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.

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.