[Updated Post] Currently we're using aWeber for email services (list maintenance, autoresponders, newsletters). I chose them because they had all four of the main things I was looking for: great deliverability (even to at-work email boxes), an easy-to-use interface, easy-to-reach customer service, and low, low cost. They also integrate with roughly 70 different external carts and formbuilders, and CRM systems.
However, we were having a hard time getting our Formspring forms, which we use for webinar registrations and multiple-offer forms, integrated with aWeber this winter. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. That meant some of the people who signed up for email newsletters from either of my sites didn't get on the list they wanted.
Luckily, with help from my new tech director Ken Ambrose and aWeber's CEO Tom Kulzer, the problem is now rectified. I'm happiest about this because I really do adore aWeber as a vendor and had not wanted to leave them. Tom assured me on the phone this morning that other aWeber clients are also integrated with Formspring and the problem should not reoccur.
If you are looking for an email services provider, here is my list of 17 questions that I routinely ask ESPs to decide if I should work with them. I hope you find it useful:
#1. In what situations do you require incoming opt-ins to be double opt-in?
#2. How do you check prior consent before you allow us to start broadcasting to a list we upload from another source or ESP?
#3. Are you integrated with Formspring?
#4. For what reason would you "fire" a client, and how often does that happen?
#5. Most of my recipients view email via Outlook, do you have a simulator where I can see if my proposed email campaign creative will trip typical Outlook default filters or not?
#6. I run several websites with different names. All are owned by the same publishing company. Can I have one account for my company or do I need a different account for each brand/site name we publish?
#7. Can I set up autoresponder series for particular lists so people get messages based on the date they opted-in?
#8. How many different lists can I set up for my account?
#9. Can I set up a DNE list (do not email) that I can use to suppress broadcasts against? My goal would be to keep unsubscribe list on file with you, and then when I do a mailing of another list, be able to suppress any of those names on the list
It's a Can-spam legal compliance thing.
#10. How about merging lists for a send -- I have many different lists that people can sign up on,(such as buyers, newsletter opt-ins, etc.) and some people are on more than one list. Sometimes I want to send a broadcast to everyone on all lists... but I don't want people who are on more than one list to get a duplicate message. Can you set up one "account" per individual email address on my entire database of lists file and then show which lists that individual email is signed up for?
#11. How many times do you guys send a confirm required message to a double opt-in before you mark that name as a no-go?
#12. Can I customize the wording of that message at all?
#13. Are you integrated with RegReady so I can get opt-ins via co-registration?
#14. Do you power opt-in forms that can be HTML overlays, and if so, can those overlays be time-delayed so they appear based on how many seconds a visitor has been on a page of my site? Can overlay viewers be cookied so an individual only gets one overlay as long as their cookie is live? If I build my own overlays, can I integrate my opt-in feed with you so I can add names to my list quickly and easily?
#15. When an opt-in clicks on the link to confirm their permission, can I have that redirect to a page on my site that I select... or am I stuck with your confirm thank-you page?
#16. Do you give me the ability to create a separate custom text-only version of all my html messages?
#17. Does the form that I would input my text message into have a hard-right column or anything indicating where a typical margin would be so I can input hard breaks where needed?? I assume the margin would be recommended at 55-65 characters across.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Friday, December 4, 2009
Feels Like Deja Vu: My New Blog for Subscription & Membership Site Publishers
The wheel of time and fortune's done another 360.
Back in early 2001, when blogging was a bit like Twitter was 12 months ago, I launched my very first blog, entitled ContentBizBlog (later subsumed into and then ceased by MarketingSherpa.) Just as today, back in 2001, online publishing monetization was a raging topic. Online ad sales and sponsorships plunged during the dot-com bust and everybody needed new ways to make money with content. So, that's what I blogged about.
Now here I am again, nine years later launching a new blog on the very same topic.
But, blogging's changed in that time. At the start blogging had two purposes (neither of them SEO, sorry). The first was to express personality -- the human face behind a more formal publication. Facebook, to some extent, has taken on that role now.
The second was to be a platform for news outside the normal editorial, either because it was a breaking story, or it was too brief to be worth a formal "story", or because the topic didn't fit your editorial guidelines. (ie. too hot, too short, or too off target.) Twitter, of course, has to a large extent, now taken that role now.
So what's blogging for now? The idea it's just for SEO traffic or "marketing" makes me want to vomit. Neither a fake journalist nor a cross-posting spammer be. That's in the bible somewhere, right?
If I'm not blogging from the heart, I'm not blogging. I guess it's a brave new world out there... just like the old one used to be.
Back in early 2001, when blogging was a bit like Twitter was 12 months ago, I launched my very first blog, entitled ContentBizBlog (later subsumed into and then ceased by MarketingSherpa.) Just as today, back in 2001, online publishing monetization was a raging topic. Online ad sales and sponsorships plunged during the dot-com bust and everybody needed new ways to make money with content. So, that's what I blogged about.
Now here I am again, nine years later launching a new blog on the very same topic.
But, blogging's changed in that time. At the start blogging had two purposes (neither of them SEO, sorry). The first was to express personality -- the human face behind a more formal publication. Facebook, to some extent, has taken on that role now.
The second was to be a platform for news outside the normal editorial, either because it was a breaking story, or it was too brief to be worth a formal "story", or because the topic didn't fit your editorial guidelines. (ie. too hot, too short, or too off target.) Twitter, of course, has to a large extent, now taken that role now.
So what's blogging for now? The idea it's just for SEO traffic or "marketing" makes me want to vomit. Neither a fake journalist nor a cross-posting spammer be. That's in the bible somewhere, right?
If I'm not blogging from the heart, I'm not blogging. I guess it's a brave new world out there... just like the old one used to be.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Book Review: A Simple Girl - Stories My Grandmother Told Me
I've collected biographies of successful businesswomen, female diplomats, and other fascinating women all my life. They fill a bookcase six feet wide and seven feet tall. So, when I heard Josh Flagg, young star of BravoTV's Million Dollar Listing had written a biography of his grandmother, Edith Flagg, who arrived in the US with just $5 in her pocket after WWII and quickly rose to being one of California's top fashion designers, I immediately ordered a copy from Josh's site.
It arrived in the mail today and is already even better than I expected. The stories are all written as Josh heard them, in his grandmother's voice, so you feel like she's sitting beside you. And her stories are wonderful. Fashion school in Vienna; fighting with Dutch underground against the Nazis; her initial take on American fashions (secretaries dressed shockingly like hookers to Edith's European eye); and the birth of her fabulously successful business in Los Angeles.
Most biographies are frustratingly sparse on photos, but this one is packed, including a picture of the dress that sold a million copies. (How many of us have sold a million units of anything?)
Josh has two co-stars on the real estate reality show that's made him famous. One has just come out with a real estate book to further his business, the other spends all his time "building my brand." Josh, instead, has published a book in which he is only a very minor character. And he's giving 100% of the net profits to charity. In fact, he hopes to raise more for charity by allowing online buyers to pick how much they'd like to pay for their copy, anywhere from $20 to $1000.
In this week of thankfulness, and at a time when I'm finalizing plans our year-end promotions, etc., it's good to be brought down to earth a bit. Really it's all about following our passions and a life well lived. I have the feeling Josh, no matter what he ends up doing, will be more successful in life than those other two fellows.
It arrived in the mail today and is already even better than I expected. The stories are all written as Josh heard them, in his grandmother's voice, so you feel like she's sitting beside you. And her stories are wonderful. Fashion school in Vienna; fighting with Dutch underground against the Nazis; her initial take on American fashions (secretaries dressed shockingly like hookers to Edith's European eye); and the birth of her fabulously successful business in Los Angeles.
Most biographies are frustratingly sparse on photos, but this one is packed, including a picture of the dress that sold a million copies. (How many of us have sold a million units of anything?)
Josh has two co-stars on the real estate reality show that's made him famous. One has just come out with a real estate book to further his business, the other spends all his time "building my brand." Josh, instead, has published a book in which he is only a very minor character. And he's giving 100% of the net profits to charity. In fact, he hopes to raise more for charity by allowing online buyers to pick how much they'd like to pay for their copy, anywhere from $20 to $1000.
In this week of thankfulness, and at a time when I'm finalizing plans our year-end promotions, etc., it's good to be brought down to earth a bit. Really it's all about following our passions and a life well lived. I have the feeling Josh, no matter what he ends up doing, will be more successful in life than those other two fellows.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
My New Subscription & Membership Site Benchmark Report: Real-Life Stats for a Too-Hype-Ridden Industry
My labor of love, a real-life stats Benchmark Report for the paid content industry is published at last. Since 1986, my entire career has centered around publishing and marketing subscription content. At first print publications, then in 1992 electronic site licenses, and finally in 1995, Web-based subscription sites.
In fact, one afternoon in mid-1995, I did a press conference, to publicize the launch of a subscription website, at the National Press Club in Washington DC. Back then the reporters in the room wondered aloud, "Who will ever pay for content on the Internet?" 15 years later, hordes of people, including an unseemly number of reporters, still wonder if paid online content is possible.
... which makes me crazy. I'm SO proud of my industry, the industry I both grew up in and helped to grow up. Tens of millions of American consumers and businesses are paying customers of subscriptions to online content at this very minute! I estimate $14.88 billion will be spent by Americans on online subscriptions in 2009. Next year, that number will almost certainly jump by another billion. And that's not even counting subscriptions sold elsewhere (match.com alone is in 24 countries.)
So, that's why I started, what turned out to be a gargantuan project, gathering a complete collection of real-life stats about every aspect of the online subscription and membership site industry.... including stats on traffic, profits, conversion rates, renewal rates, M&As, you name it.
The Subscription & Membership Site Benchmark Report is packed with 185 charts, tables and illustrations, most of them both new for 2009 and exclusive.
Lots (and lots) of thank yous --
I could not have done it without any of you. This Benchmark Report was truly a community effort. Without the efforts of more than 500 people who were involved in some stage or other, it would not have been possible.
Thank you so much. Now let's go build a bigger, hype-free, naysayer-free, bigger and better industry!
In fact, one afternoon in mid-1995, I did a press conference, to publicize the launch of a subscription website, at the National Press Club in Washington DC. Back then the reporters in the room wondered aloud, "Who will ever pay for content on the Internet?" 15 years later, hordes of people, including an unseemly number of reporters, still wonder if paid online content is possible.
... which makes me crazy. I'm SO proud of my industry, the industry I both grew up in and helped to grow up. Tens of millions of American consumers and businesses are paying customers of subscriptions to online content at this very minute! I estimate $14.88 billion will be spent by Americans on online subscriptions in 2009. Next year, that number will almost certainly jump by another billion. And that's not even counting subscriptions sold elsewhere (match.com alone is in 24 countries.)
So, that's why I started, what turned out to be a gargantuan project, gathering a complete collection of real-life stats about every aspect of the online subscription and membership site industry.... including stats on traffic, profits, conversion rates, renewal rates, M&As, you name it.
The Subscription & Membership Site Benchmark Report is packed with 185 charts, tables and illustrations, most of them both new for 2009 and exclusive.
Lots (and lots) of thank yous --
- The 302 subscription and membership site executives who took my (long) survey, revealing their real-life stats on everything from profits and conversion rates to typical renewals.
- Our indefatigable reporter, Natalie Myers, who examined 550 subscription sites' pricing, search marketing, and site design for the Observational Study included in the Benchmark Report.
- The Specialized Information Publishing Foundation (SIPF) who allowed us to analyze and slice out their data on 87 subscription site publishers.
- Tim Kerber CEO Membergate, Russell Perkins CEO Infocommerce Group, Charlie Terry head of CWT Group, Bill Baird of Baird Direct, Miles Galliford CEO SubHub, and David Evans head of Online Dating Insider who all actively encouraged their readers and clients to take our executive surveys.
- Compete Inc, the VSS Communications Industry Forecast, Forrester, Belden Interactive, MarketData Enterprises, Pew Research Center, Vindicia, and Ask500People for allowing us to include pieces of their data in the Benchmark Report so it's as complete as possible.
- Everyone on the design-side, including Terra Hughes, Steve Hicks, Sissi Haner, Shawn Baron and Ron Perry, all of whom went beyond the call of duty, often after-hours, to help make this Report beautiful and easy to read.
I could not have done it without any of you. This Benchmark Report was truly a community effort. Without the efforts of more than 500 people who were involved in some stage or other, it would not have been possible.
Thank you so much. Now let's go build a bigger, hype-free, naysayer-free, bigger and better industry!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
My Newest Launch: WhichTestWon's First Annual Testing Awards
With one big huge caveat, I love, love, love marketing and advertising awards. They're inspiring, galvanizing, career-building, and just plain fun for everyone involved. I still keep the very first award I won, DMAW's 1992 Bronze MAXI, propped up near my desk.
I learned a big lesson from that award though (hence the caveat.) I'd actually submitted two of my campaigns, both marketing high-priced business information, for the DMAW awards that year. The first was a one-page, personalized letter that was faxed to prospects. Recipients could respond by jotting their credit card number in an already personalized little order form at the bottom of the page and faxing it back. The personalization of a mass-fax campaign was pretty technically advanced at the time. (In fact I didn't know any other marketer who'd tried it.) Response rates were insane. We got way more than 1000% ROI. I was sure I'd win an award for this campaign!
Secondly, as more of an afterthought than anything, I also submitted a dimensional campaign. The package was a little cardboard box which contained a 4-color brochure, letter, order form, and a floppy disc containing a demo of the product we were offering. As always with dimensionals, costs were really high per piece. The campaign broke even, but that's it.
Guess which campaign won the award? Yeah, the dimensional that barely broke even.
I was shocked. Thrilled to have won something of course, but upset. It felt like a miscarriage of justice. I really wanted to bitch out the judges. What is wrong with you people? I felt my personalized mass fax-marketing campaign was the idea that deserved the publicity. Other B2B marketers could have copied it and made a lot of money. Arrgh!
That's when I learned that for most marketing and advertising awards, the shiny, bright "creative" object is the one that catches the judges' eyes and wins. Measured results don't matter, actual data doesn't matter. The black-and-white, one-page fax had no chance against a colorful box full of stuff.
Now I only take awards seriously when I know the nominations form *requires* response data. (A shocking number of awards entry forms do not ask for any data!) That doesn't mean that creative, strategy, competition, and other circumstances shouldn't be taken into consideration. You judge on a combination of elements. But data must be an important one of them.
So, it will be no surprise to you that my newest launch - WhichTestWon's Annual Testing Awards - requires results data. I totally understand that many companies do not want their data blared to the universe, so I also included a 'Keep my data private' checkbox on the entry form. The judges will be able to see your data, but they are sworn to secrecy!
The judges are web analytics guru Avinash Kaushik, copywriting guru Bob Bly, Vertster CEO Scott Miller and myself. We're all equally obsessed with testing creativity and results data.
If you have conducted an A/B test or multivariate test for your company or for a client since January 1, 2008, that worked out well, please do enter. Nominations are free. Deadline Friday November 20th.
I learned a big lesson from that award though (hence the caveat.) I'd actually submitted two of my campaigns, both marketing high-priced business information, for the DMAW awards that year. The first was a one-page, personalized letter that was faxed to prospects. Recipients could respond by jotting their credit card number in an already personalized little order form at the bottom of the page and faxing it back. The personalization of a mass-fax campaign was pretty technically advanced at the time. (In fact I didn't know any other marketer who'd tried it.) Response rates were insane. We got way more than 1000% ROI. I was sure I'd win an award for this campaign!
Secondly, as more of an afterthought than anything, I also submitted a dimensional campaign. The package was a little cardboard box which contained a 4-color brochure, letter, order form, and a floppy disc containing a demo of the product we were offering. As always with dimensionals, costs were really high per piece. The campaign broke even, but that's it.
Guess which campaign won the award? Yeah, the dimensional that barely broke even.
I was shocked. Thrilled to have won something of course, but upset. It felt like a miscarriage of justice. I really wanted to bitch out the judges. What is wrong with you people? I felt my personalized mass fax-marketing campaign was the idea that deserved the publicity. Other B2B marketers could have copied it and made a lot of money. Arrgh!
That's when I learned that for most marketing and advertising awards, the shiny, bright "creative" object is the one that catches the judges' eyes and wins. Measured results don't matter, actual data doesn't matter. The black-and-white, one-page fax had no chance against a colorful box full of stuff.
Now I only take awards seriously when I know the nominations form *requires* response data. (A shocking number of awards entry forms do not ask for any data!) That doesn't mean that creative, strategy, competition, and other circumstances shouldn't be taken into consideration. You judge on a combination of elements. But data must be an important one of them.
So, it will be no surprise to you that my newest launch - WhichTestWon's Annual Testing Awards - requires results data. I totally understand that many companies do not want their data blared to the universe, so I also included a 'Keep my data private' checkbox on the entry form. The judges will be able to see your data, but they are sworn to secrecy!
The judges are web analytics guru Avinash Kaushik, copywriting guru Bob Bly, Vertster CEO Scott Miller and myself. We're all equally obsessed with testing creativity and results data.
If you have conducted an A/B test or multivariate test for your company or for a client since January 1, 2008, that worked out well, please do enter. Nominations are free. Deadline Friday November 20th.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
My Eyes Are Bleeding and Everything's Late
My fall launch projects are 7-8 weeks off schedule. The new service was supposed to be completely live in early September. And you know, it's coming along. But, it won't be ready until late October.
What's slowing things down? It's not my team's fault, it's my own. Here I am just as I was precisely 10 years ago, sitting at the computer, working, working, working on my launch. I'm smarter now, right? Well, not brain cell-wise, but in experience, god yes. Plus, I took 4 months off before starting this new company so I'm rested. So that should make up for an extra decade of just plain age.
Nobody told me. I really didn't know. For gosh sakes, I'm only in my mid-40s! But, turns out starting a new online publishing company when you are in your mid-30s vs when you're in your mid-40s are very different things. Physically.
I'm just more relaxed in some inner cellular way. Still ambitious and driven, but able to take things slower, to savor the moments. Also, after a few 10 hour days at the computer, even with anti-glare devices, etc., it feels like my eyes are bleeding. Ow, ow, ow.
Anybody, who says that print will be extinct someday, does not have eyes older than 45. Now I understand why big important executives spend more and more time in in-person meetings as they age. It's not that they can't use their computer, or don't realize its communication efficiencies, their eyes are hurting.
Lesson learned. Actually two. One is, if you want older businesspeople to read anything on your site, make the type much larger. And it better be black on white. Secondly, when you start new businesses as you age, allow more give in the schedule for the "I am aging" factor.
What's slowing things down? It's not my team's fault, it's my own. Here I am just as I was precisely 10 years ago, sitting at the computer, working, working, working on my launch. I'm smarter now, right? Well, not brain cell-wise, but in experience, god yes. Plus, I took 4 months off before starting this new company so I'm rested. So that should make up for an extra decade of just plain age.
Nobody told me. I really didn't know. For gosh sakes, I'm only in my mid-40s! But, turns out starting a new online publishing company when you are in your mid-30s vs when you're in your mid-40s are very different things. Physically.
I'm just more relaxed in some inner cellular way. Still ambitious and driven, but able to take things slower, to savor the moments. Also, after a few 10 hour days at the computer, even with anti-glare devices, etc., it feels like my eyes are bleeding. Ow, ow, ow.
Anybody, who says that print will be extinct someday, does not have eyes older than 45. Now I understand why big important executives spend more and more time in in-person meetings as they age. It's not that they can't use their computer, or don't realize its communication efficiencies, their eyes are hurting.
Lesson learned. Actually two. One is, if you want older businesspeople to read anything on your site, make the type much larger. And it better be black on white. Secondly, when you start new businesses as you age, allow more give in the schedule for the "I am aging" factor.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
So, I Finally Launched a Corporate Homepage
Only took seven months, and you know, I'm a really-web focused person. Pitiful. Honestly. One's own dog food, eating it. http://www.annehollandventures.com/
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