Google’s “Priority Inbox”: Top 3 things to remember for your e-mail marketing
Sep
01

Google announced today a new feature that categorizes e-mail messages based on importance. Meant to unclutter the ever-crowded inbox, this may pose some new challenges for e-mail marketers. From a deliverability standpoint, if an e-mail is delivered to the “non-priority” area of a customer’s Gmail inbox, it’s similar to being delivered to the spam folder.

However, small business marketers don’t need to worry. In today’s guest post, Melanie Attia, Product Marketing Manager for Campaigner e-mail marketing, offers three top tips to help you make sure your e-mails get through.

1. Remember the Big R – RELEVANCE!

Relevance has always been a golden rule when it comes to e-mail marketing – if you aren’t providing relevant information, your customers simply aren’t going to open your e-mail. Want to make sure customers with Gmail accounts mark your e-mails as “priority?” Provide them with relevant information they will want to read. It’s really that simple.

2. Analyze Your Results with Every Campaign

The reporting tool in Campaigner is designed so that you can get a sense of open rates, click through statistics, etc. Now more than ever you will need to watch these statistics – if you notice a difference, you may need to reexamine your campaign (see the note on relevance above).

3. Ask Your Customers!

For small business owners, any new obstacle also presents an opportunity, and Priority Inbox is no different. Use this as a chance to reach out to your customer base and ask them what they’d like to see in your e-mail marketing campaigns and how often they want to hear from you. Incorporating their feedback in future e-mail marketing efforts means that your messages are more likely to be classified as “priority e-mail” with customers using Gmail.

Overall, as e-mail programs like Gmail give users more control over how their e-mail is classified, marketers are tasked with consistently delivering material that customers will want to open and read. Though no two customers are the same (one may love getting daily coupons from a store, while another may find that a nuisance), the bottom line is that e-mails that are relevant and valuable have the best chance of being a priority read for your small business customers.

  • Share/Bookmark

Related Posts:

Posted in Sales & Marketing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Business lessons from Project Runway
Aug
31

By Karen Axelton

“Crowdsourcing,” or turning to groups of people to get ideas or complete a project, has been a hot topic for a while now—and seems to be growing by the minute. But is the crowd always smarter than the individual?

Last week’s episode of Project Runway, the reality show where designers compete to create the winning garment, suggests not. In the August 26 “challenge,” the 12 contestants were split into two teams of six and asked to design a collection of six garments.

One of the teams, dubbing itself “Team Luxe,” featured the best designers on the show; the other team was sort of a “Bad News Bears” of contestants who’ve lost challenges and had, as judge Michael Kors would say, “severe taste issues.” Moreover, the team with the better designers was led by Gretchen, a contestant who had won several challenges and was emerging as the leading contender to take the final prize.

But what happened? Team Luxe decided to submerge their individual personalities, come up with a collection of clothing that merged everyone’s style together and all work on the pieces as a group. The lesser team gave each of its six members free reign in designing his or her own garment, as long as it adhered to some basic principles so there would be unity among the outfits.

In other words, Team Luxe “crowdsourced” its designs. What happened? Well, the results were shocking to any Project Runway watcher, as the better team sent out a collection of outfits that were more hideous than a J.C. Penney catalog spread circa 1972. With not a whiff of personality or flair, these clothes hurt your eyes to watch. The judges were disgusted.

Meanwhile, the lesser team wowed the judges with a collection of six looks that were not only coherent, but somehow showed each designer’s individual flair.

What’s the lesson for entrepreneurs? Listening to the opinions of everyone on your team is fine. So is getting input from your customers or prospects. And you can even take advice from a random “crowd” you source on the Internet, if you want to. But when it comes down to the final decision of what action to take, what product to make or what road to follow in your business, you need a strong individual—or individuals—to take the reins. Otherwise, your final product or service will as bland as institutional gruel—and something no customer will want to pay for.

  • Share/Bookmark

Related Posts:

  • No Related Posts
Posted in Management | Leave a comment