Integrate your email marketing with your social media strategy

These days both individuals and businesses are using social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter to communicate with their friends and customers. So can social networks help with your email marketing? Definitely…

Your email marketing activities and social media marketing can be closely integrated to create an overall effective marketing strategy. Make sure that you include links to your email newsletter sign ups on your Facebook and Twitter pages and vice versa. Always ask your newsletter subscribers to become a fan of your Facebook page or a follower of you on Twitter. That way you can increase your brand identity and potentially gain more customers.

In order to match your email marketing and social networking closely, you need to bear in mind how you communicate with your Facebook and Twitter fans. Social networks encourage brands to find a personality and style to communicate to customers with. Ensure that you keep this style in your email newsletters and you will be surprised to see how your subscribers react.

If you are looking for an email marketing solution, visit www.eshoutz.com or call the eShoutz team on 0844 873 0073.

Advanced reporting tools with eShoutz email marketing

eShoutz email marketing offers a range of advanced reporting tools that enable you to not only see how well an email campaign has performed, but also to create new email campaigns and address books using this data to increase your ROI. The advanced reporting suite includes:

Geo-maps
In eShoutz you can view your unique email open report by geography, on a simple to use heatmap. You can then create address books with a click of the mouse on the map, further segmenting your existing contacts lists.

Hot prospects
See your most active prospects and customers in terms of their interaction with your email.
Your sales and marketing team then contact these whilst they are browsing the email which will be fresh in their minds.

Campaign performance comparisons
See side by side comparisons of your email campaigns to easily define what works and what doesn't. Improve your return on investment by continuing to work on what gets you the best results.

Email Hotspots
View your email campaign with overlay hotspots, showing you where your recipients clicked most. You can learn from this and refine your email campaign layouts, knowing where to place your most important content on the template.

eShoutz offers even more reporting tools so sign up for a free trial at www.eshoutz.com/freetrial or email sales@eshoutz.com to arrange a demo of the system.

Email Marketing VS Direct Mail

So should you use email as a marketing method or direct mail? Read the eShoutz guide to discover the pros and cons of both email marketing and direct mail.

Email Marketing

Pros

• Email marketing is cheap which makes it excellent for contacting large numbers of people.
• It is a very quick method of contacting people. Both production time and sending time for email marketing are minimal. This means that you can get rapid responses.
• You can measure the success of email marketing via ROI tracking. You can actually see leads and sales generated online from your email marketing activity.Emails encourage direct, online sales as it is easy for recipients to simply click through to your website directly from the email.
• It is easy to gain information on your recipients, measuring responses, checking which products and offers are clicked on and work well in your email campaign and also see hot prospects by tracking who is opening and clicking on your email.

Cons

• Emails can sometimes get lost amongst the large amounts of spam emails we all receive on a daily basis. This means that they are sometimes deleted without someone realising that they are not spam.
• Quality email lists are hard to come by. This means that you must invest time in building your own quality databases.

Direct Mail

Pros

• When sending mailers directly in the post, you can send someone many pieces of mail such as flyers, letters and information sheets all together in one envelope.
• Mail is often considered more personal than bulk email marketing.
• Sending direct mail is easy and requires no expertise in online email marketing at all.

Cons

• The printing and postage of direct mail are both expensive.
• Sending direct mail can be very damaging to the environment. Although many households now recycle their waste such as junk mail, it is still much more harmful to the environment that email marketing.

It is clear there are arguments for and against both email marketing and direct mail, and therefore which channel you choose for your marketing will depend on your business. Many onlline businesses and ecommerce websites find email marketing more appealing as it is cost effective and can connect recipients directly with their online businesses.

Take a look at eShoutz.com for more reasons to use email marketing.

Feeling the strain of the credit crunch? Don't panic!

With many high street retailers disappearing before our eyes, it is little surprise that retailers both online and offline are doing their best to increase their post-Christmas sales after a disappointing run up to the festive season.

You will have seen early sales and promotions on the high street, and email marketing has also been used to increase awareness of these sales. However, it appears that retailers are bombarding customers with poorly targeted offers, in the hope that they will generate those much needed sales.

Instead of taking a shot-gun approach, eShoutz recommends that you stick to carefully planned email marketing to inform people of your deals and promotions. Resist the urge to mass mail, and use targeted emails to stand out from all other messages about New Year sales in the inbox. Also, ensure that your landing pages are still relevant to the email campaign, highlighting the important information.

So our advice to you is...the credit crunch scary, but stick to your email marketing best practices and maintain your brand, image and trust.

Want to lower your unsubscribe rate?

Does it seem like you unsubscribe rate is increasing? Do you want to lower your unsubscribe rate?

Here are some typical reasons for unsubscribing and how you respond to them.

1. You are sending too many emails
Problem - You may overwhelm your subscriber is you send out emails too often and this may prompt them to use the unsubscribe link like a stop button.
Solution - Try using a preference page during your sign-up process as this would give your subscriber the option to select the topics/services/products that interest them the most and you could use this information to send emails that reflect your subscribers interests.
You could also offer the option for subscribers to select how often they wish to receive your email, i.e. weekly, monthly etc
You could also try testing different mailing frequencies to see how your unsusbscribe rate is affected.

2. Your subscriber has a new email address
Problem - Subscribers may not want to leave your list but just want to change the address that the email is sent to. If there is no easy way to do this, then they may just unsubscribe. If you're lucky this act is followed up by a new sign-up.
Solution - You could include details in the footer of your email about how your subscriber can update their details/change their email address. If your website doesn't have the functionality for this, then give them alternative instructions such as sending you an email.

3. Your subscriber isn't receiving what they expected
Problem - The subscriber will have opted-in to your email marketing with certain expectations. If these expectations aren't met, then they have no incentive to stay.
Solution - Ensure that the expectations you set at the sign-up stage match exactly what you send.
You could also allow your subscribers to select the type of content/topics they wish to receive by use of a preference page during the sign-up process.

4. Your subsciber is receiving too many emails
Problem - Unfortunately, people get a lot of emails and it is possible that your subscriber is overwhelmed by the amount of emails they are receiving in their inbox.
Solution - Although you may have lost them as an email subscriber it doesn't mean that they do not want to stop all communication with you altogether, so you could show them the other ways they can stay in contact by using links to your blog etc on the unsubscribe page.

Finally, the best way to find out why people are unsubscribing from your email list, is to ask them. You could add an optional feedback form on the page users reach when they press the unsubscribe link.

For more email marketing tips visit eShoutz.com

Tips for growing your email list

Looking to grow your email list? Then take a look at the eShoutz tips below.

1. Make your sign-up easy to find - Put your sign-up form/button in a hard-to-miss location on your homepage and also put on as many pages of your website as possible because not all users will enter your website on the homepage, for example, Pay-per-click marketing normally directs clients to specific landing pages.

2. Provide a convincing incentive for users to sign-up - This is normally as simple as 'Sign up to receive our newsletter', as this tells them what they are entering their details for.

3. Reassure the user - Some users may be concerned about what will happen to the information they have provided, so it may help to include information about provacy assurance.

4. Don't ask for too much information - The more information you ask for, the more hesitant or fed-up the subscriber may become. Keep it simple, only ask for the information you need in order to reach your personalisation goals.

5. Do your best to keep the subscribers you already have - Keep your current subscribers, provide good products/services and great customer service. Happy subscribers might even mention your website/company to friends.

6. Use a thank-you page - Once you have gained a subscriber you want to do your best to turn them into an active reader, someone that enquire/buy your products/services. The thank-you page is the first opportunity for you to do this so you should set the expectations about what they should expect to receive.

7. Understand why subscribers are leaving - If you are noticing increased number of subscribers, try to find out why this is. One way of doing this is to give subscribers the option to leave feedback when they unsubscribe. This may point out any glaring issues.

Visit eShoutz.com for more useful email marketing tips.

Should I include a permission reminder on email newsletters?

A permission reminder is a sentence or two explaining to the subscriber where you had their email address from. It is usually found in the footer and can often help prevent you from being blacklisted or reported as a spammer.

It is a good idea to integrate your permission reminder with your unsubscribe link. This means that if a recipient believes that the email is spam and goes to click the unsubscribe, they may be reminded that they actually signed up to receive your email marketing campaigns and add you to their safe senders list instead.

Realistically, if you are sending to quality address books you will not need to remind subscribers where you had their email addresses from as they will have signed up for your newsletters on your website. However, permission reminders are not just for your subscriber's sake. If you do ever become blacklisted and classed as a spammer, your permission reminder can help determine that you are a 'good guy' when it comes to email marketing and help to get you off any blacklists.

When writing a permission reminder, explain thoroughly how your recipient's email address was added to your address book. Don't try listing all of the options, but cover as many as you can in one small explanation. For example 'You're receiving this email because you opted in for email newsletters whilst on our website'.

Always be polite in your permission reminder. Show that you genuinely care about your recipient's privacy, and include actual proof that a recipient gave you permission to email them.

Remember, if you find it difficult to write a good permission reminder, it may be a sign that you don't actually have permission to use all of the emails within your address books.

Finally, here's an example of a good permission reminder:

'In the past you provided 'Company name' with your email address xxx@yahoo.co.uk whilst purchasing from their website. Occassionally you will receive special offer newsletters and promotional emails. If you no longer wish to receive these please click unsubscribe.

For more email marketing tips visit eShoutz.com.

Checklist for your email campaigns

Having an effective checklist for the quality control of your email campaigns can help you to spot and correct mistakes before you send to your email address books.

Most common blunders on email marketing include:
1. misspelt subject line
2. missing images
3. wrong links used or links not working
4. spelling and grammar mistakes
5. sending to the wrong list

Running through a checklist will help you to limit these types of mistakes from your email campaigns so that you can send them in confidence. See the eShoutz suggested points for your checklist:

1. Have I proof-read all the copy? Try reading in Microsoft Word, using the spellchecker to highlight glaring spelling mistakes. You should also read in Notepad, Word won't always catch grammatical mistakes (e.g. to/too/two) so putting your email copy into another environment will help you to see any mistakes that may have been missed previously.

2. Are all links correct and working? Check that each of your links are working and they are each going to the right page/offer.

3. Does each image have an ALT tag? Make sure that each image has an ALT tag decribing the content, this is important because it gives you another way to deliver you information to readers who have disabled images.

4. Have I proof-read all the copy in the text version? Repeat step 1 on your text version. Usually not as much attention is paid to the text version in comparision to the HTML version but this is just as important for your subscribers who do not receive HTML emails.

5. Have I included all of my company information? You should include your company name, street address, telephone number, website address and email address. Having different ways to be contacted encourages your subscribers to interact with you, which in turn makes them feel more confident in your company.

6. Have I previewed the email? Complete a test send so that you can view your email campaign in the preview pane, with images disabled and with different email providers (Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail etc). This enables you to see the email as most of your subscribers will view it. If it doesn't look pretty then go back to your design and make the necessary amendments.

7. Has another person checked over the email? Before you press send, get someone who has not been involved in the creation of your email campaign to check over it. A fresh pair of eyes can spot mistakes that you may have overlooked.

8. Am I sending to the correct address books? This final check helps to ensure that your email campaign is being sent to the intended address books.

For more email marketing advice visit eShoutz.com.

Are your email newsletters suffering from poor performance?

Struggling to get great results from your email marketing? Here are a few reasons why your email marketing campaigns may not be performing as well as you would like:

• Data Collection - Are the email addresses within your address books opted-in? If you are buying or renting lists, ensure that the emails are all genuine and have opted into receiving promotional email newsletters.
• Frequency - Are you sending your email marketing campaigns too frequently or not often enough? You don't want to bombard your recipients with newsletters, but you also don't want them to forget who you are. The eShoutz team thinks that you should send email campaigns to the same lists at least once a month but no more than once a week.
• Email creative - What does your email newsletter look like? Is it attractive? Are the calls to action clear? Does your email campaign work even when the images are disabled?
• Content - Is the content relevant? Are you promotion products or services that you recipients want information about? Also, are your offers competitive enough to appeal?
• Deliverability - Are your email campaigns making it into your recipients' inboxes or going into their junk folder? Ensure that you always spam check your emails before sending them. If they are going into the junk / spam folder they are not going to receive many clicks.

Taking all of the above into consideration and making a few simple changes will improve your email marketing results and return on investment.

For more information on how to improve your email marketing activity visit eShoutz.com.

Do you really need a text version?

Do you need to create a text version alongside your HTML email campaign?
The answer in short is yes and there are 2 main reasons why you should include a text version.

1. Text versions can help to reduce spam scores
Because of the abundance of HTML emails sent out, some spam filters penalize for sending HTML emails without an accompanying text version. They also penalize for sending a text version that differs from the text used within the HTML version.

2. Not all recipients will receive your HTML version
Some recipients, such as Blackberry users, are unable to view HTML emails and other recipients have chose not to receive HTML emails. Therefore, if no text version is received, they may be more likely to mark your email as spam.

Remember that text version of you email is the preferred format for around 5% of your subscribers so try to keep the text email looking attractive by avoiding long paragraphs and blocks of copy.

For more email marketing advice and tips visit eShoutz.com

Building trust through your email campaigns

We all need recipients to trust our company and our email messages but factors such as spam have taught people to be wary about commercial messages received by email. So how can you build trust through your email marketing?

eShoutz provide some tips below:
1. Ensure a recognisable sender appears in the from address and/or subject line
2. Brand the preview pane - The first encounter of your email is normally through the preview pane so this area needs to support your brand identity - through use of your logo etc
3. Put full contact details in the footer - Providing your company's name, postal address and contact email address shows that you are being upfront with the recipient
4. Ensure the reply-to address is working - This should be monitored regularly and you should try to respond quickly as human interaction breeds trust
5. Match the design to brand expectations - People trust what they know so your email design should try to reflect your website. These don't need to be identical but should share common elements such as logos, colours etc
6. Encourage recipients to share your email - The easier it is for recipients to share your email to others, the more likely they are to do it
7. Be open about privacy policies - make it easy for recipients to find out how you intend to use their data
8. Give the subscriber some control - If you have the functionality, you should allow the subscriber to manage their personal details and preferences. This will also allow you to create and send more personalised and relevant emails to your email lists, this in turn should increase response rates
9. Avoid spelling and grammar errors
10. Check the email functionality - Are all the email links working and going to the correct place etc

For more advice and tips on email marketing visit the eShoutz website.

Hints & tips when renting/buying emails addresses

It's not always easy to grow your email list naturally and so, at some point, you may look to purchase some email addresses. However, there are some companies that provide non-legit email addresses that could deem you as a potential spammer and cause harmful damage to your brand. A few checks and questions to the supplier of the email addresses can help you to select a quality email list and protect your brand, therefore, eShoutz have provided a few hints & tips to help you.

1. Ask for references from the supplier's existing clients and check the supplier's website for client testimonials

2. Ask for a sample of the data you are going buy and check for generic email addresses, such as info@, sales@. Good quality lists will include few generic email addresses

3. Consider the age of the list; the older the list the less likely that the contacts will respond positively to your marketing messages but also if this list is too young this may point to a non-legit company as their websites only tend to operate for a short period

4. Check that the contacts have opted-in to receive third party email marketing

5. Check the list provider's company name online for complaints; this is likely to highlight non-legit companies and the names they have operated under

6. Ask the seller who will undertake the delivery of your email campaign; most reputable companies prefer to do this themselves in order to protect their list

7. Ask what other information was collected alongside the email addresses; this may help you to target your email campaign so that you can receive a better response from the list

8. If the price seems to good to be true then it probably is; this is one area where it is worth spending a little bit more to get good quality email addresses

For more tips on email marketing visit the eShoutz website.

10 ways to improve your sign-up process

An important part of email marketing is building quality address books. To do this, you must create a data capture form which entices people to sign up to your newsletters who are likely to open and read your email campaigns. Here are 10 ways which eShoutz believe will improve your sign-up process and ultimately build quality address books for your email marketing campaigns.

1. Ensure that the sign-up / data capture form is all over your website. You must give all visitors the opportunity to sign-up to your email newsletters. Remember that not all visitors to your website will visit the homepage, and therefore newsletter sign-ups should feature within the side navigation or footer of every page of your website.

2. Ensure that the newsletter sign-up form is easy to complete. A complicated form to fill in will put people off signing up. Explain any fields that you think people may not understand.

3. Use simple language on the sign-up form.

4. Gather as much information about the subscriber as possible, without making the sign-up form too long and messy. Think about what information will prove valuable to your email marketing. For example, if you are a travel company and want to send cruise offers to those who have an interest in cruising and ski deals to those who enjoy snow holidays, make sure you ask on the sign-up form the type of holidays people prefer. You can then use the dynamic content tool in eShoutz to tailor your email newsletters to subscribers' tastes.

5. Make all of the fields on the sign-up form mandatory. Don't give people the option to omit information.

6. Be honest about how you will use the information you are collecting. Inform the subscriber that they will receive regular newsletters if this is the case.

7. Make the benefits of subscribing to your newsletter clear. Include information on your website stating that subscribers will receive the best offers first, or offers that are tailored to their needs.

8. Promotions are an effective way of encouraging people to sign-up to your email newsletters. Prize draws for new subscribers are great for building up your address books.

9. Make any third party opt in or opt out boxes clear. This can instill confidence in subscribers.

10. If you send a confirmation page to subscribers, use it as a selling opportunity. Include offers on the page that they have just expressed an interest in on the data capture form.

For more information on building quality address books, visit http://www.eshoutz.com/building-quality-address-books.

For more information about eShoutz email marketing visit the eShoutz.com website.

Help with Image Blocking

Many email campaigns begin with a large image, designed to engage and entice the reader with the preview pane of their email inbox. However, many email providers, such as Hotmail, now have image blockers, which obviously reduce the effect of your marketing message. So how do you tackle this issue? You could try:

Using Alt Text - there will be plenty of space so you can be quite creative in writing something that encourages your readers to activate their images, click, scroll down etc.

Use a Preheader - This will allow readers who don't see the image to see something in their preview pane, whilst the impact of the large image will not be effected by a preheader for those that can see the image. You should try to be inventive with this text so that it encourages your readers.

Visit eShoutz.com for all your email marketing needs.

10 must have features for email marketing

At eShoutz we feel that there are 10 features every email marketer requires from their email marketing provider.

1. Automated bounce and unsubscribe management
If your email campaigns are not delivered because they are being sent to an invalid email address, the address is removed automatically from your address books by eShoutz. This will prevent you from sending to the address again.

2. Open and click-through tracking
eShoutz provides open and click-through information about all of your sent email campaigns, and you can even print off boardroom-ready reports on the success of your campaign.

3. Spam checker
You need to able to check that your email campaign is likely to get past spam filters. The eShoutz spam checker points out any aspects of your html and text emails which may be classed as spam before you attempt to send the email newsletter.

4. Inbox preview
You should be able to check what your email campaign will look like in different inboxes. Check the layout in Yahoo, Gmail etc.

5. Email address de-duplication
You don't want to annoy recipients by sending them an email campaign more than once because their address is duplicated within an address book. eShoutz takes out any duplicates on your behalf.

6. Template library
You should be able to store all email campaigns within a library so that you can use them as editable templates again and again. eShoutz has an extensive range of editable templates in the library free for you to use, or alternatively you can add your own designs.

7. Unique domain option
Using a unique domain and URL reduces your chance of becoming blacklisted by an email provider's other clients. You should buy a unique domain if your provider gives you the option.

8. Testing facility
It is important that all email marketing campaigns are tested before they are sent to full address books. eShoutz allows you to send as many tests of your html and text email campaigns as you wish.

9. Dynamic content and personalisation options
Sending email campaigns that are tailored to your recipients' tastes results in better click-through rates. As does personalising your email campaigns. eShoutz allows you to dynamically create your email campaigns so that recipients receive offers and news which they have expressed an interest in or have asked for.

10. ROI and conversion tracking
All email marketers will want to measure the success of email campaigns, and by tracking direct conversions from a campaign allows them to calculate the return on investment. eShoutz offers extensive ROI tracking and provides a breakdown of orders, bookings or enquiries, the value of those leads and also the products that have been purchased or enquiried about on your website.

For more information about eShoutz email marketing and its range of features visit eShoutz.com.

Email Bounce Backs

Having trouble with email bounce backs? Not sure what the difference is between a soft bounce back and a hard bounce back? Don't worry eShoutz can help you to understand bounce backs and give you tips on how to manage and reduce them.

Soft Bounce Back
An email is classed as a soft bounce back when it reaches the subscriber's mail server and the email adress is recognised but the email is bounced back undelivered before it reaches the intended subscriber. A soft bounce back usually occurs when:

1. the subscriber's mailbox is full,
2. the server is down or downloading lots of emails,
3. the email is too large, or
4. the subscriber has abandoned their mailbox.

If your email is a soft bounce, most email providers will attempt to redeliver the email over the next few days.

Hard Bounce Back
An email is defined as a hard bounce back when it is returned to its sender and cannot be redelivered. Common causes for a hard bounce back include:

1. invalid email addresses i.e. the domain name doesn't exist, typing errors etc
2. the subscriber's mail server has blocked your server

Quick Tips
Actively managing your bounce backs can help to reduce your email delivery costs and help to increase conversions. Here are some quick tips on how to manage & reduce your bounce backs:

1. Clean your Lists - check for incorrect email addresses, invalid domain names and typing errors
2. Confirm email addresses - You could try an auto-reply confirmation so when an email address is captured if the auto-reply bounces you can attempt to correct it at the start, which will be less cost to yourself. Alternatively, you could use a second email address line in your online forms etc, this will help to prevent typos.
3. Include subscription links in your email - By including a link for subscribers within your email it will make it easier for subscribers to update their details.
4. Use an unique URL and 'From' address - This means that if any other email marketers using the same software as you get blacklisted they will not have any affect on your campaigns.
5. Test your email campaign - Prior to sending your email campaign send a test to yourself and others. Be sure to include Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail and Outlook.
6. Suppress or delete recurring bounce backs - If all else fails you should remove the subscriber from your address book.

Visit eShoutz.com for further email marketing tips and advice.

Commonly Asked Email Marketing Questions

Here are some commonly asked questions answered by eShoutz.com.

1. What is a good open or click-through rate?
Open and click-through rates vary for all email marketers, and results depend on the subject line, the relevancy of the content and the offers included in the newsletter. Industry average for open rates is between 15% and 20%.

2. How do I get my email newsletter past spam filters?
Avoid using lots of exclamation marks in both the subject line and within the content of your email. Also, avoid spam words such as 'free!', 'click here', 'discount' and 'satisfaction guaranteed'.

Also, check your email campaign with the eShoutz spam checker tool. The spam checker will highlight any issues you have with your newsletter so that you can correct them before sending to your address books.

3. Do I really need to send a text version of my email campaign?
Including a text version when sending your email campaigns can help reduce spam scores. There may also be recipients within your address books that cannot open html emails. It does not usually take long to create a text version of your email so it is advised that you do it each time you create your html version.

4. Why do I need a web-based version of the html email?
Including a link in your html email to a web-based version means that if recipients cannot view the newsletter correctly they can simply click on the link and see the content in full. Some recipients may have the images disabled and not actually know how to switch them back on again. A link makes it easy for them to view the html.

When you create a html email campaign in eShoutz, a copy is automatically stored as a web-based version. One click of a button enters a 'view html' link into your email so there's no need for uploading your newsletter onto servers, all the hard work is done for you!

5. What day of the week is best to send email marketing campaigns, and at what time?
This depends on the types of recipients you are sending to. If you are sending to business email addresses of people who work in offices, you are not likely to get a good open rate if you send on a Friday evening or weekend. Office staff clear out their inboxes on a monday morning when they have accumulated a number of emails. This may include yours.

Try sending campaigns on different days and at different times of the day. You may see consistent results, you may also find that it doesn't actually matter when you send your email newsletters.

6. How do I make sure that I don't get blacklisted?
Don't send email campaigns which may be mistaken as spam. It is also advisable to have a unique URL and 'from address'. This means that if any other email marketers using the same software as you get blacklisted they will not have any affect on your campaigns.

eShoutz provides a unique URL and 'from address' service which means that you can reduce the risk of being blacklisted by any other users of eShoutz. You can also build brand awareness by having a branded 'from address'.

Another way of preventing being blacklisted is ensuring that all of your email addresses within your address books are opted in. Only use email addresses of people who have expressed that they wish to receive email newsletter from you.

7. Most importantly, what is the most important thing for me to remember to achieve a successful email marketing campaign?
We suggest that you make your email newsletters relevant to your recipients. Just because email marketing is a cheap way of communicating with potential and existing customers, it doesn't mean that you should bombard them with emails that they wouldn't want to recieve. Tailor your emails to what they want using the eShoutz dynamic content tool and ensure that the offers you are sending are competitive or appealing.

For more information about eShoutz email marketing, visit the website at eShoutz.com.

Top tips for creating an effective html email campaign

Take a look at the eShoutz top tips for creating effective email newsletters and improve your email marketing return on investment.

1. Place your most competitive offers in the top part of the email so that they are viewable in a preview pane of a recipient's inbox. If a recipient sees an enticing offer straight away they are likely to open the email fully to see what more you have to offer in the newsletter.

2. Have your call to action both at the top and at the bottom of the email so that a recipient can always see a telephone number or web address. Recipients will only contact you if they are reminded how to do so.

3. Always include an unsubscribe link. Remember that placing the unsubscribe link at the bottom of an email may encourage recipients to click the ‘junk’ button rather than scrolling down and clicking ‘unsubscribe’, which can result in your domain being registered as spam.

4. Always test your email campaigns in a number of inboxes, including Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo mail and Outlook. Your email template may look completely different in a number of inboxes depending on how it has been created. eShoutz has an 'inbox preview tool' which allows you to check your campaign quickly and easily before sending to your entire address book(s).

5. Always add a ‘forward to a friend’ link so that if a recipient wishes to share the offers with someone the email that they receive is in the correct format. By adding the link you can also increase your brand awareness if your recipients send the campaign to their friends.

6. Include ALT tags for all images, as many recipients will have images disabled in their email account settings. If they can read the Alt tags and understand what the email is about they are more likely to enable the images to view the html fully.

7. Make all images clickable. Many recipients will automatically assume that the images are links that will take them through to your website.

8. Remember that it is a legal requirement to include your business name, registered address and company on all email marketing campaigns that you send.

For more email marketing tips visit http://www.eshoutz.com/email-marketing-tips

For more information about eShoutz, visit eShoutz.com