I know that the Facebook momentum has gained a ravenous pitch as I see more and more people jumping into it. And not only are they jumping but they are guzzling the addictive life streaming service at a pace that is at times scary. So as the Nigerian email scammers that rose to rapid fame/hatred have found it too. They realize that there is an opportunity to stop using email, as it might be played out, and now are using Facebook to run the same scams. Thanks for leaving email to us and jumping on the social media bandwagon. You will not be missed. 

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How Changing a Button Increased a Site’s Annual Revenues by $300 Million

Click here to see full article.

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According to a recent article from B2B Magazine, while there is no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of best time to send email, a new study from Ball State University provides several valuable insights. The study followed working adults for a full day, recording what media participants used, where they used it, and for how long. Here are some of the findings:

• Working adults tend to log in to email first thing in the morning and have the longest period of uninterrupted time in their inbox.
• As the day goes by, inbox time becomes more fragmented.

So what do these findings suggest?

• People are most like to read a longer email message such as a newsletter first thing in the morning (between 8 and 9am).
• On the other hand, shorter email messages such as webinar invitations or white paper downloads may be best received later in the day when people are in “quick-hit” mode.

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Have you taken a look at your welcome email lately? Does it…

• Thank people for joining?
• Point them to helpful resources, such as an article, FAQ or product/service tour?
• Tell them how to connect/get in touch with you, and encourage them to do so?
• Anything at all? (Do you have a welcome email?)

I was reminded of the importance of a good welcome email last week after signing up with SlideShare to post the slides of my Podcasting and Email Newsletters presentation.

Shortly after signing up and confirming my registration, I received an email welcoming me to SlideShare. And I was impressed.

Their welcome email does a lot of great things that we can all learn from and apply to our email marketing campaigns.

SlideShare’s Welcome Email

Below is the email I received from SlideShare after activating my account (click the image to see the full email).

While it’s a short, simple message that anyone could write in minutes, it does a great job of getting me interested in using and exploring SlideShare.

Here are just a few things SlideShare does well in their welcome email:

Welcome New Users

Both the subject and first paragraph of the email are short and to the point: they tell me that my account is verified and welcome me to the service.

One often-overlooked purpose of welcome emails is to remind people that they signed up in the first place.

If your subscriber doesn’t check his/her email right away and/or is distracted when reading your first email, s/he may not understand why you’ve sent it, or remember signing up.

Point Out Helpful Resources

SlideShare links from their welcome email to an online tour, and their blog’s RSS feed.

On top of that, they list out a number of things that users can do with the service – in effect, pointing out extra features and benefits that the new subscriber may not have known about. (I think anyone running an email marketing campaign can see the value in doing this!)

These resources encourage users to get more value from their subscription (in this case, both immediately through the tour, and also later through the blog).

Is This a Perfect Welcome Email?

We’re doing a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison here since SlideShare’s welcome email isn’t designed specifically for an email marketing campaign, but even so…

I don’t think this is a perfect welcome email. There are a number of things I would have done differently.

I think SlideShare should promote other ways for subscribers to connect with SlideShare (through their Community section, for example, or through external social networks) and that they should link up a few other useful areas of the site (this email doesn’t even link to a login page, which is a definite “whoops” for an online service).

But those are really minor details. This welcome email does a great job of making me want to dig deeper into my new SlideShare account. And the more I do that, the more value I’m going to get out of it, and the more I’m going to tell others about it.

Your Turn: What Makes a Good Welcome Email?

• Do you think this is a good welcome email? What would you do differently?
• Do you do these things in your welcome emails?
• What other companies do you think create good welcome emails (and why)?

Share your thoughts and suggestions below!

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11 Tips For a Happy Family Newsletter

Brad Isaac

1.

Set ground rules AHEAD of time — not after the fact.

2.

Put the ground rules in writing in the sidebar of the newsletter and remind people how the whole family, young and old, will get the newsletter.

3.

Pick ahead of time how much foul language or adult content you’ll allow.

4.

Limit jokes and other “stock” content (if your brother just loves jokes and sends 15 for each issue, you might want to limit the number of jokes per issue to one.)

5.

Set a rule that family squabbles cannot be resolved through the newsletter. But if a 15 year feud ends it can be announced as long as both parties agree.

6.

Similarly, although bad news sells major newspapers good news is the only thing that will keep yours alive. Be sensitive about announcing divorces, job layoffs, firings, jail time and other negative stories. Only announce something negative if the person it involves drops you the story himself or herself.

7.

Put one or several requests in each newsletter. Ask for participation. Your newsletter’s survival depends on other family members participating.

8.

Make it easy for people to contribute.

9.

Family politics can be a pain so avoid stories involving feuds, disagreements or offensive topics.

10.

Edit spelling and grammar, but leave content alone. If someone feels they were misquoted in their own family newsletter, they’ll never participate again.

11.

Remember, it’s your family’s newsletter, not your newsletter. Let other family members edit newsletters too.

Cool and useful stuff. Thanks Brad!

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