Best Day to Email

This suggestion is based on one test email campaign that we are running so keep that in mind when reading this post.  Our first results indicate that Wednesday is a far better day than Monday for email opens.  We are seeing a 1-2% increase in opens based on our preliminary data.

We send at 8am in the morning Eastern time which has had a fairly consistent open rate.  The next step in our testing will be to move to the latter half of the day – around 4:00pm to test the effect of that time.  I am not as certain that we will see a dramatic increase at that hour.

We are currently using Constant Contact for our email campaigns.  We have used Exact Target in the past and are gaining some familiarity with Vertical Response.

If you have any questions regarding email marketing campaigns, please feel free to contact us at your convenience.  We would love to help.

Stimulus-Response Marketing

I always give pause when I wade into the marketing arena.  I am a psych major by education and a salesperson by experience.  Clearly that combination validates my marketing mojo!  Ok, maybe not but I’m still pressing forward.

I’ve seen a trend in the older sales/marketers I talk to about marketing campaigns – they seem to have a direct-response mentality.  To put it in psychological parlance, it is a stimulus-response mindset.  “I completed this one marketing thing and now I want to see monetary responses from the market.”  I am all for that response too, but it is far less common today.

Marketing in this present Information Age (or whatever the present descriptor is) requires a consistent message over time in multiple mediums.  Perhaps a better description is stimulus-stimulus-stimulus-stimulus-response.  Or even more stimuli.  You get the point.  Method has become as important as message.

One-off, laser-focused campaigns are not effective in today’s world of instant, ubiquitous information.  The better approach is to use a consistent message over multiple mediums.  A simple example would be a focused campaign carried out over email blasts, videos and websites.  We can help with these items.

The key is to put together a plan, lay it out on a timeline and be realistic about each step.  Some steps are simply for exposure while others are for response.  Realize that it is probably going to take some coordination and patience to execute a successful marketing campaign in today’s business world.

Out of Office Replies

This is great – from Inc.com:

The best in out-of-office auto-responders Guy Kawasaki unearthed this post from self-professed marketing geek Dave Duarte that’s been making it’s way around the business blogs. Our favorites from Dave’s top ten list? “You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn’t have received anything at all.” There’s also, “Hi, I’m thinking about what you’ve just sent me. Please wait by your PC for my response.” And finally, “Please be patient, and your mail will be deleted in the order it was received.”

Please wait by your PC for my response…classic!