HOWTO: Test Your Email Marketing Campaigns

Have you ever sent an email marketing campaign only to discover it looks like crap when it lands in the recipients inbox?

Would it surprise you to learn that the greater majority of companies (from small to very very large) that send email marketing campaigns perform very little or even NO TESTING before they send?

I've seen it happen, time and time again.

What to do! There are many good subscription based systems out there you can use to test deliver-ability and appearance. Some of the better email marketing services include some level of inbox delivery and appearance testing.

Certainly always use tools provided as a first line of defence, however the most successful way I and my team have found to work consistently well over the last 16+ years of email marketing is to do real-life testing. Testing on real email accounts on real email services.

But do you know what to look for? Here are some handy tips for testing your email campaigns in order to improve the deliver-ability and appearance of delivered emails.

Before you send your HTML email campaign to your entire subscriber list, you should do some testing. All good email marketing systems will let you send tests to yourself.

• Don't just rely on preview functions. These are at best a rough estimate of how your email would look in an ideal world. You need to actually deliver your email campaign to real email accounts to see how it works "in the real world."
• Setup email accounts with as many email services as possible. There are many free ones out there. Use the most common services, like MSN, Hotmail, Live, Yahoo!, and Gmail. You might also setup an account with AOL.
• Leave the default settings for those accounts as they are. Don't add yourself to the address book, or anything that would change the default configuration. You'll want to test whether or not your email campaigns are being filtered as spam to a typical setup configuration for the most common email services.
• Setup a "test list" in your email marketing service. Some services will allow you to replicate your "real" list and import the test addresses.
• Recruit co-workers, friends, or family to become testers for you. You need people you can rely on and trust. We use a team of Virtual Assistants (VA) that we have trained over several years. VA's are a very cost effective way for you to leverage resources. Ask me if you would like a contact to a reliable and cost effective VA service provider.
  
• Trusted testers can tell you how your email looks across the many different email clients programs. If you have the resources, setup a testing computer in the office with multiple operating systems and email programs. Or set up a virtual computer online to do the same thing.
  
• Do you give subscribers to your list the option to receive plain-text or a mobile version of your emails? If you do, you will need to subscribe one of your test email accounts to receive plain-text only emails and one to receive the mobile version of your campaigns.
• Send as many emails as you can to your test addresses.
• Did your email campaign end up in the junk folder or spam filter of any of the test email accounts?
• Most email clients and online services (web mail) leave images turned off by default (i.e. you are required to click a link or button to display images). How does your email look with images turned off? That's the first impression people will have. If it looks crap, so do you.
  
• Do you have "ALT-text" coded for your images, to persuade recipients to click the "show images" button? (ALT-text is the "alternative text" that is displayed when an image can't be seen in a web browser or email program)? By "persuade" I don't mean you should resort to sending spam-like, over-bearing sales text such as, "CHECK THIS OUT!" A really descriptive ALT-text is persuasive enough e.g. "Screenshot of our new gizmo"
• Just in case people don't want to show your images (yes some people have legitimate reasons and others are simply über paranoid about everything), do you have a link at the top of your email, allowing them to view your message online, in their browser?
• When you click "show images" for your email, do all the images work? Do they download and appear fast enough/in a reasonable time (a few micro-seconds would be nice but a few seconds is more realistic), or do you need to go back and optimise them?
• Click on as many links as possible (yes, this is mind-numbing, but necessary). Do they all work? Are there any broken links?
• Does your email marketing service provide click or open tracking? If so, enable this functionality, and then click and open some of your emails. Then log in to your email marketing service and check your campaign statistics. Is everything working properly? If yes, send!

Happy and successful email marketing

Paul

-- 

PAUL J. LANGE – BLUE OCEAN STRATEGIST & RAINMAKER

ASSURING YOUR SUCCESS THROUGH VALUE INNOVATION AND FOCUSED ACTION

paulj@paullange.com.au | GSM: +61 414 317579 | URL: http://www.paullange.com.au

Follow me on Twitter - http://twitter.paullange.com.au 

Posted via email from Blue Oceans

Google can't keep it up!

Google! Analyse this!

It is understandable that new services will fall over from time to time. They may even disappear completely. Google are after all the kings of the beta release, and as we know beta software is unstable. After all of these years Gmail is still in 'beta' or have Google perhaps trademarked the term?

For the last several weeks when logging into Google Analytics the system first asks me to sign up for Google Analytics again. Crazy! What's even more crazy is that nine times out of ten if I sign up again the old accounts are still there, I just have a new account in addition. Once in a while the system collapses completely and returns an error.

From what I can see on the Net there are many people suffering but nothing substantive from Google on the matter. Seriously with all of the resources and technology you have at your disposal, you have the ability to scan peoples WiFi connections and grab their usernames and passwords as your street view car drives around our neighbourhoods, you can handle billions of web searches a second, but you can't fix an access issue and worse you lack the customer service and relationship maturity to communicate with your user base.

I love Google, I really do but this sort of crap just pisses me off.

-- 

PAUL J. LANGE – BLUE OCEAN STRATEGIST & RAINMAKER

ASSURING YOUR SUCCESS THROUGH VALUE INNOVATION AND FOCUSED ACTION

URL: http://www.paullange.com.au

Follow me on Twitter - http://twitter.paullange.com.au 

Posted via email from Blue Oceans

Victor Mauro iPhone 4 App Trailer

Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action

Tedtalks : Simon Sinek (2009 Tedx) Audio by Ted  
Download now or listen on posterous

SimonSinek_2009X.mp3 (11084 KB)

Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers -- and as a counterpoint Tivo, which (until a recent court victory that tripled its stock price) appeared to be struggling.

To watch the video of the attached audio, visit http://bit.ly/bUzzFU

About Simon Sinek
In 2009, Simon Sinek released the book "Start With Why" -- a synopsis of the theory he has begun using to teach others how to become effective leaders and inspire change.

Posted via email from Blue Oceans

Women's Lib was a Blue Ocean Waiting to Happen

Remember the traditional style Christian vows? The man would promise to love, honour, and cherish. The woman would promise to love, honour, and obey. Regardless of your standpoint, the words spoken and commitments given have changed for ever.

Now check out this newspaper article. Given this type of public indoctrination, is it any wonder that the Women's Lib movement swept the globe like a massive Tsunami; leaving not one, but several massive blue ocean opportunities in it's wake?

Enjoy!

About the author:
I am a serial entrepreneur with business interests in venture capital & private funding, social media marketing, wellness, personal development, and online services. Together with a select group of C-Level executives, I also provide an outsourced interim board service. I am passionate about helping others to achieve success, and lead Mastermind Groups of people committed to bringing about a positive change in their lifestyle.

If you have an interest in any of the above areas and are seeking advice or support for a specific issue, send me an email with an overview of what you would like to discuss and we will schedule time to talk by phone or Skype.

PAUL J. LANGE – BLUE OCEAN STRATEGIST & RAINMAKER
Assuring your success through value innovation and focused attention.
E-mail: paulj@paullange.com.au
GSM: +61 414 317579
URL: http://www.paullange.com.au

Most Connected Management Consultant in Australia on LinkedIn.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/pauljlange

Follow me on Twitter - http://twitter.paullange.com.au

Connect with me on Ecademy - real people, real business, real outcomes.
http://www.ecademy.com/user/paullange

Posted via email from Blue Oceans

Social Media Seasonal Sewerage

Are Social Media Christmas greetings the latest seasonal spam?

OK. I can understand that some people are genuinely well intentioned in their desire to wish all 1,000, 5,000, or 2 million people in their social networks all the very best for Christmas and the New Year. Personally it pisses me off!

If you intend to wish me anything, MAKE IT PERSONAL. This seems to be the main point that most people are missing in social media in general. Sure, we all let quite a number of general and generic messages from each other to our whole network slip through on a regular basis however when it comes to something like a greeting on ANY special occasion, personalise it for maximum acceptance, appreciation, and effect. Or risk being perceived as just another ignoramus social media slob wading through the social media sewerage pipes in an pathetic attempt to create awareness of YOU. Hey! Fella!! Here's a tip, it' not about YOU!!

It is the same as in the off-line world at Christmas time. The hand-written card or note, and I mean truly hand written not computer hand written like a certain network marketing company - initials S.O.C. - makes possible, is much better received than the generic cards that are sent by companies every year. If you read enough you'll discover oodles of people who have conducted surveys on this, or just simply know from the measured feedback they receive.

So do yourself and the rest of us a favour. Help reduce the noise to level ratios, and the inconvenient truth for all of the greenies out there, many of whom participate in this practice of generating as much social media seasonal sewerage as their CPU, RAM, and broadband will permit, is that you will be reducing your carbon footprint. Stop sending this crap to the network and instead invest a small amount of time in sending greetings to the people you actually know, and who you genuinely would like to know. Personalise each message and you will most likely be amazed at how much further your networking reach and influence extends in the coming year.

Now go and have a damn fine Christmas and a bloody fantastic New Year!!!

See you all on the flip side .... or sooner.

Be awesome!

Paul

About the author:

I am a serial entrepreneur with business interests in venture capital & private funding, social media marketing, wellness, personal development, and online services. Together with a select group of C-Level executives, I also provide an outsourced interim board service. I am passionate about helping others to achieve success, and lead Mastermind Groups of people committed to bringing about a positive change in their lifestyle.

If you have an interest in any of the above areas and are seeking advice or support for a specific issue, send me an email with an overview of what you would like to discuss and we will schedule time to talk by phone or Skype.

PAUL J. LANGE – BLUE OCEAN STRATEGIST & RAINMAKER
Assuring your success through value innovation and focused attention.
E-mail: paulj@paullange.com.au
GSM: +61 414 317579
URL: http://www.paullange.com.au

Most Connected Management Consultant in Australia on LinkedIn.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/pauljlange

Follow me on Twitter - http://twitter.paullange.com.au

Connect with me on Ecademy - real people, real business, real outcomes.
http://www.ecademy.com/user/paullange

Posted via email from Blue Oceans

New Year's Drinks - AUS Ecademy Sydney

2009 presented several personal and professional challenges for many of us. Some we overcome, some taught us valuable lessons, and from others we are still in the process of creating some valuable outcome.

Whether you are already officially back at work or still bathing in the sunshine of free time before kicking off the new business year, rock on up to the Bavarian Bier Cafe in Parramatta to meet other Sydney based entrepreneurs, business owners, directors, managers, and just some great people also interested in establishing mutually beneficial relationships and creating value.

2010 will be a great year. Personally it signifies the re-birth of some personal family traditions, a new focus on more quality time (work hard, play hard, rest hard), a commitment to help young entrepreneurial talent to develop, and more attention to building close and very personal connections with a limited number of dedicated and committed people in my new mastermind group.

I look forward to seeing as many of you in Parramatta on the 14th of January as can make it. If any company would like to sponsor the event, please contact me and let's make it an even more valuable evening for your business by showcasing what you do.

Be outstanding!!

Paul

Event Registration Link: http://bit.ly/7Y92Sg

About the author:
I am a serial entrepreneur with business interests in venture capital & private funding, social media marketing, wellness, personal development, and online services. Together with a select group of C-Level executives, I also provide an outsourced interim board service. I am passionate about helping others to achieve success, and lead Mastermind Groups of people committed to bringing about a positive change in their lifestyle.

If you have an interest in any of the above areas and are seeking advice or support for a specific issue, send me an email with an overview of what you would like to discuss and we will schedule time to talk by phone or Skype.

PAUL J. LANGE – BLUE OCEAN STRATEGIST & RAINMAKER
Assuring your success through value innovation and focused attention.
E-mail: paulj@paullange.com.au
GSM: +61 414 317579
URL: http://www.paullange.com.au

Most Connected Management Consultant in Australia on LinkedIn.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/pauljlange

Follow me on Twitter - http://twitter.paullange.com.au

Connect with me on Ecademy - real people, real business, real outcomes.
http://www.ecademy.com/user/paullange

Posted via email from Blue Oceans

Clayton Responses

Remember Clayton's non-alcoholic beverage that supposedly tasted like Scotch in the same kind of way that McDonalds tastes like a hamburger? The marketing slogan was that it was the drink you had when you were not having a drink.

Have you ever received one of those Clayton email responses from fruit cakes who like nothing more than to hear themselves talk, eh, see and read their pixels of drivel on the screen?

The type of emails I mean usually start with some superficially polite comment like

'Hi, how are you?'

... Yeh! Right! As if you could really give a shit you hypocritical S.O.B! ... or is this comment tainted by the fact that I spent a couple of years in New York?

What usually follows is some version of the following:

"Whilst your email doesn't actually warrant any kind of response beyond that of simple acknowledgment of its receipt,..."  .... I am going to make a complete hypocritical dickhead out of myself and respond anyway.

I am convinced that more than half of these people are heavily medicated and keep forgetting to take their pills, and the rest are on the tail end of a continuous all night bender, or both.

If you were truly not interested you would uphold your honour and not respond instead of acting like a complete and utter twat about it. Let's face it. This type of email among respectable people is seen for what it is, a total f@(& off statement and we treat it as such. In the deluded and confrontational mind of the sender they are probably secretly hoping that there will be a response so that they can continue to seek the moral high ground of their diatribe. Alas, seek as much as they will the will never achieve it. Very little is impossible in this world, but that such people should ever achieve moral high ground in any conversation until they curb their ways (in which case they would no longer be such people) is one of those few impossibilities.

The quality of our lives is indeed determined by the way respond to any given circumstance. The time between an event and our response to it determines how we perceive ourselves and as a result how the world will be given the opportunity to perceive us. So next time you might be tempted to respond to an email that you consider doesn't warrant a response..... DON'T!!!!!!!!!

Be awesome!! .... Not an asshole!!

Make your day exceptional!!

Paul

About the author:

I am a serial entrepreneur with business interests in venture capital & private funding, social media marketing, wellness, personal development, and online services. Together with a select group of C-Level executives, I also provide an outsourced interim board service. I am passionate about helping others to achieve success, and lead Mastermind Groups of people committed to bringing about a positive change in their lifestyle.

If you have an interest in any of the above areas and are seeking advice or support for a specific issue, send me an email with an overview of what you would like to discuss and we will schedule time to talk by phone or Skype.

PAUL J. LANGE – BLUE OCEAN STRATEGIST & RAINMAKER
Assuring your success through value innovation and focused attention.
E-mail: paulj@paullange.com.au
GSM: +61 414 317579
URL: http://www.paullange.com.au

Most Connected Management Consultant in Australia on LinkedIn.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/pauljlange

Follow me on Twitter - http://twitter.paullange.com.au

Connect with me on Ecademy - real people, real business, real outcomes.
http://www.ecademy.com/user/paullange

Posted via email from Blue Oceans

Rudd's Latest Apology ... who asked him?

First the aboriginals, now the lost Australians, perhaps Kevin 07 should make a point of apologising to someone new every day from now on until his sorry butt is kicked out of government. Kevin if you are listening, here are a few suggestions:

• Apologise to every child who was never allowed to stay up late and watch the late movie
• Apologise to every husband whose wife ever had a headache
• Apologise to every wife whose husband couldn't last more than a few minutes, or worse still couldn't get it up at all
• Apologise to every person who ever had a delayed departure at the airport
• Apologise to every person who ever missed an appointment because the bus was too late.
• Apologise to every Australian that you were ever born

Seriously, with the exception of the last one, all of these apologies would be about as relevant as the one to the aborigines and so-called lost Australians.

You play the cards you are dealt. Over time, you will start to notice that the cards you are dealt become better. Or do they? Perhaps it has more to do with your increased confidence and greater skill at playing the game. Life works in the same way. Stop playing to the weeping and whinging wimps who refuse to take responsibility to make the best out of what they have and create a better life, and who instead would rather blame everyone else but themselves for their situation.

I don't see Silvio Berlusconi apologising to most of Europe and the region for the Roman Empire!!! And although the Germans politicians are still pretty sensitive about their recent history, many Germans rightly feel that it is time to move on.... and it is ... also in Australia. The current generations are not at fault nor are they to blame. The people you need to vent your anger at are six feet under so if you want to connect with them, either find religion or slash your wrists.

Posted via email from Blue Oceans

Freedom suffers thanks to closet sex workers

Every time some out of control judge or politician (let's face it that's most of them) takes it upon them self to make a pathetic ruling or push through some ridiculous legislation, our freedom is reduced a little more. Regrettably this happens hundreds of times every day; even more regrettable is that we rarely hear about it until we need to defend our rights in the same legal arena of lunacy that creates the problem.

A recent ruling in Victoria demonstrates again clearly that all legal professionals really are just glorified sex workers in the closet; they screw everybody indiscriminately and hide behind a veil of self-fulfilling legal protection. If they had any guts whatsoever they step out into the real world and contribute something good and creative to the community instead of pontificating from their pulpits and dressing in robes to mask their insecurity; but like Linus holding on to his blanket, their shortcomings are abundantly obvious.

Erin Maitland of the Three Sisters travel company wanted to create a women only tour company, catering only to women. And why not? I say!! The masons are men only, Fernwood fitness centres are women only, the Amazons are women only and undoubtedly there are many other examples of groups, organisations, and businesses that are specific to one gender or the other. In the ruling against Erin Maitland and her Three Sisters company, the judge (Let's call it 'Voldermord', i.e. the one who must not be named lest they come after me for some ridiculous reason) refused to grant an exemption to the Equal Opportunity Act, ruling that Ms Maitland had not proved it was reasonable or necessary. Seriously!! Reasonable or necessary to have an exemption to the Equal Opportunity Act. Why in God's name should one need an exemption anyway for this??? GET REAL!!!

One might think that the judge was some woman hating male chauvinist. But no it was a member of the sorority, a sister in arms. So what is the motivation? Does this person simply want to prove that she can measure herself with the men? Is she so insecure, more so than the average legal professional, that she doesn't have the chutzpah to allow common sense to prevail (not that there has ever been much common sense or reason or logic to be found in the legal community anyway)? Or is she just trying to make an even bigger name for herself? 

Ether way, this decision is another classic example of legal lunacy. As Australians, and simply decent members of this and global society, we have a right and indeed a responsibility to ensure that this type of madness is halted.

Recently the economies of the world have been re-aligned. Thankfully someone hit the reset button. I suggest it is now time that we hit the reset button on the legal community before they lead us into total annihilation. 

About the author:

I am a serial entrepreneur with business interests in venture capital & private funding, social media marketing, wellness, personal development, and online services. Together with a select group of C-Level executives, I also provide an outsourced interim board service. I am passionate about helping others to achieve success, and lead Mastermind Groups of people committed to bringing about a positive change in their lifestyle. If you have an interest in any of the above areas and are seeking advice or support for a specific issue, send me an email with an overview of what you would like to discuss and we will schedule time to talk by phone or Skype.

_______________________________________________

PAUL J. LANGE – BLUE OCEAN STRATEGIST & RAINMAKER

Assuring your success through value innovation and focused attention.

E-mail: paulj@paullange.com.au

GSM: +61 414 317579

URL: http://www.paullange.com.au

Most Connected Management Consultant in Australia on LinkedIn. http://www.linkedin.com/in/pauljlange
Follow me on Twitter - http://twitter.paullange.com.au
Connect with me on Ecademy - real people, real business, real outcomes. http://www.ecademy.com/user/paullange

Posted via email from Blue Oceans