I ran a search called "how to send a mass email?" (forget keywords, I type exactly what I want to know!). Websites popped up offering email marketing solutions. I looked at a few and settled on Vertical Response for four reasons. I like the name. The home page is attractive. The site is easy to navigate. And I was impressed by the services offered. Simple.
 |
| Try it and let me know if you love it too! |
Yesterday I talked about utilizing Facebook pages. Social networks are vital for instant virility. Facebook is not the best solution to connect directly to my inner circle. Facebook spreads my news like seeds to the wind. There is hope in Facebook of reaching foreign soil (which I did--hello India!). But not all these seeds fall on fertile ground and not all Facebook friends are connected at the same time.
In trying to reach my outer circle, I can't forget my inner circle!
My inner circle is my fertile ground. It's the people who already know me, already subscribe to me, or who are in my email data base. Sending a direct message to them goes beyond casting a seed, it is planting a seed. The problem with Facebook is that posts have a short shelf life. With an email campaign, my message is patiently waiting for the recipient and can be opened at the leisure of the recipient. The shelf life can last as long as a week! And it's direct. It's from me to them--it's not a post for the world to see. In this digital age, it's personable.
So my attempts to communicate with my entire address book led me to Vertical Response and Vertical Response led me to email nirvana. It is amazing! All I expected was to have the parameters lifted so I could send an email to a large group, but I got so much more. This is what Vertical Response offers:
- Pay as you go Email marketing
- Social and Event Marketing
- Online Surveys
- Postcards
- Click-to-Conversion Tracking
- An "Unsubscribe" option on all emails
- Templates to create attractive emails
- Recipient list management
- Notification of which emails bounce back, which are duplicates, and how many people unsubscribe
- Vertical Response screens emails to ensure that spammers don't use their site.
- Create a sign-up form for Facebook Pages
Today I sent my "Monthly Newsletter" to my master list of 212 people.I advertised the sale price of my book, asked for reviews, and let people know they can book me for classrooms, girl scout troops, and birthday parties (yes, I said birthday parties. More on that another time.)
Once the bounce backs and duplicates were subtracted out--the email was delivered to 182 people. With the emails, I pay as I go. I paid $2.73 to send to 182 people. The price is based on the number of emails. For the amount of information I get in return--the $2.73 is totally worth it. These are my stats so far. The email went out around 10:00am and it is now around 7pm on the same day.
- So far 70 people have opened the email, that's 38%
- 8 people have clicked on links in my newsletter
- 1 person has unsubscribed (I love this because that means 69 people did NOT unsubscribe--yay!
There's more to the stat tracking but I won't go over everything. I'm going to attach a link to the email I sent today so you can see how pretty it is! I chose a newsletter template. I added some pictures too.
Click HERE to check it out!
Sounds like a challenge! If I worked for said company, I would search the net for blogs by similar conservative companies to present to management. There is nothing radical about a blog, they are free to create, they are under a company's complete control, and even comments can be moderated before they are posted. A blog behaves and can reflect the company's conservative values. The next step is to explain why they need one. Blogs are interactive with customers/clients. Blogs build a web presence. Blogs can look like websites but each post is it's own mini-website. Blogs reach people. If the company has something to say--why not blog?
ReplyDeleteA whole post on this doesn't fall under my 366 challenge criteria--however, I accept guest posts. If you can swing this company to start a blog and you want to write a "how to" article on the steps you took to accomplish it--I will consider it as a guest post. You can promote the company at the same time if you desire in your byline.
Thanks for reading! Jen