Change Routines for Better Results

In any health magazine I’ve ever read, the mantra seems to be “Don’t get stuck in a rut” for a few reasons but 2 most notable.  One, you’ll get bored, you’ll work out less as a result and won’t reach the goals you set forth, changing routines keeps you engaged, interested and eager to push yourself.  Two, switching your routine shocks your body and wakes up muscles that were dormant helping you push through the barrier to build that physique we’re all striving for.

In the same regard, think of the way your emails look, what their content is and what the call to action may be.  There is something to be said for consistency in branding, but a change in routine, a shock to the system could be just what your contacts need to take action.  Give it a shot - offer something you wouldn’t normally offer, use imagery that may seem a little different, Give something away, etc…

Keep your contacts engaged, give them something out of the ordinary and see what happens.  If it doesn’t work, you’ll know through your analytics solution - continue to test for the best results.

Get the most out of Swiftpage in 2008 - Part 1: Call List

Over the next several days I’ll be highlighting some of the under utilized, lesser known features you get with the Swiftpage solution.  Get the most out of your Swiftpage account - stay tuned and amp up your 2008 email marketing.

Call List and Call List Assignments -

You’ve likely heard of the Swiftpage Call List:  A ranked list of your most interested contacts based on their interaction with your email marketing campaigns, single sends or templates.  Swiftpage figures (among other things) if Jane opens her email 5 times and clicks on 3 links she is likely more interested than Joe who opens his email 1 time and clicks nothing.  If I’m a sales person, I’m calling Jane before Joe.  Pro and Team level subscribers receive full versions of the Call List and Entry and Basic members receive a lite version.

What you likely didn’t know about the Call List is that you can filter any way you like and assign portions of it to your sales staff.  Assign the hot leads to your inside sales group or top team member and assign the warm and mild leads to your call center for follow up.  Or, take the entire list and randomly assign to every team member - As each team member logs into their own account they will see an assigned portion of the Call List waiting for them to work through.

The Call List makes Swiftpage more than just an email marketing solution, it takes your results and turns them into action items for your sales team.  Start using the Swiftpage Call List and get more out of your Swiftpage account.

Email Content Imagery

You’ve taken the time to expertly draft copy for each one of your email segments.  Your template is layed out to exact specifications - not too much text, strong call to action, proper image placement.  You’ve sent test email to all of your dummy accounts at gmail, hotmail, yahoo, etc…everything renders properly and your message gets across in the viewing pane even if images are turned off.  You’re set - your copy is in, and your clip art has been placed - right?  wrong.

You’ve taken the time to make everything perfect - why hurt it with imagery that is less than satisfactory.  Put yourself in your recipient’s shoes.  Are your urged to purchase with an image of a cookie cutter cow jumping over the moon?  I doubt it.  You owe it to yourself as a marketer to spend a few extra bucks and purchase some stock imagery to really help drive home your message.

Try -  photos.com, corbis.com, istockphoto.com, fotolia.com, gettyimages.com - Some are less expensive than others, but either way the investment will make a much stronger impact on your recipients than a cute smiley.

Note:  Swiftpage is not affiliated with any of the suggested stock photography image banks - we just want your emails to have as much impact as possible - and know that beautiful imagery has a stronger effect on people.

Marketing and Sales Working Together

1) One voice, one uniform message

2) All work and progress not mutually exclusive

3) Tracking of both sales and marketing success in the campaigns

4) Proper delineation of work

5) Healthy distribution of work loads

If you are a Swiftpage user, you have probably caught on that we are describing our Team level of service. The short of it, is that your marketing team creates and sends the emails out as though they were coming from the sales reps. The recipient’s reactions to the emails automatically create a call list for the sales reps. The call lists are then either managed by the reps themselves or distributed to the reps by a sales manager, where their progress can be monitored at any point and time. The whole process results in cohesion and affective use of your marketing, sales, and management talents.

We’re working to bring you and your teams the tools to do so. What do you do?

Snow Balls

We had our first snow here in Denver over the weekend and even though it was expected, it came through in a night time sneak attack. Saturday was nice, hot, and sunny, but around midnight on Saturday the temperatures dropped and the snow was a flying.

The emails will be a flying pretty soon as I mentioned in our holiday preparation article in this month’s Thoughtspot. One recommendation and tool that I would strongly encourage using is our Spam Checker, which will help you in determining how “Spammy” your emails are looking. Obviously, the less “Spammy”, the better the delivery. So, spend some time tinkering with your emails and take advantage of the free Spam Checker to make sure your emails are looking their holiday best.

Columbus Brings it Home

Christopher Columbus discovered America and today he discovered that the holiday season is upon us. In just over three weeks Halloween will be in full swing, kids will be running around with pitchforks, totally wired and over-served with sugar. But why not? It’s a hoot.

So, this all means that the time is now to get your team in gear and have your holiday marketing and email marketing strategies on the cusp of execution. Within the next two months we will be enjoying more than a handful of major holidays, where everyone is in the buying mood and happy, full of merriment and cheer. So, why not take advantage of that in a pleasant and reciprocal fashion by communicating how you and your organization can truly benefit your customers. Not how you think you can benefit them, but how they can truly appreciate and need what you have to offer.

My advice is to take your pick and really focus on one particular holiday - Not all of them, there are far too many in such a short period of time. So, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, Christmas, and New Years. Take your pick, put in your time to create an excellent campaign and get results.

The Whole Enchilada - Survey Says Volume IV of IV

Survey Series Part 4 of 4: The Whole Enchilada

The descriptive and resourceful tips to come:

-Uno Intro

-Content Sherpas (Guiding Participants through a Survey)

-A Handsome Reward (a.k.a. Landing Pages)

-The Whole Enchilada

I love enchiladas the most. There are several of them on the plate and they are smothered in other good stuff, like cheese, sour cream, and hot sauce.

You start with the tortilla (email) and add a little chicken, beef, or cheese (survey) and then top it all off with the good and noticeably tasty stuff (landing page).

Make sure the chicken, beef, or cheese is not overpowering, but just enough to get you through to enjoy the good stuff on top (landing page). All of this put together in the strategic and tasty looking fashion and then followed through with the legitimate good-taste, will give you a fat, happy stomach (database).

Please refer to the three prior blog posts if this makes no sense to you and you think Swiftpage is a restaurant.

Landing Pages - Survey Says Volume III of IV

Survey Series Part 3 of 4: A Handsome Reward

The descriptive and resourceful tips to come:

-Uno Intro

-Content Sherpas (Guiding Participants through a Survey)

-A Handsome Reward (a.k.a. Landing Pages)

-The Whole Enchilada

The landing page is the money shot. That is no secret.

Be sure to make it clear though and enticing, that at the end of this tiny little survey, the customer will receive something shiny, new, and fun. And in terms of shiny, new, and fun the spectrum is large and primarily up to you to hone in on.

For example, if you are trying to reach potential home buyers, then offer them the latest and best listings in their area on the landing page. People will happily fill out their name, email address, and a little more info for a good lead.

Your landing page could also be a gift certificate, price break on an event, your website or product page, and really any number of things.

The landing page being the most important and crucial piece of the survey process, you will need to make the message and path clear. Make it loud and proud that if “you fill out this survey you will receive so and so, which is a huge benefit to you, and is something you truly want and need”.

It is important to put a good amount of effort into this portion as well.  Spend some real quality time brainstorming what your landing page will be and exactly why people want to get there.

Content Sherpas - Survey Says Volume II of IV

Survey Series Part 2 of 4: Content Sherpas

The descriptive and resourceful tips to come:

-Uno Intro

-Content Sherpas (Guiding Participants through a Survey)

-A Handsome Reward (a.k.a. Landing Pages)

-The Whole Enchilada

Hooray for the survey! Who want to take a survey?

Certainly no one will beat down your door to take your survey, unless there is something worthwhile on the other end of that thing. An informative newsletter, special document, top secret information, who knows, just something of interest, or just plain cash. So that you don’t lose your participants in the process of filling out the survey you need to give them a leg up from the start, by having as little content as possible in your questions.

To put it in a nutshell…KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. My Grandpa’s friend always described this as how he liked his food and when it comes to surveys the KISS perfectly applies. The less content and the more direct and to the point your questions are, the better the answers will be that you receive.

Make sure the questions flow and lead into one another. Revise them. Make them more simple. Do that again.

Short and to the point, will get you quality feedback.

Survey Says…

Survey Series Part 1 of 4: Uno Intro

The descriptive and resourceful tips to come:

-Uno Intro

-Content Sherpas (Guiding Participants through a Survey)

-A Handsome Reward (a.k.a. Landing Pages)

-The Whole Enchilada

With all of the cool new technology floating around today, what is the point of using an archaic survey for gathering data? The answer is that no matter how hip and crazy our technology gets, you still need to know who your customer is, how to contact them, and why they have chosen to use you of all people on this massive globe.

The scary part is that it is extremely easy to make a boring, dull, and quickly hated survey that no one wants to fill out, smell, taste, or touch with a 45 foot pole. Luckily we want to help the 45 foot pole thing not take place and will be continuing this four-part Survey Series on exactly how and why you need to include surveys in your marketing repertoire to deliver valuable information to your own doorstep.

Basically the end goal will entail loads of contact information and feedback from all of those customers who keep you and your organization afloat. The life-blood of your company if you will? So, it truly is in your best interest to keep an eye on this lifeblood and make sure that it is happy, content, and not in a rush to leave you.

Here is a little taster of what’s to come. This survey happens to be a creation from one of our customer’s websites and it is your most basic, effective, and rudimentary surveys that brings results: Brainsell’s Newsletter Sign Up. In the remainder of this four part series we will take a look at how a simple survey actually and legitimately brings you results and then how you can take it all one step further.

So, stay tuned.