Relationships are hard work. It doesn’t matter what kind; they’re all equally tough. Parents, spouses, friends, business partners, customers – all need to be treated kindly and with respect.

If you want to build a new relationship or keep an existing one strong, you need to open the lines of communication and truly make an effort to get to know the other person.

This Valentine’s Day, embrace email marketing and show subscribers how much you love them by using these relationship building tips with your next campaign.

Court Your Subscribers

If you have an email campaign that aims to promote and sell a product, remember that just because your visitors sign up to your list does not necessarily mean that they will purchase your product. Seduce them, entice them, educate them and above all be polite.

Don’t expect subscribers to buy after they receive your first email. Sometimes it takes a little longer to convert an interested reader into an advocate or a customer.

Flirt or Tease Them

You know how great your product is, and your subscribers will no doubt love it once they purchase. Subtly let them know what they are missing out on by including little bits of information about the product in your emails.

Be brief! Don’t spill the beans in your message, but rather provide enough information to make them want to click through to your website to learn more. The whole point of your email is to get subscribers to your landing page, which you then use to make the sale.

Personalize Your Love Letter

It’s not always appropriate, but personalization can make your email more conversational and friendly.

This doesn’t mean you should use the {!firstname_fix} variable ten times throughout your email.

Instead, include other readily available information, such as the website they visited when they signed up. This can validate the trust that they placed in you initially when they signed up to your list.

Send Some Conversation Hearts

Communication is crucial to any successful relationship. The easiest way to communicate with a friend or partner is to talk.

Conversation is personal, and often the best way to sway someone’s opinion. Use your messages to engage subscribers in conversation. Address them genuinely, like you would address a friend, and request their feedback.

Track Cupid’s Arrow

We all keep tabs on the ones we love. Always use click tracking in your messages to determine which links subscribers are clicking on.

Knowing which links subscribers liked and clicked on will help you communicate better. You can even segment your list based on their participation later.

They Love You, They Love You Not…They Love You!

Give your subscribers one more reason to love you by sending beautiful emails. Try one of our new Valentine’s Day templates!

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Valentine’s Day is around the corner, and like many holidays it’s an occasion for businesses to make more sales through email marketing.

We know you’re always looking for ways to build your list and deliver relevant, valuable messages to your subscribers, so we thought we’d play Cupid and help you and your customers get together

Just in time for the upcoming holiday, we’ve rolled out new HTML email templates and matching web form ones, themed for February 14th.

Check them out…

“Be Mine” Templates

Like the ubiquitous Valentine’s day conversation hearts, these cheery templates use pastel shades and bold reds to grab your subscribers’ eyes and clearly convey your message.

They’re ideal for short, simple offers.

“Valentine Mail” Templates

These templates use simple, modern design and could easily be used even outside of Valentine’s Day (think “we love our customers”).

“Happy Valentine’s Day” Templates

Want to use a design that’s subtler than a big red heart?

Try the understated “Happy Valentine’s Day” templates for an easy-on-the eyes look and calls-to-action that pop.

More New Web Form and Email Templates Coming Soon

We’re creating more templates for your forms and HTML emails regularly – make sure you’re subscribed to the blog so we can keep you in the loop! (You’ll also benefit from the list building, newsletter and other email marketing tips we publish here.)

Next Week: Courting Your Subscribers

Stay tuned for an article from Rebecca next week on strengthening your relationship with your email subscribers.

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The winter holidays are rapidly approaching and what better way to celebrate than hiring two more web designers.

We are all excited to welcome Dan and Steph to the AWeber design team!!!

What’s that mean to you?

Double The Designers = Double the Power = Free Holiday HTML Email Templates.

That’s right… we’ve caught word from our Customer Solutions Team that a lot of you have been requesting holiday HTML email templates. So we made some.

A Free Holiday Template from each designer!

1. “Holiday – Seasons Greetings” – HTML Email Template (designed by Bob)

From the designer:

Normally I chose not to use a background color for my email templates, however, for this design I couldn’t resist.

Recently in a lot of my design work I’ve been tending to add a light source which I think helps bring the design to life giving it a more sophisticated feel.

I also carried the snowflakes slightly outside of the frame of the email to make the design feel that much more three dimensional.

Download This Template
AWeber Customers – Log Into Your Accounts

2. “Holiday – Snow Hills” – HTML Email Template (designed by Dan)

From the designer:

I chose to include a snow scene in the template to elicit the feeling of winter and a white Christmas.

Blue was the obvious color scheme choice for me to add to the feeling of winter. The candy cane-like red and white stripe was added to help separate the header and body content.

This also provided a bit of color variation and visual interest below the snow scene in the header of the template.

Download This Template
AWeber Customers – Log Into Your Accounts

3. “Holiday – Holly Jolly” – HTML Email Template (designed by Stephanie)

From the designer:

Add a little holiday whimsy to your email messages with this holly jolly email template that celebrates the season.

The green background has a glossy diamond pattern inspired by wrapping paper. Holly sprigs are stamped on a parchment paper background with bold red headlines to highlight your message content.

This template is both a festive and professional way to say “seasons greetings”!

Download This Template
AWeber Customers – Log Into Your Accounts

4. “Holiday – Happy Holidays” – HTML Email Template (designed by Eric)

From the designer:

Did someone forget to get holiday cards this season (I’m looking at you)?

Don’t fret, we’ve got you covered. This template is a perfect way to send holiday greetings to friends and family. Thematically it has all my personal holiday favorites, snow, decorations and of course gifts.

It’s a simple yet colorful way to tell someone you care.

Download This Template

AWeber Customers – Log Into Your Accounts

Happy Holidays From the AWeber Design Team!

As the holiday approaches, I’d encourage you to use these templates to bring a personal touch to communicating with your subscribers.

They can be used in a variety of ways:

• Offer an exclusive holiday deal
• Promote a holiday sale
• Advertise your seasonal store hours

Best wishes this holiday season!

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Ever wish your email template could match your blog?

At AWeber, you can use any of our 100+ HTML email templates to create great-looking emails in a variety of color schemes – but what if you could match the look of your email marketing campaigns perfectly to your website?

To help make this happen, and have some fun in the process, I’ve created a couple HTML email templates based on some free WordPress themes that you can download and use for your blog.

Check them out…

“Outdoorsy” HTML Email Template

The “Outdoorsy” template is based on the free Outdoorsy WordPress Theme from Function.

It’s a 2-column (right-hand sidebar) email template with an organic feel and navigation links available to use in the header.

Click image for full-size sample.

If you want, you can download and use this template outside of AWeber – but if you want to use it in AWeber, it’s already integrated for you! When you’re creating an email, just choose “Outdoorsy” from the list of templates.

• Login to your AWeber account to use this template in your autoresponders and email newsletters
• Download this HTML email template for using outside of AWeber
• Get the matching WordPress theme from Function

“SuperFresh” HTML Email Template

The “SuperFresh” template is designed to match the free SuperFresh WordPress Theme from ThemeTation.

It includes a “featured post” section at the top, and then a 2-column area (content and sidebar) beneath.

Click image for full-size sample.

If you want, you can download and use this template outside of AWeber – but if you want to use it in AWeber, it’s already integrated for you! When you’re creating an email, just choose “SuperFresh” from the list of templates.

• Login to your AWeber account to use this template in your autoresponders and email newsletters
• Download this HTML email template for using outside of AWeber
• Get the matching WordPress theme from ThemeTation

Enjoy – And Tell Us How You’re Using the Templates!

If you use these templates and themes for your campaigns and site, let us know!

And if you have ideas for other HTML email templates, I’m all ears

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After the positive response to our last free HTML email template, “Welcome”, I set out to create more HTML email templates to suit specific common types of emails you send.

Today, I’m happy to share the newest addition to our family of functionally themed email templates…

The “Download” HTML Email Template

Use this template to share files with your subscribers:

It comes in 3 different editions:

PDF (perfect for ebooks, whitepapers, free reports)
Download The Zip File (all 6 colors)

	Audio (podcasts, interviews and other audio files) Download The Zip File (all 6 colors)
	“Other” Files (anything other than a PDF or audio file) Download The Zip File (all 6 colors)

Each one is available in 6 different color schemes – the same ones from the “Welcome” template.

AWeber Customers:

Log into your account to try out 18 different variations of this template when you create a new message:

Have a Theme Idea for a Future HTML Email Template?

I’d love to hear some feedback on the templates I’ve created and what kinds of HTML email templates you’d like me to pursue in the future.

Share your thoughts on the “Download” template, and ideas for future ones, below!

With over 75 proven HTML email templates under our belt, I got to thinking…

…what would really set our new email templates apart from the rest?

Well, I have a couple ideas on this (and I want to hear yours too!). Here’s the first one…

Our latest HTML email template is designed to help you quickly and easily create one of the most critical (and often-overlooked) messages: the welcome email.

Our Newest HTML Email Template: “Welcome”

This is the first in a line of “functionally themed” templates that we’ll be releasing.

Specifically designed to be a welcome message for new subscribers, the “Welcome” template incorporates the elements we believe should be included in your first correspondence.

Create Effective Welcome Emails Using This Template as a Guide

Just for good measure, lets go over what makes a welcome message successful:

• Confirm the subscription was successful

  What good is a welcome email if you fail to mention that the user has successfully subscribed?

  I recommend making this the most prominent piece of information in the email.

• Re-iterate what your subscribers should expect to receive

  Using bullet points to display this information not only makes it easy to spot but easy to read.

• Includes a return link(s) to your website

  Although we incorporated this into our new email template you could easily expand on this.

  Providing some interesting links to some recent content might help prolong the users interest and intice them to wait diligently for your next broadcast.

• Encourage subscribers to add you to their address book.

  When a subscriber adds you to his/her address book, it not only helps with email deliverability but also increases the likelihood that images will be enabled in your future broadcasts.

• Provokes user interaction.

  Showing that you are easily accessible by hitting the reply button builds a stronger relationship between you and your subscribers.

You also may want to refer to the example of an effective welcome email (although not as good-looking as this template!) that we blogged recently.

So What’s Our Next “Functionally Themed” HTML Email Template?

There has been a lot of talk regarding what type of messages our customers might get the most use out of.

Here are some possibilities:

• Templates for Downloadable Files.

  Whether its regarding a PDF file, audio file or video, I could create a template for specific types of media to be downloaded.

• Template for Podcasts

  This template might incorporate a mock player for click through, a place to summarize recent podcasts, and/or a recommended set up to display the transcript for your latest podcast.

Have a Theme Idea for a Future HTML Email Template?

I’d love to hear some feedback on the templates I’ve created and any ideas I could possibly pursue in the future.

Share your thoughts on the “Welcome” template, and your ideas for future templates, in the comments!

We’re getting email templates published at a faster pace than ever before, and today we’re happy to announce an addition that should be welcomed by bloggers who send a newsletter to build a stronger blog readership.

Something to Impress Your Blog Readers With…

What’s So Special About This Template?

The first, most important thing to mention is the fact that “Meadows”, like all the templates our designers make, has been tested across all of the major email applications email subscribers tend to use.

It just can’t be overstated how important testing is for all HTML email.

In addition, although it can be adjusted for general newsletter use, “Meadows” is geared specifically toward blog newsletter senders because it has:

• A built-in “Subscribe via RSS” block so subscribers can gracefully switch to getting your content via RSS if they eventually prefer that option.
• A “Related Blog Posts” block so you can link up other articles your subscribers can read.

Other Unique Features

If you’d like to use this template for a non-blog email newsletter, just remove the two blog specific blocks mentioned above. There will still be other sidebar content left-over:

• This is the first time we’ve integrated a special “Share this email” box into a template. See if sharing your newsletter helps you to boost your subscriber numbers.
• There’s an explicit “Unsubscribe” block. We hate to see subscribers go, but it’s better they leave easily when they want to rather then making them jump through hoops.

Enjoy the free template, and let us know what you think!

One of our email designer virtuosos, Bob, put together a new template to help our customers get promotional emails out on the fly, in an effective way.

New to AWeber? Check it out, then click to download a ZIP file you can preview and pass to your web designer.

Already an AWeber customer? There’s no need to download anything. Read on…

Introducing Our Newest Template

Download The Template Files in a ZIP Folder

Malibu is one of over 75 HTML email templates included with every AWeber account. included free with every AWeber account. Customers can use it to create great-looking emails, with a single click of the mouse – just like with any of our other templates..

Also like the others, it is customizable and has been tested for compatibility with a wide variety of email applications. Oh, and of course, messages created using it will achieve the same high rate of deliverability our customers expect.

Ideas For Using This Template

Bob created Malibu with promotions and brevity in mind.. Think of it as a virtual postcard, and use it to:

• Make a concise yet compelling pitch for one or more of your products, including physical products and virtual products like eBooks
• Highlight a three step process your subscribers (and your business) could benefit from. Example: “3 Steps to a Greener Lawn!”
• Feature three articles/pages on your website, with screenshots or relevant images to grab your subscribers’ attention

Or, maybe you already have a fresh idea for a postcard template you’ve always wanted to try. How will you use it, and what other types of templates would you like to see?

Please share your thoughts and experiences with our reader community in the comments.

Many of our customers like to use HTML emails to send vibrant, branded communications to their subscribers. (So do we, for that matter.)

But creating a great-looking email can be challenging, especially if you’re not a designer and/or (like me) just aren’t an artist by nature.

That’s why we created our original HTML email templates — to help you spend less time on design, and more time on the content of your emails (not to mention the rest of your business).

Today, I’m excited to announce a new series of attention-grabbing HTML email templates, available for your use right now in your AWeber account.

Introducing Our Newest HTML Email Templates

Starting immediately, all AWeber users have access to 27 new templates created by our new designer Bob (you can meet him and the rest of our team at our about page).

These new template designs have been tested in a wide range of email clients to ensure consistent rendering.

Here are a couple of the new designs (click each design to see more of it):

Among these new templates you’ll find single-column as well as multiple-column designs and a range of colors.

Try The New Templates Today

To start using these templates, head over to the Follow Ups or Broadcasts page of your account.

Once you’ve loaded a template into your message, you can easily add your logo and other branded content using our HTML editor.

While you’re at it, let us know what you think — your feedback helps us decide what types of new templates we might provide down the road! (Plus if you like these ones you’ll make Bob’s day )

Is your email follow up and newsletter stylish? “How do I make my emails look good?” is one of the most frequently asked question at AWeber. For over a year now you have been able to point and click to create stylish formatted HTML messages with our built in editor, but you probably don’t have [...]