How to improve your Mobile Marketing

Mobile Marketing“Desktop represents 19% of all email opens, webmail 26% and mobile 55%”

Litmus Email Analytics (March 2016)

With stats like these it makes sense that email marketers need to get up to speed on how to improve their mobile marketing strategy.

So this week will have pulled together mobile marketing, tips, tricks and stats from fellow experts to get you started.

Top 5 tips to rock your 2016 mobile marketing strategy

Your customers are never more than three feet from their mobile devices. That’s an amazing power that you can leverage.

Check out these 5 TOP TIPS to help you with your 2016 mobile marketing strategy.

http://venturebeat.com/2016/03/01/top-5-tips-to-rock-your-2016-mobile-marketing-strategy-webinar/

 

Mobile Marketing Tips for 2016

In 2016, consumers are using their phones for everything. In fact mobile marketing is predicted to surpass $100 billion in spending and account for more than 50% of all digital spending for the first time.

If you don’t know where to start then check out this article from Amanda Willigmann who goes through the steps to take to help you execute the perfect mobile marketing strategy.

http://www.business2community.com/mobile-apps/mobile-marketing-tips-2016-01464617

 

Three tips to improve your mobile marketing

Whilst we all realise the importance of mobile, many of us have yet to catch up with consumer expectations, or realise how SEO and mobile work together.

Mike O’Brien gives us 3 TOP TIPS to improving your mobile marketing.

https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/05/26/three-tips-to-improve-your-mobile-marketing-from-nick-wilsdon-vodafone/

 

The ultimate mobile email statistics overview

Smartphones and tablets represent a massive part of all email interactions and revenue. But just how big is this market? Jordie van Rijn has compiled a list of regularly updates stats to give you a fascinating insight into the current state of mobile email usage.

http://www.emailmonday.com/mobile-email-usage-statistics

 

How Important Is A Mobile-Optimized Email Newsletter?

If you’re tackling your own email design, it’s important to understand which elements you need to ensure that your email is mobile-friendly.

Jayson DeMers give us 7 elements well worth checking!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2015/04/08/how-important-is-a-mobile-optimized-email-newsletter

 

Now that you know the importance of mobile marketing and how your email strategy can be integrated, you will now need to consider your automated email delivery solution.

That’s where the market leading email solution arpReach can help. With No monthly fee, No per-message charges and No fee rises as your list grows. arpReach makes your email marketing targeted, automated and more profitable !

Discover how it will help your business grow at http://arpreach.com/features

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the BEST email marketing examples from around the globe

Email DesignThis week we wanted to dedicate some time to showing you some of the best email examples from around the globe.

Looking at design, layout, CTAs and content. Our fellow experts show us their favourite email examples and why they love them!

 

12 of the Best Email Marketing Examples You’ve Ever Seen (And Why They’re Great)

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a marketing veteran who has navigated through years of changing technology or a newbie fresh out of college — we all need examples of outstanding content.

Lindsay Kolowich picks out 12 of her favourites.

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/email-marketing-examples-list

 

9 types of Email Marketing to engage B2B audiences

Steven Macdonald shares his advice on how to engage successfully with your audience including 9 B2B email marketing examples to set you on the route to success.

http://www.smartinsights.com/b2b-digital-marketing/b2b-email-marketing/9-b2b-email-marketing-examples/

 

8 B2B email marketing examples that deserve a trophy

McKenzie Van Meter has collated 8 examples that prove B2B emails don’t have to be underwhelming, ugly, or forgettable. Well worth checking out.

http://content.myemma.com/h/i/264790470-8-b2b-email-marketing-examples-that-deserve-a-trophy/164110

 

7 Ecommerce Email Campaigns You Should Steal Today

Mark Macdonald has assembled seven high-impact ecommerce email examples that you can take inspiration from and put to use in your business today !

https://www.shopify.co.uk/blog/14107733-7-ecommerce-email-campaigns-you-should-steal-today

 

Inspiring Examples for Successful E-mail Marketing Campaigns

Outbrain give us some great examples of email marketing campaigns that you can utilise, turning your stale email marketing campaign into a refreshed, modern, and highly successful conversion tool.

http://www.outbrain.com/blog/2014/09/inspiring-examples-for-successful-e-mail-marketing-campaigns.html

 

Now fully armed with great email creatives and awesome content your next steps are to plan and automate your email sequence. That’s where the market leading email solution arpReach can help. With No monthly fee, No per-message charges and No fee rises as your list grows. arpReach makes your email marketing targeted, automated and more profitable !

Discover how it will help your business grow at http://arpreach.com/features

TOP TIPS on getting your email shared

email marketingLast week we covered getting your email opened, but to maximize email as a marketing channel the next aim must be to get your email shared.

The following offers a wealth of knowledge all collated in one place to help you to improve your email marketing strategy.

5 Secrets To Getting Subscribers To Forward Your Emails

How do you get people to share your brand’s messages with others? Columnist Chad White offers these key tactics for encouraging your subscribers to forward your emails.

http://marketingland.com/5-secrets-getting-subscribers-forward-emails-134445

Want People to Forward Your Emails? Try These 4 Data-Backed Tips

When most people think about a successful email, they just think about deliverability, opens, and clicks. But a truly engaging email should do more than that it should compel subscribers to share the message with others.

Lauren Smith offers some great advise on how to make this happen.

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/why-people-forward-emails-data

How to Make Your Emails Go Viral

Eight tips for getting subscribers to forward your emails.

http://www.dmnews.com/email-marketing/how-to-make-your-emails-go-viral/article/422129/

Now that you have all this valuable information absorbed it’s a great time to consider how you manage the delivery of your email marketing strategy.

That’s where arpReach can help grow your business. Offering both auto-responder and broadcast services with No monthly fee, No per-message charges and No fee rises as your list grows. arpReach makes your email marketing targeted, automated and more profitable!

Discover how here: http://arpreach.com/features

TOP TIPS on getting your email opened !

email marketingSo you have spent time gathering your leads and planning your segmentation strategy. Now you need to get that email delivered and, more importantly opened !

This week we have gathered articles that offer some great tips from killer subject lines to awesome content.

Well worth grabbing a cuppa and taking 5 minutes to read this valuable advice.

9 Simple Ways To Get People To Open Your Email

As a small business how can you stand out and ensure that your emails get read? These 9 tips by Barry Moltz offers top advice on boosting your open rates.

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/9-simple-ways-to-get-people-to-open-your-email/

 

13 Ways to Get Your Emails Noticed and Opened

Marketing expert Al Lautenslager explains how you can engage your customers, create brand believers and gain fans for everything you sell.

13 tactics you can use to craft emails that your target market will want to open and read.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/235122

 

5 Ways to Get More People to Read Your Emails

There are dozens of reasons for emails to go unread. Your customers are busy, and their inboxes may be inundated with messages. From company memos to promotional emails, we all know how emails can pile up.

So, how do you get your customers to read your emails?

The following article is a list of five easy-to-do tips to increase your “email readability.”

http://www.verticalresponse.com/blog/5-ways-to-get-more-people-to-read-your-emails/

 

37 Tips for Writing Emails that Get Opened, Read, and Clicked

So, when you’re emailing your list, what do you do? Do you write as if you’re addressing a huge, faceless crowd of people? Do you write just like a massive corporate marketing department would?

If you want your subscribers to look forward to your emails, then read these 37 tips to make that happen !

http://www.copyblogger.com/37-email-marketing-tips/

 

The 5 Things Your Emails Need To Include To Get People To Read And Respond

A massive 55% of all email users admit that they don’t open and read messages regularly—whether business or personal.

So getting your email read becomes a little more challenging. Here’s 5 top tips to help you win the battle !

http://www.fastcompany.com/3045439/work-smart/the-5-things-your-emails-need-to-include-to-get-people-to-read-and-respond

 

Now you know how to create killer content your next step should be to plan and automate your email sequence.

 

arpReach is a market leading email solution with No monthly fee, No per-message charges and No fee rises as your list grows. arpReach makes your email marketing targeted, automated and more profitable !

 

Discover how it will help your business grow at http://arpreach.com/features

 

 

 

Set up MailGun with arpReach

training setup mailgun with arpreachSetting up and configuring arpReach to use the MailGun SMTP service is simple and straight-forward.  MailGun offer free and paid solutions, the free account allows you to send up to 10,000 emails per month.

Follow the instructions below.

These instructions assume that you have already set up, verified and activated your MailGun account. If not you will need to create an account at:
https://mailgun.com/signup

Step 1:

Login to MailGun at:
https://mailgun.com/cp

Step 2:

Add a custom domain

If you haven’t added a custom domain you will see a screen similar to this

add custom domain screen

Click on the button ‘Add Custom Domain’.  You will be taken to a new screen to add a domain for use with MailGun.  They provide useful hints and tips throughout the process.  For this guide we followed their advice, adding a sub-domain.

add custom sub domain

Once you have added your sub-domain you will need to verify that domain in order to be able to send emails from it using arpReach.  Again they provide useful help and advice if you get stuck but the basic principle is that you need to create DNS records that ‘prove’ you can send emails from the sub-domain you have just created.  You will see a screen similar to this:

verify subdomain for mailgun with dns

To do the verification, you copy the information provided by MailGun and paste it into the appropriate DNS record that needs to be created for your domain name.  In the example below we are creating a TXT record in the Advanced Zone Editor available through CPanel.  This process will differ depending on if you use CPanel or not.  Your hosting company will be able to help you.

create spf record for mailgun

In the image above you can see we have creates a TXT record, copied the information provided by MailGun, pasted it into the boxes available and then press the ‘Add Record’ button.

The same process is used to create the CNAME record required but you select CNAME from the ‘Type’ dropdown (see below).

create cname record for mailgun

After clicking the ‘Add Record’ button you will see a confirmation message if it is accepted by CPanel

record add success

Depending on your hosting company it may take 24 – 48 hours for Mailgun to verify that you have set up your DNS correctly.  Once the DNS settings have been confirmed the domain state will change to ‘Active’ which means you can use it.

domain active mailgun

domain active mailgun 2

Once the domain is active you will need to copy the SMTP hostname, your SMTP login and password details (see above).

Please note that MailGun listen for connections on ports 25, 587 and 465 (SSL/TLS).  You will need to confirm with your hosting company which inbound AND outbound ports they have open so that your arpReach installation can talk to MailGun.

mailgun smtp listening ports

Step 3:

Now Login to your arpReach installation.

Navigate to: Setup > Email Systems > Add an Email System

In the ‘Settings’ Tab, Type in a name to help you recognise your Mandrill SMTP system and a description

add an email system

Click on the ‘Options’ Tab

In the Server Settings section > Sending Method – Select ‘SMTP’ from the dropdown.

Select SMTP from dropdown
Input your user details from MailGun into the appropriate fields of the ‘Server Settings’ section. Press the ‘Save Email System’
Note: Choose a valid port and encryption method.

add smtp settings tls

In the event that your arpReach installation fails to connect to MailGun, there are primarily four main causes

The MailGun SMTP port is incorrect – Try changing to port 25 or 587 or 465
You have not selected TLS as the encryption method
Your hosting company have blocked the inbound and outbound SMTP ports (25 or 587 or 465) – contact your hosting company for assistance.  Ensure they understand you need inbound and outbound capability
You have incorrectly applied your username or password – double check

arpReach is a self-owned autoresponder solution that allows you to maximize your email marketing efforts while saving time and money.  You can find out more about it at http://www.arpreach.com

Paid Advertising – What is it and how to make it profitable !

PPCThis week we are featuring advice from fellow digital marketing experts on understanding paid advertising and how to make it more profitable.

We start with the basics of what PPC is and understanding its many terms.

We then look at strategies to improve lead quality and how your approach should change across different audiences.

Finally, some up-to-date industry info on Google Adwords changes that could effect your advertising.

So let’s dive in and start with the basics…

 

What Is PPC? Learn the Basics of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Marketing

If you already know that you want to use PPC to market your business, but aren’t sure where to start, then give this post a read !

http://www.wordstream.com/ppc

 

A Glossary of Pay Per Click Terms

Understanding pay per click terminology can help you know what you’re paying for and what you’re getting in the PPC world, Peter Kent talks us through all the terms that you need to know.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/a-glossary-of-pay-per-click-terms.html

 

9 Strategies for Improving Lead Quality From B2B PPC Campaigns

Andy Beohar provides nine proven strategies to generate better quality, bottom of the funnel leads from your B2B PPC campaigns.

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/9-strategies-to-improve-lead-quality-b2b-ppc-campaigns

 

How New & Existing Customers Interact With Your Paid Search Ads Differently

Columnist Andy Taylor shares data from Merkle|RKG that illustrates how users behave when clicking on ads. A useful insight that could make your paid advertising more effective!

http://searchengineland.com/ppc-data-new-vs-existing-customers-sheds-light-user-behavior-optimization-opportunities-243412

 

Google AdWords to break up tablet & desktop and enable a mobile base bid

Google has announced a significant change that will give advertisers more control over device-level bidding in AdWords. Check out what this change could mean to your PPC.

http://searchengineland.com/google-adwords-break-tablet-desktop-enable-mobile-base-bid-250214

 

The Yahoo! Bing Network

Google Adwords has become a very competitive place for online businesses to spend their advertising dollars.

So why not try a slightly less competitive, cheaper and friendlier network: The Yahoo! Bing Network. This article will you get started and get sales results far more quickly.

https://www.shopify.co.uk/guides/make-your-first-ecommerce-sale/yahoo-bing-network

Once you have all your good quality leads now is the time to make the most of these valuable contacts and put into a targeted autoresponder.

arpReach is the affordable, automated email marketing tool chosen by thousands of online businesses. With No monthly fee, No per-message charges and No fee rises as your list grows. arpReach makes your email marketing targeted, automated and more profitable !

Discover how it will help your business grow at http://arpreach.com/features

Warming up an IP Address

warming up an ip addressIP address warming is a gradual process that happens over a period of time.   The aim of warming up an IP address is to establish trust and good reputation with the ISPs (Internet Service Providers) as a sender of legitimate, high quality email at volume.

Warming up your IP address is the time to take a careful look at every aspect of your email marketing process, including the aims and goals. You should be able make tweaks that will improve your overall long-term results, not just during the warm up.

Please note though that a structured ‘introduction’ of your email server to the world while ramping up of your sending volume does not guarantee trouble free sending of email for ever more.  You will need to play by ‘the rules’ and utilise good list-hygiene practices.

Why do you need to warm up an IP address?

In short, too many emails that get sent are spam (unwanted emails) and the ISP’s want to protect their users from receiving unwanted email.

As a result ISPs treat any new IP address that sends emails with scepticism. The ISP’s only ‘reduce’ that scepticism once the sender has proved their reputation.

What do ISP’s expect from email senders?

The ISP’s build up a ‘sender score’ for IP addresses and domain names based on metrics that differentiate legitimate email from spam. These include:

  • Send volume
  • Spam complaints
  • Messages sent to unknown users
  • Subscriber engagement
  • Infrastructure
  • Spam trap hits
  • Content
    And more…

To start with an IP address has a neutral sender score. Every time someone hits the spam button or you get a hard bounce or your email is sent to an unknown user, your credit rating goes down.

How do I get a good email sender reputation?

Follow Best practices

Make Sure Your DKIM, SPF, Sender-ID, and Domain Keys Are Set Up Properly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DomainKeys_Identified_Mail
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sender_Policy_Framework
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sender_ID
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DomainKeys

Comply with the CAN-SPAM Act and other international anti-spam laws.

Only send to people who have opted in to receive emails and confirmed their request.

Do not buy lists from email brokers.

Avoid including large attachments and certain attachment types
.exe, .zip, .swf, etc. should be avoided

How do I warm-up my email server IP address?

The goal is to build up approximately 30 days of sending history so that ISPs have an understanding of the type and quality of email being sent by your new IP address. The warm up ramp-up period may take longer than 30 days for some senders and can be less for others.

The Basic Approach is to estimate your total monthly email volume and divide that number by 30.  Then try to spread your sending evenly over the first 30 days.
Example: if you will send 90,000 emails/month, you should start off sending 3,000 per day over the first month.
If you typically send about 300,000 emails per month, warm up your IP address by sending 10,000 emails per day for the first week

For larger numbers i.e. sending 500,000+ per month you will need to extend the warm-up period, possibly over 2 months.  You can also consider incremental increases to your daily send volume.  e.g. 3k for 4 days, 4k for 4 days, 5k for 4 days, 7.5k, 10k etc etc

There are no hard and fast rules but there are some guidelines:

Send first to your best, most active customers.
Send consistently.  Having a consistent mail volume from one day to another is much better than having a large volume sent on one day of the week and no email sent on remaining days.
Start with a hundred or so messages an hour.
Increase the hourly rate gradually.
Monitor your logs.
If the ISPs start sending back 4xx failures, you’re going too fast so slow down.

Other hints and tips.

Splitting large, non-time-sensitive sends over a number of days
Splitting campaigns between your new IP address and your legacy mail system
Creating non-time-sensitive campaigns (e.g. subscriber surveys) to use specifically for the purpose of ramping up new IP addresses

Reputation Monitoring Sites:

Sender Score – http://senderscore.org
Sender Base – http://senderbase.org
Cyren IP reputation monitor – http://www.cyren.com/ip-reputation-check.html
Barracuda Central – http://www.barracudacentral.org/lookups/
Spamhaus blocks – http://www.spamhaus.org/
Microsoft SNDS – http://postmaster.live.com/snds/