I love when companies like Constant Contact and Mail Chimp come out with these charts and stats…it is a great tool for business owners to use as a comparison. That said, you can always do better, but you have to have a plan, test and measuring it each step of the way….so, how do your email efforts fare?
Email Marketing Benchmarks

Thought I would share a couple of quick email tidbits I had hanging around inside my head…

1) Constant Contact released email click through rates by category, for Feb 2010..pretty interesting stuff if you like numbers.

2) Fat Atom is now Sender Score Certified! After spending thousands of dollars and ONE year of hard work, we made it! What does all that really mean? Check back and I will tell in my next post. (www.returnpath.net if you can’t wait)

3) Subscibers who opt-out of permission email cite that these emails lack relevance (75%) or are sent to frequently (73%). Merkle “View from the Inbox” (2010)

4) The top three types of subject lines that compel subscribers to open emails contain one of the following: 1. Discount Offer 2. Free Product Offer 3. Familiar Brand Name – Marketing Sherpa “2010 Email Marketing Benchmark Report”

I run into small business owners everyday that want something great, for little costs, oh and by-the-way, I want you to do all the work as well. If this sounds like you, then please don’t read any further.

Ok, now that we have the small business owners who want to work hard, work smart and get something good, for just a little investment and planning, here goes:

1) Email Marketing – With so many online companies offering cost effective services, why aren’t you using email to help grow your business? For under $25 per month, you can mail promotionals, coupons etc to up to 5,000 of your opt in clients. And if the offer is good enough, watch out; that email will go viral.

2) Text Messaging – Why not add this component to your existing marketing to help judge what is working. For under .20 cents per message, you can market to people who are on the go. Collect phone numbers and use SMS like email – but more effective, after all, who doesn’t carry a cell phone 24/7 today?

3) Facebook Fan Page – Here is the real “no brainer” of the group, because it is FREE. C’mon; set up a page, come up with a 3 point strategy and execute it. It doesn’t have to be a 10 page plan, but do three things well and systematically on Facebook and the rewards could be great.

The White House has now come out and said yes, SPAM was sent from our server, but it isn’t our fault, blaming the SPAM on people (or action groups) who went to the Government site and put people on the White House list without their permission. (see full story at: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/17/questions-remain-unsolicited-white-house-e-mails/)

What is really comes down to is, as I stated in my last post, the opt in/confirmation process. If the White House was using a reputable provider for their email services, like Fat Atom, they would know that there is a process to go through to verify the actual email address inputted was done by the email address owner. This isn’t rocket science, but it was overlooked by the administration and their current ESP.

A great lesson to learn the hard way!

and he isn’t even taking responsibility for it. The article is very interesting as I have been following this story from the beginning. It all started when a Fox news reporter questioned the White House Press Secretary last week on American citizens getting White House email that they did not ask for or sign up for.

Back and forth ensued and finally, this is what the White House states, “”We are implementing measures to make subscribing to e-mails clearer, including preventing advocacy organizations from signing people up to our lists without their permission when they deliver petition signatures and other messages on individuals’ behalf,”.

So basically they are blaming advocacy groups for putting people on the White House list. The President probably hasn’t heard the term “opt-in confirmation” before, but Fat Atom sure could help them.

So if the first thing you thought when you read the title was, what’s a sales funnel. Please stop reading and go back to cold calling your prospects. Now for the rest of us, why we might use cold calling as a tool, most professional sales people know that this is probably the least effective way to get an appointment. Here are some better ways to not only fill your funnel, but fill it with more qualified Prospects.

LinkedIn: Oh great, he leads with Social Networking. Yes, but not how you think. Why I think SN is somewhat overrated/overused – you can use LinkedIn as a tool. Think 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon and you will see how you can leverage your relationships for a warm introduction.

Targeted Direct Mail: Contrary to some experts, direct mail is not dead; but most of the time it is used improperly. Let’s start with your list; narrow, niche list are the best. Personalize, and track everything! (exclusive 800 number and purl’s or just a different domain name is a must!). Drive traffic to a microsite/landing page – NOT to you website home page. Test and measure – if your dropping to 500K people, it will pay for itself to test creative etc before you make the big drop. And finally follow up. There are many ways to do this, just make sure you have a system and then execute it.

Email Marketing: List rentals get abysmal open/ctr rates, but permission based lists still can ROCK. There are many ways to get the permission of your clients and prospects to send email to, but the content you send, is MOST crucial. Don’t just send an email to send something, have a plan and execute (I said that already I know). Proper testing is again crucial and will get increases to your conversion rates…guranteed.  Don’t be afraid to think outside the box, think viral, video, coupon, special offers etc.