Tag: RocketResponder

Valentine's Day

Don’t Be Afraid To Say I Love You

Patrick Griffin Leave a comment

Value your customers

Value your customers: It is Valentine’s Day and love is in the air.

But while your thoughts will naturally turn to loved ones at this time of year…don’t forget that your customers also need to feel loved.

They also want to feel valued, respected and appreciated.

In particular they will love to feel that you treat them as individuals…and how you use email can help you with all of the above.

So if someone has bought something from you then tell them that you love them…ok well maybe don’t go that far but send out an email to say how much you appreciate their custom.

An autoresponder like RocketResponder lets you do just that.

So now that you have got a customer why not use an email (or series of emails) to:

  • thank them for their purchase and explain how they can contact you
  • tell them how much you appreciate their custom (that’s the ‘I Love You’ bit by the way)
  • invite them to give you feedback on your goods or services
  • tell them something about you or your business to make the relationship between you more personal
  • inform them of any special offers you may have

You can set an autoresponder series to do that any time of the year, whether it is Valentine’s Day or not.

But, thinking about it, given that it is Valentine’s Day why don’t you sent out a special one-off email telling your customers that you really do love them?

If you include a special Valentine’s Day offer in that email too then both you and your customers could benefit from this special day.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.

 

 

Never Fear The Unsubscribe Factor – Part Three

Patrick Griffin Leave a comment

Dealing with email unsubscribes

Dealing with email unsubscribes: In our final look (for now at least) on dealing with unsubscribers we will talk about making it easy for people to leave your list.

Now there is one school of thought which says that you should make it as difficult as possible for people to leave your list.

In order to do this I have seen some of the following tricks being used:

  • failing to include any unsubscribe link on emails
  • inserting a whole load of white space between the end of the main body of the email and the unsubscribe link to hide it from view
  • not making the unsubscribe link active
  • directing the link to a random URL and
  • writing the link in a foreign language.

Here at RocketResponder we do not recommend any of that…quite the opposite in fact. Never try to hide or obscure your unsubscribe link. Ensure it is there in every email for the whole world to see.

If people want to unsubscribe then you should let them. If they no longer want to be on their list then why should you want them there?

All you will be doing is sending emails to people who either won’t even open them or have no interest in what you have to say.

So let them go, make it easy for them to go and don’t give them another thought.

Never Fear The Unsubscribe Factor – Part Two

Patrick Griffin Leave a comment

list building tips and tricks

List building tips and tricks – Previously we spoke about two common reasons why people may unsubscribe from your list fairly quickly – they either joined by mistake or they are just freebie seekers.

But the truth is that as long as you build lists using a program like RocketResponder you will always get people coming and going all the time.

Think of the list of people you have like friends – some will be friends for life, others will hang around for a few years, others a few months and some will decide they don’t want to be your friend after the shortest time.

Remember that you really only want people in your life (or on your list) who actually, genuinely want to be there.

People change over time, their needs change, their wants change and their plans for their lives change.

So it is therefore quite common for someone to be interested in what you have to offer at one time in their life and maybe not interested at all three, six or nine months down the line.

Therefore the message is the same – you really ought not to worry when people leave your list because it is something which will happen all the time.

I guess the only time to worry would be if the background trickle became a flood – that would surely signal that there was a problem.

Maybe your website went off line and you kept sending people to dead links – that is so annoying by the way – or perhaps you put out a really bad product which people hated and you failed to deal with the complaints in a timely or positive manner.

However that is a totally different issue and not really what we are talking about here.

Overall if you keep promoting what you have to offer then you should see your numbers continue to climb. Remember that it is the overall trend that you are interested in and not the day to day fluctuations so don’t get distracted by the wrong things.

Just keep providing good content, keep communicating with your subscribers and the people who stay – the ones who really count – should remain loyal and happy.

 

Never Fear The Unsubscribe Factor – Part One

Patrick Griffin Leave a comment

Email marketing basics

Email marketing basics: When people begin building a list using a service like RocketResponder it is all too easy to fixate on the numbers.

It is great to see your list of subscribers building as your promotional efforts pay off and more people sign up to what you have to offer.

Now not all of them will stay. That is a simple fact of life. It is all too easy to see people join and then unsubscribe after a short time.

Sometimes people sign up and unsubscribe within seconds and this can be particularly troublesome for the new marketer.

When this happens it is all too easy to blame yourself and question what you did wrong, or what you should have done better to get that person to hang around for more than 30 seconds.

The real answer is not to worry about it at all.

Here are two reasons someone might join and then leave immediately:

  • they signed up for the wrong list – it does happen. Sometimes you sign up for something while only half paying attention and realize that is not what you wanted at all.
  • they only wanted to get the free offer – it is common to offer a free report or limited access to a program or membership site in return for getting people to join a list. There are many “freebie collectors” out there who just want the free stuff and are quite blatant about it.

When you think about it, you don’t really want either of these people on your list in the first place. The first one made a simple mistake and is not interested in your stuff and the second one would never buy from you in a million years anyway.

So when you are building a list, by all mean pay attention to the numbers but don’t be too disappointed when people leave because people will always leave.

It is the people who stick around and stay with you that you need to be spending your time and effort on so concentrate on them instead.

Never Fear The Double Opt In

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Double Opt In

At RocketResponder we don’t fear the double opt in of subscribers to a new email list. In fact our members rather like it.

In double opt in when somebody signs up to your list they are sent an email with a link which they must click to confirm that they actually do want to be on your list.

The thing about this which some list builders don’t like is that it is a two step process and having to click on the link is an extra hurdle that people must navigate before they are actually on your list.

Typically you can expect some people to sign up for any given list and then not go on to click the link to fully opt in. The main consequence of this is that your list would be smaller than it would be if only single opt in was used.

In the single opt in process there is no confirmation email and the subscriber is on your list as soon as their email address is entered into the opt in form.

Here are some reasons why you might prefer the double opt in approach:

  • all of your subscribers have already taken action in order to be on your list. Sometimes we enter an email address without really giving it any thought. With double opt in the subscriber has had to physically check their email account, look for the confirmation email and click on a link. This suggests that they really want to be on your list.
  • it prevents malicious sign ups. Some people might sign up their friends or colleagues to lists as a prank. This is bad for the person who has the list and for the “victim” who ends up signed up for information they don’t want in the first place.
  • you weed out tyre kickers. If someone signs up to a list and can’t be bothered to confirm then they are probably not worth having on your list in the first place. It they were on your list then they would most likely never even open your emails so you are better off without them.

What do you think about the opt in process and what are your experiences of the issue?