Improving Your Email Communications(and making your life easier in the process)

by Reid Dossinger

Twitter: @reiddoss

Email is...

...the most used channel for communication both personal and promotional

...checked daily by more users (91%) than any other channel

...the direct channel that influences the most actions (66%)

...the preferred channel for alerts

...preferred even by teens over all other direct channels for permission-based communications

- Source: Subscribers, Fans & FollowersThe 2012 Channel Preference Survey

PDF Downloads on NAP.edu

= day an email was sent

PDF Download Rate By Medium

organic search: 2.13%

referring websites: 9.60%

RSS feeds: 15.14%

email: 29.06%

Know Your Goals(that is, know why you send email)

Occam's Razor:The simplest explanation is usually the correct one

Get Out Of The "Newsletter" Rut

Dear Katie,

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Header Image

Table of Contents

Social Media Links

Related Websites

EVENTS

NEW PUBLICATIONS

NEWS• Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut

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More Emails, Less TextSend more often, be more focused

Don't get distracted by design(unless you're optimizing)

"I strive for two things in design: simplicity and

clarity. Great design is born of those two

things."- Lindon Leader, designer of the FedEx logo

fastcodesign.com/1671067/the-story-behind-the-famous-fedex-logo-and-why-it-works

"Keep me informed about things that I wouldn't

otherwise research. Remind me of things I

would otherwise forget. Teach me new things

I'd otherwise pass over."- user comments from a usability study

useit.com/alertbox/mobile-email-newsletters.html

Test & MeasureAB test your pain points

...and measure everything

Also consider......a welcome email.

...ways to increase subscribers....survey your subscribers (carefully).

In sum:

Define your goals

Always test

Simplify (or go crazy)

Always measure

ResourcesGuide to Reporting, Conversions & Email Campaigns

www.campaignmonitor.com/guides/reporting/

Subscribers, Fans and Followerspages.exacttarget.com/sff

My "Great Email Designs" Pinterest boardpinterest.com/reiddossinger/great-email-designs/

Me on Twitter:@reiddoss