When users hesitate to take action, they often turn to others to decide what they should do. So use a positive review in the header, body or footer of an email to encourage users to request more information or make a purchase.
Open Rate Truth Be Told
Oh, where do we begin when it comes to open rates? Well, you
can Google it yourself to see the numbers are not accurate and a nice gauge to
see how your email newsletters are getting to your readers.
The average open rate is below by industry. Listen to our vLog to learn thetruth about open rates…including that when you view your email newsletters on your phone those numbers will not report…you be the judge!
Business Type Open Rate
Accountant 15%
Art Gallery 23%
Associations 21%
Consultants 15%
Education 19%
Entertainment 16%
Event Planning 17%
Government 23%
Hotels 19%
Legal 19%
Manufacturing 19%
Marketing/PR 15%
Medical 18%
Non-profit 22%
Office Supplies 13%
Personal Services 18%
Professional Services 17%
Real Estate 16%
Religious Organization 23%
Restaurants 19%
Retail 18%
Salon/Spa 17%
Technology 15%
Travel & Tourism 17%
Web 18%
The average open rate is below by industry. Listen to our vLog to learn thetruth about open rates…including that when you view your email newsletters on your phone those numbers will not report…you be the judge!
Business Type Open Rate
Accountant 15%
Art Gallery 23%
Associations 21%
Consultants 15%
Education 19%
Entertainment 16%
Event Planning 17%
Government 23%
Hotels 19%
Legal 19%
Manufacturing 19%
Marketing/PR 15%
Medical 18%
Non-profit 22%
Office Supplies 13%
Personal Services 18%
Professional Services 17%
Real Estate 16%
Religious Organization 23%
Restaurants 19%
Retail 18%
Salon/Spa 17%
Technology 15%
Travel & Tourism 17%
Web 18%
Where you spend your hard earned dollars
AMERICANS CAN NOW DETERMINE WHERE
TO SHOP AND SPEND THEIR MONEY
Election Cycle political
donations, as reported by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Shopping
Price Club/Costco donated
$225K, 99% went to Democrats
Rite Aid donated $517K, 60%
went to Democrats
Magla Products (Stanley
Warnaco (undergarments) donated
$55K, 73% went to Democrats
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
donated $153K, 99% went to Democrats
Estee Lauder donated
$448K, 95% went to Democrats
Guess, Inc. Donated
$145K, 98% went to Democrats
Calvin Klein donated
$78K, 100% went to Democrats
Liz Claiborne, Inc. Donated
$34K, 97% went to Democrats
Levi Straus donated
$26K, 97% went to Democrats
Olan Mills donated
$175K, 99% went to Democrats
WalMart donated $467K, 97% went to Republicans
K-Mart donated
$524K, 86% went to Republicans
Home Depot donated
$298K, 89% went to Republicans
Target donated
$226K, 70% went to Republicans
3M Co. Donated
$281K, 87% went to Republicans
Hallmark Cards donated
$319K, 92% went to Republicans
Amway donated
$391K, 100% Republicans
Kohler Co. (plumbing
fixtures) donated $283K, 100% Republicans
B.F. Goodrich (tires)
donated $215K, 97% went to Republicans
Proctor & Gamble
donated $243K, 79% went to Republicans
Spirits
Southern Wine & Spirits
donated $213K, 73% went to Democrats
Joseph E. Seagrams & Sons
(incl. Beverage Business and considerable media interests) donated $2M+, 67%
went to Democrats
Gallo Winery donated
$337K, 95% went to Democrats
Coors & Budweiser
donated $174K, 92% went to Republicans
Brown-Forman Corp.
(Southern Comfort, Jack Daniels, Bushmills, Korbel Wines, Lenox China
Hungry?
Sonic Corporation donated $83K, 98%
went to Democrats
Triarc Companies (Arby's, T.J.
Cinnamon's, Pasta Connections) donated $112K, 96% went to Democrats
Pilgrim's Pride Corp.
(chicken) donated $366K, 100% went to Republicans
Outback Steakhouse
donated $641K, 95% went to Republicans
Tricon Global
Restaurants (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell) donated $133K, 87% went to Republicans
Brinker International
(Maggiano's, Brinker Cafe, Chili's, On the Border, Macaroni Grill, Crazymel's, Corner
Baker, EatZis) donated $242K, 83% went to Republicans
Waffle House donated
$279K, 100% went to Republicans
McDonald's Corp.
Donated $197K, 86% went to Republicans
Darden Restaurants (Red
Lobster, Olive Garden, Smokey Bones, Bahama Breeze) donated $121K, 89% went
to Republicans
Heinz Republicans
$64,000 Democrats $21,300! John Kerry's wife's company!!!
Traveling and/or dining
Hyatt Corporation donated $187K
of which 80% went to Democrats
Marriott International
$323K, 81% went to Republicans
Holiday Inns donated
$38K, 71% went to Republicans
Email Newsletters Credited in Campaign
This is aninteresting read and even though the election didn’t go the way I wanted I’m
proud to know that email newsletters have been credited to bring in millions by
a simple word like “hey”!
It quickly became clear that a casual tone was usually most effective. ‘Hey’ was probably the best one we had over the duration.”
If you’re not into
reading this article here are the cliff notes:
It quickly became clear that a casual tone was usually most effective. ‘Hey’ was probably the best one we had over the duration.”
That’s how we arrived at the ugly yellow highlighting on the sections we
wanted to draw people’s eye to.”
Another unexpected hit: profanity. Dropping in mild curse words such as
“Hell yeah, I like Obamacare” got big clicks.
Most people have
a nearly limitless capacity for e-mail and won’t unsubscribe no matter how many
they’re sent.
The bottom line: Obama’s e-mail fundraising team tested
hundreds of grabby subject lines. The most successful—“Hey”— brought in
millions of dollars.
Twitter - I'm hooked but what do all these numbers really mean?
I'm hooked!
Then as I'm building my followers more and more I begin to
notice that the followers I'm getting aren't retweeting my posts which makes me
think...are we in a social media state of kind where it's not about what we say
but how many numbers are next to our name?
What do you think?
Holiday Email Newsletter Tips
Listen for tips on how to make your email newsletters and marketing work for you this holiday season! The Callan Group offers several examples on how to capture your audience and set your business a part from the rest!
Holiday Email Newsletter TipsHelping Hurricane Sandy Victims One Click at a Time
Helping Hurricane Sandy Victims One Click at a TimeLocal business encouraging a
viral campaign to raise funds for victims of Hurricane Sandy
About The Callan Group
The mission of this Veteran/Woman owned firm is to assist the business community by bringing experience, innovation and training to help further economic growth through custom, personalized electronic marketing. The Callan Group was awarded a Bronze Addy Award by the American Advertising Federation for exceptional work in electronic marketing and all their employees are active in several non-profit organizations in Volusia and Flagler counties.
ORMOND BEACH, FL (Saturday, November
3, 2012) - With relief efforts happening from the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy,
The Callan Group wants to help by donating $1 for every LIKE on their business
Facebook page or Twitter page. "The idea is to drive traffic on social
media sites so more people see the post and possibly do the same thing,"
said Diane Michael, owner of the custom email newsletter company. "We were
trying to find a way to raise funds for this immediate need and felt a viral
campaign would be the best way to gain the most exposure."
About The Callan Group
The mission of this Veteran/Woman owned firm is to assist the business community by bringing experience, innovation and training to help further economic growth through custom, personalized electronic marketing. The Callan Group was awarded a Bronze Addy Award by the American Advertising Federation for exceptional work in electronic marketing and all their employees are active in several non-profit organizations in Volusia and Flagler counties.
More Ideas How To Build Your Email List
The Callan Group gets asked often the best way to build your list. Hope you can take some advice from these ideas and an article from Street Fight.
Email marketing is incredibly important for both customer retention and acquisition. Although social media and mobile messaging get the bulk of the attention these days when it comes to notifying people about limited-time discounts and events, 64% of customers still say that email is their favorite channel for hearing about a retailer’s upcoming sales and promotions.
Of course, email newsletters are only effective if they’re being seen by consumers who are interested and engaged with the content a business is sending out. Many businesses struggle with finding ways to grow their email marketing lists, especially businesses that haven’t developed methods for acquiring their customers’ contact information during transactions that occur at the point of sale. Here are five tips from email marketing experts about how merchants can grow their marketing lists and deliver more effective email messages.
Read more from Street Fight
Email marketing is incredibly important for both customer retention and acquisition. Although social media and mobile messaging get the bulk of the attention these days when it comes to notifying people about limited-time discounts and events, 64% of customers still say that email is their favorite channel for hearing about a retailer’s upcoming sales and promotions.
Of course, email newsletters are only effective if they’re being seen by consumers who are interested and engaged with the content a business is sending out. Many businesses struggle with finding ways to grow their email marketing lists, especially businesses that haven’t developed methods for acquiring their customers’ contact information during transactions that occur at the point of sale. Here are five tips from email marketing experts about how merchants can grow their marketing lists and deliver more effective email messages.
Read more from Street Fight
Five Ways to Build a Solid Email Marketing List
Email marketing is a powerful tool that can extend your reach beyond your website and create new sales opportunities. If you simply sell to customers when they happen to visit your site, you have an all-or-nothing chance of making a sale. Should they leave without making a purchase, there's no guarantee they'll return later.
But when you build an email list of current and potential customers, you can reach out repeatedly to your prospects with targeted messages.
Here are five ways to integrate email marketing into your website and stay in touch with your best prospects:
Read full article from Entrepreneur Magazine here
The Cross-Platform Consumer: New Communication Imperatives
A new study titled “The New Multi-Screen World: Understanding Cross-Platform Consumer Behavior” from Google suggests that reaching your audience on one device isn’t enough. The research reveals that 90% of people use multiple devices – mobiles, PCs, tablets, smart phones, TVs – to accomplish a goal.
The Google study and article from PR Newswire is interesting reading and underscores the connectedness of our audiences and how the advent of mobile devices has significantly changed the decision making process.
Read full story from PR Newswire
Why Email Marketing is King
It makes some great points how a larger amount of money is spent in advertising using other forms of media when email marketing is much more cost effective.
Read Why Email Marketing is King by Arthur Middleton Hughes here
Three Awesome Emails to Increase Customer Retention
Customer retention is one of the hardest and most important things to get right in business. Tools and metrics abound for wooing and impressing new customers. Marketing analytics tend to focus on the point of conversion, and marketing budgets are often geared toward driving acquisition. New customers are exciting. They cause sales bells to ring. But your existing customers, the ones who have made the decision to stick by you, need some careful attention too. Here are a few email ideas to keep your existing customers engaged and happy with their experience throughout the customer lifecycle.
6 Smart & Effective Email Marketing Tactics
A great article from Mashable with some smart and effective email marketing tactics. The Callan Group highly recommends these tips and more and would love to consult with you and your electronic marketing plans.
Although consumers’ communication habits have evolved with the rising popularity of social media and smartphones, brands are still turning to their dependable friend — email — to attract and retain customers and boost their bottom lines.
There’s no denying that email is showing signs of decline — the number of visitors to web-based email sites fell 6% in 2010 compared to the previous year, and email engagement declined at an even greater rate, according to a report from digital analysis company comScore.
In response to these changes, brands are quickly adapting by combining email, social media and even mobile marketing tactics.
Despite the decline in email, new communication channels won’t replace email. “Email is actually more important than ever with the ground swell of social and mobile,” says Greg Cangialosi, CEO of email marketing company Blue Sky Factory, which also partners with Mashable.
The reason of the decline in email might be due to the fact that people are switching to secure email providers.
The reason people are switching to secure email providers is because free email providers can change your security settings at any time, which could result in emails ending up in your spam box that are not supposed to be there.
Also, free email providers use a technology that scans your emails and sells this information to advertisers. So if you have been emailing back and forth about puppies, do not be surprised to see an advertisement on where to get cheap doggy biscuits!
Read full article from Mashable
Although consumers’ communication habits have evolved with the rising popularity of social media and smartphones, brands are still turning to their dependable friend — email — to attract and retain customers and boost their bottom lines.
There’s no denying that email is showing signs of decline — the number of visitors to web-based email sites fell 6% in 2010 compared to the previous year, and email engagement declined at an even greater rate, according to a report from digital analysis company comScore.
In response to these changes, brands are quickly adapting by combining email, social media and even mobile marketing tactics.
Despite the decline in email, new communication channels won’t replace email. “Email is actually more important than ever with the ground swell of social and mobile,” says Greg Cangialosi, CEO of email marketing company Blue Sky Factory, which also partners with Mashable.
The reason of the decline in email might be due to the fact that people are switching to secure email providers.
The reason people are switching to secure email providers is because free email providers can change your security settings at any time, which could result in emails ending up in your spam box that are not supposed to be there.
Also, free email providers use a technology that scans your emails and sells this information to advertisers. So if you have been emailing back and forth about puppies, do not be surprised to see an advertisement on where to get cheap doggy biscuits!
Read full article from Mashable
Using Customer Retention to Build Your Business
 |
| Credit: Under 30 CEO |
Many companies today are focused on obtaining new customers through innovative marketing campaigns, daily deal sites, holiday sales, and various other promotional activities. There are great campaigns in an effort to attract new customers or clients.
Read full article from Under 30 CEO
Recent survey on how Volusia and Flagler businnes owners use their electronic mediums.
1.How many times a day do you look at
Facebook? If hourly, how often?
·
Couple of times a week ***** (5)
·
Once a day ** (2)
·
Hourly ******* (7)
·
Every 15 minutes * (1)
·
No **** (4)
2.Do you have an active Twitter account
that you post on weekly/monthly?
·
No********** (10)
·
Yes, weekly****** (6)
·
Yes, daily ** (2)
·
Have account, do not post * (1)
3. How many email newsletters do you
receive a week?
·
25 (estimate, varies) (1)
·
5-10** (2)
·
1-5 ******* (7)
·
10-15 ****** (6)
·
Don’t know *** (3)
4.Do you receive any emails from businesses
you didn't sign up for that you
continue to receive and don't mind getting?
·
No ******* (7)
·
Yes *********** (12)
5. Do you have more than one e! mail
account that you check daily?
·
Yes, one personal, one business*
(1)
·
Yes************* (12)
·
No ****** (6)
6.How many times an hour do you check your
email?
·
Approx. once per hour *******
(7)
·
3 times a day * (1)
·
No * (1)
·
Once a day * (1)
·
Continuously ***** (5)
·
Every 5-15 mins **** (4)
7. How many times an hour do you look a t
your text messages?
·
When received **************
(13)
·
Once **** (4)
·
Don’t ** (2)
8. Do you have a Smartphone?
·
No**** (4)
·
Yes *************** (15)
9. Do you subscribe to any magazines?
·
Yes ************** (14)
·
No ***** (5)
10. How often do you read the local
newspaper whether in print or online?
·
Daily************* (13)
·
3 times a week * (1)
·
Once a week * (1)
·
Rare ** (2)
·
When receiving a link * (1)
11. Do you subscribe to any blogs or rss
feeds? If so, how many?
·
No******** (8)
·
Yes, a couple (1-6) *********
(10)
·
Yes, 10 * (1)
12. Do you know how to display images in an
email newsletter where you're
viewing x's where pictures should be?
·
Yes (15)
·
No (4)
13. Do you know how to add an email sender
to your safe sender list?
·
Yes (14)
·
n/a (1)
·
No (4)
14. Do you know how to export email
addresses out of your electronic address
book?
·
No (5)
·
Yes (13)
·
n/a (1)
15. What do you do with print direct mail?
·
Read it (4)
·
Throw it away (15)
16. Do you keep/save the yellow pages or
phone boom?
·
No (12)
·
Yes (7)
17. If you receive! d an ema il with a
video in it, would you press play and
watch if the message was less than 5
minutes?
·
If time allowed and it appeared
to be of interest or known source(16)
·
No ( 3)
18. Do you know what rss feed means?
·
Yes (15)
·
No (4)
19. Do you know what www means?
·
Yes (19)
20. Do you know what https means?
·
No (2)
·
Yes (17)
21. Do you LIKE most businesses that ask
you to LIKE them on Facebook?
·
Yes, (6)
·
No (5)
·
Occasionally (If known or if
interested) (8)
Retention Vs New Clients
Read article from Laura Lake, About.com
4 Ways to Use Email to Improve Website Conversions
Source
Email marketing is still one of the most effective sales channels, but many marketers overlook simple ways to optimize the performance of their email campaigns.
According to Forrester Research, email marketing spending will reach $2.5 billion by 2016, up 63 percent from 2011. Clearly email marketing represents a key way to reach customers, but even if you succeed in getting someone to click a link from within an email, it doesn't mean you're guaranteed to get the all-important conversion.
Here are four ways that marketers can make the most of every email campaign by increasing their relevance to customers.
Read full article from ClickZ
Spice Up Your Email: Add Video
From Manta
Video can take your email campaign to the next level. Adding a video into your email is the perfect way to engage your customers with helpful, useful content. It's easy to incorporate a video, just add a screenshot of the video and link to the full video on your website or YouTube site. You'll have a more engaging email and a dynamic way to showcase your products or services.
How to be a Successful Freelancer
Great Article from Small Biz Lady!
Most small businesses start today as a side hustle first. In fact, 1 in 3 Americans is a freelancer or temporary worker in the post-recession era, according to research by the Human Capital Institute (HCI). The majority of contract workers are part-timers, and their ranks are growing at more than twice the rate of full-time employees, the HCI reports.
Read full article from Small Biz Lady
Avoid Email Fatigue: Be Relevant
One surefire way to avoid email fatigue among your subscribers is to be as relevant as possible to their interests. According to The Social and Portable Inbox survey by Jupiter Research (2008), 50% of email users and 60% of frequent buyers said that if they did not find emails relevant, they would unsubscribe. Start by segmenting your subscriber list into categories and alter your subjects and content to be most relevant to each category. If your subscribers are getting information they value, they’ll stick with you.
Source: Manta
The Truth About Email
Great article this week from Mashable, its goes in to great detail of what, when and how to send the best email. Do want people to return your emails? Learn from this article and graphic from email plugin Boomerang.
An Introduction to Email Marketing
Hubspot is an amazing tool for any marketer. They consistently give you opportunities for PDF downloads on issues that matter for any company that is interested in marketing themselves online.
Obviously this one caught our eye and we wanted to share! Click here to download An Introduction to Email Marketing
How To Add An Email Address As A Safe Sender List
In order to ensure that you are receiving emails that you want to receive and to ensure that it doesn't go to your spam – add them to your "safe-senders list".
What is a "safe sender's list"? Sometimes commonly known as white listing, an e-mail white list or "safe sender's list" is a list of contacts that you deem acceptable to receive email from and should not be sent to the trash folder.
To create your "safe sender's list", simply follow the instructions below for some of the most popular email programs:
Outlook 2010
Right-click the email
Click Junk E-Mail.
Click Mark as Not Junk...
Click OK
Outlook 2007
Right-click the email
Click Junk E-Mail.
Click Mark as Not Junk...
Click OK
Outlook (2003 or higher)
Open the email.
Right-click the sender's email address.
Click Add to contacts.
Click Save and close.
Outlook 2003 — Safe Senders List
On the Tools menu, click Options.
On the Preferences tab, click Junk E-mail.
On the Safe Senders tab, click Add.
In the Add address, enter the email of the email you wish to be a safe sender
Click OK.
Outlook Express (version 6 or higher)
Open the email.
Left-click the sender icon, or right click the sender's name.
Click Add to contacts.
Click Save and close.
Entourage
Open the email.
Right-click the sender's email address.
Select Add to address book from the menu.
Verify the sender's contact details.
Click Save.
MacMail
Open the email.
Ctrl-click the sender's email address and select Open in the address book.
Verify the sender's contact information.
Yahoo!
Open your Yahoo mailbox.
Click Mail Options
Click Filters.
Next, click Add Filter.
in Filter Name box type Self Employed Success
In the top row, labeled "From header," make sure contains is selected in the pull-down menu.
Click in the text box next to that pull-down menu, then enter the email of the email you wish to be a safe sender
At the bottom, where it says 'Move the message to:', select 'Inbox' from the pull-down menu.
Click the Add Filter button again.
Gmail
Click Contacts along the left side of any Gmail page.
Click Add Contact.
In the primary email address box, type the email of the email you wish to be a safe sender
Click Save.
Hotmail
Click the Options link.
Click the Mail link.
Click on Junk E-Mail Protection
Click on Junk E-Mail Filter
From the selection list, choose your Junk E-Mail Filter level (select either 'Low', or 'Enhanced') and click the OK button
Click on Safe List
In "Type a single e-mail address (or domain)," enter the email of the email you wish to be a safe sender
Click Add button.
MSN
Click Help & Settings
Click Email Settings
Click on Safe List
In Add an item to this list, enter the email of the email you wish to be a safe sender
Click Add
AOL (version 9.0 or higher)
Click the Mail menu and select Address Book.
In the pop up box, click the Add button.
In the "Other E-Mail" field, enter the email of the email you wish to be a safe sender
Make our From address the "Primary E-Mail" address by checking the associated check box.
Click the Save button.
AOL 8.0
Open the email.
Click Add Address.
Verify the sender's contact information.
Click Save.
Norton AntiSpam
Start up Norton AntiSpam
Click the Status & Settings tab
Click AntiSpam
Click Configure
Click Allowed List tab
Click Add button
In the 'Email Address' box, enter the email of the email you wish to be a safe sender
Click OK
Click OK
McAfee Spamkiller
Click the Friends tab
Click Email Address tab
Click the Down Arrow to view your Personal Friends List
Along the Right Side choose Add A Friend
In the Address box, enter the email of the email you wish to be a safe sender
Click Save.
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