email marketing – Speedflow Bulgaria

Digital4Plovdiv for the Online Marketing and E-commerce Practices

Hristo — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 11:18:24 +0000

Yesterday Plovdiv was the meeting point for hundreds of IT professionals, enthusiasts and entrepreneurs, the reason being Digital4Plovdiv 2017. This year the conference was dedicated specifically to online marketing and e-commerce. It took place on 30 November at the St. Petersburg Hotel, Plovdiv. Ivan Totev, the mayor of Plovdiv, gave a welcoming speech and started the discussions.

Our team was pleased to be a part of the conference and learn in more detail about the hottest topics and the latest practices in digital marketing and online shop optimization. More than 30 specialists presented the most effective tips and tricks for the successful development of e-commerce businesses and increase in sales.

The conference program was held in three different halls. There were lectures, presentations, workshops and case studies. Everyone found something new and interesting to learn and apply to their work or business, including our team. Among the most discussed topics were Behavioral economics, SEO audit, SaaS, ERP systems, Internet security, video marketing, remarketing and many more.

All lecturers were prominent experts in their field with extensive work experience. It was a real pleasure for us to be part of over 300 participants at the event. More information about Digital4Plovdiv 2017 can be found on the website.

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40 ways to avoid spam filters

Hristo — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 10:56:53 +0000

Only those who haven’t run an email marketing campaign do not know what it feels like to be facing the fierce opposition of spam filters. Did you know that even if you get permission to send a message, 21% of your emails will still end up in the SPAM folder!

And of course! Spam filters do work hard for a good cause – higher efficiency and relevance of the content that ends up in your mailbox. But still, they hinder the deliverability of informative and important email messages to those who may actually need them. And we’re not talking only about the eCommerce business, promotions, etc. but actual important emails regarding updates, security info, and much more.

Therefore, we are presenting you today 40 effective ways to avoid spam filters in your next email marketing campaign. We advise you to use this checklist before clicking the “Send” button:

Send emails only to those who have allowed you to do so.
Use Double opt-in to increase your database of real subscribers.
Ask users to add your email to their “White List” (list of contacts).
A big no-no to purchasing email lists.
Do not send emails to those who have once unsubscribed from your services.
Multiple “Unsuccessful delivery” notifications? Stop emailing these recipients anymore.
Keep track of who deletes your emails without opening them. Stop sending them emails ASAP.
Send emails regularly reminding about yourself and your services. However, be careful with the frequency of it.
Keep yourself informed about recent law changes as well as the latest email marketing practices.
Your DKIM, SPF, ID, and Domain have to be set up correctly. Don’t have any idea what does this mean? Contact us here to learn more.
Use this free tool to check if you have been added to an email “Black list”. If so, take the necessary measures to be excluded.
Use a “From” name that is familiar to the recipient.
Do not use misleading titles like those beginning with “Re:” or “Fwd:”.
Use an actual email that users can reply to. Do not use noreply@xxxx.xx!
Avoid using words and phrases that are considered spam triggers. Free, buy immediately, money, cheap, offer are just a few examples.
Aim for a good image to text ratio.
The email content should match its title.
Avoid including attachments.
Use normal font size.
Be careful with the number of links you include in your text body.
Do not use too many links in your email signature too.
Use links that lead to credible and renowned websites.
We recommend using descriptive text for your links rather than simply pasting URLs.
Emails with personalized domain names are less successful than emails sent from Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.
Include an unsubscribe/opt-out If you already have one, don’t hide it.
Make sure that your unsubscribe/opt-out links work thirty days after the email has been delivered.
Format your text professionally.
Create a beautiful email design if you can.
Do not write whole words and phrases in capital letters.
Avoid using exclamation marks.
Text in red color? Forget it!
Do not include any video, Flash or JavaScript in the content of your email.
Do not incorporate forms or questionnaires in the email body.
Address recipients by their names.
Impeccable spelling, grammar, and punctuation are necessary.
Avoid keyword stuffing.
Optimize your email images, by creating alt tags.
The message, image, and language of your brand should resonate in the content of your email. This increases brand recognition.
Test your email by sending it to yourself first.
Use spam and email preview testing tools like Litmus, Email on Acid and Mail Tester.

What would you add to this checklist? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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6 Mistakes to watch out in your Email Marketing campaign

Hristo — Thu, 27 Apr 2017 17:04:00 +0000

When you engage with your prospects, leads and existing customers via an email marketing campaign, you are exercising a privilege, not a right.

If we forget that we are bound to commit other errors that will deem our marketing efforts useless.

Using email as a communication channel is a little tricky because:

You cannot take the direct contact for granted
You don’t always know who is on the other side
It is tough to change strategies during the course of the conversation

So, here are six things that you definitely want to avoid in your email marketing campaigns.

1. Non-Segmented Lists

Keeping an eye on all your mailing lists, rearranging them and reclassifying them might be a tedious task but undoubtedly necessary.

If I am a loyal customer of your brand, I wouldn’t feel okay if I constantly receive your offers and promotions for new signups. And if I am a money saver, I wouldn’t be very impressed with your expensive new product, even if it is proven to be of the highest quality.

You get the idea – think before you send!

2. Unclean Lists

The same logic as above applies here, but with added importance. Unclean lists not only diminish the efficacy of your email marketing campaign, but you are just begging to be labeled as a spammer by the spam filters.

Instead of continuously sending messages and newsletters to your hard bounces and full email inboxes, just remove them from your list and be done with it. Failing to do so will damage your sender reputation, sometimes irreversibly. Failing to do so will damage your sender reputation, sometimes irreversibly.

3. Ignoring CAN-SPAM

CAN-SPAM was the first official set of rules that became a standard for sending commercial email messages. It was first enacted in 2003 and gives you an exact definition of the Can Do’s and Can’t Do’s when you engage in email marketing. For a rundown of its most important requirements, you can check the regulations from the Federal Trade Commission.

4. Wrong Send Times

Send times matter, especially if your list is large. You need diversification. While your EU users are happy, your US users on the other end of the world might not appreciate that and simply ignore the message.

For example, one of our first email campaigns was rolling for some time when we realized that most of the emails were opened at around 5 pm. Meanwhile, we were distributing the messages at 6 pm. Changing this by only an hour showed a tremendous increase in open rates.

5. No Clear Value

This is a trap most often encountered with newsletters. When you have to produce content frequently, there is a chance that sooner or later you will exhaust your ideas or start repeating yourself.

Do not send email content just for the sake of sending it!

Make sure that the people you are reaching will receive something beneficial to them, something engaging – such as content that is relevant to their business, occupation, or lifestyle.

Only send emails to your list that offer clear value.

Remember that the hardest part is to get people to even open your email – don’t lose them just before the finish line!

6. No Attention to Detail

If you are a perfectionist by nature, you may have a head start at email marketing and properly using it for a campaign. The attention to every little detail will ensure that your efforts go the right way.

Starting from the subject line, you are already in the battle of drawing attention. Be too familiar or too pushy and you are just asking the user on the other side to ignore you or mark your messages as spam.

The content itself has to be adapted to your target group. The best option is to present it in both text and HTML formats, and let your recipient decide which is most suitable.

Finish it off with some awesome design to achieve the desired Wow! effect. Keep in mind that responsive design is more important than ever as mobile users already represent a huge share of the market and you don’t want to put them off.

I hope you avoid making mistakes others have already tested for you. Be patient, be logical and always think like you are on the other side of the email you are about to send.

…or simply trust the professionals and check our Marketing Services, delivered by a trained in-house team. Making sure your messages always arrive at their destination!

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