Don't fret if you missed our "Top Email Marketing Questions" webinar on August 25th! We received many great questions from our customers who attended, and we wanted to be able to share the questions and answers with those of you in the Community. If you're interested in signing up for any future webinars then check them out here!
Q: Can I send trackable coupons in welcome email?
A: At this time the Welcome Email is not set up for trackable coupons.
Q: Coupons - Sometimes I have noticed coupons somehow seem to redeem themselves without the customer coming into the store.
A: I am sorry to hear that this is happening. This is one of those things that we should have our support team take a further look into for you. I would recommend getting in touch with them after the webinar. You can contact them here.
Q: I'd like to have an unsubscribe page that shows only the lists a user is currently subscribed to. I don't want them to see other lists that are inappropriate to their interests. We've asked for this fix about 3 years ago?
A: You can use the Update Profile Form to let people update their preferences for which lists they'd like to subscribe to, although it will show all lists that are selected.
Q: How does the Facebook sign up form work?
A: Here's an FAQ on how the Facebook sign up app works and how to set it up.
Q: What are best practices for proofing your campaign (read backwards, share with trusted colleague, etc)?
A: The best thing you can do to proof your message is to walk away from it for a day or so then come back to it. If you do this then be sure you prepare your email with time to spare before you want to send it out. Also, send yourself a few previews on different devices and have at least 2 other people look over the preview for you. They’ll each catch things you might've missed and then you’ll be good to go. You can also use tools like Grammarly to catch typos and common grammatical issues. It’s a plugin that will work with most online programs you use in Google.
Q: Do you recommend a list for every campaign? Or what is best practice on how to not have way too many lists?
A: It's a good idea to segment your lists and send emails that are relevant to those lists. You could have a general list of all of your subscribers for general news or info. But you could send special messages to a list of VIPs or a special email about a certain product to a list of people who like that product.
Q: Is it true you shouldn’t use caps in a subject line?
A: You shouldn't use things like all caps or multiple exclamation points because this could get your email marked as spam. Check out this FAQ for more info.
Q: Is this webinar going to touch upon how to create an e-newsletter using Constant Contact?
A: No, but we do have free webinars several times a week that walk you through creating an email.
Q: Any tips or best practices on capturing email addresses when customer is paying for purchases at the sales till?
A: Great question! Here's a script to help you ask for addresses in person. Or you can set up text to join and have a sign at your register. It's a free tool and automatically adds contacts to your email list.
Q: I missed it: what does "FOMO" stand for?
A: FOMO stands for Fear Of Missing Out.
Q: Our customers are State and Local Government. Greater than 50% of our emails are not delivered to our customers because they are blocked by the government email servers. When I talk with government email admins, they tell me that the anti-spam services they use black list CC. Any plans to make this better?
A: .gov email addresses are some of the hardest to deliver to because they tend to have much stricter filters. Our dedicated deliverability team would be the best to speak to about this matter--please reach out to them at the number listed here to discuss the situation and see what we can do to help. Thanks!
Q: Does text to sign up work in Canada?
A: Text to Join is currently only for subscribers within the U.S.
Q: Where can I hire someone to help create content for my email newsletters. I operate a garden centre and my product is extremely seasonal and I have difficulties providing good season content. Any tips?
A: You don't have to have a ton of content in your emails. They can be as simple as a picture, a paragraph, and a call to action. We also have a list of marketing professionals in our Marketplace that you can hire to help with marketing content:
Q: How does the Fan Connect App build up my mail list? I have never used the Marketplace before.
A: The marketplace lists vendors that we have verified work with Constant Contact. Many of the apps and integrations listed here are not created by Constant Contact. If there is an app you want more information on, I would recommend using the "Request Info" button to ask the company who owns the app/integration.
Q: I am new to the App Marketplace. What are the top 3 app you would recommend?
A: These folks are all third party vendors, but many of them do have customer reviews on our Marketplace page. You can also take a look at the Marketplace homepage to see the featured, most popular and top rated apps/integrations listed.
Q: Any tips and tricks to consider with Facebook sweepstakes?
A: Social Media Examiner has a great article on running Facebook contests. Don't forget to promote your Facebook sweepstakes in-store and through email to increase participation.
Q: How can you put a button in your email and link it to donation page on our website?
A: Great question! This FAQ will explain exactly how to do that.
Q: Is there a different technique for B2B emails? We send email to executives of corporation.
A: You want to be helpful, very clear, and concise when mailing to executives. Learn about their pain points and then use testimonials or case studies to show the solution that your business alone can offer them. Do not mail too frequently, but make the messages you send useful and actionable, especially for time-constrained people. For more information on this topic check out:
How to Grow Your B2b (Business to Business) Mailing List.
B2B Email Marketers Are Serious About Relevant Content... And Other Hot Topics.
Two B2B Organization Reflect on Their Growth from Email Marketing One Year Later
Which types of marketing emails generate the most revenue?
Q: What are the best practices for the number of emails that I should send my customers each month?
A: The exact frequency depends on your business and audience, but once a month is a good starting point to ensure that you stay fresh in your subscribers' minds. If you have a promotion or event running, it would make sense to send a bit more frequently. Here's a post to help you out.
Q: What is a good way to talk about company philanthropic efforts without grandstanding?
A: You can talk about the stories of the people or causes your helping to make your philanthropic efforts more relatable to your audience. Talk about what the money goes to - every $20 donation can help us buy X, X, and X for the people we help. Share who they can help and what kind of difference it makes.
Q: Can there please be a content block for multiple images and also a content block for an image bleed off that text can be written over the top of the image?
A: I'd be happy to submit your request for a multiple image content block to our developers. If you're using our 3rd generation editor you can drag and drop images into your email campaign, but only 2 images can go side by side at this time. As for the second part of your question- you should be able to do that using the artwork tool within your library, or using an external photo editor.
Q: What’s the best way to weed out contacts that haven't opened your emails for months and months?
A: It would be best to get those contacts into a list in your account to then manage how you would like. Here are some steps on how to get that list in your account.
Q: Will I be able to access this recorded webinar later?
A: You bet! We're going to send out the recording within a week. It will also be live on the Constant Contact blog.
Q: I have seasonal garden centre and plants look great in spring. Is it best to use CC mobile app for quick photo or is it better to post the photos to social networks?
A: You should do BOTH! Share those beautiful plant photos with your email list and post them to your social networks. People on your email list won't see the pictures if they're only on Facebook, and your social media followers who don't get your emails won't see them if you're just using email. Create messages that reach your audience in the places they like to get information.
Q: Where do I find FREE Images in the Constant Contact library - I seem only to find images that cost $$
A: You can toggle between the Free and "Pro" (aka paid) images in the Stock Gallery. It is in the top right corner of the window after you have entered your search. Take a look here for a screenshot.
Q: My stats say that only about 60% of my readers open my mail, yet when I talk to people who don't appear to have read my stuff they have read it. How can I make these stats more accurate?
A: I'd like to explain how we calculate opens and hopefully that will help explain the confusion. Whenever an email is sent using Constant Contact we include an invisible image that serves for tracking purposes. When a recipient clicks on a link in the email or when they download the images our system will register that and count it as an open. There very well could be people who are opening and reading your campaigns, but they don't download photos or click on a link, which would mean that we have no way to know that they read the email. I apologize about any frustration that might cause, but I hope I've helped to explain it for you. On another note, a 60% open rate is awesome! Keep up the good work!
Q: What is the best way to post photos to my email list and multiple social networks without consuming too much between all the different platforms?
A: Have you tried the Social Share tool to share your email across your social networks? You can use an image in the posts.
Q: What is the best way to manage bounced email addresses?
A: Hi, please take a look at this FAQ, it covers the different types of bounces, what they mean, and how to resolve them.
Q: Why can’t I reuse autoresponders as a template?
A: This is a great idea! If you haven't done so already, I would recommend posting that to our feedback forums for other users to vote on the idea. You can copy an existing email campaign template to an Autoresponder, but cannot do it in the reverse, like you are asking about. You can pass along feedback right in your account by scrolling to the bottom of the page and clicking the "Have Feedback" Link.
Q: Is app called iCapture by staright shot?
A: The ListBuilder app is a little different than the iCapture app. Here is some more information about the ListBuilder app created by Constant Contact.
Q: Does the listbuilder app work for Blackberry phones
A: Unfortunately it does not. Have you looked into any of our integrations for your website and Facebook Page?
Q: I am unable to locate the list builder app in the app store. Is there a better way to find it?
A: Hi, have you tried searching just "Listbuilder" in the app store? It should pull up by searching that, like you see here.
Q: How can you search for inactive email subscribers[monique agress]
Q: Will listbuilder be available for iphone/ipad in the future?
A: Listbuilder is currently available for iPad. Check out this FAQ for more information.
Q: I have my contacts split into different lists and some of these contacts are tag to divide them further for more specialized emails. Is there a way to send emails to a tag group or an easy way to create lists from existing tags?
A: You can use the Narrow List feature from within a tag, you can create a list by selecting all of the contacts and using the Add To option in the header on the Contacts page.
Q: Hi! What has resulted in higher click rates among CC customers accounts: videos or GIFs?
A: We haven't done specific research regarding the two in comparision, but 40% of people respond to visuals more than text and an animated GIF or 90 second video will certainly draw attention. Be sure to reference it in the subject line with brackets. E.g. "[VIDEO] Can your founder do this?"
Q: How often do you do these webinars - I got on it very late and missed the first 45 mins.
A: We hold these webinars once a month on the last Thursday of every month at 2pm EST. They are always free. You can also view our library of recorded webinars here.
Q: Any suggestions for subject lines for B2B emails
A: Definitely! Check out these resources:
11 Surefire Secrets to Standout Subject Lines
[Recorded Webinar] Standout Subject Lines: Get Opened, Get Read, Get Results
Q: Sometimes messages get reformatted in odd colors and fonts. Why does that happen? I have to go in and delete formats but it's awkward.
A: This can happen for a few different reasons. It might be best to get in touch with our support team so that they can help to narrow down what is causing this, and to give you tips on preventing this in the future. Here's how you can contact that team!
Q: I'm interested in your ability to share templates on Facebook. Can you tell us more about how that looks on Facebook such as where it would show?
A: Are you referring to our Social Share feature? Social Share allows for you to choose an image, select your text, and share your email campaign to your social channels like Facebook and Twitter. However, when you use Social Share it does not publish the template to Facebook, it uses a link that directs back to your campaign. Find out more here!
Q: Can we create an email Template for special uses? Ie -- allow clients to answer pertinent questions they might have when they email us for info??
A: There are a couple of things that you can do for this. If you have an email that you find yourself often sending out and the format is always the same, You can set it up as an Autoresponder to a specific list. You would just want to add the contact to the specified list for the email to be triggered to that contact. This FAQ will help.
Q: Many of our customers do not have emails. they ask to have messages texted. is that possible?
A: We do have some partners in our marketplace that help with mobile marketing.
Q: How do you ensure that when people join or sign up for your email list are automatically added to general list if they select specific lists?
A: If you allow your contacts to select the list they want to join, then you cannot force them to all go into a specific list. If you want to use the general list as a way to send all of your contacts a message, you can just select all lists and our system will not send more than one copy to an email address. You can also look in contacts under All active if you are wanting to get a full general list for yourself to use. I hope this helps.
Q: Can you suggest an introductory email? Do you have samples from other clients we can see for examples?
A: We definitely have some advice for you. Here are some ideas for what to include in a welcome email. If you want to do a whole introductory welcome series, then check out this article. Lastly, for a look at how to customize your welcome email in a Constant Contact account, follow these steps.
Q: Is there a way to embed an Instagram Story in a campaign?
A: Unfortunately no. Instagram Stories disappear within 24 hours. You can save the story to your phone and use the content in other places. You can also post it as an Instagram post.
Q: Why do my emails never look at colorful and up-to-date as the example ones? I can never seem to find out a way to make them look cute and full of character without first editing photos in Photoshop.
A: If you would like some assistance when creating your emails please call into our support center at 1-855-229-2101. We've got people who are ready to help you from 7am-11pm ET M-Th and 7am-9pm ET Friday. We can help with making sure your email looks just as you'd like it.
Q: How many times should you share an email newsletter via social share?
A: I would send it no more than twice once when the email comes out and then a "Hey did you see this?" reminder a few days later. But it's always a good idea to remind followers about your newsletter and how to sign up for your list. Tell them about the great stuff they're missing if they don't subscribe.
Q: Any tips and best practices for using automation?
A: It is important to plan your autoresonder series ahead of time and make sure that it contains evergreen content that won't need updating. Make the emails as interactive and engaging as possible, and make sure you don't have too many calls to action. You don't want to overwhelm them with excess stuff to click on and read. For more information on this topic please take a look at these resources:
How to Use Autoresponder to Make the Right First Impression, Every Time
[Guide] How to Put Your Marketing on Autopilot with Autoresponder
3 Ways to Automate Your Email Marketing this Holiday Season
[Recorded Webinar] How to Create an Email Welcome Series to Increase Sales and Engagement
Q: How can I schedule posts to social media using different timelines? Facebook vs twitter # of posts.
A: Are you asking about scheduling posts ahead of time for your social networks? There are tons of great scheduling tools you can use for multiple networks and they have great analytics. Have you tried MySocialSuite? Also, from within your account you can schedule your campaigns to post on Social with your own timeline, take a look here.
Q: How can I use the template you created based on our website as a template for events (invitations?) I need to be able to include the "I can't make it" link for the event.
A: Can you please send an email to social_support@constantcontact.com with your question and your account username? We'd be happy to help you. We have a couple of different email editors so we want to make sure we're giving you the correct instructions. Thanks!
Q: Automated email sending?
A: Absolutely! Are you interested in setting up an automated welcome series? Here's some advice for that! Let me know if you have more specific automation questions. We have a whole webinar here.
Q: Any tips on Facebook promotions?
A: Hi - Have you tried Facebook ads to promote your emails?
Q: Will image mapping be a feature in the near future?
A: This is not something that is coming in the near future. With the many different ways that people can view your email (phone, table, computer), using an image map can cause some issues. I would recommend using multiple images and piecing them together to create a makeshift image map, but remember to keep in mind that people on mobile devices might have a hard time with images and links close together.