Tag Archive for: digital marketing

Imagine the following scenario: you’ve created a marketing email for your business, you’ve come up with an awesome title, precise text, and you’ve even gone all the way and created an amazing graphics design. You then send the email to your contact list, and you find out that it ended up in the worst place: the spam folder.

Your email goes a long way until it reaches your clients. The journey begins with the transitioning between servers and Internet providers, corporate servers, and various software – and in each encounter, there are various filters that will scan your email and examine it, to determine whether it should have reached the inbox or spam folder.

What’s the story behind “Spam” messages?

Spam is in fact the modern name for “junk mail”. The various email systems (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, etc.) have learned to recognize certain emails as a nuisance – detect if they contain viruses, content that might seem suspicious, or if they were sent to recipients who did not confirm receipt of those emails. Emails that are classified as “Spam” will be sent to the spam folder, where the recipients can choose whether to open them or not (spoiler alert: they will probably never open them).

Why do your emails end up in the spam folder?

With the help of algorithms, various email providers have learned how to automatically identify spam messages. Although the ways in which the algorithms work aren’t always revealed to the general public, what we do know is that they are based on databases of user reports. The users mark whether the message they received is indeed spam or not, and thus different systems know how to classify the emails as spam when necessary.

Which messages will be classified as spam by email companies? For example, messages with fake email addresses, messages that are sent from an unverified sender, messages without content, phishing scams (fraud that “fishes” confidential information about users, while impersonating as fake websites), emails that violate the policy defined by the email system (such as companies that send messages to clients who have not confirmed receipt of emails in a distribution list), or additional messages sent by an entity that was previously reported as a spam sender.

Apart from screening spam emails, the “deliverability” of the email is of great importance. The email systems examine the level of reputation of the entity sending the emails, as well as the level of quality and reliability of the server from which the email was sent. Therefore, to prevent your emails from reaching the spam folder, it is important to maintain reliable and high-quality servers, allow replying to emails, having a sender address that includes a name (not a No-reply for example) and an ending that is not of the free e-mail systems.

This is how inwise prevents emails from reaching spam

In most cases, the spam screening made by email companies works wonderfully. But what happens when it makes a mistake and chooses to screen the emails you send on behalf of your business to your clients? To avoid this frustrating scenario, we, at inwise, have created a system that offers a number of smart solutions that will help the emails you send reach the inbox destination:

Anti-spammers is us

inwise is committed to an anti-spam policy and operates according to its rules. What does that mean?

• Monitoring contact lists – we go through each contact list to make sure they are authorized and approved lists. Every account opened at inwise undergoes a strict examination in which we require information before confirming the activity of the account (among other things – the source of the contact list) out of fear of spammers.
• The sending address – every email we send must include the address of the sending business so that the contacts can identify the source of the message and even send a response when necessary.
• Content monitoring – all emails sent through our system are examined and monitored, so that offensive or inappropriate messages will be deleted immediately.
• Unsubscribe – the emails sent from us include a link to unsubscribe from the contact list, so that, if necessary, the contacts who receive the messages can easily remove themselves from the contact list.
• Keeping a close relationship with Internet companies – increases the chances that the emails we send safely arrive at their destination. In addition, in exceptional cases of reports made by senders, we examine the cases and handle them in the most comprehensive manner.

Making sure you are-really-you

In a time where phishing comes from everywhere we look, protecting you is our top priority.

• Using DKIM, SPF and Domain keys, we make sure that your domain address (the address from which you sent the email) matches your business domain. The purpose isֶֶ to prevent third parties from trying to impersonate you, or defraud using your name. For example, when receiving an email from postoffice@post.com, we make sure that it is indeed the Post office, and not an entity trying to use the name of the post office and defraud clients.
• What happens in cases where large companies block and screen emails sent to employees for information security purposes? We directly contact the IT departments of the companies to open the traffic of emails sent through the Inwise system.

Automatic removal of contacts

If a certain client reported an email you sent as spam, we will make sure to automatically remove them from the contact list so that no further messages are sent to them.

• We allow adding a button that allows reporting a certain email as spam(by the way, the Internet companies also have a button that allows submitting a complaint and reporting spammers).
• In addition, our system receives an alert when a recipient complains about spam, makes sure to remove them from the mailing list and examines the sender.

Resending

There are cases in which an email you sent will not reach its destination (due to an incorrect address, the recipient’s mailbox is full, or a variety of other reasons).

• Assuming such a scenario exists, inwise tries to send the message to the contact a specified number of times. In case the email is not sent, it stops the sending attempts so that the mail servers will not recognize it as spam – since, if we keep on sending the message again and again, it will consider these attempts as malicious action.

These are just some of the actions that inwise performs for its clients. The variety of actions performed by the system are designed to maintain the flow of your business emails, the image of your business, and the quality of your marketing activities.

Though WhatsApp has been in our lives since 2009 (crazy, right?) – it only recently introduced the possibility to market using the app. How did that happen? WhatsApp is very protective of the privacy of its 2 billion users and makes sure to keep them away from unnecessary spamming. Now, the company is trying to find the correct ways to integrate marketing content that on one hand will keep her clean of spam and on the other, allow innovative marketing options.
After diving into marketing on WhatsApp, and learning about the advantages and disadvantages, you can decide if you wish to give it a go. Think it’s the way to go? Great, we assembled a list of tips for correct marketing of your business on WhatsApp. Let’s get started:

The steps for accurate marketing on WhatsApp:

Defined goals

Similar to any marketing campaign, it is important to predetermine the goals and character of the messages, so that they can clarify how you should approach the campaign and which content to create. For example, a campaign designed to update new clients on sales or a campaign designed to keep existing clients, will not be formulated in the same way and will target different population segments to realize these goals.

Create a contact list

Not every marketing content will be relevant to your entire target audience. Create a contact list for different target audiences so that you save them from spamming and make the connection between the content and the clients more precise. For example, if you have a pizza chain and you wish to give a special price to residents of a certain city, create a list of only the residents of that city. Alternatively, create one base with information fields using which you can perform relevance segmentation.

Using information about clients

The personalization effect is important when writing WhatsApp messages and creating the sense of a personalized message. Use information such as first names, last purchases, and important dates – and integrate them into your WhatsApp messages. The conversation will then be accompanied by context and a feeling that you “see” the certain client to whom you are writing.

Give value, Give value, Give value

As you expand your contact list, try to be original and creative when formulating your messages – at the end of the day, the client is looking for the bottom line – why should I read your messages? Did I just see that promotion you sent on Facebook or the local magazine a minute ago? If so, then I don’t necessarily need to give you my phone number for direct and personal communication.

Invest in content

Interesting, creative, and relevant content becomes crucial in WhatsApp marketing since it is a wonderful way to stand out in an ocean of messages your users receive on a daily basis. For example, if you create content that is characterized by a unique design language, or written in a funny and smart way, the messages you create will stand out from other content that your users will receive and give you an advantage.

Dosage

When it comes to WhatsApp marketing, minimalism is the key.. Carefully choose the campaigns in which you will integrate WhatsApp and make sure you reduce the number of messages to the bare minimum. This way you will be able to maintain your business image clean of spam and pleasant for the user.

Get to the point

WhatsApp is fast, instant, and light – and that’s what your marketing messages should be in order to keep your recipients attentive. And what does that look like? A message should have one main, focus, and precise message. Nothing more. For example, a message about a sale should only speak about that.

Give up the bots

The sense of an authentic conversation is an essential part of WhatsApp, therefore bots are not the way to go here. People like to talk to people, they like knowing that there is a real person on the other side who is listening to them and it is important to integrate that into the communication on WhatsApp. If you insist on using bots – make it clear that it is a bot that “speaks” with them.

Match the type of message to its content

Since WhatsApp is easy to use and instant, it is important to match the message to this profile. For example, providing customer service on WhatsApp could work for businesses that require the client to send documents or photos – since that’s easy and comfortable to do using this interface.

Present yourselves

Using the representative’s name will take away the unfamiliarity and the potential “bot” feeling that accompanies conversations of clients with different representatives. In case you open the conversation with a new client, it is important to present yourselves by name, thus reinforcing the feeling or human closeness.

Add a logo on your profile photo

In order to maintain the brand unity of your business, it is important to present the company logo on the WhatsApp profile photo. This way, your clients can be sure to be speaking with you and will save potential confusion.

Emojis

If you ask us, this is one of the best features of marketing using WhatsApp. The emojis light the mood of the conversation, add fun visuals and create a sense of a friendly conversation. It is important to use them wisely and match them to the conversation. For example, if you speak with an angry or particularly disappointed client, avoid using emojis that might make them feel as if you are being disrespectful or disconnected from the conversation.

Most importantly, DON’T SPAM

Since WhatsApp is very strict about its anti-spam policy, it is important to create a positive reputation with them. In case your clients will mark your messages as spam too many times, it will damage your reputation which could have you blocked.

Similar to other marketing tools, WhatsApp is a marketing tool that you should learn how to approach and operate correctly. Hopefully, we have provided you with the background you need to leverage your business in a new and refreshing way.

To learn more about sending WhatsApp messages with inwise, click here

Let’s talk about our cellphone. We have it glued to our hand from the morning coffee up until we fall asleep, already at reach. That already tells us everything we need to know about the tremendous potential embedded in mobile marketing and in SMS messages in particular.

Text messages have become an extremely efficient marketing tool over the past years. Yes, even in a world where WhatsApp exists. Text messages are relevant for all business types, from fashion to health care. And to be honest? It’s pretty clear why when the percentage of people who open their text messages is over 90%, which makes them a must-use marketing tool. Yes, this does apply to a world where WhatsApp exists since while it conveys friendliness, text messages convey urgency, which increases the percentage of people who open them.

The secret is knowing how to use them. Text about certain topics, formulated in a precise way will increase the ROI (return on investment) rates, while text messages that do not comply with these standards can cause damage.

How can you maximize marketing text messages in your business?

Personalization: THE buzzword of the business marketing world in general and especially for text messages. Using personal elements gives your client the impression that the content was made especially for them, thus increasing the chances of them even reading your text. For example, a text on your client’s birthday accompanied by a small happy birthday wish and a unique discount code will enhance the feeling that your business ‘sees them’.

Maintain transparency and focus: We all know how it is getting these blurry messages, the kind you have to read all the way through or several times to understand what they want from us, right? That is why it’s important to be as transparent and clear about the purpose of the message. Clearly explain what the purpose of the message is, and what you offer, and avoid ‘pushing’ non-relevant products or information.

Respect your users: There is nothing more annoying than Spam – and the last thing you want to do is to have your business associated with aggravating and unwanted messages. That is why it’s important to only use phone numbers of people who approved your service and provide a clear and simple option to “Unsubscribe” when needed, replying “Stop” to cancel, or using a dedicated link to cancel.

Specify the name of the business or at least a phone number: The need behind the text will determine if you choose to use the name of the business or the phone number. In order to avoid the “spamming” feeling and maintain a certain consistency of the messages, define the name of your business in the ‘sender’ zone. To create a sense of interaction and two-way conversation, choose the number and mention in the text the possibility to answer the text.

Carefully choose your texts: Text messages are a wonderful marketing tool, as long as you dose it correctly. If you choose to send marketing content using text messages, it’s important to have a strategic logic behind your choice, since the slope towards overdosing your clients with texts is slippery. As an example, the texts we receive before the elections have become a synonym for ‘spam’.

This is how to do it – four ideas for marketing SMS that will work wonderfully:

Notifications for promotions

Timing is everything, research has shown that notifications for limited-time promotions increase the chances of reading the text messages. Tell your clients about the offers that are valuable to them, accompanied with a personal tone and which refer to fields that are relevant to them – for example, fashion brands can send a client an update about a limited promotion on a certain product they took interest in, accompanied by a link to purchase the product.

Operational messages

These are immediate and important messages for your users, such as updates on scheduled appointments, verification codes, updates on deliveries, and various kinds of reminders. For example, HMOs sent updates to their clients regarding appointments using operational texts specifying the location of the clinic, the time of the appointment, and even the possibility to cancel the appointment.

Update on events

Reminders are a great option for marketing texts that will make your business be perceived as one that takes care of their clients’ schedules, and at the same time will help your organization. Under this category are the following messages: Save the Date messages, ticket purchases, updates on times of events, and even interactive content during the event. For example, when a text is sent to you during a concert with a link to send photos that will be projected in real-time on the screen during the performance.

Product launch for VIP clients

Every business gathers its most loyal audience around it. Here, you have the opportunity to share with them unique content that will increase their sense of loyalty toward your business. For example, if you are about to launch a new product, send it to the same exclusive group message telling them they were carefully chosen to be the first to try out the product, and only later on, send it to the rest of your clients.

In the end, no matter what business you have, using marketing SMS text messages will generate great value for you, so all you have left to do is start using them, wisely of course.

Sending emails with attachments is a valuable communication tool, but it requires some knowledge and etiquette. In today’s article, we will go over the best ways to send emails with attachments, and throw in some golden tips and examples on how to master sending emails with attachments like a pro.

How to attach an email document?

Attachments are basically an easy way to send files, images, and more along with an email sent out. However, the fact that the concept is easy does not necessarily mean that the execution is as well. Here are some of most common mistakes people make when it comes to including attachments to emails:

• Is the attachment right for this email? Make sure you are sending the right file, always. You really do not want to attach a file that is not relevant for the email going out.
• Email Subject Line –  lets the recipient know what your email is about. That is why including it with every email you send out is necessary. Use it to your advantage and you may help your email get opened by your recipients.
• Draft an email – It’s time to write the email, containing the main message you wish to convey to the recipients. Again, keep it as short and simple as possible.
• Send the Email – This seems trivial, but emails can actually be ready to go only to be left hanging without hitting the Send button, never leaving the inbox. Make sure you hit Send when your email is ready to go.
• Monitor your results – See who received the email, who opened it, and as important – who did not open it. Monitoring your results is the only way to learn from your mistakes and from your successes, and constantly improve and grow.

Smart Attachment Management

There is a right way and a wrong way to send an email. The wrong way may lead to undelivered messages. Unfortunately, in the business world, that can have very unfortunate implications. So here are some golden tips on how to wisely manage your attachments:

• File size – Attachment files that are too large may take a long time for the recipient to open/download. Take that into consideration when sending large files with your email.
• File type – Some email providers do not allow specific types/formats of attachment files. That is why it is super important to make sure that the file format you wish to send will go through to the recipient. Now sure? You can always go safe by sending a PDF attachment.
• Properly name your attachment – A good way to go is to always give your attachment file a clear name the recipient can understand. Doing so will help your recipient have a clear and safe idea on what to expect opening the file.
• Let them know there is an attachment here – Inform the recipient that you have attached a file to the email, and its nature. Do not assume that everyone will notice or know that there is an attachment file they need to open without being informed of that. 
• Always double-check – As part of the better safe than sorry approach that is highly recommended in the business world, always recheck and reread your email before sending it. When your email includes an attachment, that means checking the attachment as well: Is it the right file? Is it accessible to open and download?

Examples of business emails with attachments

Now that we have gone over all the tips and basics on how to send an email with an attachment and how to wisely manage your attachments, let’s see how email attachments can serve your business activity with some classic examples:

• Testimonials – Attach testimonials or reviews from satisfied customers to show potential / existing customers how well your service/product is received. You can attach a video, presentation, PDF, or image – detailing your testimonial(s).
• Price quotes – Attach a file listing your price quote, tariff, or price list, to close a sale. 
• Invoice – A very common and classic use of an attachment is sending an invoice or a receipt at the client billing stage.
• Meeting reminders – Help meeting participants remember about an upcoming meeting or prepare for it by sending them a file with the meeting agenda or materials to help them be most prepared for it. 

Email attachments are undoubtedly a vital part of business communication. Now that you hopefully feel confident on the ways to use it, and how to best utilize it, we hope that it will serve you as well as it does businesses, companies and individuals around the world, every minute of every day.

In the content overwhelming world we live in, successful marketing becomes a tricky business. In order to manage the incredible amount of content and reach your clients in the most successful and effortless way, this smart solution was invented: marketing automation.

What is marketing automation?

You know when you enter a certain type of service you receive a “Welcome” email? And one week after having opened the email you get another email offering you a unique discount? And then two days later a text message reminding you about that special discount? Marketing automation is the “behind-the-scenes” of this mechanism.
Marketing automation allows you to preset actions that will take place automatically as a reaction for different scenarios. The automatic process begins with a trigger which is in fact the act of the contact (clicking on a link or opening an email for example), which leads to a sequence of predefined actions. The automation allows a preset destination that you would like your contacts to reach while creating action-based courses that will lead them straight to it.

The advantages of marketing automation

Saving time: we apologize in advance for quoting the cliché “Time is Money״, but it’s true, especially when talking about your business. Using the automation process will save the marketing and client service team precious time from dealing with repetitive manual actions (such as data collection and segmentation) since it just performs those actions on their behalf.

Personalization: personalization has been the serious buzzword over the past several years, and rightfully so – within the ocean that floods us, all we need is personal attention in the form of content that is personalized for us. Automation is based on your contact’s behavior and actions and it allows you to send the right sequence of messages for each contact according to the actions they performed.
For example – using information such as date of birth will allow you to send your contacts a personalized coupon on their birthday. A client didn’t open their email? In that case, the system will identify that as a trigger to send them a second message reminding them of the special offer code.

User audience segmentation: it used to be common to see the target audience of business as one straw, however, today it is clear that segmentation is the way to go. Using marketing automation, we are able to send different messages to different segments based on various settings such as age, gender, living area, and fields of interest, which will make your entire marketing array smarter, more effective and precisely adapted to each segment.

Automatic timing: timing is everything, and when the sending times of certain messages can be preset in the system, it creates a significant advantage. Imagine the following scenario: a new contact joined your new customers’ club. Using the automation, you can predefine a sequence of content messages that will be sent to them in predefined times to keep them active and interested; promotions, discounts, informative texts, anything you want! And combined with the automated timing, you can provide the best marketing course for that user.

5 steps for building an automated marketing plan

Define a goal: successful marketing will always be based on a super-goal, whether it is expanding the client circle, increasing the sales of a certain product, or a new market breakthrough – predefine your goal and let it lead you.

Segment audiences: each audience is unique, and correct segmentation while sending relevant content series to each group will make your marketing more efficient and cost-effective. Need an example? Considering your business operates all throughout Europe, sending messages based on a living area will enable you to efficiently create relevant content for the residents of each area.

Create personal relations: information that you have about your clients such as names, dates of birth, and place of residency become fertile ground for creating personal and close relations. Just think how nice it is to receive an email that addresses you by your first name rather than using a generic title that was clearly written for all users. By using personal relation elements, you can enlarge the chances of clicking, call for action and a sense of positivity towards your business.

Prepare content in advance: tight and precise content is crucial for the success of the campaign and preparing it in advance (rather than a last-minute rush) increases its chances of it actually being successful. Prepare the content for the emails and text messages of your campaigns so that it is high-quality content.

Analyze data: after succeeding in all the steps, it’s time to check your data. Analyze your campaign data to see what worked better and what didn’t work in order to improve for your next campaign.

Need any ideas for use of automation?

Special events: birthdays, anniversaries, date of joining the club – use data your contacts gave you to make them feel special on those dates which are important for them. If your business is a shop, you can send a special discount code for those celebrating their birthday at the beginning of the month, and in case they didn’t use their discount code, send them a reminder several days later with a unique SMS to use the discount.

Opinion: following a purchase of a service, send your clients a survey to keep in contact with them and allow them to give you feedback. A client gave you a good rating? Thank them in a personal email with a unique discount. Got negative feedback? Send the rater a text message saying you’re sorry to hear about it with a request for suggestions to improve the experience.

Abandoned cart: the client didn’t complete the purchase? You can remind them using a personal email about the items after a certain preset amount of time, or even add a discount code that will encourage them to come back and complete their purchase.

Message sequence: a message sequence is when you send your clients after a certain action to keep active and continuous contact with them. For example, a new user joining the member’s club – start with an email congratulating them for joining and offering a discount code upon their first purchase. Continue with a text message three days later reminding them about the new membership discount and two weeks later send an email with fun and interesting information about the products and your business.

Now that you are (virtually) possessing the knowledge and the tools – it is now the time to hit the road and automate your business!