I had the opportunity to get caught up in some reading over the holidays and one of the topics that I have been pondering is the question I asked in the poll above. Derek Halpern of Social Triggers wrote a post about this recently and he concluded that “people prefer text emails”. He conducted his polling in an email vs. a poll, so curious what your vote will say.
I have asked many of my contacts over the holidays and the response was leaning more toward the graphically rich HTML type emails. What did come across loud and clear is that if you are going to send out an HTML newsletter make sure that you have a pleasing design!
With there being so many affordable email service providers to choose from including Constant Contact, MailChimp and AWeber, all providing pre-designed layouts, we sometimes think that we can just click on one and presto! We have all received an email, especially over the holidays, that demonstrated the wrong way to use an HTML formatted communication. If you are going to use HTML, make sure that you have someone design it that has some design and HTML experience.
I wrote last week about a new newsletter provider on the scene called TinyLetter that provides a simple “text only” message capability while still providing the required opt-in/registration capability as well as an easy unsubscribe button. I have been testing this option for a few weeks now and it appears to be an effective communications vehicle that has received many positive reactions to date.
I still receive a dozen or two email newsletters each month and I will be watching a bit more carefully to see if my preferences are leaning one way or another. It sounds to me that if we are smart, we will be giving the option to our readers to indicate which style they prefer. Please share your vote in the poll above and let us know your feeling or additional recommendations and input below in the comments.
If you want to see how I do our newsletters I encourage you to subscribe to Fill the Funnel’s Web Tools Update and select your preference right on the form. I would appreciate your Tweeting this and sharing on Facebook to get the broadest response possible.
Just in time for the new year, the answer to who is available to meet for lunch is just an App away.
Back in 2005, Keith Ferrazi (@keithferrazzi) introduced Never Eat Alone which quickly became a sales classic with it’s premise that every lunch meeting has the opportunity to move your career, your performance and your friendships ahead. Now there is an App based on the core principles of Keith’s book called LunchMeet.
NOTE: iPhone Version only at this time but they say Android version on the way.
LunchMeet leverages the information from your LinkedIn account and several search API’s to find others who are interested in meeting for lunch in your location. Here is how it works:
You set up day and time slots that you have open on your calendar for lunch.
LunchMeet then uses it’s search capabilities and identifies several restaurants to consider for lunch, based on your current location, or just indicate the general area you want to meet.
Decide if you want to repeat in the future and select the days and frequency.
Allow the App to post your interest on LinkedIn (turned off by default).
Click Save & Search for available Connections.
See who pops up, if anyone.
As an example, I set my opening for Lunch every Monday for the month of January in the greater Bellevue, WA area. After saving my date/time it searched and told me that there where no matches. To be expected, as this is still an early beta web tool. You are also given the option to invite one of your LinkedIn connections, but I chose to decline, wanting to see when I might have a new option.
Here are the screenshots to set your expectations:
This is a very new app, so don’t be disappointed when you don’t have people inviting you to lunch yet. Spread the word and you never know who you might get to have lunch. Have some fun with it, and if it catches on it could be a productive web tool when it is used. It is a creative app that holds promise if it catches on. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.
I have set up hundreds of accounts with Email Service Providers (ESP’s) including services like Constant Contact, AWeber and MailChimp for clients and individuals. Each has it’s own strengths and ideal customer. I am a big believer in the power of email communication when done right. An advantage that each of these services brings is the requirement that your customer or prospect ”opt-in”, to request to have you send them email. It used to be that a new employee came into the company with an empty customer list. Things have changed and now even those newly hired employees might have 500 or more Twitter followers or Fans on Facebook. A simple desire to send out an email to all of their followers and connections about their new role with your company was near impossible and unwieldy at a minimum. Social networks are changing the fabric of relationships. You need to be able to plug into their connections as soon as possible.
The challenge up until now has been that these services are designed to serve the needs of large companies with tens and hundreds of thousands of email addresses in their database, with features that the big guys need. Marketing departments with Email specialists are common. Individual reps and entrepreneurs could use them but they were cumbersome to set up and too complicated for many to use consistently. MailChimp acquired an email company with a different vision this past August by the name of TinyLetter that brings a different solution.
TinyLetter was created from the ground up for the conversations with those you have connected with on social platforms. You can’t use Gmail for this, as they have a limit of a few hundred recipients per day (for security). If you want to send quick notes to your customers, prospects or followers, TinyLetter is your answer. Some have called it “MailChimp Lite” but it is more accurately viewed as “Gmail on steroids”.
What makes TinyLetter so different?
It was built from the ground up by someone who is NOT from the email marketing world,
It’s utterly simple (because of #1),
Being utterly simple will make mobile app development for TinyLetter really easy,
TinyLetter lets you read replies, so you can continue the conversation with your contacts.
The signup process is very simple and personal. It’s less like a formal survey (where you’d enter your title, select interest groups, etc), and more like an about.me, or flavors.me page.
There are no templates. It’s all about your content letter.
Notice #4 in the list above. You can actually read replies. Try that with your full-powered Email Service Provider.
If you make a living by selling something, you know the importance of quality communication. TinyLetter gives the ability to have people ask you to communicate with them (via a sign-up form), and then easily provide valued, timely information efficiently and with no hassle.
Here is the link to register for TinyLetter. Give it a try. Then send me your Registration link in the comment area below so we can help you grow your list.
If you want to stay up to date on all the new Web Tools that are coming out in 2012, and learn how they might be of help to you grow your business, sign up for Fill the Funnel’s Web Tool Update by clicking here.
Full disclosure, I have grown past TinyLetter with over 8,000 of you already subscribed to the newsletter, so my newsletter and customer lists are Powered by MailChimp.
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