Refresh yourself with the highlights of our August Lunch & Learn on Email Marketing. And if you missed it, this is a great way to learn a few tips & tricks.
As many of you know, we changed things up quite a bit for our August Lunch & Learn and turned the mic around on you! We put out registration early, we filled up the seats, and we asked you to send us your best questions on email marketing. You responded, and on August 25th, our panel of experts answered your questions and told you all their secrets! If you couldn’t make it, or if you’re just wanting a refresher, we’ve got you covered. Here are the highlights and quick tips from our Email Marketing/Email Newsletter Lunch & Learn:
Q: Why does my company need a newsletter?
“Need” is a strong word. We’re not going to tell you that your business is going to fall apart if you don’t have an email marketing plan or send out a newsletter. But we highly recommend it as a way to stay in touch with your clients and as a way to continue building the relationships that have already been created. Email newsletters are also a great way to get information to your clients in one swipe rather than spreading the word in bits and pieces and hoping it reaches everyone.
Q: What’s the difference between MailChimp and Constant Contact?
MailChimp & Constant Contact are very similar in what kind of services they provide: They send emails to large lists with design and template options available. However, there is always a difference. There is absolutely nothing wrong with either of them, but we find MailChimp to be the more user-friendly version with the “prettier” options.
Q: Can I just use my regular email to send my email newsletter instead of getting fancy?
Can you? Yes. Should you? No. Here’s the deal: Spam filters are a reality, and sometimes totally innocent emails find their way to spam boxes. One of the things that triggers being marked as spam? Sending out mass emails from your personal email. With services like MailChimp & Constant Contact, you can send mass emails with your email address as the sender, but you skip the spam issues.
Q: How many people can I add to my list?
With MailChimp’s free subscriptions, you can add up to 2,000 subscribers. Past that, it is $10/month for an extra 500 and it goes up $5 a month for every 500 you add on top of that.
Q: Do I have to make my email marketing mobile?
With responsive design taking flight like it has over the last couple of years, mobile is definitely something to pay close attention to. With MailChimp, you can preview your email newsletter in both desktop and mobile versions side-by-side before you send it off to your clients’ inboxes.
Q: Can I put a clickable call to action and links in the newsletter?
Everything including pictures and text are linkable in a good email client. You want to link things in your content that makes sense for someone to click on, or to the things that you think your clients might click on. If there’s a chance to drive back to your website via links in your newsletter, take it. But that doesn’t mean pepper every bit of your content or every other word with links. Still be reasonable about which words or phrases you want to draw the most attention and that you think people will actually click on.
Q: How do I even know who’s reading my newsletter?
MailChimp has a really detailed analytics section that allows you to see all of the following:
- Recipients (who your email went to)
- Did it bounce?
- Was it undeliverable?
- Who unsubscribed?
- Opened (who opened the email)
- Clicked (who clicked on any of the links in your email)
- Industry average on the above
- Avg. open rate 16.3%
- Avg. click rate 1.9%
- 24-hr. performance (how your email performed open/click-wise over the last 24 hours)
- Top links clicked (which links were clicked the most)
Q: Do I have to do this every month? What’s the most I can publish? Or what’s the least I can publish?
On the free account, MailChimp allows you to send 1,200 emails a month to 2,000 subscribers. But the paid accounts like Constant Contact have options that allow you to send as many emails as you want.
Q: If I’m not interested in setting up my own template, is there a service that does that?
Absolutely! In fact, we at Infomedia know a thing or two about this! Contact us through the form below, and we’re happy to walk you through the options.
So, there ya go! The highlights of our August Lunch & Learn on Email Marketing and Newsletters. Let us know what your favorite parts were, and what tips you thought were most useful. Also, stay tuned for the details and registration of our next lunch and learn — coming up September 22nd!