Why Email Personalization Is Important

Talk to Someone About Themselves...

How Personalization Increases Email Engagement

Dale Carnegie’s famous book, How to Win Friends and Influence People was published in 1936 – but some of his most famous lines could have been written about email marketing in 2015.

 “Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”

 “Talk to someone about themselves and they'll listen for hours.”

 Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People

By using Carnegie’s insights into human nature – adding a few personal details to your email messages – you can increase engagement.

For many people, the first thing that comes to mind when talking about email personalization is customer name. Which subject line do you think would get a better response?

 Your free trial expires tomorrow! 

Sarah, your free trial expires tomorrow! 

 The simple addition of customer name at the beginning of the subject line is more likely to get opened. It appears more personal, and the first name helps it to stand out in a crowded inbox.

But why stop with name?
With JangoMail, the sky’s the limit in terms of personalization. You can personalize messages with data from any field in your list using %%fieldname%%. If your business is retail and you know what items customers have looked at, let them know when it’s on sale or almost out of stock. Ask for a review of a recent purchase. Do your customer’s accumulate points for something? Let them know when they’re close to the next point level.

TripAdvisor is a company that frequently sends messages that utilize a lot of personalization.

I recently received this email from TripAdvisor. It immediately engaged me by addressing me by name and mentioning reviews I have given. Next they picked ten hotel recommendations based on my recent searches. 

In the same email from TripAdvisor they have listed a few low cost flights from the airport in my city. They also gave me information on hotel deals in cities I've recently looked at on their site. 

So, how is this information collected?
Some information can be gathered with your email opt-in form. However, it’s important to balance your desire for customer information with the customer’s willingness to fill out a long form. It’s important to remember you don’t have to get all the information for your list at one time, it can be gathered slowly as the relationship develops.
What happens if you add personalization to an email with a field that is blank for some customers? You can add alternative text that will show in those instances. For example if you don’t have a customer’s name, you could say: Hurry, your free trial expires tomorrow! Where hurry stands in place of customer name.

Finally, how do you add personalization without looking like big brother is watching?
Think about how the information was obtained. If it’s something your customer submitted, it should be safe to use. In my example from TripAdvisor, I've told them where I live, so including airport information isn't unexpected. If it’s not something that was submitted, but it’s helpful information, that’s also pretty safe. In the TripAdvisor example where they gave me hotel deals, they used information about what I did on their site. It was used in a helpful way though, so it's more likely to get a positive response.

The bottom line is that email personalization is a great way to increase engagement. It adds a level of friendliness a medium that can seem cold and helps messages stand out in increasingly crowded inboxes. Don’t be afraid to try new ways to use personalization and use testing to continue to refine your results.

Have you tried personalization? How did it work for you? We’d love to hear more about what you did. Let us know on Facebook or on Twitter @jangomail or #MyJangoMail 

Promotions on the JangoMail Team

Two JangoMail team members have recently been promoted. Both of these team members are near and dear to many of our customers; so we wanted to let everyone know the good news.

Stephanie “Angel” Ellis has been promoted to Customer Support Manager and Stephanie Yount to Senior Solutions Engineer.

Angel, as she is known to JangoMail customers, was previously in the role of Onboarding Specialist and has been with the company since May, 2013. She will be leading the support team at JangoMail. In this role she will focus on how her team can better service the needs of JangoMail customers. The support team is the customer facing team at JangoMail, and it is the first place customers go when they call 1-888-GO-JANGO or log a support ticket.

Stephanie Yount has been at JangoMail since May, 2013 and has held roles in customer support and sales. Stephanie is extremely knowledgeable about email and the JangoMail platform. In her new role Stephanie will be in charge of on boarding, full service and sales related delivery.  

Congratulations Angel and Stephanie!

Don't Forget to Ask...

Are you missing out on potential customers or subscribers simply because you aren't asking for their email address?

Asking website visitors to subscribe is one of the easiest ways to grow your email file. Once the signup form is created it can operate on its own and doesn't require much ongoing attention.

Of course, there are some things to keep in mind during initial setup. Things to consider include: information to collect, call to action, form placement, and offers.

It’s a balancing act to determine what info to request on a signup form. Consider what information will be most beneficial along with the number of fields customers are likely to complete. The main goal of an signup form is to collect email addresses, so it could be as simple as just one field. To gather additional information, consider a progressive opt-in form. Progressive opt-in forms break the sign up process into multiple pieces. Additional information is requested after initial sign up to avoid abandoned subscription forms.

Call to action buttons are a critical part of the signup form. They should capture visitor’s attention and compel them to perform an action. There is no one size fits all solution. Test several options to determine what works best. Consider, button color, wording, padding and size.

Consider asking for email addresses on every page of your website. It’s relatively simple to accommodate a one line email subscription box. It can also be used in conjunction with more detailed subscription forms in some locations. If it’s too difficult to place a signup form on every page, find the most visited pages and start there. For best results forms should be placed above the fold (above the scroll).

Incentives encourage signup form completion. The incentive could be a discount, but it doesn't have to be. Consider other offers, such as access to information, a free trial, or a giveaway.  It’s important to promptly give subscribers their reward. A good rule of thumb is to include this information in the first welcome email.

If you’re not a developer this may seem like a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be. JangoMail offers an Opt-In Form Designer that can help. With our form designer it’s easy to make a professional looking form that feeds directly to your email list. 

Change Coming for JangoMail.com!

At JangoMail we are always looking for ways to improve. Lately we have been working to improve our website. Next Wednesday, April 15^th, things will look a little different on the JangoMail site.

This first phase of changes will only affect the design of the JangoMail.com site and the URL for some pages of the JangoMail.com site.

What does this mean for you?

1. The main pages of the JangoMail site will have a new design. If you go directly to the logon page you may not see these updates. However, if you go to our homepage, you will see a brand new design.
2. The interface after logging in will appear the same, but the URL for all pages will begin app.jangomail.com in your browser.
3. If you have created any bookmarks to the website, they may not work correctly. You can login at JangoMail.com to access our services. If you have trouble updating your bookmarks, please contact our support team.  

Please don't hesitate to call us with questions. You can  get in touch with us by email at support@us.jangomail.com, by support ticket, or by phone at 888.465.2646 or 937.701.7140

Here’s a sneak peek at part of the new design:

Messages Gets a New Look!

With the release of our new Tagging feature, our development team has taken the opportunity to clean up and streamline the appearance of Messages and improve sorting functionality.

You'll now notice a sleeker presentation of campaign information. Campaign subject lines are neatly displayed with sent date and recipient count below. Messages in progress with no subject lines will be indicated by No subject.

With the new "Sort by" option, sorting messages becomes that much easier. Choose to sort campaign by newest, oldest, most recipients, or subject line.

This updated layout allows for the implementation of JangoMail's new Tagging feature. Tagging brings a new level of organization to your messages. Group together many campaigns with a single purpose; separate seemingly identical messages to identify them at a glance. Interested in using this new feature? Contact Support to request it!

Meet the Team - Angel Ellis

What does Star Wars, reading, and movie quotes all have in common? They have EVERYTHING to do with Angel Ellis, JangoMail's Onboarding Specialist!

Meet Angel Ellis, JangoMail's
 Onboarding Specialist

1.  What is your position at JangoMail?

Onboarding Specialist

2.  How long have you worked for JangoMail?

Since May 2013

3.  What do you like best about working for JangoMail?

I enjoy the people of JangoMail most.  Our team has created a helpful and enjoyable place to work while striving towards improvement both individually and as a team.  Professionally, each of us has specific strengths to put forth.  Relationally, we're all quirky individuals.  Altogether, it makes working for JangoMail a fun and fulfilling experience.

 4.  What feature do you like most?

Personalization.  Whether it's simply adding a first name to make it personal or employing conditional logic to tailor a completely unique message for your recipient, personalization can truly set you apart from other marketers.  The possibilities are limited purely by your imagination.

5.  What is your educational background or what experience led you here?

My educational background is in Biblical Studies, and I have customer service experience.

6.  What is your favorite hobby / pastime?

I would definitely say reading or spending time with family and friends.  Whether it's a lazy night in or an evening combo of dinner and a movie, I love both! Also, I'm a closet nerd that thoroughly enjoys Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.  While I certainly haven't read them all, I am enjoying the ones I am.  Bring on the books! 

7.  What is your guilty pleasure?

Chocolate.  Specifically, Dove Milk Chocolate and Kit Kats!

8. Any interesting facts you'd like to share?

I have a tendency to use quotes from movies or TV shows as standard fare in conversation.  It isn't always something obvious!  It could be a completely normal phrase with the right inflection that calls to mind a certain movie.  Most of the time, I just get blank stares in response, but there are those rare times when I get a look that says, "I understand that reference!"

Command Center: The Value of Using the JangoMail Sub-Account Feature

How do you manage multiple email marketing campaigns for different clients, departments, or organizations in a JangoMail account?  Use the JangoMail sub-account feature.

To access Sub-Accounts, after you've called JangoMail,
go to 'My Account' and click the 'Sub-Account' tab.

Sub-accounts have multiple uses in a customer-centric relationship management program including:

• Tailored email marketing campaigns
• One-to-one customer service
• Customer retention programs
• Building brand loyalty
• Providing information to customers
• Subscription billing
• Managing rewards programs

The sub-account feature allows you to set up and manage multiple user accounts within a main JangoMail account.  Each sub-account has a unique user name, password, and from address domain. All managed by the administrator within a main account.

The account settings such as header/footer and unsubscribe list can be unique to each sub-account or can use the master accounts settings.  The main account administrator maintains complete control in setting up and monitoring these parameters for each sub-account.

Once a sub-account is set up, contact lists and email marketing campaigns can then be created and stored in each sub-account folder, separate from other sub-accounts.  The sub-account can be managed either directly through the login or through the master account.  This simplifies management and organization of multiple email campaigns for various customers, departments, or organizations.

The sub-accounts created in a master account are functionally separate, and are not billed individually for usage.  The billing is done only for the main account to allow for the lowest cost per email of the combined total sending volume, a true cost savings.

To set up this feature, call a JangoMail expert at 1-888-465-2646.  Once your master account is confirmed, log in and go to 'My Account'.  Select the 'Sub-Accounts' tab and click 'add a new item,' which will open a new window where you can create a username, password, from address, domain, and sub-account settings.  Once everything is entered, Save your settings and, congratulations, you just create a new sub-account.  It's that easy!

Using the JangoMail sub-account feature allows for the flexibility that marketing, design, public relations, communication, and other business types need to simplify their account management.  All the billing and email marketing services are met by the needs of multiple customers.

Meet the Team - Jaime Holton

What does peanut farming, kettle chips, and four sevens all have in common? They have EVERYTHING to do with Jaime Holton, JangoMail's Senior Accountant!

Meet Jaime Holton, JangoMail's
Senior Accountant.

1.  What is your position at JangoMail?

Senior Accountant

2.  How long have you worked for JangoMail?

Since May 2013

3.  What do you like best about working for JangoMail?

The family environment.

4.  What is your educational background or what experience led you here?

I have an Associate's Degree in Business Management and just finished my Bachelor's Degree in English / Sociology.  I have been in accounting since 2006.

5.  What is your favorite hobby / pastime?

Anything sports related.

6.  What is your guilty pleasure?

Kettle Chips

7.  Any interesting facts you'd like to share?

I'm a farmer's daughter.  My dad was a cotton and peanut farmer, and a rancher.  I grew up driving tractors and working cattle.  I believe in a strong work ethic.

8.  Do you have a catchphrase, funny saying, or personal quote?

I don't, but I hate the saying, "It is what it is."  This tells me that there is no way to change or improve whatever you are talking about.

9.  Anything else you'd like to share about yourself?

My birthday is 7/7/77 and everyone says I must have good luck.  I do not.  Do not take me gambling.  You will lose all your money.  I don't even try anymore.

Command Center: Bob Discovers the JangoMail API

By: JangoMail Development
Bob's business is growing. Bob's sales staff needs to use email to make more connections with leads, and to promote more sales to existing customers. Bob's sales staff, however, isn't so great at learning new things. Bob already has his own software to run his business, and his sales staff doesn't like going outside of it to use other tools.

Bob needs his sales staff to use JangoMail's tools, but he wants them to do so directly from his own sales software. After all, his IT and development staff have worked hard to make his software work very well for his purposes.

That's why Bob uses the JangoMail API. API stands for Application Programming Interface. The JangoMail API lets Bob's developer connect his software directly to JangoMail.

Now Bob's sales staff can create messages, build contact lists, and send campaigns directly from Bob's own software. Bob's sales software, with JangoMail's API, brings more power, success, and money to Bob's organization.

But wait, there's more! The JangoMail API gives Bob's software access to reporting, transactional and campaign sending, contact management, account management, and many more features. Almost everything you can do within JangoMail can be done through the JangoMail API. Check for bounces. Count your opens. Do it all!

If you act now, we'll also include the ability to make requests through SOAP, HTTP GET, or HTTP POST. We'll even let you pull the data as string, .NET dataset, or XML.

All of this, AND MORE, for the great low, low price of nothing in addition to your normal subscription costs. That's right, access to the API is free for JangoMail customers. Yes, even free trial customers.

Want to know more about how the JangoMail API like Bob does? Click here to read more. You'll be cool if you do it, just like Bob.

Meet the Team - Gayle Barcus

What does a chocolate addiction, reading, and quick wit all have in common? They have EVERYTHING to do with Gayle Barcus, JangoMail's Customer Service Representative!

Meet Gayle Barcus, JangoMail's
 Customer Service Representative.

1.  What is your position at JangoMail?

Customer Service Representative

2.  How long have you worked for JangoMail?

Since May 2013

3.  What do you like best about working for JangoMail?

The close-knit group of employees and the company's attention to customer service.

4.  What feature do you like most?

My favorite features are the delivery health check and the delivery optimizer tools. A lot of our customers do not know they can start the troubleshooting process on their own.

5.  What is your educational background or what experience led you here?

I have an Associate's Degree in Mental Health, but my extensive Customer Service experience led me to this job.

6.  What is your favorite hobby / pastime?

Reading and spending time with my friends and family.

7.  What is your guilty pleasure?

Chocolate!

8. Any interesting facts you'd like to share?

My only sister is 20 years younger than me and we both have the same parents!

9. Do you have a catchphrase, funny saying, or personal quote?

With my quick wit and good timing, everything I say is funny...haha!

10. Anything else you'd like to share about yourself?

For the first time in a long time, I genuinely love my job and the people I work with, customers and coworkers alike.

Command Center: Bob's back with the scrub tool

By: Dave Walker
Technical Support Engineer
Bob has an interesting question.
His contacts are all out of line.
Some addresses bounce, while others opt-out,
and Bob's sales team is starting to whine.

Bob uses JangoMail's system,
to manage his contacts all day,
but he needs to control his list as a whole,
and JangoMail gives him a way.

In Bob's contact list is a toolbox,
with wonderful tools to the rim.
Bob clicks on the menu, and chooses the scrub tool,
his list he is starting to trim.

The scrub tool identifies bounces.
It fixes that typo address.
It cleans all the dupes out, and solves unsubscribe doubt,
and basically fixes the mess.

Since Bob needs this scrub performed daily,
He views all the work with disdain
He mouses to grab the automate tab,
and Bob never sees it again.

With JangoMail's magical scrub tool,
Bob's job is an absolute breeze
He now spends his time making more than a dime
while his sales team are working like bees.

Command Center: JangoMail Social Media and Facebook

One of JangoMail's advanced capabilities is its integration with Facebook and other social media.  JagoMail's Enterprise level email campaign manager can auto-share email campaigns with social media and Facebook.  This feature increases the audience reach of a marketing campaign or message beyond email.

Email campaigns can also be shared with Twitter and Google Plus.  Facebook and Twitter share statistics can be viewed directly on the JangoMail reporting dashboard.  This information provides a way to quantify social effectiveness, as users spread a campaign across social networks.

Leverage the power of social media to increase marketing effectiveness by embedding a Facebook Like button directly in an email campaign.  Clicking the Like button brings the recipient to a campaign page with a Facebook Like button to like a campaign.

JangoMails integration with social sharing sites also includes granular reports for social tracking of visitors.  The reports will detail who visits a page and from where and how many visitors and numbers of shares.

The new JangoMail social reporting statistics include:

• # of Unique campaign page visitors
• # of Visitors from Facebook
• # of Campaign shares on Facebook
• # of Campaign Likes on Facebook
• # of Visitors from Twitter
• # of Campaign shares on Twitter

Connecting Facebook with JangoMail's seamless social integration features will help to broadcast an email marketing campaign faster and with greater ease.  The net result is increased traffic and more customers.

Command Center: Triggers with Bob

By: Dave Walker

Technical Support Engineer

Bob wants to take his email marketing to the next level. He's been sending out his marketing emails, and they've been getting good results. There is, however, a lot of manual follow-up that is required. Bob's sales team spends a lot of time analyzing open and click data, and sends follow-up emails to those folks, to continue the conversation.

Bob wants to automate the process of sending follow-up emails to his customers. If a customer clicks on a link to visit the website, he wants to send them an email a little later in the day to follow-up on that visit. If they open, but don't click, he wants to send a different message a day or two later.

Bob is using JangoMail's “Triggers” feature to automate his follow-ups. He creates his follow-up messages, and saves them to his account. He then creates a trigger in his account for “Message Opened.” He links the appropriate follow-up message to that trigger. He does the same for “Link Clicked” to catch the clickers.

Now Bob's done. When his customers receive a message and open it, JangoMail will trigger the sending of a follow-up message. Bob can have this action apply to only a single message, or to all messages. He can time the follow-ups so they're sent a few minutes, hours, or days later.

Bob has used JangoMail's simple “Triggers” feature to revolutionize his customer communication, and free up sales team time for more productive things. The force is strong with this one.

Take a look at JangoMail's Trigger features for yourself. Click here for more information on how to revolutionize your own email communications.

Email Blast Software | JangoMail Demo & Review Video

Gregg Stebben from Stealth Radio Network provides detailed commentary about the robust and automated email blast software features of JangoMail.

Special thanks to Jonathan Dwyer from Endicow for creating this video, and JangoMail expert, Stephanie Yount, who performed the demo.

Featured Email Blast Software…

JangoMail is email blast software to send HTML email newsletters by using pre-existing templates or by writing your own code.

Presented By…

Gregg Stebben is the Founder & CEO for Stealth Radio Network.

Stealth Radio Network is a radio news bureau that works with the nation’s top magazines, book publishers, non-profits, global consumer brands, and retailers.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Video Script:

So my name is Greg Stebben, and I have an interesting set of things I do in a given week. I'm an editor of a national magazine and also the host of their nationally syndicated radio show. And I also own a small boutique PR firm, and all we do is book radio interviews for our clients on radio. And if you have any experience in radio at all, it's kind of like working in the stock market, things move really fast and you've got to be on top of it.

And having a tool like JangoMail makes it essential. Because it's very, very flexible and enables us to do things that are really tightly targeted and very tuned for our audience. What we do is really all about relationships and JangoMail has enabled us to really manage relationships, when necessary, one at the time or in small groups. And that has been an essential part of the tool for us.

I've been a customer of JangoMail for probably 10 or 12 years. And one of the things that has really impressed me is that they keep redoing it, making it better, refining it, coming out with new versions. And in the last couple of years the number of revisions they've made on the user interfaces just, they've done some unbelievable stuff.

The four main areas that our customers use are the messages, there's not a limit to how many that you can keep track of, so I've got over five pages of stuff that I've done here.

Well this was one of the things that they rolled out a couple years ago that absolutely transformed the user experience of using JangoMail. That little search bar over there is so powerful. You can really drill down and find stuff both very quickly and very easily. And you know when you're handling a lot of different email campaigns, that's absolutely what you need to be able to do. You need to be able to pick things out and find what you're looking for.

And let me say one other thing that's really powerful that they added. This Identifier column there, it took me a while to figure out how useful that was. But if you're an online marketer or PR person, you may have campaigns with the same subject over and over and over again. You may be resending the same messages. When they added the field for that identifier, it enabled you to add a date or something else unique that separated out today's campaign of the same name from yesterday's campaign of the same name.

So Messages is probably the number one place that our customers get their use. Lists is a second area that a lot of our customers use. Whether it is actually creating lists inside of JangoMail, or you can also connect to different local databases. If you have a database running on your computer like an Excel spreadsheet or if you're connecting to a web based database.

Assets, this is where you can keep track of images, PDF files, and you can use them inside your messages. There's no limit to how many you can have in your account. We do give you the option to attach files to your messages, but it is a smoother operation if you actually link to it. So you can host them here in JangoMail and then link to them in your messages.

And then Reports is probably the most trafficked area across the board for all customers, even more than Messages. Because we do have customers that use our API functions, so they never really even go to Messages, but they do come to Reports. We have it broken down into three different sections. We have Broadcast Messages, we have Transactional Messages, and then we have some management reports and tools.

You can keep track of the bounce addresses that occur in your accounts. We'll give you that list. We do the same with unsubscribes. We keep track of any address that unsubscribes.

We keep track of the campaign ID number. Every campaign that you send out we'll keep track of the subject line for you, the date and time that it was sent, how many recipients. And then we're going to keep track of the opens if you're using open tracking. And you can actually click on this number. We'll be able to click here and see who opened this message that I had sent out. And it's going to show us that these three people opened my message. And it shows us how many times they opened that message as well.

I want to point out a couple of things that are actually not used as much that we're trying to start really showing our customers a little bit more of. So if we could to Lists in the section here called Sending and Receiving, we have two different types of automated messages. One are Recurring Messages and the other one are Triggers. So for both of these, it's an automated system. You could set up a recurring message. So let's say that you know that your company, every Thursday is going to be closed for five hours. You can set up a reminder.

The other one that we have are Triggers. And you can create an email. Here what you would do is you'd go in, you'd add a new item. And it's going to let you name the trigger. You would have already created the email itself. You'd go select the message and decide what event is going to trigger this email to go out, the message just being open, a link being clicked, a web page you viewed. Then you can set the behavior. When do you want this sent out? If it's happening every time a recipient performs the trigger or only once. It's definitely a feature that's under used that we're trying to help get out there, because we know a lot of our customers do those type of things, but they're being done manually.

And then we have one other automated message that you can set up. And those are called auto responders. And I'd say auto responders are our most used automated system right now. Anytime a recipient is added to a list, if you're using an auto responder you could set up a set of three or four different emails. I know we have several customers that use our auto responders as a set of three different newsletters that they want to go out.

One of the things you're going to get if you become a customer of JangoMail, is you're going to be working with a company that's really focused on the user experience and figuring out how to make systems and workflows work really efficiently and effectively and smoothly and easily.

Meet the Team - Stephanie Yount

What do the initials S.Y., bowling, and 'are you kidding me!' all have in common? They are synonymous with Stephanie Yount, JangoMail's Customer Service Representative!

1.  What is your position at JangoMail?

Meet Stephanie Yount, JangoMail's
 Customer Service Representative.

Customer Service Representative

2.  How long have you worked for JangoMail?

Since May 8th, 2013

3.  How do you use JangoMail personally?

For system testing, customer sending, and automation.

4.  What do you like best about working for JangoMail?

The customers I work with on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. The team here is also great!

5.  What feature do you like most?

The customer support.  The fact that we hide nothing, we are upfront about everything, and we offer all of our features at no extra cost!  We also offer a full-featured free trial!

6.  What is your educational background or what experience led you here?

I have worked with the general public since my first job at Krogers grocery store.  The majority of my experience, however, has been working with children at a local daycare.

7.  What is your favorite hobby / pastime?

Other than playing with my kids, I enjoy bowling and playing cards.

8.  What is your guilty pleasure?

Watching T.V. at night to relax!

9.  What is one random fact people don't know about you?

I graduated High School without ever going to kindergarten or 11th grade! :)

10. Do you have a catchphrase, funny saying, or personal quote?

"What the crap?!?", "It's/that's/you're a HOT MESS!", and "Are you freakin' kidding me?"

11. Anything else you'd like to share about yourself? 

I have two children, a boy and a girl that are 16 months apart.  We all have the same initials, S.Y. :)

On Track With Jack: Test Personalization With a Test List

The sun is shining out here in Dayton, Ohio and next week is the Fourth of July!  Before the fireworks, picnics, and barbecues kickoff make sure your email marketing has a personal touch.  Customers respond better to messages that are tailored specifically to them.

With JangoMail you can easily personalize your messages beyond a first and last name.  You can send personalized:

• Subject Lines
• Messages
• From Email Address
• From Display Name
• Reply-To Address
• CC Address
• BCC Address
• Attachments

Today, my tip is on testing personalization:

Test Personalization With a Test List

In order for a successful test, you must send to a list.  Personalization will not work by just clicking the “Send a Test” button and sending a preview.  When we test our campaigns, I have a special “Jack” test list I’ve created with a few of my own personal email addresses. 

When I’m ready to preview my campaign I send to my “Jack” test list first.  Again, I’m going through the same steps that I normally would when sending a campaign, but just sending to my test list and no others.  Always double check your lists before you hit Send to make sure you’re only sending to your test list.  Once you've received your message and everything looks good, you’re ready to officially send to your active customer lists or database.

To recap: Customers respond better to messages that are personalized. Make sure you test your personalization with a test list in JangoMail.

If you need a refresher on how to create a new list like a “Jack” test list, take a look at the list section in our Quick Stat Guide.  For a step-by-step guide on how to incorporate personalization in your emails, check out our documentation.

Have questions? Ask. Dial 1-888-465-2646 or drop us a line here.

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

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JangoSMS Announcement

By: Amber Henry
Account Executive

Things have been warming up here at JangoMail just as summer kicks off this Saturday!  We are very excited to launch JangoSMS.  In a few short months you can reach any customer, anywhere!

JangoSMS, a unified platform for mass email and mass texting.

With JangoSMS, you can send:

• Immediate, real-time alerts for important messages
• Transactional notifications, such as shipping confirmations
• Announcements for team and club events 
• Promotions about time-sensitive deals and coupons
• Alerts about service or new information

Why market via SMS? 

• Customers are on-the-go more than ever and their smartphones go with them! 
• More time is spent on smartphones in the U.S. than TV (CTIA).
• The average person looks at their phone 150 times a day – 23 of those times at messaging (Tomi Ahonen).
• Mobile coupons have a ten time redemption rate compared to print coupons (BizReport.com).
• Want to add something new to your marketing campaign? Try text with JangoSMS. Your customers won't be able to put their smartphones down...even more so than they already do!

Important things you should know about SMS marketing:

1. SMS is PERMISSION-based. You must have express consent to send.
2. It’s best to have a focused marketing plan in mind that includes SMS before you send your first campaign. 
3. Set expectations for your customers about what they will receive and how often. The customer shouldn’t opt-in to receive one type of message, and then start receiving a totally different type of message.
4. Keep in mind that your message will probably be read in less than 5 minutes!
5. Make every sentence count! JangoSMS messages are limited to 140 characters.
6. A call to action should be present and the customer’s next step to take clearly explained.

JangoSMS will be available in the United States. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay tuned for more JangoSMS news and information. Contact us for more information!  

Good and Bad Unsubscribe Techniques

By: Ajay Goel
Founder, Chairman

When I first founded JangoMail, I would subscribe to as many newsletters as I possibly could, in order to check out the "Powered by ..." tagline at the bottom of emails to gauge which companies are using which email marketing services.  It helped me keep an eye on the competition.  Recently, however, I wished to clean up my Inbox and decided to unsubscribe from all of the newsletters that I had originally subscribed to for data collection purposes, but never ended up reading.  I was infuriated at how difficult most email marketing services' unsubscribe processes are and simultaneously proud of JangoMail's own unsubscribe feature, which is simple, intuitive, and customizable.

I found that if an unsubscribe mechanism is too difficult to use, I'm more likely to click my email tool's "report spam" button, which is an easy way to ensure I don't receive that sender's email anymore, but makes me feel guilty for punishing the sender.

A good unsubscribe mechanism:

1. Focuses on convenience for the user, not on convenience for the sender.
2. Should require two clicks at the most. One click within the body of the email message, and optionally one click on the web page to confirm that the first click wasn't a mistake or a bot.
3. Should be instant on the sender's side. An unsubscribe mechanism shouldn't require "2-3 business days for processing".
4. Should not require you to log in to a website.
5. Should not email you "one final email" to confirm your unsubscribe. An unsubscribe means you don't want any more email from that organization.

Let's jump right in and look at examples of bad unsubscribe mechanisms:

Constant Contact--"Instant Removal" is anything but instant

To unsubscribe from an email sent by Constant Contact, you must ENTER IN YOUR FULL EMAIL ADDRESS.  This places the burden of the work on the subscriber, not the sender.  Therefore whenever I wish to unsubscribe from a newsletter sent via Constant Contact, I click "report spam" to save myself the work of navigating a difficult unsubscribe process.  As a veteran and proponent of the email marketing industry, I'm loathe to recommend to anyone to use the "report spam" mechanism in favor of the "unsubscribe" mechanism, since the "report spam" button will punish the sender and reduce their deliverability.  In cases where the unsubscribe process is as infuriating as Constant Contact's, however, I'd fully support clicking "report spam" to save the subscriber time. What's even more incredulous is how Constant Contact names its unsubscribe mechanism "Instant Removal with SafeUnsubscribe".  There is nothing "instant" about their unsubscribe mechanism.

eHarmony--requires a login

I haven't been a paid member of eHarmony for years, but I still receive their emails. Asking me to log in to unsubscribe is inconvenient and time consuming.  As a consumer, I'm more likely to report the email as spam instead of taking the time to figure out how to log in, which would require resetting my password since I can't remember what my credentials are, and then, unsubscribing myself.

iContact--insults your intelligence

The Unsubscribe link is prominent and clickable.  The resulting web page tricks the user though, by having the "Continue to send me email" selected by default.  Why would any legitimate email marketing service set that as the default option after a user has just clicked the "Unsubscribe" link?  The "Never email me again" option should instead be pre-selected so that the user need only click the Update button to complete the unsubscribe process.

Silverpop--confusing

In this example, there is no direct unsubscribe link.  Instead the email message provides an "Edit your Email Preferences" link. The resulting web page requires you to enter your email address, and then in what can only be an attempt at a Jedi mind-trick, the bigger more prominent button is the one to NOT UNSUBSCRIBE.  This button is useless, since it would be expected that the user would simply close his browser if he wishes to keep the status quo.

Early on in my career, I had a Yellow-pages ad saleswoman meet me in my office to sell me an advertisement space in the book.  At the end of our meeting, I thanked her for her time, but told her I wasn't interested in buying an advertisement space.  She then whipped out a contract and asked me to sign a statement indicating that I was declining to buy a Yellow-pages ad.  I was mortified.  Can you imagine a world where we have to sign a contract for everything we DO NOT want, versus everything we do want?  Don't make your unsubscribe mechanism remind me of my experience with the Yellow-pages saleswoman.

Zoniac--living in the 90s

Zoniac is an email marketing tool specifically for the IT staffing industry.  They impose a 24-48 hour window on when the unsubscribe will take place.  Imposing a two day time period on making an unsubscribe happen is akin to having a user go to a website and being told that they must wait two days before the homepage loads.  In today's modern world of real-time database transactions and 24-hour connected servers, there is no excuse for an unsubscribe process to take more than a few milliseconds to take effect.

In Conclusion...

Make your unsubscribe link easy to use in order to avoid being reported as spam. A good unsubscribe mechanism is good for email deliverability, and high email deliverability is tantamount to a successful email campaign.  JangoMail's unsubscribe mechanism is a direct link, and each client can customize whether the link within the email instantly unsubscribes the user, or whether the resulting web page asks for a second, confirmation link.  No 24 hour delays, no entering your email address, no logging in, and no "one final email" after the user has unsubscribed.  This is just one way JangoMail delights your subscribers and optimizes your deliverability.

CASL (Canadian Anti-Spam Law) Overview

By: Amber Henry
Account Executive

What is CASL?

CASL (Canadian Anti-Spam Law), pronounced "castle", will come into effect July 1, 2014. You do not have to be a spammer or located in Canada for it to apply to you.  If you send messages from Canada or to anyone who may read it there, this new law applies to you. Not sure where your recipients are located? You could ask, use geotracking, or see which emails end in “.ca”.

The general purpose of CASL is to prohibit the sending of commercial electronic messages without permission (consent).  A commercial electronic message is one that “encourages participation in a commercial activity” regardless of whether there is an expectation of profit. This includes messages to email addresses, social networking accounts, and text messages to a cell phone (Government of Canada).

Consequences can be severe. We are only providing a brief summary of CASL. If you feel this applies to you, be sure to consult legal counsel and take the steps necessary to ready your business. For more information visit: fightspam.gc.ca.

What are the requirements?

There are three main requirements of CASL:

• Proper identification - the sender must be clearly identified and include a valid postal address, and either telephone number, email address, or website which must be valid for at least 60 days after the message has been sent.
• Consent - if your email message does not meet one of the various exceptions laid out in CASL regulations, you must have consent BEFORE you send an email.
• Unsubscribe - include a functional and visible unsubscribe mechanism, which must be processed without delay and within 10 business days. The recipient must not be asked to provide any information other than their email address.
  

When is consent not required?

There are two types of consent: express and implied. Either can be removed at all times by the recipient through the unsubscribe mechanism.

Express consent is very clear and the recipient has taken an affirmative action to give you permission to send to them. Express consent never expires until the recipient asks to stop receiving the message.

Implied consent is when a relationship exists, but the recipient has not explicitly asked to receive your emails. If you have implied consent, it is in your best interest to send a confirmation email to gain express consent, which never expires. Implied consent under CASL expires after two years. If a recipient has expressed interest in your product as part of the sales process, implied consent expires after six months.

Some exceptions to having consent:

• Responding to a request for quote/estimate
• Messages that facilitate or confirm transactions
• Providing warranty, recall safety, or security info
• Giving information about ongoing use or ongoing purchases, ongoing subscription, membership, accounts, loans, or similar
• Employment relationships or benefit plans
• Delivering a product, good, or service, including updates and upgrades

 What steps should I take to prepare?

It is recommended that you do some “spring cleaning” to your lists by creating an opt-in campaign.

Assess if you may be sending to anyone in Canada. Figure out whether you have express or implied consent and track it in your database. Develop a plan to obtain required consent and review your email message to make sure it is CASL compliant.

Starting July 1, 2014, you will need consent from any new client and each message must include identification and an unsubscribe mechanism. Where there is an existing business or non-business relationship that includes commercial electronic messages, consent is implied for three years.  It is recommended that you acquire express consent for customers that are on your list through an existing business relationship by July 1, 2017.

In the end, do not be mistaken for a spammer. Maintain the trust and confidence of your customers or clients by following these tips:

1. Do not send a message without their consent.
2. Provide an opportunity for customers and clients to say no.
3. Clearly identify yourself and your organization.
4. Be truthful in advertising.

Please keep in mind that the information provided above does not constitute legal advice and should not be used as a substitute for seeking professional advice.

Examples of what to do / not to do:

Can I send out an unsolicited email survey for market info, product usage, etc?

Whether it is permitted under CASL or not, it depends on whether the message is deemed commercial. JangoMail’s Anti-Spam Policy does not allow you to send unsolicited email without prior consent.

Someone gave me their business card. Is it okay to contact them?

Under CASL, you would have implied consent for up to two years. As long as they did not specify their wish to be excluded from receiving promotional emails, it would be okay to send messages pertaining to their role. It is recommended to gain express consent.

Should I do anything with my existing lists?

If you have express consent from all of your existing contacts and have basic records of how and when consent was acquired, you probably will not need to take action with those contacts. If you are unsure of the opt-in status of your lists, or have no records, it is probably necessary to run an opt-in campaign as soon as possible.

Part of CASL requires that the sender be clearly identified. My business is a local franchisee. Our franchisor head office sends commercial emails. Is this okay?

You will need to ensure your customers have consented to receive messages from the franchisor head office, not just the local franchisee.

Is an electronic message that contains a request for consent to send messages considered a commercial electronic message?

Yes, it is. You will want to ensure you are following the guidelines when sending.

I am sending messages on behalf of a charity or political organization to raise funds. Do I need consent?

This is permitted under CASL, but JangoMail’s Anti-Spam Policy is stricter than Canada’s law in this regards. We only permit our customers to send to their own direct contacts with whom they have pre-existing relationships.

Resources

Government of Canada, Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation: fightspam.gc.ca

Other Helpful JangoMail Articles

• Make sure your messages have a CAN-SPAM footer! Check out the tools of the v4 Editor or the guide to creating your own basic template.
• Confirm your opt-in list to ensure warm contacts.