One of many awe-inspiring photos taken by Direct Mail user Christian Clauwers
Thank you to all our amazing users who replied to our customer spotlight request. It’s been great to learn more about so many exciting businesses, and hear how many of you have powered through the challenges of the past year. We look forward to sharing many more of these spotlights in the coming months!
Meet Christian Clauwers
We want to shine the spotlight this month on Christian Clauwers, an explorer and super-talented fine arts photographer from Belgium.
My name is Christian Clauwers. As an explorer / photographer, my work focuses on the interaction between man and nature (biodiversity, rising sea levels, etc.), with the oceans and polar regions as themes…This amazing software helps me to invite people to my exhibitions, to spread the word about my work, and to manage my international clientele.
We’re thrilled that Direct Mail is helping Christian share his talents and grow his business. You can see more of his work at https://www.clauwers.com.
It’s not too late to submit your organization to be included in our future social posts and newsletters! Just write us a few sentences about your business and how you are using Direct Mail to help achieve your goals. Please include a contact name, email, and phone number of who we can reach out to for more details. Email us today!
You’re doing big things for your business—let us bring some extra attention!
Are you using email marketing to grow your business and connect with your audience? We would love to share a profile of your organization and a success story (or two) in our upcoming newsletters and social media posts. To be included, click here to write us a few sentences about your business and how you are using Direct Mail to help achieve your goals.
Please include a contact name, email, and phone number of who we can reach out to for more details. We’re excited to spotlight your business and attract attention to the amazing organizations who use Direct Mail!
Have a question about email marketing?
What’s the best way to grow my email list?
How can I increase my campaign open rate?
How often should I send emails to my list?
We know there can be confusing or conflicting advice out there on the ever-evolving world of email marketing. So in upcoming newsletters and posts from us, we’ll be providing up-to-date answers on best practices, and responses to some of our most common questions.
If you’d like to have your question highlighted, please send us your question (and your business name and website). We look forward to hearing from you!
65% of U.S. consumers have made a purchase based on a message they received via email, compared to just 20% via Facebook or 6% via Twitter (source)
As you make plans for 2021, email marketing and growing your list should be a top priority! In this blog post, we discuss a highly effective method you can use to attract new subscribers to your mailing list: lead magnets.
What’s a Lead Magnet?
Simply put, a lead magnet is an attractive piece of content or valuable item that you offer visitors to your website in exchange for them handing over their name and email address. For example, a lead magnet could be an e-book or digital guide in an area of your expertise, access to a webinar, or a template or resource.
The good folks over at The Balance put together a great explainer with excellent ideas and examples of lead magnets:
The first step is creating a subscribe form to capture your new leads (choose Addresses > New Subscribe Form… from the menu bar at the top of your screen). Here’s an example.
The next step is creating the message that will be sent to your new leads. The message should contain the digital content or item that was promised in exchange for signing up. For example, you could include a link to the item or include it directly as an attachment.
The next step is creating an autoresponder that will automatically send your message to anyone that signs up for your list. This help article explains how to do that.
Now your lead magnet is set up. The final step is simply sharing the link to your lead magnet (i.e. the sign-up form you created). Here are some ideas:
Add a link from your website to your lead magnet
Embed the form directly on your website (or WordPress blog)
Pin a tweet with the link to the top of your Twitter feed
Promote your lead magnet on social media
Add the lead magnet link to your email signature
Year-in, year-out email marketing continues to provide the best return on your marketing dollars. As you make plans for growth in 2021, be sure to focus on your mailing list and consider using a lead magnet to boost your subscriber count.
If you have any questions about setting up a lead magnet, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our support team!
Congratulations! You have made it nearly all the way through 2020, a year like none other! The holidays are now upon us and, you know what that means: turkey, gifts, and overflowing inboxes. As you prepare your year-end marketing, here are some tips on how Direct Mail can help you break through a crowded inbox, boost sales, and grow your customer base.
1. Check out our holiday-themed templates
Direct Mail comes ready to go with a number of holiday-themed templates. They look super-sharp on mobile devices and large screens, and are easy to customize (like all our templates).
You can find these templates in Direct Mail by clicking the “Choose Template” button and searching for Glimmer, Merry Pines, Slopes, or Quattro—or browse the other options available in the template gallery.
2. Stay on top of your holiday calendar
The end of the year is chock full of special occasions and opportunities to celebrate—more than just Thanksgiving and Christmas. Consider theming additional email campaigns around these upcoming holidays in November and December:
November 10: Marine Corps Birthday
November 11: Veterans Day
November 11: Remembrance Day 🇬🇧🇨🇦🇦🇺
November 11: Singles Day (i.e. World Shopping Day) 🇨🇳
November 13: World Kindness Day
November 19: International Men’s Day
November 19: Women’s Entrepreneurship Day
November 20: World Children’s Day
November 21: National Adoption Day
November 26: Thanksgiving
November 27: Black Friday
November 28: Small Business Saturday
November 30: Cyber Monday
December 1: Giving Tuesday
December 15: Free Shipping Day
December 22: First Day of Winter
December 24: Christmas Eve
December 25: Christmas Day
December 26: Boxing Day 🇬🇧🇨🇦🇦🇺
December 31: New Years Eve
When should I start my campaigns?
Consider starting your campaigns a week in advance (or earlier, if your customers average time to purchase is longer) with a follow-up scheduled for the day of. You might also consider sending a thank you email post-holiday.
How much is too much?
It is possible to send too much email. Bombarding your subscribers can lead to unsubscribes or even spam complaints. A good rule of thumb is to not increase your typical email frequency by more than 3× during the holidays.
3. Write subject lines that are irresistible
It’s going to be a crowded inbox, so stay away from bland, generic (or spammy) subject lines. Here are some ideas:
Personalize
Adding a personal touch to the subject line almost always improves your open rate. Direct Mail makes this easy. If you want to include your recipient’s first name in the subject, just include the mail-merge tag “[first name]”. Like this:
You’re not limited to first names, of course. It can be any piece of information that you have stored in Direct Mail for a contact (e.g. occupation, city, last purchase, etc.)
Don’t get carried away
Aim for a ten words or less in your subject line, and limit the number of punctuation or special characters so it doesn’t appear spammy. Using an emoji can help, but try and stick to just one. Also, note that some devices can’t display emoji, so it’s best to use emoji as an enhancement, instead of a replacement for words.
Ask a question
Questions are naturally engaging. Consider using a question as the subject line in order to draw your subscribers into the content.
State your offer loud and clear
Featuring your offer prominently in the subject line can be a good way to stand out in a crowded inbox. According to NRF and IPC, online shoppers top considerations are:
Free shipping, or clear shipping charges prior to purchase
Simple, reliable, free returns
Rapid response customer service
Try these on for size…
Here are some subject line examples for your inspiration:
Warm up to winter with us this Saturday 🔥
Our ultimate winter packing list
[first name], spread some cheer with us — open house sale!
We’re thankful for our customers: Coupon Inside!
Stuff yourself with savings 🍗
Early access to Black Friday deals
Celebrate Small Biz Sat with us: BOGO sale 🎉
See you on Small Business Saturday?
Ho Ho Ho (Spend Less Dough)
You’re Getting Warmer – Packages from $59
Meow-y Christmas! 5 holiday treats safe for your cat
We Like You a Latke!
Challah for These Chanukkah Deals
Let’s start this year right. 10% off throughout January
The easier you can make it for your subscribers to purchase (or take some kind of action), the better. After all, the holidays are just as busy for them as they are for you. Make your call-to-action prominent and easy to find. Direct Mail’s built-in buttons work great for this, and are available in a number of styles.
Struggling to come up with ideas for your email campaigns? Get some inspiration from this gallery and the suggestions below.
Cyber Monday sale
Free shipping now available!
Gift card bonus (e.g. buy $100 in gift cards, get a bonus $25 for free!)
Holiday gift guide
Special coupon code
End-of-year update
Year-in-review or celebration of the year’s achievements
Holiday hours or holiday schedule update
Pre-sale or early-bird discount
Thank you for being our customer (and optionally include a referral code)
New product or service announcements
Share a holiday video
Promote a social media contest (e.g. photo contest)
Black Friday offers
Looking ahead to what’s coming in the new year
Last-minute deals or reminders
Shipping or ordering deadlines
Special gift packages
Small Business Saturday (it’s not just for brick and mortar!)
Share a story about how you celebrate the holidays
Giving Tuesday
Post-holiday specials
6. Check out these Direct Mail tech tips
Now that you’re ready to rock your campaigns, it’s time to put Direct Mail to work for you! Here are a couple of how-to articles to level-up your Direct Mail skills:
Sending Your Email Campaign at the Perfect Time. Learn how to schedule your campaigns to send even when your computer (or you!) are asleep, so that they arrive in your recipient’s inbox at the perfect time.
Search and Segment Like a Pro. Learn how to find and segment portions of your mailing list so that you an send targeted campaigns, or perform bulk editing operations.
We love the Mac! From the very first version 18 years ago up until today, Direct Mail has always been designed as a Mac-first, Mac-only app. This focus allows us to create a seamless experience for our users that takes advantage of the power, productivity, and unique technology of macOS, instead of a lowest-common-denominator experience you might get with a cross-platform or web app. Today, we look forward to the next generation of great Macs, and what it means for Direct Mail.
Apple Silicon
Apple today announced brand new Macs that feature a custom processor that is incredibly fast and energy efficient: the M1. Part of the reason the M1 is so impressive is that it uses a chip architecture different than the Intel architecture that’s been used in generations past. This change means that app developers have some work to do to make their apps really fly on these new Macs, but the good news is that we’re on it! The current version of Direct Mail already runs great on the M1 chip (we’ve been testing it out for several months now), and we’ll be shipping an update soon that turns the speed and efficiency up to 11. We think you are going to love the extra battery life and time saved with these new improvements.
Big Sur
Along with the new Macs, Apple also introduced the latest update to macOS, named “Big Sur”. You’ll notice right away that the look and feel of Big Sur has been refreshed to be more consistent with iOS, iPadOS, and other Apple platforms. We’ve been running Big Sur for months and are happy to report that the current version of Direct Mail looks and runs great. We also look forward to sharing more details with you soon about the next big update to Direct Mail and how it will take advantage of Big Sur’s new features. As a reminder, updates to Direct Mail are always free for all our customers.
When the very first version of Direct Mail was released back in 2002, the best Macs were running on PowerPC architecture and “Mac OS X” 10.2 Jaguar. Over the years, Direct Mail has kept pace, making the transition to Intel and now Apple Silicon, as well as integrating advances from over 14 new versions of macOS. Along the way, our users have always benefited from our Mac-first, Mac-only focus, unlocking their productivity and creativity. We think this is just the beginning and look forward to sharing more with you soon!
