I Can Has Subscribers? 10 Things LOLCats Can Teach You About Email Marketing

Remember that time we suggested you use animals in your design? We weren’t too surprised when that post got a ton of shares and views. After all, everyone knows LOLcats.

But after going through this I Can Has Cheezburger site (hundreds of times), we realized that LOLcats is so much more than just using animals to go viral. It’s also about actual email marketing advice. The cats have some real tips on how to manage your email campaign.

Don’t believe us? Take a look…

1. Provide a good incentive to sign up

You have to tell potential subscribers WHY they should sign up. What’s in it for them?



2. Ease potential subscribers’ fears

Let potential subscribers know their information is safe with you.



3. Create compelling subject lines

The subject line is the first thing a subscriber sees in the inbox, and in order to get subscribers to open your email, the subject has to be compelling.



4. Make messages visually appealing

There are so many ways you can incorporate images in your messages, and images help emails look pretty.



5. Stay on schedule

Set expectations for your subscribers. Let them know when and how often they can expect to get your emails, so they know when to check their mail.



6. Keep it relevant

Provide the content that subscribers requested; providing relevant emails consistently will keep subscribers reading your emails.



7. Learn subscriber preferences

The only way subscribers will keep asking for “moar” is if you learn what they like and run with it.



8. Make your emails stand out

Subscribers’ inboxes are busy; make sure subscribers can easily recognize your emails.



9. Provide an easy way to unsubscribe

Sometimes, subscribers may want to opt-out of your emails. You don’t want subscribers who aren’t interested anymore, so provide an easy way to unsubscribe.



10. Test, and test again

Not everything is going to work like you planned. But you can learn from your mistakes, tweak some things and try again.You have the ability to set up split tests for web forms and broadcasts.



Do You Find Inspiration in Unusual Places?

What unlikely places have taught you about best practices, provided marketing tips or given you content ideas?

*All images from icanhascheezburger.com

Print This Post

Related Articles

By:
Education Marketing Associate (Crystal Gouldey Moore) on Google

Tags

Become a Better Email Marketer

Subscribe to This Blog by Email
Why Subscribe?

17 Comments

  1. Yeremi Akpan

    Hello Crystal,
    This is a creative way to pass the message across.

    It must have taken you time to find all those cool cats pics for your post. I could not stop laughing over “Well, it ain’t gunna open itself!”

    Achieving a high open rate is one of the most important skill any marketer can acquire, and as you say, it all starts with the headline.

    7/5/2012 10:11 am
  2. Isabel

    Very funny pics :)

    7/5/2012 1:00 pm
  3. Michael Katz

    What can I say, Brilliant R U! Great way to share useful information in an intriguing way. Thanks for the laugh too.

    7/5/2012 2:15 pm
  4. Deane Alban

    Excellent, creative and amusing post! These cat pictures purr-fectly illustrate your points. My favorite is “da inbox iz full”.

    7/5/2012 2:30 pm
  5. Aaron

    Good write up, Crystal. You asked for some areas of inspiration, and I have received some from the Bible for marketing. When it comes to split testing, (or any testing), 1 Thessalonians 5:21 says to “Test all things; hold fast what is good.”. We have used this motto to test everything we have time and resources to test for clients and it has been the best way to go. Also, it assures people that we are using a scientific, non-dogmatic approach to marketing and web development.

    Here’s a question about using animals. Many of the late, great direct marketers say to use pictures when it is relevant, but would you think that animals and funny animal pictures can be used for viral purposes for just about any advertising as long as it is relevant and non-deceptive? When would it be detrimental to use animal pictures for advertising or email marketing? Do you have any examples where it hurt the process?

    Thanks for another good blog entry.
    Aaron

    7/5/2012 3:10 pm
  6. Muhsin

    Wow this is wonderful.
    The pictures clearly illustrates the various
    points that it’s trying to highlight.
    I like the offering to kitty pic the most.
    it’s so funny!
    I didn’t know using animals in marketing
    is so powerful.:) gonna consider it!

    7/5/2012 7:40 pm
  7. Veysel Kopuz

    Very funny pics… :) super:)

    7/6/2012 3:16 am
  8. Crystal Gouldey

    Thank you all – I’m glad you enjoyed this!

    And Aaron – In the intro I actually linked to a post I wrote awhile ago about using animals in marketing.

    As long as it’s relevant, or you make it relevant, then you should definitely try using some animal pictures. The only way it can really hurt you is if you share these pictures without any context.

    7/6/2012 8:04 am
  9. Deane Alban

    Did you have to ask for permission to use these images? Or was your giving attribution sufficient? My market is memory improvement so I was considering using elephant pictures but I want to avoid any copyright issues.

    7/6/2012 10:03 am
  10. Crystal Gouldey

    Great question, Deane.

    We didn’t have to contact the site for permission, but you’ll notice that the photo credits we’re pretty obvious from the title, intro and the little box we added at the bottom. The images are also not used for profit; they’re part of our public, educational blog, and so considered “fair use.” Of course, LOLcats also thrives on this type of sharing.

    Sites like this offer stock photos for free, so you might want to check that out.

    7/6/2012 10:22 am
  11. Maurizio Stronati

    YES…a very intelligent and psychological way of going about the business…I presume,of course, that animal rights are respected…I mean,do they also get ‘their share’ of commission?!

    7/6/2012 2:48 pm
  12. Kent

    Very creative blog post to present your content. I am going to use dogs to do that. Hahahaha! :)

    7/7/2012 8:48 am
  13. Caimin

    Awesome post, very clever idea.

    I’d been thinking about using animal images in my marketing, now I’m definitely going to give it a try. Unfortunately, that means I may need to spend a long time on LOLcats doing research.

    Ah well, that’s life :)

    7/11/2012 3:47 am
  14. shovon

    Oh very nice post.I like animal image and may be using it in my marketing business.Its also a funny site.Thanks

    8/12/2012 6:26 am
  15. Raederle

    This really makes you wonder if LOLcats put the text on the images with these tips in mind! Perhaps even to remind themselves.

    This really has my juices going for creative ways to give people what they want MOAR of.

    ~ Raederle

    9/23/2012 10:27 am
  16. konteynerler

    VEry funny pictures. :) i liked most the 8th one :)

    2/23/2013 12:49 pm

Leave a Comment

Need an avatar?




Follow Comments
Send me notifications of new comments
rss Follow comments via RSS