When you start a new email marketing campaign, you may want to invite subscribers from previous lists to subscribe. That can be perfectly okay.

Or it can be a disaster. Cross-promotion is a bit like a minefield: you have to step carefully.

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has impressed us in the past with his fan-focused, grassroots, defy-The-Man marketing. But when his campaign recently invited subscribers to a new list, someone wasn’t watching their feet carefully enough.

To keep yourself on solid ground when cross-promoting your lists, you’ll need this guide. Follow it, and the only explosion you’ll see will be the size of your list.

Your Guide to Cross-Promotion

We recently got this email from Nine Inch Nails. When we clicked the call to action, this is what we saw:

In some ways, this process is handled well. In other ways, not so much. Here’s what to take away for your own cross-promotions – and what to leave behind.

Have You Ever Invited One List to Another?

How did you present your invitation? And what kind of response did you get?

If you’ve ever cross-promoted one campaign with another, tell us about it below!

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We talk about setting expectations in your email marketing campaign, and the welcome message is often overlooked as a place to do that. This is an ideal place to let subscribers know they have successfully signed up, what emails to expect from you, and any other important information.

The welcome message is the first message in your autoresponder series. Whether you are just setting your messages up or have had them in place for a long time, it’s time to ask yourself if your welcome message is one to be proud of.

In this article we’ll look at three businesses that have done an excellent job in setting up their welcome message.

FreeWebStore

Click for full example

Jamie Coles runs http://www.freewebstore.org, where you can sign up for their e-newsletters. First off, he did a really good job with the layout of this message. Notice the company logo at the top:

Inserting the company logo at the top of each email helps with brand recognition and consistency. If your subscribers are able to easily identify your emails, that will help with reducing unsubscribes and complaints.

After explaining the value of being on his email list, Jamie details what to expect tomorrow:

Little teasers like this are great for keeping subscribers hooked. They know what they can look forward to, and that they will need to read your email tomorrow to get that information.

Sports Car Digest

Click for full example

Jamie Doyle runs the email campaign for http://www.sportscardigest.com.

Jamie breaks down the information that will be shared with his subscribers very well. One line in particular really helps set subscriber expectations:

Letting the subscriber know what day to expect emails means they will be prepared when the email shows up in their inbox and will be anticipating it.

Jamie also asks the subscribers to add him to their address books to insure these emails will be delivered:

If you’re in your subscribers’ address book, you’re much less likely to be filtered into the Spam/Bulk folder. With Gmail’s priority inbox, it’s even more important to make sure you remind your subscribers to do that.

Fun Music Company

Click for full example

Kevin and Janice Tuck run the site http://www.funmusicco.com, which offers resources for music teachers. Janice has an attractive welcome message using images and side bar links:

A lot of HTML email templates have these side bars that allow you to have images and listings of featured products without distracting the subscriber from the main point of the email. These multiple calls for action will keep subscribers engaged with your website.

Janice does a great job in explaining what to expect in her emails:

It’s important your subscribers know up front exactly what they signed up for. The more your subscribers know about your email campaign and what to expect from it, the less likely they are to unsubscribe or complain.

How to Apply These Lessons To Your Welcome Email

Make sure your welcome message sets expectations, and that it (and all your messages) are consistent and keep subscribers engaged with your website.

You can accomplish this by:

• Letting subscribers know when you’re sending messages
• Explaining to your subscribers what you’ll be sending them
• Asking subscribers to add you to their address book
• Branding your messages with your logo
• Using templates that will allow you to feature products in the sidebar (if applicable)

How Does Your Welcome Email Stack Up?

What have you done to set subscribers’ expectations in your welcome email?

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No painted yellow lines exist on the road to email marketing mastery. Blogs, books, and case studies are piled into mountains, and climbing them can be daunting.

Fortunately, your fellow email marketers have left signposts along the way. Their comments, tweets and reviews signal which resources they found most useful. Their comments add their voices into the discussion, making that resource even more valuable.

One hill in those mountains of resources is the AWeber blog. Our readers’ comments and tweets show which posts they appreciate most. Those posts are assembled below to give you insight into some of the biggest issues that could crop up in your path.

The Posts Most Traveled

How to Add an Opt-In Form to Your Facebook Page

This Facebook application lets you invite your entire contact list – and anyone else who visits your page – to sign up for your emails.

Watch the video in this post to find out how to set this up, step by step.

“Do Not Reply” Address? Don’t Bother

If you send emails from an address that doesn’t accept replies, you’re sabotaging your campaign and your relationship with subscribers.

This post and the responding comments explain the mistake you’re making and discuss the effects in detail.

3 Ways To Build Urgency In Email Subject Lines

A sense of urgency in your subject lines might prompt more subscribers to open your emails. Getting too dramatic, however, jeopardizes your credibility.

Find out how to strike the right balance with compelling, straightforward subject lines.

How to Market Like Nine Inch Nails

This industrial rock band has a marketing strategy as alternative as its sound. Email’s conversational, customizable nature means it’s an ideal medium for putting this strategy to use.

Read this post to discover ways you, too, can market like a rock star.

{!firstname}, Think Before You Personalize

Personalizing emails with subscriber names has been reported to send opens and clicks skyrocketing. It might do the same for you – but it might also cause other problems.

Learn what they could be, and then discover some deeper, more useful ways to personalize.

Engage Subscribers: Six Fun Email Ideas

Written as a response to no-spend New Year’s resolutions, this post is appropriate for any time you hit a lull in sales. Instead of pushing discounts that customers don’t want and you can’t afford, use this time to build loyalty with these entertaining ideas.

Test Results: How Long Should Your From Line Be?

Before customers even get to your subject line, they encounter your from line. But what do they see there?

Different ISPs have different cutoff points, so your from line might be chopped in a way that leaves subscribers questioning who you are. Find out how to rewrite your from line for maximum recognition.

If You’re Lost, Ask Us For Directions!

If you find yourself confused by anything in these posts, you are welcome to contact our helpful and friendly Customer Solutions team. We’ll be happy to provide the best directions we can to guide you on your journey.

If, instead, you have a brilliant insight about any of these posts that you want to share, please feel free to leave your own comment. We look forward to reading your take on these topics!

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We appreciate people we can trust. We are more likely to give them our time. We are far more likely to give them our business.

You want your subscribers to trust you (and give you their time and possibly their business), but they may not know if they can. How can you reassure them?

We’ve talked about building trust with welcome messages and privacy policies. Another key is using transparency throughout your campaign. Be up-front, be honest, be approachable. In the anonymous Internet cloud, be someone real and tangible.

There are several effective ways you can do this:

How to Be Transparent In Your Emails

• First, include a valid postal address.

  Yes, this is already required by CAN-SPAM, but it also conveys your authenticity. You aren’t afraid to provide your location, so you must be on the level. And if you do get snail mail from a subscriber, you’ll be able to respond.

• Put your face where your mouth is. Include your picture in your emails to put your subscribers even more at ease. Bonus points if you’re wearing a friendly smile (see below).
• Post a link to your privacy policy on your web form and in your emails. This reassures subscribers that you will keep their information secure.
• Provide valid FAQs.

  If the answers are evasive or vague, alarm bells might go off in your subscribers’ heads. Answer directly. Answer completely. Answer helpfully. Then provide a way to ask questions you may have missed.

• Deliver what you promise.

  If you offer a 30-minute Pilates video, there should be 30 full minutes of quality instruction and demonstration. If you link to a how-to guide, the landing page should be that actual guide, not an ad. Follow through, and you won’t break trust.

• If you want to be transparent, approachable and trustworthy, do NOT list a ‘do not reply’ email address in the from line. If your subscribers can’t contact you back, you are not in a dialogue; you’re just blasting them with information. Hitting ‘reply’ is the most natural way for them to respond. Stop them from doing so, and it looks like you’ve got something to hide.

How Do You Build Credibility?

How do you show subscribers that you are trustworthy? Have you found some methods more effective than others?

Thank you for sharing!

Amanda
3103 Philmont Ave. Ste. 200
Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006, USA

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You want a community of engaged readers. Your subscribers want interesting content in a layout they like. You’re both looking for love at first click.

As in any relationship, the best way for you to both get what you want from your email marketing is to set clear expectations from the very beginning.

An example of your newsletter goes a long way toward setting correct expectations. But how can you share one before the signup?

It’s easy, actually. Just combine two of the tools in your AWeber account – the broadcast archive and the web form generator. This combo lets you offer a sneak peek of your campaign to make sure it’s a good fit for each new subscriber.

Here’s how:

Link to a Past Email Newsletter at Signup

The broadcast archive stores web versions of your past broadcast messages. The web form generator lets you create custom signup forms where people can subscribe to your emails.

To show your newsletter to potential subscribers before they sign up, you would simply need to display a link on your web form to the archived version of one of your newsletters, like this:

Choose a newsletter to be your example

Scroll through your past newsletters Broadcast page. Choose the one you think best represents your emails. Remember, you’re trying to give the most accurate depiction of what you’ll be sending your subscribers.

Grab the link for it

Open the message you’ve chosen in the message editor. Scroll down to the “Syndicate” section. You’ll need to syndicate the message if you haven’t done so yet – this publishes it to the web.

The part you will use is the “Direct Link”. You can copy this link whenever you are ready to put it into your web form.

Add the link to your web form

Open the web form you’d like to use (or create a new one) in the web form generator. Decide where you’d like to put the link to your newsletter example.

Then decide what words to use and click on the Text icon to add them to the form. Remember, it’s an invitation, so be welcoming, not pushy.

Type the text you want in the editing box. Highlight it, click the link icon and paste in that link from Step 2. When you’re satisfied, save the changes.

If the text doesn’t appear where you want it to on the form, simply click and drag the field to the proper place.

Start Using Your New Web Form

Congratulations! You’ve just upgraded from asking subscribers to take a shot in the dark to letting them make an informed decision.

You are one step closer to a community of interested readers who look forward to your messages.

Your Thoughts

Do you share an example of your newsletter or product before asking people to sign up for it? Does this seem to make a difference?

Can you think of any cases when you might not want to share an example first? How can you set clear expectations about your emails in these cases?

We always enjoy the ideas you share. Let us know what you think about setting expectations with a newsletter example below.

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As I examined my inbox in the days before Christmas, I couldn’t help but notice a growing trend in the email marketing messages I received from retailers big and small.

Almost every other message in my inbox touts a percentage off or free shipping of my purchase in the next however many days.

We’ve blogged about it before – most email campaigns employ some urgency tactics to encourage email opens, clicks and ultimately more timely sales. This sparked a discussion on building trust and credibility.

And while trust is crucial, time and strategy are also important elements of successfully urgent subject lines.

The Clock is Ticking

With the holiday season in full swing, it is typical of retail campaigns to increase urgency in their subject lines.

To boost sales before a major holiday, retailers use their subject lines to highlight products, offer discounts and stress the importance of ordering early for shipping purposes.

You can use the same techniques to drive traffic and sales on your website.

It doesn’t only apply to Christmas. Building urgency is an effective technique when it is used properly and provides real value.

The 3 Top Ways: The Proof is in the (Figgy) Pudding

According to MarketingSherpa’s 2010 Email Marketing Benchmark Report, the top three types of subject lines that compel subscribers to open emails contain one of these:

1. Discount Offer
2. Free Product Offer
3. Familiar Brand Name

That’s pretty big news considering that almost every single ‘urgent’ email in my inbox right now contains a variation of one of these.

Would These Examples Drive You to Buy?

Straight from my inbox, each one of these emails mention a discount, a free offer or the brand name.

Think Twice: Are Your Intentions Naughty, or Nice?

While creating a sense of urgency with your subject line is a great way to light a fire under your subscribers, it’s crucial to step back and evaluate when too much urgency is off-putting.

If you offered 10% last week, and you’re offering 20% off now, who’s to say you won’t increase the discount next week?

If you rely too heavily on urgency techniques, you could end up with disbelieving subscribers. Offering too many discounts could sabotage your chances of inspiring real urgency.

How Do You Build Urgency In Your Subjects?

Do you include these elements in your subjects? Others? What have your results been?

Share your thoughts on the blog!

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This is #3 in series of posts on subscriber expectations. Previous articles here: Part 1, Part 2.

As discussed recently, properly setting expectations for subscribers before they sign up and immediately after they do so helps you deliver the kind of better experience that leads to more responsive, more deliverable email marketing campaigns.

But that subscriber experience doesn’t occur in just a single moment. And expectations can change over time.

How do you make sure the expectations you worked so hard to set in your opt-in form and on your thank you page don’t fade after subscribers have been on your list for a while?

Create Subscriber Expectations Over The Life Of The Email Relationship

Explicitly setting expectations for new subscribers immediately before and after they join your list goes a long way toward making them responsive subscribers.

But it’s not all there is to it.

As email marketers, part—a big part—of the reason we try to create subscriber expectations is that we also want to create subscriber habits.

We want subscribers to expect certain things about our emails because when they do, and when we meet those expectations, subscribers tend to treat our emails a certain way. Namely, they:

• Open our emails
• Click on links in them
• Share them with others and
• Order products from them

Create The Right Subscriber Habits By Helping Them Set Their Own Expectations

After subscribers begin to get emails from us, we continue to create expectations – whether we try to or not.

We’re no longer only creating them explicitly. Rather, we also begin to build implicit expectations in our subscribers’ minds about what they should do with our emails.

Here’s an example of what I mean by that:

• When a would-be subscriber sees your opt-in form, they don’t know whether they should subscribe unless you explicitly tell them, “this is what you’ll get if you subscribe, here’s why it’s good for you.” They can then make a decision based on that explicit expectation.
• On the other hand, once they sign up, you won’t get far just explicitly telling them “hey, open our emails when you get them!” (You can try, but good luck browbeating subscribers into reading.)

To get your subscribers to continue opening your emails and clicking links over time, simply allow them to create their own implicit expectation: “hey, I’d better open and read this email when I get it because there’s something really valuable and timely in here for me.”

In short, you condition people to do what you want with your emails, rather than just telling them to do so.

“Conditioning” Subscribers? You Mean Like Mind Control? Subliminal Messaging? (That Sounds Sleazy…)

Conditioning does sound sleazy, doesn’t it?

Perhaps you think I’m talking about hypnotizing subscribers with gold watches or goofy-looking sprirally glasses, or using subliminal messaging to get them to open your emails and buy your products.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Let’s take a quick look at the definition of conditioning:

Conditioning – to modify so that an act or response previously associated with one stimulus becomes associated with another

Source: Merriam-Webster.com

So, in effect, what we’re looking to do is to get subscribers to respond to something (our emails) in the same way they responded to something else (say, our other previous emails).

Put another way, we want people who open our email, click a link, visit our website, etc. to do so again when they get another email from us.

We want them to say “hey, I’d better open and read this email” for as many of our emails as possible. Nothing sleazy about that.

So how do we do it?

Consistency Can Help You Condition Subscribers

Consistency comes into play here (see this 2006 post on expectations for some of my original ideas on expectations and consistency).

• Consistency helps because it makes it easier for subscribers to recognize your emails in the inbox.

  If someone knows you send from a given name and address, and tend to send on certain days or at certain frequencies, they’re likely to be far more receptive to your emails.

• It can also teach people to click through to your website.

  For example, if subscribers come to know that your emails contain 2-3 “teaser” paragraphs with a link to more information online, they may form a habit of clicking on the links in your emails to get past the teaser and straight to the full content.

It’s not just about being consistent, though.

Want to Create Good Subscriber Habits? Provide Great Value. Every Time.

If you want subscribers to get in the habit of opening your emails, clicking on links, sharing your emails via forwards or social networks, buying products or taking whatever other action/s you have in mind…

…bring the kind of value in your emails that gets them to do that – and do it consistently!

If you consistently provide outstanding value, your subscribers will read them, click links, etc. They’ll also form a perception of your emails as being valuable.

Both of these lead to forming exactly the types of subscriber habits you want.

Email Marketing Isn’t a Sprint; It’s a Marathon.

I know, this isn’t an earth-shattering, “how did I never think of that?” type of tip.

But it’s an important one, and I hope you take it to heart…

…because if you don’t focus on delivering great, even-better-than-subscribers-could-possibly-have-been-prepared-for content, then you’ll create the worst possible expectation in your subscribers:

“These emails aren’t worth my time anymore.”

What Expectations Do YOU Try to Create Over Time?

How are you doing it? What have you found helpful?

Share your ideas in the comments!

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This post is #2 in a three-part series on expectations. Read part 1 here.

Your thank you page is a critical stage in your email marketing because it links two types of interactions your subscribers have with you.

Immediately before they sign up, they’re interacting with you on your website, with their web browser. They’re 100% in charge of the situation. They can leave at any time and you’ll never even know who they were.

After they subscribe, however, they’ve agreed to interact with your business in a whole new way you pushing information to them when you choose), in a whole new environment (their email software instead of just their web browser).

To effectively transition new subscribers between those interactions, good email marketers set expectations using the thank you page.

Aren’t Subscribers’ Expectations Already Set Before They Sign Up?

If you’ve properly set expectations in your opt-in form, you might feel like your work is done.

After all, you’ve already told them what they’ll get and how often – and you obviously sold them on your emails because they signed up. There aren’t any other expectations to manage.

Right?

Why You Must Create and Reinforce Expectations Right After The Opt-In

Here’s the trouble with thinking that expectations are all set before the opt-in: you’re assuming that the minute they subscribe, all of your new readers are immediately…

• being transported to their email inboxes to read your first email.
• adding your “from” email address to their address books.
• doing whatever you want/need them to do with that first email.

If you’ve figured out how to make all of that automatically happen for one of your subscribers, let alone all of them, please tell me how

Upon signing up to your list, new subscribers have a few questions that you need to answer right away:

• “What just happened?” (Did that form thing-a-ma-jig do what I wanted it to? Am I subscribed?)
• “What happens next?” (When do I get my first email? Who’s it coming from? What’s it going to look like?)
• “What do I do now?” (Do I just sit back and wait? Do I have to do anything else?)

Answer These Questions With Your Thank You Page.

This first “post-subscribe” experience is a chance to reaffirm subscribers’ decision to share their email addresses with you.

Spell things out for them! Tell them:

• What Just Happened (they have subscribed successfully)
• What’s Happening Next (that you’re sending them an email – what the subject line is – what from name and email address it’s coming from – and what’s inside the email)
• What They Should Do (go to their inbox, open that email, possibly click on something in it—like a confirm link—and also add your email address to their address books)

P.S. Remember to thank them for subscribing!

Creating expectations on your thank you page is especially important because they help your new subscriber “connect the dots” between the time they spent on your website and the emails they’ll receive from you days/weeks/months later.

How Do YOU Create Expectations On Your Thank You Page?

Share your ideas on the post!

Next Up: How (and Why!) to Keep Creating Expectations Long After The Opt-In

After Memorial Day, you’ll learn about the ongoing challenge of setting expectations.

If you know someone else who isn’t familiar with the idea of setting expectations, or could use a refresher, share this blog with them!

They can subscribe by email here, get the RSS feed here – and now they can even get this blog via Kindle!

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One of the first posts on this blog talks about the importance of expectations in your email marketing campaigns and presents consistency as the key to expectations.

Consistency matters – but before you can consistently meet expectations, you have to set them! If subscribers don’t know what’s coming, it doesn’t matter how consistent the formatting and frequency are – those emails will still feel inconsistent with whatever preconceived notions subscribers had about them.

So how do you create expectations that you can then meet?

As I see it, you get 3 critical opportunities to do so.

Today, let’s discuss the first one:

Create Subscriber Expectations Before The Opt-In

The minute potential subscribers become aware that you’re even offering something by email, they begin to make assumptions about that offering, like:

• What they’ll get from you if they sign up
• How often they’ll get it
• The value/benefit to them if they sign up (or the lack of it)
• The cost to them if they sign up (their time and privacy, plus: are you going to share their email address with someone else?)

If you don’t replace these assumptions with expectations that match what will actually happen, then these potential subscribers either won’t sign up, or they’ll be confused/dissatisfied/angry when what actually happens doesn’t match those assumptions.

Clearly Explain, In or Near Your Opt-in Form:

• What kind of content you’ll be sending (you may even want to link to a sample email)
• How they’ll benefit as a subscriber (this is your email’s value proposition: why should someone subscribe?)
• When/how often the subscriber will hear from you (estimate if need be)
• What you do and won’t do with subscribers’ information (this may not be necessary in all cases – especially if you already have the visitor’s trust – but in general it’s a good idea)

Mark Brownlow has more on this plus an example. (RSS subscribers: there’s also an example of this at the end of this post on our blog.)

Coming Soon: The Next Critical Time to Set Subscriber Expectations

Next week, you’ll learn about the next opportunity you have to create expectations.

If you know someone else who isn’t familiar with the idea of setting expectations, or could use a refresher, share this blog with them!

They can subscribe by email here, get the RSS feed here – and now they can even get this blog via Kindle!

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If I heard it once as a kid, I heard it a hundred times: "You’re known by the company you keep."

Lately I wonder if as email marketers, and as companies with a web presence, we don’t give enough thought to this, and how it affects how our subscribers perceive us (and how they treat our messages).

The online actions of other businesses, who may not have any association with you, can give you — can give all of us — a bad name.

It’s up to us to make sure that your visitors and subscribers know how you differ from the “bad apples” — because otherwise, you may suffer the consequences of someone else’s poor email marketing practices.

But Why? That’s Not Fair! I Haven’t Done Anything Wrong!

Remember, we’re talking about "the company you keep," not necessarily what you’re doing yourself.

Many web users are suspicious and mistrusting, as Mark Brownlow points out.

According to the study he cites, users believe that a majority of companies will share their email address with others. (Unfortunately, some companies still do this, which in my view is an abhorrent practice, no matter how it’s framed or disclosed.)

Combine this with the fear of many (69%) that they’ll be the victim of an email scam, and the fact that half of those don’t know how to identify a potentially dangerous email, and the fact that they’re often told not to trust unsubscribe links, and what do you get?

A situation where the average user may be afraid to share his/her email address because he/she is afraid of getting spam from you — and from other people.

The Goal: Prove That You’re Different. But How?

Most of your visitors don’t know you from Adam. They’ve found you from an online search, or a link from another website, and carry few or no preconceptions about your email practices.

What visitors do know is that you’re a business, with a website, who wants their email address. And what do they believe happens when they give a business their email address?

So to earn their subscription, you have to differentiate yourself from the “bad apples” out there.

A few ways to do so:

• Don’t share subscribers’ email addresses (obvious, but worth emphasizing)
• Create a privacy policy that clearly states what you will — and more importantly, won’t — do with your subscribers’ personal information.
• Near your signup form, tell would-be subscribers what you will send them, and how often they can expect to hear from you.

  Setting subscriber expectations up-front like this goes a long way to not only increasing your signups, but reducing spam complaints.

• Or, in a twist on the previous idea, record a short video of yourself telling subscribers that you value their trust, and that you won’t misuse it. Put the video near your form.

  This also shows there’s a real person behind your site and creates another opportunity to ask for the subscribe.

Each of these can potentially reduce your visitors’ fear of giving you their email addresses.

Other Ideas?

While you know your own permission and privacy practices (or, to put it another way, your “email ethics”), your potential subscribers do not. Better to assume you’re not trusted, and go about earning that trust by informing subscribers about both yourself and your business, than to simply hope you are trusted by default.

What other ways can you think of to earn subscriber trust?