JangoMail In Progress: newsletters

Showing posts with label newsletters. Show all posts

Thursday, July 11, 2013

The Do's & Don'ts of CSS

What do you think YOU'RE doing?
Are you a developer looking to custom code your email templates using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) - while maximizing the integrity of your layout or desired design? "Good luck," says the old school (i.e. here comes the hurt).

Fortunately, JangoMail has some solutions. So, we prepared a simple list of "do it" and "don't even think about it" guidelines to ensure your designs look as good and function as well within your emails (and mail services like Gmail and Outlook) as they would on your typically more stylized web pages.

Do it

Use tables for layouts, because they're more consistently supported
Put your CSS code inline with your content (i.e. <span style="font-family:Arial, Helvetica, Sans-Serif; font-size: 9px; color:#000000;">your content...</span>. Already created a template? Use this tool to move all of your CSS inline.
Set and fix your template width by assigning width, cell padding and cell spacing for all tables and table cells
Add whitespace around an image by using hspace and vspace tag attributes, as not all email services support margin and padding inline styles
Always include a link so recipients can view your email within a web browser, and "_blank" in links to prompt the opening of a new browser window or tab when viewed within browser-based email services
Include a visible link to your website and an eye-catching 'forward to a friend" button

Don't even think about it

Count on external or embedded style sheets, as many email services cut everything above the body tag and disable external style sheets
Use positioning and floats
Incorporate JavaScript into your email - it can trigger spam filters
Assign attributes to the <body> tag, as most email services won't acknowledge them
Use background images (background color is okay)
Include CSS shorthand or CSS properties for positioning (nested tables work better)

That wasn't so bad. It might not be the most inclusive list, but we didn't want to lecture you so late in the week. If you ever have any questions about custom coding, hit us up. Our JangoMail team is here to help any time.

Until next time, have a great rest of the week!

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Why Haven't You Joined The Video Bandwagon Yet?

Against everything your mother told you, we'll say it. You should do what everyone else is doing - because it could get you further. We're talking about the video "cliff"; and we're encouraging you to swan dive-DO IT.

Here's what's up

A recent study found that total video views among internet users in the US were up 23% year-over-year in Q4 2012. This isn't just an isolated finding, and to validate it, you only need to take a quick look around your own office. People love to share videos of all kinds. Tearjerkers, funny, colorful, imaginative, gross, you name it. The memorable, sensory exposure of video is a great way to grab attention, positive or negative, and prompt viewers to share it.

What this has to do with email marketing

If you can't see it by now, we have some work to do. Maybe these stats will get the point across:
A 2013 survey of marketing executives conducted by The Relevancy Group found that respondents who had used videos in their email campaigns saw real returns on their investments. Fifty-five percent reported higher click-through rates, 44% saw an increase in the amount of time subscribers spent with an email, and 41% reported an increase in the sharing or forwarding of emails.

If you're not doing it, you're not alone
The same survey cited above found that only one-quarter of marketers had actually used video in email marketing campaigns. Forty-three percent said they didn't use videos simply because they lacked the content, making it the most prominent obstacle to the practice. Take a good look at the bar graph to the right. Most of these obstacles seem fairly easy to overcome if you consider the potential results.

Get your footage together and GO!
It's typically assumed that video clips within email marketing is a perfect match for retailers. But, use your imagination, and this medium applies to just about everything. From spanning, enticing product shots that infect viewers with the shopping bug ... to the smiling faces of your baseball league's division champs, urging non-players to sign up for next season ... to clips of tropical destinations in January offered by your Chicago-based travel agency. It ALL works - and easily grabs attention beyond the written word. The biggest obstacle to video inclusion is lack of footage, and honestly, who doesn't have some kind of video capture device these days. And what you don't have, you can easily grab from business partners who are typically more than willing to share footage.

Inputting video into your emails - is it safe?
There are some limitations with many email clients, with security settings that do not permit "live" content (including video and even JavaScript) to be active within the email body itself. Certainly, we want to be able to get the best of both worlds here, so it's now a common practice to highlight a frame shot from your video and tag it with a hyperlink to an off-email host site. So, connect to your YouTube, Vimeo, or other channel, and email away!

As always, if you have any questions about this blog or any JangoMail feature, give us a shout. Until next week, we hope you're having a great start to summer!

Thursday, January 10, 2013

The new JangoMail.com is live!

Our new JangoMail website is truly all about YOU.

Since we started out, it’s been our only mission to do what we do best – by listening to you, our customers. We’ve always asked for input, feedback, and for you to be brutally honest about what we can do better. And when you responded, our design team went straight to work.

The result is a JangoMail.com that’s easier to read and navigate … featuring more comprehensive data about our growing list of intuitive features. The snappy, new color scheme is pretty neat, too.

JangoMail now features your very own customized, segmented content area, too. Whether you’re a Marketing or Brand pro who wants an off-the-shelf solution, or a Developer or IT guru looking to get your hands on some raw code. You’ll find everything you need to know to make the most of your email marketing.

Plus, we’ll show you the popular features your peers are using right now. (And you might want to take advantage of, too.)

Who is Jack the Jangolope? Like the now confirmed existence of our new mascot, JangoMail has proven that myth can really become reality when it comes to the once unattainable tools for highly successful email marketing. In other words, if our customers can dream it – our team will do its very best to create a tool, technology or feature they need to succeed.

Like our new homepage asks: Are you ready to make your email marketing the stuff of legends? Take a look around. Let us now what you think. Contact us if you have any questions. We may be taking a few minutes to catch our breath after working on our new website. But, you’d better believe we’ll still be on the lookout for your continued feedback to keep making JangoMail the best if can be for you.

Special thanks to our JangoMail development team for making our new website a reality!

Monday, December 05, 2011

Leverage Your Reports Part 2: Geotracking and Browser Data

Last week I introduced you to the idea of using your open and click reports to improve your email campaigns. This week I'll go one step further and talk about leveraging your Geotracking and Browser Reports.

Geotracking Data
JangoMail collects location data from everyone who opens your email. Look at the raw data in an Open or Click Report and you will see each recipient's city, region, zip code, country and even latitude and longitude. JangoMail also displays this data on a map.

Why is location data useful? You can use this data to cater your future email campaigns to your recipients in a number of ways.

If you have a retail store, try emailing only those in driving distance and encourage them to come in. Give them an in-store coupon.
If it's baseball season, try sending emails that mention each recipients' home team.
Do you get better responses in a certain part of the country? Find out. Are your winter-themed emails not getting through to those who live in the south? Are you sending people in Florida "Hooray for Summer!" emails? Try targeting your features based on the climate your recipient is in.
Consider how location influences culture. Cater to each location group separately based on the prevalent culture of that area.
Find out where the biggest concentrations of your customers live and increase your advertising efforts there. These reports are a great way to figure out where to boost your local ads.

Browser Data
You definitely want to know what browsers your customers are using. Most browsers display what you need them to, but what if your recipients are using smart phones? You may have lost their interest if your wide, complex email takes a lot of effort to read and interact with. Now is the time to find out: what percentage of your recipients read your emails with their phone?

Check out our Email Client report. If you have a significant number of smart phone users, consider emailing them separately with a smart phone-friendly format. Or, consider linking to a "smart phone-friendly" version at the top of your email.

How should your email newsletter format differ for a smart phone? Here are a few ideas, but remember - always test! What works for one company may not work for the next.

Shorten your message. Make it clean and concise with a clear call to action.
Simplify your format and decrease the width. An iPhone is 320px wide by 480px high. Even in landscape mode, that is probably a lot thinner than your current email newsletter.
Consider creating larger links and buttons that are easy to press with your fingers. A user is likely to give up if your link is too small for them to visit with a tap of a finger.
Preview your email on an actual smart phone. Make sure it looks good!

Finally, ask your recipients which format they would prefer. They may check their email on their phone, but wait to actually read it until they are by a computer.

So now you have some ideas on how to use Geotracking and Browser Data to improve your email campaigns. Are you ready to send out a more personalized, targeted email?

Create and Send to an Email List Based on Your Data
It's easy to create and send to an email list based on your Geotracking or Browser Data. Once you've analyzed your reports and decided who to email, all you need to do is pull up the report with the recipients you want to email and click the Create Email List or Send Email Campaign icon.

Full instructions are in our blog post titled: New Feature: Use a Report to Create and Send to an Email List.

Next week I'll talk about using social media to improve your email campaigns.