Posts Tagged ‘Constant Contact’


The Best RSS to Email Program

Friday, October 7th, 2011

What’s the best RSS to Email option out there?

Like jetpacks and flying cars before it, RSS still doesn’t have the market share we were promised.

For those of you who don’t know what RSS is, it stands for Real Simple Syndication.

For those of you who have no frickin’ clue what that means, you just need to understand that every time you update your blog, it updates a document with the new post. People can subscribe to your RSS feed and get an updated version of your blog post in their newsreader.

Unfortunately, that’s still confusing to most people. That’s why I created a blog post and how-to video called How to Subscribe to an RSS Feed. Still, you don’t need a how-to video to subscribe to an email newsletter, a magazine or to turn on your TV. RSS is too complicated and esoteric for the average Internet user.

But one nice thing about RSS is that it is extremely flexible. A few years back, some companies started offering automatic RSS to email conversions. This way, people who weren’t geeky enough to understand RSS could still subscribe to your blog via email.

Even though not everyone gets RSS, everyone gets email newsletters.

However, the functionality of most RSS to Email tools is lacking. In fact, it almost universally sucks.

Here’s a list of what an RSS to Email tool needs to be world class:

  • Easily convert RSS > email (duh!)
  • Allow the blog owner to create branded templates for the emails sent to subscribers
  • Allow the blog owner to determine when the emails will be sent out; weekly, daily, or immediately after each blog post (my preference would be the last, because of the following bullet point)
  • Ability to create a unique subject line for each email pulled from the most recent blog post title (this is critical for open rates!!!)
  • Ability for subscribers to override the default delivery schedule (some people just want weekly digest)
  • Ability to track where the signup took place (this will improve my marketing efforts and ROI)
  • Allow the blog owner to send out additional messages to the subscriber base that don’t appear in the blog (special offers, downloads, events, etc.)
  • Allow the blog owner to offer an incentive to sign up, like an ebook or free consultation. (This is how we built our email list in Constant Contact. See this post on email bait for more info.)
  • Ability to use the same system for an email newsletter as the email feed, and cross-promote

I’m not suggesting this should be a free service. I’d happily pay for it. In fact, in a perfect world, it would all be offered by Constant Contact, who we run our regular email newsletters through as part of my monthly service fees.

Because they don’t (yet, I hope) offer RSS > Email I just dropped $200/yr on AWeber, because they come closest to offering everything on the list above. I’ll be switching this blog’s feed from Feedburner to AWeber in the next few weeks…unless Constant Contact is reading this and wants to make me happy and keep all my business. :)

What did I leave off? What would you like to see in a world-class RSS to Email tool?

Rich Brooks
Blog Marketing, Served Your Way

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Posted in Business Blogs and Blog Marketing, Email Marketing, Web Marketing | 7 Comments »


How to Segment Your Email Subscriber List

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Dear Rich,

I don’t want to send information to subscribers that they’re not interested in and risk having them unsubscribe. How can I do a better job delivering only the information they want to receive?

–Confused in Cornish

Dear Confused,

You ask a good question, and your solution probably lies in segmenting your list and delivering on subscribers’ expectations.

The signup process is an excellent time to have people self-select their interests. Most email service providers, (we use Constant Contact,) will let you create multiple lists that target the different interests of your readers. This is email segmentation.

For most small businesses I wouldn’t recommend having too many choices; first off too many choices can lead to the would-be subscriber feeling overwhelmed and choosing nothing at all, and also it puts an increased burden on you to create multiple email newsletters.

If you already have a list, you can still create segmented email lists.

Some email service providers (ESPs) allow you to create interest groups based on subscribers’ behavior. For example, if you run a pet store and a number of subscribers click on a link to see your baby snakes offer, you may create an interest group around reptiles and send out targeted messages to that group.

If you have had a list for a long time, you might consider sending out a survey to your subscribers and ask them what type of content they’re looking for. Depending on your industry and your audience, their needs may shift over time. Once created, you can invite people to sign up for these new segmented lists.

If you’d rather not run separate lists, you might consider just putting a table of contents at the top of each newsletter, and let people click down to the article they’re interested in. This may prove to be easier to manage, and has the added benefit of some cross promotion. People who would have subscribed only to your gardening tips lists might be intrigued by your articles on patio repair and maintenance.

The other part of the equation is to deliver on expectations: if people are expecting information-rich articles and you start delivering Sunday flyers, they’ll unsubscribe in the time it takes to hit a button.

Do YOU have any techniques on segmenting email lists?

Rich Brooks
Email Marketing for Small Business

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Posted in Email Marketing | 2 Comments »


How to Build Your Email Subscriber List

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

Dear Rich,

How do I build up subscribers to my email newsletter?

Listless in LaGrange

Dear Listless,

Let’s start with what not to do:

  • Don’t buy a list. A good, quality list can’t be bought, it must be earned.
  • Don’t add everyone on your contact list to your email newsletter subscriber list. Just because you met them at a networking event, once did business with them, or found their card at the bottom of your briefcase doesn’t mean they want to receive weekly or even monthly missives from you.

Now that you know what not to do, here are some suggestions on increasing the number of subscribers.

  • Create an incentive for your Web site visitors to sign up. This is often called “email bait.” It could be a raffle entry, a white paper, or a discount in your online store. It must be compelling enough that people are willing to share their contact info with you.
  • Leverage speaking gigs and similar opportunities. At the end of a presentation say, if anyone wants today’s slides (or some other offer), please give me your business card so I can email you. You’ll be automatically added to our email mailing list, but you can unsubscribe whenever you like.
  • Leverage your retail space. Create a giveaway for a product that requires a business card (or short form) where you collect email addresses. Again, just make sure that entrants are aware they’re also being subscribed to your email newsletter.

Here are some technical suggestions to help increase your subscriber base, too:

  • Keep the signup simple. Don’t ask for too much information; it’s a first date, not a marriage. I recommend asking for just an email address and a first name. (Engagement goes up when you use someone’s first name.)
  • Keep your confirmation link “above the fold.” After someone has subscribed to your list, they will receive an email that requires them to click a link to confirm their subscription. Many people are only half-paying attention when they receive this email, so make sure the call-to-action, in this case clicking on the confirmation link, is right up at the top so they don’t have to look for it.
  • Provide value. Remember that every email you send is an opportunity for people to unsubscribe. Make sure that every email you send is targeted to your audience and overflowing with value.

Also, if you follow these tips your email subscriber base will grow. Because of that I recommend you don’t send out emails from your Outlook or other email program. Instead, use an email service provider (ESP) like Constant Contact (which flyte uses and recommends.)

What other tips or techniques have YOU discovered that help build your email subscriber base?

Rich Brooks
Email Marketing for Small Business

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Posted in Email Marketing, Web Marketing | 14 Comments »