Mike Renahan says, “Making a great first impression on a prospect can be tantamount to the success of the relationship. First impressions, after all, are everything. But how can a sales rep get off on the right foot with every prospect? Or maybe more importantly, how can they avoid souring the relationship before it even really begins? It all starts with the first email a salesperson sends. This email sets the tone for the relationship going forward, so it’s important to get right. But many salespeople unintentionally turn their buyers off without even realizing it due to poor word choice.... [...]

Lisa Froelings says, “Email marketing promotion is one of the most essential tools for small businesses to win more clients. Having an established mailing list and consistent frequency allows businesses to gauge what strategy and messaging works best. But what are best possible elements an effective email promotion have? According to research conducted by Constant Contact, there are optimal numbers of images and lines of text small businesses should include in email marketing campaigns to optimize their click-through rates. Senior vice-president of Constant Contact Christopher Litster says... [...]

Jack Simpson says, “Ah, email. The marketing channel that steadfastly refuses to die.  And why should it? Clearly it still works, particularly when it comes to ecommerce. But as an email marketer it can be difficult to know what success looks like. Never fear, though, because in this post I’m going to share some ecommerce email marketingbenchmarks for 2016. The benchmark figures come from some recent research by Remarkety, which studied millions of emails across thousands of ecommerce brands. Newsletters Sending out regular newsletters is important. It’s a chance to promote specific... [...]

Mike Renahan says, “What’s the first step to being more productive? Depending on what you do, many different answers might come to mind. For some it might be managing time better, setting a schedule, or creating a to-do list every day. But this isn’t exactly the answer I’m looking for. The first step to being more productive is to understand what causes you to become unproductive. Ask yourself this question right now: What’s my biggest distraction on a daily basis? If you’re like most people, email is the #1 task killing your productivity. According to Radicati, the average businessperson... [...]

Parry Malm says, “For the last three years, I’ve made predictions about various aspects of online marketing (see here for 2015 and 2014.) They’re mostly right, except for most of them. This year, instead of soothsaying, let’s focus on things I wish would happen… but likely won’t. So here’s some predictions for email marketing that won’t come true in 2016. 1. Automated campaigns won’t annoy any consumers, at all, ever. For reals. Automation! Whoo! Who doesn’t love a “set it n’ forget it” campaign”? Especially because consumers are too dumb to realise that... [...]

Kristen Dunleavy says, “Have you ever shared an interesting link on social media? Congratulations! You, my friend, are a content curator. Content curation happens when you sift through the vast world of content, find information you deem useful, and share it with your audience. The actual content you share is created by someone else. You’re just organizing it and presenting it in a neat little package. Curated content is everywhere – from your favorite playlist to your news feed to your jelly of the month club. Marketers love curated content because it gives them a quick and easy way... [...]

Monica Montesa says, “The New Year is upon us, which means one thing… it’s time to set your (hopefully realistic) email marketing resolutions! To help you choose goals that’ll give a nice boost to your email marketing, we shared four ideas in the latest episode of Quick Tips”. Quick Tips Video: Email Marketing Resolutions Aweber Blog  [...]

Daniel Burstein says, “At MarketingExperiments, we endeavor to teach you to bring the process of scientific discovery to your marketing campaigns to learn what your customers really want and improve results. And, to that end, we share experiments (along with successful case studies — 1,470 and counting — from our sister publication, MarketingSherpa). But we can learn just as much from the stumbles, errors and mistakes we encounter on our journey of customer discovery. Unfortunately, those stories tend to be harder to get. So I want to laud the marketer we are going to discuss today... [...]

Daniel Burstein says, “It’s our fourth annual copywriting contest, and this year the MarketingExperiments blog has partnered with the Convince & Convert blog to find the most effective copywriter or marketer to help a nonprofit organization that has spent the last 80 years battling in the public and private sectors for safer products and fair market practices. Take a few minutes to write your most effective email copy expressing one of the Value Focuses that would resonate with donors of our nonprofit partner, Consumer Reports. Leave your most brilliant copy as a comment on this blog... [...]

Mike Renahan says, “Someone I work with frequently receives messages from a sales rep she doesn’t know. They’re the classic value-less “just checking in” emails that drive prospects crazy. She never answers. Instead, she forwards me the note and we discuss what sucks about it. We always come to the same conclusion: Today’s buyers aren’t interested in hearing from a sales rep they aren’t familiar with about a product they don’t need. Reps have their work cut out for them. Salespeople have to create relationships with strangers and convert those strangers into paying customers.... [...]