Category: Learning Zone

The Top Five Things To Tell Your New Subscribers

Patrick Griffin 4 Comments

new email subscribers

Dealing with new email subscribers: Imagine you invite someone into your home for the first time.

What might they think if you ushered them into your front room, invited them to sit down and then left them alone to twiddle their thumbs while you went to your office or study to work?

Well they would begin to feel:

  • uncomfortable
  • ill at ease
  • unwanted and
  • be left wondering why they ever accepted your invitation in the first place.

It is exactly the same situation if someone signs up to your RocketResponder list and you don’t immediately send them a welcome email.

They are in your front room so go ahead and talk to them to make them feel wanted, special and loved.

Your “welcome” email should be sent out immediately anyone joins your list and it should contain the following information:

  1. An introduction – say “hello” to the new subscriber by introducing yourself and briefly introducing your business. You want to give the main headlines here and not the whole company back story.
  2. Points of contact – tell your new subscriber how they can contact you. Phone, email, toll-free number, Twitter, Skype, FaceBook, support ticket are just some examples. You choose how accessible you want to be but seriously consider giving your customers multiple ways to connect with you.
  3. Set a schedule – If you are smart you will have an initial follow up email series set up so you can say something like: “Over the next few days/weeks/months you will be hearing from me every “x” days or so so look out for those emails. I have lined up some great free tips for you. You are going to love it.” Obviously you don’t have to say exactly that, just give them an idea of what is coming up.
  4. Anticipate problems – When people are new to something they get confused, make mistakes or just want some help quickly. So if you have a website with a FAQ page you could point them to that or give them your preferred method of contact to get their query answered quickly.
  5. Keep it short – Just say what you need to say and keep it at that. Remember you could have this subscriber for months or even years, so you have plenty of time to establish a dialogue with them. Don’t bombard them with information on the welcome email. Remember it is a welcome email so simply make them feel welcome and then stop writing.

 

 

Don’t Send Emails While Your Subscribers Are Sleeping

Patrick Griffin 10 Comments

email sending tips

Email sending tips: Sometimes you hear of people talking in their sleep…but I have yet to come across anyone who reads emails while sleeping.

So, why is it then, that so many people fall into the trap of sending out emails at times when their target audience won’t see them.

In at least one particular sector of the online advertising community it is common for program owners to send out emails at midnight.

Most people are already sleeping at that time, or at the very least winding down for the day…so they will not want to read your message and chances are it won’t be seen at all.

So the answer is…wait until they are awake and time the email for then – sounds obvious but so many people don’t do this.

The good news is that at RocketResponder you can choose exactly when your emails are sent out. So if you have a broadcast message you want to send to your list you can either send it immediately or send it at a date and time of your choosing.

Here are some good times to send an email to your subscribers:

  • immediately – when the message is time critical and you need to get it out there now
  • day time rather than night time – more people will open an email during the day than at night
  • want to catch the early openers? – then sending an email between 7 and 9am will ensure the message is near the top of their inbox when they are checking messages
  • afternoons are great for getting your email opened – studies have shown that between 2 and 5pm is a particular sweet spot for getting your emails opened.

Also, in general, weekdays tend to get more opens than weekends and you may get a better response mid-week than on other days.

Top tip: Just be aware that different times can produce different results to be prepared to experiment a bit and see what works well for you.

Time To Review Your Subscriber Messages

Patrick Griffin 2 Comments

Subscriber Messages

So we are just beginning to settle into yet another new year and you may be setting lots of goals, writing lists and generally getting your life more organized.

This is also a good time of year to pay particular attention to the subscriber messages on your autoresponder lists.

Is the information you are sending out to your subscribers still fresh and relevant?

Maybe it has been a while since you drafted the RocketResponder messages you send out and perhaps you have intended to update them but never really got around to it.

Well now is as good a time as any to set to work on this important task.

Here is a quick plan of action:

  • Review your messages – remind yourself of what you are telling your subscribers
  • Are the messages still relevant? – if not change them to bring things up to date
  • Do the links still work? – again change them if necessary. Don’t forget to include your social media links such as Facebook or Twitter.
  • Can you freshen things up a bit to keep your message as up to date as possible?
  • Finally subscribe to your own lists so that you get to see what your subscribers see.