Many companies struggle with the ability to effectively nurture a lead after the initial acquisition. Regardless of the acquisition channel, creating a lead nurture process that reaches the prospect in the initial stages of the customer lifecycle is key. Lead nurturing is critical because it is about engaging in a consistent and meaningful dialog with prospects, regardless of their purchase timeframe. It is truly about reinforcing and building a trusted relationship with prospects after the initial acquisition. Each touch needs to be meaningful and make sense from the prospect’s perspective.
We identified a weakness in our marketing regarding leads that weren’t sales ready, and our ability to manage them. They were quickly falling to the wayside without any additional touches. This is careless when you think about the time and effort placed to create that first engagement and have it return successful. After discussing our business objectives, we created a strategy for impacting using email marketing.
Opt-In
Absolutely necessary to have a successful email marketing campaign is sending relevant messages to prospects and customers that have opted-in to your email marketing. We decided to include across all sources, an opt-in mechanism at acquisition. Only those that opted in for email marketing would receive our lead nurture email campaigns. For those that didn’t, we created a program that focused on offline channels. In order for an email lead nurture strategy to be successful, you have to require an opt-in. It reinforces the trust and furthers the conversation with the prospect. Read the rest of this entry »
Ever have an argument with a co-worker about which subject line would be better? I know we have them here at Bronto. Heck, we’ve even had company-wide contests to drum up fresh ideas for subject lines - anything that might take it to the next level.
When you have that many ideas about how to hook people into reading your message it can be hard to know which to use. Even when everyone agrees on which to use, it’s still just a guess. This has been brought to light in a recent post by DJ about first name personalization. Some of our clients have taken DJ to task and are doing the tests themselves (see the comments on the above linked post).
The new A/B split feature that we introduced in the Bronto Fall 2008 Release has come to the rescue. This is just what A/B splits are all about, testing and learning something new. One of the best part about A/B splits is that they are so easy to do.
Almost any time you send a message you should be doing an A/B test. If you always assume that you are doing what’s best for your email marketing program then you aren’t getting any better. Trust me, there’s always room to improve. In Bronto, we make it very easy to send an A/B Split. It is right there (look!) waiting for you to click it.
I have never been a big fan of personalizing any part of an email with the subscriber’s first name (subject line, salutation, etc). I think it is pointless and doesn’t really add value to the email. It doesn’t entice me to open the message. In fact, usually it has the opposite effect (”mark as junk”).
However, every time I bring it up amongst my peers at Bronto or in the email marketing ecosystem, a healthy - albeit heated - discussion ensues.
Yesterday, I was speaking with a client who was seeking my advice on first name personalization. I gave him my standard pitch against such a practice:
Bad data in = bad data out (See Ken Magil’s post about “Dear Stupid” from Barack Obama)
This client came back at me hard. “But DJ, we used Bronto’s A|B split and the subject line with first name personalization had a much higher open rate.” Now if you know me, you know that I hate being wrong. Hate it. But in this case, there is not really a right or wrong. Read the rest of this entry »
Heralded by trumpets, parades, and streams of confetti, we are proud to have released the latest and greatest Bronto this weekend. Now Bronto users have access to some fantastic new features as well as a much spiffed up interface.
You’ve no doubt heard about (and seen!) many of these exciting changes in my previous blog posts - the pre release teaser & the video intro. Now you have a chance to check it out in your very own account. Not a Bronto customer? I’m sorry to hear that, but no worries, you can contact us today and we’ll set you up with a free trial.
We’re very excited about this release here at Bronto, I personally have heard “Best release ever” and “Bronto is looking rock star” unsolicited from fellow Brontos. Which is great to hear, but it’s the clients that we’re always striving to wow. I was passed along a note from one client who was privy to a little release insight who said,
Kudos to your developers and thanks for listening to your clients.
That’s it right there, this release is all about you guys, our clients. You’re what keep us going, why we come in every morning. We’re here to make you better email marketers, and that’s what this release is all about - we’re going to make it even easier for you to be the best email marketer you can be.
Wait. It’s not holiday season yet! It was almost 90 degrees in Durham, NC last week. However, while it is not time to start shopping for the holidays as a consumer, it is definitely time to start planning if you are an email marketer.
In this month’s edition of BrontoFire, Account Manager Julie Waite joins me in dissecting several holiday messages from last year. We evaluate from Crutchfield, eBags, HP Shopping, and Nascar - all who entice consumers with unique methods.
If you have trouble viewing BrontoFire, take a look on YouTube or Blip.tv
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September 30th, 2008 by Sally Lowery
Posted in Best Practices, Optimization | 1 Comment » 
Ever have an argument with a co-worker about which subject line would be better? I know we have them here at Bronto. Heck, we’ve even had company-wide contests to drum up fresh ideas for subject lines - anything that might take it to the next level.
