Per my previous post, I thought I would share two examples regarding the Holiday E-Cards I have seen/received this season. I offer no commentary on either. I am simply providing them as examples you can review, to arrive at your own conclusions. Names and information about each institution have been removed. You can click on each to see a full size image of my screen capture.
Example #1:
Example # 2:
Please feel free to send me your examples too. Happy Holidays!
I have also posted this as part of my participation in the eduWEB, eduBUZZ blog.
Email continues to be one of the most widely used outreach tools by Higher Education professionals and yet, is also the tool I see used to the least effect. Too many poorly formatted text emails…too many HTML emails that play by old rules and thus cannot get to a recipient’s in box…bad subject lines or general mismanagement of the campaign, messages that don’t respect the recipient and as a result create roadblocks to future success. Especially with changes by both ISPs (internet service providers) and programs such as Outlook 2007, the rules are evolving. Are you evolving with them?
Delivering to the InBox
As with all marketing, content still rules. But while it used to be
enough to avoid being blacklisted and ensure you weren’t using “banned
words” you were usually in the clear. That is no longer the case. ISPs
and the technology they employ to eliminate spam have gotten more
comprehensive and aggressive. ISPs are concentrating on WHO sends the email as much as they are on WHAT
is sent. If your emails are opened regularly, then you are in the
clear. But, if a large enough percentage of individuals mark your
emails as SPAM, ISPs will trace that back to your sending domain and IP
address. In many cases, they will then block any subsequent messages
you send. As a result, even the normal process oriented messages and
individual communications you send (or others send from the same IP)
will be blocked, thus hampering your efforts in other areas. So, if the
ISP doesn’t trust you, you aren’t going anywhere. And the ISP is only
going to trust you if your recipients trust you. So, what to do?
1. Get their permission and make it easy to keep it: Make sure, every chance you get, to get the permission of your recipients. A big part of this can even be the lists you purchase. Only work with reputable vendors that qualify recipient permission. Avoid small, internet-based lead generators. They will be less likely to have qualified a recipients permission or even interest…both of which will leave your messages more likely to be perceived as SPAM. Also, make sure you make it easy for them to unsubscribe at any point, even if they have been receiving your emails successfully in the past.
The biggest mistake you can make is to not respect someone’s desire to stop receiving your emails. If you don’t make it easy…they will simply block you as SPAM, which is a much bigger concern for your future. So, make it easy…make it apparant and help the user out. In addition, make sure you are managing unsubscibes quickly/automatically whenever possible. Don’t make this a manual process where someone is pulling the name from a spreadsheet. That is too much work for your recipients and for you. Also, it increases the chance that the unsubscribe request may not be respected.
2. Respect your recipients: This is a two part issue. First and formost, send them relevent information in easy to consume pieces. Don’t send long, rambling emails talking about the advantages of your institution. Have a goal or piece of information to share, get it to them quickly and simply (in format, whether text or HTML) and then make it easy for them to find follow up information on your web site or a landing page. If appropriate, step recipients through a process of automatically generated emails that or only sent if previous steps are completed, allowing you to extend the dialog beyond a single message. If you cannot be relevant (from the recipient’s standpoint…not yours) and provide information with specific value, then you are setting yourself up to fail. In addition, wherever possible set expectations for e-marketing and stick to them. If you allow someone to subscribe to your weekly email newsletter, make sure to send it once a week and once a week only. If you tell me you will provide periodic updates on campus events, don’t send me messages every week. Failing to meet the recipients expectations that you have set is a sure way to end up in the SPAM file.
3. Last but not least, work with an experienced e-marketing partner on a robust platform. Make sure you review your campaign reports and ensure you are getting a good return and connection with your recipients. If not, move to another vendor that better suits your needs. Avoid sending large marketing campaigns from your own servers and IP addresses. It has the potential to cause you abundant issues down the road if you aren’t careful or if you do a lot of e-communications.
Have a great week!
