MindComet

Why Bigger Is Not Always Better

It’s been proven time and time again that smaller, segmented sends are not only ultimately more relevant to your subscribers, but always perform better.  The knee-jerk reaction that I’ve faced in the past is to send every email to ALL of your subscribers… to throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.

Segmenting is all based on collected information and user activity.  Don’t have a lot of information on your customers?  Well then, this is the one and only case where I think it’s OK to send them ALL the same email.  It’s always helps to check in with your subscribers to make sure you have current and relevant information.  It’s also an opportunity to see how active your users are.  If they don’t click through and give you additional info, then cut your losses… or at least throw them in a segment for inactivity that they can call their own.  Your database of subscribers is only as strong as its weakest link. And if you collect anything at all, make sure it’s their first and last name (aside from their email address, obviously).

Another way to optimize your subscriber base is to send an email to users that haven’t opened an email in the last 12 months (like the inactivity group I mentioned above).  Ask them to display images via ALT tags (how opens are tracked) or to click through to a landing page.  Keep those who obey, and omit the rest.  They’re worthless and you’re ultimately doing yourself a disservice by constantly sending to them.

Set aside a good chunk of time every six months to auditing your subscribers.  Cut the fat and embrace the active users.

But if there’s any one thing I want people to take away from this post is that it all starts from day one.  Once a user signs up, set their expectations.  Encourage them to give you as much information about themselves as possible. When they do opt in, send them a welcome message!  All ESPs have this feature at their disposal… you might as well use it!  Also, make sure there are options available for users to update their preferences in every email you send them.

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Posted by MindComet on Oct. 30, 2008

Whats Wrong With This Picture?

Like most others, you would have most likely dropped off the sign up process at some point whether it be at the first long page full of form fields, the amount of pages it took you through or the lack of information upfront.  I could see from the initial email, something critical was missing so I went through the process up till the last page to see if I could find what I was looking for.  No such luck. Can you tell me whats missing from this communication?

Email

Sign Up Form

More Sign Up Info

Pricing Options

Payment Information

So with five pages of information, you think they’d be able to tell you where the event is located/hosted right?

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Posted by MindComet on Oct. 30, 2008

Credit is Owed to Industry Thought Leaders

I just got back into the office today after visiting clients and had to face the overwhelming response of emails waiting for me in my inbox, which was a just two days worth in this case.  So as many do I first scanned to check for any client emails that needed direct attention, followed by internal communications.  To get through the rest, its mostly hitting the delete button because I know Im not going to go back and read through them all as there’s just not enough time in the day.  However in filtering through the journals and thought leaders blog posts which I have feed into my inbox, Im taking the time to read the blog posts yet hardly skimming the news journals article titles.  My attention to these reiterated the importance of good content and what respected contributors in this space provide for free.  Considering their busy schedules and how they still make time to post valuable information that’s read worthy, email marketers should strive do the same in publishing consistent and relevant content.  With that marketers can only expect to see their customers spending more time in their inboxes or better yet, clicking through.

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Posted by MindComet on Oct. 28, 2008