blocked subscribers if they can provide you with an alternative email.

* If your email is a business email, you can ask your IT department to please add your address to the companies contact list. Most fire walls will ignore the command if your address is in the friends contact list.

These are just a few precautions you can take to keep your emails from being blocked from the recipients.

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Avoiding Block Lists In Email

OK, I have been away for a little while talking about email marketing. So today I will continue where I left off. If you missed my last post regarding the difference between bounced email and blocked email don't be alarmed just click the link. Let's talk about why it is important to keep your email and or server off the email block list.

A block list is a data base that contains all domain names and server addresses that have been suspected of spamming. These block lists are maintained by an ISP or other companies that monitor spammers. Your address or server can only be logged to these services from the consumers who are reporting these addresses or servers.

Companies at times will use false email addresses on the internet to reduce the amount of spam they are receiving. This type of technique is called, "trap email." When Spammers send out web crawlers to try and capture email addresses to these trap emails, the domain and server address is automatically added to the block list. So if you were to send out an email to one of these trap emails then your address or server is pretty much toast.

3 ways to avoid trap e-mail addresses.

* Don't ever surf the internet to obtain email addresses. This could definitely get you into trouble. And by the way it is also illegal.

* Don't send an email to a purchased list to obtain addresses. Most of the addresses are trap e-mail.

* Send out an email to all your new list subscribers welcoming them. If you get your welcome letter returned, then most likely your email went to a trap email. At this point you will want to delete that email address.

These are just a few ways to protect yourself from being labeled as a spammer.

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Differences Between Bounced Blocked Email

I have talked about how to calculate your email bounce rate. Today I will tell you the difference between Bounced email and Blocked email.

Sometimes when you send an email it can return back to the sender. This can be sent back by either the email server or some sort of software application. These types of emails are either called bounced or blocked.

Slight differences between bounced email and a blocked email

* A bounced email happpens on a per email basis. This type of email is considered undeliverable. It happens by either the recipients email inbox is full, address misspelled or doesn't exist.

* A blocked email happens on an all inclusive basis. This occurs by certain characteristics of the email are unwanted.

Example: An ESP decides to block all emails with attachments or from certain senders. There is a code that is attached to the returned email stating why the email was returned.

Always make sure to review your bounced report to find out how many of your emails are showing bounced or blocked.

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Testing Offers Call to Action

I have talked about how effective it is to know your click view data. Today I will talk about how you should use your click view data for testing your offers and calls to action.

Knowing if your offers or calls to action has inclined or declined is important. This will tell you if they are compelling to your audience. To do so, just send your offers and call to actions to a portion of your email list and tracking your click through rate.

Four techniques you can use to create and execute your own click through tests.

* Randomly pick 10% of your email list subscribers. Then copy them to a new data base labeling them in a new category.

* Create two versions of your email. Then send one half to one part of the list and one to the other part.

* Waiting anywhere from 48 hours to 72 hours. Check your click through report and see what links were popular. Remember people do not open email's right away, so you have to have patience.

* Taking the most popular elements from your partial email and creating a final email. Send this email to your entire list.

These are just a few ideas to keep in mind so you can create the best email possible.

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Using Click Through Data to Your Advantage

Earlier I talked about the importance of Estimating the click through rate in an email. Today I will talk about understanding the importance of tracking the click through data. Using the data you have gathered from your click through rate report is very useful information. This will track anybody who has not followed through with a purchase or any commitments. You can follow up with the clicker to find out why they might quit the process.

Following up with your emails can be very effective. You always want to gather addresses and phone numbers.

For example: If you send out a pre-registration for an event. You can track all the clicks that pre-registered and the others who have not. This way you can make a call to the non registered people and find out what kept them from registering. Your clicker may had a question, and your web site did not answer their question. Some people are skeptical about entering their credit card information. You can rest assure them it is completely secured.

Six ways to do follow ups on your click through rate reports.

* Send your clicker a second chance offer. Making sure to bold or high light a Second Chance. Maybe you want to use some artistic work in your second chance offer.

* Send your clickers a post card or a product sample to thank them for considering your offers. Mention that you would like to know if you can offer them an alternative in product or service.

* Pick up the phone and call your clickers and ask if they have any questions. Believe it or not. When someone decides to leave your web site without finishing the process, there is a big chance that they may have been confused with the process. Doing a follow up call can and will clear up their confusion.

* Send out a survey to your clickers. Ask them how was the process, and what changes could be made if any. People love to respond on things that are asking for their opinions.

* Always thank your subscribers for sharing your emails. Whether it's a direct email or through social networks.

* Send a post card to the one's who unsubscribe. Let them know how valuable they are to your work and thank you for considering your products or services.

People like to be noticed. Using these ideas, will and could change how your audience responds to you.

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Targeting Your Email Offers

Lets get started by talking about how important it is to track all your clicks within an email. This gives you the opportunity to track what may be of interest to your audience. How often and what links are being clicked in an email will and can give you a great chance to increase the value and size of your email list. This is where having a great ESP or marketing program is very important to accomplish your email marketing goals.

Someone who clicks a link such as an offer or article in your email will give you some sort of interest in that person. This is where placing the clickers into some sort of email list based on their interests is very effective. It will give you a more targeted email.

Three tips to determine your audiences interests and dividing your email lists.

* Write your clicks in such ways that they attract that particular audience. You want your links to speak for you.

For example: If your business sells a variety of snacks for adults and kids. If your offer is pointed towards kids. You will want to write the link with some sort of eye catching offers that point towards kids interests. Kids like to eat chewy, crunchy products, so that maybe something to include in the link.

* Make small changes to your emails. You can do this by just rearranging the items in order of interest to your audience. Maybe even change the subject line to the targeted audience. This will keep you having to create new emails for each and every different audience.

* You may have more than one offer. Send the different offers to the appropriate audience of interest. People tend to respond to calls of action in your emails based on the strength of the offer. Keeping the call of action the same but just changing the offers according to your audience.

For example: You may want to take a survey. The one's taking the survey may receive discounts and the other's offers may receive privileges.

These are just a few tricks of the trade I have learned from others. They seam to be pretty effective.

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Importance of Tracking Email Replies

ESP's cannot track your email replies. But when you receive an email reply, in the subject line you will see "RE:" but without the quotes. This will show that the email you had sent has been replied to. If there are excessive "RE's," then you know how many times people have replied to your emails.

Keeping track of replies in your email is not really useful. But what is useful is keeping track of qualitative information in your replies. This will help you for future complaints or problems somebody may have.

Two ideas you can use in tracking email replies.

* Keeping track of the particulars in the reply.

Was the email a complaint, suggestion, or an inquiry. Make sure to reply to the source. Keeping track of this information can help you in deciding if you should set up a link pertaining to those repeating questions.

* Always keep track of your responses.

This way you can address any other person's with the same complaint. Start a FAQ in your blog or web site. This will give peoples a place to go if they have any questions that may be answered in the FAQ's.

People go online to find answers for their problems. Having the answer's to their problems will definitely increase a relationship possibility.

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Tracking Events Through Email

In my last post I talked about Tracking your phone calls in an email campaign. Today I will talk about how to track your event attendance in an email campaign. If your goal is to increase event attendance through email. You must have some type of tracking method to keep track of your progress.

Three ideas to track your event attendance and linking them to your email marketing campaign.

* If your event is held somewhere outside the internet. You can ask your audience to please bring your email invitation with them. This is an excellent way to track your email invitations.

* Ask your audience to please mention your email or have an access code to enter the event. You can even use this for an event you may be hosting on the internet. Just make sure to track the number of people who mention the email or the code when entering the event.

* One that is really popular. Ask your audience to preregister by calling or replying to an email. This is probably the easiest and most proficient way to track your success.

As your events get bigger, you want to have some type of tracking method so you know what is working and what is not. If you see that the numbers are increasing in your events due to referrals. You want to know this so you can give credit where the credit is due.

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