Fuze Blog | ©Bryan Landaburu (aka Willie Vega) | Reno.Sparks Blogger

More crappy emails: RealEstateProNews.com Advocates Firing Webmasters

From the world of crappy email, rises a new contender:  RealEstateProNews.com who in this crappy email suggests you "fire your webmasters".  Whoever sent this email for them should be fired:

Why you ask?

• They start with an accusational headline, but cant pay it off
• Images wont render in Outlook 2003 or 2007 (used by ohhh, most business users)
• No way to view online
• No text equivalent of the offer or the company - who knows who its from
• Even the dead images ARENT CLICKABLE

I assume this message is for a seminar of sorts where they are going to spew genius of template based web products and their "email systems" but who knows.  Now, RealEstateProNews, aka MortgageTrends, aka Verticalemail, aka who knows what else, is a typical ambiguous shell company that sells "services" to [unsuspecting] real estate agents. As an email provider, verticalemail.com (a namesake rip rip off of VerticalResponse) has shown that they aint got it together so, shame on them. Here is how they send such dynamic/compelling emails:

"This is accomplished utilizing our Patent-Pending    Database-Controlled Broadcast Email System developed specifically for    the commercial real estate industry" - taken from their website

Make any sense? No. I am not saying this company is unethical, or illegitimate, I am simply commenting on this email that I took some offense to.  The links to their websites should be a fair trade for this critique from an opted-in subscriber. Till RealEstateProNews/Verticalemail gets their shyte together, may want to think about firing them.

Enjoy.

BL

More Email Superbad - EDAWN

Sorry I have to be the police on this but another poorly crafted email hit my inbox today, this time from my friends at EDAWN.  Here are some issues:

• Message renders illegible in Outlook2007, no option to view online.
• No identity/branding/logo that shows who this is from or what it's about.
• My sweet hot-pink box below represents what the typical "preview" area is in most mail clients.  As you can see in this case, that entire area is blank.

I dont mean to bash EDAWN, we are members so I am very receptive to, and interested in all their emails and events.  This series is a mess.

I get off on these rants sometimes because things come in waves.  Last year it was mobile phones, this year so far, email.  Alas.

Hopefully EDAWN will get it sorted out and then i can give them some McLovin.

BL

Candidate for worst practice email from MediaBistro

Yes, MediaBistro, real advertising folks, who usually say they want ads like this...

...because nobody reads. Today, sent one of the worst emails I have seen in a while. Here is their RevolvingDoor newsletter for March, in all its glory:

It almost looks like Teddy KGB sent this straight from the Kremlin.  MediaBistro really must GYST on these emails.  I am actually interested in MediaBistro info, and their events, but who, including myself would take the time to digest this fatty meal?  Always lessons to be learned, even with the pros.

BL

Even self proclaimed genius' send SPAM

Be careful who you send messages to.  Today i received this SPAM from some e-mail marketing experts at ProspectDB who led their SPAM with the bold intro:

Email marketing is a powerful and cost effective...
...if done correctly. 

Here is their message in tact:

1. Addressed to "Hello"
2. I did not opt-into their list
3. Even if I did somehow opt-in to their list, there is no way to tell how, when, and where
4. Their opt-out procedure sucks (who knows, it may work but i frankly don't trust clicking links that have a series of hieroglyphic characters in them)
5. Using "NOREPLY" is a great way to get responses to your offer
6. Using a from address thats a 3rd party (in this case webmailcurrier.com) is no a great way to build trust
7. No logo, branding, or anything explaining who they are
8. I will give them 5points of credit for having a valid email address, address, and toll free number - those indeed ARE best practices
9. no way to report this as SPAM
10. Other than that, nothing in this message is representative of "best practice e-mail marketing"
11. they did toss in this disclaimer at the bottom so i think i am breaking their rules (but since i didnt ask for their damn message, and since I am not "named above", I am justifying my critique with a link to their website which i think is fair:
    CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this e-mail transmission is intended only for use of the individual or entity named above. This e-mail transmission, and any documents, files, previous e-mail transmissions or other information attached to it, may contain confidential information that is legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail transmission, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, dissemination, distribution, copying or other use of this transmission or any of the information contained in or attached to it is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail transmission in error, please immediately notify us by return e-mail transmission or by telephone at the number above or at the address above, and destroy the original e-mail transmission and its attachments without reading or saving it in any manner. Thank you.
12. AS A NOTE: they can "avoid spam catches" by NOT SENDING SPAM AT ALL!

Now, I must admit that I am somewhat curious to bite on their offer to see what they speak of in their: "Top 10 Keys to Successful Email Campaigns". But, something tells me I may get more emails with the subject: "increase l0ad v0lume" or "mak3 her happy th1s H0l1daY s3ason".  Sorry, I wont be able to provide a review on their 10-best for you this Christmas.

Anyway, if I (or any of our clients) sent them a message this bad, I would welcome a similar criticism.  GYST Prospect DB - you should be ashamed of yourselves.

(By the way, Fuze actually does understand CAN-SPAM compliance, double OPT-IN, and various other tactics to make your emails better than this one.  Give us a ring-a-ling if you want to chat it up.)

WBV

Email Creative for Know-it-alls [like me]

I feel [very occasional] guilt from time to time that this blog is all about rants and opinion and not enough about what we do as a business.  So, here is a post that dispels said myth.

As I was clearing out my ridiculous inbox I came across a few bullets in a note from Responsys that I thought would be great to pass along to our email marketing clients, and now here as well.  The article discussed some of the most valuable things to think about when crafting messages.  Often conversations focus on how an email will look best if designed this way versus that way. The biggest lesson we as professionals need to embrace is that with email we must learn to design for the worst case, not the best case. Otherwise, it is a simple case of resistance to the facts — facts that have been validated time and time again through comprehensive testing across the industry. I have boiled down a few bullets from the article and added my own input below for consideration.

Several critical points your creative team must keep in mind when designing E-Mails:

• Best practices are best practices for a reason. If Outlook 2007 does not render background images, then why risk the integrity of the design and message by including them just because one email client will? Unless it will work in 99.9% of environments, it is not a best practice and should generally be avoided.
• Print is not the same as email. How the recipient will interact with it and read it will be very different. Emails are rarely viewed in their entirety. You have to be able to tell your story within consolidated chunks that are clear, easily scanned, and actionable. Emails are read top to bottom and left to right. Placing the headline at the bottom of the email is not going to work as the email recipient is not likely to be motivated to scroll down. You have only a few seconds to grab their attention — don't waste it making them search for the primary points and call to action.
• The way you would code a web page is not the same way you code an email. You must adjust your design to accommodate: no background images, no Flash, no forms, no Java script, no CSS, no image maps... the list goes on and on. The technology for a web page may be 2007, but the email has to be 1997.
• An email is never the destination. It serves as a stepping stone to motivate email recipients to take an action to a web page. If the email is not designed with this in mind, then the point of sending an email is being missed (and money is being wasted). Who cares what the open rates and click-through rates are if they are not converting! Clicks don't pay salaries.
• All email messages should have a relevant web landing page.  You cant say everything in the body of an email - and your home page is not a "landing page".  Landing someone on your home page after they agree to take the click action in an email is purposely putting a seek-and-find mission in front of them.  Now they have to remember how they got there, and what they were responding to.  Landing page creative should be an extension of the email campaign - but different than a traditional web page on your site.  In all cases, the goal is: get to the point, present the offer, tell me take it or leave it, dons.  Don't waste anyone's time.  Readers all appreciate that (watch for more articles on landing pages to come).

It is easy for us all to forget these simple steps when we craft and push our messages so hopefully these tips help you in your strategy and delivery.  Remember, if your messages have no point, or the recipient cannot read your email, whether because the primary content is hidden below the fold or because it is coded in a way that will not render correctly, they are not likely to take an action now, and are even less likely the next time around.

Hope you found this helpful.  I will try to post these sort of things more often.

WBV

The State of Email Marketing from Ad:Tech San Francisco 2007

My takeaway from a session on Email Marketing:

Despite all the rumors: Email marketing isn't dead. [makes me happy since we have a burgeoning practice around email marketing]

In spite of all the woes of SPAM filters, stuffed inboxes, and inundation with information, email is still a valuable component in the marketing quiver.  Email alone is not as powerful as the mix of components such as: landing pages, conversion pages, subscription pages, etc.  Best practices in email assume the same things any of your marketing components...OPTIMIZATION is key. 

Firing into the abyss with any single component will always have limited success.  The more consistent messages, delivered in the most relevant and frequent means that match your target, will produce the best results (novel idea, i know.).

Here are a few bullets on the state of email from the Ad:Tech San Francisco floor:

• VALIDATED SENDERS - Gaining strength but still not main stream  List hygiene and using a good email provider can greatly help with your deliverability and consumer trust
• Deliverability should be in the high-90% range
• Images are being turned off by default for many ISPs and Outlook 2007.  Need to make messages pretty for text as well.  Also need to account for that fact that your open rates will be lower simply because images are set to off.
• Optimize subscription management landing page.
• Co-reg is still good
• Frequency is dependent on audience...only message as you need to.
• most are doing email - landing - conversion
• Most all have an agency handling creative and message craft, then distribution is internal, tracking internal
• All are re-engaging with their aging lists
• product specials work less than good information
• Headcount in email is typically 1-3 internal, 3-5 external

Of course it is always reassuring to know that Fuze's MessgeCenter systems are still state of the art in terms of data collection, message craft, and statistical analysis.  Do you use them?  You really should.  Call us!

WBV

(another treo post - sorry for the typos)