Jokes aside, email marketing templates can be a downright pain. Unless you’re unlucky enough to have all 72 email clients, you never know exactly what the recipients will see and it really is a guessing game as to which clients support which CSS properties.

Fortunately, the team over at Campaign Monitor (sorry, Emma!) has comprised a wonderful chart that outlines supported CSS properties by email client. While it doesn’t make the job any more fun or glamorous, this chart definitely makes the guess-work of coding email marketing templates a little bit easier.

Check it.

But you knew that, didn’t you?

Just think to yourself, what would appeal to me? Keep your monthly label, but add some color, like “Initech’s February Newsletter: How Good is Your HR team? Take Our Quiz and Find Out…” Now, we’re intrigued. Nice work, Initech (don’t forget the flair).

So, avoid the generic subject lines. Be sure to include a reference to your company/cause/group. This personalizes the message. And try your best to tell your audience what the message is all about … tell them just enough to get them interested in learning more.

Something else to avoid… spam filters.

Your subject line is part of the campaign and part of what spam filters will review in deciding whether to route your email to the inbox or the junk folder. Don’t do all caps. Don’t do exclamation points. Don’t say “free” or “act now” or “viagra.” You get the idea.

Of course, practice makes perfect. It’s always a good idea to review your campaigns after a couple of months to see which ones were opened more often than others. Keep an eye on the subject and think precisely.

1. Look at the bounces.

It may not be the most fun place to start, but you need to pay attention to the number (and names) of bounced email from your campaign. Maybe there is a typo in the address (something you can easily remedy), or maybe the addy is no longer valid. It’s always best to keep your lists as clean as possible. (and don’t forget about the “in progress” emails… as a part of the overall delivery process, the system’s servers are retrying soft bounces for you, up to four times over 24 hours.

2. Do the numbers (but don’t overdo them).

Use the “campaign compare” feature to see how your most recent results stack up against your results from last month or last year. It’ll just take a few minutes, and you can even export to an Excel file that averages and summarizes the campaigns side by side.

3. Remember to follow up.

When people click on campaign links, it means they want to know more. This means you have a captive audience about a particular subject. Be sure to follow up with the clickers with smaller campaigns aimed at those most likely to respond. For example, you might send a 10%-off coupon just to the folks who clicked on your latest product but didn’t buy it. Or you could follow up with a reminder email to anyone who clicked to find out more about your upcoming seminar. Best of all, your account makes the process quick and easy. Just create a search to find people who’ve opened or clicked a specific link in a campaign, right from the response section, and send to it later. Or, you can use the “trigger feature” to set a follow-up campaign to send automatically when anyone clicks a particular link in a previously sent or scheduled campaign.

4. Think about your next e-blast.

You may find that you get your best ideas about next time when you’re breaking down the results from this time. Got a feeling that a shorter subject line might have increased your open rates? Write it down now and test your theory later. In this case, you might split up your audience during the next go-around to send two versions of the campaign. You could use a different subject line for each. Then compare the results to see which was more likely to get your audience’s attention.

Three ways to utilize the opt-in feature:

1. Invite new subscribers to confirm their signup.

By making sure your confirmation email asks each new subscriber to click a confirmation link, it’s your way of making sure a) he or she is getting your emails, and b) he or she – and not his or her prankster friend Rolf – is indeed the person who signed up.

Tip: You can see who has (and hasn’t) confirmed at any time by viewing your audience groups and sorting by the opt-in confirmed column, which includes a check mark for anyone who has confirmed.

2. Invite people to renew their subscription after moving to your email marketing account.

After importing your list to your email marketing account, consider including a confirmation link in your first few campaigns to tell people about your new campaign format and ask them to confirm their place on your list. Be sure to include the link in several consecutive campaigns (to give recipients several chances to act) and then target the remaining non-responders with a last-chance-to-confirm campaign.

3. Invite people to renew their place in your list once a year.

It’s a good idea to, on an annual basis, ask your recipients to help you keep your list clean by confirming their desire to remain on it. You don’t have to interrupt your routine to do it either. Instead, just incorporate a quick confirm-it prompt at the top of your regular newsletters, updates and promotions.

Tip: You can find (and send to) the “unconfirmed” folks using the search & segment feature.

1. Get permission.

The best thing you can do to boost your response rates is to follow the first rule of permission email marketing: send only to people who’ve asked to receive your emails.

2. Proof your content.

If your open rates are lower than you expected, there’s a chance that a phrase or two in your email kept it from arriving safely in your recipients’ inboxes. The fool-proof proofing tab tells you how your campaign’s content might fare against a standard spam filter, so you can pinpoint any potentially troublesome content before you send.

3. Keep your email size reasonable.

As you’re putting your newsletter together, remember that straightforward, easy-to-read content encourages your recipients to open your message. And in addition to being reader-friendly, shorter campaigns are server-friendly, too. Lengthy blocks of text and lots of images can make it harder for receiving servers to accept your content.

4. Send your messages when people are more likely to respond.

It’s important for your email to arrive when the majority of people are most likely to read it. The ideal send time for your organization depends largely on who you’re sending to, so keep your audience in mind when scheduling or sending a campaign. Avoid scheduling a campaign for the close of business day or first thing Monday morning.

5. Entice with your subject line.

Along with the “From Address,” your subject line plays a major role in encouraging people to open your email. If you want to see whether a spicier subject line makes a difference in your open rate, try dividing your audience into two groups, sending the campaign with two separate subject lines, and comparing the results.

Dos

• Get real with your subject line. (something better than My June Newsletter…)
• Strike the right balance between images and text. (don’t go heavy on either side)
• Brand more than just the “from” name. (you have your address and your title to work with)
• Focus above the fold. (more than half of all recipients use a horizontal preview window)
• Design for multiple display possibilities. (html, plain text and the “no images displayed” view)

Don’ts

• Do not send an email to people who didn’t ask for it. (stay legit)
• Do not utilize an invalid reply-to address. (keep it real)
• Do not send too often. (think 2-3 times a month, max)
• Do not forget to personalize your message. (send it to all the first names in your db)
• Do not forget to test. (that’s why your email marketing account has the capability)

One more thought: A study by MarketingSerpa found that your audience will read more of an email’s actual content, as long as there are graphics near the top of the email. Think about it – people want to be drawn in. So think visually before you type.

1. Cost - email marketing is far cheaper than sending out mass mailers. Between the cost of printing and the increasing cost of postage, a tri-folded brochure can easily cost $1 each to mail. With mass email marketing campaigns, 2,500 "brochures" can be sent for $25. Wow!
2. Tracking - With email marketing the business owner can easily track the number of people who opened the email. No telling how many of those paper brochures fall straight in the recycling bin! Also, any bad email addresses are automatically tracked so that future lists can be streamlined.
3. Click-throughs – When a person receives a paper brochure in their mailbox, they have to do something, like pick up the phone or sit down to write an email to give a response. An email makes it easy for people to click straight to a website for additional information or to reply to get in touch with a person more quickly. Less effort on the part of the consumer, usually means greater return.

Now, there definitely is a time and place to send mail the old fashioned way. People like to have a piece of paper to hold and remind them of someone or something. We’re sentimental. However, when you are looking to reach the masses, especially on a regular basis, you really can’t beat a good email marketing strategy!

The icy slush has finally left us for good and flowers are starting to pop up all over the nicely kept yards of Williamson County.  I love this time of year!  I also love this time of year for building new content and creating new marketing strategies for FI.

Recently, we have started targeting fashionistas in Franklin with a special newsletter called from FI’s Fashion Editor’s desk.  The newsletter is receiving great response, as targeted viewers gain special access to Franklin’s sales, style tips, stylish giveaways and more!

Rather than a text heavy email, the newsletter consists of 5 big pics (the big ideas for that month) which viewers can click on to see the hottest stuff going on in Franklin and Brentwood.

Of course, we took into account that some viewers may not be able or may chose to not have images viewed once emails hit their inbox, so the newsletter has text built into the html that states what the images say and has links for the viewer to click.

To sign up for this special newsletter and get the in crowd info on fashion in the area, simply send an email to Fashion@FranklinIs.com.