Known Articles

Have you received emails that were all broken up?
These emails have one or two words on one line,
then eight or ten words on the next line. In some
cases, one word begins on one line and ends on the
next. These emails are very hard to read, and they
appear to be very unprofessional. Is this what you
want your autoresponder email messages to look
like?

If not, you need to learn how to format your
messages. Start by reading the instructions for your
specific autoresponder. Each one operates a bit
differently in the way that it handles text. For
instance, some autoresponder messages will be
messed up if you do put a ‘hard line break’ at the
end of each line, while others will be messed up if
you don’t! Find out what the right option is for your
autoresponder!

Because each email client is different, you should
not allow any line in your message to exceed 65
characters. This will help prevent lines from breaking
up, and it is achieved by hitting the ‘enter’ key at
the end of each sixty-five character line. The best
way to be sure that your autoresponder messages
are delivered in the correct format is to send them
to yourself, before you send them to your list!

Offering free things to your website visitors is one
marketing method that often results in a lot of sales.
Free courses that are delivered via email are very
popular, and people sign up for such courses on a
regular basis to learn more about a topic of interest
to them. These courses are best maintained and
delivered with the use of autoresponders.

An autoresponder can be set up to send out a
series of lessons for an email course. The lessons
can be set for distribution at specific intervals. You
determine how often the lessons for the course are
sent to the people who have signed up for it. Email
courses are very different from traditional courses,
web based courses, or any other type of course.

There is no student and instructor interaction. The
instructor writes the information out, puts each
lesson in an autoresponder series, sets the timing
for the lessons, and the rest is automated. You can
opt to have lessons delivered daily, every other day,
every three days, or any other time frame that you
think works best for your email students.

Email courses are commonly used to sell products
and services. For instance, if you sell widgets, you
might develop a course that teaches people how to
use widgets or how to care for their widget. Experts
agree that an email course can be written for
almost any product that you can imagine  if you
put enough thought into it.

Start by determining what your course will be about,
and how long it should be. If the course should be
delivered every other day for two weeks, you know
that you would need seven lessons. Write the
lessons, and load them in the autoresponder. Set
the interval for each lesson, which in this case would
be 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13.

This means that the first lesson would be delivered
one day after the person has requested the course,
and the second lesson would be delivered three days
after the person has requested the course, and so
on. The interval for each lesson is set for the
number of days after the person has signed up
Make sure that everything is spelled right, and that
your sentences are grammatically correct. You
want the lessons to look and sound as professional
as possible.

Next, simply advertise the email address that will
activate the autoresponder. Make sure that you run
a test first, sending each lesson to yourself. This will
allow you to see what your email students will see
when they sign up!

Do you do a lot of traveling?  If you do, you may be concerned about the air that you are breathing inside your hotel room.  This may especially be the case if you suffer from asthma or allergies.  If you do, you may be curious about air purifiers and air filters that are designed for travelers.  As nice as a concept as they do sound, you may be curious as to whether or not they work or if they are worth the money.

When it comes to determining if travel sized air purifiers are worth the money, you will find that it depends.  With that said, typically, most are encouraged to save their money.  For more information on why, please continue reading on.

When examining air purifiers, especially those that are considered high end home air purifiers, you will find that most are relatively large in size.  Although air purifiers and filters are becoming more compact, you will find that most are still a decent size.  For example, tower shaped air purifiers are thin, but they are still somewhat small. Desktop air purifiers are the same way, unless flat, so they do still take up a considerable amount of space. On the other hand, travel size air purifiers are extremely small in size.  This impacts the size filter that can be used.  Smaller filters can easily become clogged or not capture all particles in the air.

Despite the fact that air purifiers are on average a decent size, that hasn’t stopped some companies from selling small travel sized purifiers.  As for what you will find, it will vary.  For example, some are much smaller versions of desktop air purifiers that are lightweight and easy to transport.  Also, did you know that you can actually wear some travel sized air purifiers like a necklace?  You can, as there are some versions available for sale.

As for travel sized air purifiers that can be worn like a necklace, it does should like a pretty neat idea, although some say that there are dangers associated with certain brands, especially when they are worn too close.  You can see this by reading reviews of these necklace-like air purifiers online.  There are cases where some consumers felt ill after wearing them for extend periods of time.  This is something that should cause you to be concerned.

Smaller, travel sized air purifiers that resemble desktop air purifiers are nice, but most cannot be considered high end.  Typically, it depends on the brand and whether or not HEPA air filters are used.  In all honesty, if you truly need to have cleaner air, it may be best to bring a high end compact air purifier from home with you.  Of course, be cautious when doing so; be sure to pack well.  Since high end home air purifiers are expensive, you will not want damage yours.

A great alternative to investing in travel sized air purifiers that may not work is by carefully choosing your hotel.  First, ask if air purifiers are used in the hotel rooms.  Some hotels do now use them, especially after being wished for by guest.  If you cannot find a hotel that uses an air purifier, be sure to choose a room where pets and smoking are not allowed, as this often means that the room’s air is much more cleaner.

Do you own an air purifier?  If you do, there is a good chance that you will need to buy replacement filters after a period of time.  When it comes to doing so, many are surprised that they do have a number of different options.  In addition the manufacturers who make air purifiers, there are also other companies who make replacement filters, for many of the most popular brands.  If you do have a choice, you will want to examine high end home air filters.  This is because high end home air filters have a number of benefits.  Five reasons why they should be purchased are outlined below.

1  Better Brands

A large number of the manufacturers of home air purifiers and home air filters are well known companies.  Even companies that specialize in replacement parts, such as filters, are becoming well known.  Not just any company making air filters can claim to be a high end manufacturer and truly mean it.  What does this mean for it?  It means that by searching for high end home air filters online, you are likely to find and be paired with quality, dependable brands.  As for how you can go about finding these brands, you can perform a standard internet search.  When doing so, it may be best to search with targeted phrases such as high end home air filters,’best air filters,’and so forth.

2  Better Results

High end air filters for the home are likely to produce better results.  These results should include cleaner air, especially when working in conjunction with a high end air purifier.  As it was previously stated, a maker of air filters cannot claim to be a high quality manufacturer unless they are, at least that is how it should be.  To help you determine if you are truly buying a quality and dependable air filter, you can turn to the internet for help.  There are number of websites that allow internet users to rate and review products.  See if you can find any ratings or reviews for the high end air filters that you are looking to purchase.

3  Last Longer

As previously stated, high end air filters have a number of benefits.  One of those benefits is that they tend to last longer.  This is because quality, high end products are often known for their strength and durability and the same should be said for air filers.  When examining high end air filters, you will find that most should have a longer use rate.  This is important, as it can help get you more value for your money.  Getting a good value for your money is important, as higher end products do tend to cost more.

4  Number of Different Options

As stated above, many buyers have a number of different options when looking to buy high end replacement filters for air purifiers.  This is because a number of companies specialize in making and selling replacement parts, including air filters.  It is also important to note that many of the companies that make and sell air purifiers, furnaces, and air conditioners also make and sell filters too.  As a reminder, when examining high end home air filters, be sure to examine ratings and reviews, but also examine costs.

5  Ease of Finding and Buying

The ability to easily find, compare, and buy high end air filters is another benefit to buying them.  Although buying high quality air filters can be a little bit more difficult than buying any cheap brand, it is more than possible to do so.  Many shoppers see the best success when shopping online. This is because online shopping gives many access to multiple retailers and the ability to quickly compare those retailers and their prices.  As for shopping locally, home improvement stores are one of the best places to get high end air filters, as well as high end heaters, air conditioning units, and air purifiers, as they are more focused on quality than costs, when compared to many department stores.

Are you looking to buy an air purifier for your home?  If you are, you will soon see that you have a number of different options.  There are a number of brands to choose from, as well as a number of price ranges.  One type of home purifier that you will want to examine is that of a high end air purifier.  Did you know that there are a number of benefits to owning high end air purifiers?  There are and a few of these reasons are highlighted below.

1 ‘ Better Brands

Most the makers of high end home air purifiers are well known.  Since you do have a number of different options when looking to buy high end home air purifiers, you may be wondering how you can go about finding the best.  You may find the best luck with doing research online, as it can be done quickly and easily.  You can also get a number of good ideas, in terms of quality, yet affordable brands.  To get started, perform a standard internet search with phrase such as ‘best air purifiers,”top ten air purifiers,’or ‘high end air purifiers.

2 ‘ Better Results

High end home air purifiers are known for producing better results.  These results include cleaner air.  Unfortunately, many individuals wonder how you can tell that an air purifier will produce better results.  The good news is that you do have a number of different options.  For starters, check ratings and reviews online.  This can be done by visiting online stores that allow ratings or reviews or websites that are based solely on rating products.  Both of these website types can be found with a standard internet search.

Another great and relatively easy way to tell if a high end air purifier can produce better results is by examining the Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR).  This is the rate in which an air filter can deliver clean air.  Most times, high end air filters and purifiers have high CADRs.

3 ‘ Last Longer

High end air purifiers are known for their strength and durability.  This means that many are able to last longer, especially when compared to the cheaper alternatives.  In fact, a large number of high end air purifiers come with warranties or you should have the option to purchase an extended warranty plan.  This can help to give you comfort in knowing that you are purchasing an air purifier that will be able to keep your home’s air clean for years to come.

4 ‘ Come In a Number of Different Formats

All air purifiers, including those that are considered high end air purifiers come in a number of different formats.  In addition to different makes and models, there are also different sizes.  Another common difference or choice that many have involves filter or filter-free air purifiers.  They both have their own pros and cons.

Filtered air purifiers are preferred by many buyers.  One of the reasons for that is because they can actually see that the air is being cleaned.  Many like to see the dirt, toxins, and other pollutants that have accumulated on their air filter.  For many, this serves as proof that they did make the right purchase decision.  As for filter-free air purifiers, they are convenient and they can help to save money overtime, even though they do cost more upfront.

5 ‘ They Are Easy to Find and Buy

The ease of buying air purifiers, including high end air purifiers for the home, are another reason why they should be purchased.  High end air purifiers are available for sale both locally and online.  Due to their increased cost, many discount stores and department stores do not sell high end home air purifiers, but most home improvement stores do.  If you are looking for the largest selection of affordable, high end air purifiers, the internet should be examined.  As previously stated, you can use the internet to compare prices.  You can also use it to make your purchase as well.

Email list dies a slow but steady death if action isn’t taken from time to time. For most of the companies, fifty percent of their subscribers leave them every year. Everyone uses their click, conversion and open rates in order to measure their email program’s success. But they fail to measure the size of their and quality of their email list. Email list hurdle rate is the new metric to be considered, along with the other old ones, in order to keep the list growing.

The email list hurdle rate determines the loss rate from the email list which needs to be overcome for the list to grow. It gives the exact number of new subscribers to be attracted in order to replace the old ones which have either left the list. The other stumbling blocks to be tackled are list churn and list fatigue.

List churn is the percentage of subscribers who have left the list during a certain time period. This is measured either monthly or annually. Out of this only three percent constitute of people who have unsubscribed from the list. Other thirty percent constitute of email addresses which have been lost to hard bounces every year. The subscribers can either enter their email address incorrectly when signing up or the emails addresses might no longer be valid, causing the emails to bounce. The rest of the percentage constitute of people who have reported spam complaints. Even the biggest legitimate permission marketers get spam complaints.

The list churn rate can be calculated monthly by looking at the email performance reports. The yearly lost subscribers can be calculated by adding up number of unsubscribed, hard bounces, and spam complaints. The total should then be divided by the current size of the list to find out the list hurdle rate. Calculation of the list hurdle rate is very important for the annual planning process and for forecasting the revenues. If this metric isn’t considered a lot of explanation is due to your boss if you fail to achieve the required list growth goal. The list churn rate can be improved by reducing the number of spam complaints and bounces.

List fatigue deals with the subscribers on the email list which have hibernated and have become inactive for quite a while. These people haven’t unsubscribed, but have stopped reading the emails and interaction. Therefore the un-subscription rate cannot give a clear picture about how the readers feel about the company’s emails. The most common cause of list fatigue is irrelevant offers, over mailing and newsletter content which dose not deal with the interest of the reader.

The percentage of the inactive subscribers should be calculated to figure out the list fatigue. People who haven’t clicked or opened not even a single email over a certain period of time should be counted. Usually thirty to fifty percent of an email list becomes inactive annually. There can be a variety of reasons cause of which these people are receiving your emails but aren’t unsubscribing. Major reason is because your mail can be going directly to their bulk folder or because your un-subscription link isn’t working.  So there can be a possibility that out of the fifty percent, forty percent are inactive and the rest ten percent are busy, on vacation, or just not motivated enough by the subject line or email content. Small surveys can be conducted to understand the changing needs of the subscribers.

These sleeper subscribers need to be activated from time to time by giving them spicy stuff like special offer, different newsletter outlook, interactive tools, etc. On one had the old subscribers must be re-energized and new subscribers must be added from time to time. Otherwise the list gets shorter and shorter. Resources must be obtained and plans must be established in order to get the targeted list growth rates. The ratio of inactive subscribers must also be reduced and slowed down.

Reducing and managing the number of email bounces has never been so critical for an email marketer. Frequent managing of email bounces reduces the email delivery costs and boosts the conversions and transactions. This is a sign of a good email program.

The list needs to be cleansed on a timely basis. The cleansing process can be done manually or through list hygiene service by which incorrectly formatted addresses, and invalid typos and domains can be checked for. Most of the companies experience an email address churn of two to three percent per month. Here the Email Change of Address service or ECOA service can be employed to deal with this problem. According to reports, many of the ECOA companies receive at least one million email address changes every month.

Email addresses need to be confirmed regularly. This can be done by sending auto-reply confirmation to customers when they register, subscribe or make a purchase. If the message bounces, attempt can be made to correct the email address. The problem can be tackled by including a second email address line in the opt-in form which can confirm whether the email address entered was correct or not.

One of the basic steps to be taken is to make the update process easier by including the website account and subscription management link in the emails. The customers must be prompted to update information. They can be asked to verify or to update information at the time of completion of transaction in the shopping cart. If any transaction has not been made in a while, phone or direct mail can be used for information update. People who have bad email addresses and whose phone numbers or postal addresses are stored with the company can be contacted for email address correction.

Major domains such as Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail, etc. can be used to track bounces and open rates. If one is different from the others or if there is a sudden change, this can be attributed to blacklisting or filtering. Therefore, it is also a good idea to check major blacklists and spam databases for your company’s or email provider’s name. If the name has been blacklisted, no bounce message will be received even if the message wasn’t delivered. Monitoring and understanding of spam filters helps in dealing with spam complaints more efficiently. The terms and conditions of the spam filters must be reviewed carefully.  Quite often the spam flag addresses are added maliciously. These flags must be removed. Email providers also process bounces. Only understanding them can solve the problem. The basis on which soft and hard bounces are to be pronounced should be studied and later on, managed accordingly.

Because of financial troubles, mergers, and other announcements a big list of service users of one particular ISP decide to shift over to a different ISP or account for their email. Such members on the subscribers list must be emailed with a question raised on the domain name. They should be asked whether they want to update their email and other information. It is a good practice to pretest the emails before distributing the email to the entire list of subscribers. The test can be performed on oneself, company employees and a trusted group of current readers. Try including all the major email services being used by majority of the subscriber list members.

When every other attempt fails, it is best to delete or suppress recurring bouncers. For this purpose a suiting bounce deletion and suppression strategy should be designed according to the email program. Hard bounces should land directly in the trashed list as they are permanently undeliverable.

One of the biggest mistakes to do is to use email like the electronic version of direct marketing media such as postal mailers, catalogs, radio, television, newspaper inserts and even brochures. A world class brand builder can become a sure fire brand killer in no time if it is treated with ignorance, carelessness, and laziness. The brand killing capability is very much dependant on the email’s relationship with the recipients.   The relationship is more personal because of the intimate relationship between the people and their computer. And because of this intimacy, positive and negative feelings are encourages by the company’s name. No mail is as irritating as junk mail and the penalties for such emails are getting much stiffer. A flood of spam complaints can affect the email program to the extent of shutting it down.

The email is becoming a personal medium, slowly. The recipient should be made in charge, he should be able to decide from whom he should receive email from, what kind of email he wants to receive and when he can stop receiving those emails. An email program which dose not includes all these conveniences will do severe damage to the company’s or brand’s name.

The first thing to concentrate upon is to remove poor permission practices. If this thing isn’t taken care of, nothing done after that will make up for the loss. In simple words, it is completely wrong to email a commercial message to anyone who hasn’t given the permission to do so. Sometimes, a person is simply signed up for receiving email while registering on the website because of checking boxes in a hurry. Thus, it is important for the registration page to display the privacy policy which says that the registration also includes agreement for receiving emails. And in spite of this, there is a high chance to get large complaints because of the unclear opt-in process. Some companies send emails to a person who has downloaded whitepaper or brochure form the website. It is better for the check box be not checked before hand. The job of checking the box should be left to the visitor.

In spite of taking these precautions sometimes it happen that the recipient will head straight to the report spam button when they do not want to receive email anymore. This happens when the recipient dose not trust the unsubscribe process. The first reason for the loss of trust is because of not sending the message in the desired format: text or HTML. The readers subscribe intrusting the company and when their email program fails to honor their trust, the company has to pay for this. It is very important to give the reader the option to choose from text or HTML format. Usually technical people prefer only text messages where as the teenagers prefer messages in the HTML format.

The content of the email should exactly meet the requested information. If a subscriber has asked for sales announcements then do not send them company news. Similarly, the frequency of email should also be kept in mind. If request has been made to receive a weekly newsletter, do not send bi-weekly newsletters. An occasional exception such as sales bulletins or news can be used sparingly. Customers complain a lot about the pouring of emails during the holiday season. It is better to focus on the quality rather than quantity.

It is not a compulsion that the content of the email look like spam and considered as a spam. If the recipients able to recognize the sender or dose not consider him to authentic, the mail directly goes to the spam folder. Three things should be considered to keep away from this problem. The sender or the subject shouldn’t appear vague. The content should be relevant to the brand name and its products. The unsubscribe procedure should be checked regularly. Failed unsubscribe and repeated requests for unsubscribing not only blocks the email program but also kills the brand name. Along with checking this link, it is highly recommended to check other links as well. Clicking on the link should take directly to the landing page and not on home page or a Page Not Found’ page. Also, effort must be made in reducing the number of clicks done to achieve a certain action.

The big picture, which is missed by many marketers, about email is that apart from being cheap and quick, it gives the ability to find what works and what does not. It is inexpensive and offers more information to the subscriber than direct mail and the turnaround time is decreased from weeks to hours. Yet, very few marketers invest time and efforts to test drive their eNewsletters and emails. Many of them will question whether the effort made is really worth it. If the order button is shifted from the bottom of the page to the top of the page, where it is more visible, the click through rate goes up by fifty percent. With such results, the effort is worth it. With hundreds and millions of dollars involved in email marketing, money cannot be thrown away like that.

The only way to know about offers and topics which work for the audience is by testing. Testing can be carried out on preferences, emotional triggers, reaction towards subject lines, do they like short or long formats, or do they like text or HTML format. Valuable information about the audience can be learned by variable testing.

Basics of the emails can be started with like the simplest portions of the emails can be formatted. Most of the emails aren’t read because of faulty HTML code. Emails should be tested in different types of email applications like Yahoo or Outlook. By doing this a drastic change can be observed in the overall response rate. Testing should be kept in control. Sometimes marketers get so overwhelmed that they test the whole email at once. If two completely different versions of the same email are send out to different groups, there will be no clue to what actually worked and what didn’t. Therefore it is necessary to pick a single element to be tested at a time and then observe the response of the audience to that particular variable before testing another variable.

Timing is also important when sending out emails for testing. When sending multiple test emails, the time of sending them out should be considered. It is to be seen whether the emails can be sent at the same time, same season, etc. This also includes the testing on more than one variable at a time. According to researches, Wednesday is the best day for getting responses. Other statistics say that at least thirty to fifty responses are required to make a good decision. Some percent of these responses can be confusing, but nearly ninety percent of them will be accurate. The list of elements can be further divided into smaller list and the individual list can be concentrated upon.

Testing doesn’t mean just taking the grade. It means that we should get the grades or results and learn from it. If something is wrong in the email, the correction should be sought out. When the email marketing efforts are put to test, the goal of this testing procedure is to test one or more elements or variables, the results must be analyzed and the lesson learned should be put to application. Otherwise, it is a waste of time and money to test. And when the results are ready, the marketer should know how to apply the new found knowledge.

Any marketing to be successful requires a particular strategy to be followed. Hence, email marketing also involves using some strategies. The biggest advantage of using email as a marketing strategy is personalization and segmentation. These advantages are also the most underutilized feature of email marketing, by most the companies. It is very important to make the company’s emails as clear and relevant as possible for every recipient because that particular email is competing with the rest of the emails in the recipient’s inbox. Email can be made relevant by personalizing subject lines, articles, offers, product showcased, and flowing emails depending upon recipient’s action.

Before carrying out an email marketing strategy it is best to send out pre-campaign test to uncover problems before actually implementing the strategy. The test results can be monitored by checking ISP filtering, blacklisting and filtering. The test messages should be sent to different email clients and platforms. The authenticity can be established by the sender of email by adding SPF code in the DNS record. Every email client and platform has a different preview pane and they have different policies for blocking images. To deal with this, the emails need to be redesigned so as to be read easily and rendered properly. The top portion of the email should deliver the maximum possible information. Also creativity should be increased by playing with HTML colors and fonts. Images should be less relied upon as there is greater chance of them getting blocked the email clients or ISPs.

Everything becomes pass over a period of time. A thing which worked few months ago might not work today. Variables such as design, format, copy style, subject line, offers, content types, personalization, product categories, etc., need to be tested constantly.

Email relationship should be paid special attention from the start, because majority of the decline requests comes in the first two months after subscriber’s opt-in. A well organized program must be designed which should engage the subscriber immediately. A welcome message should be sent out instantaneously, followed by current email including the latest offers and promotions. An email can also be sent which offers the best of the past newsletters along with exclusive offers for newcomers. The trust can be build by making things clear such as frequency, proposition, content type, and privacy policies, from the start. Apart from concentrating on new comers it is also important to take care of the long term subscribers. Over a period of time nearly fifty percent of the email list becomes inactive. This happens when the subscribers do not open the company’s emails from a long time. Such subscribers need to be awaken by trying new subject lines, new email formats, and by sending best of newsletters or spicy deals.

Short surveys can be carried out to know about the customer’s requirements and to uncover potential trends.

Instead of focusing on metrics such as click through and open rates, marketers need to focus on end goals such as revenue per mail, conversion rates, whether desired action was taken on time or not, etc. Format style and the type of articles liked by the subscribers must be concentrated upon. Searching option also helps in acquiring customers to a great extent.

The biggest job is to make a working email marketing plan which actually has specific goals, action steps and success metric. The plan should include enough resources and budget. The program needs to be improved often by continuous testing and analysis, by increasing segmentation and personalization, and by including the latest technology.