Another solid piece just hit the wires. We're all looking to improve on our CTR and let the LP do it's thing so here's a few things you can try to improve on your CTR! source: MarketingProfs
Boosting CTRs is nice but unless you are mailing to a private list of newsletter subscribers, CTRs exceeding 1% are not something most of us are going to see on a regular basis. What I find to work better for email marketers (not newsletter list managers) is following simple, established marketing principles to boost conversions of the clicks you do get - WOW! Who'd have guessed! From Field: I like to use a from field that relates to the subject. Most people naturally read from left to right and the FROM is the first thing they see. Make it a lead-in that prompts them to read the subject. Subject Field: Don't put some spammy shit here. The subject should entice them to open and read the email by piquing their curiosity. Sometimes I opt for a vague subject, but usually I prefer to explain the email with something semi-sensational. Try not to be misleading. Email Body: There are THREE types of email formats- 1) Plain text 2) Image HTML 3) Rich Text (i.e. HTML-enhanced text, no images) There is no best format, but some offers will respond better to a particular format. If you're promoting a physical product, image HTML works. If you are promoting something like dating, then Rich Text is a good way to go. Plain text is a standby that is best used if you are a good writer. The body should not be long. It should be fully visible in the users' window, without requiring them to scroll. Don't load it up with a sales pitch either, you're not preselling by email. That is the job of the landing page. The email's job is to provide a captive audience. So there you have it...better CTRs and conversions...just make sure that the networks you are working with aren't going to give you shit for customizing your creatives. Some of them do, some of them don't mind.
DoldGigga, I appreciate the info you shared here. I have a question for you: Do you find any negative effects on changing the From field? Many ISPs do not like this and earlier this year there was some buzz on the deliverability.com forum that yahoo especially is rating that in the reputation: http://blog.deliverability.com/2011/01/a-new-years-resolution-monitor-your-from-name-reputation.html Have you seen this? Have you noticed any effects on yahoo delivery? would appreciate your insights. Jedi
What this and the article you linked to are referring to is the reply email you are using, and not the from text. I'd recommend using "[email protected]" as your from email, where linkdomain.com matches the URLs contained within the email itself. Don't use random generated reply emails in the from section and don't put the recipients email as the reply email. By the way, you should take some time to read the emails you get at your "no reply" address. Some of them are funny, some of them may help you identify a potential screamer and sometimes you will get useful feedback on the campaigns you're running.
Hi Doldgigga, I suspected it was from text you meant and not from email. Thanks for your reply and some quality info. And we do go thru the abuse comments (which are sometimes extremely insightful and useful - barring the stuff like fuck you you damn asshole) but I never thought to go thru the replies to the envelope. I will have to set that up. Thanks again, Jedi
some real DG gold! Great points brought up here but these are the real gems, especially the last part here. I know I've talked about this with countless people who've ask me about content/copy of an email. As a former advertiser I always figured it was my responsibilty to convert the traffic, not the publishers. I was always doing split testing, zone optimization, index/order page optimization...everything. So keep that in mind, you let the LP do the heavy lifting, your job is just to get the traffic there!
A few things regarding FROM names. I always advise mailers to keep a static from name, this is for branding purposes and helps reduce the amount of Spam complaints. This was a "new concept" that came into play about 4 years ago and I saw a drastic improvement in my complaints , it also helps build more transparency with the isp. For example Gmail doesn't have a Wlist programe, they base in-boxing on the From name and headers. The more consistant you are with them, the more likely you will inbox. As for Yahoo, they changed their metrics in December and sent a whole-lotta mailers, even those who were certified senders into bulk. Now there were loads of discussions about "friendly from name" and ect, however, I had 3 wlisted yahoo servers who all had static from names and a great reputations but still all got bulked. All this to say that with the IPv4 running out and the new IPv6 coming in, most isp will have to rely more on From name and domain rep then ip rep. The "from name" issue has been a hop topic since December and Yahoo always seem to be ahead of the game. They now base boxing on a combination of domain, from name, active data and ip. Therefore, clean your lists get rid of any inactive data over 30days and create some static branding names. As for content, I hardly use any images. I find lite html works best but ideally you want to use a 60:40 txt to image ratio. However, this will only work for those isp's that use Spam Assassin, keeping in mind that you don't use any spammy wording.
Haaaa...I love reading the "reply-to" emails, I get some funny shit at times. I actually wanted to start a new tread on the most ridiculous "reply-to's" what do you think??
Awesome point PushSend, my #1 pet peeve in this industry is advertisers who complain that the traffic I bring them is no good. Bullshit, if I was able to bring over 200 clicks and not even 1 converted, then its the advertisers issue i.e Landing page . I look at email as a stripper not a whore, its your job to entice an individual, get them to click, tease them a little. Then once they click, its out of your hands, you've done your job. If it doesn't convert move on
Thanks g! I tried hard to make my offers profitable for my publishers. I've always been about the long term, not the hit and run type of shit. I figured if I could get solid publishers making money with my offers, they wouldn't have much reason to bail on me for the latest and greatest offer to hit the streets. And I also saw it as a great opportunity to build a relationship with a publisher. You show a pub that your offers make money and you're willing to put in the work on your side, you'd be amazed at what they'll do for you when you ask. Need traffic to a new page, new offer? Sure, no problem...I can split some off for you. Sure beats the other options an advertisre has for traffic. And as for the thread about funny replies...go ahead. I was about to do it myself! roud:
Go for it! Here's a sample of one that made me laugh: From: [email protected] Subj: DIE FAGGOT!!!!!!!! PHP: FFFFFFFFFFFF UUUU UUUU CCCCCCCC KKKK KKK UUUU UUUU FFFFFFFFFFFF UUUU UUUU CCCCC CCCC KKKK KKK UUUU UUUU FFFFF UUUU UUUU CCCC CCC KKKK KKK UUUU UUUU FFFFF UUUU UUUU CCCC KKKK KKK UUUU UUUU FFFFF UUUU UUUU CCCC KKKKKKKKK UUUU UUUU FFFFFFFFFF UUUU UUUU CCCC KKKKKKKK UUUU UUUU FFFFFFFFFF UUUU UUUU CCCC KKKKKKKKK UUUU UUUU FFFFF UUUU UUUU CCCC KKKK KKK UUUU UUUU FFFFF UUUU UUUU CCCC CCC KKKK KKK UUUU UUUU FFFFF UUUUUUUUUU CCCCC CCCC KKKK KKK UUUUUUUUUU FFFFF UUUUUUUU CCCCCCCC KKKK KKK UUUUUUUU I admire the time they put into their craft.
Bear in mind that there are rarely any manual email reviews going on... thousands of people were laid off. Abaca is in place with various metrics on super-high filter power, meaning you are at the mercy of cold math and formulas for determining your inboxing. Finding that sweet spot IMO has nothing to do with FROMs (barring you don't use spammy words like MAKE MONEY NOW). Instead, like gspot said... look at the ratios of total volume being sent to engagement from the end user. There is a "sweet spot" you need to maintain that's a combination of not just clicks, but clicks to volume, scomps to volume, mailing dormant/inactive accounts, expired accounts, hard bounces, etc etc Regarding FROM's. I've always gone with the mentality of making the FROM a mini subject line. And my SUBJECT's are just a continuation of the same theme with a "call to open". Split testing subject's is always important when practical. To do so on 100 offers is overload. But if you hear through a grapevine a particular offer is solid (e.g. eCigs), it's worth it to really fine tune FROMs and SUBJECTs over time. And DONT use software that rotates these.. you could wind up making a lot of money and think you've solved an ancient Chinese secret by doing this, but unless you know exactly which subjects that money came from, you're wasting resources and time by rotating randomly. It's the lazy man's way.
lazy man or automation? But if you developed it yourself, couldn't you do something that would essentially take a look at results (maybe based off of open rates) and while rotating these across a data set use this information to intuitively pull low performers and move your remaining volume to the subjects performing the best? I'm no programmer but it would seem to me that if you can build something to rotate these you could also build something to read the results and modify on the fly. Is this outta the question?
I think it could be done with some fairly simple A/B or Multivariate split testing embedded into your mailing app. We have a simple (but advancing) split testing module in our email software that lets our users send up to 4 variations of subject/body - I never thought of including the from name as well but now I will. And at the risk of stating the obvious (as I have done once already ) whatever your split testing software does should show you what the WINNER was. I have seen some software that just let you rotate X, Y & Z but never told you what the results were.
This is a feature Serge and I have talked about adding to Opt In Broadcast for a LONG time. It's never been a ridiculously huge priority which is why it's not done yet. It would be a bit of a project but we could create automation that would track which from addresses, subjects, creatives are getting the most opens/clicks in real time and then adjust what's being sent accordingly by combining the best from's and subjects with a given campaign and also which campaigns are getting the most traffic at any given time etc.
