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September 19, 2012
How to Create a Successful Email from Head-to-Toe
Ever wonder what makes an email
look great and work successfully?
You probably have, we get this
question a lot. To help answer that
question we’re going to go through
an email from head-to-toe and point
out components that will give you a
successful email.
Let’s start at the top:
From Label – This should be your
company name, as most people will
recognize your company more
quickly than say, your personal name,
and since you have just a few
seconds to get someone to open
your email, you want quick
recognition.
Subject Line - Once your reader understands who sent the email, the subject line is what will entice
them to open it. Write something catchy or interesting, but also informative (easier said than done,
right?) Check out our free Savvy Subject Line Writing for Success guide for help!

Background – Use an email background color or pattern that's easy on the eyes. The colors in the
example below aren't too bright, dark or distracting. Using black text (dark gray is good too) on a white
background is the easiest to read.
Social Sharing – Make it
easy on your recipients to

a knowledgeable resource -
Just make sure to give
appropriate source credit.
Keep in Touch – Include
several ways to get in touch with
your company, including a
direct email link. If you have a
brick-and-mortar store, also
include business hours. And,
with the holidays rapidly
approaching, it’s a good place
to list any special holiday hours.
Forward to a Friend –
Including this link will allow your
readers to share your great
content with their friends or
colleagues. And anyone who
receives an email forwarded
this way will have the option to
be added to your mailing list -
An easy and free way to keep
your list growing.
Two things I would add to the already great email example above:
Call-to-Action Buttons – Buttons are more compelling to click than text links, and easier for mobile
readers to touch. Include a couple buttons in your emails and you could see your clickthrough rate go
up. We have a free tool to help you create them too!
Social Buttons – In addition to the social sharing buttons, include buttons that link to your company's
social accounts: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, wherever you have an account for your
business.
Easy, right? Hopefully the answer is yes. Most of these components can be added to your emails

fact, every 2 minutes we snap as many photos as the whole of humanity took in the 1800s.
When it comes to social, you don’t have to look any further than the success of Pinterest and Instagram
to see how popular photos are. Pinterest is now the 3rd largest social network in the US. And startup
darling Instagram was acquired by Facebook for a cool $1 billion in April 2012.
So I think we have an understanding that photos are very popular. But how can you leverage photos in
the social efforts for your business? Here are some tips:
Use photo centric sites like Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram in your social media outreach.
Especially if you have visually appealing products and services such as food, clothing or anything
beauty related.
Intermix photos relating to your business with general items such as scenic shots, local sports
teams or animals.
Interject humorous photos in the mix. People love to like, comment and share funny photos. This
provides an opprtunity to expose your page or board to new people via the photos you are
sharing.
Post at least one photo a day on your social sites. People may think they'll bombard their
followers, but realize the information streams on these sites moves pretty quickly. So only posting
once a week for instance will get you lost in the shuffle.
At VerticalResponse, in our own social media marketing with Facebook, we've seen huge organic and
viral traffic increases since we started to make photos an integral part of our social marketing efforts. In
fact, we had one photo post that received 396 Likes, 492 Shares and 44 Comments. Not bad for a
Facebook Page that only had a little more than 6,200 “Likers” to the page.
Most of the photos we use
on Facebook are ones
that we take ourselves, or
that we share from our
Facebook feed. On our
blog, we approach it
differently. We purchase
about 98% of the photos,
including the one in this

a photo of your blue plate special, or the new dress that came in. You may be surprised by the
engagement/reaction you’ll get from a simple photo. It's no coincidence there is a saying, "a picture is
worth a thousand words."
Posted by Derek Overbey
Derek Overbey is the Senior Social Media Manager at VerticalResponse. Connect with him on Twitter
at @doverbey.
September 17, 2012
Google & Social: A Cautionary Tale
Google's recent acquisition of Wildfire was just the latest in a long series of big moves made by the
search giant in their quest for prominence in the social sphere. But it was the first significant one in a
while that didn't involve launching a product of their own. True, there have been social-oriented
acquisitions in the past (Blogger back in the day comes to mind), but lately Google's most memorable
efforts to dabble into the social space came straight out of the labs over in Mountain View and,
unfortunately for them, didn't reach the heights they were undoubtedly hoping for.
Let's take a look back at some of their efforts and learn some lessons of our own for launching a new
product/service.
1. Google Wave: Too Smart for its Own Good?
Back in 2009 when Google VP of Engineering, Vic Gundotra,
and his team first unveiled Google Wave at that year's I/O
conference, people believed they had just witnessed the
second coming of email. Combining the latter with instant
messaging and layering a boatload of functionality on top of
the already impressive combo, Wave promised a radical shift
in the way we communicated on the web. Expectations
couldn't have been higher, and everyone and their mother in
the tech/geek world (including yours truly) just couldn't wait to
get their golden ticket and grubby hands on the beta (limited
to 100,000 users only at first).
Initial feedback ranged from mixed to very positive (check out
Engadget's and Ars Technica's hands-on reviews at the time

investigated by the FTC, Google decided to shut down its Buzz service a little over two years after its
inception.
3. Google+: Is This Thing On?
By launching its own social network, pitting itself in direct competition
with Facebook and its already built-in user base of 500 million-plus (at
time of launch), Google knew it was taking a big gamble. So, when
they officially announced the launch of Google+, it was immediately
met with skepticism, fueled undoubtedly by the company's recent
history with failed social products. Features such as Circles (a fancy
term for lists) or Hangouts (a glorified chat) didn't do much to help the
matter. When asked whether he felt threatened on the Charlie Rose
show, Mark Zuckerberg said Google was just "trying to build their own
little version of Facebook" (even though he eventually got on it too).
Fast-forward to over a year later, and the jury is still out as to whether
Google+ is a success. Some still believe in its potential, believing it's
only a matter of time before the social network truly takes off. But when faced with the hard, cold truth,
we can only note that there just isn't much going on there right now. People from within the company
itself seem to have lost faith as well, as illustrated by Steve Yegge's infamous rant. Instead of a list of
raw numbers, here's a nice little infographic (courtesy of Umpf) to prove my point:
So as you can see, even one of the largest and most
innovative companies in the world has had its own
share of hiccups when launching new
products/services. Google prides itself in letting its
teams run independently to pursue their own
projects, with the firm belief that it breeds innovation.
But we can see in the 3 cases mentioned above that
some coordinated homework and research wouldn't
have hurt. The good news is the lessons learned are
applicable to businesses of all sizes:
Make sure your product has legs: Wave

resources to support heavier use. By the time
Google was ready to accommodate everyone,
the hype was over, and even the most fervent
supporters had lost interest. At time of launch,
your product/service needs to be robust
enough for your consumers to, well, consume
and enjoy. Beta testing is a great way to battle-
proof it prior to general availability, but make
sure to gather feedback from your testers and
adjust accordingly in quick fashion.
Have you had issues launching a product or service
of your own, and if so, what have you been able to
take away from the experience? Share away in the
comments!
Posted by My Truong
My Truong is the Marketing Programs Manager at
VerticalResponse. Connect with him on
Twitter @PtitMy.
September 14, 2012
Become a Rock Star on Social Media: 4 Ways
This article by VerticalResponse CEO and founder Janine Popick originally appeared on Inc.com.
At VerticalResponse, we truly believe that email and social media go together hand in hand. Why?
Because your messages need to be where your prospects and customers are reading them, no matter
what channel they like to pay attention to. And, if the stats are right, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn
alone will reach over 1.5 billion consumers in 2012.
So I came up with four little tidbits you can do with your email marketing campaign to get more friends,
followers, fans and fervor:
1. Be Proactive
Send a "like me" or "recommend me" email campaign to drive people to your Facebook page. Use a
template like the one you see below. (This is just one of more than 700 free email templates that

profiles. It has become
as common as
including your phone
number, URL and
address. Side note:
Include the buttons in
your customer service
emails that you send
out when a customer has a question.
4. Pin Your Emails
If you're on Pinterest (like we are!), post the hosted version link of your email to a board.
Choose the offer or article you want to show, and in the pin description make sure you use
your keywords so that if someone is searching Pinterest for your products just like they'd
search Google, they'll find your products or business.
Integrating your email marketing and your social media efforts is the smartest and easiest thing to do to
maximize the time you spend setting up your marketing. Do you have any ideas to share? Love to hear
them!
Posted by Janine Popick
Janine Popick is the CEO and founder of VerticalResponse. Connect with her on Twitter
at @janinepopick, and check out more of her Inc.com columns.
Posted in Email Marketing, Social Media | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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September 12, 2012
How to Make Trade Show Planning Easy Breezy
I love making lists and enjoy crossing things off lists
even more! I create lists in both my personal and

Your product (if it's
tangible)
Laptop/charger (for
demos of your
products/services)
Data sheets (brochures)
Data sheet stands
Extension cords
Fishbowl to collect
business cards
Email signup form
Internet (Mi-Fi)
iPad
Monitor
Monitor cord - mini display port adapter
Pens
Pen holder
Pop-up banners
Portable cart
Return shipping labels
Scissors
Shipping tape
Stapler
Swag (branded t-shirts, pens, fun stuff etc.)
Thin-tipped permanent markers (for writing notes on business cards)
Company-branded tablecloth
This might look like an intimidating list, but you don’t have to bring everything to every tradeshow. There
are some staple items that you should always have, like business cards, a laptop, thin-tipped
permanent markers, a stapler, data sheets, etc. but everything else on the list varies. At
VerticalResponse, we attend shows with anywhere from 50 people in attendance to 50K so it depends

groove, but the long-term time savings could very well be worth it.
Here are five tips to kick off your search for the perfect freelance hire:
Ask your networks. The best recommendations come from word of mouth; so let all your friends,
family members and colleagues know that you’re looking for help. You never know who might know
someone (who might know someone) who’ll fit your needs. When VerticalResponse recently needed
some help producing content, I reached out to my former journalism co-workers, got some great leads
and introductions, and we ended up hiring two of them as contractors. These connections are
undoubtedly the best kind because someone you know has already given the thumbs-up.
Check out listings – with caution. You might want to try online job search boards, but be very careful,
because there are a lot of unfiltered, unmonitored junk and questionable business practices out there.
Sites like Elance.com and ODesk.com, which offer a marketplace for companies to connect with
freelancers, provide some level of accountability that public listing sites like Craigslist do not. But I
haven’t used either tool, so just be prudent if you try this option. (If you’ve used Elance or ODesk before,
let us know your experience below in the comments section!)
Reach out to local colleges. Check out the career centers at your local universities and see if you
can post a job opening or internship. Often, different departments (like the English department or the art
school) have their own career or internship programs, so you better narrow your search. Many students
are looking for work to boost their resumes and portfolios at lower-than-market rates, or even in
exchange for course credit.
Stay away from “content farms.” “Content farms” are essentially companies that promise to
produce lots of (often very poorly written, robotic-sounding) content around specific topics and
keywords. They’ve become popular, in large part, because Google rewards websites that have lots of
content by giving them more SEO (search engine optimization) juice – in other words, they get ranked
higher in search results for certain keywords. To be sure, the always-changing Google algorithm has
made significant strides in weeding out content from “content farms.” In any case, producing content
with the goal of gaming Google – and not engaging with your customers – is definitely not something
we recommend. Not to mention, poorly written content will only be a bad reflection of your company and
brand.
Don’t hire based on resume alone. Just because you’re hiring someone for occasional work doesn’t
mean they don’t need a thorough vetting. Someone might have a stellar resume, but you should ask for

quotes around the keyword when searching for it in Google) to see how many files have been indexed
with the keyword in content (i.e. "email marketing"); or an AllinTitle Search (search for the keyword in
quotes with the phrase allintitle preceding it, i.e., allintitle: "email marketing") to give you the number of
HTML page titles that contain the keyword in Google's index.
After determining which keywords are most competitive and deciding which ones you would like to go
after, you can begin to alter the text on your site, page headlines or meta description tags to include
them. Wherever you decide to manipulate the copy on your pages to correlate with keywords, keep
content useful and make sure it sounds natural. You wouldn't want to do the work to rank for keywords
and then put off visitors or lose quality interaction with awkward content that was clearly manipulated to
increase search engine rankings.
AllinTitle Keyword Search
Along those same lines,
useful content will increase
the rate of repeat visitors
you have to your site, while
helping to increase your search engine rankings. A blog is a great tactic to provide quality information
to visitors while simultaneously helping your Google rank by including fresh content. Google's goal is to
rank sites that are most useful to its users the highest. So in layman's terms, the best way to increase
your rankings and keep them high is to provide content that answers search inquiries and gives visitors
the information they're looking for. By providing valuable content, you'll attract more visitors overall,
which will help increase your placement since Google also factors number of website visits when
determining search engine rankings.
What do you want visitors to do? Before you make any decisions regarding the layout, content or
images on your webpage, you'll want to ask yourself why you want people to visit your site. Define what
you consider a website conversion. Your priority may be for visitors to sign up for a free trial, purchase
a product directly from the site, fill out a web-to-lead form or phone you directly. Regardless of which
desired action you want visitors to take, it's important to make the path to conversion as clear as
possible. If your ultimate goal is for visitors to call, make sure your phone number is accessible, keep it
above the fold (on the top half of the page) and give visitors a compelling reason to pick up the phone.
Marilyn Monroe once said, "It's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring." I'm

You start off with an email; maybe it's a newsletter. It
takes you to an article to read, and you read it. You get
some good ideas and like what the author wrote, so you
check her out.
She's on Twitter! You decide you should follow her.
You log into your Twitter account and see that someone
you follow has posted a video you just have to watch on
YouTube. You check out that video and then the "videos
you might like" shows you a few more you just have to
watch. So, you do.
All of a sudden a meeting alert pops up right in front of
your browser.
You've just lost 45 minutes of your life you won't get
back.
How do you regain focus and get the work done you
needed to? Here are four ideas:
1. Close your email program
VerticalResponse, is an email marketing service provider, so I cringe when I say this. But sometimes
you have to not be wed to your email. Block one hour off every day and close the window of your email
client.
2. Turn off alerts (instant message, phone, etc.)
I wrote an Inc. article earlier this year about how much I dislike phones and IM disrupting meetings, but
sometimes they just plain disrupt your day. If you don't want to be completely unreachable, turn off your
IM or alerts during a different hour than when you close your email down. Then you won't hyperventilate
at the thought of being totally disconnected.
3. Realize when "research" turns into surfing
Sometimes I think the Internet was introduced to us by the pharma companies that hawk ADD drugs.
One simple little Web page can rob hours of my life, but hey, here I go "liking" my friend's cat pictures
on Facebook and watching the baby laughing video again!
My day usually starts off on Daily Beast for some quick news, then I head over to TechCrunch to read

serious stuff:
91% of consumers have unsubscribed from opt-
in marketing emails. (This means they chose to
subscribe to your communication, then later
changed their mind - Hmm, why?)
77% of consumers have become more guarded about giving companies their email address in the
past year. (Because they suspect we may do something unscrupulous with it perhaps?)
The stats speak to an epidemic that marketers and businesses face. In a split-second we go from
inbox cock rooster to feather duster. Why?
Many marketers, and I am not going to name names here, are not delivering on the golden promise
they made when someone opted into their list. Deliver What You Promise. It's that simple. If, when
someone signed up for your email list, you promised you would send them tips on home repair once a
month, do that. If you start sending emails every week with offers for 50% off paint and wood flooring,
you break your promise. When someone provides you their email address, they're saying they trust you
to do the right thing with it (i.e. not bombard them with excessive self-promotional stuff). Your customers
want something of value from you. There has to be something in it for them. And, usually that's what you
promised them that caused them to sign up in the first place. That's why your opt-in form and page are
vitally important. It is there that you vow that you're a good, upstanding person/company and that you will
use the power of email marketing for good, not evil. Capisce?
You Get Old & Boring. Of all the consumers that unsubscribe, nearly half cite that they found content to
be repetitive or boring over time; another 25% found content irrelevant - Egad. We're being replaced by
a younger, hotter and more interesting version of ourselves? Now you get the dating analogy, eh? So,
short of a tech version of a nip and tuck, how do we stay hot in the inbox? Content Rules. We've said
it before and we'll say it again, you must deliver relevant, value add content to your subscribers to
keep them engaged and coming back for more. We even did a webinar about it.
You can get a good feel for how engaged your readers are by keeping an eye on the open and click
through rates (CTRs) of your emails. You can even segment your list (we've got a webinar for that too)
on this information and provide specific content based on what your readers are responding (or not
responding) to. If you notice your open rates dropping, take a look at things that may have changed.
Are you sending out the same amount of mail as you have in the past? Are you sending at or around

Everyone makes mistakes every now and
then. When it comes to email marketing
everyone's done it, even the big guys make
a gaffe sometimes. When this happens, the
important thing is to take a breath and not
panic. Most people think they need to send
out an apology right away, but depending on
the error and your audience, you may want to
wait. Sending too many emails at once, even
for a mistake, can send your unsubscribe
rate skyrocketing.
Here are 4 steps to take if you've made a
mistake in an email:
1. Assess - Before you do anything take a
moment to see what the impact is of the
mistake. Here are a few questions to ask
yourself before you act:
What is the email list size? What is the open/clickthrough rate? It's possible that you caught the error
early and can send out a follow-up with minimal impact.
How big is the mistake? And how will it impact your business? Did you make a spelling error, a
pricing mistake, or did you promote the wrong date for an event? A minor typo, misspelling or coding
error probably won't impact you much, other than some embarrassment and/or people pointing out the
mistake. In this case, sending out a follow-up could be an annoyance for your recipients: save the
correction for the next email or newsletter that you send out. A pricing error or the wrong date could
have a major impact on your business or organization so sending out a follow-up email is a must.
2. Response - Once you've assessed the situation it's time to figure out how to respond.
Keep these tips in mind if you need to send a follow-up email:
Be Quick – A quick follow-up can catch people before they see the first email
Be Clear – Subject/pre-header should be clear about the purpose
Apologize – Own up to the mistake, say you’re sorry for any misunderstanding

3. Measure the Impact - Once you've decided what
your plan is and you've taken action, or not, look at
how things went. The reporting from your emails will
give you insight into how your recipients responded
to the mistake:
Track your opens and clicks - Do you have a
normal open rate for your emails? Did it
change due to the error?
Watch the conversions - Are they where you
expected them to be? Or are they
higher/lower?
Check the unsubscribe rate - Hopefully
everything you've done has kept it low, but keep an eye on it.
Compare original and follow-up emails and see how the stats compare.
4. How to avoid an Oops! in the future - Proof-read, proof-read, proof-read. If you're the only person
looking at your emails, enlist someone else. Just one other set of eyes can prevent a mistake from
happening again. Also, always send a test email and look at it! Make sure the copy makes sense, that
you see the right images and they're rendering, and test all your links.
Try some of these content tactics:
Use auto-correct and spell check, or use Word to discover grammar problems
Print out your emails and check for errors
Read each word out loud
For more ideas, check out Grammar Girls' 10 Tips to Banish Typos
Everyone makes mistakes; the important thing is to learn from them.
Posted by Jill Bastian.
Jill Bastian is the Training and Education Manager at VerticalResponse. Connect with her on Twitter
@Jillieb3.
Posted in Copywriting, Email Marketing | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
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