Bronto Blog

On March 13 - one week after the March 6 product update - we will begin enforcing a new unsolicited email complaint policy.

Login to your account and view the announcements on the Home tab to download a .pdf file of the new policy. Agency accounts - please email support if you desire an MS Word version of the document that you can re-brand to make available to your customers.

The new policy places certain restrictions on accounts with high complaint ratios. We’ve tracked the policy “behind the scences” for months and know that ~7% of our customers have “high” complaint ratios and will thus immediately be subject to these restrictions. If you are in the small group of customers that will be affected immediately, then we will contact you well before March 13.

If you have questions after reading the document, we suggest that you attend the webcast that we’re hosting on March 8 at 2PM EST. We’ll explain the policy in detail, how we enforce it, and, most importantly, address your questions. Click here to register for the webcast.

To recap:

• March 6 - Product Update
• March 8 - new Complaint Policy webcast - 2PM EST - register for the webcast
• March 13 - new Complaint Policy enforced

As always, contact us if you have any questions.

Our next product update will hit the streets Tuesday March 6. Some of the new features and changes include:

• Delivery throttling to optimize message deliverability.
• Visibility into background activities such as contact imports and segments. (In other words, we’ll tell you how long your import is going to take.)
• A history of all of your open and closed support cases.
• A new Home tab with quick feature links and deeper reporting.

We’ll have more details and screenshots over the next couple weeks. Stay tuned!

Bronto Product Manager Eric Boggs was featured in an article on ClickZ.com today. The piece outlines the email marketing impact of the recent Outlook 2007 release. Check out the article when you have a minute.

If you haven’t already, we suggest that you read more about Outlook 2007 in the Bronto Blog.

We’re adding a new recurring presentation - “Bronto Advanced Topics” - to our educational webcast series. “Advanced Topics” will air the 2nd Tuesday of every other month at 2PM. (Think 2-2-2-2.)

We’ll kick off the series next Tuesday, February 13 at 2PM with a webcast that covers Bronto’s various reporting features. The presentation will offer a mix of how-to’s and best practices that will equip you to get the most out of your Bronto account.

To attend the webcast:

• Go to http://www.webdialogs.com/join Tuesday at 2PM.
• Log in with Conference ID #23129.
• Call 888.676.3315 and log in with Conference ID #23129.

We look forward to seeing you next week!

Better late than never - here’s Part II of our 4 part deliverability and best practices tips series. (Read Part I if you missed it.) This week, we’re talking subject lines.

Enjoy. Leave a comment if you have questions or feedback.

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Strong subject
lines are (obviously) essential for a productive email marketing program. The subject line can be the determining factor between the inbox and the spam folder, between an open and a missed opportunity. Here are a few quick pointers for crafting subject lines that get results:

Get to the Point

Numerous studies - and common sense - show that the best subject lines are between 30 and 40 characters. There isn’t much visible space in the subject line, so you need to be judicious in how you use it.

You should always use direct language and descriptions and always include your brand name in the subject line or email alias. By including your brand name in the from line and/or alias, you can consider devoting the entire subject line to the call to action. For example, instead of:

From: DinosRUs.com

Subject: DinosRUs.com - Say “I Love You” With A Bronto This Feb 14

consider:

From: DinosRUs.com

Subject: Say “I Love You” With A Bronto This Feb 14

The difference is subtle, but the 10-12 characters you save may make the difference between “Say I Love You With A Bro” and “Say I Love You With A Bronto This Feb 14″.

Avoid Obvious Pitfalls

Subject lines that are overly aggressive and/or promotional are likely to be filtered into a junk folder or blocked as spam. Before you send any email or newsletter, run it through a spam checker to diagnose potential content problems.

It also goes without saying that you should be careful to avoid a “spammy” subject line. Avoid phrases like “Free”, “Offer”, “Money”, “Weight Loss”, excessive use of exclamation marks, misspelled words, ALL CAPS, etc.

Also - take a second to make sure you’re not saying something completely stupid. I once received a newsletter email from another email marketing company (which shall remain nameless) with the following subject line:

“Announcing An Important Announcement”

Either someone didn’t proof the subject or this company has a Department of Redundancy Department.

Oh yeah - and always take a second to make sure you spelled everything correctly. Please.

Relevance is Key

Email marketing is an ongoing conversation. As such, you should strive to speak to your contacts on a one-to-one basis. Use personalization to refer to contacts by name, geography, or group. Relevancy in your subject lines is absolutely critical in coaxing the contact to open the message.

“XYZ Event – October 30” is an OK subject line. “Bob – XYZ is in New York on October 30” is a much better subject line.

Testing, 1,2,3.

Find what works for you. Define objectives, set benchmarks for opens, clicks, conversions, etc., and continue to customize and refine your subject lines over time to find the right phrasing and structure. Use Reporting Groups to measure your performance.

Also – once you think you’ve got it figured out – fight the temptation to rest on your laurels. Continue to test and re-test to find new ways to engage your audience.