You see them everywhere: on business entrances, restaurant menus, movie posters, brochures, direct mail pieces, the list goes on. Although we have heavily utilized these quick response barcodes for over two years in the marketing and tech world, as an industry we have yet to perfect the use of QR Codes (and in many instances failed miserably at understanding their effective placement).

At first these barcodes were new and different and marketers jumped at the chance to use QR codes in efforts to be “ahead of the curve” or a “leader in the industry.”  They started popping up and you hear clients ask, “Can we put a QR Code on that?” Sure. Of course, everyone’s using them. While their presence was noticed, often times, strategy was not.

QR Codes can be a very powerful tool to engage, educate and track customers, raise awareness of a product or business or grow your social media following. When used in a practical way, it can be the perfect accessory to a marketing or advertising piece. But when creativity lacks common sense, all kinds of complications arise.

Some recent, notable mishaps include Red Bull and other companies placing call-to-action QR codes on ads located in the subway, underground. Needless to say, potential customers had little to no cell service to scan these bar codes. Campaign efforts, completely ineffective. Other unpractical uses include taxi cabs, articles of clothing or any other moving object. It is very difficult to scan a vehicle moving at 40 mph.  One of the worst publicized offenses was Esquire Magazine placing a QR code on one of their covers in 2011, the problem? It was where the mailing label is printed.

How can you avoid becoming one of these blunder stories? Don’t fail your creativity, client or better judgment by thoughtlessly placing a barcode on a marketing piece simply because it was requested. Most importantly, think through the realistic application of a QR code: What is the purpose? Is there a strong (and clear) call-to-action? Does the QR code provide an incentive of value to the audience? Is it scannable and accessible? (This includes testing your barcodes before use, yes, a simple but also forgotten step).

QR codes, like any strategy or campaign that lacks thorough planning, will also lack results. Rule of thumb: Use your common sense when using QR codes.

Have a creative, inspiring use or a humorous mishap to share? Comment!

How Hotmail users will control graymail

The primary change to Hotmail’s handling of graymail is that newsletters will be automatically marked as such by the email service. This designation will enable Hotmail users to perform tasks such as:

• Scheduled Sweeps—Designate an expiration date for mail from specified senders, with automatic deletions when the message expires. This action also allows Hotmail users to sweep newsletters directly to a subfolder or to delete them altogether

• Inbox Unsubscribes—Unsubscribe from a mailing list directly from Hotmail’s inbox. Hotmail will handle the unsubscribe process for you, or simply block the email

• Instant Actions—Delete, flag, mark read, or sweep messages to a subfolder simply by hovering over the message in your inbox

What this means for marketers

While news of Hotmail’s new graymail controls may cause initial panic for email marketers, the truth is that the success of your email marketing campaign will continue to depend on the same thing it always has: value for the subscriber. Your customers wanted your email once; by making each email communication relevant to your subscribers, you can continue to keep them engaged with the marketing emails you send.

Keeping subscribers happy

The knee-jerk reaction to an announcement like Hotmail’s is often,“How can I get around the system?” But that’s the wrong question to ask. Instead, you should be asking, “How can I keep my subscribers happy so they continue to value the messages I send?” Start with these foundational principles for successful email marketing:

• Get Permission—Use double opt-ins whenever possible. A quality subscriber list will yield far better results than quantity

• Communicate Expectations—Will the subscriber receive a message daily? Weekly? Monthly? Don’t flood his inbox with unwelcome messages

• Cut the Fluff—Every email you send should provide value for the subscriber. A discount, a special sales announcement, an informative newsletter—just make sure your emails are worth opening

eConnect Email can walk you through the e-mail creation process from start to finish in order to ensure that each message you send communicates value to your subscribers. In addition, every client receives the benefits of our stellar deliverability program which includes white-listing, permission-based list building, and human reviews.

I’m bored already.

If you’re prepping an email campaign, then you already know that if you don’t have an interesting subject line, you’re dead in the water. There’s more to email campaigns than “Laptops Are On Sale.”

Strong active verbs help make your subject lines taut and exciting. If you’re cold emailing a sales lead, or following up with an existing customer hoping for follow-through sales, strong action verbs are absolutely essential.

What is an action verb?

An action verb is simply that: a verb that denotes an action. The opposite of an action verb is a passive verb, a verb that doesn’t denote an action. Jump is an active verb. Punch. Explode. Grab. Run. Scream. Smile. Active verbs do something.

Am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been. Those are passive verbs. They don’t do anything. They just sit there. You have a five to ten word subject line to get your readers’ interest, and passive verbs won’t get the job done.

Why is an action verb better than a passive verb?

Active verbs do exactly what you want your customers to do: act. It doesn’t matter how gorgeous your marketing email appears. It doesn’t matter how many animated .gifs you put in, how many links to your Facebook page you add, how much you paid your graphic designer to make it look like Saul Bass designed the piece. What your customer sees first is the subject line, and that email is just as easily deleted as it is opened based on these few words.

Passive verbs simply lack the ability to inspire readers like action verbs do; to grab the reader’s attention in less time, engage with rich content and ultimately take action.

How do active verbs help my email campaign?

Active verbs function to strengthen the most vital, and hardest to dizzy up, part of your marketing email: the subject line. You cannot add graphical pizzazz to a customer’s inbox. The only tool at your disposal is the English language, and you can only select a few simple words. Make those words count.

In short, you can strengthen the value of your marketing email by using action verbs in your copy, and especially in your subject line. An action verb is easy to remember: it’s a verb that does something. If you want a call to action, then you need to drive your customer to do it with an action verb.

Big Buttons

Fingers are much less precise than mouse pointers. Make it easier for your mobile subscribers to open and click by making buttons fat finger friendly.

Space Between Clickable Elements

Another problem that arises when you’re using a finger instead of a mouse is clickable elements placed too close together, resulting in mis-clicks. By adding additional white space between clickable elements, you can reduce the likelihood that users will find themselves waiting for the wrong page to load.

Important Information Visible Without Scrolling or Enlarging

When you have dozens of emails to catch up on, it’s important that you are able to grasp the main idea quickly. Test your email messages on a mobile device to ensure that font sizes are readable and that the user doesn’t have to scroll either vertically or horizontally to see your main message and call to action.

Single Columns

HTML is much less flexible than CSS when it comes to re-ordering columns and content blocks. Make it easy on yourself and on your subscribers by sticking to a single column that will display appropriately on a mobile screen.

Hide Unnecessary Content

It’s great to include social sharing buttons, links to your social media pages, and other secondary content in your email messages. But on a mobile device, all that extra content makes it more difficult for your subscribers to get the main message. Make mobile emails easier to scan and read by hiding images, text, and other content that isn’t strictly necessary.

As you’re designing new email campaigns for 2012, eConnect Email offers flexible design options, image management, templates, and inbox previews to help ensure that each message displays exactly as intended. By catering to the unique needs of mobile users, you can ensure that an increasingly mobile audience will continue to read and interact with your messages.

The Sign-Up Process

Because it’s your initial point of interaction with future subscribers, the sign-up process gives you the chance to make memorable first impression. Prepare for a long and happy relationship with new subscribers by:

• Using Double Opt-Ins

Verify new subscriber requests by sending a confirmation e-mail that must be clicked for final activation. This ensures that the right person signed up using the right e-mail address and that they’ll be expecting your messages.

• Creating Expectations

Let the subscriber know how often to expect messages and what kind of content they can expect to see. No surprises.

The Welcome Letter

Don’t settle for boring or generic welcome letters. This is your chance to get the subscriber excited about the wonderful messages he’ll be receiving from you. Send the welcome letter promptly and start by thanking the subscriber and remind him or her of the current opt-in preferences. Personalize the message with the subscriber’s name so they are connected by being addresses directly. And offer your new members reasons to be immediately engaged with you or your company; provide valuable content such as a link to special promotions on your website, a link to a previous newsletter, or a new subscriber discount offer.

The Subject Line

The subject line is your chance to grab subscribers’ attention and tell them your email is worth opening. Don’t focus on gimmicks to avoid the spam folder; instead, show the subscriber that you respect their time by clearly relating what he can expect to see when he clicks.

The Unsubscribe Landing Page

Although often viewed as distasteful, the unsubscribe page can be a chance to create a positive impression even for dissatisfied subscribers. Make the unsubscribe link clear and easy to follow from your email; don’t try to hide it. On the unsubscribe landing page, remind the subscriber of the great benefits they’ll be missing out on  when they leaves and let them know you’ll miss them. Ask for feedback (but don’t require it), giving the subscriber a chance to share his feelings. And finally, when all is said and done, make the process easy, clear, and prompt.

Use eConnect Email’s list management feature, email creation templates, and autoresponders to ensure that you’re taking full advantage of every opportunity to engage with subscribers. Let them know you value their loyalty by treating them respectfully at every stage of the email campaign.

Having dealt with such problems for a while, we’ve learned some tricks and tips. We’d like to share those with you. So, here are some simple steps to follow to fix broken email code.

MsoNormal

Using Microsoft Word is one of the easiest ways to mess up a perfectly coded email. You can lose hours and hours of work simply by copying and pasting your text into Word. The great thing is, Word is the simplest mistake to catch and fix. Open the source of the email (using WYSIWYG or some other editor), and run a search for “mso-”. Nearly every special CSS attribute that Microsoft Word creates begins with “mso-”.

This problem can be avoided quite easily. Simply paste any text you’re copying from Word in Notepad. Then you can copy the text from Notepad into the editor you use. That way you’ll make sure there you don’t have any lingering Word classes.

Floats, Background Images, and Boxes

“float” is a very common CSS attribute. Generally, it is found on “<div />” tags. Unfortunately, in emails, these aren’t actually a good idea. Web developers use floats all the time. And if you’re a web developer, you might find yourself wanting to sneak float into emails. The truth is, float can ruin any good template. It isn’t supported in email creation.

Background images may look cool, but they’re dreadful to work with. In fact, they simply don’t work in email. Just avoid them, and you won’t have trouble.

Then again, “<div />” tags are partially supported and very unreliable, rendering totally different in just about every email client. There are even a few email clients (such as Lotus Notes) that totally remove them. Some email clients even strip them out!

Margin

Margin may seem like a simple thing, but it can cause a huge headache! At times it works great. Other times it quits working quite unexplainably. So, want to avoid problems? Take the margin out of your email and leave it out. If an element requires a margin set it at “margin-top:0px”. If you do that, the first paragraph tag will sit at the top of the table, and so on. You won’t lose any cushioning room by removing the margins, since they’re made to overlap in the first place. For spacing, especially vertical, use tables.

Why does the color disappear?

Color can be a strange attribute that comes and goes. Sometimes you’ll see the nice bright red headings. Sometimes you’ll be back to the boring black that you tried to get rid of. Don’t panic if this happens. There’s a solution.

First try to adjust the placement of the color attribute in your inline style. Try moving it backward or forward one attribute. To make doubly sure that it appears, add the style to a <style /> tags. Assuming the inline styles for your email clients strip the <style /> and <head /> tags, you won’t hurt anything by adding it.

Table Cell Spacing

As we mentioned in the third step, you should be relying on tables for most of your spacing. What wasn’t mentioned there is that table cells can be pretty irregular in size. In several email clients, the empty <td />, no matter what its width or height attributes, comes out meaning “Don’t render me!” Stranger still, a <td /> tag containing an image that is shorter than the font height and has a height declared will elongate itself to your font height. (Confusing enough to read, and to figure out!)

Here’s a simple trick for solving these problems. Use whitespace images. Make an image that is the height or width you need, and put it in your cell. The image doesn’t have to be of anything. It can just be the background color!

Conclusion

Of course, this has barely touched on all the things that it could have, and all the problems that could possibly crop up in coding. I hope, however, that these five quick steps prove helpful in figuring out the nightmares of cross-client work.

Don’t stop here. We’re continually expanding our list of unsupported attributes and tags. Check it out and make sure there aren’t any other rules you’re breaking. If you don’t have it email us.

Best of luck! Don’t forget you can always contact us for help.

Naughty: Ramping up email frequency without fair warning.

Your subscribers have come to expect messages from you at a consistent frequency. Start increasing that frequency without telling them and they’re likely to dump you in the spam folder.

Nice: Ask for permission if you plan to change sending frequency.

Or better yet, give subscribers the option to set preferences. Segment your list so that those who opt in can receive daily holiday reminders, while other subscribers can still receive emails at the intervals they’re used to.

Naughty: Sending fluff emails, just because.

Your subscribers already have to wade through more email than normal at this time of year. Don’t waste their time with holiday greetings that provide no benefit.

Nice: Include a clear benefit and call to action in every email.

Make sure the subject line communicates the benefit and that customers can take action directly from the email.

Naughty: Ignoring mobile users.

As the number of people using mobile devices to check email increases, so does the frustration caused when your email doesn’t display properly on the subscriber’s iPhone or other smart device.

Nice: Design your email for mobile screens.

Include a call to action that can be viewed without enlarging and make sure subscribers can easily access a mobile version of your website.

Naughty: Failing to communicate shipping policies.

Shipping makes a big difference for most online holiday shoppers, and failure to communicate can result in lost sales.

Nice: Promote special holiday shipping offers in your email subject line or state clearly in the body of the email.

Free shipping can make the difference between a lead and a completed sale, so highlight it if you have it. If you don’t, it’s still a good idea to provide a clear link to your shipping policy.

Naughty: Failing to follow through post-holiday.

Don’t leave subscribers hanging on December 26^th. Post-holiday needs should comprise an essential part of your holiday email campaign strategy.

Nice: Communicate post-holiday specials clearly and promptly.

Return policies, clearance sales, and New Year’s resolution targeting can all be appropriate elements of your late December and early January email strategy.

Let eConnect Email help you keep your email campaign on the nice list this year by taking advantage of our customizable templates, list segmentation, deliverability, and tracking data. Eggnog, anyone?

Open rates and click-through rates are still the foundation for gaining an understanding of subscriber engagement with your emails. However, the advent of social media has not only introduced another dimension to the engagement dynamic, but has also subtly shifted subscriber expectations as they interact with your brand. Let’s take a look at what today’s subscribers expect from the emails you send them.

• Human Interaction

Consumers today won’t be impressed by a virtual billboard delivered to their inboxes. They want to feel as though they’re interacting with a real person, someone who cares about their needs and with whom they can discuss and relate. Humanize your emails by occasionally including personal stories and anecdotes, encouraging interaction, and providing timely responses to subscriber questions or feedback.

• Dialogue

Social media has changed the way people view businesses. No longer can advertising focus on one-way communication; people expect the opportunity to respond, share opinions, and provide feedback. If you don’t talk to them, they’ll talk about you to someone else. For email marketing, that means soliciting subscriber responses, promoting social sharing, and demonstrating benefit to the customer rather than spotlighting the company.

• Multi-Channel Communication

Your email subscribers undoubtedly encounter your brand in a multitude of places outside their inboxes including Facebook, blogs, review websites, your company website, and Twitter, not to mention more traditional advertising forums like television and print ads. Consumers today are looking for a cohesive message and they’re looking to be recognized for their loyalty no matter where they encounter you. Capitalize on this tendency by integrating the various prongs of your marketing strategy and by providing opportunities for subscribers to share content over a variety of venues.

• Relevancy

Perhaps the greatest shift in email marketing is the expectation that content by personally relevant to the subscriber who receives it. List segmentation based on subscriber behavior and profile data enables you to target your messages to the people for whom they hold the greatest appeal.

Today’s email subscribers hold their information closer, demonstrate less loyalty to any particular brand, and expect businesses to earn the right to continue communicating with them. eConnect Email can help you create personalized, relevant messages for every subscriber using our advanced list segmentation, dynamic content options, and social sharing capabilities.

• Testing for Increased Sales

Testing your email campaigns can increase your sales by as much as 25%, according to www.whichtestwon.com. Especially during the holiday season, 25% is nothing to be sneezed at. And with the natural surge of email in the weeks leading up to Christmas, it’s the perfect time to start implementing a testing program as part of your email marketing strategy.

• Testing Pinpoints Successes and Failures

Okay, you say. Testing can increase sales. How? By pinpointing the specific elements of any given email that cause measurable changes in user behavior, testing can help you design messages that encourage subscriber response. For instance, does Subject Line A or Subject Line B result in more opens? Only testing will tell. Does blue or red work best for the call to action button? Should you use a button at all? Maybe linked text will work better. There’s no way to know apart from testing. A rigorous program of testing enables you to discard what doesn’t work, showcase what does, and build a customized email strategy that best appeals to your target audience.

• Testing the Right Things

Yes, you can test the font of the link to your privacy policy at the bottom of the email, but it probably won’t result in measurable changes. What, then, should be your focus as you seek to build a successful email campaign? Let’s take a look at five elements you can use to kickstart your testing program:

1. Subject Line—Test various wordings and appeals to make your subject line stand out from the crowd.
2. Call to Action—Wording, font, button color, placement, size—the possibilities are endless when it comes to designing the perfect call to action.
3. Offer—Which offers will most appeal to your target audience?
4. Graphics—Size, subject matter, and placement of graphics can all influence subscriber response. Find out what works best by testing your options.
5. Copy—Test wording, format, appeals, and style in order to choose the copy most likely to persuade.

eConnect Email can help you design reliable split tests to determine which elements appeal most to your target audience. Take advantage of our customizable templates, design integration, and image management as you design each test, and make your holiday up to 25% merrier this year.

Holiday Hours:

We’ll be closed December 23rd – 26th…until the start of the day Tuesday, December 27th…and again Dec 31- Jan 2…until the start of the day Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012!