Apart from sales and response rates, that are the major indicators to how well your program is performing, there are other critical areas where you can rate your program’s effectiveness. (more…)

“Content is king” they say and it appears that it is still good to be the king. And good content is one of the fastest and more affordable ways to increase your contact list and boost revenue over time. Good content has always been a pull for both search engines and people looking for information. Use the 10 types of article templates below to great content and to create variety in your email newsletter. (more…)

Email marketing solution has become really necessary in the present times for any business to survive. If you really want to make a difference, then what you should do is that you should seek email marketing services being provided by some companies. (more…)

2008

“Many small businesses looked beyond mass/blast email tactics and practiced more targeted and relevant 1to1 communications.

They say that there were some big trends in Targeting and Personalization. “More small businesses began using segmentation tactics to improve targeting and email marketing performance,” they say. “Small businesses not only addressed subscribers directly by name, but also used personal/profile data offered by subscribers to personalize/customize content and messages according to individual preferences.”

The challenges that small businesses have faced, however lie with deliverability. There is of course always concern with SPAM filters, and over the past year, businesses have depended largely on email service providers to help them overcome this issue.

2009

2009 will be the year in which businesses take more of the initiative themselves for following email marketing best practices. “The recession will spur entrepreneurship as professionals who are laid-off will from large corporations start their own businesses,” they say. “These start-ups and sole proprietor businesses will rely heavily on email marketing. The trends for improving email marketing performance through better targeting and personalization will continue, resulting in more strategic integrated email marketing campaigns.”

Their predictions for 2009 include upward trends in:

- Email automation
- Integrated campaigns, and
- Back-to-basic list management

Email marketing is said to be one of the top marketing methods for small businesses during the holidays.

If you need any further assistance with email marketing please do not hesitate to contact us here at EmailMarketer or if you would like a free trial click here.

The original source for this article can be found here: http://www.smallbusinessnewz.com/topnews/2008/12/09/email-marketing-trends-of-the-past-predictions-for-the-future

Though it may sit in the shadows of today’s shiner marketing techniques, email marketing continues to be an effective, low-cost way for SMB owners to reach out to, inform and retain current customers. In fact, according to new numbers from Forrester Research, email marketing will reach $2 billion by 2014. And that’s a very good thing. (more…)

Attention, online marketers. Do your part and adhere to these rules.

1. Send e-mail only to those who have “opted-in” to receive it.

Ideally you should use “confirmed” opt-in, in which a confirmation message must be sent to the recipient, who in turn must reply to the message for the opt-in to take effect. Avoid “opt-out,” which forces the recipient to receive messages until he says no.

The widespread practice of opt-out appears to actually discourage e-commerce, according to past surveys, which found that many surfers have gave false information when filling out online forms.

Bottom line: Consumer trust is something you have to earn. One of the best ways is to respect consumers’ wishes when it comes to e-mail. (more…)

Facebook has acquired FriendFeed , we’ve learned. We’re gathering details now.

At this point details on the acquisition are still very sparse, but it’s clearly a good match. Over the last year or so, Facebook has “borrowed” quite a few features that FriendFeed popularized, including the ‘Like’ feature and an emphasis on real-time news updates. (more…)

Email addresses on a (single) opt-in list are not confirmed. Anybody can submit anybody’s address to the list, and it will be there until it is unsubscribed.

Single opt in means that as soon as a contact completes your subscriber form, they are automatically added to your contact List. No additional confirmation or step is required.

Unlike single opt in, double opt-in requires your contacts to validate their email address before being added to your contact list. (more…)

Should you send your newsletter in plain text and abandon the advantage of rich HTML formatting? Or should you risk annoying some who detest HTML more than anything else?

Fortunately, email has an elegant and almost universal solution to this dilemma: multipart/alternative messages. (more…)

Email Marketing relies heavily on a call to action, this could consist of clicking on a link to purchase a product, view a new product range, to read a topic, or even taking a survey.

So your aim is to create some immediate action, a good example for this would be a sale of air conditioners, reminding your readers of the upcoming soaring heat within the  Australian summer, thus promoting your air conditioners to ready your contacts  for the coming months ahead. This if not overdone can trigger your contacts to start preparing for summer by buying your product. (more…)