While we work so hard here to offer you the best Customer Solutions, it’s wonderful to have have someone go the extra mile to say great job!

We know that receiving a little something extra to say thanks, be it a postcard, T-shirt, or even some socks (we have been known to knock some off), can make someone’s day.

And while all of our customers are great at saying “thank you,” it’s usually on the phone or email.

Well, Dale Winton Bigelow of the Bayside Resort in Cape Cod Mass surprised one of our Solutions Team members, Paul Jacobson, with a personalized thank you note of her own!

This was so cool that I had to scan and share it:

From Paul (and the whole Customer Solutions Team): thanks Dale, and everyone else, for letting us help you with all of your email marketing questions!

Tracey Churray
Director of Customer Solutions

Last year, our resident Video (Game) Guy, Zachary, took part in Extra Life, an annual 24-hour video game marathon, to raise money for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

While he was pleased with his contribution and was happy to donate time and money to such a worthy cause, it dawned on him that they could do so much more to raise awareness and help the sick kids at CHOP. Inspired, he brought the details to work, set up a team and spread the word.

Now, normally we aim to humiliate and tease Zachary on the blog, but his suggestion was so great that this time we’ve spared him the tears, collected a modest amount of money and agreed to participate in this worthy cause.

Meet Our Extra Life Team

Zachary

The ringleader of this whole shebang, he’s the original gamer responsible for bringing this event to AWeber. Interested in the artistic value of games, Zachary’s favorites include: The Path, Everybody Dies and the timeless Cheetahmen II.

Jay

On the other side of the spectrum, there’s Jay. Always one to push himself, Jay likes strategy games. Among his favorites: Civilization, Amnesia, and Company of Heroes. He hopes to challenge Zachary more than once during the marathon – all in the name of charity, of course!

Nick

Another dedicated gamer, Nick likes the classics. Games like Mega Man X, Super Smash Brothers Melee, and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney make the list of games he could play again and again.

Amanda

Amanda’s excited to raise money for the hospital that made her baby daughter good as new! She plans to game like mad – once someone shows her how to hold a controller properly.

Rebecca

Last but not least, let’s talk about me! Just kidding. I’m happy to be involved and can’t wait to play games to raise money for the kids at CHOP, although I’ve been out of the gaming circuit for a while. (My favorite game is Aladdin for the Sega Game Gear. Hello, 1994!)

Would You Like to Help?

If you’d like to donate to our team, we’ve made it super easy. Just click on the “Find Out More” button at the bottom of this post and you’ll be taken to our team page, where you can take a peek at our goal and check out our progress.

Extra Life guarantees that “all donations made are collected securely and fund medical care, research and education that saves and improves the lives of the 17 million children treated at local Children’s Miracle Network hospitals each year.”

Keep an eye on our Twitter feed for updates from the game room on October 16 – we can’t wait to play some games!

Tweet This

I’m AWesome.

Those who know me might attribute the above statement to my tendency to exaggerate (which would be fair). This time, however, I’m not just saying I’m AWesome because I like to hear the sound of my own voice (though I do) – I know I’m AWesome because the rest of our team at AWeber told me so.

The AWesome AWard (that’s what it says on the plaque) is given each month to someone chosen by everyone here: anyone can nominate anyone else to win the award, anonymously if they like, providing an explanation for why their nominee is AWesome. A secret committee of prior AWesome AWard winners meets at an undisclosed location each month to sift through the nominations and select the next winner.

All joking aside, being presented with the AWesome AWard was a big deal. Not too long ago, I was a part of our excellent Customer Solutions team. I recently had the opportunity to move into the Education team, with my main priority being to update and maintain our extensive Knowledge Base.

I was excited to get a chance to work on the knowledge base in large part because I knew how important it was to me when I was working in Customer Solutions. Being able to show people screenshots and links to videos can help clear up a lot of confusion quickly. Moving to the Education Marketing Team gave me the ability to try and make the knowledge base an even more valuable tool, and having my co-workers nominate me for the AWesome AWard let me know that I’ve been successful.

One of our Core Values here at AWeber is to “Foster Respect and Cooperation.” I love the fact that we have a great team to work with here, I’m extremely happy to be in a position to help out the team on a day-to-day basis, and I was touched to be nominated by the team here for the AWesome AWard.

The plaque reads “Thank you for being so awesome”, and at risk of descending into Frank Capra-esque levels of cheesiness, I’d just like to say “No, team – thank you.”

Ed. note: Nick is indeed AWesome – as are a lot of other folks here. You can check out more pictures of AWesome AWard winners on our Facebook page. -Justin

We’re just about all moved in at our new office – here’s how moving day went!

(You can also watch the video on YouTube and subscribe to our “emailmarketing” YouTube channel for more videos in the future.)

The recent T-shirt contest received over 160 entries. Apparently a lot of you like creating things

After reviewing everyone’s ideas, our panel of judges selected their favorites. After a recount-free vote, we’ve chosen a winner.

Congratulations Dave!

The winning idea came from AWeber customer Dave Aron, who suggested we take part of this blog and incorporate it into a simple T-shirt design:

“The concept I have is a T-Shirt covered (including front, back & sleeves) in a Tag Cloud like what is up above to the right under the ‘Popular Topics’… in the center of the tag cloud, as the largest letters, could be ‘I?m with AWeber’.

Our design team took Dave’s idea and converted it into a T-shirt that is being printed as we speak. Here’s an early mockup of it:

As our contest winner, Dave picks up free year of AWeber service (added on to his current account with us) and a couple of T-shirts from the first printing.

We’ll also be taking T-shirts to conferences and handing them out – as well as periodically sending them out to customers and readers just like you

Thanks again to everyone who participated in the contest!

At AWeber, we believe that strong businesses do much to make the world a better place.

But we also recognize that there are other people whose contributions to society (and to the business world) often far outstrip the resources available to them.

With that in mind, we’re pleased to now offer special pricing for two groups:

1. Non-profit organizations
2. Students

See our non-profit and student pricing.

Know someone who would benefit from this? Share it with them!

We need your help!

After seeing the popularity of the AWeber socks we occasionally send out, we think it’s time to add some T-shirts to the AWeber wardrobe.

However, we’re so busy running AWeber and working on enhancements (like the recent control panel redesign) that we haven’t come up with a finished design!

This Is Where You, Our Loyal – And Creative! – Readers, Come In

We need your humorous and witty ideas for an email marketing-related design and slogan for the shirts.

So, we’re running a simple contest.

1. Submit your ideas in the comments below.

   Text ideas are fine, but if you want to show us what you have in mind, you can use the T-shirt below as a template and link up your design in your comment.

   

2. Our judges (a board of trusted email marketing professionals – namely, us) will review the entries and pick the best one.
3. The winner will receive 1 year of AWeber service for free – and of course, we’ll throw in a free T-shirt or two.

Contest Deadline: Friday, January 23, 2009

To be eligible for the prize, submit your entries in the comments before 11:59PM on Friday the 23rd.

Even though there will only be one winner, we’ll try and pick a few runner ups and send them some free t-shirts as well.

Thanks, and good luck!

Over the last 10 years a lot has changed at AWeber.

Our team has grown by leaps and bounds, we’ve released hundreds of new features embraced by thousands of people around the world and our computer monitors went from small CRTs to fancy flat screens bigger then my first TV.

However, one thing has not changed and that are the values we’ve used to serve customers. We feel these represent what we need to do in order to make AWeber exceed your – and our own – expectations.

I thought you might like to see what helps to steer us as an organization.

1. Be Remarkable; Over-Deliver Value In All That We Do.

It’s easy enough to say you are remarkable.

To actually achieve that, to provide a remarkable experience to over 48,000 customers beyond what they might expect or even hope for, is our favorite challenge.

Any decision we make – from developing a new feature to the smallest tweak in the control panel – starts with the same question:

Will this over-deliver value in a way that will benefit our customers?

We truly hope we’re able to accomplish this each and every day.

2. Be Open, Courteous, and Considerate To All.

This is not only a saying but truly a way of life. Our office simply wouldn’t have the family feel that it does today if we didn’t feel this way.

3. Continually Innovate.

AWeber was built on a foundation of innovation.

We were the first to provide automated email follow up services and since then we have continued to lead the industry with new features and enhancements to our service.

However, we rely on our customers’ suggestions to provide the type of service you need and want.

4. Create a Collaborative Environment.

We work in an office with not only an open door policy but a “come talk to me whenever you need to” policy.

We try to avoid the typical cubicle environment, instead adopting an open arrangement that encourages each team member to interact and work with others.

5. Foster Camaraderie and Mutual Respect.

With the open culture here at AWeber, it’s only natural that we should encourage a natural environment of camaraderie.

This is evident just by walking around the office and seeing people working on a project together, discussing an idea in line for lunch or just sitting on the couch working on the next big feature release.

6. Encourage Continual Education and Improvement.

Everyone on our team strives to learn something new each and everyday.

Sometimes that involves just talking to team members and customers. Often, it involves attending an outside conference.

Throughout the year, members of our team can be found at various conferences or seminars located around the country. This list includes (but is certainly not limited to) OSCON, Big Seminar, Underground Seminar, Affiliate Summit, Podcamp, The Future of Web Design and other seminars.

7. Treat Each Customer As If They Are Our Only Customer.

We pride ourselves on providing not just “great” support, but world class, knock your socks off support.

(Don’t worry – we try and give you a new pair when this happens).

We want to make sure that each person who contacts us has an experience they can feel good about and that sticks with them.

8. Establish Long Term Customer Relationships.

Many customers using AWeber today have been with us since we started in 1998.

But we don’t take this for granted. We know it takes hard work and commitment to detail in order to earn and keep your business.

9. Don’t Take Ourselves Too Seriously; Have Fun.

We believe that hard work should be matched with a lot of fun. This is why we have established a culture that is different then most corporations.

Just walking through our office you can see the difference – whether it’s the XBOX and Wii playing on the projection screen TV, the random Nerf fights that spontaneously break out, or our team-building events (like outings to Hershey Park, or go-kart racing competitions).

We Aim To Understand What Our Customers Are All About. Hopefully This Helps You Understand What We’re All About, Too.

The concept of core values is not new. It’s embraced by innovative companies looking to better their users’ experiences at every opportunity.

Companies such as Zappos, Whole Foods Market and even Google publish core values on their website and try to follow them daily.

We hope that by publishing ours here, we give a peek into the way things work around here, and show you how important you, our customer, are to AWeber and the individuals behind it.

This list of our core values was put together by our entire team, and we all keep a copy within eyesight on our desks. It is a constant reminder that we are not like everyone else, and neither are our customers. We want everyone who interacts with us to feel our commitment to their individual success – every day.

For the first time since 1993, our hometown Philadelphia Phillies have won the National League Championship and are headed to the World Series.

AWeber is located right outside of Philadelphia and many of us are die hard Phillies fans. So, we thought it would be a great idea to support the team by wearing Phillies shirts and just generally get in the spirit of the game.

Yesterday was a great day, and the 5-1 clincher last night made it even better. We can’t wait for the World Series. Go Phils!