Weekly Email Marketing News Digest | Message Exchange

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Angela Cheong

Devastating news for bloggers and journalists this week ? Google is shutting down Google Reader. If you?re like me and your livelihood depends on perusing Google Reader?s news feed, you?re probably scrambling to find a replacement (aside from whining incessantly and sobbing uncontrollably on the floor). Here?s a useful read of alternative resources from LifeHacker, Google Reader Is Shutting Down; Here Are the Best Alternatives.

Moving on to email marketing news, we?ve collated a slew of articles with actionable tips for marketers to begin optimizing content and using tactics that could see an immediate improvement in ROI. Enjoy!

Case Study: 30 Percent Increase in Email List Growth

The above-the-fold camp may be taking a bit of a hit these days, but here?s an important thought: ?Just because people can scroll doesn?t mean that they will?. Just by moving the email sign-up above the fold, a business saw a 30% increase in email list growth.

?Email CTA Below-The-Fold

?Email CTA Above-The-Fold

Why Nobody Is Talking About Your Email Content? and How to Change That

The problem is that it screams me, me and ME! Here are 7 reasons why email marketing campaigns fail:

1. They?re all about you.
2. They?re not helpful.
3. They?re not timely.
4. They?re not entertaining.
5. You don?t ask questions.
6. You don?t involve your readers.
7. You don?t tell your readers to share.

What will kill email?

Digital marketing guru, Christopher Penn argues that email will likely never die ? unlike social networks with rapid birth-death cycles. IMAP, POP3 and SMTP are all open standard protocols so it?s easy for anyone to buy and set up a standards-compliant mail server. Not so for social media, where business models are based on exclusive ownership.

Most Emails Deployed in the Morning ? But Best Results Seen in the Evening

I start off my mornings scrolling through a slew of marketing emails. If I see something interesting, I flag some for follow-up in the evening when I have some time to register, sign-up or purchase. Apparently, that?s possibly a behavior that is reflective of the average email consumer.

A study shows that a 40% majority of emails are sent between 8am to 11.59am, but the 16.1% unique open rate, 2.4% unique click rate and 0.13% transaction rate were the lowest among the tested time periods.

Between 8pm and 11.59pm, the 21.7% unique open rate, 4.2% unique click rate, 0.34% transaction rate, $0.48 revenue per email and $246 average order value were significantly higher than the other tested time periods.?Days with the lowest email volumes such as Saturday and Sunday had the best response rate at a unique open rate of 17.8% and unique click rate of 2.9%.

3 ways to apply image psychology to your next email

Here?s a different way to approach email design ? through the lens of neuroscience.

1. Use images of people in email campaigns that evoke emotions you want subscribers to have.

How it works: A part of the brain is wired to solely to process images of faces.

2. Use images of people creatively to support your call to action.

How it works: Our brains are naturally programmed to pay attention to people.

3. Use provocative images that support people?s survival instinct.

How it works: A part of the brain known as ?the primitive brain? pays attention to food, danger or sex ? things that ensure the survival of the species.

As always, all the email marketing best practices and tips mentioned above are particular to certain businesses. For the best results, it?s always better to do your own testing to see if what is recommended works for your specific target audience. And if you want to increase your revenue by 30% through email, download the following free white paper!

Source: http://www.messagesystems.com/blog/?p=1416

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