

Smart Email Marketing - How to Design and Send Emails - letscounthedays
http://www.shayhowe.com/resource/smart-email-marketing/
Email marketing is one of the most effective methods of advertising online yet the majority of companies are missing out. I have put together an outline on how to design and send emails, along with a few examples.
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eli
For the technical side of HTML email, it's important to realize that you need
to do the _opposite_ of all the prevailing trends in web design over the past
decade.

Tables should be used for layout, font tags for different typefaces (and
sizes, if possible). If you must use CSS, put it inline. No form elements or
javascript. And you need to make darn sure that everything looks good without
images, because that's how the vast majority of recipients will first see it.

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JacobAldridge
Any feedback on 'delete inactive subscribers' when you consider 'disable
images [is] default' for many readers?

My understanding is that most email marketing systems track activity -
including open rates - through systems built in to either viewing the image or
clicking through the links. I might have many people reading my email without
images, and therefore appearing inactive - removing them my improve my stats,
but not my marketing outcomes!

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_dan
You make a good point, but it really depends on the content of the email. For
stuff that's mostly text, without much in the way of interesting links, "open"
rates can be deceptively low and you could potentially be losing active
readers if you remove them.

On the other hand, your email could be being spamboxed (or worse, blackholed)
because half of your list has marked you as spam, and you're continuing to
send to them once a week.

There isn't really an easy one-size-fits-all solution to that. Using a decent
email service provider is a good idea, if you have the budget for it. They'll
be able to give you a lot more information about your email's performance,
likely have better delivery rates than your current mailserver (assuming you
pick a provider that doesn't suck) and, importantly, will be able to identify
and remove recipients who have marked your email as spam.

Edit: Deleting bounces, on the other hand, is _extremely_ important,
particularly if you have lots of webmail addresses. Possibly _the_ most
important thing you can do to maintain or improve delivery rates. That really
should have been higher up on the list!

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JacobAldridge
Currently using a provider, and you're right - a lot more information and
better deliverability.

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_dan
This is a really good set of guidelines. Here are the three most effective
things you need to do (in my experience) to get and maintain decent delivery
rates:

Remove your bounces. I cannot stress this enough. If you're sending using a
homebrew system or a script on a webserver or what have you, make sure it can
process bounces. Excessive attempts to deliver to dead addresses is the number
one metric used by large email receivers to assess your mailserver IP's
reputation.

Keep your list clean. Don't be tempted to add those 150 random names and
addresses you found from last year's marketing push. It's not worth it. One or
two bad records on your list is enough to completely decimate your delivery
rates. Stick to double opt-in and don't be tempted.

Make your unsubscribe link obvious. Really obvious. Like, at the top of your
email, or in big black text. Too many people feel the need to hide their
unsubscribe link away in tiny text at the very bottom. If someone doesn't want
your email, they have two choices - spambox it, or unsubscribe. If many people
spambox your email - your delivery rates _will_ suffer. Make unsubscribing
easy and obvious.

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jokull
I would have thought sticking unsubscribe links at the bottom was standard
practise by now and people would have caught on to it (i.e. look straight at
the footer if they're looking for it).

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_dan
That's not unreasonable. My point was, make them dead easy to find for those
that want them. But yes, there's probably something in having one at the
bottom.

Not an easy one to test, though ;)

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anon11234897234
Helpful post but doesn't recommend specific software. What's a good off-the-
shelf product/service for managing double opt-in, email timing, bounces, etc.?

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eli
I would strongly recommend outsourcing that unless you know what you're doing.
Dealing with spam block lists can easily turn into a full time job.

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anon11234897234
if i outsource, who should i use?

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anon11234897234
please disregard. my question was addressed in a previous thread:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=197455>

