Subscriber Newsletter SUMMER 2008

how to get the best out of your
MAIL CAMPAIGNS

The new online system has been "live" for a little over six months now and during that time we have found that a number of common questions have been asked.  These all relate to the sending of emails and how to avoid spam filters.  This special newsletter seeks to answer as many of these questions as possible and provide some general guidance on how to improve the success of mail campaigns.

Q1: Is there a restriction on the number of emails I can send?

No.  Although we would recommend not sending out too many emails at once.  One clear, targeted email will be more likely to succeed than a number of poorly focused ones.  It is better to send emails to small groups of schools rather than the whole database as it is easier to control feedback.

Q2: When is the best time to send an email?

There are a number of things to consider.  First, most schools have a day or two when the office isn't open.  They also have limited space for messages on their servers.  Sending a campaign early on the day following the weekly break will likely result in it being bounced with a mailbox full message.  This is equally true following school holidays. 

Q3: Why does the database only contain a general email address?

School principles and heads of department are busy people and often do not wish to see unsolicited emails.  There are also data protection issues with publishing addresses that are not publicly available.  Companies who wish their mail to go to a particular department may address it accordingly (e.g. To the head of the maths department).  A good technique is to use the ISC Research system to research and identify the target market and then open a dialogue with that market and keep a personal record of useful contacts.

Q4: I think my message went into SPAM.  How can I prevent this?

This is a very complex area and there is a constant battle being waged by email companies and software houses against spammers.  Following these guidelines will help your mail get through:

• Avoid continuous sending of messages to full or invalid mailboxes.

• Minimize the use of these words and phrases in the subject line, message body, sender address, and reply-to address: Free (although "free" tends to have more leeway than most other trigger words), $$, XXX, or !!! (in fact any excessive punctuation)

• Subject contains "Double Your", "?", "For Only" or "Free Instant".

• TOO MANY CAPS IN THE SUBJECT LINE

• Email contains at least 70 percent blank lines

• The email claims not to be spam

• The email contains excessive images without much text

The most important thing you can do is adhere to best practices for email marketing:

• compose relevant content

• deliver messages according to the customer's needs, wants, and preferences.

• Offer a link so that the school can unsubscribe from future mailings.  Any school that asks not to be contacted again should be excluded from future mailings.

Q5: How important is the subject line?

Very.  Here are some guidelines taken from Bryan Eisenberg's article on ClickZ.

Keep it Simple
Keep it short and simple. Write your subject line so that there are fewer than 10 words; fewer than 5 is even better. Keeping your subject line down to a few words will make your email seem more credible.

What's in it for them?
Your prospects are always interested in one thing: What's in it for me? Write with that in mind - this means write about the benefits that matter to them, not features that matter to you.

You Who?
While it's generally a good thing to use the word "you" in persuasive copy, it's a spam predictor in subject lines. Few people use the word "you" in emails to colleagues; spam uses it frequently. The closer your subject line comes to the tone of ordinary email, the more likely it is that your message will be opened.

Don't Do It!!!
Don't use exclamation points at the end of the subject line. Rarely do you see personal emails that need that kind of "noise" to grab your attention. Do use question marks, if doing so makes sense. Questions are much more engaging than statements.

Avoid Sales Language
We have been so inundated with slick sales stuff that it now is an automatic turnoff. Avoid words like "limited time," "free," "opportunity," and "only." Doing so may hook some; it will turn off many more.

Love at First Sight
Not every email client has a preview, nor does everyone who has a preview have it set to preview. The important thing to remember, though, is that whether the first part of the message is seen in a preview or when the email is first opened, it still has to grab your recipients' attention and engage them to keep reading.

 
Q6: What response rate can I expect?

Not every product is going to appeal to the same degree so it is difficult to give a figure.  High value products will achieve a lower conversion rate than low value ones.  Setting a target for a campaign is a good way to measure success.  Here are some guidelines for improving the chance of a sale: 

• Test the water: this will provide a good indication of how successful a full campaign will be.  Sending out a mailing to a small, target, set of schools and then amending the message based on the response received is a good practice to adopt.  You can be fairly confident that if you get 1 sale back from a pool of 100 schools, you will get 10 sales from a pool of 1000.  Adjusting the message or including an incentive may boost sales if the original target group do not respond favourably.

• Make sure that if you are sending out an attachment the accompanying email explains what is it and provides a summary of its content.  It should also provide some information about you and your products.

• Including testimonials in your emails will overcome the issue of schools having to take a gamble on the product or on you, especially if your name is not yet known worldwide.

• Always make sure that the email contains a "call to action".  Including a discount for an early response will often increase interest (e.g. "Order before DATE to receive 10% off").

• Follow up the mail with a letter campaign or another email campaign.  These should elaborate on the initial offer and provide a greater level of detail.  Subscribers that have sent out dual mail and letter campaigns have reported receiving good responses.

Adopting the AIDA strategy when writing emails can also help your response rate.  In short this involves making sure that your email adheres to the following four rules:

• Attention: The first part of your write-up grabs the reader's attention.

• Information: The second part gives them information.

• Desire: The third part makes them desire your product.

• Action: The fourth part spurs them to action and buying your product.

Letting consumers know why you are writing is the most effective way to keep them reading. Rather than a lot of extraneous information at the beginning, get right to the point: a special sale or offer, a new product or a new service. You should establish that reason in both the subject line of the email and in the first paragraph of the mailing.

Next, remind the reader of your relationship with them if one exists and if not take time to build one.

Finally, make good use of the eye path by using graphics, the correct font and size and exciting wording. Don't include false information but use language that encourages them to continue reading and then make a decision.

The ISC Research online system has an HTML source editor which allows professionally created HTML copy to be sent.  This copy must be produced in a proprietary HTML authoring software package (such as Frontpage by Microsoft or Dreamweaver by Adobe) and then copied in as marked up text.  Graphics should be placed on your server with pointers to their location in the mark up.

The code to place the header in this newsletter is:

<p align="center"><img src="http://www.isc-r.com/img/int/Header.jpg" width="594" height="146"></p>

Remember there can be no absolute guarantees in a mail campaign but following good practice can improve your chances of success.

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