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By admin, April 24, 2010 8:55 am

Snippet is the top line of the email which is displayed apart from the subject line. Usually the inbox snippet displays the first line of the text message or HTML message. It is tiny but a very significant part of the email message which helps to tilt the balance in the marketer’s favor, when the readers zip through their messages, searching for the most important ones and deleting the rest. Therefore, it is more important to juice up the snippet in order to optimize the email and make your message stand out from the rest of the crowd.

Different service providers have different types of display pane. Yahoo displays the snippet in a pop-up text box when the cursor is brought over the subject line. Gmail shows the snippet in a shaded part after the display of a truncated subject line. In Outlook, a short part of the text is shown in auto preview.

Some marketers give the invitation to join their list of subscribers in the snippet itself. Although the service is valid it still shouldn’t be mentioned in the first line. Instead it must be used to generate interest, value and excitement in your email. A correctly framed snippet helps the reader, especially the one on the run, in deciding whether they should read the email immediately or delete it. Apart from the subject line alone, more words are available in the snippet or the top line of your email to build brand recognition. This top line facilitates the snap decision of the reader when he is in the middle of inbox triage. Some preview panes block images by default, which again increases the importance of the top line.

According to a survey, some of the common top lines are ‘View the email with images’, and ‘If you are having trouble seeing this email, Click Here’. At face value, there is nothing wrong with the message. But according to another statistics, the required number of people does not click on the link to go to the web version of the email. And none of the above sentences convey an offer or the purpose of email, leaving the reader to rely on the subject line alone for hint. Not other common failing is that it dose not even include the company’s name or brand. Another great opportunity to stand out is lost here.

The basic thing to keep the snippet spicy is to make a new one every time, even if few extra minutes are required for this job but its worth can be seen in better open rate. So the magic word here is to rejuvenate the top line, even if the same offer is being repeated. Retail email should have the offer in the top line like free shipping, festive discount or try our new product. The news publications should have the headline as the snippet like the quirky tidbit, top story or company announcement, followed by the web version link. If the email is a transaction confirmation then the action must be referred to and thanks should be offered, if required. If an order confirmation or thank you page is to be included in the transaction confirmation email, a link should be included to that page but otherwise, links can be skipped and templates can be used instead.

Before sending out email with the revamped top line it is important to revise the snippet. It can appear in a different method in different web email and desktop clients such as Yahoo, Gmail, etc. and on different platforms such as PC, mobile, Macintosh, etc. Testing should always be done. Divide your group of testers which can include employees and trusted old readers, into two groups. Send the first group your standard email and the other group the revised email. Notice the opinions of the two and choose the one with the best feedback. Always check the click rate of the snippet, to see the attention it is attracting.

The bottom line is that not even a single line of the email message should be wasted. The aim should be all business and no nonsense text.

PPPPP

Word Count 693

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By admin, April 23, 2010 9:55 am

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.

PPPPP

Word Count 660

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By admin, April 22, 2010 10:55 am

Nowadays everybody wants to earn in the most convenient manner. Everyone seems to be looking for the easiest way to get the extra bucks they would need to fill in their increasing expenses. A lot of us are asking how can we earn extra easily and quickly. The answer is as simple as 2 words. Affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing came about in the early stages of the 20th century. It was like a little spec when it started and it proved itself to be effective therefore it expanded and now everybody seems to be enjoying the benefits of affiliate marketing.

If you are just new to the industry you might be asking yourself: What is affiliate marketing? Well, derived from the word itself ? affiliate marketing is an affiliation between you and a certain company that has this product or service they would like the public to know about through the power of online advertisement or promotion. Companies will gladly pay certain individuals that could actually showcase their goods online through blogs, articles or in any manner that their products will be exposed.

Having this said, so what do you need in order to plunge in to the world of affiliate marketing? To tell you frankly, you might be surprised to know that it really doesn’t require much. Aside from a decent computer, you would just need an internet connection and of course a bit of your time to this chosen online business.

Where to start? Companies will gladly pay certain individuals that could actually showcase their goods online through blogs, articles or in any manner that their products will be exposed. That being said, it is obvious that you should have at least a website online. The more traffic you have on that website ? the better.

Since affiliate marketing is an affiliation between you and a certain company, their product or service must be known to the public through online advertisement or promotion. Let’s say you have at least 5,000 visits a day in your website ? that will have a corresponding equivalent to your affiliate marketing capability.

That being said, it is obvious that you should have at least a website online. The more traffic you have on that website ? the better. Since affiliate marketing is an affiliation between you and a certain company, their product or service must be known to the public through online advertisement or promotion. Having this said, so what do you need in order to plunge in to the world of affiliate marketing?

To tell you frankly, you might be surprised to know that it really doesn’t require much. Aside from a decent computer, you would just need an internet connection and of course a bit of your time to this chosen online business. Companies will gladly pay certain individuals that could actually showcase their goods online through blogs, articles or in any manner that their products will be exposed. That being said, it is obvious that you should have at least a website online.

The more traffic you have on that website ? the better. Since affiliate marketing is an affiliation between you and a certain company, their product or service must be known to the public through online advertisements or promotion. So if you want your affiliate marketing to be successful, you need to have an established website first then the rest will follow.