It’s a week of lists this week – Thanksgiving food, holiday decorating, Black Friday sales, etc. And that’s not including the work ahead before Thanksgiving is upon us!
I’m thinking so much about what’s ahead, that I have no idea about what I did last week, and that’s the problem for most sales people. We think about the future all the time. When looking ahead, it’s easy to forget what just happened.
The newest Salesmanna update includes a feature that makes it easier to remember the steps you took to connect with a client or prospect via email. When your Office 365™ (Microsoft Outlook) calendar is connected in Salesmanna, you can already view and engage with your emails and can send or receive them from Salesmanna’s PIM (this is the Personal Information Management icon on the left-hand taskbar). Prior to the last major release, you could send emails out from Salesmanna, but the reply, or any emails received, wouldn’t automatically be recorded in your account’s activity.
Now Salesmanna automatically picks up any emails that you send/receive in Microsoft Outlook and logs the activity, as long as the sender or recipient’s email address exists in your Salesmanna account as a Contact. If there’s a match in your account based on the email address, the email will be recorded in the Conversations area of the contact’s profile and logged as activity. This feature has not yet been implemented for connected Google accounts, but it will be in a future release.
You’ve got meetings, calls, goals, and more on your mind. Let Salesmanna do the work of logging your most recent activity and keeping track of your connections. It’s more accurate than just relying on memory, and we’ll help you to easily keep track of engagement so you can focus on everything else in your near future.
Get out of the red and get into the black.Reach out to us to learn more!
How to Design Emails –
For Marketers who Aren’t Designers
We all agree that sending personalized, well-timed, well-planned emails can benefit your marketing efforts in a huge way. Salesmanna makes it possible to plan out these campaigns well in advance or send quick newsletters at your convenience.
We have been over how to have catchy subject lines that grab attention and that you shouldn’t use all pictures or “salesy” language… But what about how the email looks? Most marketers aren’t designers, and many small businesses can’t afford a full-time designer to send out emails for them.
This leaves us designing emails ourselves. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing, as long as all of the non-designers who are designing these emails can have a basic set of rules.
1. Format
Header
Body
Footer
Try to stick with this tried and true, elementary process of writing. A catchy header, likely including your logo and a catchy phrase or title, at the top will get attention.
The body should be as concise as possible. We can’t say that the body of every email should be short, because there are some really great, beautiful emails with a lot of content. The key is only including the content you think readers will actually want to read.
Don’t put anything unnecessary in the email- you can always put more information in a landing page that you link within the body. I suggest using photos and text, and making it clear to visually navigate. If the email looks confusing to you, I promise it will be less effective!
The footer will usually wrap up what you’d like to get across and have your company’s information as well as social links.
2. Fonts
This is one of the easiest tips to get right! It is extremely simple – only use 2 fonts MAXIMUM. Header text is larger and sometimes a different font. Or you can use your second font to add emphasis to a section of your email.
Whatever you do, please don’t switch to a new font with every line! This is visually unappealing which encourages readers to click away faster.
Another pointer is to keep your body text around 16px. The larger, bolder your body text is, the most it feels like the reader is being screamed at. Nobody wants to be screamed at.
3. Obvious Call-To-Actions
Anyone sending an email knows you need some kind of call to action. Usually this is a button within your email. The button can encourage readers to RSVP to your event, buy a new product, share with friends, or direct them to a new page. If you have buttons on your page, make it clear.
It would be a huge mistake to spend time and effort on a good email but make it harder for the reader to take action! Unfortunately, this is a trend with bad design. If your reader doesn’t know precisely where to click or what to do next, your email is simply informative and has little value to both sender and recipient.
4. Quality Photos
The most effective photos are high quality and relevant. Ideally, you’re using your own photos. If you don’t have your own high quality photos, you’re either buying them from a trusted site online or you’re attributing credit to the source. If this isn’t the case, stop using that photo! To use someone else’s art without giving them credit online is illegal- and it discredits your brand. The good news is that there are tons of great websites that give away high-quality photos that you can use for free or a very cheap price! Here is a list of a few good ones.
Keep It Simple
When in doubt, always refer to the tried and true method of “keeping it simple.” If you read your own newsletter and it seems jumbled and wordy, listen to your heart. Try to condense the message and increase white space. Simplify your headers and photos, make the layout more appealing by simplifying colors and photos.
If you’re still struggling to create beautiful emails, don’t hesitate to contact a marketing consultant at Salesmanna! Together, we’ll help your business send great emails and simply sell more.
It is harder than ever to get recognition in email campaigns. Attention is at a premium, and you are fighting the noise of emails from every direction. Here are some quick tips of how to inspire opens with your email campaign.
DO
Provide something useful to the recipient
People enjoy things that are beneficial to read. Imagine how many emails you get that you don’t read before you delete. If you find value in an email, you’ll read. This can be something funny, informative, or an offer from your business. Secrets, exclusive information, and unique articles are all beneficial to the recipient.
Personally address the recipient
We’ve gone over this before, but it is worth noting again, and again, and again. Don’t send mass emails and ignore the target audience. Include first names in the email. Address the person receiving your email as well as telling them who you are. Don’t send it from some mass email name. Send it from YOU, and even sign the email if you’d like.
Provide timely information, whether it be promotions or news.
There is nothing more annoying to me than getting an email about a news story that was popular 2 weeks ago. If you can’t do more than dig up old stories that caught our attention before, please don’t send your email. If the article still has an active conversation (say, like the Apple / FBI drama), then it’s still fair game. Also, don’t send outdated coupons or discounts. That is just useless information and may cause more unsubscribes than opens.
DON’T
Offer a lot of FREE stuff and DISCOUNTS for ACT NOW clicks. It looks bad.
When your email looks gimmicky, people spam you. If it looks like it’s coming from a hacker I will delete it before I even see who it was sent from. There is nothing entertaining or beneficial about a lot of CAPITALIZED coupons YELLING at me to TAKE ACTION NOW. If you truly have a deal worth taking, and an email worth looking at, your subscribed recipients should read your email and take the offer without being screamed at. Think about it- these people are getting almost 100 emails a day. Why yell at them for choosing to read yours?
Forget to work on your subject line
I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for a punny subject line. There are several retail companies that do a great job at this. Some senders, like the NYT Cooking Email, has a small snapshot of what their email includes. It might say “8 easy weeknight recipes” or “The Best Salmon Recipe” and since I know they are true to their word, I will open almost every email they send. If the subject line says they are telling me about salmon, they’re telling me about salmon. Please, please, whatever you do, don’t try clickbait subject lines and forget to deliver what you just promised.
Miss the spell check step
Have you ever seen a magor typo in an otherwise professional email? It makes them look bad. (Did you catch that?) It discounts the validity of the email, as well as making the sender themselves look bad. I usually click “delete” when I see a typo. Not because typos are the end of the world, but because it screams “you’re not important enough for us to proof read” and that is disappointing. I have too much to look at and read on a daily basis to spend time on someone that doesn’t care about my time.
Please reach out to learn more about email campaigns with Salesmanna!
An email campaign can be a couple different things. A monthly newsletter is an email campaign.
However, the most useful type of campaign is what we refer to as “automated.” This is the kind of campaign where you create a handful of different emails and triggers. For example, Email 1 is sent to your entire database or a specific list. The recipients who click on Email 1 get Email 2 a few days later. The ones who don’t even open Email 1 get another version of Email 1, called Email 1a, a few days later. All of the emails are sent based on “triggers” or specific actions taken by the recipient. This is using full Email Automation how it was meant to be used.
Email campaigns are intended for recipients who are expecting marketing from your company. They shouldn’t be spammy or annoying. If you use them as such, you’ll be blocked from Salesmanna (and almost every other email marketing software).
The goal with an automated Email Campaign or Newsletter is to reach out to interested contacts, utilize inbound marketing, and identify interested leads. Once you’ve identified your leads you can provide relevant information to those who are actually interested in receiving it.
Stay tuned for more FAQ blog posts & tips for using Salesmanna to fit your business.
Wondering how email automation could help your business? Ask us here for a free consultation.
So, what exactly is Marketing Automation? Marketo.com defines Marketing Automation as “a category of technology that allows companies to streamline, automate, and measure marketing tasks and workflows, so they can increase operational efficiency and grow revenue faster.”
We like this definition, but let’s break it down a little better.
You started a business with your own savings and some elbow grease. You have 1000 interested followers on a sign up sheet sitting at the front of your store. What are you supposed to do with these email addresses?! That’s easy!
Those email addresses want something from you. “Keep me in the loop!” “Tell me about the new offers!” “Let me know if you have a giveaway!”
Don’t blow it! Make a plan, decide what you have to offer, and let them know about it. With Salesmanna, you can send your first email campaign to everyone and only nurture the actual leads that come from it. If one person clicks through to your website, you’ll know about it! Let that person know they’re valued, let them know you notice their interest. Offer a special deal or a referral discount to that customer! And the best part is that Salesmanna follows up with those interested leads AUTOMATICALLY. You don’t even have to press a button. It will send them a second email while you sleep. With a CRM + Email Automation software it is easier than ever to build meaningful, lasting relationships with interested customers.
Did you know an unhappy customer tells up to 20 people on average, while a happy customer only tells 5? It is well worth your investment to keep your customers happy.
