Email Marketing Tips

Here’s another simple way you can test, test, test your campaigns.

The position of a link within your email can be crucial for getting a click-through. That’s why you should experiment with link placement in your campaign email and test it. It’s not an exact science but I’ve experienced wildly differing click through rates in campaigns just by changing the position of a link in the message. Of course, repeating the link is also a good idea - a link in a different position is a different link. Multiple links, linking to the same page, can work well, especially if differing styles and wording are used.

Test to a small segment of your list or vary the placement of standard links within consecutive campaigns. Closely monitoring the results in Analyser may throw up some interesting results over time and provide an insight into the best position for your links to get maximum click-throughs.

1. Include a small taster of your email’s content in the subject line. Don’t mislead the recipient into opening your mail - this will most likely lead to your address being swiftly added to the ‘blocked senders’ list and a new reputation as a ’spammer’. 

2. Always offer an unsubscribe link - LiveWire Campaign makes it easy for the recipient to unsubscribe by automatically adding a link to the bottom of your mails. Don’t try to remove it. You’ll get spam complaints and get blocked from the LiveWire Campaign system. 

3. Avoid Manic Monday and Frantic Friday - don’t underestimate the timing of your email - statistics indicate that recipients are more receptive to offers at midday midweek. Just before lunch is often a good time. Recipients’ are more likely to browse their emails while they eat their sandwich! 

4. Your user may not have the very latest PC capable of revealing cutting-edge graphics, so keep them to a minimum and keep file sizes small by processing them first in a good paint package before uploading them to LiveWire. Remember to make links within the email relevant and easily navigated. 

5. Limit the number of emails you send - inundating inboxes can be frustrating to the reader and inevitably end in deletion. Try to limit yourself to 1 per week/fortnight/month. The more frequent and persistent your emails are - the more likely it is that recipients will unsubscribe. 

6. Always include contact details and links to your website- obvious but easily forgotten! 

7. Don’t make your emails too long. Nobody is going to read a novel that arrives in their inbox! Create links back to your website for supporting information instead. Remember, you’re trying to find out who’s interested in your offer and relevant click-throughs will tell you. 

8. Use your newsletter to carry out market research - an ideal market, receptive to your information, product and offers is ideal. Relevant information is more likely to get read. 

9. Use the name of the recipient in the body of the email - LiveWire Campaign enables you to do this easily and personalisation will help your open rates. 

10. Test, test, test - make small changes to your mails and check the results in Analyser. Small tweaks can make a big difference to your results. Test your campaigns to small groups before sending to your final list.

Format

Emails currently can be delivered in plain-text format or HTML format. Consider the target audience to determine which is the more appropriate format for any specific campaign.

Frequency

The intervals at which email marketing efforts are repeated: weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, etc.

Goal (Objective) of Emailing

The coherent, defined purpose, which allows targeting recipients appropriately, creating a unified and effective message and measuring the results. Each email, as well as the overall campaign, should have a clear goal.

Hard bounce/Soft bounce

A hard bounce is the failed delivery of an email due to a permanent reason like a non-existent address. A soft bounce is the failed delivery of an email due to a temporary issue, like a full mailbox or an unavailable server.

Headers

The documentation that accompanies the body of an email message. Headers contain information on the email itself and the route it’s taken across the Internet. Recipients can normally see the “to” (identity of recipient), “from” (identity of sender) and “subject” (information in the subject line) headers in their inbox. They can be modified to influence their decision to open or delete an email.

Headline

The opening announcement that greets recipients once they have opened the email. Ideally, this immediately communicates the company’s unique selling proposition and encourages the recipient to penetrate further into the email.

HTML Format

Fully designed graphical look and feel.

If I receive an email campaign that addresses me by my name I feel more like myself, less like a number — and I’m more likely to read the message. Address recipients with their name in email campaigns

If at all possible, you should:

• Personalise your LiveWire Campaign emails
• Greet and address recipients individually with their name.

Often, you will use the first name only, but for some campaigns the last name will be more appropriate.

The number of users signing up to LiveWire Campaign has surpassed all our expectations. It’s great news and we’re upgrading some areas of the system to ensure that we continue to provide the very best service to our users.

In order to do this, we will have to disable access to LiveWire Campaign, at the following time:

Friday 15th December: 6:00am to 9:00am (GMT)

After this time, you will be able to login to LiveWire Campaign as normal.