10 Common Email Mistakes to Avoid

People are social by nature and we set ourselves apart from other animals through the way we communicate and present ourselves.
Similarly your business is unique to other competitors in the way it builds and portrays itself (the brand) to its customers and prospects.

And out of the many channels of communications available, email is the only one where the conversation can be personalised depending on which point of entry the customer chooses to interact with your brand.

Here are some common mistakes that most email marketers make:

1. No welcome email

Almost every subscriber expects some sort of a welcome email when they subscribe to any email list. It is confirmation that they have performed an action and it is reciprocated in a manner in which they expect.

It’s as good as meeting a someone and not greeting that person and not even making yourself known. The first impression is extremely important, but not making the effort to present yourself with the opportunity to make that first impression is equally damaging.

A welcome email, is triggered immediately after a prospect has agreed to exchange time to receive your emails.

2. Not asking for permission.

Don’t assume that your prospects want to receive everything at any time. Put yourself in your prospect’s shoes. What would you do if you received email from a brand that you do not recognise? Would you continue to subscribe or even purchase? I don’t think you would.

3. Don’t hardsell. It’s as good as saying, “Thanks for joining, the solution costs you RM x.”

A visitor subscribes to your email newsletter hoping that your brand can help solve their problems.

Somtimes email marketers forget this and tend to sell their products under the pretext that it is providing a solution.

4. Not fixing on a sending schedule

Don’t forget the importance of time. Consider when you are sending your readers emails. The likelihood of them not reading your email is high if the majority of your customers are based in Malaysia, but your email is being sent after 12 midnight.

5. No personalisation

This is a very common mistake. Imagine sending out an email to a guy about the latest dress discount your store is having right now.

It doesn’t make sense, and it doesn’t add any value to the subscriber.

Always make sure you segment your list before sending out your email, even though it is done through an email service provider.

6. Multiple emails sent together

There are many email marketers that set overlapping automated email lists. While they may contain different messages the subscriber in short gets spammed.

7. Stopping subscribers from leaving

You can’t win over everyone. And sometimes somethings aren’t meant to be. If a subscriber wishes to unsubscribe a marketer should readily offer this.

Not giving subscribers this option might prompt them to report your email as spam to stop receiving emails and this will lower your sender reputation (means the likelihood of your future emails being in spam is higher)

8. Improper punctuations & grammar

Regardless of any business, there is no excuse for poor grammar. Especially punctuations.

The grammar used is a reflection of your image and professionalism.

9. Improper email tone

A spell-checked email copy is useless if it conveys the wrong tone. The prime areas where marketers tend to miss their footing in setting email tone is improper salutation, wrong choice of words or even how they sign off.

10. “Ciao, Mr. Shawn”

Addressing your subscriber with wrong personalization is one of the common mistakes that email marketers tend to commit. The root cause of the error exists in wrong list entry, wrong personalization tag or even the lack of a tag.

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Your email is a reflection of you. Don’t make these mistakes as it will only does the brand’s personality get dented, but you also weaken the relation between you and your subscriber.

Did we forget any other mistakes? Share your views in the comment section below.

Learn how you can integrate email marketing into your business here.

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Marketing Agencies Don't Want You To Know This (Email Marketing Secrets for Small Business)

The Internet presents opportunity for any sized business. The Internet also connects everyone so long as they have a connection to the digital domain.

People use the internet to communicate, shop, date and transact, while marketers target their prospective audiences over the internet, making it the foundation of a peaceful online shopping ecosystem.

Here are some statistics that prove why Email Marketing is such an important tool and should not be missed.

It’s common for most business owners (especially those in Malaysia) to be an  owner of a brick-and-mortar shop. Having an online presence reduces the restrictions on your target audience. For example, you are not tied down to an audience that is conveniently located around you only.

It is proven that the best way to communicate with your customers is through email.

Learn how email marketing can help your small business.

1. It helps to Build credibility

Building relationships is the foundation of any business. You can do more with email marketing, as you are able to build trust and recognition among your subscribers by sending helpful and educational information.

2. Increase and Build visibility beyond your location

Irrespective of their geographic location, you will be able to send emails to your target audience with just an email ID and this will help improve the visibility of your business.

3. Cheaper alternative to most physical forms of advertising

Assuming you are sending an email to an email list of 1000 subscribers, you may be spending < RM10. Research shows that you can earn up to RM34 for every RM1 you spend on your email campaign, you will find out that emails are the most profitable marketing channel.

4. Increase awareness about your business. Increase traffic visits (online and offline). 

A successful email is the one that manages to make the subscriber click and get redirected to a relevant landing page (for omnichannel businesses) or your storefront.

5. Market with a personal touch 

Connect personally with your customers, by segmenting the information that they want to receive. By tracking the customer journey, you can personalize the email copy to building a meaningful relationship.

6. Turn one-time sale into a repeat order / Help patrons stay connected with new updates

Anyone who purchases from you may lose contact as they step out. By having them in your mailing list, you can keep in touch with them. This will enable them to shop from you time and time again.

What your business needs to implement email marketing?

An Email Service Platform (ESP)

Email inbox services such Gmail, Hotmail or Outlook cannot be used to send bulk emails owing to restrictions placed to avoid spamming. You need to invest in a professional email service provider to send emails in bulk.

Some provide services for zero to nominal fees for emailing less than 2,000 subscribers, while others charge you based on the mailing list strength. If you are starting out, you can choose MailerLite, MadMimi ReachMail or MailChimp. We conducted a review for MailChimp. You can read about it here.

Templates are readily available, but it is good to have a customer outsourced professional to help you with this. However, sometimes you need to design a custom email template for providing a good user experience.

Tips to start your Email Marketing

Build your mailing list both offline and online

To start out, you can talk to your existing customers to share their email addresses to get information about your business. Some of the ways to create excitement are:

1. Coupons and Sales Promotions
2. Loyalty or Rewards Programs
3. Company News and Updates
4. Contests and Sweepstakes
5. Free Content like E-Books
6. Products or Service Information
7. Exclusive Peeks at New Products

What emails would you send?

Newsletters

For prospects / customers to exchange their email and time to read your emails, be prepared to send them valuable information. Do not sell to them as they would associate this with spam, and you would lose email authority.

In addition to newsletter you should also send:

1. Transactional emails like order receipts, upsell & cross-sell emails, re-order reminder emails that are associated with building relation post-purchase.
2. Promotional emails to inform your customers about special or limited stock events and promotions
3. Holiday and seasonal emails for the brands who conduct special campaigns during holidays.
4. Customer loyalty emails for existing patrons to show how valuable they are to your brand.
5. Separate your mailing list as per preference and hit Send
6. No two customers will have same interests. You need to learn / understand their preferences and what products they are interested and segment the email list accordingly. This ensures that the customer receives the information that interests them.

Learn more about Everworks email here. You’d be surprised what email can do for your business.

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Tips on How To Not Make the Mistake of Choosing the Wrong Email Service Provider

Email marketing is the bread and butter for most marketers as it draws the most ROI compared to other marketing channels.

Every brand is now implementing inbound methodology, marketers are choosing email marketing as the best way to build trust and increase sales.

The idea is to capture a prospect’s brief approach to you with a problem and subscribes to your emails with a hope to be educated and finding a solution to his problems.

During this critical moment, your catch to these prospects is that they will lose out on a valuable aspect of information that wouldn’t be otherwise available unless they subscribe to your email.

There is a large chance that this isn’t even presented to your prospects when they need it most.

And this fault is likely to be due to your Email Service Provider ("ESP"), as your message would have ended in spam.

If you wondering what an ESP is or if you are facing troubles with your current one, this article is for you.

The role of the Email Service Provider ("ESP")

To send emails to a customer you need an ESP. They help you to deliver your email to your customers in bulk. Yes there is the ever present popular options such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and more, but these are only good for sending individual cold emails to individuals.

ESPs have other features built into them, which make them the first choice for any email marketer such as:

1. Database and App API integration
2. Email list segmentation and management tools
3. Automated email sending

How to choose an ESP

Setting up an ESP from scratch requires time and money, so the best option is to choose one that already has a set amount of features and service offerings that fit your needs:

1. Costing: 

In the realm of ESPs, there is one for every type of budget. There are free-to-use ESPs like Mailchimp who offer user-friendly email editor, premium looking email template library, email automation workflows and email campaign analytics for almost nothing provided that you send out less than 2,000 emails monthly. While it seems like a sweet deal, the email template is not yours and the footer will carry Mailchimp banner. Plus, you can send only 10 campaigns every month. This is an excellent option for someone who has just started out or on a tight budget.

2. Deliverability Standards: 

Any emails you send are scanned by an Internet Service Provider at the user-end before being delivered. If the IP that you send your emails is blacklisted, the ISP filter will not allow your emails to pass through. Since you shall be using an ESP to send your emails, you need to ensure that they provide you with good deliverability. Enquire about the different kinds of reputation support such as white listing.

3. API integration support: 

Sending emails is a process that is constantly improved upon based on previous campaign performances (this is dependant on whether you really need this or not)

4. Scalability: 

Since you have a mailing list of < 2,000 subscribers, you decide to choose the free model of the ESP. Will your ESP have the capability to send emails when your mailing list explodes to >20,000 subscribers? Does it support adding more users in your plan?

5. Customer Support: 

Imagine you scheduled an email to be sent early morning but owing to ESP server downtime, the campaign could not be delivered. Does your email service provider cater to customer support at odd hours?

6. Ease-to-use: 

Are the specified features easy to use? Is the FAQ section easily accessible? How quickly does customer support respond? Do you require any technical knowledge to operate the platform?

Tips to keep in mind:

1. Metrics you measure: 

Email campaign metrics such as open rates, click rates, unsubscribes are provided by all ESPs, but you need to identify other metrics that you wish to measure such as heatmap, optimum open rate, last email opened etc.

2. Plans for improving interactivity: 

You need to check whether you plan to send emails with innovations to boost user engagement. This is important since most ESPs don’t support CSS interactivity.

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Although choosing or switching ESPs is like making a life-long commitment. You may choose to change. BUT beware as it would mean a waste of resources.

You can learn more about our email services here.

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How You Should Introduce Yourself Over Email and Be Ridiculously Successful

We write emails everyday, and it's easy for everyone to write anything they intend to say to anyone. 

But writing an email to a stranger to get a response. That's not so easy. 

As most doing sales in Malaysia would point out. The typical professional email gets drowned out on a daily basis and having them open up the email would be a miracle.

Here's a framework we developed for Sales professionals here in Malaysia to introduce yourself in an email:

1. Write a motivating subject line.
2. Customize your greeting to the industry and situation.
3. Make your first line about the person you are writing.
4. Make sure to explain why you're reaching out.
5. Your email should have a purpose and provide a value.
6. Always include a call to action so the person knows what to do next.
7. Say thank you. Courtesy goes a long way.
8. Send follow ups.

This is a good place to start: By Way of Introduction

When introducing a new topic, person, or idea, you would say, "By way of introduction ...".

You can do this by including examples or a short interesting story to give your new subject context.

For example: Our next guest will be Bryan, by way of introduction, I'd like to share a few of Bryan's accomplishments with you.

Send great email reliably with 99.99% uptime. Discover emails tailor made for Malaysian business professionals just like you.

The steps for Malaysians to introduce yourself over email and be ridiculously successful

Step 1: Choose a strong subject line

This is the 1st thing any recipient sees when they receive your email. The importance of the subject line should not be overlooked.

The key is to pique their curiosity. Unless it is an email from someone they expect or recognize, there's little guarantee they'll read yours.

Here's a list of subject line examples you can use:

1. Question about [goal]?
2. [Mutual connection] recommended I get in touch
3. Hoping to help
4. Idea for [topic the prospect cares about]

Step 2: Pick a salutation

This is the first word of your email body. The greeting you choose makes a difference and depending on industry the conservative nature requires an expectation to the tone.

If it is a traditionally conservative industry, like in finance or government, the traditional "Dear" salutation is generally accepted.

However, if you're in a more relaxed industry such as, tech, media, travel, or fashion, use "Hi", "Hello", or even "Hey".

This might not mean much, but it shows you've done your research.

After a salutation, you'd normally follow with the person's 1st name. These days, this is the norm across most industries.

Please do not include their last name (surname) it will make you sound robotic and including a Mrs./Mr./Ms. gives the impression that you are too young.

Step 3: Compose a strong opening sentence

This is the hook. The opening line is the most important part of an introductory email.

Why it's important? If your opening line succeeds you give your recipient reason to keep on reading.

Avoid, "My name is [name] and I'm reaching out because ...". Your recipient receives numerous introductory emails over time.

It is very likely when receiving emails with this opening line, your recipient would read your email with haste. Why? Because there's no reason for them to continue reading.

Consider these instead:

1. I noticed you manage the procurement teams at [company].
2. Have you ever thought about taking your current advertising efforts online?
3. Just heard your segment on radio about [topic], and I've never learned so much over radio before!

Step 4: Explain your reason for contacting him/her

Here's where you continue to pique their interest and to connect the dots.

The key here is to make your explanation as relevant as possible. You want them to feel that they are not just a person on a list that you're just emailing.

If your 1st line is: Have you ever thought about taking your current advertising efforts online?

Your 2nd line could be: I would with companies like [company A] and [company B] to help them manage their advertisements online.

Step 5: Add value

The basic principle is to give before receiving. Before you ask for anything, you want to make sure you 1st provide the recipient with value.

Adding value does not necessarily require Ringgits and Cents. A thoughtful, authentic compliment is also a way of providing value.

Here are some ideas:

1. Recommend an article they might find helpful
2. Suggest a useful app or tool they can use
3. Offer to make an introduction to someone who they'd benefit from knowing

Step 6: Make a request

Here's the crux of it. Your call-to-action (CTA).

The goal is to remove as much friction from your task as possible. For example if you would like them to meet with you, provide a link to your meetings tool so they can instantly see when you're both available and book a time.

Here's some ideas on how to write for your CTA:

1. If you're thinking about how [proposed idea] could apply to [topic interested in], I have some ideas I'd love to share. Here's the link to my calendar: [link].
2. Would you be willing to comment on the [blog post] I wrote? It would be great to have your unique perspective (and hopefully get some discussion going). Here's the link: [link].
3. Are you open to answering a few questions about [topic]? Happy to chat over phone or email, whichever's most convenient.

Step 7: Say "Thanks" and sign off

The best emails are short, sweet, and concise. Additional information and unnecessary details reduce the the probability of your recipient reading your email.

Just say, "thanks", "thank you".

Step 8: Follow up

There's a chance that when you send this incredible introduction email, that they don't respond.

Here are a few things you could try:

1. Send them actionable advice.
2. Send a how-to guide and offer to follow up in person.
3. Invite them to an upcoming event.
4. Bring up a pain point your buyers have faced previously and present the solution that you've provided.

Emails are digitally transmitted messages, and it's widely used in Malaysia today. We've included some ideas above on how to improve your sales efforts through email.

If this guide has helped you please share with us your experiences below - this hopefully will help others in their quest as well.

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Convert 10x More Sales Conversations in 15 Seconds

We're going to let you in on a secret. This secret is going to help you convert your conversations into sales.

All it takes is a 15 seconds adjustment.

What's the secret? Make an Upfront Contract.

An Upfront Contract means that an agreement is made ahead of time, about what will take place during any meeting or discussion.

Don't overlook the importance of an upfront contract. It helps to clarify the roles of each person during any meeting or discussion and helps to form an informal agreement between both parties.

There's a catch. Always remember, that only one person can lead this discussion. It's always either the seller or buyer, never both at the same time.

To be successful in any of your negotiations you should strive to lead from the front, and the Upfront Contract allows you to do just that.

I've tested this during my sales conversations in different scenarios and with different personalities in Malaysia. It's helped me to move ahead in negotiations and increased my probability to close.

*Additional reading: If you're interested to learn more on how to negotiate successfully here are 5 tactics to help you.

Find below 5 uses for the the Upfront Contract to help you close more sales conversations:

1. Set a time limit.

Most times, you're meeting any "prospect" for the first time. It's common for sales professionals to overlook "prospects" to be just a means to an objective.

Don't forget, "prospects" are people too. Your goal is to make them feel comfortable with you. One failsafe method is to show appreciation for their time.

A little courtesy, goes a long way.

It's important to thank the person for their time and honestly inform them how long you expect this conversation is going to take.

Be truthful with how long you expect the conversation to take. Establish the right expectation and trust early on.

You don't want to be the forceful telesales representative which nobody wants to associate with.

Here's a script to get you started:

You - Hello [name], thanks for [taking this call today]. I would like to [purpose of conversation] and this would take around 20 minutes of your time. Is this a convenient time for you now? 

Prospect - {yes / no}

You - #if no: oh I'm sorry, I'll call you back later this afternoon. Thank you.

2. Provide an agenda

You want to be clear. This helps you to clarify the roles of each person in the conversation, and establishes the right expectation.

Some may argue against this. However, in my experience, providing an agenda early on allows your prospect to determine if they are able to help you.

It's common to approach the wrong department and it saves you time through a recommendation to find the right person early on.

Here's an example of a clear agenda / purpose:

You - Hello [name]. I would like to discuss about ways our products can help you to increase the value of each distribution point you make. Are you the right person I should speak with to discuss this further?

3. Describe the potential outcomes

Here's where the Upfront Contract technique is applied.

Give 2 options to your prospect. Make them decide to either continue the conversation or to decide against it.

It's important to give your prospect an option to throw in the towel at any time. Offer to end the conversation if your prospect does not like the offer.

Make sure you tell them it is perfectly okay to tell you {no} and you'll accept it without pursuing any further.

The objective of this is to gain your prospect's trust. Do this by putting them in control.

Here's an example:

You - If at the end of this conversation, you feel that this may not be something you are interested in, feel free to let me know, and I'll stop immediately.

Below I've prepared an example sales conversation template for you:

You - Thanks for [taking this call today]. I would like to discuss about [clear agenda / purpose]. Are you the right person I should speak with to discuss this further?

Prospect - {yes / no}

You - #if yes: This would take around 20 minutes of your time, is it convenient now for us to talk?

Prospect - {yes / no}

You - #if yes: If at the end of this conversation, you feel that this may not be something you are interested in, feel free to let me know, and I'll stop immediately.

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Interested in what we do?

We help sales professionals and sales focused organizations to maintain reliable email communications with their customers.

We ensure this by ensuring your email is equipped with anti-spam and is 99.99% up and secure.

Learn more.

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5 Creative Content Ideas To Help Your Website Stand Out

Gone were the days where a picture and a description is all that's needed to sell.

This is no different for any business in Malaysia. Don't just write a statement and expect sales.

To sell, a lifestyle is required more than ever. Which means more demand for high quality content.

Over 2 million posts go onto the Internet everyday (Smart Insights). You'll need to find strategies to help you to stand out from the crowd.

Develop targeted content for your audience, it's found out to be the best way to reach your audience. Get great insights on how your Malaysian business can advertise on the Internet for free.

Here are 5 creative content ideas to help your website stand out:

1. Expert advice


For some businesses a blog isn't enough. Their audience demands specific advice to aid them in their purchase decisions.

REI has done this by integrating advice into their shopping experience. Their objective: Help users to learn while shopping to find the best product fit relative to their needs.






2. User-made Instagram Posts

Social Media is real and is now a part of our everyday lives. The buying influence Social Media has on customers is also very real.

Take your content to new heights, by having your customers engage with your business on a personal level. The business benefit of doing this is, it establishes social proof to your products.




3. User-made Video

This is unique. Video draws the largest engagement on the Internet. Consider republishing video content submitted by your fans to your official YouTube channel to encourage engagement.

4. Music Influencers

Bands are still a cool thing. Music is a universal language. Consider pairing your brand with local artists providing added exposure to their fans, and establishes credibility that your customers can't ignore.

5. Buying Guides (Product Tutorials)

Is your product complicated? Provide easy and clear tutorials. Most brands fail to communicate this initiative clearly to their customers. Avoid this by carefully placing call-to-actions in strategic places on your web page.

Improve your conversion rates on your buying guide pages by placing well-planned call-to-actions.





Learn more about how we help you to launch your website onto the Internet. To ensure your content is delivered always, we don't limit the amount of data transfers.

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5 Tactics to Help You Negotiate Successfully in Malaysia

Hours of hard-work and persistent follow-up have lead you to this day.

It's the final meeting, and you're about to close your biggest deal.

You've conducted the product demo, answered any question that has come your way, and continued to make convincing points which put you in a promising position.

You're doing well. At least that's what you think.

Business negotiations are fragile. It's easier said than done. There's a lot going on and stakes are high. This is especially true, when put in the context of Malaysia.

Malaysia is a melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities. Malaysians are brought up with different beliefs and standards that it is hard to put a nail on any single method that would work for everyone.

Here are some tips from us to increase your odds of success during any negotiation in Malaysia because of our understanding and experience of the cultural diversity in this country.

Here are 6 tactics to help you to negotiate successfully in Malaysia:

1. Make it into a conversation

Turn the tables: It should be about interests and objectives.

Making it into a conversation is active listening. A conversation about interests and objectives helps you to not just understand requirements, but also identify areas of value to your customer.

You learn which features matter most and which don't. This effectively positions your proposition to the decision maker and enables you to put your best foot forward.

Some questions you can ask are:

1. Can you share with me what is important to you in any solution we provide for you? For example "frequent progress updates is important to ensure project timelines".
2. Which is most important to you?

It's important to prompt for a specific response, because this will help you form a more accurate proposal.

For example: When receiving a general response, "timeliness is important to us" try to gain more information such as "Timeliness is an issue for us as we need to ensure Marketing is given enough time to prepare and our customers expectations are managed. We don't want to get into a farce where we have made an announcement to our customers, only for us not to deliver."

2. Don't be the 1st to propose

When negotiating, you rarely want to go first. You don't want to give more information without getting much back in return.

You can avoid this by asking if there is a budget that they have in mind or what were their previous experiences with solutions similar to the one you are offering.

Validating first before proposing allows you to work around situations:

1. Tactic when the cost you're proposing is more than their expectations: Demonstration of value which other similar companies have received through your claims.
2. Tactic to counter Objections: Find the reason why. The additional information will help you to counter with solutions which match their interests.
3. Tactic when a Quotation is requested: If you've covered adequate ground (understood ROIs, buying cycles, budget constraints, logistical requirements, etc.), all you have to do is ask for the business.

3. Have your customer propose

*Only try this after you have clearly presented the value of your solution. If you skip presenting the value of your solution, any proposition you have will always be too expensive.

Sometimes people resist your advances.

If you are faced with this situation, don't be afraid to ask the customer for their opinion. You could ask, " What would a proposal they would sign off on look like? ".

If what they offer is beyond you on cost, let the customer know right away and immediately make a counter offer. This puts you in a better position and allows you to manage your customers expectations.

4. Find the middle ground

*Do this only if your margin allows for it

When negotiations seem to hit a speed bump, consider splitting the difference.

This cuts through the noise in any price negotiations, and it helps you jump to the middle between you and your customer's valuation.

Be careful when employing this, because this would only make sense if both parties are losing ground equally.

5. Build an agreement early

There's plenty to discuss, and you've already identified the points that matter most to your customer. It should be relatively easy for you to build an agreement on smaller issues that have less friction.

This might seem counterintuitive, but building an agreement early on helps you to set the tone as you build towards more sensitive topics.

Build rapport with your customer and paint that you are someone that is willing to work with them and can establish the link-and-trade early on into the conversation. This will help you to build momentum as you move later into the negotiation stage.

Keep track of your negotiation topics and establish reliable communications. 

Do it with professional email.

Comes with anti-spam filters so you don't have pesky email to clutter your important deals.

Learn more

*Fact: 86% of business professionals choose email as their number 1 choice when it comes to managing their communications.

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