Building Your First Email - Vertical Response

AStep by StepGuide toEmailMarketingSuccess

Table of ContentsIntroduction..................................................................................................... 3Quick Start Guide .......................................................................................... 4Step 1: Setup Your Account.......................................................................... 7How Does Pricing Work? ........................................................................ 12Step 2: Import Your List............................................................................... 14Step 3: Building Your First Email................................................................ 22The Library............................................................................................... 23Using the Wizard...................................................................................... 26The Email Canvas.................................................................................... 32Write / Paste / Edit Text ........................................................................... 36Create Links............................................................................................. 39Personalize Your Message Using Merge Fields...................................... 39Step 4: Launching and Analyzing Your Email........................................... 43Reporting..................................................................................................45Marketing Tips .............................................................................................48Building Blocks – Relationship Building................................................... 48Ask for Permission .................................................................................. 48Nuture the Relationship for Maximum Potential....................................... 49Reporting: How Are You Using It, Or Are You?........................................ 50Common Email Marketing Mistakes........................................................... 53VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace Marketing Lingo 101.................. 542

IntroductionWhy VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace?If you’re looking to grow your business by marketing to your customers but you’re short ontime and resources, VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace is the perfect solution. We striveto make small businesses look like giants (and who doesn’t want to look like a giant?).Small businesses today increasingly rely on the ease and affordability of tools like thoseVerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace and Intuit provide. In just a few minutes you caneasily create professional looking e-newsletters, direct mail postcards, and online surveysto engage your customers, learn more about them, and increase sales. You’ve got a fewminutes to increase your sales don’t you?Simply put, we are an online (Software-as-a-Service) provider that allows anyone,regardless of technical experience, to create & send emails, surveys, and postcards fromany web browser.As a company, we pride ourselves on being experts in marketing and the products webuild, sell and support. This guide is one of the many ways we practice what we preach.3

Quick Start Guide9 Easy Steps to Send Out Your First Email CampaignThere is a lot of great, detailed information to be found throughout this guidebook. But whatif you need to get an email out right now and don’t have time to read through everythingfirst? Just follow the 9 easy steps below:1. Open Your Free VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace Account –Ifyou don’t already have an account, you’ll need one before you can do anything else.Sign-up from our Intuit Marketplace listing at http://marketplace.intuit.com/AppID-3191-Overview.aspx and your account will be ready to go in a few minutes.2. Import Your List – You’ll find an Intuit Import link in the upper right of yourHome page. Click that link and the system will walk you through importing yourQuickbooks data into VerticalResponse. When you’re done, all the records you’veimported will be part of your account’s Master List.3. Segment Your List - If you want to mail all of the records you imported in Step 2,then you’re ready to go and can skip this step. But if you only want to mail certainmembers of the List, you can use the Segments tool (Lists > Segments) to searchfor specific people using any data that was imported with your records4. Upload (or Find) Your Images – The Library section of your account is whereyou upload the images you want to use in your emails. Don’t have any images?Just search through the 75,000 pictures in our free Stock Photo Gallery to find thepictures or images you need.Any uploaded images need to be in JPEG (.jpg) or GIF (.gif) format. Using one ofthese two formats ensures your pictures will look right to all your recipients.4

5. Edit Your Images – Use the Library’s editor to resize, crop, flip or rotate yourpictures. You can edit any image in your Library by mousing over it and clicking thepencil icon.You can also access the editor when you’re adding pictures toyour email.6. Choose Your Email Builder – There are four different email editors inVerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace: the Wizard, the Canvas, Freeform, andPlain Text.The Wizard is a template-driven editor that is great for new users.✓✓The Canvas is a graphical HTML editor with enhanced design options andflexibility✓ ✓ Freeform allows users to copy and paste their own pre-designed HTML codeinto our system✓ ✓ Plain Text can be used to create simple text emails without pictures or logos7. Build Your Email – Several sections of this guide provide detailed instructions onhow to use the various email creation options. If you need specific help, you shouldcheck those sections (page 26 for the Wizard, page 32 for the Canvas).8. Launch Your Email – After you’ve designed your email, it’s time to send it out.Launching an email through VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace is a quick andpainless five-step process:✓✓Preview: This tab – as you might expect – provides a preview of your emailmessage.5

Step 1: Setup Your AccountBefore you reap all the benefits that VerticalResponse has to offer you must first create anaccount from our website. Creating an account is easy to do:1. Visit our listing at the Intuit Marketplace: http://marketplace.intuit.com/AppID-3191-Overview.aspx.2. Click the Free Trial link in upper right.3. Sign in to your Intuit Workplace account. If you don’t already have a workplaceaccount, click the Create Account button on this page to create one. Intuit will walkyou through that process.4. After signing in you’ll be prompted to “Choose a Subscription Plan.” There is onlyone option here: Free Trial. Select this option and click Next. You can decide howyou want to pay for VerticalResponse after you’ve tried our service.5. Check the box asking if you agree to our End User License Agreement. Then clickSubscribe.6. Click the orange Go to this Application button.7. Select the option to Use Quickbooks Data. This will allow you to import datafrom Quickbooks to your Intuit Workplace account and then from there intoVerticalResponse. Click Next.8. Your Intuit Workplace account will now prompt you to install the Workplace Syncapplication. This application allows you to sync your Quickbooks customerdata with your Workplace account so that you can access that data fromVerticalResponse.7

LibraryThis is our free image hosting and editing tool. It’s also home to our Stock Photo Gallery,which includes 75,000 free images provided by Photos.com. That’s right FREE, we pickedup the tab for these. Also, any images you upload or find here will be available to add toyour emails, postcards or surveys as you’re building them.CalendarCalendars usually don’t need much of an introduction, and this one is no exception. Keeptrack of emails that have been sent out, emails that are scheduled to go out, personalevents, and holidays here. We’ll pre-populate the holidays for you, depending on thetimezone/location you’ve set within your account profile.CommunityThis is our VerticalResponse for IntuitWorkplace Marketing Lounge, asocial network where you can join thousandsof VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplaceusers (along with all our employees) tochat about marketing tips for growing yourbusiness and also how to get the most fromVerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace. Youcan also see what the hot topics are at anygiven moment. Check it out, it’s free!http://lounge.VerticalResponse.comAccountThis is the home of your account profile, settings, subscription management, advancedanalytics settings and purchase receipts. Although it may seem a little boring, it’s a verypowerful tab.11

HelpThis is our “How To Do Everything” website, home to more than 40 video tutorials (and anequal number of text tutorials) that can show you how to do anything with your account.You can also access our archived webinars here.How Does Pricing Work?We’ve used the word free several times in describing each of the sections above - sowhere does actual payment come in? With our flexible approach you pay for the emailsyou send out, the postcards you mail, and the surveys you launch. None of the otherfeatures (like the image hosting in the library or the sent email reporting) cost a thing.You can pay for email either Pay-As-You-Go or on a Subscription basis:Pay-As-You-Go:With this option you are purchasing emailcredits that can be used at any time. Eachpurchased credit is equal to one recipient– so sending an email out to 500 peoplewould require that you have at least 500credits in your account. Credits can bepurchased at the time of launch, or inadvance and in bulk (the more you buy, thecheaper individual credits become). Thereare no minimums for a purchase of creditsand they do not expire for a year.Great for: A business that mails on a varied (seasonal, quarterly, etc)schedule.12

Step 2: Import Your ListBefore you can send an email out through VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace, you’llneed to prepare your list. And thanks to the Intuit Sync application you can easily bringyour list from Quickbooks into VerticalResponse.It’s important to note that VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace maintains a strict antispampolicy as this helps us achieve extremely high delivery rates for the emails you send.We don’t allow the use of purchased, rented, or harvested lists. We require that companiesthat use our service only send mail to customers or others who have requested to receivethat email in one way or another (i.e., through a website, over the phone, at a tradeshow,etc).To import a list:1. Navigate to Home > Intuit Import >Import Now.2. This will open the Intuit WorkplaceImport Tool. Click Import Now.3. The system will now import anydata you’ve previously synced fromQuickbooks using the Intuit Syncapplication. Any duplicated emailaddresses will be removed during theimport process.14

If you haven’t previously used the Intuit Sync application, just follow the the shortinstructions below.1. Go to your Intuit Workplace home page.2. Open the Intuit Quickbooks Sync application found under My Applications.3. Click Sync. Your Quickbooks customer data will now sync with your Workplaceaccount and be available from within VerticalResponse.Once your records have been imported to VerticalResponse, you can find them on youraccount’s Master List. This Master List is accessible from Lists > Mailing List and is thehome of all your records.If you want to send an email out to all the customers in your database, then you can usethe Master List to do so (you’ll learn more about sending your email out to a list in theLaunching and Analyzing Your Email section). But you are not limited to only using yourMaster List. You can also use the Segments tool (found under Lists > Segments) to findspecific groups of people to whom you can mail.1. Go to Lists > Segments > New Segment2. Give your Segment a name and click Choose Segment Type3. Select Segment List Members Only and click Save & Build Segment4. Select the Master List as the list you’d like to use to create the Segment. Then clickDone15

5. Set up your search filters. You can choose any field(s) from your list and havethe field(s) be equal to, contain, not be equal to, not contain, start with or end withwhatever you enter as the search parameter for each field. Example: “City” “Equals”“San Francisco” | Example: “Email Address” “Contains” “Gmail.com”6. There are no limits to the number of filters you can create, and you can connectyour individual search filters using an AND or an OR. If you choose OR, then thesystem will find everyone who matches any of your search filters. If you chooseAND, then the system will find only those people who match all your search filters.7. When you’re done creating your search parameters, click Save & Get Results. Thiswill open the preview page8. The preview page displays up to 200 sample results from your search. If thepreview looks good, continue on to Save Results9. From the Save Results page, you can choose to use this segment data to create aSingle List or to split it up into Multiple Lists.16

10. Your segmented list (or lists) will now be created and are ready to use in an email.You can access these lists from the main Mailing Lists area of the Lists section.11. Note that creating a Segment will not impact or change your Master List in any way.By using the Segments tool you can create any number of lists that are targeted to specificgroups of people and then use those lists with the emails you create. There are no limitsto the number of lists you can create.You may have also noticed that there is a list in youraccount called “My Web Signup Form.” This list isconnected to an opt-in form that is automatically includedwithin your account. This form can be found under Lists >Opt-in Forms. This opt-in form is fully customizable andcan be added to your website so you can ask visitors tosign-up for your mailing list. If you already have an opt-inform on your site, there is no need to use ours. But if youdon’t have an opt-in form, then you should add this form(or a similar one) to your site – there is no better way tostart building your list than to give website visitors theopportunity to sign-up.Once you agree to our anti-spam terms & conditions, you’ll be given the option to buildyour list from scratch (by entering one record at a time) or to upload a file from yourcomputer. Most users upload a file from their computer – as entering one record a timewould be incredibly tedious for more than a few records – so that’s what we’ll look at in thisguide.17

The only technical requirement to upload an external file is that it is saved in CSV(Comma Separated Values) or TXT (Tab Delimited Text) format. These are the standardspreadsheet formats, so whether a file originates in Excel, Outlook Address Book, AppleNumbers, FileMaker, ACT!, Quickbooks, or any other spreadsheet / contact managementprogram, one of the available options within that program will be to save (or export) that filein .csv or .txt format.After you choose the file you’d like to upload, click Next. You should now see the Map FileFields to List Fields section. All you need to do is appropriately label each column of datausing the drop down menu to the right of each group. Email Addresses should be labeledas Email Addresses, First Names as First Names, and so on from there.You can use the drop down menu to choose one of our standard fields or to create customfields of your own. You can also ignore data you don’t want to upload by selecting theDo Not Import option from the same drop down.18

After labeling your data, you’ll set your Import Rules. If this is your first list, you really don’thave to worry about what you select in this section. We’ll talk more about why the ImportRules are important a bit further down.When you click next, you’ll see your Results page. Duplicate email addresses, incorrectlyformatted addresses, and previous unsubscribes / bounces (which you won’t encounter ina first list) are all removed during the upload process, and you can download a report ofthis data if needed.19

The Results page also includes an Account Snapshot that shows how many recordsand unique mailable addresses are now included in your entire database. Assuming thisis your first list, the total numbers seen here should reflect the number of addresses thatwere uploaded. If this is your second or third or twentieth list, then this number will bedifferent.With the upload complete, you should see at least three lists in your account:The Master ListMy Web Signup FormThe List You Just Uploaded20

What purpose do the Master List and Web Signup Form lists serve?The Master List displays each unique email address in your account one time, withoutany duplicates. As such, it is the home of each address’s Master Record and provides anaccurate count of the size of your database.With VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace, you can upload as many lists to your accountas you want, and an individual email address can appear across as many of those lists asyou like. But no matter how many times you upload a single address, it will still reflect asingle Master Record that lives in your Master List. That way if you need to change a pieceof data associated with a specific email address, like a phone number or mailing address,then that change will update every list in which that email address appears.So the first time you upload an email address, it will be added to your Master List. If youupload the same address again in later lists, then the Import Rules mentioned earlier(page 19) become important. The Import Rules you set will determine whether emailaddresses that already appear in your Master List have their data overwritten by anyconflicting data in the new list or if the data that already appears in the Master List shouldbe given priority in case of conflicts.As to the Web Signup Form list – this list is connected to anopt-in form that is automatically included within your account.This form can be found under Lists > Opt-in Forms. Thisopt-in form is fully customizable and can be added to yourwebsite so you can ask visitors to sign-up for your mailinglist. If you already have an opt-in form on your site, there isno need to use ours. But if you don’t have an opt-in form,then you should add this form (or a similar one) to your site– there is no better way to start building your list than to givewebsite visitors the opportunity to sign-up.21

Step 3: Building Your First EmailWe have clients whose expertise with email, HTML, and the Internet range from beginnerto super nerd. To help ensure such a wide variety of users can get the most out ofVerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace, we offer four different email creation tools to coverall levels of expertise. They are: The Email Wizard – This isa basic email builder for noviceto moderate users. The Wizardgives you the choice of about300 different email borders andthen walks you through addingyour content to the border you’vechosen.The Email Canvas – This is agraphical HTML (WYSIWYG) editorfor moderate to expert users. The Canvas is far more flexible that theWizard, and allows for more types of layouts and content editing.Freeform HTML – This tool is for anyone (generally an expert user) whohas their own HTML design ready to go. All that’s necessary to create anemail with this tool is to copy and paste HTML into the provided contentbox.Plain Text – This editor creates simple, plain text emails. You can’t addimages, change font styles or adjust layouts with this tool - plain text is asbasic as an email can get.In this section, we’ll take a detailed look at two of these tools: the Wizard and the Canvas.But before we do that, let’s examine a resource that plays a very important part in theemail creation process.22

The LibraryBefore you start building your email, you’ll use the Library section of your account toprepare your images. We allow for the storage of up to 25mb worth of images (all at nocharge), which you can then use with any of our email tools – except for the Plain Texteditor, since a plain text email cannot include pictures.With the Media Library you can: Upload Your Own Images – Have your own images ready to go? Great! Justmake sure they’re in .jpg or .gif format (the two standard image formats on the web)and upload away. Search Our Free Library – Don’t have the right pictures for your message?Then just use our Free Stock Photo Gallery. There are more than 75,000 picturesavailable in numerous categories. You can use as many pictures as you want, asoften as you want, and it won’t cost a thing.23

Resize your images – Easily create email-friendly graphics that complementyour layout. You can adjust the image by pixel or percent to get the exact size youneed. Flip & rotate images – Looking to go vertical (pun very much intended)?Heck, horizontal is fine too. With the flip & rotate tools you can instantly change theorientation of your image without bugging your web designer. With a simple clickyou’ll have your image pointing in the right direction. Need to crop? – The MediaLibrary comes with a simplecropping tool that allows you tocapture specific sections of yourimage. Simply highlight, crop andsave! Organize your images –Create and manage folders andsubfolders to store all your images. Start by uploading new images then drag-anddropfrom one folder to another. You’ll never waste time searching for frequentlyused graphics once you’ve got them organized in folders!24

Library TourHow do you access all these great features from within the Library?To upload your own images, choose the Upload Images link in the Lower Left.Then browse your computer for the file(s) you want to upload.To choose images from our free Stock Photo Gallery, click the Search GalleryImages link,which can be found right next to the Upload Images link within theLibrary. This will open a pop-up window where you can either search for photos orbrowse through a variety of different categories. Scrolling over an image will open alarger preview, and you’ll have the option to choose a large or small version of eachpicture. Unless you’re planning to edit the photograph, always choose the smallerversion - the larger picture is much too big for an email.To access our provided photo editing tools, just scroll over the image you want toedit. This will present you with the options to either delete or edit theimage. Selecting the edit option will open the image up on a new screen - from hereyou’ll be able to easily resize, crop, rotate and flip the image around.After you make your changes, you can either Save over the current image or SaveAs a new image using the options found in the lower right hand corner of thescreen.Creating folders and sub-folders is as simple as clicking the Create New Folderlink on the main page of the library. Then you can just drag-and-drop imagesbetween folders to keep things nice and organized.To access more information about the Library, go tohttp://www.verticalresponse.com/tutorials/intuit_ipp and choose the “Other” tab.25

Using the WizardAs noted at the beginning of this stage, the Email Wizard is a basic email creation toolthat steps you through the process of adding your content to any one of 300 differentborders. The Wizard is a tool perfect for beginners or users who don’t have access to aweb designer.To access the Wizard from within your account, go to Emails > New Email, select theEmail Wizard Option, and click Next Step.The first step to creating a Wizard email is to choose the border you want for yourmessage. The borders are categorized according to design & industry. They all function inthe exact same way, aside from two exceptions:✓✓Some of the borders are known as “Color Match” Borders (these appear withintheir own marked categories). These are basic borders that allow you to chooseyour own border color or to match the color of your border to a color in youremail logo. If a border is not marked as “Color Match” then you will not be ableto change its color later on.✓✓ Other borders are “Fixed Width” borders (these can be found under variouscategories). This means the width of the border, and by extension the contentwithin that border, is set to a specific pixel width that does not change withthe size of the recipient’s email browser. Any borders not noted as fixed widthare variable width, which means they expand and contract with the size of therecipient’s email browser.26

Write Your CopyAfter you select your border, the system will take you to the Write Your Copy page. Fromhere you can start adding your text content in the form of a From Label, Subject Line,Salutation, Greeting, and Closing. Let’s look at each step on this page:1. Enter Your From Label– We recommend that this besomething that is consistentand rarely changes, like yourcompany name. You’ll get amuch better response to youremail if the name is one yourrecipients recognize.2. Enter Your Subject Line – The subject line is like the headline of a newspaperarticle: it should be concise, interesting and describe what the message is about.Try to keep the subject under 45 characters, because many email browsers cut thesubject line off at that point.3. Hosted Version – This check box inserts a link at the top of your email thatpoints readers to an online version of the email message that we host on yourbehalf. If a reader clicks that link, then your email will open up in a web browser.This is useful since there are still email browsers out there that could break somepart of your email message, and opening the email in a web browser - which willalways support a wider range of HTML and content - will ensure everything looks27

exactly right. Most recipients won’t need to use this, but it’s nice to include for thesmall number that might.4. Enter Your Salutation – This is a great place to personalize your message.Type Hello, Dear, etc. and follow that with {FIRST_NAME} and we’ll automaticallypopulate the first name of each recipient within the individual email they receive. So“Dear {FIRST_NAME}. friend of XYZ Company,” in an email received by Rebeccawill become “Dear Rebecca, friend of XYZ Company”. It’s as easy as that, andworks no matter how big your list is. You can merge any data from your mailing listinto any part of your message simply by writing the name of the field within the {}brackets.And note that the Salutation field is optional (you can enter a salutation anywherein the message that you like), but it’s a good idea to use this field until you get usedto how the Wizard works. If you don’t have first names on your lists you mightjust want to use “Hello” or “Greetings”, or you can use a default value in the eventthat you have personalization data for only a portion of your list. Ex. {FIRST_NAME|Valued Customer}...5. Greeting – Generally used as an opening paragraph for your email message.On the section following Write Your Content, you’ll be given the option to addnumerous “offers” or “articles” to your message that will follow the greeting. As withSalutation, the Greeting field is optional, but should probably be used until you getthe hang of the Wizard.28

6. Closing – The ending paragraph(s) and signature for your message. This willfollow any “offers” that you add in the next section. It is optional, just like the twosteps that precede it.7. Unsubscribe Message– As noted in the Listsection of this guide,VerticalResponse for IntuitWorkplace takes care of allunsubscribes on your behalf.We do this by automaticallyinserting an unsubscribe linkat the bottom of every emailyou send out. You can use the provided drop down menu to have that link saysomething other than “unsubscribe” (like Remove Me or Leave This List) andcustomize the unsubscribe message that introduces the link. In addition you canchoose from a variety of languages for this text if you’re sending your emails tonon-English speaking recipients.8. Postal Address – Including your organization’s postal address within themessage is required by the US CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (as well as laws withinmany other countries, if you’re not in the US). You’re required to enter your currentpostal address within this box, and we’ll automatically populate the address if youenter it in your profile. Your profile can be found under the Account section.Once you’re done with this page, click Next Step. You’ll now be able to select your firstOffer Style.29

Offer StylesOffer Styles allow you to add images, links, and other textcontent to a Wizard email. You can add as many of thesesections as you want to your message – think of them asindividual content blocks that stack on top of one another. Thereare a number of different types of offer styles – some are imageonly, some are text and link only, and some allow you to addlinks, text, and images. You’ll find a description and an illustrationof each layout to help you choose.Let’s take a moment to look at an Offer that allows you to addlinks, text, and images.1. Content Title – This creates a bold header or title forthis particular offer section. This field is optional, in caseyou have no need for a headline.2. Copy – This is the text message of your offer, and it can be as long or as short asyou like. You can use personalization (such as {FIRST_NAME}) here, the same aswith anywhere else in the message.3. Click-through URL - Click-through URL – Use this to create a link toyour website. The link has two parts, the link itself and the link text. If we atVerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace wanted to create a link to our How To DoEverything tutorials site, we would fill each part out like so:URL: http://www.verticalresponse.com/tutorials/intuit_ippLink Text: Visit our How To Do Everything SiteThat would create a link at the end of the offer that looked like this:Visit our How to Do Everything Site30

Offer Image – You can either browse your computer for an image or grab one thatyou’ve already saved to your Library. The image will align to the left, right or aboveyour text depending on which offer layout you selectedWhen you’re done, click Next.Edit Email CampaignThis will bring you to the Edit Email Campaign staging area of your email. Your workhas now been saved up to this point, and you can do just about anything with your emailfrom here:✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓Use the green buttons along the top of the page to choose a different border,change the color of your current border (if it’s a Color Match border), add a logo,or add more offers.Use the links in the upper right hand corner to add a Forward to a Friend Link ordo a basic Spam Check of your content – we recommend doing both for all ofyour emails.Use the links within the body of the message to edit any part of your content, todelete offers, and, if you’ve added more than one offer to the message, moveoffers up and down in relation to each other.Use the tabs along the very top to launch your email out. You must go througheach tab before you can send your email. To learn more about this, move on tothe next section – Launching and Analyzing Your Email - to read about the emaillaunch process.To find out more about using the Wizard, take a look at the videos and tutorials found at:http://www.verticalresponse.com/tutorials/intuit_ipp/email/31

The Email CanvasThe Email Canvas is a Graphical, or WYSIWYG – What You See Is What You Get, HTMLtool. The Canvas opens with a blank canvas, and provides a full “designer’s toolbar” toassist you in adding and editing content.With the Canvas you can create emails with multiple columns, change text fonts, colors,and sizes like you would in a word processing program, import images from the Library,turn any text or pictures into links, alter background colors, and so on. The flexibility andcustomization options are the major benefits of the Canvas.There are three ways to start adding content to the Canvas editor (listed in order fromleast advanced to most):1. The most straightforward way to build a Canvas email is to click the Choose Layoutbuttonand select one of the over one hundred starter layouts we provide.You can then alter the layouts and add your content. This is the method used bynearly all Canvas users, and is also the method we’ll look at in this guide.2. If you have your own HTML design ready to go, but want to tweak it a bit using theCanvas, then you can use the Edit Source tab to paste in your own code – yourdesign will then appear in the editing area and you can use our tools to makechanges.3. If you know your way around a WYSIWYG editor, you can build every single partof the email from scratch by adding and formatting tables, and then dropping yourcontent into those tables.To get started with the Canvas, go to Emails > New Email, choose the Email Canvas,and click Next Step.32

Just as with the Wizard, you’ll first be prompted to enter your From Label and yourSubject Line. To repeat: Enter Your From Label – We recommend this to be your companyname. You’ll get a much better response to your email if the name is oneyour recipients recognize. Enter Your Subject Line – The subject line is like the headline of anewspaper article: it should be concise, interesting and describe what themessage is about. Try to keep the subject under 45 characters, becausemany email browsers cut the subject line off at that point.Beneath these two steps, you’ll find the Canvas itself, which is divided into an HTMLContent and Text Content section. The HTML Content section is open by default, sowe’ll start there and discuss the Text Content section later on.Within the HTML Content areayou’ll find the Designer’s Toolbarand the blank canvas itself. Thebest way to get started is to clickthe very first button in the toolbar:Choose Layout. (See Item 1 indiagram on the next page). Thiswill open a pop-up window thatprovides numerous layouts filteredinto several categories. Manyof the layouts are themed withparticular industries in mind, butyou can choose any layout youlike regardless of whether it matches your industry since, unlike the Wizard borders, everypart of each layout can be edited and changed very easily.33

After you choose your layout, you can start adding content. In this guide we’ll look atspecific actions like adding images, creating links, adding / editing text, personalizing yourmessage and changing background colors. But performing even relatively simple actionslike these can be confusing at first if you don’t know the function of each button within theDesigner’s Toolbar. So let’s start with a quick description of the buttons that are most oftenused, starting from the top row and working to the bottom.34

Now, let’s take a look at some specific tasks that are integral to any email campaign.35

Write / Paste / Edit TextYou can write your entire message within the Canvas itself, write it in another program (likeMicrosoft Word) and then copy & paste it in, or do a mixture of both. The Canvas includesa full range of text editing options (like altering Font type and size, changing colors, addingbullets, and other similar options), so writing & editing text is pretty straightforward andshould not be all that different than using any other text editor.Pasting text from another document editor like Microsoft Word or Google Docs is alsostraightforward – generally speaking you just copy and paste the text into our system thesame way you would do it between programs on your own computer. The copy shortcut isCTRL-C on a PC and Command-C on a Mac. The paste shortcut is CTRL-V on a PC andCommand-V on a Mac.The only snag here is that Microsoft Word, specifically, uses proprietary formatting that canleave behind some foreign or malformed characters if it is pasted directly into an HTMLdocument like an email, website or a blog. To help you get around this problem, we’veincluded a Paste from Word option in the toolbar that will remove that proprietaryformatting and ensure all your recipients can see your text without any problems.36

Add / Edit / Delete ImagesAddTo add an image, just select where in the message you’d like to place it and click theInsert Image buttonin the top row of the toolbar. This will open up your Library,where you can select any image you’ve previously uploaded or chosen from our StockPhoto Gallery.Now you’ll see the Adjust Display page. This page allows you to edit several differentproperties of the image: Alternative Text – The Alt Text for the image should either be a description ofthe image or of the action you hope recipients will take. The Alt Text serves twopurposes:1.Many email browsers initially block images when an email arrives in theinbox, requiring the recipient to click a button or link to turn the images on.37

Many of these same email browsers will display the Alt Text to the recipients tohelp them decide if they want to turn the images on or not. So it’s a good ideato be either descriptive or action oriented like “Go here to read more!”2.If you have any blind subscribers who use a screen reader to check email andaccess the internet, their screen reader will read the image Alt Text aloud. Alignment – This drop down menu lets you set how the image will align withnearby text (to the left, right, etc.). If there is no text near your image, then you don’tneed to make a selection here. Dimensions – Allows you to alter the height and width of your image. Note thatit’s much better to make alterations using the editor provided within the Libraryitself (as described in the Library section on page 23), and we would recommendagainst using this field to make changes to the size of your image. Vertical and Horizontal Space – These two fields allow you to add somespace around the image to cushion it from whatever other content surrounds it. Border – This very simply determines whether your image will have a blue borderaround it if you add a link to it. If you don’t want to put a border around a linkedimage, then keep the default to 0 here.Click Insert when you’re finished, and the image will be added to your email.Now, what if you want to Edit the properties of an image you’ve added? Just select theimage and click the Insert Image button. This will pull up the Adjust Display page forthat image.To Delete any image (either one you’ve added or one that is included in the layout bydefault), just choose the image and click the delete key on your keyboard.38

Create LinksYou can turn any images and text within your email into links (the more opportunity yourreaders have to click-through to your site, the better!). To do so, highlight the text / selectthe image you’d like to turn into a link and click the Hyperlink icon within the toolbar.This will open a dialog box where you can enter your link – be sure to include the http://portion of the link when you type it in. You can also remove links by selecting a created linkand clicking the Unlink icon.Personalize Your Message Using Merge FieldsAs noted in the Wizard section, you can personalize your email using any data from yourmailing lists. This is most commonly used to address recipients by their own names,instead of by a generic title like “customer.” Here’s how you do it:1.Select the Insert rop down menu (located on the bottom row of icons in theDesigner’s Toolbar).2.Choose to insert First Name, Last Name, Title, etc., depending on what informationyou want to merge into the message.3.You should now see an equivalent merge field in your email that looks like this:{FIRST_NAME} or {TITLE}.39

4.The insert drop down menu shows only standard fields. If your list includes customfields, you can merge those by manually entering them. A custom field namedLastPurchase, would be merged as {LastPurchase}.5.If you’re worried that you don’t have the appropriatedata for all your records, you can set default text for yourmerge field like so: {FIRST_NAME|Reader} or {FIRST_NAME|Subscriber} - with this example, anyone whosefirst name does not appear in your list would see thedefault text instead (like Reader or Subscriber) instead.The system will prompt you to enter this backup text ifyou use the Insert drop down menu.A few other important things to note about creating an HTMLemail within the Canvas:✓✓There is an Undo button! This is an easy way to erase mistakes.✓ ✓ The first time you press Enter while writing text, you’ll notice it creates a double✓✓line paragraph break. What if you just want to jump down one line, instead oftwo? Press Shift-Enter.Be sure to use the Save button fairly regularly. This way you won’t lose yourwork if you get disconnected from VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace forsome reason.40

Earlier, we mentioned that the Canvas is divided into an HTML Content section(described above) and a Text Content section. What is this Text Content section andwhy is it here?Every email sent out through VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace is formatted as multipartMIME. This means that any HTML email you create and send out using our systemincludes a backup text version that will be visible to recipients using email clients that, forwhatever reason, cannot display HTML. Though these text-only folks will generally be anextremely small percentage of your recipients, including the text backup message ensuresthey receive a legible message instead of a broken HTML email.So all you’re doing in the Text Content section is creating this backup text version. Youcan either write the backup version from scratch or use the Import from HTML button atthe very top of this section to pull all the text you wrote in your HTML document into thistext version. Using the Import option is usually the way to go - just be sure to go over theimported text to make sure everything looks right after it’s been converted into a singlecolumn, plain text document.41

Once you’re done creating both the HTML and text versions of your email, you are readyto move on. And just like with the Wizard tool, you’ll be asked to enter your Unsubscribemessage and Postal address:Unsubscribe Message – As noted in the List Management section of thisguide, VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace takes care of all unsubscribes onyour behalf. We do this by automatically inserting an unsubscribe link at the bottomof every email you send out. In this section you can use the provided drop downmenu to have that link say something other than “unsubscribe” (like Remove Me orLeave This List) and customize the unsubscribe message that introduces the link.Postal Address – Including your organization’s postal address within themessage is required by the US CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (as well as laws withinmany other countries, if you’re not in the US). We prefer you enter your addresswithin this box, and will automatically populate the address if you enter thisinformation in your profile. Your profile can be found under the Account section.When you’re done here, click Next Step. This will save all your work. You can now Launchthe email as soon as you’re ready.42

Step 4: Launching and Analyzing Your EmailNow that you’ve designed your email, it’s time to send it out! The launch process consistsof six easy steps, each of which is represented by a tab in the email editor. You must stepthrough each of these tabs to send your email. These six steps / tabs are:1. Edit Email Campaign – Guess what you can do here? Make changes to youremail before you launch it!2. Preview – This step gives you a preview of both the HTML and Text versions ofyour message.3. Send Test – From here you can send a test of your email to either yourself or to aseed list of email addresses. There is no cost for sending tests. The only differencebetween a test email and a live email is that the subject line in a test messageclearly states that the email is a test and we send out both HTML and text versionsas separate messages. Remember, in a live email the appropriate version willdisplay depending on each recipient’s preferences.4. Select Lists – Choose any of your mailing lists as the audience for the email. Ifyou select more than one list, we’ll de-duplicate between those lists to ensure youdon’t mail the same email address twice.43

5. Schedule – You can schedule your email to go out up to 4 months in the futureor send it as soon as possible. The key thing to note when scheduling an email isthat we actually look over nearly every email that is sent through our system beforeit can go out the door. This helps us put a full stop to spam, fraudulent messages,and other emails that violate our Terms of Service, which in turn helps us ensurethat the email campaigns for all our users get delivered at a high rate.Because of this policy of looking over every email, we have approval windowsthat fall between the hours of 7 AM to 7 PM PST (7, 9, 11, 1, 3, 5, 7), seven daysa week. Each noted approval time represents the guaranteed time an email willbe approved. If you launch an email at 1:30 PM, the next approval time is at 3:00,which means the email will be approved between 1:30 and no later than 3:00 (asthat is the guaranteed time).Even if you schedule an email two months in advance and launch it, it will still beapproved by the next guaranteed time on that same day. The email will then sit inyour account – with a status of pending launch – until your scheduled date and timearrive.7. Launch – This page is naturally the final step of the Launch process. From herethe system will ensure you’ve followed all the necessary steps that came before,allow you to set your reply-to address (this is the address that receives any replies toyour message), tell you if any duplicates have been removed from your list, promptyou to buy email credits if needed, and present you with a big tempting Launchbutton to press.44

ReportingOnce your email is sent out, you’ll start getting reporting back detailing who opened youremail, clicked a link, bounced, unsubscribed, or wasn’t tracked as doing anything at all(these reports are available under Emails > Sent Emails or in the Reports section of theHome Page). How do we define these five categories?1. Open – We track an email open based on whether or not an invisible trackingimage within the email was loaded by the recipient. Since many email browsersturn images off by default (requiring end users to click a link to view images in theemail they receive), only those people interested enough in the email to turn theimages on - or those people who do not have this restriction on their own inbox– will be reported as an open if they open the email. The need for an image alsomeans that opens for plain text emails cannot be tracked.If someone opens an email more than once, we’ll still only count it as a single open.2. Clicks – The total number of clicks displayed in the report quite simply showsexactly how many times each link within the email has been clicked. Even if oneperson clicks a single link several times, each of those clicks will be countedindividually (the opposite of how opens are treated).45

3. Bounces – If an address bounces, it means the email could not be delivered tothat address. Bounces are broken down into two categories:✓ ✓ Hard Bounces – Bounces that very clearly state the email could not bedelivered (i.e. “user unknown”, “no user mailbox here”, etc). We mark these asbounced within the account immediately.✓ ✓Soft Bounces – Bounces that are caused by an apparent temporary error.We try to deliver these for three days - if the message still can’t be deliveredafter this period then we mark the email address as bounced.4. Non-Responder – A non-responder is an address that cannot be placed into anyof the above categories.To help with the analysis and use of this data, we provide graphs showing responsepercentages in each category, lists showing exactly which links were clicked and howmany times that clicking happened, lists showing how your email performed at your top100 recipient domains, and exportable spreadsheets that show exactly who opened theemail, exactly who clicked links, and so on.46

In addition to this default reporting, we also provide more advanced tracking options thathave to be turned on through Account > Analytic settings. These advanced options are:Click-to-Conversion (CTC)Tracking – This requires that youadd a snippet of code to a page onyour site. Then if someone clicks alink in your email and makes theirway to that page, we’ll count themas a conversion.An example of how someone coulduse this – if the point of your emailwas to drive subscribers to sign-up for an event, you could add the codesnippet to the “thank you for signing up” page that is viewed by everyonewho completes the event registration process. In this way, everyone whosigns up for the event would be counted as a conversion. Click-to-Sale (ROI) Tracking – This allows you to track how muchmoney any email recipients who clicked a link in your email spent oncethey reached your site. You can then use this data to calculate the Returnon Investment for your email (money earned “minus” money spent onmarketing.ROI tracking works in much the same way as Click-To-Conversion tracking – you add a snippet of code to your site that wethen use for reporting within your account. This does require a bit moretechnical knowledge, though, as it must be setup on your site in such a waythat it can capture the specific amount of money spent by each individual. Google Analytics Integration – Our integration with Google Analyticsallows users to take our click-through tracking to the next level - you canfollow a recipient from an open, to a click, and then to see exactly what thatrecipient does on your website through your Google account.47

Marketing TipsBuilding Blocks – RelationshipBuildingWhenever you interact with a customer or prospect,you are marketing your business. Whether you’rehaving a simple conversation or your customeris making a large purchase, the customer’sexperience has a direct influence on their decisionto become a loyal customer. So how do youknow where to begin with growing a base of loyalHint!customers? Sure, you need to offer them great products and services, butFor permission-based emailmarketing to work, it must be:✓✓ Relevant✓✓ Valuable✓✓ Appealingwhat are some other ways you can create a meaningful experience for customers?Ask for PermissionProspects visit your website or walk through the door of your business on a daily basis.How many of them become a customer at that moment? We’d guess most of them don’t.So how can you make it more likely they’ll return and become a customer down the line?Easy answer – ask for their contact information, and give them a good reason to provideit. Getting permission to contact a potential customer puts the ball in your court.We don’t mean to suggest that you ask for the full postal address with work and homephone numbers. Their first name and email address is all you need to start building therelationship, but other bits of fun information can help create great marketing offers as well.48

If you have a website, create an opt-in form to capturecontact details online. If you have a storefront, youcan use a guestbook or fish bowl to collect businesscards. If you talk to prospective customers on thephone, you can simply ask them. Just remember thatthe barrier to entry should be as low as possible, sothe less contact info you request the easier it will beto build your list. Asking for unnecessary informationlike phone numbers (unless you need this info for areal reason) will lead people to wonder why you’reasking for so much and make them less likely tosign-up or join the list. You can always ask for moreinformation once they know you better or after theybecome a customer.Hint!What ‘carrots’ can you offercustomers to entice them to signup for emails?✓✓ Exclusive offers✓✓ CouponsValuable content that’s✓✓relevant to your businessRemember to be up front with how you plan to use the information you collect. If you’regoing to send out a newsletter, then let customers know when they can expect to hearfrom you. If you’re going to send special offers, be explicit wherever you ask for informationso they can see the benefit of signing up. Your email content provides added value topotential subscribers in exchange for their willingness to share their details. When youexplain that email subscribers receive exclusive content and get first dibs on sale items,you automatically give them more of a reason to join your list.Nuture the Relationship for Maximum PotentialCollecting contact info is only the first step in establishing a connection with potentialcustomers. Once you’ve got their email addresses, you have to start providing themwith the great information you promised at the time of sign-up. The goals of your emailmarketing program, and the personalities of your company and customers will determinethe kind of information you send. Are you hoping to drive immediate sales with youremails? Or create brand awareness and establish yourself with subscribers? There is no‘one-size-fits-all’ approach here. What works for the company down the street may notwork for you at all.49

Reporting: How Are You Using It, Or Are You?If you are currently using any reputable email service provider like VerticalResponsefor Intuit Workplace, you definitely have access to basic reports about how your emailmarketing campaigns are doing. The real question is, what are you doing with thatinformation? We’ve put together some ranges for the stats you probably view and someideas of what you could be doing with that information to make your email campaigns evenbetter.Open RateCustomers who tend to have great relationships with their customers can get open rates ashigh as 40%, which is great. Others that have gathered their lists over several years andpotentially lost some customers could be in the 14-18% range.Ideas:✓✓✓✓Get rid of the dead weight. If you’ve been sending someone email for years andthey’ve never opened your email or clicked a link, then maybe email just isn’t theway you should be contacting them. Why not try calling them or dropping thema postcard to see if that wakes them up? THEN you can try to develop an onlinerelationship with them at a later date. You’ll be mailing to more active people inthe long run.Download your list of NON-RESPONDERS, these are people who have neitherclicked on a link nor opened your email. Then, a week or so after you’vesent a campaign, send them the same email, but switch up the subject line tosomething more catchy to see if you can get more people opening.✓✓ Don’t try to be cute or misleading in the subject line. Using “Re:” so it appearsas if you’re sending these individuals a reply to a message they’ve sent isdeceptive. This practice is now against the Federal law.50

✓✓✓✓Keep your subject line concise. Some ISPs will shorten the subject line to 30 or40 characters. You want your recipients to open and read your email; you don’tneed to tell the whole story here.The most important thing to remember is that an open rate is only valid forpeople who receive HTML emails. Make sure you evaluate your campaignperformance with this fact in mind.Click RateClick rates usually fall in the 1-3% range. However, if you’ve got an amazing story to tell orgreat deal to give, then we see it skyrocket to the 8-10% range. Anything over that you’reoff the charts. Again it all depends on that relationship you have with your customers.Ideas:✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓Test including more links in your email. We tested linking our article headlinesand squeezed some more clicks out of people. Make sure all of your images arelinked as well.Put your most important articles or offers above the fold or at the top of youremail.Targeted, relevant messages not only receive higher open rates, they alsoreceive much higher click-through rates. Target your messages based uponyour subscriber’s demographics, preferences and interests, and past purchasehistory.Use graphics or pictures to explain your product, and make the graphic clickableto direct readers to a web page providing more information.Lastly, the best thing you can do to increase your rates is give your recipients value.Whether you define value as a discount off of goods and services or a piece of informationyour recipient can’t do without, this will strengthen your relationship, thereby increasingyour response rate.51

Bounce RateWe’ve seen our customers average bounce rates usually come in under .5%. However, listsmailed less frequently can have bounce rates in the 5%-7% range. A list that is mailed for the firsttime can have up to a 50% bounce rate depending on how “new” it is.✓ ✓ Idea: Download your list of bounces. If you have their postal addresses, send thema postcard asking them to update their email address. Then direct them to an opt-inform where you capture their new address. You may have to sweeten the deal with anoffer on their next purchase or something free like a gift card. It’s worth it for you not tolose that customer.Unsubscribe RateA regularly mailed list has an average unsubscribe rate around the .2-.5% range. A less frequentlymailed email list can creep up to the 2-5% range.✓✓ Idea: Keep in more frequent touch with your recipients. Instead of once every 3 monthswhy not make the time and increase it to once per month. A customer of yours may beon their way out the door, you don’t want that.52

Common Email Marketing MistakesGet PermissionJust like in grade school, you have to get permission first. Unless you have the recipient’spermission, you may be sending spam, which is against the law. Buy e-mail lists on a CD orharvesting them from the Web is bad news. Spam hurts the reputation of your business. TheCAN-SPAM Act provides strict requirements about what you can and cannot do; for moreinformation, go to the Federal Trade Commission Web site.All Sizzle, No SubstanceMake sure your content is relevant and timely. Make sure your campaigns contain somethingvalue to the recipient. You need to provide them with something that they desire. Interestingcontent should hold their attention long enough for you to market yourself successfully.Stick to the SubjectPut some thought into your “from” and “subject” lines. People often determine that they do notknow the e-mail sender and delete it immediately. The “from” line should be the exact company ornewsletter name with which they signed up. The subject line can be the name of the newsletter ora well-thought-out, clever headline that grabs their attention.What Do You Want?What is your call to action? You can’t get results without one. Do you want the reader to go toyour Website? Buy something? Take a survey? Whatever you want them to do, make it clear andsimple.53

VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace MarketingLingo 101A/B SplitWhen a list is divided into two equalsegments, each of which can be tested withdifferent variables as part an effort to determinewhich is more effectiveAbove the foldWhen you launch your internet browser orwhile viewing your email in your email reader, thebottom of the window is commonly referred to asthe “fold”. The viewable areas before one has tostart scrolling are “above the fold”.API (or Application ProgrammingInterface)An application programming interface (API)allows a software’s functionality to be extendedto ‘the outside world’. Examples of APIs includeGoogle’s Gmaps pedometer, where users canmap out their running routes.ASP (or Application ServiceProvider)An application service provider (ASP) is acompany that provides access to softwareapplications via the Internet that otherwisewould have to be installed on a user’s personalcomputer. Current buzzterm for this is Softwareas-a-Service(SaaS). See also: SaaS (Softwareas a Service)Auto ReplyWhen an email recipient is “Out of the Office”or “Away on Vacation” they often set up anautomated reply message alerting the sender tothis fact.B2BB2B (business-to-business) companies thatprimarily sell products or provide services toother businesses.B2CB2C (business-to-consumer) companies arethose firms that sell products or provide servicesprimarily to end-user consumers.BandwidthThe amount of information that can betransmitted over a network such as the Internetin a specific amount of time.BlacklistsBlacklists are made up of lists of IP addressesbelonging to organizations that have beenidentified as senders of SPAM (unsolicitedcommercial email). Blacklists are often usedby ISPs and corporations as part of the filteringprocess that determines which IP addresses theyprohibit from sending mail to their members.54

BlockingWhen emails are prevented from reachingtheir intended destination, typically due to actiontaken on the part of the Internet Service Provider(ISP).BlogA user-generated website where entries aremade in an informal journal style and displayedin date order with the most recent entries first.Readers may or may not be able to comment onspecific posts within the blog.Bonded Sender ProgramSponsored by IronPort Systems, the BondedSender program identifies legitimate email traffic.Originators of legitimate email can now post afinancial bond to ensure the integrity of theiremail campaign. Receivers who feel they havereceived an unsolicited email from a BondedSender can complain to their ISP, enterprise,or IronPort and a financial charge is debitedfrom the bond. This market-based mechanismallows email senders to ensure their messagegets to the end user, and provides corporate ITmanagers and ISPs with an objective way toensure only unwanted messages get blocked.BounceA “Bounced” email indicates that an attemptto deliver an email to a particular address hasfailed. This may occur if the email address is nolonger valid or the intended recipient’s ISP and/oremail servers were not functioning over a periodof 3 consecutive days. See also: Bounce - Hard,Bounce - SoftBounce - HardAn email address that is rejected for apermanent reason that cannot be resolved,such as: “the address does not exist”. See also:BounceBounce - SoftAn email address that is rejected for whatis most likely a temporary reason, such as anoverfilled inbox. See also: BounceCall-to-ActionPhrasing that encourages a reader to takeaction. For example, “Click here to registerfor the VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplacenewsletter.” or “Get started with your free trial ofVerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace today!”55

CAN-SPAM Act of 2003The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controllingthe Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography andMarketing Act) is a federal law that establishesrequirements for those who send commercialemail. It spells out penalties for spammers andcompanies whose products are advertisedin spam if they violate the law, and givesconsumers the right to ask emailers to stopspamming them. Among other measures, thelaw:✓✓ Bans false or misleading headerinformation. Your email’s “From,” “To,”and routing information – including theoriginating domain name and emailaddress – must be accurate and identifythe person who initiated the email.✓✓ Prohibits deceptive subject lines. Thesubject line cannot mislead the recipientabout the contents or subject matter ofthe message.✓✓✓✓Requires that your email give recipientsan opt-out method. You must provide areturn email address or another Internetbasedresponse mechanism that allowsa recipient to ask you not to send futureemail messages to that email address,and you must honor the requests. Anyopt-out mechanism you offer must beable to process opt-out requests forat least 30 days after you send yourcommercial email.It requires that commercial email beidentified as an advertisement andinclude the sender’s valid physicalpostal address. Your message mustcontain clear and conspicuous noticethat the message is an advertisement orsolicitation and that the recipient can optout of receiving more commercial emailfrom you. It also must include your validphysical postal address.The CAN-SPAM Act also provides for penaltiesfor a number of other offenses, which can bereviewed here: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm56

CAPTCHAA Completely Automated Public Turing testto tell Computers and Humans Apart is usedto determine whether or not the user is human.Users are asked to type in a series of distortedimages to prove that they are not a machine.Challenge ResponseA challenge-response system is a programthat replies to an email message from anunknown sender by subjecting the sender toa test designed to differentiate humans fromautomated senders, also known as “bots”.Click-through Rate (CTR), ClickRateAn indicator of response to a given emailmessage, as measured by the percentage ofrecipients that click on a link enclosed in theemail. To determine the click-through rate,divide the number of responses by the numberof emails sent (multiply this number by 100 toexpress the result as a percentage).Co-registration or Co-RegCo-registration is the process of using otherwebsites to generate opt-in email leads thatyou can add to your mailing list for marketingpurposes. When you reach a co-registrationagreement with a site or a network of sites,they will ask new registrants if they would liketo receive information from your company aswell. If the registrants opt-in (choose to receivemailings), they will be added to your mailing listso you can market to them directly.Confirmed Opt-in“Confirmed opt-in”, also known as “doubleopt-in” or “closed loop” in some circles, providesan additional layer of security by requiring thatan email account be both subscribed and thenverified by a confirmation email before it isadded to the list. As a result, only those peoplewith access to the account can respond to theconfirmation message, greatly reducing thechance of abuse. For this reason, confirmed optinis regarded as the gold standard for secureemail marketing.ContentThe copy, graphics and images that compriseyour email, website or marketing materialsConversion RateA metric which measures the percentage ofpeople converted into subscribers or buyers outof the total population exposed to a particularcampaign.CopyThe text of the campaign, distinct from thegraphics.CPA (or Cost per acquisition)A payment model in which payment is basedsolely on qualifying actions such as sales orregistrations.57

CPM (or Cost per thousand)In marketing, CPM commonly refers tothe cost per 1,000 names on a given list orimpressions served. For example, a list usingVerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace priced at$10 CPM would mean that the list owner charges$.01 per email address.CRM (or Customer relationshipmanagement)Customer relationship management (CRM) isa broad term that refers to concepts businessesuse to maintain and improve relationships withcustomers. CRM involves collecting, storing andanalyzing customer information. CRM enablesbusinesses to provide personalized servicesto meet their customers’ needs and retain theirbusiness.DatabaseA database is a collection of informationstored in a computer in a systematic way, suchthat a computer program can consult it to answerquestions. For email marketing purposes, adatabase is the software that stores your recordsor lists. Your database may be in the followingforms: ACT!, Filemaker, GoldMine, MS Excel,Access, Netscape, Outlook, Outlook Express,Oracle, Salesforce, Saleslogix, Sybase or manyother forms.DedupeDeduplication refers to a data cleansingtechnique where duplicate data is removed froma set.DeliverabilityThe ability of the email sender to consistentlydeliver an email to a recipient’s inbox with HTMLand text intact. Marketers operating permissionbasedemail schemes need to carefully considerdeliverability due to aggressive SPAM filters.DomainGenerally refers to internet addresses, thememorable form of a website’s numerical IPaddress. VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace’sdomain name is VerticalResponse for IntuitWorkplace.com.DomainKeysOr DKIM: Domain Keys Identified Mail.An anti-spam software application that usesa combination of public and private keys toauthenticate the sender’s domain (A name bywhich a computer connected to the Internetis identified) and reduce the chance that aspammer or hacker will fake the domain sendingaddress.58

Double Opt-in“Double opt-in”, also known as “confirmed optin”or “closed-loop” in some circles, provides anadditional layer of security by requiring that emailaccounts be both subscribed and then verified bya confirmation email before they are added to thelist. As a result, only those people with accessto the account can respond to the confirmationmessage, greatly reducing the chance of abuse.For this reason, double opt-in is regarded as thegold standard for secure email marketing. Seealso: Opt-in, Opt-in formEmail CampaignWhen you build an email and send it toyour recipients using VerticalResponse forIntuit Workplace this is an example of an emailcampaign. Your campaign may be a newsletteror may consist of offers. Some marketersmay define a campaign as a series of emailmessages using a common theme, but inthe VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplacesystem, any email sent - even one at a time asopposed to a series of emails - is classified as acampaign.Email ClientAn application used to send, receive, storeand view email like Outlook, Mac Mail, Yahoo!Mail, Gmail, etc.ESP (or Email Service Provider)Email Service Providers (ESPs) are companieslike VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplacethat provide a service of enabling a user tosend permission-based email campaigns todesignated users. They are usually Softwareas-a-ServiceProviders (SaaS) who offer theirservices in an online fashion. There are alsosoftware ESPs.ESPCThe Email Sender & Provider Coalition (ESPC)was formed to fight spam while protectingthe delivery of legitimate email. The ESPCmembers have recognized the need for strongspam solutions that ensure the delivery oflegitimate email and have been very active inthe war against spam. VerticalResponse forIntuit Workplace is an active member of thisorganization. For more information on the ESPC,visitwww.espcoalition.org.Feedback LoopService provided by Internet Service Providersto other providers or mailers who have a goodreputation and send a large amount of mail intotheir network. A feedback loop sends emailreported as spam back to the sender so thesender can take action to resolve the problem.FontA specific size and style of type within a typefamily.59

FooterSome emails include a “footer”. This is thearea at the bottom of an email where you mightfind unsubscribe information.Forward to a FriendForward to a Friend refers to an option(usually a link) provided to an email recipient thatprovides them with an easy method to share thatemail message with someone else.FrequencyThe intervals at which email marketing effortsare repeated: weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bimonthly,etc.From LineThe information that appears in the “From” lineat the top of the email and typically indicates theidentity of the sender.Hard Bounced EmailA hard bounce is an e-mail message thathas been returned to the sender because therecipient’s address is not valid. A hard bouncemight occur because the domain name doesn’texist or because the recipient is unknown.HarvestingThe illegal process of obtaining lists ofemail addresses to send bulk emails, or spam.Harvesting can include list purchase and spam‘bots’ scanning web pages for email addresses.HeaderThe header in an email is the part of the emailthat is not transparent to the recipient unless theyhave their “View Headers” turned on. This tellsthe recipient what servers the email is comingfrom and what programs are being used togenerate this email. Headers contain informationon the email itself and the route it’s taken acrossthe Internet. Recipients can normally see the “to”(identity of recipient), “from” (identity of sender)and “subject” (information in the subject line)headers in their inbox. You can modify theseto influence their decision to open or delete anemail.HeadlineThe announcement recipients see when theyopen an email. Ideally, the headline expressesthe company’s value proposition and encouragesthe recipient to read further.Hosted EmailA hosted version of an email allows users toview the email message as a web page, thusensuring that all formatting remains intact.VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace does thisfor you for free.House ListA permission-based list that you build yourself.Use it to market, cross sell and up-sell, and toestablish a relationship with customers overtime. Your house list is one of your most valuableassets.60

HTML (or Hypertext MarkupLanguage)A “markup” language designed for the creationof web pages and other information viewable in aWeb browser.HTML EmailHTML email is simply an email created withHTML that allows for the display of images asopposed to simple text. Ninety five percent of allemail readers have the ability to display HTMLemails, which are more visually appealing andattention-grabbing than mere text. Howeversince 2005, many readers have the defaultwhere images are “turned off” or not viewable bythe recipient. For this reason you need to makesure your recipients add you to their addressbook so you’ll always go into the inbox whereimages will show.IP AddressThe Internet Protocol (IP) address is simplya computer’s address. The IP address refers tothe numerical component of an internet addressor domain name. An IP address in general lookslike this: 123.45.6.789ISP (or Internet Service Provider)Internet Service Provider is a company thatprovides access to the Internet. AOL, Yahoo!,MSN, Comcast and various local phonecompanies are common ISPs.Landing PageThe page on a website where the visitorarrives (which may or may not be the homepage). In terms of an email campaign, if a userwants to track a campaign separately they set upan additional page for recipients to visit. This waythey can track distinctive traffic to this page fromtheir email.LayoutThe arrangement of content within an email.A layout is designed to optimize the use ofspace while presenting the critical content inthe portions of screen most likely to attract therecipient’s immediate attention.LinksText links, hyperlinks, graphics or imageswhich, when clicked or when pasted into thebrowser, direct the reader to another onlinelocation.Load TimeThe length of time it takes for a page to opencompletely in the browser window. You’ll wantyour load time to be as fast as possible.Look and FeelThe degree to which design, layout andfunctionality are appealing to prospects and fitsthe image the business is trying to portray.Mailing ListA set of email addresses designated forreceiving specific email messages.61

Mailto:An HTML command that allows collection ofemail addresses from a website. When readersclick on a link (such as )their default email program composes an emailmessage to send to that address.Multi-part MIME EmailMultipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)is an Internet standard for the format of email.Virtually all Internet email is transmitted in MIMEformat. This simply means that two versions ofthe email are sent, one graphical and one text.The appropriate version is then directed to therecipient based on the recipient’s email client’spreferences.NavigationThe path by which a user can click from pageto page on a website and move around within apage.Nth SamplingWhen a subset of the list is constructed basedon every Nth individual. For example, if you needto create a sub-list with 100 members from anoverall list of 1,000 names, every tenth person isselected. If you need to create a sub-list of 5,000from a list of 100,000, then every twentieth nameis chosen.On DemandThe phrase “On Demand” refers to a serviceor feature that is available for immediate accesswhenever an individual chooses to access it.Open RateThe number of HTML message recipientswho opened your email, typically measuredas a percentage of the total number of emailssent, although calculation methods may differ.The open rate is considered a useful metric forjudging response to an email campaign but itshould be noted that open rates for text emailscan’t be calculated.Open RelayAn open relay is an email server configured sothat anyone on the internet can dispatch email.Once an acceptable means of sending emailin the past, spammers have used open relay tore-route their email through a third party to avoiddetection. The CAN SPAM Act of 2003 made itillegal to send spam through an open relay.Opt-inOpting-In is the action a person takes when heor she actively agrees, by email or other means,to receive communications from an email sender.There are different types of opt-in practices,some of which are more demanding than others.See also: Double Opt-in, Opt-in form, Single Optin62

Opt-in formA form that website owners can add to theirsite to collect newsletter signups from visitors.See also: Double Opt-in, Opt-in, Single Opt-inOpt-OutOpt-out email marketing assumes the recipientwants to receive email unless they specificallyask to be removed from the list - in other words,“opt-out” or “unsubscribe”. If readers fail to stateexplicitly that they no longer wish to remain onthe list, they can expect to receive messagesuntil they make their desire known. Responserates tend to be lower when sending opt-outemail, so be prepared for this result when you’reanalyzing your campaigns.PayoffWhen offering customers further information,such as a whitepaper or article via a link in anemail, the payoff is the information they gainaccess to when clicking on that link.Permission-based emailhe practice of only sending email messages tothose recipients who have agreed (or asked) toreceive them.PersonalizationThe practice of writing the email to make therecipient feel that it is more personal and wassent with him or her in mind. This might includeusing the recipient’s name in the salutation orsubject line, referring to previous purchases orcorrespondence, or offering recommendationsbased on previous buying patterns.PhishingIn a phishing scam, a spammer, posing asa trusted party such as a bank or reputableonline vendor, sends email messages directingrecipients to Web sites that appear to be officialbut are in reality fraudulent. Visitors to these Websites are asked to disclose personal information,such as credit card numbers, or to purchasecounterfeit or pirated products. See also: Sender-ID, SpoofingPreview PaneEmail programs such as Microsoft Outlook,Entourage, and Mac Mail allow users to viewemail through a preview pane. The preview paneis important to bear in mind when composing theopening lines of an email.ROI (Return on Investment)A measure of the profit realized and/or costssaved at a company, or as the result of a specificproject within the company. ROI measures howeffectively the firm uses its capital and resourcesto generate profit; the higher the ROI, the better.An ROI calculation is sometimes used along withother approaches to develop a business case fora given proposal.63

SaaS (Software as a Service)Software as a service (SaaS) is a softwaredistribution model in which applications arehosted by a vendor or service provider and madeavailable to customers over a network, typicallythe Internet. See also: ASP (or ApplicationService Provider)SalutationThis is the area in an email where you addressyour recipient. Examples are “Dear Customer”,“Hello Larry”, and “Dear Member”.Sender-IDSender-ID is an email industry initiativechampioned by Microsoft and other industryleaders as a technical solution to help counterspoofing - the #1 deceptive practice used byspammers. See also: Phishing, SpoofingSignature FileA short block of text at the end of a messageidentifying the sender and providing additionalinformation about them.Single Opt-inUnder single opt-in formats, businessesonly mail addresses that have been activelysubscribed to their list, typically by completinga web form, filling out a business reply card orsending an email to a specific address. Becausethe registration process is proactive, a singleoptin policy offers a higher level of security thanthe opt-out approach, but also has the followinglimitations:Since single opt-in procedure does not requireemail address verification, it is possible toregister other people without their consent,merely by having knowledge of that person’semail address.A mistyped address or the entry of a bogus emailaccount that happens to belong to someone elsecan result in a company mailing a customer whohas not registered to receive messages.Single opt-in email policies are susceptible tospam traps. Spam traps are essentially emailaddresses or domains that have not registeredto receive any email. Therefore, any messagesthey do receive must be spam. The problemfor marketers comes when people deliberatelysubscribe spam trap addresses to their lists,or one is inadvertently added. This scenarioexposes the mailer to blacklisting by ISPs or theorganization operating the spam trap.See also: Opt-in, Opt-in formSoft Bounced EmailA soft bounce is an email message that getsto the recipient’s mail server but is returnedundelivered before it reaches the recipient. Asoft bounce might occur because the recipient’sinbox is full and may be deliverable at anothertime or may be forwarded manually by thenetwork administrator in charge of redirectingmail on the recipient’s domain.64

Spam TrapA spam trap is a seemingly valid emailaddress used to identify spam messages. Theidea is to take an address that hasn’t beensubscribed to any email lists and monitor theemail it receives. As it wasn’t subscribed to anyemail, anything it receives must be unsolicited -in other words - spam.SPAM, UCESPAM or Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE)is unsolicited email, particularly of a commercialnature. Sending email to people who have notrequested to receive messages from you willlikely result in SPAM complaints.SPF (Sender Policy Framework)An email authentication system that verifiesthat a message came from an authorized mailserver. SPF is designed to detect messages fromspammers and phishers who falsify the sender’sIP address in the email header.SpoofingEmail spoofing involves forging a sender’saddress on email messages. It can be used bymalicious individuals to mislead email recipientsinto reading and responding to deceptive mail.These fake messages can jeopardize the onlineprivacy of consumers and damage the reputationof the companies purported to have sent themessages. Spoofed email often containsphishing scams. See also: Phishing, Sender-IDSubheads (or Subheadings)A line within a body of text that serves as asubtitle for the content that follows. Subheadsbreak up paragraphs of copy and make thepage more attractive or easy on the eye. Theyalso often act as signposts indicating specifictopictures, offers, promotions, etc.Subject LineThe email subject line is the line that appearsin an email client indicating the topic of themessage. This is the line used to entice therecipient to open the email and read further. It isthe most important part of your email.Suppression ListA list of addresses that is never sent emails.When a campaign is launched, addresses on thesuppression list are automatically removed fromthe mailing list for that campaign. SuppressionLists are used for organizations to remain CANSPAM compliant as well as segmenting differentrecipients.TargetingThe ability to serve messaging to the usersmost likely to be receptive to the message,based on their geographic, demographic,psychographic and behavioral characteristics.TeaserA message, or part of a message, designedto arouse curiosity and interest and cause thereader to explore further, but without revealingtoo much detail about the offer being promoted.65

TimingScheduling the email campaign to reach theaudience at the most opportune time for it to beread. Timing might be seasonal (for example,vacation or school), dependent on holidays,etc. or mailings might go out on a standardschedule. Even the day of the week and whattime of day the mailing goes out are importantconsiderations: for example, a Friday afternoonmailing may be great for retailing customers, butbad for business-to-business customers.TrackingCollecting and evaluating the statistics so thatone can measure an event, such as a click or anopen.Type SizeA size of typewritten or printed character. Forexample, a serif type (or typeface), a sans-seriftype, 10 point type, 14 point type for print, size=1,size=2 for the web.Unique ForwardersThe number of unique individuals who forwardan email. When the number of unique forwardsis totaled, each person that forwards a particularemail is counted just once, no matter how manytimes they forward that message.UnsubscribeWhen the owner of an email addressunsubscribes, this indicates that the individualno longer wishes to receive emails from yourorganization. People can unsubscribe eitherby clicking the “Unsubscribe” link at the bottomof each email sent through our system, or byreplying to the email with the word “Unsubscribe”in the subject line. This process is also known asopting-out. Including an unsubscribe mechanismis now part of CAN-SPAM Federal Legislation.Up-Selling / Cross-SellingPresenting customers with an opportunity topurchase products, services or accessories thatare related to items in which they have shown aninterest or purchased previously.URLA Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is thetechnical term for a web address, such as http://www.VerticalResponse for Intuit Workplace.comUsabilityA measure of how easy it is for a user tocomplete a task. In the context of Web pagesthis concerns how easy it is for a user to find theinformation they require from a given Web site.ValueThe overall appeal and usefulness of theproduct or service to the prospect.66

Variable Envelope Return Paths(VERP)The method of using a different envelopereturn / reply path for each recipient of an emailmessage to ensure that the correct address isalways processed in the case of an unsubscribeor bounce.Viral ForwardsThe number of referrals sent.Viral MarketingElements and functions included in acommunication that encourages and allowsrecipients to pass the offer along to others,thereby leveraging the marketing effort (“tell afriend,” “please forward,” etc.).Viral ResponsesThe number of recipients who received thereferral, opened it and clicked on a link.Web-friendly FontsAlmost all web browsers are capable ofdisplaying four primary fonts properly: Times,Arial, Helvetica, and Verdana, as well as theirvariants (Arial Narrow, Times New Roman, etc.)If a web developer decides to stray from one ofthese fonts he or she risks browser compatibilityproblems and the prospect that their pages mayrender inaccurately when viewed through certainweb browsers.WhitelistsWhitelists are lists of commercial emailers(including ESPs) who have been approved tosend mail through the ISP. The ISP (internetservice provider) requires a list of IP (internetprotocol) addresses that email will be sent from,and in some cases a test period where thecommercial emailer will be approved or rejectedWeb 2.0The definition of the term Web 2.0 is anevolving one, but it is generally agreed thatWeb 2.0 refers to a second generation ofInternet services that let people collaborate andshare information online. In contrast to the firstgeneration, in Web 2.0, the internet functionsas a computing platform that serves webapplications to end users. In this way, it providesan experience closer to desktop applicationsthan the traditional static Web pages.67