On Track With Jack: Reconsider Email Attachments

Hello JangoMail Users!

Jack here reporting from the JangoMail headquarters. Today's tip comes from our support team:

Reconsider Email Attachments

When you have a large file to send, you may want to think twice about sending as an attachment. Ask yourself, "Is there a better way to get my message across?" Size and security are the two main deliverability issues that will prevent your subscribers from receiving your attached message.

There is a better way to incorporate files into your email marketing plan. Upload your assets to JangoMail and embed them within your email. For larger files, post to your website and create links within the body of your email. Encourage readers to click for more information.

Embedded links will not only increase traffic back to your site, but will also provide you with click tracking data throughout your email to see what your audience is interacting with the most.

Emails without attachments are also easier to access since downloading is not required. It sounds silly, but subscribers are usually on the go and this saves them a step. Convenience is key!

To recap:

• Attachments could cause deliverability issues.
• Email links encourage users to visit your website, which will increase traffic.
• You can track clicks throughout your email to see what your audience is interacting with most.
• Messages without attachments are easier for your recipients to access.  Your message is just a click away instead of taking additional steps to download.
• Are there times when attachments are needed? Of course. That's why we support them. Just remember to think twice before you send any attachments to make sure it's the right message for your audience!

If you need help with anything, like installing click tracking, please Contact Support.



Sincerely,

Jack the Jangolope
Department of Awesome
JangoMail

About Jack

Jack the Jangolope is our JangoMail mascot.  Each week, look for Jack's emails for marketing advice, trends, and quick tips on how to grow your email marketing plan to the fullest!  Hop into email marketing each week with Jack's helpful tips!

What is a Jangolope? Find out HERE

We want to hear from you. Remember, at JangoMail it's your email, your way.  Have a topic you would like Jack to cover?  Email us at marketing@jangomemail.com with the subject line: On Track With Jack.  Follow Jack on Facebook

Gene Marks: Are You a Great Customer?

A guest post by Gene Marks


Why I’m In Love With Andrew.  Yes, That’s Right:  Love.

Andrew, I love you.

No, not in that way.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.  It’s just that you’re a good guy and I’ve known you for almost ten years now.  You’ve been a great client of ours.  You’re nowhere near our largest.  In fact, I just checked this and I think you paid us less than $2K last year for services.  But that’s completely OK.  Because I look forward to speaking with you.  I’m happy to be your service provider.  I really enjoy doing business with you.  You are the kind of client everyone should have.  And everyone should aspire to be.  Why is that?

For starters, you are nice to me and my people.  You treat us with courtesy.  You offer coffee.  You place us in a nice conference room or cubicle when we come onsite to do work.  Your employees, watching how you act, act the same.  We never feel like villains when we come to your offices.  We appreciate your friendly atmosphere and we like the fact that you and your people treat us like an extension of your own company.  Some of our clients treat us terribly:  their offices are dim and their employees pretend we don’t exist.  It’s as if we’re the enemy.  We’re not.  And we appreciate that you recognize that.

You do what you say you’re going to do.  You’d be surprised how many people don’t.  They sign contracts with us, promising to pay when services are performed, and then we find ourselves chasing them down for money weeks or even months later.  It’s demoralizing, frustrating and unprofitable.  So thank you.  Thank you for paying your bills on time.  Thank you for getting us the materials that we request so we can do our jobs.  Thank you for being there when you say you’ll be there.  Thank you for not keeping us waiting, changing the dates of our visits again and again and letting us know in advance if there are any plans in your company that will affect the services that we’re performing.

You want to learn, not attack.  We provide technology services.  That’s our expertise.  It’s not your expertise.  Thank you for recognizing that.  We appreciate that when you don’t understand something you don’t attack us.  You don’t become defensive.  You don’t unfairly accuse us of taking advantage.  You respect our role and our expertise.  You don’t hide your insecurities or lack of confidence behind an angry tirade to make yourself look better in front of your employees.  You are not afraid to admit that you’re ignorant about certain things.  We all are.  You ask us to explain these things, to educate you, to help you learn how you can be better.  We appreciate this.  We hate feeling like we’re the bad guy or that we’re doing something underhanded or taking advantage of your ignorance when it’s really you that doesn’t understand.  Thanks for admitting this and being a good partner.

You are the best kind of client Andrew.  You know what you know.  And you know what you don’t know.  You hire us, and other outside service providers, for our expertise.  You don’t nickel and dime.  You’re not confrontational.  You recognize, correctly, that we are in this to help you succeed.  Because when you succeed we succeed.  Good service providers know this.  And so do their customers.  Yes Andrew, I love you.  But no, not in that way (not that there’s anything wrong with that).  I love you because you’re the best kind of customer there is.

Our New "On Track With Jack" Series

By: Melonie Mottice
Marketing Specialist

Introducing…our new series: On Track With Jack.  Each week, look for our new emails and blog posts from our mascot, Jack the Jangolope, on marketing advice, trends, and quick tips. Jack will offer insight on how to improve your email marketing so you can use your JangoMail account to the fullest.  He will cover common support issues we receive from our call center, and the latest news in email marketing, to keep you on track.

What is a jangolope and why does one named Jack have tips for me?
To start, a jackalope is a mythical creature known as a jackrabbit with antelope horns. Over time the jackalope continued to change into what we, at JangoMail, call the jangolope.

Long, long, long ago a curious jackrabbit stumbled upon an old computer.  He grew tired of receiving and sending plain, ineffective emails.  He knew there had to be an easier way.  The jackrabbit thought long and hard.  Finally, he had an idea to evolve email marketing above all the rest.  As his idea grew, so did his antlers.

Through the wild countryside of North America, the jackalope soon became known as the jangolope because of his savvy computer skills.  Jack is a direct descendant of the original jangolope.  Half jackrabbit, half antelope, 100% email marketing professional.

Hop into our blog each week with Jack's helpful tips!

We want to hear from you. 
Remember, at JangoMail it's your email, your way.  Have a topic you would like Jack to cover?  Email us at marketing@us.jangomail.com with the subject line: On Track With Jack. Jack also has his very own Facebook page.  Follow Jack on Facebook.

How To: Upgrade your private label app to the new interface

JangoMail has for a long while offered a private label solution, such that you can fully brand the JangoMail solution around your own name and domain.  For more information, click here.

Given the launch of JangoMail's new interface a couple weeks ago, private label solutions can now be upgraded to use the new interface.  The one key difference in personalizing the private label application now versus in the old interface, is now you can upload a custom stylesheet (CSS file) which will override the JangoMail default styles.  Previously, you had to delinate ahead of time logo choices and color choices for certain areas of the application.  Now you have the ability to override any style by uploading your own CSS file to ftp://yourprivatelabeldomain.com.

To upgrade your private label solution to the new user interface, follow these steps:

1. Contact Support and ask them to convert your master account to the new UI.

2. After the appropriate response, login to your master account from www.yourprivatelabel.com website.

3. You can customize all styles within the interface by overriding the default JangoMail styles.  Upload your CSS file to ftp://yourprivatelabeldomain.com.  The easiest way to determine what styles to define is to use the Google Chrome browser while logged into the private label, and hover an area you'd like to change, and hit CTRL+SHIFT+C to reveal the style tag associated with that element.

In this example, the style div#wrapperNav is revealed, and can be overridden.  Create a file called CustomStyles.css and FTP it to the root of ftp://yourprivatelabeldomain.com.

4. You can experiment with your CustomStyles.css file on your master account until the desired look and feel is achieved.  After you are done designing, contact Support again to upgrade your sub-accounts to the new interface.

Get The Click: Five Effective Subject Line Strategies

By: Melonie Mottice
Marketing Specialist

It all starts with the email subject line; the first thing people see when they receive an email. The goal of any effective email relationship is to hook the attention of your audience right from the start, delivering your message in full to retain high open rates.  So, how do you get the click?  Follow these five simple, yet effective subject line strategies to keep them coming back for more!

1.  Be Direct And To The Point:  At glance, your subject identifies the content of the email. Whether you are announcing a special offer, event, or news update, be clear about the campaign.  Don’t send mixed signals.  We recommend approximately 50 characters or less, with the exception of highly targeted emails.

2.  Keep The Mystery Alive:  Don’t lay it all out on the line.  We want to intrigue our readers to read on, inviting them to open the email and read our message in full.  Use catchy words to trigger interest, while capturing the purpose of the email.

3.  Stay Fresh: Repetition will lower open rates.  While it's important to establish a brand, each subject line should highlight new content.  If you have a long-term message, work on building your brand to compliment your new material.

4.  Say ‘No’ To Spammy Words:  Remember to always put yourself in the shoes of the recipient.  What emails attract you?  Which ones do you delete right out of the gate?  Avoid excessive use of words like free, help, percent off, and reminder.  Multiple exclamation points, dollar signs, words in all CAPS, and these keywords and phrases will trigger spam filters.

5.  Testing 1, 2, 3:  When in doubt, test!  Worried about a long-term message? Test and see what works best for your audience.

If you have any questions, please contact us for help!

Gene Marks: Why Business Is Worth So Little

A guest post by Gene Marks

I’m still (relatively) young, so I don’t want to sell my business.  Also, I have optimistic hopes for the economy over the next few years and this may be a good period for me to earn a few bucks, particularly after all the past slow years.  Yeah, I’m definitely not going to cash out.  But these are not the real reasons why I’m not ready to sell my business.  The real reason is this: my business isn’t worth very much.

Is yours?

Sure, I’ve got plenty of customers.  But none of them are under a long term contract so there’s no guaranteed revenue stream.  And, being a service business, I don’t have many assets.  I’ve got cash and accounts receivable and that’s worth something to a potential buyer.  I have no debts and my payables are low, so that’s also a good thing.  But I don’t have any real property or equipment, except for a few computers and some office furniture.  Maybe your business has a better balance sheet than mine.  Maybe you’ve got a lot of equipment that has a good resale value.  Or a warehouse full of inventory.  Or long term contracts, or a big building with a low mortgage.  If you do then good for you.  Those are all hard assets and they all have value.  So you’ll definitely get a price for those.

But that’s not a business.  Those are just assets.  Each one of them has a market value.  They can be sold off as a group or individually.  You’ll hopefully get more than what you paid too.  But you’re not going to get what your business is really worth unless you build up a business that’s really worth something.  One that can stand on its own.  That’s the mark of a truly valuable business.

Take a McDonalds franchise, for example.  Now that’s a valuable business.  Sure, there’s equipment and property and hard assets.  But there is also something else:  a process.  If you own a McDonald’s franchise your employees know the process.  Everyone knows their job, from the manager down to the fry cook.  There are procedures to follow.  There are written manuals.  And rules.  If the fry cook leaves then you replace him with another fry cook who gets trained accordingly to those same procedures.  You buy from the same suppliers under established, long term contracts.  You have the same procedure for selling products to your customers, one that minimizes time and maximizes output.  Heck, even if your manager ups and leaves you can find and teach another manager.  You’re just inserting that person into the system.  It’s like a machine with replaceable parts.

Is your business like that?  Can you disappear for a week, two weeks, three weeks and it just keeps running?  Do you have a system in place?  I don’t.  If I were to get hit by a bus tomorrow my business would fold up within weeks.  I have no procedures or policies.  I’m a micromanager.  Everything needs to pass through my hands.  Every job is different, every project unique.  If someone were to buy my business they would need to also hire me along with it.  Who else would keep things running until the new owners could establish their own mark?  This is not value.  This is just another excuse for employment.

I’m not complaining, mind you.  My business is doing well.  And it’s been growing.  For the past twenty years my company has provided a livelihood for me and my family.  It has been a source of income and support for my employees and contractors.  But besides its cash and receivables it’s really not of any value to anyone.  Is yours?

Gene Marks writes daily for The New York Times and weekly for Forbes, Inc. Magazine, Huffington Post and Fox Business.  He runs a 10 person consulting firm outside of Philadelphia.

New Separate Save and Test Buttons

By: Melonie Mottice
Marketing Specialist

Some of you may have noticed that over the weekend we launched two new buttons on our interface.  The old Save/Send A Test button has been replaced with two new buttons, so you can save without having to send a test email.

The Save button saves the email campaign you are working on and the Send A Test generates a separate preview, but does not automatically save.  It creates a new version in preview form.  Please remember to save often!  

When you are ready to send your email, you need to make a copy of the email, and then you can send. 

If you have any questions regarding the change contact us at: 1-855-709-4099, or submit a ticket at jangomail.com/support. 

Introducing…Our NEW User Interface

By: Melonie Mottice
Marketing Specialist

The wait is over! We are pleased to announce our new user interface here at JangoMail.  The new design combines the old with the new.  We’ve taken suggestions directly from you, our valued clients.  Enjoy our fresh new look that is easy to use and navigate, delivering the latest to you in email technology.

Here are our new features:

New Look: You’ll notice new matching colors to the site along with a well organized, easy to use dashboard that houses popular links.  These shortcuts are not only visually appealing, but convenient for easy access.

Walkthrough Guides:  Each user will appreciate the walkthrough guides which give an interactive tour of the entire system.  You will initially be prompted to take the tour, but can recall or hide the guides at anytime.

Navigation: The most important change has been made to our navigation.  JangoMail now has submenus which allow users to access features within the Reports, Messages, and List sections without interrupting any work.

Help Section: Whether you need a quick reference point or have an in-depth question, our help sections are everywhere.  Access explanations, useful links, tutorials and tips on each page to the right.

Countdown:  At the very top of the page, you’ll notice our new countdown feature which tracks the number of days left in your usage period, your next usage period, data used, and number of sent messages.  Note the Upgrade Account button next to the countdown for an easy upgrade.

The goal of our new interface was to improve our overall look and usability. We hope you enjoy our new features and look forward to answering any questions you may have.  Please don't hesitate to call us at 855-709-4099, or submit a ticket at jangomail.com/support.

Video: Tour our new User Interface!

As part of our continuing effort to provide the best service and functionality, we've recently upgraded our user interface.  Our very own Dave Walker has recorded a brief overview to help our customers better understand the changes we've made.  Click on the video below to watch!

As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call us at 855-709-4099, or submit a ticket at jangomail.com/support.

Don't Miss The School Bell, Email Communicators!

Hey parent group leaders, school administrators and after-school program organizers, this one's for you. Email communications distributed through schools ensure everyone plays nice on the playground. More specifically, keeping parents and teachers in the loop about school-related events is critical to their happiness - and yours.

What? Email's not part of your curriculum? K - have fun with this all year ...

Still here? Awesome - no one wants to face the wrath of an angry parent. So don't! 

Email is the most cost-efficient, time saving distribution channel for school-related communications. The backpack express is anything but reliable, and word-of-mouth is lost on the young (i.e. they forget A LOT). We're sure you have plenty of content to pass along to parents and teachers. 

So the only question that remains: How do you get everyone on the same page - or in this case, on the same school email distribution list?

The answer is simple.  Most parents are plugged in - email, calendar alerts, Facebook & Twitter. And connecting to where your parents are is as easy as offering them a few choices in the places they're most apt to stay in touch with your school. Oh - and using JangoMail. (Duh.)

The choices:

• Add an Email List Signup Form to your school's website. Most parents prefer email, and it's highly effective way to communicate daily updates, weekly newsletters and time-sensitive alerts. You can determine what information you want to collect (name, telephone #s, address, etc.) on JangoMail's customizable, email signup forms to create distribution lists for specific grade levels, neighborhoods, volunteer rosters, etc.

• Share the announcement via Social Media. For parents who are less likely to open emails after work hours, but are plugged into social updates on their mobile devices, Facebook and Twitter are great ways to keep them in the loop last minute. Create a View as Webpage link in your email and share it on your profiles. It's a handy way to guide parents back to your email communication. If you know there's a lot of chatter on your profiles - or that of your PTO/PTA, take a few minutes to share your announcements on those pages.

• Backpack express? Sure, why not, you can try to send your signup forms through and hope they come back to school in one piece for you to then manually enter in your copious free time (exhale). But then again, save your sanity and skip straight to the bullets above. Plus, you'll be 'going green' by holding off on paper. Aren't you eco-clever?

Got questions? We'd like to think we have answers. Hit us up anytime. And to all the kids, parents, teachers and school staff heading back this month ... best of luck to all of you this year. It's going to be a great one!

Got a few cooks in the kitchen? Bring it - you've got JangoMail.

Managing multiple clients or in-house departments is child's play using our cutting-edge email marketing features. Some of our clients' favorites include the ability to create any campaign, capitalize on results reporting, and share out to as many or as few team members and partnering agencies as you want.

Here's how to do it:

Create sub-accounts
Easily create sub-accounts for your clients underneath a master umbrella account. With your consent, internal or external marketing, design, public relations and digital agencies can take full advantage of our highly flexible client sub-account capabilities. This feature allows you to maintain multiple JangoMail accounts; each distinctly modified to best service the unique needs of each entity.
It’s a smart deal for your business, too. All accounts are billed together, so you’ll get the lowest cost per email of the combined total sending volume.

Create multiple logins

You can create unique login credentials (username and password) for your account, without requiring the creation of additional accounts.
Any authorized user can have access, with the same permissions as the main username/password. For added protection, only the Administrator's login has API access, and the authority to initiate mass emails through an external email client or FTP to the JangoMail server.

Reporting only logins
Not everything is for everyone’s eyes – or usage. JangoMail lets you create separate logins for your account that allow a specified user to see and utilize reporting functions. However, they don’t have the ability to access other functions of the site that you’d rather keep proprietary.

Private Label

Keep JangoMail behind-the-scenes, so your business can steal the show. JangoMail features private label capabilities, which allow you to create a 100% domain-branded private label solution that re-brands JangoMail as your own personal email advertising application.

List sharing
If your master account contains sub-accounts, JangoMail lets you share out email lists across any of those sub-accounts. Those sub-accounts can then share email lists between other sub-accounts. Information is only proprietary as dictated by your master account, allowing sub-accounts free access to a variety of email lists.

Unsubscribe/Bounce sharing
For your accounts that have sub-accounts, unsubscribe and bounce lists can be shared from your master account to any sub-account you choose. Sub-accounts can also share out unsubscribe and bounce lists between other sub-accounts.
Information is only proprietary as dictated by your master account, allowing sub-accounts free access per your direction.

Locked templates
Some email campaigns are meant to be shared out by recipients. However, our Locked Template feature allows you to maintain the integrity of some information with that particular email – whether it’s brand-related or an exclusive offer.

FTP
Your JangoMail account also comes with an FTP account (FTP to client.jangomail.com) to upload images and other files (PDF, XLS, DOC, etc.) into your account Assets, a library for your referenced files. For added peace-of-mind, all files are copied to both our primary and backup server locations during the upload process.

How cool is that? Tell us what you think about this or any other JangoMail feature. And if you don't see something you'd like or need, hit us up any time for ways to make it happen. Until next time, have a great week!

Stop Sending So Many Emails ... Ya Think?

There are so many email marketing questions/topics/discussions out there, sometimes it's hard to isolate just one to tackle each week. So, we started asking around. Here's what we found:

(The results were random and admittedly pretty amusing.)

("Did Elvis Fake His Own Death?" was a top result. Really folks?)

(Hey there, Elton John.)

So then we got to thinking about a question we hear a lot. In fact, our clients ask us all the time. 

"How many email blasts are too many?" 

In other words, at which point do you stop informing and become annoying? Our answer is pretty standard: There is no one answer. The immediate timing of a transactional email certainly differs from a newsletter or sales-oriented blast. The answer we offer is that if you're testing and monitoring open/click rates, that should give you a pretty good indication of what's working and will continue to produce desired results. Above all, listen to your recipients and gauge reactions.

One search did produce some results we wanted to share. Quora can be a refreshing alternative to Google. It's not that this was the most original answer to the question. It's that the answer was succinct, honest - and pretty much what we've been saying all along. Here's a clip from the full entry by Lester Hein, a Marketing Consultant and verbal consumer:

"...I get an email pretty much every other day from Amazon. They send me relevant emails that actually interest me, and I don't mind, in fact, I like them. I also get an email once per week from a software company for a $5 app I bought six months ago. These bug the hell out of me, because the emails have nothing for me to be interested in or get excited about. They are irrelevant."

(To sum up ...)
"Whatever your value is, make sure your message is relevant, appropriate and timely. After all, if you give me what I want when I want it, how could that be annoying?"

(Annoying.)

Have a topic you'd like us to explore? What to see more of one topic and less of another? Let us know. Email marketing is what we do, and we'd love to hear from you any time. Until next time, have a great week!

Best Day/Time To Send Emails? Umm...

Would it sound facetious to say "good luck with that one"? In other words, get ready to sweat through some extensive testing. And whether you're work lies within the realm of B2C or B2B, the song remains the same.

A brief background
The golden rule of email campaigns has been to send during the workweek, and around midday (noonish) for B2C and start of day (9ish) for B2B. Thursdays were traditionally the peak of opens and clicks, and remain so (for the most part). However, as marketers begin to more diligently analyze email campaign results to optimize ROI, some interesting insights are occurring. Some campaigns are taking off on Sunday mornings. Some click-behaviors are soaring on Monday afternoons. And forget happy hour blackouts - there are actually folks clicking 4-7pm on Fridays. Huh?


Time for testing
Hard and fast rules are flying out the window. But a common denominator remains - what works for one company certainly does not mean it will work for others, even within the same vertical targets. Every business, customer, industry, event and sub-group within those can yield different results. It's simply imperative to test your open rates and monitor click behavior by sending emails on different days, analyzing peaks and trends ... and then retesting send times on "winning" days to further improve efficiency. This sounds tedious, we know. But when you consider the results, it's just common sense to Frankenstein your strategy to craft Adonis.


What's right for your recipients? 
But enough about you. What about your customers? Are you hearing what they're saying ... considering their most intimate desires? Consider their "typical" day. Put yourself in their shoes and take a thoughtful stroll. Depending upon the unique needs of each recipient, you'll find those walks can take on their own unique strides. Is your audience more likely to check email on their smartphone during the commute into work or at end of day when they finally have time to breathe? That's just one possible scenario of many. So, take a stab. The more you postulate, test and test again, the more you'll show your recipients you really care. And caring includes knowing them best by approaching them when they're potentially the most receptive.

What's working for your business? JangoMail would love to hear from you. We're also here to help any time you need us and offer customized features to help the success of all your email marketing. Until next time, have a great week!

How's Your Brand Managing?

You know your brand. But do you have a handle on what customers think of your brand? If the answer's "kind of," "not sure," or "isn't somebody else in charge of that?," then you could be accumulating a mountain of online feedback that's only invisible to you.

Even if it's one negative Yelp review or social site rant, the smallest bit of negative feedback can show up front and center in a benign Google search. Ignorance is not bliss, folks.

Most businesses, especially smaller or newbies, go down one of two roads - either slowly addressing negative reviews when it smacks them in the face or addressing obvious feedback with band aid solutions. Some take it a step even further backwards by ignoring it entirely, hoping it will just go away. Stay that course, and it's guaranteed you'll be serving tumbleweeds instead of paying customers. In the same vein, ignoring positive feedback or activity can be like sitting on a winning lottery ticket.

The solution is to actively monitor online feedback and reviews, and then engage in conversations (when necessary) to keep your brand in the positive limelight.

Back to basics in brick & mortar
Before we dive into online brand control, consider your in-store, offline experiences. How do you handle an in-person complaint or less than flattering real-time feedback? If you're worth your customer service salt, you address it head-on at the same time it occurs.

You listen to your customer. You apologize or acknowledge what they're sharing. You suggest ways to improve their experience. And in the end, you reaffirm to that customer that you were the right choice for their needs after all.

This is most likely no new news to you. So, it should also make sense that leaving a customer 'hanging' in the online world is just poor business practice and will never reflect well on your overall brand and business.

Get it together online
This is by no means an all-inclusive to-do list. But, it's sure a good place to start. Let's break it down first by methods to stay on top - and then ways to initiate damage control, if necessary.

• Monitor your company profiles

Maintain the integrity of all profile content on your social sites. Make sure it's up-to-date and accurately reflects the evolving image of your brand. Finally, for the love that is all Facebook-holy, make sure it's grammatically correct.

• "Monitor" your people's profiles

Remember the Taco Bell employee who licked taco shells on the job and another employee posted the pics to FB? Yeah, that really happened. It never hurts to send your team a gentle reminder that when they're in the social realm, they're representing the face of your company. In the taco case, it turns out employees were breaking corporate policies by posting company-related pics in the first place. Be aware.

LinkedIn is worth a long browse, as well. There, employees are connecting to other professionals under the umbrella of your company. If the Director of PR is sharing articles that reflect their opinions of the national news, you may want to have them share on their own time - and within their private, non-company related social arenas.

• Get connected and start (carefully) posting

If you haven't already, get busy connecting your public personality to relevant companies, people and interest groups sharing the social space. Whenever it's relevant, jump in and comment on their posts as a representative of your company's collective thinking. The most important thing is to take your time and choose your comments wisely. Eliminating "lol" and "lmao" from your posts is also a good idea.

• Monitor your customers' profiles

Well, not really, because that's a little creepy. However, if you see certain customers posting accolades on your wall or review pages, it couldn't hurt to reach out to them. Offer a trade - sharing their flattery with their friends or on your website in exchange for a free service or discount. It's all part of enhancing their already great experience, and you'd be surprised how they'll talk you up even more.

• Automate your monitoring

People will talk, especially behind your back. Truth is, unless you have a dedicated social media manager monitoring the web for you (forums, blog sites, press release tie-ins), you could be missing a lot of action behind-the-scenes. The good news is there are a lot of free solutions you can utilize like Google Alerts, Social Mention and Technorati, to name a few.

• Use good reviews and posts to your advantage

Corral them for the greater good. Services like Trustpilot and Bazaarvoice do a great job of helping you gather good testimonials, share them with others and seek even more valuable content for marketing campaigns.

• Joust the negativity

Face negativity head-on and in a timely manner, or you're fueling the fire for more negativity. It takes very little time for issues to escalate and attract the attention of other customers. And what's one of the best, personal delivery methods for issue resolution? You guessed it - good 'ol email marketing.

What's this have to do with email?
Email is a key tool in communicating with your customers in a targeted, personal way. So, why wouldn't you use it? Here's how:

• Derail a conversation: Sometimes you just have to take a conversation offline. Derailing a customer into the non-public email realm will remove negativity from the spotlight and allow you to work with their feedback in a more intimate manner. Take it a step further and gather their contact info for a personal phone call.

• Send an appreciation gift: Offer discounts or vouchers for future visit or services. They can work magic in terms of acknowledging something on your end wasn't up to snuff, and you'll strive to do better next time.

• Earn a regular recipient: Once you rectify the issues, (ever so gently) ask the customer for their contact info so you can give them more personalized service in the form of advance notice of future sales, value added info related to your product/services, and more.

• Secure a testimonial: If you did all you could to right the wrong, ask the customer to share their experiences with other customers. A mass-blast "we work hard until we get it right" campaign relaying the story of the issues and resolution will show other customers that you'll put in the time to earn long-term business. Just hold off on sharing any "found a bug in my soup" stories - stick with low-level issues.

Have a story to share? Want to weigh in on the conversation? Hit us up. JangoMail loves to hear from you. Until next time, thanks for reading!

Are You Heading Straight to Spam?

After all the work you put into your email campaigns, the least your emails could do is reach your recipients. Problem is, when you least expect it, they can miss the mark and hit the spam or junk folders.

The unusual suspects
So, what happened? Before you heavy foot it over to the IT department, consider the content of your emails as the potential culprit. Here's a short list of surprising keywords and phrases that could land you directly in spam land.

• Pennies a day
• Weekend getaway
• While supplies last
• Call now
• Apply online
• Cannot be combined with any other offer
• Billing address
• Call now
• Increase traffic
• Why pay more?

Shocked there's no sign of "free?" Don't be. 
Consider this a trick list - only noting triggers you might not expect. "Free" is still one of the most common ways to profile your email. But, keep this in mind: It's okay to use all these phrases. What weighs against you on the spam scale is the frequency in which you utilize any of these trigger words. Also, using any of them concurrently within the same email isn't a smart idea.


 
Who's pointing fingers and why
There's a lot of noise out there in the email world. And any decent email service provider is trying to protect its valued users, so they continue to utilize them. The problem is, sometimes respectable email communications get caught in the filtering mix for the greater good of keeping inboxes clean. The bottom line is you don't want to associate with the riff-raff and more importantly, have your timely communications get lost on the way to intended recipients.



Moderation is the medicine
Think of spam-folder-avoidance this way: If your email reads more like an infomercial, consider it a trigger candidate for the junk folder. Use trigger words in moderation, and you should be just fine. However, if you are experiencing consistent inbox deliverability issues, revisit your subject lines and main body content to see if you're inadvertently shifting email service provider spam filters into high gear.


Two leg ups
JangoMail's Delivery Optimization Tool analyzes your emails and determines changes you can make to optimize delivery even before you hit "send." We also recommend using SpamAssassin as an additional pre-screening tool. Visit their site for a more detailed trigger list as well (under the Tests tab).

JangoMail also scores your mass email campaign message using SpamAssassin - you can see the score in Broadcast Messages Report Dashboard. Send a message to yourself before sending to your list. Scores under 5 are generally considered to be free of spam.

The rules are always changing too! A good message today can be bad tomorrow; it just depends on how certain words and phrases are used (or over-used). We'll help you stay ahead of the curve on this.

If you have any questions about spam filters and triggers, just ask. Until next time, have a great rest of the week!

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!

How A Little Cheese Can Lead To Email Marketing Cake

July Fourth is over. Or ... is it?
Because many companies gave their employees 4 day weekends, you have to expect people are making the most of it. Fortunately in this visible media day and age, you may start to see pictures like these roll into your social news feeds and inbox.

So, what's this have to do with email marketing? 

Simple. It  may be time to light up your email lists with some harmless yet strategic fun. Depending upon your line of business or the purpose of your organization, try sharing another side of yourself. Showing customers or contacts that you have a sense of humor, or pride in your community is more apt to strike a cord with your audience than the stale "Happy 4th!!" .jpg you sent earlier in the week.

Show customers the "real" you. Feature team members and let the world see you in a more relaxed, approachable situation. Prompt customers or followers to say - "hey, I've seen him/her around town" or "he/she looks like a real person". It's all part of making a (first or establishing a new) connection. Photo proof of your humanity and humor is a nice segue into establishing or solidifying a relationship. Not to mention, your group or business' logo will be featured in every communication - enhancing the good vibes associated with your brand.

Get your email recipients to share

Bet you're not the only one with a picture of a baby with a beer on their head. Your customers or followers probably have some rowdy shots to share. Why not make it a contest? When we all go back to work after a long holiday, it can be the longest work week ever. Make light of it by calling out for the funniest, most patriotic or best fireworks pictures of the holiday. It will help your email recipients relive a little of the magic, courtesy of your underlying marketing tactic. 

Hey - we want to see your pictures, too. So, don't forget to include our JangoMail team if you get together a post-July 4 blast. In the meantime, have a great rest of the week, folks. If we don't hear from you first, we'll talk to you soon!

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!