When creating the designs for their email marketing campaigns, many companies tend to use the same thinking that they had for their website. This means that when you receive an email from a company, there is a good chance it will look very similar to their website in navigation and linking. According to a new report from Smith-Harmon, the way that consumers view emails is much different from how they view websites. In order to make their email marketing campaigns more successful, companies must design their emails differently than their websites. Here are a few tips that were highlighted in the study:

Use Fewer Links

Smith-Harmon found that, since viewers spend much less time reading your emails than perusing around your site, fewer links should be used in emails.

Use HTML for Nav Bars

While there is a common debate among email marketers on whether or not to use HTML or an image in the nav bar, Smith-Harmon recommends the former since many viewers have their images blocked by default.

Use Horizontal Nav Bars

The study also found that viewers are much more receptive to horizontal nav bars than vertical. In fact, only 5% of companies currently use vertical nav bars.

Not getting the response you want from your email campaigns? While you may think you have the perfect subject line or message, the readers may not agree. Those who view your email may not have time to read it in its entirety or could be confused about your message. You may need to take your communication to the next level to really entice your recipients. ConsumerBase offers five ways to make your emails easier and more efficient:

1. Write Clear Subject Lines

Viewers will most likely decide to open the email or discard it within a few seconds. Do not spend hours working on cute, catchy subject lines. The more clear and concise your subject line is, the better.

2. Provide Readers With All the Information

If you are providing readers with an offer, such as a certain percentage off an order, you should present all the information. Shoppers will get frustrated if they make it all the way to the shopping cart and find out there are extra charges.

3. Make Sure Subscribing and Unsubscribing is Easy

The last thing you want from potential customers is aggravation when they are unable to easily subscribe or unsubscribe to your emails. This information should be clearly stated within the email.

4. Use Just the Right Amount of Content

Readers do not want to be bombarded with content, but they also do not want to be left wondering what the purpose of the email was. Create accurate and clear content that completely states your message without overwhelming the reader.

The recent popularity of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter has advertisers wondering if these new networking tools will force them to rethink their marketing campaigns. As more stories arise about businesses seeing effective results from these websites, it is becoming less easy to ignore how consumers are changing. These new habits are influencing the way that businesses are marketing their product. Let’s take a look at a few of these new habits:

1. Consumers want real-time information

Consumers now want their information fast. Very fast. They also want the latest and most up-to-date information available. Facebook and Twitter status updates makes it easy for users to find the information they are looking for. What does this mean for email marketers? It does not mean that you need to send messages to these impatient consumers every hour. It does mean that you should fill you messages with new and relevant content.

2. Consumers take advice from friends and family

These days, consumers often take advice from friends and family members before buying. If you send out relevant emails, there is a good chance that those emails will be shared between friends and family.

3. Consumers want a lot of information

Today’s consumers want a lot of information before they decide to purchase a product. If they like what they see on a 30-second TV ad, they will go to the website to learn more. The same goes for email marketing: if they like what they see in your email, there is a good chance they will visit your website for more information.

It is very important to remember these habits when creating your next email marketing campaign. For more information on changed consumers, contact ConsumerBase today.

The amount of money spent on emails will increase to $2 billion by the year 2014, according to a new report.

The report, which was called “US Email Marketing Forecast, 2009-2014” was recently released from Forrester Research. The growth in spending for email marketing can be attributed to several factors, including falling CPMs and the growth of social email accounts. According to the study, in five years consumers will receive at least 9,000 marketing messages through email. One third of these messages will be retention emails, due to larger email lists and the sending frequency.

Since more email messages means more clutter, it will be more important than ever for businesses to fill their emails with fresh, relevant content. To make their marketing campaigns more successful, businesses will also have to focus more on email segmentation. Since emails are the basis of online social communication, the increase in social network users will also affect the amount of emails being sent.

The report also says that the amount spent on ad-sponsored newsletters will double by 2014 due to the decrease in print publications.

These days, every business is looking to do more with less. When business owners debate between sending postal mail (about a dollar apiece) or email (about a penny apiece), the choice is often clear. While the decision to send out emails is easy, compiling and managing your email list can be a challenge. ConsumerBase offers information on the 4 most effective ways to manage consumer email addresses and increase your base coverage:

1. Email Appends

An easy and inexpensive way of adding to your list of email addresses is through email appends. With third party providers, you are able to append valid email addresses for pennies per record.

2. Be Proactive

Inform personnel of the importance of email addresses and encourage them to use every opportunity to add to your company’s email list.

3. Revise Your Email Permission Policies

Rethink your opt-in policy for email communications. An opt-out policy should be the rule of thumb for business marketers. This policy will help to increase credibility and business relationships.

4. Write Relevant Emails

Once you have your email list, the next step is maintaining. To ensure that your email recipients opt-in, make sure you have relevant, targeted and timely communication.