VerticalResponse for AppExchange Blog

Want More Clicks? Tease Your Readers!

If you’re using social media for your business, good for you! Hopefully you're paying attention to which messages you publish to social networks like Facebook and Twitter get the best response. But it’s important to understand what messages you publish are most interesting to your fans.

No matter which social network you use, it’s crucial to grab your reader’s attention with a compelling hook. And your introductory message can be the difference between your content being shared or completely ignored so you need to get their attention with a "teaser."

We took a look at a recent activity report for the VerticalResponse email marketing Twitter account, @vr4smallbiz, to see what takeaways we might be able to give you about our own teasers. Looking at the top five most clicked links over a two-week period in March, we saw some interesting themes emerge that can be applied to how you might use social media. Check them out:

1. How-To

Using the words "how to" clearly communicates to the reader that they will be getting information that's useful to them and actionable.

2. Numbers/Lists

People love numbered lists. By including a list in your teaser, your reader knows exactly what to expect when clicking through.

3. Rewards/Offers/Exclusives

Using "Top Lists Of..." will always be successful whether it's informational or a list of "Top Products Purchased" this week. This tweet promoting VerticalResponse's free downloadable guides has continued to be one of our most clicked through teasers nearly a month after posting.

4. News/Announcements

Have some exciting news about your company or industry? Make sure to use it in your teaser. You might be surprised how many people follow you on social networks for access to the latest information about your brand or business.

5. Charlie Sheen (or any topical reference)

Well okay, not just Charlie Sheen, but you can go ahead and call it the "Sheen Rule of Social Teasers". Using humor, drama, and timely topical references do a great job of commanding attention. Just be careful with this one and make sure that it does somehow tie back to the content you're sharing...you don't want to make your fans feel like they've been conned. The Sheen Rule of Teasers reminds us that it's perfectly okay, even encouraged, to have a little fun with your social teasers. Social media is the perfect place to get your personality out there.

Bonus!

You may have noticed that social teasers have a lot in common with the subject lines you craft for your email marketing campaigns. In fact, many of the practices that we recommend for writing email subject lines can be applied here as well. Check out our 29 Great B2B Subject Lines for some ideas. Also, if you're not using the VR for AppEx Social Sharing feature to post your newsletters to Facebook and Twitter, you might want to revisit our recent blog post about how to make the most of social media for your business. 

Want More?

Check out our Spring Webinar Series to sign up for helpful live demonstrations on what you can do with email and social media.

Need to Generate Some Extra Revenue?

The end of a quarter is quickly approaching and you're just under target for your expected revenue. Many of us find ourselves in this situation and out of ideas for generating that extra bit of revenue. We've found a great solution and it comes in the form of flash promos! Flash promotions are a great way to provide customers an unexpected discount or special offer they will find difficult to pass up. Below are some suggestions to get you started and help you make the most out of your flash promotion. 

• Include an approaching expiration date for your offer- it's called a flash promotion for a reason! Customers will be less likely to procrastinate when they have limited time to take advantage of the offer.
• Require a promotion code- promo codes create a sense of exclusivity; only those with the unique code have access to an offer. They give the idea that a particular customer has special privileges, since not just anyone can redeem the discount. 
• Theme your offer- theming your offer after an upcoming holiday or to reflect a particular season (after tax day sale or spring special) not only makes your offer more interesting and engaging for customers but reveals the fact that your promotion is current and not offered all year long.
• Make the promo unique- if the goal is to generate revenue on a time-line, you need your customers to purchase now. Offer a unique discount or promotion so customers get the idea that this is a one-time offer. Most customers are aware of the fact that you offer a 25% off discount all year long. So make the offer special and customers will be more apt to take advantage.

Whether it's offering a bogo (buy one get one free), tax-free sale, or a discount percentage to customers, flash promos are an easy way to gain customer's attention and generate that extra bit of revenue. Everyone likes to save, especially when the savings are one-time or unexpected. So send your next email campaign with a one-time bogo code or an expiring virtual coupon. It will raise not only your customer's spirits but your bottom line.

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Increase Customer Engagement With LESS Content?

Most of us send emails with the intent to spark interest and promote recipients to take a   particular action. It's not enough to have users simply read our content and delete the message from their inbox with no further consequence. So ever wonder why recipients open emails but fail to click, convert, purchase, or sign-up?

We've found the answer may be with your content. I bet you're expecting us to say you need more content in your emails right? Nope, too much content may actually be  the issue. Like in a movie preview, you don't want to give away the whole plot, climax and resolution for free. After all, no one wants to pay $11 to s  ee a rerun. When writing content in your emails keep it simple. Spark interest, create questions, and leave something to be desired.

Customers, clients and leads are busy and don't have time to read large blocks of content. An email full of words (even interesting and relevant words) can be particularly overwhelming and can end up getting deleted. Instead of divulging an entire blog post, help article, or all of the details of a promotion, end an interesting couple of sentences with a call to action. In large blocks of content, the desired action or purpose can easily be lost. A "Read More!", "Sign-Up Now!" or "Get Your Discount Here!" is much more conducive to boost user engagement and increase ROI, sign-ups, clicks and conversion rates.

Want to see how email recipients are interacting with your content? Attend our weekly VR for AppExchange demo or view a short video tutorial for tips on how to set up and view reporting and track interaction.

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Design Your Email for Delivery & Response

The Ultimate Direct Mail Lead-Generation Piece!

Let's face it, we all get a lot of mail. Some we read and others get the circular file treatment, IF it even makes it to our desks. Hey, in my opinion there is still a place for direct mail, for some businesses it just make sense, especially business-to-business where you have to generate leads for your sales teams, and a closed sale can mean thousands, if not millions of dollars for your business.

Last week I got the CRAZIEST, I mean the BEST piece of direct mail I've EVER gotten in my life. It even tops the $50 bill I got from a company that "teaches managers how to manage" (and I sent back, read the story here), the win-back piece I got from ADP with a lovely coffee cup and coffee grounds. It even tops the two piece mailer from American Express, one was the remote control helicopter and you got the actual remote control if you signed up for a credit card.

On this particular Monday morning there was a box sitting on my desk. Not a big box. The box was wrapped in tape (that was  pretty hard to get off by the way, I had to work it.) So I started to talk to a colleague at work while I got the scissors out to open in.

The entire time I'm thinking "Why am I working so hard at opening a box I'm getting from someone I don't even know?" Maybe it was because this company went the extra mile to send something in a "box" to me. Am I that shallow?

Finally I get the thing unwrapped to find a pretty plain grey, non-descript box from a company called "EaGiL". I've never heard of them, but now since I've worked so hard I'm intrigued to see what I've almost cut myself 3 times over.

I take off the top and find a letter with a business card on top, and something underneath wrapped with a sticker. (Pen shown for size and an attempt to show the VerticalResponse logo.)

The simple letter talked about how this company specialized in creating "Tax Free Dollars" and that enclosed were 100 examples of their work. At this point I'm still not quite sure what exactly they do. The gentleman who authored this letter also wrote that he'd be calling me in a few days to set up an appointment, which frankly I always think is a bit presumptuous. But OK, I'll bite.

I unwrapped the contents underneath the letter and I saw a wrapped dollar bill. Huh? "real freaking money" I don't think so. I pulled this dollar bill out to find it wasn't a dollar bill, it was a STACK of dollar bills with a personalized wrap on it. The first thing I thought, "Are these really real?" So I smelled them and fanned them to find out they were!

I showed this piece to EVERYONE I knew and they were as equally as astonished as I was! Our Customer Service lead, Topher even noticed that not only were these brand-spanking new bills, they were sequential!

Impressive? Yes. And what a way to start off a Monday! Here are the questions everyone here at VR had:

• Is it real money?
• I wonder how many went out?
• What's the hook?
• Are they crazy?
• How many of those do they have to turn into customers before it pays off?
• How can I get on that list?
• What are you going to do with the money?
• What about the mailrooms that chuck all "junk mail" before it gets to your desk? And if they do is that a federal offense?
• Are you going to take the appointment?
• What mailhouse did they trust to put this together?

Do you think that EaGiL is crazy? I dunno. I've just exposed them to about 30 people, then I wrote this blog about them exposing them to even more. And who knows, when they call I just might take the appointment, if nothing else, to get to the bottom of some of these questions.

Love to hear your thoughts!

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Make the Most of Social Media for Your Business

We recently hosted a live Partner webinar. Ellery Long, VerticalResponse's Social Media Manager, discussed how to leverage social media marketing for your business. Below are a few highlights from the webinar:

1. Social Media Adds Business Value
   It allows you to gain insights on genuine customer perception, converse with your customers on a platform that's already part of their daily routine, engage online influencers, and can be measured to get ROI.
2. Social Media is Simpler Than You Think
   Facebook? Twitter? YouTube? Digg? Don't get overwhelmed by the multitude of social platforms out there. Concentrate on 2-3 social platforms best suited to your business objectives. Choose platforms where your customers already gather, and tend to them well.
3. Remember a Few Universal Social Media Strategies
   Be Consistent: Users constantly consume so content gets stale quickly.
   Listen, respond, and converse: Don't be afraid to take it offline.
   People like to share - make it easy: Create share buttons for your website, blogs & emails (use VR's Social Sharing Feature). 
4. Promote Your Social Presence Across ALL Your Marketing Channels
   Use email, traditional, and cross-platform marketing to allow your customers to easily find you.

These are only a small sampling of the many key points covered in the hour-long webinar. Ellery discussed specific actions you can take to maximize your Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and blogging potential. Download the webinar slides or view the recorded presentation to get more in-depth information and learn actionable steps you can take to increase your social media presence.

Attend our weekly VR for AppExchange demo or check out our other live webinars here!

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Why You Should Include an Opt-in Link in Your Email Messages

Adding Links in Your Emails - Why, What, and How?

After all your hard work writing compelling content and uploading images, adding links to your emails is one of the easiest things you can do to increase customer engagement. With links you can encourage recipients to take action by directing them to visit your website, your blog, sign-up for an event, learn more about special promotions, or purchase products. Links also give particularly interested email recipients a way to easily continue their interaction with your brand or product. 

Where is the best place to add links in my email?

1. Images - Link images (including your company logo) to your website or another relevant URL. Also ensure you place alt text for all your images.

2. Titles or Headers - The titles or headers of specific sections in your emails are often an enticing place to click and make a great place to insert links.

3. Names or Titles - You can link names and titles to a corresponding email address so customers have an easy way to make contact.

4. Buttons or Text - Inserting a "Learn More!" or "Sign-up Here!" button or text link is an easy way to present your call-to-action. Performable offers a great and simple way to build buttons to include in your emails.

5. Relevant Content - Add links within the body or content of your message. They can help to not only break-up content and make it more digestible but are also a great way to get recipients to take some form of action.

6. Table of Contents - Including a small Table of Contents at the top of a long email or an email that includes several different topics (as with a Newsletter) can be a great way to get more people engaged with your message.  A TOC allows recipients to find items that interest them without needing to scroll through the entire email message.  And, of course, the easier you make it for your subscribers to find content that interests them, the more likely they’ll be to take action with your message.  

You can also test the success of different links by accessing the "VR Statistics" tab in your account to view click rates and reporting on your links.

Adding links is simple! Here's how:

• Highlight the text or select the image you'd like to use as a link.
• Click the chain link icon in the Designer's Toolbar (top right hand side in the top row of icons).
• Select the "Link Type" (email or URL)
• Type or paste your link or email into the dialog box.
• Click "Insert" or "OK" and you're all done! If you'd like to test your links, go to the Quick Preview tab found directly above the Designer's Toolbar. 

Want to learn more about adding links in your emails? Visit our How To Do Everything Salesforce site to access one of our video or text tutorials or sign up for one of our weekly VR for Salesforce live demos!

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8 Places to Find Advocates For Your Business

Most businesses have customers who love them and who love to talk about them. You've probably spent a lot of time and energy building up your business, so now it's time to locate those people who love to shout from the mountain tops how great they think you are. Why? Well eventually you'll want to reach out to these very special people, thank them and treat them extra special.

The easiest thing to do, is create a list of them from different channels so that when you're ready to really activate them even more than they already are, you can do it easily. So where do you start?

Your Employees - Your employees can be the best advocates for your business. You know who your best employees are and those who love what they do. Ask them to talk about your business on Twitter and Facebook if they'd like, and to post that they work for you on LinkedIn.

Best Customers - Look to see who your best customers have been, these are probably people that have purchased from you a number of times. Then based on your criteria, create your "best customer" list.

Survey Responders - If you're sending our customer satisfaction surveys, why not monitor who responds positively to your surveys? Then create your "Survey advocates" list.

Google Alerts - Sign up for FREE Google Alerts with your business name, your name, even your competitors name. See if there is anyone who keeps talking about your business more than a few times. Call this your "Google Advocates" list.

4Square - If you've got a local business, monitor who becomes the Mayor of your business. When they check in, make sure you know and give them a special discount or deal. They'll be sure to visit often and tell their friends. Call this list your "Mayor" list.

Twitter - Search your twitter handle on twitter.com. You will see who is talking positively about you. We use TweetDeck and set up a variety of keywords to track. Then from that easy interface we can manage our conversations with them. Make sure you RT them asking them to send you an email, include your email address. "Thanks for the RT! Email me at [email address] for a special deal!" You only have 140 characters so make sure you can fit it all and get their email address so you can start to build your email list of "Twitter advocates."

Facebook - Create a Facebook Fan Page and monitor who is speaking up with comments and likes. Set up a "Reviews" Tab and ask your followers what they think about you. Then message them back thanking them. Ask for their email address so you can send them something (free product, discount.) For anyone who "Likes" what you write, add them as a friend on Facebook. Then message them and ask for their email address as well. Start to build your list of "Facebook advocates".

Blog - Check out those who've commented on your blog. Most blog platforms enable you to see their email address. These will be your "blog advocates."

Are you finding your best advocates? If so, how? Please comment!

Think All Customers Love Fancy Graphics and Images? Think Again.

It can be fun and visually appealing to create and design emails with fancy images, elaborate tables and pretty buttons, but do customers respond positively? Not always. Particularly in B2B communications, many email recipients are more likely to respond to text emails.

Why do text emails deliver good results?

1. They tend to be more direct and to the point making busy B2B customers more likely to read the content and respond.
2. Calls to action and links are more apparent in text emails. The visual distractions presented in graphical emails may take attention from key email points.
3. Text emails are more personal and professional and give off a less "mass email" feel.

The VR for AppEx team recently conducted a test with its B2B audience to see if customers were more likely to respond and interact with a graphical email (containing images and graphics) or a text email. The results may surprise you!

Text example on the left, image email on the right.

 

 

We found the text email had both higher open and click rates!

Curious whether your customers will respond better to graphical or text email messages?

Use the VR for AppExchange reporting tools to test the two types of emails. Split your list in two, send one list the graphical email and the other group the text email to measure differences in open and click rates. Remember, you can only track opens with HTML emails so be sure to keep the HTML version in the mostly text email. It's also a good idea to adhere to the 20% images and 80% text rule. You can do this by including a button or two along with your company logo for branding. Happy testing!

Check out our online guide on Designing Your Email for Delivery & Response or view our How To Do Everything Salesforce page for more guides and resources.

Want more? Attend our weekly VR for AppExchange live demonstration, Wednesdays at 10AM Pacific.

Got Questions About Using VR for AppEx?

Did you know every week VerticalResponse hosts a free live demo and Q&A session about VerticalResponse for AppExchange? Whether you're an experienced user or just getting started, we've compiled some of the most commonly asked questions from our demo attendees to help you make the most of your integration. Read below for helpful tips and answers to your top VR for AppExchange questions!

1. I sent an email to my leads and contacts but I can't see the results under VR Email History. Help!

There are a couple of things that could be happening here. The first step to correcting this is to update the statistics from VR to Salesforce. Click on the "VR Statistics" tab, select the email campaigns that you would like to update by clicking the box on the left and then click Update Statistics. This will send the data to your leads and contacts in Salesforce and update the VR Email History.

If you don't see the VR Email History object on your leads or contacts you just need to make that section visible.   Under the "Leads" or "Contacts" tab in your Salesforce account, select any lead or contact then choose "customize page" in the upper right hand corner. You can then add VR Email History to the lead/contact page so the results will be displayed.

Its also possible that you see the VR Email history but are missing the fields that VR can update. This is also an easy fix, again select any lead or contact, click on "Edit Page Layout" in the top right corner and find VR Email History on the page that comes up. Click the icon that looks like a wrench and select the fields you wish to see. We recommend at least adding Mail Date, Email Name, Opened, Clicked, Bounced and Unsubscribed but you can add more if you'd like. Click Ok on that window to save, then click Save in the top left corner of the next page to save the new layout.

2. How can I enable or view dashboards to see VR Email History?

You can view a dashboard with graphs and charts of VR Email History for your contacts and leads.* To view the VR dashboards simply click on the "Dashboards" tab of your account, click on view dashboard and select the "VR Email History" option. Now you can easily view email campaign response rates for bounces, opens, clicks and unsubscribes!

3. Can I create a table of contents so that it links one section of my email to another?

Yes you can! First you need to use the Canvas tool as your email editor. Then choose the part of the email that you'd like to link to, such as the title of a section. Next click the anchor icon (top row, right side of the Designer's Toolbar). This will bring up a dialog box - name your anchor and click Insert. Now that you've "laid anchor", choose where you'd like to place the link to that anchor and highlight the text. This will usually be text or an image near the top of the email, since the main purpose of using an anchor link is to make it easy for readers to navigate to different parts of your message. Click the Chain Link icon (it's right next to the Anchor icon) and use the drop down menu to select the name you gave your anchor earlier. Then click Insert. Done! The new link will redirect you to the Anchor within your email. You can test this by going to the Quick Preview tab and clicking on the link.

                            

If you have other questions about your VR for AppExchange Integration, attend our weekly free live demo Using VerticalResponse for Salesforce. Our Education & Training Manager, Jill hosts a live Q&A session at the end of every demo. You can also visit our help site to access short videos and text tutorials to help you with your integration.

Still have questions? Call our support team toll free Monday through Friday, 6am-5pm PDT at 866-6VERTICAL (866-683-7842) or send an email to AppExchange@verticalresponse.com.

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*If you are running VerticalResponse for Group Edition the dashboards feature is not available.

So, What's a Good Email Open Rate?

Whether you're generating a report for your boss, measuring return on investment o r tracking recipient activity, when it comes to analyzing email marketing efforts many of us find ourselves asking the question "What's a good open rate?" The quick and easy answer is open rates between 15%-30% are considered average. In truth, open rates tend to fluctuate based on send time and send date and vary with industry, list size, messaging and many other variables. 

As an example, email messages related to marketing and acquisition typically have lower open and click rates than editorial or non-profit messages. Similarly, emails sent from within the travel industry tend to have higher open rates than those from the retail industry.

What does this mean for your business? There really is no magic number to achieve when it comes to open rates. The best method for finding a good open rate for your emails is to monitor your own previous and current rates and take steps to improve upon those numbers. More importantly, click rates can be an even stronger indication of customer engagement. Click rates should also be monitored and improved upon. They indicate that a recipient has not only opened your email but that they are also interested in the content you've sent them.

Steps you can take to improve open and click rates:

• Personalize Campaigns - Creating a personal, one-on-one dialogue will make your emails more welcomed by recipients. Example: Include the recipient's name in the greeting of your email. Check out our video tutorial on how to personalize emails or visit our VR for AppEx tutorials site for more tips!

• Use Customer Data - Previous behavior or past purchases can be used to send targeted emails and appealing messages. Examples: Send a specific message to customers who recently purchased a certain product to promote a similar product on sale. Or, offer your most frequent or highest-value customers a special premium (free shipping, zero setup fees, etc.) as a thank-you for their valued business.
  
  
• Send Timely Follow-ups - Send messages to recipients while your brand is fresh in their mind and interest is high. Example: Quickly follow-up with individuals who have recently visited your website or registered for a newsletter.

• Test, Test, and Test Again- Test send times, subject lines, link types and email template designs to find those that deliver the best click and open rates for your type of business and audience. Example: Perform a split test to measure open rates of two differing subject lines.

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