ReportWire

Tag: Email Tools

  • Email Isn’t Dead — But Your Strategy Might Be. Here’s How to Revive It | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Let’s address the elephant in the inbox.

    Email marketing isn’t dead. It’s not outdated. It hasn’t been replaced by TikTok, Threads or an army of AI bots. In fact, email is still one of the most reliable, highest-ROI marketing channels in your arsenal — if you actually use it right.

    But here’s the inconvenient truth: most businesses don’t. They treat email like a leftover tactic from 2009, not the strategic revenue engine it can be. So when their campaigns fail, the blame is often directed at the platform, the audience, the open rates — everything except the real culprit: a broken system.

    I’ve had enough client calls that start the same way to spot the pattern. “We’ve been sending emails for years,” they say. “Newsletters, sales promos, special offers. But it’s just not working anymore.”

    Spoiler: The problem isn’t email. It’s execution. Let’s break it down.

    Stop sending and hoping

    Before you send another message, ask yourself one question: What is the actual goal of this email? If your answer is “generate leads,” great. That’s a start. But leads don’t materialize just because you hit send. Email isn’t magic. It’s a relationship channel.

    You need a strategy. Are you building relevance? Segmenting based on interest? Optimizing timing? Tracking behavior across your site and CRM? If not, you’re not doing email marketing. You’re just sending digital flyers and hoping someone notices.

    Related: 12 Reasons Why Your Emails Aren’t Driving Business

    Your list isn’t a strategy

    Here’s the harsh reality: most email lists are digital junk drawers. Bloated, unsegmented and outdated.

    One client had 25,000 contacts in a single list labeled “Newsletter.” No segmentation. No tagging. Just one-size-fits-all messaging to cold leads, VIP clients and long-lost contacts alike. Their click-through rate? Less than 1%.

    Would you hand the same sales pitch to a returning customer, a cold prospect and a lapsed buyer? Then why are you emailing them like they’re all the same person?

    Your email platform has segmentation tools for a reason. Use them. Tag based on behavior, purchase history, content engagement and lifecycle stage. And if your list is outdated? Run a re-engagement campaign. Let people self-select. And yes — let them unsubscribe. Because a clean, active list will always outperform a bloated one.

    Your platform might be failing you

    If you’re still using the free version of Mailchimp from 2017, expecting results is like entering a Formula 1 race on a tricycle.

    Email platforms have evolved. If yours doesn’t offer automation, A/B testing, tagging, CRM integration or real-time analytics, it’s holding you back. For ecommerce, I recommend Klaviyo. It connects directly to Shopify, lets you recover abandoned carts, trigger smart automations and — this is key — track actual sales tied to email behavior.

    And yes, you’ll need to invest in a platform that can handle more than “send newsletter.” If you’re serious about revenue, stop being cheap about the tool that drives it.

    Stop worshiping the open rate

    Everyone obsesses over open rates like they’re gospel. But here’s the truth: a high open rate doesn’t mean anything if no one clicks, converts or remembers you. Don’t just design pretty emails. Design strategic ones.

    Ask better questions. What KPIs actually map to your business goals? For ecommerce, it might be revenue per email, cart recovery rate or product clicks. For B2B, it may be meetings booked or resources downloaded.

    Start there. Reverse-engineer your content. Then test relentlessly. Subject lines. Send times. CTA placement. Message framing. Real marketers test. Lazy marketers send and pray.

    Visibility, credibility, engagement — then sales

    Email doesn’t operate in a vacuum. It’s part of a journey. You don’t go from “nice to meet you” to “here’s our invoice” overnight. So layer your content.

    Visibility gets you seen.
    Credibility makes you trusted.
    Engagement builds the bridge.
    Sales walk across it.

    If every email is just a promotion, you’re not building a bridge — you’re shouting into the void. Offer value. Share insight. Deliver relevance. And when it’s time to sell, you won’t have to beg for attention. You’ll already have it.

    Related: 6 Reasons Your Marketing Emails Aren’t Converting — and How to Fix Them All

    Campaigns don’t build revenue — systems do

    Most marketers jump straight to tactics — “Let’s send something Tuesday at 10 a.m.” — with no infrastructure underneath.

    But if your email doesn’t plug into a system, it’s a short-term stunt, not a long-term strategy.

    Here’s what a real email system looks like:

    • Set up automated workflows for key stages like onboarding, re-engagement and post-purchase to nurture your audience over time.
    • Build segmented customer journeys that align with specific buyer behaviors so your emails are always relevant and timely.
    • Integrate your email platform with your CRM and ecommerce systems to enable real-time targeting based on user actions.
    • Define clear KPIs that are directly tied to business outcomes before you create or send any campaigns.

    This is the work most marketers skip. And it’s why their email marketing never scales. Strategy always beats volume.

    Want to win Q4? Fix this in Q3

    Here’s your reality check: once fall hits, you’re out of time. Black Friday. Cyber Monday. Holiday chaos. End-of-year goals. Your calendar will be execution-heavy and strategy-starved.

    So fix it now.

    Audit your platform. Clean your list. Segment your contacts. Define your goals. Connect your data. Build the machine. Because when email works, it doesn’t just deliver opens. It delivers ROI. Recurring revenue. Customer loyalty. And a real reason to celebrate when the quarter ends.

    Let’s address the elephant in the inbox.

    Email marketing isn’t dead. It’s not outdated. It hasn’t been replaced by TikTok, Threads or an army of AI bots. In fact, email is still one of the most reliable, highest-ROI marketing channels in your arsenal — if you actually use it right.

    But here’s the inconvenient truth: most businesses don’t. They treat email like a leftover tactic from 2009, not the strategic revenue engine it can be. So when their campaigns fail, the blame is often directed at the platform, the audience, the open rates — everything except the real culprit: a broken system.

    The rest of this article is locked.

    Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.

    [ad_2]

    Christopher Tompkins

    Source link

  • How to Determine The Ideal Length of Your Marketing Emails Your Customers Will Actually Read | Entrepreneur

    How to Determine The Ideal Length of Your Marketing Emails Your Customers Will Actually Read | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Email marketing is booming: last year, 52% of marketers said their campaign’s return on investment (ROI) doubled, while 5.7% of marketers experienced an ROI four times larger compared to 2022, a Statista report shows.

    How can you create similar results for your business this year?

    The effectiveness of email marketing comes down to a few key factors:

    • Knowing your audience and its pain points and desires.
    • Creating emails that respond to those specific needs.
    • Getting your emails in the inbox, where your subscribers can interact with them.

    As the CEO of a B2B email marketing company, I often hear from customers about their top challenges. A big one? Creating emails that really engage and drive results. Getting the content, length and audience targeting just right is tough.

    Related: How to Get People to Open – And Read – Your Emails

    Most of your prospects prefer shorter emails

    If you’re struggling to make your emails more engaging, here’s an aspect you may be overlooking: just make them shorter. Recent data from a ZeroBounce report shows that 66% of consumers prefer short emails, and only 6% favor longer ones.

    But keep this caveat in mind: For 28% of people, email length becomes irrelevant if the content is well-tailored to their needs and interests.

    It’s no surprise that people prefer shorter marketing emails. When inboxes are clogged with messages, why would you opt for a long message instead of a quick note? Concise and direct emails respect your prospects’ time and have a higher chance of getting their attention. But while most people prefer brevity, the quality and relevance of your emails are what truly capture and retain interest.

    The message is clear for the 28% who don’t mind the length: When an email resonates well with their needs or interests, they’re willing to invest more time, regardless of word count. This segment of your audience is receptive to more in-depth content that speaks directly to their challenges.

    How to determine the right email length

    So, how do you strike the right balance between brevity and substance? The key is to start with understanding your audience. Segment your email list based on behaviors, preferences and past interactions. This segmentation allows you to tailor your messages more precisely. Also, you probably send different types of emails. That aspect alone should guide your approach:

    • Newsletters can be longer and cover several pieces of information in more depth.
    • Drip campaigns can consist of a series of emails that gently push your prospects closer to a purchase. Those emails can be short — sometimes, a few lines followed by a call-to-action (CTA) is enough.
    • Targeted campaigns, such as a discount or free offer, can have an engaging image paired with a couple of sentences and a catchy CTA button.

    If you’re still unsure whether your email is too long, here are a few tips to save you time and make things easier.

    Start with a clear goal

    Every email should have a clear purpose. Whether it’s to inform, increase engagement or drive sales, your goal will dictate the necessary length. Don’t add fluff just to extend an email; keep it as long as necessary to fulfill its purpose.

    Choose simplicity and clarity

    Use simple language and clear CTAs. Marketing emails rarely benefit from any metaphors. Your email should guide readers smoothly from the opening line to the desired action without unnecessary detours.

    Personalize to the last detail

    Use what you know about your customers to tailor your emails. When marketing emails feel personal, people care more about the message and less about the length.

    Test and adjust to what your audience likes

    Studies can point you in the right direction in terms of consumer preferences, but only you can determine what your audience responds to the most. Before sending your next email, consider A/B testing different lengths. Then, analyze your metrics to see what performed best.

    Improve your layout

    Sometimes, the way information is presented can affect how we perceive the length of an email. Breaking text with relevant images or using bullet points can make longer emails appear more digestible and engaging.

    Related: 4 Things You Can Automate in Your Email Marketing That Will Save You Time and Drive Sales

    Ask your subscribers

    Asking for opinions shows you care about serving your audience better, so why not include a poll in your next newsletter? Allow your subscribers to tell you how long they’d like your emails to be. Nothing beats direct customer feedback in helping you create more effective campaigns.

    Bonus tips to increase email engagement

    Here are a few extra tips to help your next emails get more clicks:

    • Try to keep your subject lines between 30 and 50 characters. Not only will your subscribers process them faster, but keeping your subject lines short ensures they display well on all devices.
    • Check your email list health to avoid bounces and the likelihood of landing in the spam folder.
    • Assess your spam complaint rate – it should be under 0.1% to comply with Yahoo and Google’s new email-sending rules.

    Also, remember your goal is to connect with your audience genuinely, no matter how many words it takes to get there. If your email ends up longer than you’d planned but addresses a topic many of your subscribers care about, don’t worry. Engaging content can often justify a longer read.

    [ad_2]

    Liviu Tanase

    Source link

  • This AI Manages Your Email While You’re Out of Office, and it’s Only $39.99 | Entrepreneur

    This AI Manages Your Email While You’re Out of Office, and it’s Only $39.99 | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

    Lack of effective communication can be costly in a company, both in terms of lost business and employee satisfaction. As it turns out, 86% of employees and executives cite ineffectual communication as a main cause of workplace failures, according to one Pumble report. Even something as simple as leaving the office on vacation could lead to confusion if everyone isn’t informed you’re gone. That’s why it’s important to have tools that help you communicate with your team and your customers.

    Snoooz is an AI-powered assistant for your inbox. It offers a range of features aimed at improving customer experience and increasing productivity. Whether you’re planning a vacation now or just want to prepare for the future, Snoooz AI is here, and it’s on sale for $39.99 for a lifetime subscription. That’s a major markdown from its regular price of $147.

    Automate your inbox.

    Snoooz is a lot more than just an autoresponder that sends an out-of-office email when someone contacts you. With this advanced AI, you can personalize autoresponder templates with dynamic tags and a whole lot more.

    The automation capabilities include rule-based email segmentation, sentiment detection for customer retention, language detection, auto-forwarding, and auto-ignore for non-critical interactions. That means you can set the AI to automatically detect what kind of email it’s reading so it can respond accordingly based on your directions. You can even set up response delays so your customers may not even realize a robot responded to them.

    Additionally, Snoooz integrates with Google and Outlook Calendar to set OOO status automatically. No more stepping off the plane to a vacation and an inbox full of people who didn’t realize you were gone.

    The starter plan comes with personalized responses, manual assignment of backups, advanced rules, sentiment detection, auto-ignore for mailing lists, Google integrations, and calendar management. It’s also only available to new users.

    Let AI look after your inbox.

    You may be out of the office, but your inbox doesn’t have to be.

    Get a Snoooz AI Lifetime subscription for $39.99.

    StackSocial prices subject to change.

    [ad_2]

    Entrepreneur Store

    Source link

  • Keep Email Data Safe for Less Than $40 During Our Labor Day Sale, Now Through September 4 | Entrepreneur

    Keep Email Data Safe for Less Than $40 During Our Labor Day Sale, Now Through September 4 | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

    Of the thousands of emails you send and sort through for yourself and your business, how many of them include important data? Since emails are typically a crucial part of business activities, it’s time to take backing them up seriously.

    Though it’s not often thought about, losing your emails would be catastrophic. That’s where the Individual Edition of Mail Backup X comes in, offering a convenient and affordable way to backup, archive, manage and convert your emails. During our Labor Day Sale, you can score this handy service for only $39.97 (reg. $179) with no coupon code required. This price drop only lasts until September 4 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific.

    More than 42,000 business and personal users are already taking advantage of Mail Backup X worldwide. It can help you safeguard your email data easily, as it works with major mail clients like Microsoft Outlook, Office 365, Microsoft Exchange, Thunderbird, Postbox, and Apple Mail. It can even backup from mail services like Gmail, Outlook.com, Yahoo, Office365, Microsoft Exchange, or any other service that supports IMAP protocol.

    Aside from backing up your emails, you’ll also enjoy features like Mail Backup X’s archive file viewer. That allows you to quickly search and view your emails from the archives, which are compressed to save you up to three times the amount of storage space. Plus, its archive allows for almost any file like .pst, .ost, .mbox, .olk, .eml, .rge, and more to be imported. No wonder CNET awarded Mail Backup X a perfect 5-star rating.

    You’ll also enjoy mirror backup, migration services that move mail into a new account in Office365, and 100% privacy. Enjoy peace of mind that your data is protected by military-grade AES 256-bit encryption and your own private key, meaning your personal or business email data is only visible to you.

    Keep your emails and business secure with Mail Backup X Individual Edition, now just $39.97 (reg. $179) during our Labor Day Sale. No coupon is necessary, but this deal only lasts until September 4 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific.

    Prices subject to change.

    [ad_2]

    Entrepreneur Store

    Source link

  • How to Create an Effective Multilingual Email Marketing Campaign | Entrepreneur

    How to Create an Effective Multilingual Email Marketing Campaign | Entrepreneur

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Today, going multilingual is an integral aspect of powerful email marketing, particularly for businesses operating in global markets. Yet, this is quite a challenging thing to do that requires time and effort.

    So, why make your email marketing multilingual? Indeed, why add new languages to your strategy if you can only run emails in English (or any other language)?

    1. Boost your email performance

    Recipients are more likely to engage with email content in their native language. So, for some companies going multilingual results in the following:

    • conversion rate increased by 30%
    • 56% of the people surveyed said they preferred content in their native language over a price
    • open rate (OR) increased by a whopping 100%

    Related: How to Launch Your First Email Marketing Campaign and Get the Results You Want

    2. Enhance personalization

    At the heart of effective email marketing lies personalization: delivering the right message to the right person at the right moment in time. This is also known as the 3R rule.

    And the “right” message is:

    • right context
    • right data
    • right language

    3. Reach a wider audience

    Simply knowing your customers’ geographical location is not enough. It’s crucial to detect their language preferences or even directly ask them, as they may have diverse cultural roots. For instance, one in five Americans speaks a language other than English, indicating that relying solely on English is not enough to reach the entire US population.

    Related: 3 Quick Steps to Get Your Message Out to a Wider Audience

    4. Comply with local regulations

    In some countries or regions you are entering, there may be specific language requirements for marketing communications.

    In Canada, for instance, the Official Languages Act provide customers the right to receive services in the official language of their choice.

    5. Understand your audience better and stay competitive

    Running email marketing campaigns in a few/many languages can help you gain insights into the preferences of your target audience from different countries, allowing you to optimize your strategies accordingly.

    How to run multilingual campaigns properly

    There are a few core things that businesses need to know to effectively communicate with their global audience.

    1. Align email with other communication channels. Before starting your multilingual email journey, you should make sure your website/product is available in the necessary languages.

    If it’s not, and if you’re just planning on translating your website into these target languages, make sure all the necessary landing pages, like thank you and unsubscribe, are available in them.

    You might also want to run social media and Help Center in all necessary languages.

    2. Ensure accurate and consistent translations. Accurate, high-quality, consistent translations are crucial to avoid miscommunication and ensure the message is well-received. Provide professional translators with your glossary of terminology relevant to your niche and terms used across your website.

    3. Localize emails. You do not just translate emails. You need to localize them. Translation is the process of communicating the meaning of a source-language text by using an equivalent target-language text. Localization is a more in-depth approach that considers the cultural, visual and technological elements of the target audience. It goes beyond word choice and can affect how your email presents information and is designed (colors, pricing, images, etc.).

    Localization requires businesses to consider the following:

    • Cultural differences — as a result, you sometimes need to use different visuals for your emails, stick to different tones of voice for different countries, or even send emails on different dates. For example, most European countries celebrate New Year in December, while Israel celebrates it in September. Another example, Americans prefer an informal tone of voice in communication, whereas French, Germans and Japanese prefer it formal.
    • Units of measurement — in the US, they use ft and lbs, while in Europe, they use meters and kilograms.
    • Currency — converting the prices when reaching people worldwide will be best.
    • Dates — different regions use different time and date formats. Europe uses DD/MM/YYYY, while the US uses MM/DD/YYYY. Convert dates or specify months in letters. (Eg., Fri 5 May 2023.)
    • Time zones — this looks pretty obvious, yet worth mentioning. Consider the time zones of the recipients to ensure emails are delivered at the most appropriate time for the recipients.
    • Technical compatibility — ensure localized emails are compatible with different devices across various regions. This includes dealing with text directions right-to-left (RTL) and left-to-right (LTR) and character encoding.
    • Current situations in countries — adapt your email localization strategy to accommodate the rapidly changing global landscape, such as economic fluctuations, political events or public health crises. These situations may require adjusting your messaging, tone or approach to ensure that your emails remain relevant and sensitive to the needs and concerns of your target audience.
    • Legal regulations — familiarize yourselves with local laws and regulations, such as privacy policies, anti-spam laws and advertising regulations. It will be helpful also to create a glossary of words forbidden in some countries.

    With multilingual email marketing, you acknowledge and respect the diversity of customers, fostering strong connections, building trust and ultimately driving business success.

    [ad_2]

    Dmitry Kudrenko

    Source link

  • 5 Surprising Ways to Increase the Conversion Rate of Your Emails

    5 Surprising Ways to Increase the Conversion Rate of Your Emails

    [ad_1]

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Did you know that 20% of a brand’s emails will never reach the customer at all? This, coupled with an email provider’s desire to provide the best user experience within the inbox, means that many more are going straight to spam or promotions.

    As email matures as a direct-to-consumer marketing channel, more and more businesses engage in the practice, meaning consumers are more overwhelmed with email marketing than ever before.

    As a natural result, consumers pay less attention to their emails.

    Related: Why Email Marketing Is Better for Your Business Than Social Media

    Marketers and brands work really hard and spend a lot of money to build their email lists, so it’s no big surprise they’re let down when they see open rates between 15% and 25%. Because owning a strong email list can be one of the most important assets for your business, we need to find ways to ensure that emails serve us well.

    Here are five surprising ways you can increase not only your open rates but the conversion rates of your marketing emails as well.

    1. Resend emails to unopens

    For an email to convert, it must first be opened, but most of the emails you send will never be opened.

    In the age of marketing automation, it’s really easy to set up your email sends and then simply let the software do its thing. However, one of the easiest ways to get more opens on your emails is to go in manually and resend them to anyone who didn’t open them at least 24 after the initial send.

    Think about why your email may have been overlooked. Was it sent at an inopportune time of day? Was the subject line less than appealing? Was the sender line too vague?

    The average consumer is inundated with emails spending roughly 5 hours a day in an inbox between work and personal accounts. With all that noise, a great subject line is the best way to capture their attention.

    Very simply, an effective subject line will be short, provide value, express urgency and steer clear of buzzwords. You may not be able to accomplish all this with just a few words, but keep these tips as your north star when crafting a subject line.

    This isn’t something you need to or should be doing for every email you send, but when used strategically, updating and resending your email campaigns will help you to reach more of your list.

    Related: Inbox Zero Is a Fantasy. I’m Trying for Calendar Zero Instead.

    2. Optimize for mobile

    Consumers spend more time on their phones than ever before, which means they’re doing many inbox check-ins on mobile devices. According to Hubspot, most email views (41%) come from mobile devices. Shockingly, 80% of emails being sent are not optimized for mobile.

    Most email providers have a quick and easy function that lets you see how your email will appear on mobile devices as you craft it. You can also send yourself a test email to be sure.

    Use these tools to ensure that your emails look good and load quickly on mobile before you send them.

    Related: 3 Steps to Maximize Your Mobile Email Marketing

    3. Clean your list

    There will come a point when your email list isn’t serving you anymore because a large portion of your audience is either fatigued by your emails or never getting them in the first place. You can expect your email list to depreciate by 22.5% per year.

    Two to four times a year, you should identify the people who never open your emails and remove them from your list to ensure that only those interested in hearing from you are receiving your communications.

    This will dramatically increase your deliverability, open rates and click-through rates. Bonus: It will decrease the cost of your email marketing software.

    4. Build your list

    Because the value of your list is decreasing over time, one of the best ways to increase your emails’ conversion rate is to actively bring in new, engaged leads.

    The most simple and effective way to do this is to create a strong offer, or lead magnet that you know is valuable to your target demographic. Start driving traffic to this offer through paid social ads, brand partnerships and even in-person events.

    Related: How To Start An Email List And Succeed From Day 1

    5. Ask your customers what they want

    As marketers and brand leaders, we often develop our content around what we think our customers should have instead of simply asking them what they want. One of the most simple and effective ways to get more opens and create conversions from your emails is to ask the right questions.

    In addition to asking what kinds of emails they’re most interested in, you can also ask what kind of new product they’d like to see, what their favorite social media platforms and podcasts are, or even what kind of sales they enjoy most.

    All these data points will help inform your product development and marketing strategy in a way that will make a huge difference in your business.

    You can make these customer surveys work for you even further by offering a coupon or discount to anyone who participates — and now you’ve got great data and incentivized your customer to make a new purchase.

    Email marketing has gotten more difficult over the years, but it’s far from ineffective. It’s 40x more effective than social media—and that’s a number no business today can afford to ignore.

    With the right strategies in place, you can use your emails to convert subscribers and generate more revenue for your business.

    [ad_2]

    Shauna Armitage

    Source link