Learning Zone Archives - Page 2 of 20

How To Unsubscribe RocketResponder Subscribers Using Gmail Labels

May 12, 2015June 10, 2015 Patrick Griffin Leave a comment

There will be occasions when you want to unsubscribe people from your mailing list.

You may not have given much thought to the idea of actually unsubscribing people from your list(s) but it is actually a good idea.

A lot of email marketing software providers – especially the ones which charge users per subscriber – don’t encourage customers to unsubscribe people from their mailing lists at all.

However what is the point of sending your email marketing messages to people who no longer want to receive them?

A smaller, more targeted list, is far better than a larger list which is less responsive because many of the subscribers have lost interest over time. (more…)

How Email Marketing Software Can Improve Customer Retention And Acquisition

April 27, 2015April 27, 2015 Patrick Griffin Leave a comment

Customer Retention and Acquisition

Customer Retention and Acquisition: It is one thing getting a customer for your business, but it is quite another to keep that customer.

There are so many things that could happen to stop them remaining with you and going on to be a valuable repeat customer.

In business, it is repeat customers that you really want to really encourage, the kinds of people who love what you do and are happy to spend money with you time and time again.

Here are some possible reasons why customers may decide not do carry on doing business with you:

– they are unhappy with your customer service

– you make it difficult to buy from you

– it is hard to get information on exactly what you offer for sale

– they feel that they are not important to your business

– the overall ‘customer experience’ is not good.

The good news is that when it comes to customer retention, using email marketing software such as RocketResponder could really help with all of the possible reasons shown above for customers deciding to take their business elsewhere.

Let’s take each point in turn:

Your customers are unhappy with the service you provide them.

This is easy to put right. If you have the mindset that you want to retain customers for as long as you possibly can then you will work hard on keeping customers happy.

One great way is to use email to inform your customers about your business and to let them know how they can contact you if things go wrong. Use a short email series when a new customer joins your list to show that you care about each individual customer and how you go the extra mile to ensure that your service will meet and exceed their expectations.

You make it difficult for customers to buy from you.

It is amazing how many businesses fail here. If you do business online then there must be a quick and easy way for customers to buy items from your website. The process should be clear, obvious and very easy to complete.

You can also make it easy to buy from you by sending out emails to your subscriber list which contain information on your current offers, special deals, seasonal promotions and so forth. Also be sure to include a link in the email to the sales page for the deals, services or products that you are highlighting.

Nobody will ever complain that you make it too easy to buy from you.

It is hard to find out what you offer for sale.

Once again you cannot be too obvious about this. Your website, if you are online, should clearly state what you sell so that there is no doubt in the visitor’s mind whether or not they are on the right site for what they want to buy.

Once again use emails to highlight your latest offers. The great selection of email templates and images inside RocketResponder really let you show off what you are selling to maximum advantage and, of course, you can upload your own images to send to your customers via email.

An example of a RocketResponder email template

Your customers don’t feel that they are important to you.

This is a really big mistake and one you don’t want to make. Remember that by building a list of customers or subscribers you are building a list of individuals.

When you email your list, always address the emails to the individual and write as though you are writing to just one customer. Imagine your ideal customer and write your emails for that individual. Just doing this will go a long way to ensuring that all your customers feel valued and important to your business.

Your overall customer experience is lacking.

These days, increasing numbers of customers want to do more than simply buy something from you. They want the buying process to be an experience which begins with them thinking about making the process and continues right through to using the goods or service that they have purchased.

If that process is pleasurable then it is more likely that you will retain more of your customers and attract new ones.

This is one of the reasons that you will want to send out emails on a regular basis to your customers. Say you are introducing a new range of goods in two month’s time. Well it would be a great idea to explain ahead of time that you have exciting new goods coming soon. You can give more and more details as the launch approaches to build up excitement in the minds of your customers.

Then when you are ready to go live a series of emails explaining that you can now buy, and a direct link to the sales page, should really pay dividends.

Finally remember that you will be adding new subscribers to your email list all the time and this is how you can do well on the customer acquisition front.

When someone joins your list and sees that you have a well-structured series of emails to show that you care about your customers and really want to help them, then they will be more likely to want to go on and buy from you.

Using email for customer retention and acquisition is not difficult but it is a really important step in both processes. With RocketResponder we have worked hard behind the scenes to ensure that getting the right message to your customers is fun, really quick and easy to do.

An example of just one of the RocketResponder fully customisable email templates

Top email tips: How To Do An Email Follow Up Series

April 9, 2015April 9, 2015 Patrick Griffin Leave a comment

how to do an email follow up series

How To Do An Email Follow Up Series: When people subscribe to your autoresponder email list they expect to be contacted by you. After all they have given you their email address for the purpose of you contacting them by email.

So when you create a group of subscribers (and remember with an autoresponder like RocketResponder you can have as many different subscriber groups as you want) you will need a series of emails to send out to them.

If you think of your subscribers as guests to an event you have invited them to attend, then your email series is the content you have laid on for them to enjoy.

The beauty of an autoresponder is that nobody ever misses anything by arriving late for the event…the content for each new subscriber begins only once they show up to hear what you have to say.

Here is how it is done…

Writing An Email Followup Series

Assume that you run a website that specializes in everything to do with exotic cats and you sell related products in the exotic cat care market.

You have a form prominently displayed on your website’s homepage which asks people to “Subscribe now to get all my insider secrets about exotic cats and to be first to receive my latest offers.”

Now you want to write some emails – your follow up series – which each subscriber will receive over a time period of your choosing.

For this example you have a short series of just seven emails. These might be the subject area you want to cover in your email series.

1. Welcome to my world of exotic cats, who I am and what you can expect to get from me.

2. Tell me about your exotic cats…follow me on Twitter and post your pictures on my Facebook exotic cats page.

3. Ten top tips for caring your your long haired cats.

4. Why your rare breed of cat is at risk of these three diseases.

5. These diet plans will ensure your cat lives a long and healthy life.

6. Funny stories about cat ownership.

7. Top 20 exotic cat videos on YouTube

Let’s say you want to send out two emails a week – so, for each of the seven messages, you would set the number of days after the subscriber joins your list, that you would like it to be sent out.

You might do it like this:

Message 1 – goes out on on day one

Message 2 – goes out on day three

Message 3 – goes out on day seven

Message 4 – goes out on day ten

Message 5 – goes out on day 14

Message 6 – goes out on day 17

Message 7 – goes out on day 21.

In this example it would take three weeks to deliver your seven messages but the overall size of your email series and the time frame for which you want it delivered is totally up to you.

It might be that you have specific products or services that you have to offer and these offers can be added into the relevant emails.

So a link to your latest deals on cat grooming products would fit naturally into the email about caring for long-haired cats, while your specialist cat good products could be linked to the email on cat diet plans.

You can add to the email series at any time, edit individual emails or change your offers.

One really important point is that not every email needs to contain an offer…in fact it is far better to limit your offers or people will think that you are only interested in their money.

It is good, however, to have a link to be clicked in every email as this gets your subscribers into the habit of clicking on your links. Sometimes the link could be to an offer and at other times to a page on your blog or one of your social media channels for example.

RocketResponder allows you to handle multiple lists of subscribers from one account and managing your email series is simple and straightforward.

Why Do I Need An Autoresponder?

April 8, 2015April 8, 2015 Patrick Griffin Leave a comment

Why Do I Need An Autoresponder? One of the things we are always finding at RocketResponder, is that the most diverse groups of people and organizations can benefit from using an autoresponder.

Two of the most common questions we get asked are “What is an autoresponder?” and “Why do I need an autoresponder?”

The first question was addressed in this blog post – What is an autoresponder and how does it work? – and the second one is the subject of this current post.

It might be easier to first set out why you might not need to use an autoresponder. Basically if you are only sending emails to friends or family then you will not need an autoresponder…a regular email service will more than adequately meet your needs.

When using regular email, you manually write out and send an email to, typically, one person at a time and every time you want to send an email message then you have physically write it out and send it.

Why Do I Need An Autoresponder?

If you find that you are regularly having to send the same emails to different people then you most certainly could benefit from using an autoresponder which will allow you to send the same email, or series of emails to multiple people, automatically as they sign up to receive emails from you.

If you don’t regularly send the same emails to different people – but could see how doing so would be of benefit to you – then you could also benefit from using an autoresponder.

Here are just some categories where using an autoresponder could bring big benefits and save you a lot of time in physically sending emails.

small businesses – contact your customers and keep them updated with special offers and promotions

large businesses – keep customers updated with special offers and promotions while also managing your internal email communications

special interest groups – send out information about your niche to those who share the same passion as you.

bloggers – let your readers know as soon as your blog has new content

affiliate marketers – promote launches and affiliate offers to your list at exactly the time you want to. Never miss a launch date again.

restaurants – let your customers know about special menus, themed events, food and beverage deals and offers.

website owners – maximize targeted traffic by building up a subscriber list of fans.

political groups – contact potential voters, organize support and publicize campaigns.

churches – contact your congregation about upcoming services, spread God’s word and reach out to the wider community.

non profits – highlight the work you do, explain why it is so important and raise your profile.

internet marketers – having an efficient, reliable autoresponder is the life-blood of your business.

These are just a small selection of people who would benefit from using an autoresponder, but the list is virtually endless.

In all cases there has to be a desire to communicate information to a specific group of people on the one hand and a desire for a group of people to receive that information on the other.

An autoresponder is the tool that brings those two groups together and ensures that your message gets out quickly and efficiently.

What Is An Email List?

April 7, 2015 Patrick Griffin Leave a comment

What Is An Email List?

When it comes to communicating with groups of people via email, then you will constantly hear people talking about their email lists.

But what is an email list, where does it come from and why do you want one?

So let’s break this down and look at each question in turn.

What is an email list?

According to Wikipedia: “A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is referred to as “the mailing list”, or simply “the list”.

That is factually correct but it misses one very vital element which you will need to understand if you are going to get the best out of the interactions you have with your list.

Never overlook the fact that your list is made up by individual people and it is the individuals on the list with whom you are communicating when you send out emails.

This may seem like an obvious point but it is something you should have at the forefront of your mind every time you communicate with your list, so that your messages are always personal and relevant.

So while you will be sending emails to multiple recipients, the trick is to make each recipient feel as though the email was written just for them. Achieve that and you will have a really wonderful relationship with your list.

Where does my email list come from?

When you use automated email software like RocketResponder for the first time, you don’t have a list at all to begin with.

What happens is people subscribe, or sign up, to be added to your list. If you have a website or blog you can invite people to sign up to your list in order to receive relevant information from you about their particular area of interest.

It can be quite common to give subscribers an incentive to join your list, such as a free report, a discount on their first order from you or some other offer which may encourage them to trust you with their email address.

It should go without saying that you will get the best response from your list of people if you actually deliver what you said you would when people granted you permission to email them.

For example if you promised to give people your ‘insider secrets’ to getting upgraded by the major airlines as an incentive to join your list then this should be the first thing they receive.

Be upfront and honest with your subscribers and you can have people on your email list for many years.

Why do I want an email list?

No matter what industry or niche you find yourself in, you will want an email list is there is a group of people with whom you would like to communicate via email.

You might want to promote your latest offers to potential customers, inform people about your specialist area of expertise, get a message out to supporters, inform, entertain or raise awareness for a cause.

If you have something to say and there is an audience which wants to hear your message then the email list is a way of bringing you and your audience together and a service like RocketResponder is the tool which manages every aspect of this communication.