Email Campaign Questions

Do you mean an option to unsubscribe..im not sure..havent tested that yet...i do not believe you can remove the FAA logo...i would like to though...i think you can add/remove images on the right

an image not for sale can be sent in an email just like you would send any other image
use cut and paste from word

I tried a test email and there is an unsubscribe option, so got my answer to that question. :-)

Copying and pasting from Word isn't formatting correctly, nor does it set up my hyperlinks.

I am not sure you can use hyperlinks...if word doesnt work use notepad or some other edit program..i think word worked for me..maybe control C to cut and cntrol V to paste

Is the faa logo there if you send it from your aw site rather then faa proper?

The faa logo and web link is there an unable to be removed (hard coded) on my own domain site so I assumed it would be their using the faa site..but didnt check

"Is the faa logo there if you send it from your aw site rather then faa proper?"


Yes, and a hyperlink to FAA. Have asked/suggested for it to be to our AW.

Pretty sure the logo is not optional. Microsoft Word may not be the way to go on this. I can save as a web page, but too much Microsoft Word stuff in it to simply copy and paste. I may try Visual Studio Express and create my letter in that.

Still don't see any way to remove the images down the right-hand side, nor any way to upload an image that would be for the newsletter only, that's it.

sorry i couldnt help...id have to look at it to figure it out..but I was able to add or remove images...compose in word and cut/paste for my campaign message

You helped by telling me you could do images. Now to figure out how. :-)

i think you go into the email campaign that you added images to,,your test...and then edit..i think thats how i did it

I got rid of the images on the right-hand side by simply setting them all to No Image, so another issue in my list resolved. :-)

- Do e-mails have an opt-out option?
Yes when you send the campaign emails, not when you send a single email from the 'Preview and Send" option.

- I assume the FineArtAmerica header is not optional, other than selecting an image?
Yes, the FAA logo is in the header from all the Brand websites ... we used to have Pixels for Pixels but now it is all the same.

- Can I remove my images along the right-hand side?
No. You can change them but not remove them.

- How do I insert an image not for sale into an email?
There is an option for using a web image URL otherwise I've not tried that yet. ... What I do is use the Embed code of the image.

- Anybody found an efficient way to write an email in Microsoft Word and transfer it over?
I don't know, I use a Mac. I write in Text Edit in plain text mode and copy and past.


Here is my thread on the subject, hope it is helpful to you http://pixels.com/showmessages.php?messageid=1935582

You can use html code in the e-mail program and yes, there is an opt-out feature. It encompasses all of the laws and rules of what is considered a good email program.

But here is a tip:

Don't use it!

The email system works, I have used it several times and I actually still use it for a specific purpose for a program I am doing as an experiment.

But if you are going to launch a serious email program, which I highly recommend, use an outside email system.

I use constant contact but they are pretty expensive. There are other email programs that are fairly easy to use and they will give you a lot better options and a lot better control.

The biggest problem I have with the FAA email program is it becomes a big advertisement for FineArtAmerica with easy access in the area where there are 2 million images. I only want to advertise my own images with links back to my AW.

But there are other advantages of using an outside email program as well.

Floyd, ias that a tease to make me wait for your reasons for that? Ok - I am waiting

Any idea why my images that should be down the right-side of the email are pushed to the bottom? I am using some HTML, but I don't change the widths anywhere.

Also, still trying to find a way to incorporate an image, say a screen shot, not an image for sale, to one of these emails.

Thanks

the newsletter thing is clumsy at best. hard to choose from the images. you can't remove them either. half the mail isn't opened because faa is seen as a spam generator. you can add html stuff in there for other things your selling. but the whole thing could use a revamp. i stopped using it because no one was opening the mail. and there wasn't a lot of stuff i cold say anyway. with the pictures forced on the side, the mail was confusing to look at.

if i were to do anything i'd go to a newsletter place. something that specializes.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

last time i used it, only 1 of those images changed. there is no search on it either so you have to select from the list you have. and its long for me.

you can't add a screen shot. you have to upload that screen shot and post it as an image as you would in the forum either a html link to the site the image is on, or the code for displaying the product. but not all browsers see mail in html and it may be all code if they ever see it. i wouldn't go too fancy in these.

word has its own proprietary format. you would have to copy the code version, however, it adds to much extra stuff to be of any value.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Thanks Mike

Yeah, the more I try working this, the more I'm thinking better to go another route like Constant Contact or Mail Chimp. I was hoping not to go to that added expense right now, but may have no choice.

"half the mail isn't opened because faa is seen as a spam generator."

I've seen as high as a 79% open rate. FAA fixed it with updating the sent from address, short of the long.

The other thing to is sometimes people open the emails but don't click to load the images, so the stats don't pick those up.

If your set on another service look at https://madmimi.com owned by GoDaddy now I think. It's recommended by Barney Davey, you see his articles in your weekly FAA email newsletter.

if i'm lucky, its 50%. usually its 40%


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

I used to do direct mail campaigns for clients in the millions of pieces per year. If I had ever gotten half opened for the client, they would have never been able to service all of them. That particular company was the leading seller in the USA for selling that product, at that time. The industry changed but that guy made a fortune doing direct mail.

Direct mail, email or snail, is a numbers game. Like any advertising, you have to have a plan and you have to work that plan. You can not just send out an email blast every once in a while and thing you are going to get great returns on it. That will not happen.

You have to commit to a regular schedule and you have to train you people to look for it and want to read it. That takes time, six months to a year. I am not saying you can not maybe make a sale every once in a while with a sporadic approach. I am saying that is not going to maximize your efforts.

Spot-on, Floyd. I have a general list that gets send once a month. Then a subscriber list that is sent every Thursday, usually in the evening. My email list is my gold.

Constant Contact takes all the pain out of it.

You have to supply the list of course and they will not work with a list if you go out and buy one.

One of the great benefits of direct mail is it raises your TOMA ("top of the mind awareness"). Just seeing your name pop up in their email every month on a regular bases. That is something you can not put a price on, but it has more value then most people realize.

Google op of the mind awareness if you don't know what that means. And if you don't know what that means you should make an effort to learn it and how to maximize it using direct mail and other forms of advertising. That will make sale for you.

I am very, very pleased if I get 15%-20% readership, anything above that I am ecstatic! Like I said, it is a numbers game. A large percentage of that 15-20% is going to be repeat readers, but not all and not every month. There is going to be a different group of people that you mail to every month that will open the mail. Some will never open it. But if all are opt in, and they should be, they for some reason still want to get your email. And as mentioned above just seeing your name every month has value when they finally do start thinking of looking for art.

The larger the list is the better of course, but what you are really looking for here are "impressions", how many people see your work, see your name. That is why the longer you do it the more of an accumulative effect it has and the more it states paying off.

If you have 1000 names, you have 1000 impressions (assuming they all see it). After a year, you have 12,000 impressions, two years 24,000 impressions. The more names you have the more impressions.

All of this is basic advertising. If you sell ANY product, you should have a basic understanding of basic advertising. Take a marketing class and a salesmanship class if you what to learn how to make more sales.

A little basic knowledge will go a long way.

Keep talking, Floyd, since my email campaign thread is closed this one quite possibly could be the thread I refer to now.


One thing I do on SM is not so much sell my photography as much as motivate* email subscribers. Because a subscriber is permission based marketing. And like Floyd says it's top of mind marketing. Subscribers have to delete your email so you know they see it whether they read it or not.

I also find as I tweak my email content more, there are new subscribers every time I send an email ... so this tells me my subscribers are sharing my emails.


EDIT: *There is a difference between motivation and manipulation.

@ Robert

"But there are other advantages of using an outside email program as well."

As stated above, the take all the pain out of it.

They have professional designers that will design something especially for you.

There will be NO links back to FAA or any other artist or websites.

They will purify you list for you. FAA does some of that but I like to update my list once a year.

Constant Contact has become sort of the leader in the industry and their name is highly recognizable. A lot of people see their name and they know that it is not spam.

One other thing that a lot of people agree and disagree on is what it spam.

Spam is unwanted email, usually selling or soliciting something. However, the way the rules were original written and as was explained to me, you can send anyone an unsolicited email one time and ask if they want to be added to your email list.

Everyone has to make up their own mind if they want to do that or not. I do it and I am amazed that how many people say yes and how few people just politely say no and thank me for asking. I have very, very few responses that I would consider rude.

But that is up to you. I have over 20,000 emails so I am not that worried about adding names. If you have very few you need to build your list. You need to consider that as an option.

Great info guys.

I'm trying Mail Chimp right now, if for no other reason, I qualify for a free plan for now. :-)

I can import my Word document right into their email with minor tweaking. Sweet.

"I also find as I tweak my email content more,"

It is amazing how you can change just one or two words in direct mail piece and increase the response several percentage points.

We would send 20,000 or 30,000 pieces into a major market. We would try to tweak the message to suite that market.

Before we would drop 20,000 pieces we would run test of 200 or 300. It always amazed me that just a few words tweaked, raised the response rate.

Writing ad copy is an art all of its own. I was a great idea man. I could come with the ideas faster then the copywriter could keep up. But did not write the copy. I had a guy that was genus at doing that. I still use him. He runs his own ad agency in Huston Texas now.

"you can send anyone an unsolicited email one time and ask if they want to be added to your email list. "

Yes, this is what I do once a month. I add names to a prospect list and send it out once a month. When they sign up to the subscribe list I take them off the prospect list.

Mail Chimp is a good program, Lanis, but I found it to be clumsy. They have another platform = tinlyletter.com = but you have to send emails like a blog and can't ( look like you ) sell so much there.

Thanks Frank

Going to give it a go for now. Seems easy enough, except for one thing, did you ever find a way to add a shopping cart widget to it? My plan was to put a "photo of the month" in my newsletter, and was hoping to use a widget, but haven't found a way to embed it yet.

On the AW email, how do you know if someone unsubscribes? I have an email I use for "junk mail" accounts. I signed up for my email to see what it looks like to receive, then I unsubscribed to see how that looks. I still show that email as a subscriber. I hate that I might send email to someone who thought they unsubscribed.

When you're in your email campaign tool look for the subscribe list ( or the list your questioning ) and click the edit button. You should see all the addresses subscribed.

When you have an unsubscribe it should remove from the list, however, I have not tried it. I would suggest you send another email and see if you get one to the address you unsubscribed. On the other hand, when you have a new subscriber you will get an email notification.

I put my unsubscribe info, direct email address, on the bottom of the email. They send the request to me and I go in and remove that email. Can't ever remember getting and unsubscribe via an FAA mailing.

If you notice, sometimes the number in your list will go down after you send an email. I think FAA is doing some culling but not sure how or what that is based on.

Well, just sent my first newsletter via MailChimp. Also distributed it to a few folks and my social media resources.

Can't wait to see how it goes.

Thanks again all.

"Yes, this is what I do once a month. I add names to a prospect list and send it out once a month. When they sign up to the subscribe list I take them off the prospect list."

Frank, that's a good idea. I used to get 40 - close to 60% opening but once FAA changed the "from" to "DONOTREPLY" I get less people opening them because it looks more like spam than it did before.

People tell me they love the newsletters (I send one every month or two) and how great they look but it doesn't bring sales. My sales have been less and less since last year even tho I am marketing more than ever before.

Thanks for jumping in here, Karen. Your low open rate may not be that FAA changed the from address, but could be what email domain your sending from: Yahoo or aol mostly.

See this thread for more information http://pixels.com/showmessages.php?messageid=1990792

Also, right after the measure happened that is mentioned in that thread, gmail added this promotions tab. Most of my emails went to that until my recipients put the new FAA from address in their email address list. FYI.

If the newsletters are coming from FAA (DONOTREPLY) what has my domain got to do with it? I use gmail. The newsletter comes to me on my other email address f(rom my other website). It's a .com address, not gmail.

I did read that thread and sent an email to all subscribers about the change. Got some nice responses. I do get at least 40% but it doesn't translate to sales.

What's really funny is that right after I wrote that I got a new email subscriber.

Karen, at the link I provided towards the bottom of the thread:

" ..... I have reason to believe what email provider we send FROM has a lot to do with it reaching the inbox ... unless the receiver puts the default address found in the OP of this thread in their contact list. In other words, I created a new address from my att.net account, because I suspect it works more like a domain name instead of a free email name, and so far the gmail addresses are opening again. Last email campaign I sent from Mail.com and those gmail.com and comcast.net addresses didn't open. The only ones that open every time no matter what address sent from are those gmail and comcast addresses I know have the default address in their contact list. ........"

Frank - How do you change the FROM when you are sending through the email campaign?

Karen -- you don't .. or you can't. There is the main thing: "The only ones that open every time no matter what address sent from are those gmail and comcast addresses I know have the default address in their contact list. ........""

What I did so that I didn't have to email the no opens one at a time is changed my email address sent from. Then when they all sent reply that they added the DONOTREPLY to their email list, I swiched back to my original email address. Keep in mind, I was doing this too with Mail Chimp but that was a real mess. They might have it worked out now. What was causing this is the email server rule and how the emails coding was going through the receiving servers.

Reference: ( this started with Yahoo then went to aol, then the rest of them followed ) Yahoo became the first major mailbox provider to publish a DMARC policy of reject. For those of you who are not familiar with DMARC and don’t know what a reject policy is, this means that Yahoo has a line of text in their DNS record telling mailbox providers (MBPs) to reject any mail from a Yahoo domain if it doesn’t come from Yahoo’s own servers. This was big news and had a big impact, and I’m going to briefly explain why, so you can determine if this has any impact on you.

I just emailed the no opens as a group sending the newsletter from my .com email address and explaining (again) that they have to add DONOTREPLY to their list. Some came back as undeliverable so I assume their email addresses changed.

Are you emailing from a different newsletter program than FAA email campaign, Karen, I didn't think it read undeliverable sends.

In any event, yes in simple terms the address sent to is gone ... then maybe the DMARC refused it. Give me some time to find it, but the bounce back emails you got have to read a certain thing to determine what it was. I'll be back when I find it.

Okay, found this in GMX Mail ( which is fabulous by the way ) ...

Errors can occur when e-mails are sent. In this case, you receive an automatically generated e-mail called "Mail Delivery failed" or sent by "Mailer Daemon".

550 Benutzer hat zu viele Mails auf dem Server. / User has too many messages on the server or permission denied. Command output: maildrop: maildir over quota. or Quota exceeded
The recipient has too many e-mails saved and no space for more messages. Ask him or her to delete the e-mails that are no longer necessary or to get more storage space. Do not send any large attachments until the recipient has solved the problem.

delivery error: dd This user doesn't have an example.com account or invalid address (in reply to RCPT TO command) or User is unknown
The e-mail address you entered does not exist. The error is in the user name, i.e. before the @ sign of the e-mail address. Did you type it in wrong?

Host or domain name not found. Name service error for name=example.com type=A: Host found but no data record of requested type or unrouteable address
The e-mail address you entered does not exist. The error is in the domain name, i.e. after the @ sign of the e-mail address. Did you type it in wrong?

Rejected 123.234.56.78 found in spamcop.net (in reply to RCPT TO command) or 554 No SMTP service - IP address is black listed
The recipient has a blacklisting, meaning that some e-mails from GMX are rejected. Ask the recipient to contact the administrator or support team for his or her e-mail system.

This message matches a blacklisted regular expression
Due to the configuration of his or her e-mail provider, the recipient cannot receive any e-mails from free e-mail services. Inform the recipient of the problem. You can also try sending the e-mail with an alternative sender address.

====

Also, remember the 'why isn't the mail opened' link in FAA email campaign http://pixels.com/emailtracking.html

It does say by the way that bounces will come back to you, I just never had them.

I'm glad you say " Some came back as undeliverable " which says to me that most of the undeliverable you sent to did go through, confirming my experiences too.

I emailed the no opens from my own email address. i use mail on my Mac. I use gmail but I sent it through Karen@ArtByZuk.com which. I copied the addresses from the email campaign track feature where I could see who didn't open it.

Looks like we cross posted.

I only received 6 undeliverable ones.

One said:
Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the server for the recipient domain comcast.net by mx2.comcast.net. [2001:558:fe21:2a::6].

The error that the other server returned was:
550 5.1.1 Not our Customer

So that tells me that they changed their email address.

Another said:
Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the server for the recipient domain comcast.net by mx2.comcast.net. [2001:558:fe21:2a::6].

The error that the other server returned was:
550 5.1.1 Not our Customer

This looks like the same error but they were different addresses. Weird.

Another said:
Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the server for the recipient domain titanamerica.com by us-smtp-inbound-2.mimecast.com. [205.139.110.221].

The error that the other server returned was:
550 Envelope blocked - User Entry - http://kb.mimecast.com/Mimecast_Knowledge_Base/Administration_Console/Monitoring/Mimecast_SMTP_Error_Codes#550

Another said:
Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the server for the recipient domain aol.com by mailin-02.mx.aol.com. [64.12.88.163].

The error that the other server returned was:
550 5.1.1 : Recipient address rejected: aol.com

Two others said the addresses didn't exist. Sometimes I can't read the handwriting when they sign up at a show so I guess at it. Too bad.

Looks like you're doing well, Karen. Just count those as dead then ..... you've made progress anyways.

Thanks Frank. I try. I am hoping that the work I have been doing will pan out in the long run. I know it takes time to see a response to marketing. Sometimes it gets frustrating and I feel like I am just spinning my wheels. I have joined groups on FB and try to interact. I send posts on twitter but maybe not often enough. I am on Flickr but don't find it too user friendly. Also on LinkedIn. Same thing. I used to have a nice profile banner picture but it disappeared when they changed the look and it is a pretty ugly layout now if you ask me.

Go back and read the words from Floyd, Karen, and give email marketing your time and attention. One thing about all those Social Media platforms you mentioned, they all require an email address to have an account. ..... the Email Campaign tool is my gold.

I will and thanks for the help. I like your idea of a prospect email list. Also I have to reach out to past buyers.