Articles & Reports

In a perfect world, you’d know exactly what your customers want and could serve it right up to them without hesitation. Unfortunately, things don’t quite work this way, so you’ve got to use the tools you have available to find out more about your customers. And there’s no better tool for this purpose than a survey.

A well-written and formatted survey will generate high response rates and provide you with quality information that can be used to improve just about any aspect of your business. In this White Paper, we’ll examine some best practices you can use to build a great survey

It's that time of year again when we all list our New Years resolutions. Lose 10 lbs, get to work early, call your Mom every week. We know, we all have them. Sometimes they seem too hard, even though we know we should. Here is a list of 10 achievable resolutions all businesses should focus on in the New Year, if you're not already ahead of the game. If you are, consider yourself a pro and do everything 20% better!

Use a Calendar

Google has a great one where you can use alerts to remind you to write copy and send communications. Bonus? You can also share it with others so that they know exactly when you're planning to launch a campaign.

Tips for Successful Email Marketing Campaigns

Delivering email seems pretty straightforward, right? You upload a mailing list, create an email, hit send, and then mighty wizards transport that email to your recipients through the use of ancient, handcrafted cables and powerful laser beams. What more could you possibly need to know about this process? As it turns out, loads more.

There are a number of factors that determine whether an email, especially a bulk email, gets a response from its recipients. What are those factors? I’m glad you asked!

Getting permission to send someone an email is probably the toughest, yet one of the most important, things you can do. Why is it so tough? Because you have to gain your potential recipient’s trust, that’s why. They need to feel comfortable that you won’t abuse their valuable and personal information.

Testing can be an important part of your email marketing strategy. A simple tweak in your email campaign could squeeze in some additional clicks, opens or even added revenue! Here are some ideas for each part of this rule that can hopefully help you garner better results.

Generally speaking, it’s good to have options. But occasionally, having too many alternatives can be a curse, not a blessing. When searching for an Email Service Provider (ESP), there’s no shortage of choices, but selecting the right ESP from a staggering array of candidates can be a daunting task. Here is a list of criteria you may want to start with when deciding who to choose an online Email Service Provider.

Use opt-in form instructions

Provide clear, step-by-step directions that indicate how subscribers can guarantee delivery of your emails straight to their inboxes. After registrants complete an opt-in form on your website and click “submit”, direct them to a page which suggests they add your email address to their address books. Then, to make the process nearly foolproof – and keep people from abandoning the task in frustration - provide specific instructions for each of the major ISPs (AOL, Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail etc.)

At VerticalResponse, we get this question all the time, should it be twice per month, twice per week, once per quarter? The truth is that we don’t have a perfect answer to this question. What we do know is that it all depends on the relationship you’ve built with your recipients.

Over-mailing your recipients is a very effective way to lose subscribers! A bored or annoyed recipient is one step away from becoming an unsubscribe and you really don’t want to alienate your subscribers.

Your Checklist for A Successful Email Marketing Campaign

Whether you are new to email marketing or a savvy veteran, working for a company that sends 500 emails a week or 500,000, there are certain policies you should follow to optimize your campaigns. Call them the commandments of email marketing or call them best practices; here are 18 ideas to improve your delivery, open, and response rates.