It’s an old standby email marketers’ trick, but it still works:  Personalisation.

Of course we all know that personalisation is a cheap trick – it’s not that the brand actually knows you personally, it’s a computer that automatically inserts your name in the allocated space.  However, everybody does it.  We’ve become so used to receiving emails personalised with our names that you notice when an email doesn’t address you by name.  With every other business addressing their clients by name, you stand out like a sore thumb when you neglect to personalise your emails.

First things first:
In order to personalise your emails you first need to “know” enough about your subscribers.  Make sure that your subscription form captures the necessary information.   You can set certain fields, like name, surname, location or gender, to be required fields. 
No idea how to set up personalisation for your campaign?  Watch the video tutorial.

Ready? Right.  Now here’s how to use it:

The personal nature of email is one of the advantages it has as a marketing tool – use this to your advantage by playing around with your personalisation; try using it in a way others don’t.  For instance, while everyone else is on a first name basis, why don’t you try addressing your subscribers by last name?  “Mr. Malema, your new Mercedes has arrived” or “Merry Christmas, Weasley family!” could put a new spin on things. 

Another often overlooked method of personalisation, is to personalise your emails by location.  Say, for instance, you’re sending out an email to announce your Spring Sale – you can tell subscribers to “rush over to their local ____ branch”  and insert the name of the store closest to their location.
If you want to take it a step further, you can also personalize your emails by sending emails relating to a specific store, branch or area only to people who are close to that location.  Use segmentation to do this.

Get creative with your personalisation - you might just impress both your subscribers and yourself!

We also run live online demonstrations on the topics of personalisation and segmentation.  Be sure to check our webinar page from time to time, or else request our team to schedule one by emailing info@graphicmail.com

We introduce: the  Inbox Preview, BETA version

Do your campaigns render correctly in all the different email programs out there (like Outlook 2007, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, and on and on)?  And what about all the smartphones and the iPad? Well, you can setup lots of email accounts and servers to check your campaigns yourself, and get a bunch of smartphones too, or you can click a button in GraphciMail  and we'll do all the testing for you. We have just launched the Inbox Preview tool (Beta version) on our South African market.

Introductory Offer:

Test it – we give you your first 3 tests free of charge!
Then decide what bundle is best for you – we offer them in 10, 25, 50 and 100. So if you want to preview 10 newsletters, buy a bundle of 10, if you want to preview 100, get a bundle of 100 – it all depends on how often you send and how many tests you want to run.

Get a bundle of

•    10 for  R50
•    25 for  R118.75 (5% discount)
•    50 for  R225 (10% discount)
•    100 for R400 (20% discount)

These rates are once off, i.e. you buy the amount of previews you need, and if you want to test more newsletters at a later stage, you simply buy an additional bundle of 10, 25, 50 or 100 from within your account. Believe us, this is the best investment you can make for your email marketing campaign.
You only get one chance to make a first impression with your clients – use Inbox Preview to make sure all of your subscribers get a looker of a newsletter.

How do I use Inbox Preview?

It couldn't be easier to do...

1)    Go to the inbox preview menu which is a sub item under “newsletters” in your GM acount
2)    Select the email you want to run the test on. (It will take a couple of minutes to run the test as GraphicMail sends emails and takes snapshots of the inboxes for you.) 
3)    Go and see the thumbnails of the various email clients. (To see it in greater detail, just click on a thumbnail.  You can then see if you need to make any changes.)
4)    Make the necessary changes and test again.

Remember this tool is to help you save time on testing your emails.  But you're responsible for fixing them. We do offer troubleshooting services or we can build templates for you, but this is not included in subscription costs.

Any questions? Comments? Issues? Contact our support team at info@graphcmail.com or call 0860 106 135

NB: Have you noticed all the mid-year interface changes on Hotmail, Gmail and others that affect the way email newsletters are displayed? One of the first things we have noticed is the change in email alignment and missing background colours when subscribers read your email newsletter in Firefox, Chrome or Safari. With Inbox Preview, you won’t have to worry about these anymore. Leave it up to us to give you the latest look of all email and webmail  providers.

I came across a very interesting study on eMarketer recently.  It was conducted in April 2010 and the aim was to find out what communication methods consumers prefer – and why.

It looks particularly at email, Facebook and Twitter.  Interestingly, the study found that customers mostly tend to prefer receiving emails from businesses and brands, and that those who interact with them through Facebook or Twitter are more than likely already signed up for their email newsletters.

Why is that – and why do your customers want three different channels of communication with your brand? 
As this study proved, people expect different types of communication through different channels.  Different networks thus have different audiences and messages should be customised accordingly.

Email

Email builds and maintains relationships with existing customers.  It’s informative, direct and targeted, rather than just a generic message directed at the masses.  (At least, that’s what customers have come to expect, so remember to segment and target your lists!)
 
Facebook
Facebook fans tend to be from a younger demographic.  By liking your business on Facebook they’re showing their support publicly.  Entertainment and active interaction are the most common reasons for users joining your Facebook group or page – conversational and interesting posts tend to get a good response.

Twitter
Twitter  users tend to be very active online.  They want to be constantly up to date, making it a great channel to give constant updates on new developments or current happenings. 

It seems that even your social network fans like receiving your email newsletters, in fact, they’re the ones most likely to sign up to your newsletters.  Good to know.  Why not add a newsletter subscription form to your Facebook page then? Find out how here. 

There are ways to offend subscribers if you’re looking for them…but why would you want to do that?  Problem is, often you offend or annoy subscribers without even knowing it.  I’ve put together a few key things that you may want to watch out for.

Problem:  Your emails aren’t customized to cater to my interests
Yes, email is a mass communication tool – but that doesn’t mean that one email appeals to all tastes and interests.  Personalised and, I’ve said this before, relevant communication gets better results from recipients. 
The danger here is that when you try to cover everyone’s varied interests in one newsletter, your newsletter becomes too long and confusing – a ramble of content that your subscribers will have to filter through to find something that appeals to them. 

Solution:
Make sure you send different emails to cater to the specific segments of your list.  Ask for your subscribers’ preferences when they sign up, i.e. what kind of information they’d like to read in your emails and how often they’d like to receive them, then stick to it!  Don’t email them daily if they requested a weekly email.
Yes it’s a bit more work, but if you keep it simple and work from a template it needn’t take much of your time.  Plus, isn’t it better to have smaller, more engaged audiences than just one mass of inattentive inattentive people who delete your newsletter or unsubscribe from it?

Problem:  They’re too long – and they don’t get my attention
As I’ve mentioned above, emails that require the reader to scroll through masses of information that could easily fill four or five screens simply won’t be read.  It’s too time consuming and too difficult to filter the information you’re actually interested in from that overflow.  Email is instant, quick communication, not something your recipients want to spend twenty minutes pouring over laboriously.
Also, you don’t know what dev ice your subscribers read your emails on. What if they read it off a smartphone or iPhone? Space limitations on there are far greater than on a PC or laptop. Think with a small screen on your mind – it will do wonders to your newsletter layout and where you place what content and links!

Solution:

Keep your content short and sweet.  If there’s a lot of in-depth information that needs to be conveyed, rather insert a hyperlink that will take me to the full article – it can even be on your site, generating more webtraffic.  Make sure the copy above the fold is attention-grabbing and that the call to action is clear.

Problem:  Your emails have too many images – and yes, there is such a thing!
Most of us have our images turned off in our email clients by default – it helps me to save on server space, means I spend less money when checking my emails on my mobile and generally helps reduce the number of spam emails I receive.  Why?  Because spam filters see too many images in an email as a spam threat.

Solution: 
When designing your emails, bear in mind that many people block their images and make sure that the area above the fold has enough copy to hold their attention regardless.  Keep a balance between copy and images and remember, when uploading your images to your newsletter, to insert alternative text.  That way even those of us who have our images turned off will see something other than a blank block where your image is supposed to be.

Problem:  Your email just isn’t hip enough.
Like it or not, social media is the hype of the moment – and staying a step ahead of your competitors requires staying ahead on every front.   Making it easy for me to share your email with my friends and colleagues shows that you understand the social age online marketing is entering, and that you’re keeping on top of these new developments.  Plus, it shows that you’re eager for me to share the information I value in your emails with your contacts, so if you keep the informative content coming I’m likely to help you out and spread the word.

Solution:

Add some social widgets to your footer, making it easy for me to share your newsletter with my social network connections with a simple click.  Or you can place a Forward to a Friend link in the footer, so I can easily forward your email to my email contacts.  More than anything, if you really want to get my attention, publish your newsletter where it’s fun for me to find – on Facebook or Twitter.  When I’m social networking I’m a lot more relaxed than when I’m checking my work emails, and thus in a much more positive and responsive frame of mind.

Problem:  It just doesn’t look right…
Different email clients, like Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook and Mweb (to name a few), render emails differently.  This means that your email will look different in every subscriber’s inbox.   Sometimes the images won’t be aligned the same, or the preview pane will be smaller than the one you designed it for – which means it might not look as appealing to all subscribers as you’d hoped.

Solution:
Conduct a test send! It’s what it’s there for.  Try sending your email to as many different email clients as possible – open accounts with the different clients specifically to receive test sends if need be.  Whether you try to view it in different clients or not, you should always conduct test sends – it’s the only way to really see what your email will look like and to test that all your links work.  (We’ll also be releasing a clever Inbox Preview tool soon; I’ll be able to give you more details in the coming weeks!)

Yes, I know these are pretty subjective – but think about when you receive email newsletters:  Don’t you respond the same way? 

Do you have a retail outlet, a shop, that serves walk-in customers?  I’ve notice that surprisingly few South African retailers send out email newsletters.  A pity, really, considering this:

In a recent US survey by www.emarketer.com it was found that 37% of in-store consumers preferred receiving promotions via email – 18% preferred being informed of promotions via SMS and only 9% wanted to hear about them on social networks like Facebook.

We’re bombarded with promotional messages daily, but email gives you the power to decide which messages you want to receive and when you want to read them.  Think about it:  When you’re sending out emails to people who subscribed to them these people have already indicated that they’re interested in what you have to offer – and much more likely to be persuaded to participate in a promotion or buy a product.

Email is also one of the most popular methods of communication.  The same study also reflected that more than 90% of all adults in the United States have email accounts, whereas only a select few are on Facebook or Twitter.  So, even though you might think you reach more people with your social media, you're likely to reach a much wider, more engaged audience with email.

So where are the South African retailers?  I want to know what Woolies food products are discounted this week, when Zoom will be getting in their winter boots or when Mr. Price is getting in new stock!  Are you providing your customers with the information they want, the way they want it?

What makes email marketing an effective mass communication tool? What makes it a successful marketing platform for businesses?

I’ve identified what I think are the three most important advantages email has over other marketing communication strategies.

#1 - Email is personal
Email is by nature a very personal medium.  As online interaction expands through social networking, blogging, online shopping and banking, your email address starts to form of part of your identity online.

In your inbox you have the power to decide whether or not to read a particular email, whether you want to report a sender as SPAM, and whose mailings you want to remain subscribed to.  Your inbox is a trusted zone where you are in charge.  So when your email shows up in your subscribers’ inboxes you’re already in a privileged space – treat your subscribers to quality newsletters and you’ll manage to grow the relationship.

Simply by subscribing to your newsletter your readers have indicated an interest in what you have to offer.  Unlike social networks where you simply broadcast generalized messages to the masses, email marketing gives you access to a more receptive audience –thereby increasing the likelihood that they’ll become valued customers. 
Most of all, email is private, giving you the opportunity to grow a relationship with your recipient, especially if you give them somewhere to direct their replies.

#2 - You can track your campaigns
Unlike most other marketing tools, email is easily tracked.  This means you always know whether or not your campaigns are performing as you’d like them to.  Of course certain things, like building brand recognition, are never entirely trackable – but in terms of list growth, traffic generated and sales converted you can monitor regularly.

Being able to monitor the campaign’s performance enables you to hone your email campaigns to deliver the desired results.

#3-Your campaigns are exclusive
Your email newsletters are a chance to reward your most loyal followers.

When you send targeted mailings to a segmented list, your recipients get relevant, valuable information; when you notify them of specials or offer them exclusive discounts, it motivates other potential clients to join your mailing list.  An excellent example is Kulula’s newsletter campaign.  Only those on their mailing list know on what days they host their one-day-only sales – it’s an excellent reason to sign up for their mailing list, but it also means that – because I’m always aware of their specials and are constantly reminded of them by their regular emails – I’m more likely to search Kulula’s site for flights before looking at their competitors.

Build a quality, rewarding campaign (one from which your subscribers benefit) and you’re likely to get good word of mouth: they might just share your newsletter with their contacts, thereby expanding your audience.

Keep these three factors in mind when creating your campaigns and use them to your business’ advantage.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the most important thing about email marketing is getting the right message to the right recipients. It’s all about relevancy folks! Think about it: your subscribers open their inboxes to find a heap of new mail…personal mail, marketing messages, invitations, news and maybe even a little Spam. It takes time to sort through mail and weed out the good from the bad. So what will guarantee that your messages aren’t forgotten, deleted or labeled as junk?

It’s simple, really. Offer your subscribers the information that they want, i.e. the information that they signed up to receive. Recipients have opted into your messages for a reason. Perhaps they’ve indicated an interest in your promotions, new products or upcoming events — regardless, give the people the information that they want. For example, I signed up to receive newsletters from Amazon about new non-fiction book releases only. Hopefully, Amazon won’t be sending me information about Kindle updates because it’s not what I’m interested in. Rest assured that if Amazon did send me info about Kindles, they would lose some  credibility. If they had caught me on a bad day, I might even unsubscribe myself from their mailing list. 
Basically, all of your messages should contain quality information that is worth a reader’s time and effort.

Email marketing affords you the opportunity to listen to what your subscribers are saying, even if they aren’t actually saying anything. GraphicMail’s reports and analytics features let you know which emails are reaching who and what those subscribers are doing with said emails. See who is opening emails, if they’re clicking on links and, if so, which links they’re clicking on, then use that information send the most appropriate (read: relevant) messages to the right people. Communication is a two-way street, and with email marketing you won’t be preaching to subscribers about your business, rather they’ll be requesting information from you that they find interesting. Keep an eye on what your subscribers are doing, or else you email marketing campaign will quickly turn to rubbish.

If you’re an occasional blog reader or a practicing GraphicMailer, you’ve probably heard us sing the praises of our TriggerMail and subscriber segmentation features. These features are designed to help you keep providing your subscribers with relevant emails with minimal effort.

Keep your newsletters relevant and your subscribers will keep coming back for more – and who knows, they might even forward your email to their friends.

Ruan Benade, our Head of Design, answered some questions frequently asked by email marketers when trying to decide on a design for their email newsletters. We picked his brain for design and technical tips, handy resources and advice on how you can design your newsletters for optimal results.

Do I need to be a designer to create and edit an email newsletter?

Yes and no. Firstly we need to differentiate between “designing” and “building” a newsletter. The former requires some creative skill and an ability to use design principles to create a striking and engaging experience, the latter requires knowledge of HTML and CSS as well as experience in how emails render differently to say, websites.

So, to answer the question, it will certainly help to be a designer if you want to design great looking websites… or to have experience in coding to build emails that display consistently across all browsers. On the other hand anyone can edit or modify an email newsletter using the kind of software that GraphicMail offers.

I want to design an email that’s visually appealing for my subscribers.  How do I go about that?

A designer will use a combination of layout, graphical elements, color and images to make an email visually appealing. A novice will often cram a design full of graphic elements and colors in the belief that it lends impact, whereas the extra clutter will ironically end up detracting the user from the true content and images. So my advice to non-designers would be to keep the layout very clean with maybe a splash of color here and there, and use images. Great images combined with large catchy headings are your best weapon. Also remember to place your best image at the top of the newsletter where it will be seen first.

Do I use more images, or more text, or equal amounts of both?

There is no general rule here. A photography business or online product shop will feature more images, whereas a financial company will have more copy. It is important here to know your market and to understand what they are looking for in your newsletter. If you are showing pictures of generic smiling business people to your clients, when they are in fact looking for up to date market info then you are not providing value to your subscribers.

What are my options online for buying or sourcing “free" images?

You can buy images for a set fee (royalty free) from the bigger online image banks like www.gettyimages.com or you can use pre-purchased credits to buy images from the new generation of cheaper image banks like www.istockphoto.com or www.123rf.com. These sites sell photos, illustrations, video files, sound files and even flash files. Keep in mind that the cheaper images are not yours exclusively to use and so your competitors are free to go and use the same images that you have just spent days building a campaign or look with. Here you truly get what you pay for.

Most images online are subject to standard copyright laws. “Free” online images are usually licensed under the “creative commons licensing agreement” which has various requirements, for instance that you have to credit each picture you use.  (Read more about that here.) You can find free images supplied by the public on sites like www.sxc.hu and www.morguefile.com.

How can I edit my images? Are there any free online tools?

Designers traditionally use powerful software programs like Adobe  Photoshop, but for simpler editing work there are a number of free online options. Check out www.sumopaint.com, www.picnic.com or www.pixelr.com. Stay tuned as we will feature a review of free online editing tools on our blog in the coming weeks.

Should my emails look as similar as possible to my website?

Your branding should always be as consistent as possible across all your promotional media whether print or online. An email newsletter or e-flyer should not try to be an exact copy of your website but a simpler introduction to what your business and website offers. Your logo, colors and corporate personality should be instantly recognizable no matter what the medium.

What should I avoid when creating my newsletter?

Needless to say avoid creating dull and uninspired email communication :)
On the technical front there are a number of things to avoid.  I would need a whole new article to cover this so that’s another blog article in the making. Generally emails need to be coded in tables and should feature inline styles as far as possible.  Don’t use floats or PNGs and avoid background images. Oh and wrap your whole email in a table or div with inline styles or Google will strip out your background color.

What can I do to be sure my email renders well across all email clients?

Be informed on what to avoid when designing and building emails. Then test the emails before sending.  There are 20+ email clients and as there are no email standards in place, they will all render your email differently.

The most comprehensive testing option is to pay for an online testing service. You send a test email to a given address and you get to see previews of how it is rendered in all the existing email clients. One such a service is www.litmusapp.com.  GraphicMail has partnered with a trusted testing provider and will soon provide this as a paid for service.
Of course you always have the option of signing up for free testing accounts on online email clients, but that still leaves the Mac and PC platform and their respective default email clients. Not to even mention iPhone and other mobile clients as well.

Which is better: Customizing a free template or having a custom template specially designed?

A custom template designed and built by a professional is definitely the best option. This is of course a once-off cost. After that you should just save a draft and edit your draft newsletter every time you need to send.
If, however, you are on a tight budget then there is the option of modifying a free template and adding in your branding and content.

Any other handy tips you can share with us?

Always provide alt text for images. So even when most email clients block images by default you will still be able to see the alt text descriptions.
Be warned that there are still a few email clients that don’t display alt tags when images are blocked. 

Good luck!

We are well and truly in the midst of soccer fever:  All the guys and girls around the office talk about is which games they have tickets for – in fact, two of them are deep in conversation about when and where they’re going to pick up their tickets as I write this!

So while the anticipation is building our design team thought it was time to hop on the bandwagon.  For a minute there I was expecting the worst (vuvuzelas), but apparently they’ve been hard at work rustling up some new templates – and you can guess the theme!

Engage your subscribers with your enthusiasm - now even your email campaigns can spread the excitement!