Email Marketing Tips

One issue that can be faced when sending email from an email marketing platform such as LiveWire Campaign, is that destination mail servers do not know if LiveWire campaign is permitted to deliver mail coming from your email domain.

SPF records allow you to specify which servers are allowed to send mail for your domain, and we would strongly recommend that you do set up a valid SPF record for your domain - as more and more mail servers are now giving emails a higher SPAM score if no valid SPF record can be found for the sending domain - or even worse, if an email is sent from a domain which has an SPF record, but from a server which is not shown as permitted to send the email.

To set up an SPF record for your domain, you will need to have access to (or make a request to someone who does have access to) the DNS records for your email domain.

A TXT record will need to be added to your domain configuration, containing the following:

• “v=spf1 a mx include:iwiremail.co.uk ?all”

Iwiremail.com is the domain which LiveWire Campaign uses for sending email - the section include:iwiremail.co.uk in the SPF record is what specifies that emails from LiveWire campaign servers are permitted.  The other instructions specify that any mail server for your domain, or any other server which is registered on your domain (e.g. your web server) is also allowed to send email for your domain - these settings should be safe for most domains, but in some cases may need to be reviewed by an IT professional dependant on your domain configuration.

One thing to note, is that you will not be able to setup an SPF record if you are sending from a shared domain email address (e.g. hotmail.com / gmail.com / yahoo.com /etc.) - and this is just one of many reasons why you should never send email marketing campaigns from such an address.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need further assistance or advice in setting an SPF record up for use with LiveWire Campaign - either post a comment, or send an email to support at livewirecampaign.co.uk.

Are you linking to eBay (or other high profile shopping or banking sites) from within your Email Marketing Campaign?

If so, please read the following advice carefully.

One of the most prevelant cybercrime attacks perpetrated by criminals, is Phishing.

Phising is “the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy website.”

On of the most common type of Phishing attack, is to send out an email containing links that appear as if they are pointing to a trusted website (e.g. http://www.ebay.co.uk) but in actual fact point to a completely different website - which may on first glance look like ebay - in the hope that unsuspecting recipients will enter their usernames, passwords, and credit card details.

As a direct response to this, the majority of antispam / antivirus software will now scan emails for any links which appear to point to a different website to the link which is displayed.  In particualr, if any of these links point to a high profile shopping or banking website (such as ebay), there is a high liklihood that the email will either be blocked (i.e. the recipient will never recieve it) or the recipient may recieve the message - but marked as a possible fraud attempt by the antivirus software.

The reason that this is a particular problem to users of LiveWire Campign, is that all links within your campaigns are tracked, so that you can see who has been clicking onthe link.  This is done by redirecting all links through the LiveWire Campaign website, and then immediately redirecting to the actual link destination.  This means that if you put a link with the text http://www.ebay.co.uk, and with a destination of http://www.ebay.co.uk - the initial link actually points to http://www.livewirecampaign.co.uk - and there is a high likelihood your email will with be blocked, or will be displayed to your recipients as a possible / probable fraud (which isn’t great marketing!)

The Solution:

Thankfully the solution is quite simple.

Read more »

LiveWire Campaign automatically inserts the latest address and contact details we have on record for your account into new email campaigns as they are created.

These details are initially populated from the details you entered when registering on the system.

These details can be edited at any time, and the revised details will then be used for all future campaigns you create:

• Log in to LiveWire Campaign
• Click the Account Settings link at the top right corner of the screen
  
• Click the Edit your Profile button
  
• Enter your revised address and contact details
• Click Save Changes button

All campaigns you subsequently create will contain your revised details.

1. Create a few alternative generic email accounts (newsletter@yourdomain.com) specifically for your email marketing, this will mean campaign replies do not get mixed with personal and business emails.
2. Log on to your account and verify another email address in the ‘Manager’ section. This will allow you to use separate sending and reply addresses.
3. Create your campaigns by making one template using the ‘Designer’ and then duplicating this template and edit the content for each campaign. This will give all your emails a consistent branding and format.
4. Change the status of your email templates to ‘Sent’ from the ‘View and edit email details’ pop-up in the Designer section. This will keep your template available but it will not appear in the ‘Manager’ active campaigns list.
5. When sending a campaign, rename the Batch name with the prefix Test or Live this will make it easy to pick Live campaigns from your sent list in the Analyser. 

You don’t need elaborate charts or high-priced consultants to develop effective marketing. But you do need a plan. A marketing plan gives you a roadmap that can drive action and point the way. This is true for e-marketing as it is for any other form of marketing. A marketing plan can help you:

• Identify which customers are your best prospects.
• Evaluate company data against your industry or market.
• Track results so you learn what works.

Without a plan, you may be moving fast, but you may not be moving in the right direction. Here are five steps to creating a strategic and practical marketing plan:
Step 1
 Position Your Product Many business owners blur the lines between promotion, advertising, and public relations. Those are the channels of a message or campaign, not marketing itself. The four Ps of marketing are:

• Product - Having the right product or service for your market.
• Price - Selling your product or service for an amount that makes your target customer feel it’s a good deal.
• Promotion: Creating appropriate perceptions across multiple channels, including, print — direct mail, flyers, brochures, and postcards, TV or radio spots, newspaper or magazine ads, online and more.
• Place - Distributing your product to locations where your target customers can readily find it.
• Profit - Putting the right product or service at the right price in front of the right customer will ensure that you walk the path of success. Keep in mind that a high volume of sales isn’t the key. Profit is. The goal of marketing is to generate the interest or recognition that will lead to the sales that will boost profits. That’s the reason to create a strategy. You want to craft persuasive messages for the customers you target. You also want messages that promise only what you actually deliver.

Step 2
Brainstorm to define appropriate marketing for your company, set up some brainstorming meetings with advisors you trust, such as family, friends, staff, or other professionals. Meetings can be casual lunches or formal offsite meetings. Just stay away from ringing phones and don’t expect to get everything done in one meeting. At these sessions, explore answers to these questions:

• Who are you selling to?
• What do those customers need?
• What distinguishes your product or service from the competition?
• Which marketing tactics will make your products noticeable?
• When and how often should marketing efforts be used?
• Where do you want your company to be in a year?

You might consider taping these sessions and distilling the best ideas and suggestions. Start putting notes on paper. Describe the location and size of your marketplace, how sales and distribution will work, your target customer (age, income, locations, and purchase patterns) and how your products rate against competitors.
 Step 3
Listen to Customers Next, you need to know how customers react to your quality and price, service and delivery, image and brand—everything, in short, that influences their purchasing decision. To discover what customers think, just ask them. Survey some of your current customers as well as customers you want to reach. Make personal calls or send them surveys via e-mail or postcards. Include an incentive to boost participation, such as a discount or a free sample. Based on what you learn, prepare a SWOT analysis that deconstructs your business in fresh ways:

• Strengths - What makes your business thrive?
• Weaknesses - What are your vulnerabilities?
• Opportunities - What market conditions or segments can lead to growth?
• Threats - How are competitors snapping at your heels?

Step 4
Draft the Plan, now that you have an overview of customers and market conditions, you can flesh out your plan. This plan needn’t be a formal document, but should at least consist of a written outline to share with staff or outside consultants and to refer to later. The plan should cover:

• A summary of your market position and goals.
• A definition of what you expect to accomplish in a specific time period (e.g.: “We will sell 200 x’s by the fourth quarter.”)
• A list of target markets, including segmentation and niche areas
• An appropriate strategy for each segment or market.
• Expenses and resources, and how they will be allocated.
• Marketing channels. This is where you choose the types of marketing materials and distribution vehicles that you will use to attract target customers, including flyers, postcards, email marketing, newsletters, Web site and more.
• Competitive strategies. How will you respond to your competitors, for example, if a competitor lowers his price?

Step 5
Track Results Include benchmarks in your plan. Use these benchmarks to take stock of whether your marketing efforts are paying off or if you should rethink your approach. Calculate the category and cost of marketing communications and compare with set specific sales forecasts. Plans are great, but if you don’t also designate responsibility, set deadlines and hold people accountable, marketing efforts can’t succeed.
Use the Campaign Analyzer to track the results of your e-mail Marketing.
Finally, don’t rest on your laurels. Markets change all the time and you must be ready. Make sure to review the plan to see if you must revisit any goals.