FAQ
“Business users are becoming increasingly frustrated with the long deployment cycles‚ high costs‚ complicated upgrade processes and IT infrastructure demanded by traditional CRM companies, Email Solution Providers, and Demand Generation solutions.”
Email Marketing Trends have flooded us with commonly asked questions:
What’s the Best Day / Best Time to send emails?
It depends on several factors – time of the year, if your email are business-to-business or business-to-consumer, etc. Put yourself in your readers’ shoes. Do you know what their schedules are like? When they often read and open emails during their day-to-day? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, give your email campaigns – Time. Every campaign will reveal something new you can learn from. You might learn that your readers wait to read your email until after work or during the weekend.
We think the best rule of thumb is to provide unique and useful content so your readers will always anticipate emails from you. If you think about it, aren’t there ezines you’ve subscribed to that you look forward to reading… no matter what time/day you receive it?
As we all get the “case of the Mondays” (quote from 1999’s Office Space), Monday is the worst day to send emails.
Subject Line or Sender Line… what’s more important?
The Sender Line is more important. Most people scan the From Line of their inboxes. Once you recognize the Sender, you then tend to read the Subject Line.
Are there any statistics that prove that we should use the same Subject Line for our ezines?
The only way to build statistics would be to build your own history of what does and doesn’t get results.
What’s considered a good click-through rate?
“It depends!” is probably not the answer you want. Your industry, the size of your list, the frequency of your broadcasts, if your messages are personalized, your From and Subject Lines, the quality of your list to the design of your emails all play a role in click-through rates.
What you can be sure of is that although open rates may or may not have declined as well as click-through rates, we are seeing a much higher quality in these actions. This means that email marketing still delivers the biggest bang-for-the-buck, $48.34 for every dollar spent on it in 2007.
Should we keep it simple and send out text-based emails or eye-catching HTML emails?
Yes. You won’t go wrong creating an emails combining text, buttons and effective call-to-actions. And, of course, always give people the choice of text-based or HTML formats.
Create & Design Your Email Campaign
Do I need to know HTML or have other technical skills to create an email?
No. One less thing you need to worry about. You are provided a variety of templates. Simply choose the layout you like and follow a few steps to click to add images/graphics, the content to your emails, colors, fonts and backgrounds. Or you can request for us to design a custom email template for you.
Can your templates be customized?
You are provided a series of basic templates to customize. Or start from scratch and create your own unique template reserved for your own use or one you can share with specific other Venntive users. It is helpful to have basic understanding of HTML when building a custom template but help is available, if needed. You can retain our services to create beautiful email templates that embody the aesthetic of your company and your campaign goals.
Can I use my own HTML email design?
Yes. Your ahead of the game if you have already created a stunning HTML email outside of our solution. You simply select the “Import your HTML file” function. That’s it!
Can I preview my email while I’m working on it?
Absolutely! As you build your email Edition, you click a “Save and Preview Your Work” button which will take you to a “Preview” page to view what your email Edition will look like to your subscribers. The “Preview” page will also catch misspelled words and any spam words you will want to replace.
Can I send myself a test email before it goes out to my list?
As soon as you are satisfied with your email Edition, you can send a test broadcast to yourself or a list of people to review or get final approvals. It’s a good idea to test broadcast to a second set of reliable eyes who can help check your content.
When will my campaign be sent?
You have complete freedom to set the date and time of your email campaigns. It’s great for being proactive with creating your emails early on or creating a series of email auto-responders triggered by a new subscriber.
Can you recommend an ezine designer?
Yes. We have a team of designers, developers, programmers, SEM and SEO experts, as well as consultants who can develop a tailored strategic marketing initiative for you online and offline.
Creating an Account and Managing My Mailing List
How fast can I get started emailing?
You can literally build, send and track an email within minutes. Keep your campaigns simple or develop more sophisticated campaigns that require A/B Split testing, a series of auto-responders, etc. However simple or elaborate you get, your campaigns should never outgrow Venntive.
Do I have to download anything?
Nothing to download. Venntive is a complete web-based solution wherever you have an Internet connection.
Do you offer a free trial or demo?
Yes. Request your free, no obligation 30-day trial with 100 emails.
Is there training available?
Yes. You will receive a one-on-one training session via a phone orientation to ensure all your questions are answered and to familiarize you with all the Venntive tools at your disposal. Did we mention you have unlimited email support for the first 30 days?! We figure the more you use Venntive, the more successful we can help you be in business, the better for us too. The win-win!
How does pricing work?
Venntive is flexible offering month-to-month or annual accounts without contract. Want to save more? Ask about our Corporate portals.
What payment types do you accept?
We accept all major credit cards and corporate checks (with prior approval).
How do I upload my current list onto Venntive’s Email solution?
You can upload your list(s) in Excel spreadsheets saved as tab delimited textfiles or via our XML API. You can also save time by asking us to manage this process so you don’t lose time in getting started to build and send your first broadcast.
What if I don’t have an email marketing list?
Sounds like you’d benefit from Venntive consultation to help you develop and execute an offline and online marketing strategy to build yourself a quality list of opt-in subscribers. With our Website Signup Form Wizard, you choose what fields of information (name, company, phone, email, etc.) you want to collect from subscribers. Then, the wizard generates the HTML code to copy and paste to your web page.
Can I rent or buy an email list to use on Venntive’s Email solution?
That’s a No-No! Venntive only allows bone fide lists of opt-in subscribers. However, we can facilitate list rental or design a creative while executing the campaign to drive people to your website to officially register or subscribe.
Can people automatically unsubscribe from my mailing list?
Yes. Your subscribers have control over their contact information and can remove themselves from your list. Every email you send them has an Unsubscribe link or you can add this feature to your website. You can also choose to be notified by email when someone unsubscribes. Although your subscriber remains in your database, they are never emailed. You will always be completely compliant with Federal CAN-SPAM rules.
Your Email Marketing Reports (just the Facts!)
Can I see who opened my email?
Yes! And how many times they opened your email, too!
Can I see what was clicked on my email?
Yes. Venntive’s Realtime Statistics page will show you which and how many times a link within your email campaign were clicked.
What is a “Hot Prospect”?
A very exciting unique Venntive feature is the “Hot Prospect” folder. Every action, e.g. open, click, forward to a friend, is assigned a point value. Those who’ve scored a certain number of points (our default is 3) are automatically sorted as a Hot Prospect, automatically scoring your leads and letting your sales professionals follow up while their interest is still high.
Do these reports tell me if my email bounced or was undeliverable?
Yes and define the type of bounce:
A - User unknown or recipient mail configuration error
B - Bad domain (mail host does not exist)
C - Connection problem with mail host. We continue to send for three days.
D - Filtered, most likely by a content-based spam filter (check your edition content for spam-ish keywords)
E - Mailbox full, or other temporary warning that the message couldn’t be delivered.
U or None - An unknown or no reason given for bounce
Handling Spam and Making Sure Emails Are Delivered
What does Venntive do to make sure our emails get delivered?
We are Sender Score Certified, use Port 25 PowerMTA and Spam Assassin tools to ensure you’re not sending emails with content that will trigger spam filters. We require that all our customers use only their own opt-in lists and have records to substantiate that. Double opt-in subscribe forms further protect all our clients.
When there is a spam complaint made, we immediately address it and resolve it with the customer and the ISP to ensure out IP addresses are always clear.
Are outgoing emails screened for spam?
Yes, we have integrated tools that automatically screen for words and phrases that could trigger spam filters. We do recommend you get in the habit of using the “Save and Preview Your Work” feature or send yourself a test broadcast. During this process, you will be alerted of any spam words to replace or spam-trap email addresses to review and delete, if necessary.
Will I get in any trouble for spam?
Whenever there is a spam complaint, we require that customer to produce records of the complainant’s opt-in. If you do not have that proof, you may be fined $50-100, depending on the number of complaints. If we deem the number of complaints to be excessive or your list is not opt-in, your account will be terminated.
Please understand that servers and IP addresses are shared by many accounts. The actions of one can adversely affect many and that is not acceptable.
If you want to be absolutely secure about your deliverability, we provide dedicated IP addresses.
Do we have to worry about being blacklisted?
Hmmm, if you don’t behave… Seriously, once in a great while someone may be blacklisted for completely innocent reasons (e.g. the bankruptcy lawyer who was blacklisted by AOL for using the word “bankruptcy” in his Subject lines) and we help you get this resolved.
What is someone wants off my mailing list?
Change their status to “Unsubscribe” in their individual profiles, add a Note with date, time, and reason for the change in status, so you have a record and they are no longer emailed.
Is it a good idea to use the word ‘Free’ in my campaigns?
No! It’s one of the prime spamtrap words! It will get your emails blocked in a hot minute. Reword your content. Use another word. But, don’t use “Free”. And, really, don’t use a cute misspelling of the word to try to trick spam filters. It’s not cool, not professional, gives a poor impression, and is dated.
Did we not address your questions?
Please, we’d appreciate if you’d send them along and we will add them to this FAQ. Just email FAQs@venntive.com.
