This morning, I received an email from a friend trying to coordinate a good time to get a group of parents together to work on a class auction project for my daughter’s 5th grade class at her Waldorf school here in Bellingham, Washington.

As a member of several committees and local community groups, I am regularly tasked with coordinating the schedules of groups. It can be really frustrating sometimes.

Here is evidence of a recent [failed] attempt to coordinate a time for a meeting using email (what the heck was I thinking?)

At some point during the above exchange, I even created a short poll using our very own GroupSurveys online surveys builder to make things easier for everyone.

Technically, that worked, but it didn’t offer the interactive, real-time coordination that I was looking for.

Today, my friend used a really simple scheduling service by doodle.com to coordinate our auction project. It made everything so easy. You just pick the days/times that worked for you and voila. You can also leave comments in the same way that you can at evite.com when responding to an invitation.

Doodle is free for individuals and doesn’t even require registration – although there are premium business and enterprise plans available.

So, if you want to save yourself the frustration so often associated with trying to coordinate busy schedules and find the best time for everyone to meet, there you go.

I hope you find it useful as I do.

Why ?

As part of a recent war on graymail, Hotmail has established some new hurdles for getting email delivered to the inbox, even if that email is sent as fulfillment to an opt-in newsletter or email marketing subscription. One of the new criteria for Hotmail inbox delivery is that all newsletter and email marketing messages must include a list-unsubscribe email header in their messages, even if there is already an unsubscribe link somewhere else in the message.

…Newsletter and email marketing messages WITHOUT a list-unsubscribe email header will be permanently sent to the Hotmail spam folder…”

For more information about these changes, and for instructions on how to add a list-unsubscribe email header to your next newsletter or email marketing message, read How do I add a list-unsubscribe email header in GroupMail?

Interested? Add your own, custom list-unsubscribe email header using our newsletter and email marketing software, GroupMail.

Today, more and more of your recipients may be are reading your email on their mobile devices.

Unfortunately, your HTML email designs, painstakingly crafted to format beautifully across all most many Desktop and web email clients may not look so wonderful on the increasing variety of smaller, mobile screens used by the people on your email list.

But do not fear, my email marketing friends. I have scoured the Internetz for you.

Here are the Best Mobile Email Design and Compatibility Tips and Advice in 2011.

1. Justine Jordan at Litmus provides a valuable overview of the current state of mobile email compatibility.
2. Mark Brownlow at email-marketing-reports.com offers a thorough look into mobile email marketing in 2011
3. Ross Hodgekiss at Smashing Magazine shares very practical advice on specific coding considerations for optimizing email newsletters with CSS
4. Lisa Harmon and Alex Madison talked to Rocky Thomas, an “awesome designer” and expert on email-mobile cross-channel integration and share his sage advice on designing mobile email.
5. Small Business CEO links us to 5 tools for testing HTML for mobile compatibility

As with most advice given in relation to email marketing, make sure you do your own testing. Find your own mobile email format and style that fits with your unique set of tools and circumstances. If you don’t have much time to invest, perhaps using a simplified HTML or plain text format is the best approach to get started.

As always, if you need any help along the way, don’t hesitate to contact our technical support team.

Lately, I have been writing v o l u m e s –  fresh website content, blog posts, profile descriptions for my new Google Plus and About.me accounts and material for the GroupMail article system we are building. Heck, even my comments on other blogs and social media sites have been voluminous lately.

This morning, I realized that I was writing too much. Literally.

When you are as verbose as I am, it does not come naturally to err on the side of brevity. There is just so much to say about yourself, your business and the wellspring of value that you offer; and the space to present it all seems so infinite when you are writing it.

The problem is, the space and attention span of your audience is not infinite

Today, more than ever before, it is important to understand the art, and necessity, of being brief.

Here are some reasons why:

  Recent studies suggest that website and email audiences form their first impression about your message in as quickly as 50 milliseconds.

  Advertisers pay MILLIONS of $$ for 15 and 30-second ads for the Super Bowl each year. Space and time are valuable resources.

  People want content in smaller bits. We sign up to get our news, information and social updates via Twitter, SMS texts and mobile email.

  The physical space on our portable devices is not designed for voluminous content. Many screens can only display a few lines at a time.

“Can you convey your message in 30 seconds? How about 50 milliseconds?”

When there are so many things that you want to say – so many things that you can say to convince your audience that your message is valuable; it is not easy to whittle it all down to a single page, a screen, a preview pane, sentence, a few key words. But you must, if you want to get the attention of your audience.

Your ability to present value in small, digestible pieces is instrumental today.

Consider your email messages and web content to be bridges rather than vessels.

I’ll sit down now.

“What is your favorite color?

Obviously, if you ask this question to a group of people, you will get a variety (or spectrum!) of answers. Colors affect people in different ways, and much research has been published to investigate what emotional response different colors provoke.

An effective communicator knows that the first rule of an effective presentation is to KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE and structure your content for them when preparing. Vocabulary, tone, length of material, and style are all adapted, as necessary, for each particular and unique audience.

But how important is color when designing communication for email or website audiences? Isn’t content all that matters?

Does it really matter what color I use in my email newsletters or for the landing pages on my new website?

According to Psychology About.com, psychologists estimate that the response to color can account for up to 60% of the acceptance or rejection of a product or service. This suggests that modern communicators who use dynamic design elements and formatting for their email newsletters and landing pages should consider what colors are most appropriate (and effective) for their particular audience. When considering color in the context of psychology and how it might influence your audience, you should take into account the cultural, gender, and age difference of your audience.

Cultural Differences

Because we are often communicating with a global audience when we send email or design a website, it is important to understand cultural differences and the significance and interpretations that certain colors have in different parts of the world.

As an example; when I was living in Italy, a co-worker’s mother took ill and was sent to hospital. As a good US Air Force representative, I immediately started requesting donations from the office so that we could send her mother flowers and a get well card. Shortly into my fund-raising efforts, an Italian colleague approached me (thankfully, before I delivered the bouquet!). He said:

“Mr. Tom, In Italy, we never give an even number of flowers; and please do not buy Chrysanthemums as they are only given at funerals.”

Imagine if I had sent the poor lady a dozen Chrysanthemums!

The cultural significance of color is also important to consider when communicating via email or on a website. Here are some examples of how colors have different significance between just two cultures.

Okay, so GroupMail is currently used in over 160 countries around the world. I wonder how many customers I inadvertently insulted with the color scheme of my last newsletter? Doh!

Here is more information about color symbolism by culture.

There is also a quick color guide that you can refer to for a quick reference for what feelings different colors might illicit (in western culture.)

Gender Differences

Studies suggest that men and women respond to color differently. In The Meaning of Color for Gender, Natalia Khouw writes,

“Another study examined the appropriateness of colors used on the walls of a simulated domestic interior furnished in one of three styles; Georgian, Art Nouveau and Modern. Whitfield (1984) reported that internal consistency among women is higher than for men. When the study was broadened to include marital status, married women achieve significantly more internal consistency in each condition of the three styles than did the men.

More recently, Radeloff (1990) has found that women were more likely than men to have a favorite color. In expressing the preferences for light versus dark colors, there was [sic] no significant differences between men and women; however, in expressing the preference for bright and soft colors, there was a difference, with women preferring soft colors and men preferring bright ones.”

I recommend that you read Ms. Khouw’s full paper, The Meaning of Color for Gender

Age Differences

Even within cultural and gender groups, response to color can shift within age groups. Younger children will tend to prefer more active, engaging colors than adults. Dull, greyish or black and white shades appear too business-like and formal. If you take the time to look at childrens TV shows, magazines, and Internet sites, you can get a good idea of what colors attract children.

Jennifer Kyrnin, from webdesign.about.com says that “Young children tend to prefer brighter, more solid colors, while adults tend to prefer more subdued colors. If you’re writing to an audience of children and you’re using muted pastels and shades of grey, their parents might like it, but the kids will be long gone before the page finishes loading.” She also discusses differences in color significance within economic classes and over time through trends.

As modern communicators, color certainly enhances those messages that appeared somewhat dull in the black and white era not too many years ago. Color can bring an email or website to life. However, if you don’t consider the various cultural, gender and age interpretations, color can also create a reaction to your message that may be counterproductive and undesired.

So the next time you design an HTML template, send an email newsletter or design a landing page on your website, give some thought to the colors you use, and don’t be afraid to experiment, using the research available here as a guide. ]]> http://blog.group-mail.com/2011/08/14/the-psychology-and-meaning-of-color-in-email-and-websites/feed/ 5 http://blog.group-mail.com/2011/07/07/do-u-has-any-ideas-r-developr-kats-r-listenin/ http://blog.group-mail.com/2011/07/07/do-u-has-any-ideas-r-developr-kats-r-listenin/#comments Thu, 07 Jul 2011 22:42:46 +0000 Tom O'Leary http://blog.group-mail.com/?p=1407 One of the things that sets GroupMail apart from other email marketing software and services is that our development process is driven largely by our customers. It always has been.

We listen closely to the needs and desires of the people who use and rely on our software to get stuff done. That is one of the reasons why GroupMail is considered by many to be more intuitive and easier to use than other products on the market. It evolves with our customers needs and desires and has been for the last 15 years.

Do you have a request for a feature or an idea that would make life easier for you and other GroupMail users?

How to Submit a GroupMail Software Feature Request

1. Submit a feature request to our developers!
2. Repeat

GroupMail software feature request

Remember, there is no such thing as a bad question (or feature request) except for the one that isn’t asked. If something would make your experience with GroupMail better, then there is a very good chance that it would make the experience of others better too.

Don’t be scared to think outside of the [in]box!

…and big thanks to all of our customers who have already contributed to the development of GroupMail over the years! It rocks because of you!

We have all sent an email at some point that we wish we hadn’t. Usually, the moment of clarity comes immediately after the “send” button is clicked. That’s one click too late.

Unlike a blog, you can’t edit an email after it’s been sent out to your list. No do-overs!

Read Butterfingers! Email Checklists Save the Day for the inspiration you need to get started.

Subject: Behind In Payments ?? Avoid Bankruptcy!!! Reduce Debt 50%-Debt Free 12-36 Months !!!

Case closed.

It might as well read:

Subject: Behind in SPAM ?? Avoid SPAM!!! Reduce SPAM 50%-SPAM Free 12-36 SPAM !!!

Here’s the thing. The words you use in the Subject Line (and the body) of your email matter. Antispam filters are designed to look for suspicious commercial content. That is what they were created for. They guard the inbox of your recipient with a vigilance that would make the Royal Guards seem somewhat lackadaisical.

Marketing Profs published 107 ‘dirty’ words that might get your email snagged in spam filters if they appear in your Subject line. Here are the first seven:

1. 100% free
2. 50% off
3. act now
4. all words that relate to sex or pornography
5. all words that related to cures or medication
6. amazing
7. anything that looks like you are YELLING

For 100 more, read The Seven Dirty Words You Can’t Say in Email Subject Lines (Plus 100 Others You Shouldn’t Use, Either)**

** Registration may be required to read the full article.

This is what readers see when you use long paragraphs to express an idea, concept, feature, etc.

Click here to see what your content looks like to your potential readers when you use short paragraphs.

This is true for your website, blog and email marketing campaigns.

If you want more people to read what you write; remember that, often, less is more.

You can’t fake good customer service. Not for long, anyway.

You might be able to trick people into thinking that you offer good customer service and it is certainly possible to create hopeful expectations for good customer service with a well designed strategy and some good copy here and there.

But in the end, the truth about your customer service is revealed during the ongoing conversations you have with your customers, the efforts that you make to help them and the distance you will go to treat them right.