Two of the most important aspects of successful email marketing campaigns are adhering to certain codes of conduct regarding unsubscribing and signup confirmation.  In certain countries, there’s actually laws in place that mandate an unsubscribe link in all marketing emails, so it’s always a good practice to include your link at the bottom of each email and direct users to a courteous page that removes them from your mailing list quickly.  Making this a “one-click” process is also a good idea.

In terms of signup confirmation, you should always use a double opt-in confirmation process.  This means that after your visitor initially enters their email address to subscribe to your list, you should then send a “confirmation” email.  This email should contain a special link back to your email-marketing program, which will then verify that this visitor did indeed sign up to your mailing list.  This ensures you don’t come off as “spammy,” which could be detrimental to your email marketing campaign.

Speaking of spam, try to avoid using keywords such as ‘free,’ ’save,’ ‘discount,’ etc. in both your subject line and content to avoid getting caught in your users spam filters- which have become very complex in recent years.

The concept of personalization is key in email marketing campaigns as well.  Instead of using the common “Hi there,” or “Dear Subscriber,” you should use individual subscriber names to create a more personable relationship with your readers.  It’s estimated that by simply starting your email with “Hi [subscriber_name]” instead of the boring “Hi there”, you can increase both your reading and click-thru rates by up to 650%.  Why?  Put simply, it’s because your subscribers feel like they already have a relationship with you as you’ve addressed them by their first name.

To maximize click-thru rates, which is most likely the goal of any email marketing campaign, it’s good practice to include clear, concise links that ensure your readers don’t get confused by a design filled with graphics, text, buttons and more.  There’s been numerous research papers that prove that the majority of Internet users respond better to a plain, bold, blue text link as opposed to a banner or button.  If you’re going to include links in your emails, make sure they’re bold, blue and underlined.  This will mean more subscribers click through and subsequently more conversions/sales for you.

In terms of the best days to send your emails, studies conducted by online research analysts have shown the best days are Tuesday and Wednesday, as this is when people are more receptive to communication.  This means that they are more likely to read your content and click on links, meaning more sales.

On Mondays, everyone is still recovering from a hectic weekend.  On Thursday and Friday, people are already too busy looking forward to the weekend.  This has been heavily experimented with, and the best results were achieved by sending out emails at around 2-3pm (American Pacific Time) on a Wednesday, studies have proved.

These are just a few simply rules, best practices and tips to ensure your email marketing campaigns remain successful.  Of course, it always takes testing and a trial and error approach to determine what the best strategy is for your particular campaign, but certain aspects and un-spoken rules must always be applied to ensure you don’t upset your readers and to make sure you don’t violate any of the most simplest of rules regarding the sending of mass marketing emails.

Since there’s a lot that goes into an email marketing campaign, it’s sometimes best to leave it up to the professionals to worry about the boring technical and compliance issues.  Check out MobileStorm’s PRO offering for an all-inclusive digital marketing platform that will allow you to focus solely on the outcome of your campaign.

According to the report, more than one mobile subscriber in 10 in developed regions will use mobile coupons by 2014. As a result, Juniper is confidently forecasting that consumer usage of mobile coupons could potentially generate upwards of $6 billion globally in retail redemption value by 2014.

The growth can be directly attributed to the increased willingness of consumers to accept and use mobile coupons, a situation that has prompted better than 25% of all North American marketers to invest, time, resources, and treasure into some form of digital coupon marketing.

In the report titled ‘Mobile Coupons & NFC Smart Posters: Strategies, Applications & Forecasts 2009-2014’ Juniper’s findings do, however, warn of the possible obstacles born of potential “user apathy” in the general public and an unwillingness to learn a new method of making financial transactions. Optimistically, however, NFC trial results indicate “very high levels of user acceptance.”

“Marketers can use the mobile device as the ultimate personal marketing channel. It is almost permanently switched on and physically with the consumer. This makes a great opportunity for brands and marketing agencies to access clients immediately, driving footfall and encouraging an instant decision,” said Howard Wilcox, Senior Analyst at Juniper Research and lead report author.

‘The Mobile Coupons and Smart Posters’ report also published additional findings important to the mobile marketing community. They include:

• ARPU from NFC coupons and smart posters will exceed ARPU from NFC payment transactions
• The vast majority of mobile coupon redemption value will be generated by the Far East & China, Western Europe and North America in 2014

The report, released today, is now available for download from the Juniper website.

To find out more about the power and potential of mobile coupons, check out this all-inclusive Mobile Coupons Webinar.

With the tangible benefits of mobile coupons beginning to resonate with consumers just as the newspaper clipping variety once did, businesses and entire industries have accepted that mobile coupons are among the best promotional tools of the trade in contemporary, cutting edge marketing.

Although many companies large and small have exhibited reluctance to hop aboard the mobile coupon bandwagon due to their lack of understanding of mobile marketing and its potential, retailers who successfully craft and implement effective mobile coupon campaigns promptly discover how the pennies they offer in savings can quickly yield enormous monetary and branding gains.

Why are mobile coupon campaigns effective?

• Rather than viewing mobile coupons as spam, most consumers who receive interesting mobile coupons actually review the offer. A sizable portion of those views consistently result in sales.
• The average cell phone user’s handset is switched on for the majority of each day. As a result, mobile coupons can reach the masses efficiently and effectively, which is important, particularly during time-sensitive marketing campaigns.
• The accessibility and eco-friendly attributes of mobile coupons provide consumers with a highly attractive purchasing opportunity.

It should come as no surprise then that the findings of a recent PROMO magazine poll indicate that better than a quarter of all North American marketers are now actively investing in some form of digital coupon marketing endeavor. And even though the look and feel of each marketer’s offering may look slightly different, the overwhelming majority of mobile coupon campaigns adhere to one of several established models. For example:

• A buy one, get one free coupon or promotional code.
• A free trial opportunity – an incentive coupon or code for first time buyers or subscribers.
• A rewards-based offer – a coupon that rewards customers of a product/service with a discount on a related product or service.

The great potential for growth in the business of mobile coupons is ultimately rooted in the nearly sixty percent of consumers who report being eager to receive a coupon on their mobile phone. The average consumer’s warm embrace of mobile coupons is the reason a new report from Juniper Research is forecasting that consumer usage of mobile coupons will likely generate close to $6 billion in global retail redemption by 2014.

When appropriately chiseled out to follow the same regulations and best practices governing the distribution of mobile messages, a mobile coupon campaign can prove a surprisingly cost-effective way for businesses and retailers to generate lasting streams of revenue.

To find out more about the power and potential of mobile coupons, check out this all-inclusive Mobile Coupons Webinar.

Falling under the realm of mobile marketing, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has set fourth best practices, or a so-called “Code of Conduct for Mobile Marketing,” that all campaigns should comply with.  But beyond that, mobile coupons differ in nature from other forms of mobile marketing and therefore require a special set of best practices to ensure an overall compliant and successful campaign.

Since most mobile coupon campaigns involve the use of SMS or MMS, the same rules, regulations and best practices that govern the distribution of mobile messages apply to mobile coupons as well.  Privacy, respecting user-consent and your terms and conditions are the primary areas to focus on when distributing mobile coupons.

The terms and conditions related to your mobile coupon campaign are particularly important, and must be conveyed to your users at all times.  When promoting your campaign, you should clearly indicate whether the service is a subscription, for example, and the cost of which (if any).  Also, if the terms and conditions materially change the offer in any way, it should be highlighted and presented at the beginning of the offer.  Finally, service availability should always be disclosed as well, on a carrier-by-carrier basis.

In terms of the design of your actual mobile coupons, it’s important to prominently display the expiration date and make sure any barcodes used are compliant with the redemption mechanism.  It’s a good practice to also include an alphanumeric promotional code as well in case the primary validation method (scanners) don’t work.

Beyond the broad “Code of Conduct” rules set fourth by the MMA, your attention should be focused primarily on adhering to your user’s right to privacy and disclosure, as well as other obvious rules and regulations related to mobile messaging.

When done properly, a well-executed and compliant mobile coupon campaign is a valuable asset for any marketer or retailer.  Still confused about the whole process?  Get first hand knowledge on how to use mobile coupons to drive revenue with this all-inclusive Mobile Coupons Webinar.

SMS costs money, and 95% of SMS messages are read within four minutes–two facts that can bring together a horrible user experience if not executed properly. Almost every company looking at mobile is an email marketer, and I know email marketers are jaded because of their experience with email and realizations about spam. 72% of the 320 billion emails sent on a daily basis are spam, so who could blame them? Most companies don’t understand email best practices and, as a result, they have felt the burn of user complaints, poor open rates, getting blocked, and ending up on blacklists. Legitimate companies are not spammers; they are generally just ignorant. They don’t realize that you should not upload a list that has not been sent to in two years or fail to confirm an email address upon opt in.

So back to those who think mobile marketing is stupid. Mobile is very different from email and it has to be done right. I like to help people understand that if your strategy was to build the largest email database possible, then mobile needs to be about building a database of your best and most loyal customers. Mobile is about loyalty–period. Those who are willing to have their day interrupted as their pockets buzz are going to be your best customers. If you have the email marketer mentality of “batch and blast,” mobile is going to be a disaster for you. However, if you learn to treat mobile as a totally different type of channel, it can be truly successful. With mobile, there is a new set of best practices and they are different from email.

Your first approach to a mobile strategy should be to offer something only available via the mobile phone. The incentive should be good and be the only place your customer can take you up on your offer. I am sure most of you have been to a nightclub before. Ever been in line when someone walks right past you up to the front of the velvet ropes and right into the club? He or she is what is known as a VIP. This is how you should treat your mobile club. They are VIPs that can get exclusive updates, offers, and content only available in the mobile channel. Make it exclusive and make it appealing. Make sure when you are opting people into your database, you not only get them to respond “YES” to join, but you manage their expectations with the types of messages they will get, how often they will get them, and how they can opt out.

If I was to tell you that by sticking to this very basic strategy you could build a solid database of loyal customers who will not only not be mad at you but will look forward to your messages, would you still be afraid?

Of course, your mobile database is not going to be as big as your email database, but is that important? Answer this:  which is a bigger return –a call-to-action that sees a 20% take on a mobile database of 3,000, or a 5% take on an email database of 10,000 people?  If you guessed the mobile database made you more money, you guessed correctly.  Time and time again mobile has a higher response rate.  Let’s take a look at the reasons why:

1. 95% of cell phones have SMS capabilities and 87% of the population has a cell phone.
2. You can reach someone no matter where they are.
3. 95% of text messages are read within 15 minutes.
4. There are virtually no delivery issues with SMS. If you send it, they will get it, and right into their inbox.
5. All mobile clubs should have a double opt in so you cannot sign up anyone but yourself. The subscriber takes the action of responding with a “YES.”
6. 33% of email addresses change on a yearly basis, but with number portability (the ability to take a number from carrier to carrier), people are ditching their home phones and keeping their cell phone number for life.

Shall I continue?

These six stats alone should perk up the ears of any marketer who doubts the power of mobile. Think about the value of a phone number; it’s like having your customer’s IP address. What other channel can you say that about? People move, people get fired, people leave their email account for another because of spam, people are getting rid of their home numbers. But what stays consistent? If you said mobile, put a little gold star on the fridge. It goes with your customer for life wherever he decides to go. Deep, huh?

Those who think mobile marketing is stupid only do so because they treat it like email and don’t understand that mobile is about loyalty. They think that if they cannot have a database of half a million people, it’s not worth it. They don’t have email best practices down so, of course, they are going to screw up mobile best practices. If you want to make it work you can–you just need a plan and someone to help shine the light on the path ahead.

Mobile marketing is stupid, but only for people who make it stupid.

http://www.sitepronews.com/2009/10/26/does-google-pagerank-count-anymore/

It’s that time of year, again, when the biggest names in the gaming world converge on Las Vegas for the Global Gaming Expo from November 17th – 19th and, you got it . . . we’ll be there.

Casinos in general have taken a pretty hard hit during the downturn in the economy which, not unlike any other industry, has forced them to pursue new cost effective yet results driven and engaging solutions to revive the lure of the casino life.  mobileStorm has been working with Casinos for years to help them make better decisions and lay out new marketing strategies for targeting their audiences and bolstering their brand.

At G2E, mobileStorm and some of the biggest Casino’s in Vegas will show how mobile marketing will change the way Casino’s do business. We’ll be blanketing the Strip, A large Casino and the show with a “real-time” demonstration of our mobile marketing platform doing customer acquisition for one of the largest Casino’s in Vegas. We’ll be tackling one of the biggest challenges facing Casino’s today:

“how to turn people into players”

So between November 17th and the 19th, keep your eyes peeled up and down the strip and come visit us at Booth #858 in the Central Exhibit Hall.  Come visit with our team of mobile marketing team that will make 2010 your year of growth.

We’re looking forward to showing you how 2010 will be a year of growth.

Directions to our booth:

1. Enter through any entrance at Central Exhibit Hall
2. Immediately walk to the right
3. Follow the signage to the Technology Pavilion
4. At the Technology Pavilion turn left on the first row
5. We are booth #858 on the right hand side, just before you turn the corner at the back of the Pavilion

(click the image below to expand it)

Click To Enlarge

As mobile starts to grow, so does the competition. There are all kinds of solutions out there that range from free SMS (with ads tacked on), to mobile agencies planning a complete mobile strategy. We thought about all of the criteria a business should think about before choosing an SMS vendor and have come up with a wonderfully short 30 point check list.

Written in conjunction with my colleague and good friend Marwan Soghaier we tackle the biggest and most important questions a business needs to ask itself before making any decisions.

I think you will enjoy, so please download the whitepaper and don’t be shy in giving us feedback: http://www.mobilestorm.com/resources/digital-marketing-white-papers/whitepapers/choose-an-sms-vendor/

Cheers,

Jared Reitzin
CEO
mobileStorm Inc.

White Paper Provides Key Criteria for Selecting the Best Suited SMS Vendor to Reach and Build an Audience

Los Angeles, October 20, 2009 – Celebrating 10 years in business, mobileStorm (www.mobilestorm.com) today announced its new white paper, “How to Choose an SMS Vendor: A 30 Point Vendor Selection Checklist.” While most types of businesses currently use SMS to capture the awareness of customers or audiences, very few are familiar with integrating SMS into a marketing or CRM strategy. By choosing the right SMS vendor, company leaders will better understand how to strengthen their businesses, generate ROI, and reduce the risk of damaging their brand. mobileStorm is placing its published guide on the company’s web site and it can be downloaded at  http://www.mobilestorm.com/resources/digital-marketing-white-papers/whitepapers/choose-an-sms-vendor/

While the white paper addresses introductory questions such as, “What is SMS?” and “What Should Be Most Important?” [when choosing an SMS vendor], the meat of the guide is the checklist in which mobileStorm defines the selection process and provides valuable criteria in three separate categories: Expert Advice, Technology & Product Features, and Account Management & Customer Service. To ensure a company has thoroughly covered all its bases when making a selection, the goal is to have all 30 points checked off before making a final, educated decision.

“Companies don’t always realize that by not following specific rules and guidelines when implementing SMS into a business strategy, they will not only waste time and money, but their SMS campaigns can have the opposite effect of their intended purpose and actually damage the company’s brand,” said Jared Reitzin, CEO and Founder of mobileStorm. “SMS is an incredibly effective tool to incorporate into a company’s marketing strategy, but taking the time to be educated about the process and the options that are out there is just as valuable, if not more.”

Ultimately the objective is to end up with a performing solution that’s a good fit for the company at hand. To maximize a company’s likelihood of receiving a performing solution, a process must be applied to avoid unfortunate drawbacks. mobileStorm’s checklist is meant to point company decision-makers to the best SMS vendor match available. SMS marketing strategies have proven to be extremely successful in building a loyal customer following and by evaluating the criteria presented in the mobileStorm checklist, the choice will be a clear one.

About mobileStorm

Based in Los Angeles, with more than 10 years of digital marketing experience, mobileStorm’s mission is simple: Provide personalized customer care and expert advice for email and mobile marketers.

Having successfully delivered more than 3 billion messages on behalf of thousands of premier customers such as Overstock.com, Cesar Millan, American Idol, Kaiser Permanente, Qantas Airways, and Ashley Furniture HomeStore, mobileStorm is at the forefront of the digital marketing revolution. As a turnkey, hosted email and digital messaging platform backed by world-class support and expert digital marketing services, mobileStorm has created the most complete digital marketing solution available while providing expert advice, personalized service, and marketing technology that drives ROI and revenue lift for mobileStorm’s customers.

Find out more by visiting www.mobilestorm.com.

Quick overview: We all know that when a subscriber clicks the “report as spam” button, the ISP gets data to help them make decisions about what they want to do with a senders email  such as block or send to the spam folder.

ISPs fight spam in a bunch of different ways, reputation, authentication, content blocking etc.

This article talks about how ISPs are starting to use other types of data such as, “subscribers who do not open emails”, to punish senders with poor best practices. Its all coming down to a marketers reputation.

If email marketing is important to your company and drives revenue, I suggest you work with an ESP (Email Service Provider) who can stay on top of changes like this and help you make decisions about the best way to manage your business.

I always say, delivery is as fluid and changing as water. New technologies and methods to fight spam are constantly being developed and innovated.  Think about it, an ISPs entire business depends on making sure their subscribers are not inundated with spam. If they don’t do a good job, people leave, and revenues drop.

Currently 72% of the 320 billion messages sent on a daily basis is spam. It will continue to become harder and harder to reach the inbox if you do not get good guidance and expertise, this is one of the main reasons we created mobileStorm Pro.

Read this great article on the future of deliverability here:
http://www.email-marketing-reports.com/iland/2009/10/future-of-deliverability-1-role-of-user.html