Ask for the referral...

Referrals and word of mouth advertising are some of the best converting business opportunities you can have. As long as customers are happy with you, referrals convert better, buy more, and buy more often than random people you do business with because they’re powered by word of mouth and trust.

So in each confirmation message after purchase ASK...
So in each email as a link ASK...

Ask as frequently as you reasonably can... it works!

Don't make it hard to buy...

If your ecommerce site requires a lengthy sign-up process before consumers can complete a purchase, you may be losing more customers than you think. We who buy know this... yet many ecommerce don’t! Too many sites ask way too much before getting the order completed.... so re-evaluate your order process and trim it down if you can.... Your site will benefit greatly!

Build a stronger brand...

Your brand is your reputation...
Partnerships rub off so know your partner(s) well... 
Be honest and clear!...

Do all three thus ensuring that people get what they expect.... You will have the makings of a strong brand.

Offer email unsubscribers alternative channels...

Email marketers shouldn't view unsubscribing customers as being uninterested in their brand; rather they should see it as a new opportunity to communicate with them in a different way. We all know that more and more of our/customers lives being played out on social networks... so promote alternative social interaction such as Twitter or Facebook when they opt-out.

 

Offer different options when they dont want to not go down that road anymore...

 

 

Avoid Bounces...

Want to avoid bounces or worse... being blacklisted?

Do the following best practices and you will!

Don’t buy email lists, Grow your email list organically, Practice list hygiene regularly.

Bottom line a good reputation with the ISP's goes a long way in email deliverability.

Hard Bounce...

A hard bounce is when an email is sent to an invalid or non-existent address. ISP’s are less tolerant with these because lists should all be opt-in, so why would you have an incorrect email address on your list, right? Fact is people change jobs, change their email addresses and last thing on their mind (hate to say) is to update their details with companies that send them regular email campaigns. Of course these hard bounces are also expected from any large list, which is why list hygiene is so important. ISP’s automatically block access when a message is sent to an invalid email address and will continue to block you until it’s removed from the list, so it’s much easier to simply comply and delete the offending email address.

Soft Bounce...

A soft bounce most time is the result of a full inbox, or a technical problem whereby the connection is down or lost over the time your email was sent. Internet service provider’s (ISP) generally take this into consideration, however if your message soft bounces the same email address more than say 5 times in a row, you should consider removing it from your active subscribers list. Many email marketing solutions will do this for you automatically.

Soft vs. Hard Bounces...

Their are soft bounces and hard bounces, the latter often being more of a concern for marketers. More often than not a bounce message is promptly sent to the sender informing them that this has happened. Usually, two things cause the email to bounce, one of them is a temporary problem (a.k.a. soft bounce), and the other is permanent (a.k.a. hard bounce).

Email Deliverability Issue week (Bounces)...

BOUNCES / A bounce is when an email is returned to the sender and it cant get through to recipients inbox.

 

Tomorrow we will get into what different types of bounces their are...

 

 

iPhone Dominating Mobile Email Activity...

As of Jan 2011... Some 13.36% of email message opens occur via mobile device with the iPhone comprising more than 65% of that activity on average, mobile email open levels are highest in the early-morning hours but vary dramatically by industry.

 

Online Coupons are here to stay...

Did you know? Online shoppers in XMAS 2010 spent a record amount with online coupons. Cool fact is East Coast led the Nation with NY then MA & NJ close behind... Saving over $32 Million. The most popular coupons being Target, Bath and Body Works and then Coach Factory Store.

Increase frequency to all opt-in subscribers...

You don't want to overdo it, but it might be that you're currently underdoing it.

A-B Split Testing (final)...

The other version is commonly called the challenger. If challenger wins, the challenger replaces the champion. Note even with if your landing page only has a few conversions per day, with proper selection of the test variable and alternative values, you can still achieve significant results in a split test. Improvements in the double or even triple digits are not uncommon.

 

 

A-B Split Testing (2 B Continued)...

In split testing terminology, version A is usually defined as your original control page, or baseline (commonly called the champion version).

Top online retailers fall short on email welcome programes...

Did you know that the top 50 e-tailers revealed that more than a third fail to welcome or thank customers when they actively subscribe to email communications.

Loyalty starts with a thank you!

Include promotional offers in transactional emails...

Just ensure that the promotion does not overshadow the importance of the information in the transactional email. The promotion should be a by-product and NOT the main focus of your message.

For example:

Implement life cycle campaigns...

A savvy marketer will have separate targeted campaigns for those who purchase frequently, infrequently or haven’t purchased anything in a while. Sending the same email to everyone makes customers feel as though you aren’t taking notice of their actions. Take notice of your customers actions and they will appreciate it.