As the self-proclaimed Carrie Bradshaw of email marketing, I’m constantly comparing the marketing endeavors of online and offline fashion retailers.

After all, somebody has to study their latest campaigns. It’s not my fault that I often always feel obliged to take certain senders up on their irresistible offers and free shipping.

I really consider myself lucky to enjoy all aspects of a good shopping experience. From the marketing messages to the markdowns, I love it all.

On a recent shopping trip, it dawned on me just how similar a good email marketing campaign is to a visit to a well-run boutique. There are several key factors that contribute to the success of both. Keep reading to see how your messages stack up to some of my favorite stores.

They Welcome You

The very first thing I notice when going in and out of my favorite small boutiques is the way that I am greeted by the shopgirls and business owners. Some might gather that this is because I spend the majority of my paycheck in these stores, but I promise that’s not true. (They say hi to everyone with the same amount of enthusiasm!)

If a shopkeeper approaches me, says hello and asks if they can help me find anything, I instantly feel good about potentially spending my money in their store. Your welcome message should have the same appeal to new subscribers.

According to a recent Epsilon survey of 200 retailers, fewer than 2/3 of retailers do not send a welcome message at all, even though the welcome messages tracked had an average open rate of 50-60%.

Offer your assistance and let your new subscribers know how happy you are to have them on your list. Welcome them warmly, just like you would if they walked through your shop door. This way, they’ll feel just as welcome as if they were physically in your store.

Nordstrom does an excellent job of welcoming new subscribers:

They Let You Browse

After I’ve been in a store for a few minutes, I like to look around without being hawked by the shop clerk. Nothing is more annoying than being followed around. It makes most people feel uneasy.

A big mistake that a lot of email marketers make is to push specific, “big” products on their email list right from the get-go. This doesn’t allow subscribers the chance to form an opinion about your company or connect to it emotionally.

Instead of sending only big ticket items, give new subscribers a chance to see all of your goods and to get to know your brand’s personality. Send follow up messages that encourage readers to “browse” your website and your products.

Serena and Lily suggest that you browse their entire collection:

They Tell You About Current Promotions

Once I’ve had a chance to get my bearings and assess the shopping situation, then I’m ok with someone helping me. Maybe I have a few pieces to try on, or a question about pricing.

It’s typical and expected for sales associates to approach shoppers after a few minutes of browsing to inform them of current or upcoming sales and limited time offers. After all, customer service is a huge factor in my decision to shop somewhere.

To create the same experience with your email campaign, you can send one time, time-sensitive broadcast messages to subscribers to keep them in the loop.

Barneys New York often sends emails that contain their latest promotions:

They Suggest Similar Items

In the event that I’ve found a few things to try on when I’m shopping, I am always impressed by a salesperson who can successfully pull similar or complimentary pieces from the racks and bring them to me in the dressing room.

This shows that they are paying attention, even while they are giving me space to browse around. You can do the very same thing with your email subscribers – as long as you have analytics in place on your website. Email analytics can help you understand the needs and wants of your subscribers so that you can tailor your messages accordingly to address them.

By installing a JavaScript snippet on your site, you’ll be able to see exactly which pages your subscribers are visiting. This way, you can segment your list based on subscriber behavior and suggest items that are more relevant for your subscribers.

How Does Your Campaign Measure Up?

Do you use any or all of these tactics? Do you find that the email marketing experience is similar to an in-person encounter in any way?

We’d love to hear what you think, and how you’re using these methods. Leave us a comment in the space below!

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In today’s absolute hailstorm of buy-this-now messages, how do you write a marketing email that will actually get noticed?

Generic discount alerts and %-off offers won’t cut it. Everyone sends those. Dull and disconnected from any audience, they might as well be churned out of an ad factory.

Instead, focus on connecting with your readers. Show that the solution you’re offering is right for their needs, because you understand those needs – you’re right there with them, experiencing the struggles and joys of these times.

And how do you do that?

Whether it’s the long-awaited rescue of the Chilean miners or the finale of Dancing With the Stars, your subscribers are always talking about something. Talk about it with them, and suddenly you’re their buddy at the water cooler and they’re all ears.

Not quite sure how to pull this off? Well, we recently stumbled upon a few emails that did this well. And if you promise not to copy them exactly, we’ll share them so you can get your own ideas flowing…

Goodness knows there were plenty of ways to get creative with Christmas emails, but even with the holidays past, there’s plenty nto talk about. If they hear it from you first, they’ll be impressed. Plus, they’ll appreciate the fact that they’re now in the know.

Here, Mike’s Cigars frames their wares in terms of the new NASA project. Readers get two perks: a discount and a topic for lunchtime conversation. Next time Mike’s emails, they’ll be twice as likely to open for more.

If your readers are observing Election Day – well, so are you! They won’t be able to help but notice when your message reflects what’s already on their minds.

Gourmet gift store Harry and David wanted to showcase all the available varieties of their trademark snack mix. So they presented each as a contender in their own electoral race.

While the voting took place on Facebook, the main body led back to an order page – always a good place for readers to go.

Cocktail parties, the office water cooler, your email campaign…no matter where you are, the weather is always a relevant topic.

Barnes & Noble knows this. During a recent snowstorm in the Northeast United States, they sent subscribers in that region a very appropriate offer.

First of all, B & N knew we were snowed in – impressive from the start. Secondly, they provided something for us to do (other than e-shop). And finally, in case non-Nook-owning subscribers felt left out (which I did), they offered other ways to read the e-books. Who could resist?

What’s going on in the next month? Check a calendar. Check the news.

Does anything you see tie in naturally with your business? Is anything especially fitting for a celebration with your subscribers? Or is an upcoming event the perfect launch for that new product? Stay on the lookout!

And if current event emails just don’t work for your brand, here are six other techniques you can try.

How do you make your emails more relevant? Tell us below – we want to hear your stories!

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Everyone makes mistakes – even email marketing geniuses (hard to imagine, we know ).

Yet with so many things to double and triple-check before sending a campaign, it’s easy for important components to slip the minds of seasoned pros and newbies alike.

In fact, The Retail Email Blog regularly posts about the mistakes and “oopsies” of big email marketers on their blog, so if in fact you do mess up from time to time, you are still in good company!

All joking aside, it’s always best to avoid a mistake before it happens. Here’s a list of things to steer clear of in order to make your campaigns run more smoothly than you ever thought possible.

1. Buying Email Lists

Effective email campaigns cater to specific demographics, tastes and interests. Using confirmed opt-in to obtain the proper permission from people who are truly interested in your targeted emails ensures that they really want to hear from you.

When you buy an email list, there’s no way to guarantee that those people are really interested in your messages, so you must avoid purchased lists at all costs. You can never assume anything about the addresses of random people that are not given to you directly by their owners.

2. Hard to Recognize “From” Names and Subject Lines

Once subscribers are on your list, you want to make sure that they open your messages regularly. Your subject line and from name/address are your only chance to grab subscribers attention in their jam-packed inboxes.

To help jog their memory, always use the same email address and contact name so that there is no confusion when your messages arrive. Your subject lines must clearly present the value of the emails while staying consistent with your past subject lines to evoke recognition and familiarity.

3. Avoiding CAN-SPAM Compliance

The Can-Spam Act requires that all messages contain the sender’s valid physical postal address, but some home-based and international businesses are hesitant to include this information in their campaigns.

Aside from the legal obligation, putting your contact address in your emails is the best way to show subscribers that you have a legitimate identity and that you won’t run for the hills as soon as they make a purchase from you.

4. Irrelevant and Infrequent Emails

Sending emails that don’t relate back to their original request for info irritates readers and is a guaranteed way to rack up a high number of unsubscribes. Add an infrequent schedule to the previous scenario and you have a recipe for email disaster.

As a rule of thumb, if you haven’t contacted subscribers in 6 months, delete them from your list. Revisit your landing page from time to time to assess your email content and make sure it matches up with your original offer. Set expectations so that subscribers know what to expect from you, and when to expect it.

Expectations are easiest to address in three stages:

1. Create Subscriber Expectations Before The Opt-In
2. Create and Reinforce Expectations Right After The Opt-In
3. Create Subscriber Expectations Over Time

5. No Call to Action

With all of the emphasis placed on quality content and sharp design, it’s understandable that marketers sometimes miss the obvious. When a reader opens a message and they’re interested in learning more, don’t forget they will be thinking, “What do I do next?”

Give them a way to move forward easily. Include multiple calls to action and links back to your site so you don’t lose them. Set up your products favorably, and remember when creating your messages that there must be a logical sequence of events – you want readers to open, read, click-through and ultimately buy.

6. Not Testing Before Sending

With all of the time spent prepping marketing emails, typos can easily go unnoticed. Testing your messages before sending them only takes a minute or two and can help you pinpoint problems before they materialize.

Send test copies to test accounts at several different email services to ensure that the message is readable, the images are viewable and the links are functional.

Are You Making These Mistakes?

We know email marketing isn’t always easy. Like we’ve said from the get-go, everyone makes mistakes.

If any of the situations on the list above hit close to home, try changing your approach; you’ll be amazed at the impact a few simple changes can have on your campaign.

Once you put the changes into practice, come back and leave a comment to let us know how they have worked for you!

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On this blog and others, traditional “batch-and-blast” (PS don’t ever use that word unless you’re mocking it) email marketers have been hearing for a while now that relevance plays an important role in your email deliverability.

As far back as 2007, we noted that “spam” was about email subscribers don’t want or value. Not just email that they didn’t request (although that’s still spam, too).

As I noted in that post, “If you’re not providing value to subscribers, their actions with your messages will reflect that. ISPs track what’s done with your messages, and can choose to filter you out if they find you’re not ‘what the consumer wants.’”

This week, Gmail announced a new feature that makes this a reality.

Introducing The Priority Inbox

To manage our overflowing inboxes, a lot of people already sort email into groups of emails to read and respond to now, later or never. (Your own groups’ names may vary, or you may not even have a specific system like that… but I’d bet you read emails from certain people more often and/or more quickly.)

Gmail’s Priority Inbox attempts to simplify and automate this process for email users by figuring out which senders’ emails are important, based on how (or whether) you interact with those emails and senders.

Here’s how they explain it:

Priority Inbox is a beta feature that will be rolling out to users soon (I haven’t gotten it yet, but am eager to get my hands on it and see it in action).

What Are People Saying About It?

Here are a few of the articles I’ve read about it:

• Gmail Priority Inbox Launches (Mashable)
• Gmail Priority Inbox Sorts Your Email For You (TechCrunch)
• Inbox Hero: Gmail Priority Inbox Has Doused My Raging Email Fire (also TechCrunch)
• Priority inboxes, intelligent inboxes, quality bars and you (Email Marketing Reports)

I especially recommend you read the last one of those.

“So Do My Marketing Emails All Go Into The “Everything Else” Pile Now?”

Not necessarily, but consider the examples in the Gmail video… note whose email is getting prioritized (email from contacts, friends, people you email back and forth with regularly) and whose is not (the “Special Offer” email).

It’s early to make predictions about what all of this means – or if it will even stick around as a feature. You never know, Gmail users might end up not liking it (although I tend to doubt that’ll be the case).

That said, it’s clear that whatever the future of the Priority Inbox holds, ISPs are continuing to move toward creating systems that reward email that people want at the expense of email people don’t want. (Gmail isn’t the first to try this – the same sort of thing is happening at Yahoo! and Windows Live Hotmail.)

What this should tell you is that you need to take a long, hard look at whether your emails are something your subscribers really want. Because if they aren’t, you’re going to find it harder over time to continue getting them opened and clicked.

It’s Not All Gloom And Doom

In fact, this is excellent news if you’re creating and delivering email marketing campaigns that people want.

So the question is, how do you create emails people actually want?

Engage your subscribers in conversation via your emails. Invite feedback. Ask them questions. Increase the value that you deliver in your emails.

Start identifying groups of subscribers within your list who have similar interests. Start segmenting your list and creating more relevant emails.

Here’s a list of posts we’ve written on email segmentation. (If it seems like we talk a lot about segmentation on this blog, well… this is why.)

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In a recent post we showed you how to easily ask subscribers for feedback by including a rating scale in your emails.

Using an innovative rating scale sets you apart from your competitors and shows subscribers that you are thinking outside of the box – that you really care about what they want.

It allows you to creatively request opinions from readers and build your email marketing campaign, making it more specific, relevant and well-received by your subscribers.

But what do you with the information once it is collected?

Divide and Conquer

Once you have subscriber responses, you can easily segment your list and send targeted messages to subscribers that will benefit most from your information (which ultimately leads to a greater return on your investment).

You know that no matter what response your subscribers give on your scale, they at least have an interest in your email because:

• They opened your message
• They read it through to the point of seeing your rating scale
• They were compelled to rate your message

A Practical Example

For example, let’s look at The Friendly Plumber, a plumbing service that sends a monthly newsletter to customers who have used the service in the past. They most recently sent a message with handy tips for clogged drains and asked subscribers to rate their satisfaction at the end of the email.

Now, the number of subscribers who voted is evident in the total number of clicks for the message on the Broadcast Totals report.

Plumbing is a personal business. Plumbers rely heavily on local, repeat business and word of mouth referral. Relationships are crucial to their success. Because a fairly large number of subscribers responded to their email, The Friendly Plumber could take the survey results and send a unique message only to the people who responded.

For the people who responded positively, they can offer a discount on their next service call and solicit testimonials for their new website.

On the Search Subscribers page, they would perform a search for the appropriate link:

Then save the segment and send a message only to those people.

For those who didn’t find the email helpful, The Friendly Plumber could extend the olive branch and send a message asking for constructive criticism. Nothing is more appealing to a customer than a company that reaches out and engages in honest conversation.

Another Way to Use Feedback

The Friendly Plumber also has a blog where they discuss common plumbing issues and concerns. They send an email to their blog subscribers each time they post something new to the blog.

At the bottom of each blog broadcast, they could also include a rating scale, asking for feedback on individual posts.

At the end of the year, or whenever their newsletter needs a little boost, they can send out an email with the top 5 rated posts.

Don’t have a blog? You can still use the same concept, only with your follow up messages. Include a rating scale in each follow up email, then at the end of the year send a broadcast extrapolating on the top 3 rated follow up emails.

Now It’s Your Turn to Give Us Some Feedback!

Have you tried using a rating scale in your messages? What is your experience?

Share your thoughts on the blog!

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It’s easy to focus on attracting new business by using your email marketing campaign to promote your products primarily to new subscribers and prospects.

While email is the perfect venue for showcasing products and captivating potential customers, it is also equally important to focus on your subscribers that have already spent money with you.

Your buyers had a positive experience in the past, right? Capitalize on that and turn them into lifelong customers.

Here’s how to retain the customers that you already have.

Reel Customers In Without Selling to Them

Your existing customer base is different from your potential buyers. They already made the choice to trust your company with their money once, so take the time to build on your relationship after the sale.

Customers are more willing to shop with you again when they realize you don’t treat them like a number.

Segment your list and use these tips to connect with customers without constantly pushing new items on them.

Ask for feedback

Ask for feedback about recent purchases, and remind customers that good customer service doesn’t end when they make a purchase from you. Assure them that if there are ever any questions or problems, you will stand behind your product.

Suggest additional items

Suggest complimentary items that will enhance their experience with the product they already bought.

Add inherent value

Discuss different ways that customers can use the product that they purchased. Show them that there’s additional value in what they invested in.

How to See Who Purchased From You

This is where email analytics data comes in handy.

By adding a snippet of javascript to your website, you can track sales to your subscribers.

You can then see which people are buying and how much each purchase amounts to – and segment your list to target your customers.

How to Segment Your List and Send to Existing Customers

Once the javascript is on your site and sales begin to add up, you can separate the buyers from the browsers on your list based on purchase history.

On the Search Subscribers page, use the drop down menus to search your list for customers like so:

Then save the search directly above the results…

And send your specialized email only to that segment when saving your message:

What if You Sell Multiple Products?

Sending messages to subscribers who meet a specific sale amount is helpful if you are only selling one product.

If you have more than one item for sale, you can also search for subscribers based on total order value.

With a segment made up of customers with a history of large purchases, you can:

• Suggest high ticket items
• Offer incentives geared only towards the big spenders

How Do You Segment Your Customers?

Do you find that segmenting customers from subscribers leads to repeat sales? We would love to hear how email segmentation helps your business!

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When you are the sole creator of an email marketing campaign, the content of your messages is near and dear to your heart.

You spend countless hours pruning your emails to perfection, finding the perfect content to drive subscribers to engage with your brand and product.

You might think your messages are the best they can be, but what do your subscribers think?

Invite Feedback: Let Subscribers Rate You

There are a few ways that you can find out what your subscribers are thinking.

Maybe in the past you’ve used subscriber preferences or reviewed unsubscribe comments from previous subscribers to formulate your message content.

Now there’s an even simpler way to measure the effectiveness of particular messages in your campaign and gauge your subscribers interest before subscribers get to the point of unsubscribing.

Add a rating scale to your messages and allow subscribers to effortlessly give feedback just by clicking on a link.

For Example:

A rating scale consists of a few links inserted in a logical order in your message, but there are different ways that you can approach the rating of your messages.

• Use images that correlate with your product or service to create your scale, or use happy/sad faces to cover the range of performance.

Your rating could be as simple as a thumbs up or thumbs down.

In fact, you can use these exact images if you would like!

Just save them, upload to your site, and then put them into your emails.

• Try a rating scale that explicitly assesses your message using descriptive language; sometimes people identify better with words.

Subscribers may identify better with descriptive choices.

Feel free to copy and reuse any of these images as well.

• Simply pose a question about the effectiveness of your campaign, type the numbers 1-5 at the bottom of your email and link those numbers to your thank you page.

Not sure if it’s worth the hassle of inserting images or coming up with clever text? Create a foolproof rating scale in under 2 minutes.

Thank Them for Their Feedback

No matter what type of scale you choose, each of the links on the scale has to go to a thank you page. This will be the same for every link on the scale.

The thank you page should be a simple page that you create on your website to thank subscribers for their response and assure them that their actions will help you create better messages in the future.

There’s no need to be elaborate, but you can certainly use the thank you page to further engage your readers once they have rated your message.

Because the thank you page is the same for each link, when you are inserting the links in your message you have to differentiate between the links so that you can properly track your ratings.

Add ?r=something to the end of each link when you are inserting it into to your message.

For example:

Weigh the Results

With click tracking enabled, once you send messages that contain your rating scale you will be able to view reports that illustrate how many subscribers clicked on the particular links on your scale.

You can also examine the number of subscribers who opened your message, and the number of subscribers that clicked on certain links on your rating scale.

While you can use click-through statistics for any links in your message to measure the effectiveness of your language and particular link text, using a rating scale allows you to explicitly ask subscribers to participate in your campaign.

You don’t ask subscribers outright to click on each and every link in your message by posing a question or asking for a response. The call to action is what makes the rating scale an effective method that differs from regular click-through stats.

What Do You Think?

Have you ever given a company your feedback on a rating scale?

Do you think your subscribers would be inclined to give you feedback this way?

Share your thoughts on the blog!

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We’re always talking about how relevancy is critical to the effectiveness of an email marketing campaign. But really, how do you stay relevant?

One way is to put your visitors in the driver seat – let them tell you what’s relevant to them!

Your first chance to do this? When they sign up to your list. Your first chance to do this? When they sign up to your list. Finding out what subscribers really want is the best way to remain relevant and to keep them satisfied.

The trick is to capture pertinent information without overwhelming subscribers with a multitude of choices. Just ask a few simple questions about their preferences.

Sit Back and Self Assess

First, you need to decide what kind of information you really want to offer subscribers. This will help when you are creating questions for your form.

If you currently have a newsletter, examine the messages that you send and decide if your content is consistent with what people are subscribing to on your website.

Things to think about:

• Are you only sending a monthly newsletter?
• Do you send updates about in store specials?
• How often are you going to send your messages?

Should you find that your messages don’t mesh with your form, rework your offer and get more specific about what messages your subscribers will receive.

Ask the Right Questions

Website visitors usually weigh their options prior to joining your mailing list.

They typically consider the frequency that your messages will show up in their inboxes, as well as how your messages will concern them before taking the plunge and giving you their personal information.

Asking a few questions on your web form is a great way to alleviate hesitation and assure subscribers that they will only receive messages that pertain to them.

For instance, you could ask:

• Do you want to receive emails about company news?
• Would you like to receive updates about new products?
• How often do you want to receive messages?

Make your form as easy to use as possible, and keep it simple. Be careful not to overwhelm subscribers with useless fields. Only ask questions that are relevant to your campaign; focus on information that you can use to provide a better subscriber experience.

Put Your Findings to Use

You may not use the answers to your questions initially, but having them from the get-go will save you time and frustration in the long run.

By allowing subscribers to choose what information they receive, you can eliminate irritation and send very specific messages later on by segmenting your list.

Segmenting leads to higher retention rates since subscribers only receive information that is relevant to their initial request.

What is Your Experience?

Have you set up your form to allow subscribers to submit their subscription preferences?

How has this helped your campaign? We would love to hear about it!

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2009 was the year of social network integration, testing send windows and organic list growth. While 2010 will bring its own trends, these changes aren’t going away.

Here’s a quick refresher of things that went down in email marketing last year.

These posts highlight some new AWeber features, a few colorful examples and the soundest advice we can offer.

2009: The Year of Posts in Brief

Using Email to Grow a Community: AWeber Talks to User Ramit Sethi
On his personal finance site, Sethi teaches his readers to be rich. Here, he gives a bonus lesson in email marketing success. His tips on building an email community are as valuable as gold.

How To Add an Opt-In Form to Your Facebook Page
Adopting social media techniques was a major move that many email marketers made in 2009. This post teaches you how to add an opt-in form to your Facebook profile, directing new contacts straight to your email list.

And since Facebook has more than 350 million active users, and over 700,000 local business accounts, it may be just the place to expand your online presence.

Design Inspiration From Fellow AWeber Customers
Three cameos of customer newsletters show what’s possible for small-time email marketers. Their clean design and quality content offer inspiration far into the future.

Have a Look At the New Web Form Generator
By far our biggest release of the year, the new web form generator was welcomed with open arms! Gone are the days of manually editing HTML; our web form tool helps you create professional and aesthetically pleasing web forms with absolutely zero HTML knowledge.

Test Results: How Long Should Your From Line Be?
“From” line length can largely impact the open rate of an email, yet it’s easy to overlook in the design process. Review what lengths are ideal in the major email clients.
This type of analysis should also be applied to subject line length. Make sure your subscribers can read the reason they should open each email!

{!firstname}, Think Before You Personalize
Personalization can be powerfully effective when used in the right ways. It can also be easily misused. Learn how to avoid the mistake of assuming that a string variable makes a message personalized, targeted or relevant.

“Do Not Reply” Address? Don’t Bother.
This post examines the trend of using an an unattended email address that discourages replies to emails, and explains why you should never do that with your own campaigns.

Deliver Smarter Autoresponders With Send Windows
Sometimes, certain days or times are ideal for subscribers to receive your emails. Find out why, and then learn how to increase your follow-up messages’ effectiveness by setting up send windows.

2010: Use It Wisely

Email marketing, with the biggest ROI of any marketing channel, is a path that can lead you to success. We hope these posts serve as stepping stones on your journey.

For more inspiration, read through the other email marketing tips that 2009 brought.

What would you like us to talk about in 2010? What steps are you planning to take in the new year? Let us know!

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Mr. Manyhats has much to do – and a cluttered inbox.

When he checks his email, he clears out all but the most pressing messages. Many of them don’t look particularly interesting or helpful anyway, and he can’t afford to waste his time.

Like a lot of people, he is suffering from a case of subscriber fatigue.

In the current economy, many companies are marketing especially aggressively. Some 247 billion emails are sent every day. In the melee, subscribers often choose one or two emails to open, and delete the rest.

Your goal? Get Mr. Manyhats to choose your email. But how?

Make ‘em Love You

Establish brand loyalty.

Your sender name is one of the first things subscribers see. If they already like you, you have a much better shot at that email being opened.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich author Ramit Sethi touts building relationships through personal response. Invite feedback and respond to it, promptly and specifically.

Check out more of Sethi’s thoughts on building an email community.

Command Their Attention

The subject line is where many subscribers make the decision to investigate further or toss out the case.

Go for something catchy but not cutesy; something surprising but not sensational. Try asking a question you know your demographic wants the answer to.

Hooking your audience is much easier with an appropriate subject.

Keep It Real

Reading plain English is more enjoyable than slogging through a formal missive or techno-garble.

Write friendly. Write real. Write effectively. Then send it to yourself. Do you want to open it?

Get Relevant

Make sure your emails are as relevant as possible to your subscribers’ interests.

According to The Social and Portable Inbox by Jupiter Research (2008), 50% of email users and 60% of frequent buyers (4+ purchases per year) said that if they did not find emails relevant, they would unsubscribe.

Try segmenting your subscriber list into categories. Alter your subjects and content to be most relevant to each category. If the subscriber is getting information they value, they’ll stick with you.

Balance the Scales

Promotions directly lead subscribers to buy or participate. Too many, though, may alienate subscribers.

Make sure you balance your content to provide enough helpful information that the subscriber experiences a true give-and-take. Try an 80:20 ratio of information versus promotions, and follow these tips for even better balance.

Dam the Floodwaters

The more emails you send, the more effective your marketing is, correct?

Actually, that’s dead wrong. Subscribers may feel like they are drowning in too many emails and choose to turn off the faucet altogether.

Pay attention to your frequency and how changing it affects your unsubscribes. Keep your subscribers swimming in your pond without sweeping them away.

Skip the Mourning Period

You are going to lose some readers in any case. People lose interest, they get busy and they move on.

Keep your subscriptions high by offering them everywhere you can. Keep enrolling new subscribers, and then do your best to create a positive experience for the demographic that is right for you.

Remember, though, that adding subscribers does no good if you don’t keep them. After all, a subscriber saved is a subscriber earned.