Selling and Upselling is Easier Than Ever

You made a sale! That’s amazing. It’s time to sit back and congratulate yourself, right?

Well, you could do that. Or, you could use the opportunity to further engage your new customer — upsell products, ask for a review, send your newsletter, etc.

Now in AWeber ecommerce you can do just that — by redirecting every buyer after purchase. Plus, connect your domain in seconds, copy our new recurring payments template, archive used tags and more.

These feature updates are dedicated to making your life easier and streamlining your sales and marketing.

Redirect buyers to premium content or an upsell thank-you page

I’m going to make an obvious statement: someone who makes a purchase from your landing page is now a customer.

You have a 60-70% chance of selling to an existing customer but only a 5-20% chance of selling to a new prospect.

What does that mean for your sales strategy? That it’s important to take advantage of your new customer’s attention — the moment you make a sale.

Now, in AWeber, you can! After a purchase is made on your Ecommerce landing page, you can now redirect to a new page. This simple feature offers a world of opportunity to your sales journey.

Think about where you’d redirect someone after they buy from you. Your thank you page could include:

• A newsletter signup form
• Social share links
• Suggestions on other products they might want to buy
• Premium content that they just paid for
• Access to a closed Facebook group
• Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley

Okay, you might not want to RickRoll your customer base. 

But you can seriously improve their experience and increase the chance of your next sale. 

Redirecting your customers after they purchase also allows you to keep their attention longer, offer more value, and simply create good brand sentiment.

Ready to get started?

How to set up a receipt redirect

To set this up, you’ll first need to create a sales landing page with a payment button.

Next, you’ll need a thank you page. This is where you’ll send buyers after a purchase. 

Note: you can actually send them to any valid URL (like your main site), but we recommend a thank you page specific to the product sold. You can set one up in minutes for free using AWeber.

To set up your thank you page, copy our Upsell Thank You landing page template (shown above) and update it with your info. You can simply thank the customer and tell them about your company or services. Or, offer additional products as an upsell opportunity. 

Publish the page.

Go back to your sales page. Click on your payment button, choose “Receipt” in the sidebar, then “Redirect to Custom URL.” 

Click “Save and exit,” republish your page, and your redirect will be live! Make sure to test it out.

This receipt link is an opportunity to provide value to your customers and grow your business without extra work or money. I highly recommend using it!

A beautiful page to sell subscriptions

Now that you can sell weekly, monthly, and yearly subscriptions in AWeber, you need a beautiful template to showcase them. After all, with a template, you can create a landing page of your own in minutes.

So we just released a recurring payments landing page template.

Add your images and messaging to this beautifully simple design to make it yours. Then fill out each subscription’s price and details. Finally, connect the payment buttons to your Stripe account (or set one up). That’s it, you’re done!

Within minutes, you can be selling subscriptions to your audience or anyone else. 

Bonus: Add 6 images and benefits at the bottom to sell the value of your subscription service once and for all.

This page can be copied immediately into your account and you can always add more elements and change all the colors and text. Like it? Try it out in your account today.

Connect your domain in seconds — no DNS needed (what’s that anyway?)

Remember when connecting your domain meant figuring out your registrar (huh?) and adding DNS records (what’s that?).

Well no more! In mere seconds and a few clicks, you can now connect your domain to your AWeber account.

Wait, why do I want to connect my domain in the first place? 

1. Connecting your domain helps authenticate your account, which means more of your emails could be delivered. Learn more about sender authentication.
2. Emails sent from an @yourbusiness.com address look more professional than @gmail.com.
3. Your landing pages will have a URL that looks like yourbusiness.com/sales rather than youraccount.aweb.page/p/0c933230…

Note: We currently only support IONOS domains, but soon to come are Google Domains and GoDaddy. 

Sounds great! How do I connect my domain now?

1. Sign into AWeber and navigate to My Account -> Domains and Addresses.
2. Add your domain into the Add a New Domain field.
3. If your domain is hosted by IONOS, all you need to do is sign into your IONOS account and click through to approve the connection.
4. That’s it! After 30 seconds, you’re authenticated and ready to make landing pages for your website.

Don’t know if you have IONOS? If you do, this process will “just work.” If you don’t, you can simply follow the previous process until we add your domain provider (new ones coming soon).

Get a sales monthly snapshot in your dashboard

Sometimes it’s nice to compare sales month-over-month, without digging deep into the data. We’ve added a small feature to help you do just that.

Your sales dashboard will now show you the % up or down relative to the previous month — in a glance. 

When you get into your account, check out your stats:

Bonus: You can now archive unused tags to simplify your account

A tidy account is like a tidy kitchen: It makes creating easier. 

To clean up your account, you can now archive subscriber tags you don’t use or want anymore. You’ll find the archive link next to each tag under List Options -> Tags:

Did you accidentally archive a tag you still want? No problem. Each tag can be unarchived at any time.

Feature requests? Let us know in the comments

We are forever looking for ways to improve the way you use AWeber for your business. If you have any questions, concerns, or requests for new features, please let us know in the comments below.

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Email Subject Line Best Practices To Get More Opens

Your subject line can single-handedly make or break your entire email campaign. We put together this list of best practices to help you create attention-grabbing subject lines for your email marketing campaigns.

Email subject line best practices

1. Personalize your email subject lines
2. Use segmentation
3. Create urgency with FOMO
4. Avoid spam triggers
5. Be direct
6. Ask questions
7. One word subject lines
8. Super long subject lines
9. Understand your audiences' pain points

9 email subject line best practices

Personalize your email subject lines

Do any of these subject lines catch your attention?

Not particularly.

Many years ago when companies first started using first name personalization, it worked. It grabbed your attention. But now, variations of “Hello {!firstname_fix}” have become the norm in email marketing, not the outlier. Because of that, it’s lost its novelty. 

But that’s not the type of personalized email subject line I’m talking about. To truly create an email subject line that gets attention, you need to make the content unique to that individual subscriber.

You need to go above and beyond to connect with each customer. You can do this by personalizing your message based on location, past purchase behavior, and content they’ve engaged with. Think of what information you have on your customers. Now use that to create a personalized experience for them.

What if I took the same email blast subject lines examples above, but made them personalized based on my experiences with those brands?

Now that made a difference.

So what’s the best way to accomplish this? With your next email subject line best practice - segmentation.

Use segmentation

At AWeber, we recommend segmenting your audience and sending each segment tailored messages with unique subject lines.

Joanna Wiebe, Founder of Copyhackers, agrees: "The #1 thing we continue to find is that opens skyrocket when your subject line is specific to the segmented list you're sending to."

Here are some ways to do just that:

• Ask questions on your sign up form.
  Then use that information in your email subject lines. For example, if you write a fashion blog, you can ask your subscriber for his or her favorite color when they sign up to your mailing list. Then, you can send them emails based on their color choice — like “15 gorgeous [color] dresses under $50.”
• Send location-based emails.
  Traveling to a conference? Speaking at an event? Meet up with your subscribers in different cities. “We’re in [city] next week! See you there?”
• Retarget subscribers.
  Did a subscriber abandon a product in his or her shopping cart? You could send an email like “Forget something? Here’s a 20% off coupon!” Or did a subscriber not follow through on an action, like registering for your webinar or workshop? Use that info to tailor their next message. “Only 12 hours to sign up for [event]!”

Create urgency in your subject line with FOMO

Fear of missing out — or FOMO — is a powerful psychological driver of email opens and engagement. Email subject lines that create a sense of urgency, scarcity, and exclusivity can boast a 22% higher open rate.

This can be done by giving your subscribers a deadline to accomplish an action.

Here are some other effective FOMO email subject line examples:

Avoid spam triggers in your subject line

Email spam filters are triggered by specific words, phrases, and symbols in your subject line and email content. AWeber uses a content filtering tool called SpamAssassin™ to help you avoid content filtering. This tool is widely used by internet service providers (ISPs) to filter incoming email.

By clicking on that score, you can instantly view the content in your messages that are triggering the SpamAssassin™ ruleset.

So what are some words, phrases, and symbols that are red flags to spam filters? There are a ton, but here’s a few to give you an example:

• Excessive punctuation like multiple exclamation points!!!!!!! or ellipses ………
• TYPING IN ALL CAPS
• Symbols like “$$$” and “*****”
• Phrases like “cheap,” “cash off,” “incredible deal,” “satisfaction,” “winner”

Also, as many as 69% of email recipients report email as spam based solely on the subject line. Make sure your subject line doesn’t come across as spammy to your subscriber, too. This will happen if your subject line is deceiving in any way, such as leading with “RE:” when it’s not an actual reply to an email.

Be direct in your subject line

Skip the wit, wordplay, humor, rhymes, or puns in your subject lines.

Stick with straightforward headlines instead. These “boring” subject lines convert extremely well. That’s because they explain the value inside the email. The readers know exactly what to expect from the message and the benefits they’ll receive from opening it.

Here are some straightforward email subject line examples:

But there’s one catch: Your messages have to consistently provide value. If your messages fall short of their promised value, your subscribers will feel cheated. Then, good luck getting them to open your messages moving forward. 

However, if your emails are constantly packed with important, personalized content, your audience will open your emails — no matter what the subject line says.

Ask questions to pique curiosity

There’s a reason most television season finales end with cliffhangers: Humans crave nice-and-neat endings. So when you don’t give it to them, they’re unsettled. They have to know what happens next, and they’ll tune in the next season for closure.

Use this craving to your advantage. Fuel your subscribers to open your emails by injecting curiosity into your subject lines. You can ask a question:

• Jo at Copy Hackers: “Are you missing these 3 copy techniques?”
• Men’s Health Daily Dose: “Will Creatine Boost Your Gains?”

Or promise an answer inside your message:

• Jessica Stansberry: “You should be going live ___ times per month! [open for the answer]”
• Sophie Gray: “This is the ONLY Reason You Should Workout”

Or tease a surprise, giveaway, or gift:

• AWeber Blog: “We made free Fall GIFs for you!”

Or make readers say “huh?!”

• Chubbies: “Sincerely, future Dwight”
• Really Good Emails: “Emails can be tasty"

Use one word subject lines

Another piece of advice from Copyhackers' Wiebe? Try one word subject lines.

Why? One word subject lines can be intriguing.

Here at AWeber, we've sent one word subject lines that wind up having a higher open rate than average.

Or super long subject lines

Wait, didn't you just say try one word subject lines? Yes, yes I did.

But the reality is both really short and really long subject lines can work well. Ultimately, it's all about standing out and finding what works for your audience.

In fact, only 18% of people include more than 60 characters in their subject lines. So why not give it a go?

Understand your audiences' pain points

Wiebe advises, "Put your audiences' pain points, fears or amazing outcomes in quotation marks and use the first person."

This formula could help your audience see themselves in your subject line. Because they feel aligned to the copy, they'll be more likely to open it to see what you have to say.

Again, this all goes back to knowing your audience. When you understand your audience — their hopes, dreams, fears, challenges and more — you can create copy that resonates with them and drives them to action. You have to include a value proposition that appeals to them.

As Wiebe says: "Because, of course, the copy in your subject line is only one small part of the equation when it comes to getting opens."

What email subject line best practices work for you?

Has something worked for you that we didn't share in this post? Comment below! We'd love to hear what works for you.

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How ‘Instagram therapy’ is helping women with mental health

Women make up the majority of people living with mood disorders in Canada. However, treatments and resources that are adapted to their needs are still lacking. Looking for ways to feel better, many women are turning to social media platforms like Instagram. To make sense of the phenomenon called “Instagram therapy,” I interviewed more than 20 women in 2020 who use Instagram for mental health care. I found that women turn to the image-sharing platform to counter the lack of available resources. Instagram allows them to tackle issues related to their gender identity, connect to others with similar experiences and,…

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All about Instagram hashtags for brands

Quick: what’s in your Instagram caption? Is it #love and #instagood? Or is it more #branded? How much time do you dedicate to thinking about your Instagram hashtags? If you’re dipping your toes in the hashtag waters, it might feel like more is better but this isn’t always the case. Read on to learn more about how using hashtags on Instagram could benefit your brand and how to put these strategies into action.

5 Benefits to using Instagram hashtags

Why should you as a brand even care about hashtags? There are a number of benefits that you get from using hashtags on Instagram. No matter what your social media goals are, there’s an #advantage for everyone.

1. Increases exposure & discovery

The biggest reason for using hashtags is for the increased exposure and discovery. Clicking on a hashtag in Instagram leads to a gallery of both the top posts and latest posts that used the hashtag. From there, you’re able to explore all the related posts, making hashtags a great way for people interested in a certain topic to find more accounts to follow. This means that if you use the right and most relevant hashtags for your brand, others searching on that hashtag will find those posts. Your audience can use branded hashtags to show off their experiences with your products or services as a form of brand advocacy. Hashtags are good for overall brand exposure. Even clicking through one post on the search results page will lead you to other similar posts.

2. Encourages audience interactions

When you use branded hashtags and encourage their use, it becomes another form of engagement. Tagged feed posts are saved in search results and tagged story posts are saved for the duration of the story. Think of hashtags as just another way to reach and engage your customer base.

3. Competitor analysis

How much digital space are your competitors taking up in your market? Hashtags help you analyze your share of voice on social media. Chances are that you and your competitors will have overlapping hashtags, especially if they’re industry and local ones. In an ideal share of voice situation, your posts and ones that your customers have tagged are taking up the bulk of those hashtag search results. You can also check out posts with your relevant hashtags for content inspiration and to get ideas on where your brand might be falling short compared to competitor content.

4. Content research

Similar to what you would do for SEO keyword research, hashtags can help you research different content ideas. Say you want to increase your share of voice in the #naturalskincare hashtag. That’s rather tough since there are over 6.9 million posts with the hashtag. However, you can use the search results page’s Top tab to see what the best posts have been. Use this area as inspiration. What seems to be working for similar brands? Is there a certain style or caption that’s trending now? By clicking into top posts for details, you might also be able to find additional hashtags that are less highly populated, but just as relevant to your audience, similar to secondary keywords for search optimization.

5. Links digital and IRL campaigns

Go shopping in any retail store these days and chances are that you’ll come across a marketing campaign with a hashtag attached. Whether they encourage you to use their general brand hashtag or a campaign one, hashtags offer an easy way to connect digital and in-real-life campaigns.

7 Best practices for Instagram hashtags

Is that post #cool and #creative? Gone are the days where hashtags were still new and brands threw in every popular hashtag they could think of, regardless of its relevance. We’ve reviewed the ways that using hashtags can benefit you, now it’s time to understand the best ways to use them. There’s no single right way to use hashtags on Instagram but there are definitely some best practices. Here are seven to think about.

1. What’s the optimal number?

This is a tricky question because the answer varies wildly. Within a caption, it’s recommended to use 1-3 hashtags. If you enter more hashtags as the first comment, then up to 30 hashtags would be acceptable. However, this is not to say that you should use 30 hashtags for every post. This leads us to the next tip.

2. Use hashtags in the first comment

Too many hashtags in a caption overwhelm valuable real estate and can make it look messy. Keep the caption minimal and if you’re using more hashtags, move them to a comment. With Sprout’s Compose feature, you can schedule the first comment along with your Instagram post and caption.

3. Find the best hashtags for you

There are several ways to find the best hashtags for you. The first and easiest is to look at the influencers and accounts you already follow and note which hashtags they’re already using. Another way is to begin brainstorming various ones and type them into the Instagram search bar. As you type, related hashtags also show up. In the example above, #coffee is such a popular hashtag that using it might result in more spam comments than you want. Instead, scroll further down the results to find more niche ones that are targeted and relevant to your audience. Another way to find relatable hashtags is to use a service like All Hashtag to generate related hashtags based on ones that you enter.

4. Follow hashtags

Instagram offers the ability to follow any hashtag’s search results. When you do this, these posts appear in your feed, alongside all the other posts from accounts you follow. This is a good tactic to use for following industry or community hashtags because it helps you keep tabs on them. It should not be used as a solution for branded hashtags, though, because it doesn’t guarantee that every post will show up in your feed. The above example uses #plantmom as the hashtag. To follow, simply hit that follow button.

5. Encourage the use of branded hashtags

Once you’ve created your list of branded hashtags, make sure to start using them in every relevant post. The most general branded hashtags are often placed in the Instagram bio along with a call-to-action for using them.

In the above example, Papier puts their branded hashtag in the bio. Customers then use this hashtag whenever they post about the brand. On Papier’s end, they utilize a user-generated content strategy and regram the photos.

6. Keep hashtag lists for easy access

Instead of copying and pasting the same set of hashtags for every post, divide them up into topical ones. For example, your education posts might have different hashtags than a new product announcement post. Instead of generating a new list for each post, keep different lists handy for the various types of content topics that you post. You can save this type of text in Sprout’s Asset Library to make it easier to attach the right hashtags to each post.

7. Don’t forget to add hashtags to Instagram Stories

While Stories do disappear after 24 hours, don’t discount the use of hashtags on them. These show up in the search results, too, and are another easy way of getting more interested followers. Have too many hashtags to put into a Story? Enter your text like normal and then hide them behind a gif or sticker.

Different types of hashtags

There are several different types of hashtags that brands should know about. Each has its own benefit and application.

Branded & product hashtags

If you’ve been managing a brand presence on Instagram for a while, chances are that a version of your branded hashtag already exists, whether or not you were the one who came up with it. Branded hashtags are oftentimes the brand’s name, a brand slogan or related to a brand community. The former is the one that probably already exists for your brand. The latter two will need to be created and used by you. Product hashtags tend to combine your brand name and the product name. This way, you can track posts not just by your overall brand but to specific products. Creating a hashtag for your brand is simple and can easily carry over into your other social media platforms.

For EcoTools, their branded hashtag is their name. To encourage the use of it, the company put the hashtag into their Instagram bio and paired it with a call to action. It’s on every brand post and on many of their customers’ posts, totaling up to over 131k on that hashtag alone.

Campaign hashtags

Campaign hashtags are specific to marketing campaigns that you’re running. Usually, these involve the brand running a regular campaign and adding a hashtag to it in a caption or in the corner of the post. On television ads, you’ll find them resting in the corner for the subtle effect but they could be very prominent if the campaign is centered around the hashtag itself. One example of a campaign hashtag is the #jungalowxtarget one used to promote their recent collaboration. For all posts related to this campaign, both Target and Jungalow will use the unique hashtag. After the collection is available to purchase, customers will also use the hashtag to document their sightings and purchases. Campaign hashtags don’t need to be tied to a product or sales. REI’s #OptOutside campaign encouraged people to go out rather than shop on Black Friday, and therefore wasn’t centered around purchasing.

Community & industry hashtags

Nearly every community and industry has at least one hashtag that’s used within them. To find yours, head to some popular community and industry influencer posts and check out their hashtags. Many of these hashtags are simple. The hashtags that are easy to think up are usually the most used. For craft beer enthusiasts, several exist: #craftbeercommunity, #craftbeergeek and #craftbeerenthusaist are just a few of them. As you can see, all three of these are pretty straightforward and natural to think up, and include in posts for relevant brands.

Location hashtags

Location hashtags are pretty self-explanatory. Most brands are based somewhere and if you have a physical location, this is even more useful for you. Relevant location hashtags include your city and its associated topical hashtags, your neighborhood, the mall name you’re in and any other defining features. One example is the above #dmvfoodie. This is one of those location + topic hashtags. The posts tagged with these are relevant for anyone searching for food recommendations or users in the DC metro area. Other location hashtags to explore include any branded ones that your city’s and state’s tourism boards have already established.

Themed hashtags

Have you ever seen a post about a national food day and wondered who the heck comes up with them? Although national hashtag days are often fairly arbitrary, they’re still fun for audiences to participate in and get attention for specific topics. So when a day comes by that matches with your business, why not join in?

For example, International Sushi Day is on June 18, and on Instagram, the hashtag has over 18k posts. You don’t need to be in the sushi business to post about this, you only need to be related to it. Maybe you work with or are friends with a local sushi business. Feature them in a post to help promote them. To make planning content for these easier, add them to your social media calendar.

Daily hashtags

Daily hashtags aren’t limited to Instagram and they’re easy to find. These hashtags start with the day of the week and then follow up with the topic. There are generalized ones such as #MondayMotivation and #ThrowbackThursday. Nearly any brand can take part in these, and there are plenty of niche topics covered. These hashtags cover more interest-based topics and also happen to be daily. For example, on #MonsteraMonday, plant lovers post a photo of their monstera plants. These daily hashtags take a little more work to find but if you’re following influencers in specific fields, you’ll see them come up.

Trending hashtags

This type of hashtag is one of the more difficult ones to post since it involves keeping tabs on the latest and knowing how to apply them to your brand. For example, the image of Bernie Sanders sitting in a chair with mittens and a face mask on became an instant meme. The image was superimposed nearly everywhere imaginable by both individuals and brands alike. But, like memes and trends are, it was short-lived. If you caught on early and participated, then you were able to reap the benefits of jumping on the trend. You may need to up your trendspotting skills for social media to get the most out of jumping on memes and trends in a timely and brand-relevant way that resonates.

Ironic or commentary hashtags

These take a little more humor and are not often used by brands. Ironic or commentary hashtags are tied to the caption and usually at the end of it. These hashtags are not added to be searched on or to promote anything. They’re tongue-in-cheek or sarcastic in nature. For brands, these are not the most useful hashtags but might be relevant if your brand voice fits this kind of humor.

Banned hashtags

And lastly, let’s cover banned hashtags on Instagram. There’s a list that’s constantly being updated of hashtags that, when used, will not generate search results. Some hashtags, usually offensive or spam ones, trigger a flag on your account. Others might get added because the newest posts have been identified as spam content. There are several ways to find out if the hashtag you’re thinking of using is banned. When you start searching for them, they won’t show up in the search results as you’re typing. The search results won’t have the Top and Recent tabs. If you’re adding it to a post, it won’t prompt as an autocomplete. Sometimes, they won’t even show any results or will have a warning about the hashtag. While these terms are generally not likely to be in your brainstorming for brand-relevant content, it’s good to fully understand how the platform is monitoring the use of hashtags and enforcing community standards.

Tracking & analyzing Instagram hashtags

So you’ve decided on all of your hashtags and you’re ready to get started on the new social strategy. What’s next? Checking in on how all these hashtags are working out for you. As you start to use the same hashtags, you’ll start noticing when you receive more engagement or more spam comments. To make sure that you’re using the right hashtags for you, find a social media tool that offers hashtag analytics. The Outbound Hashtag Performance chart in Sprout’s Instagram Business Profiles Report keeps track of all the hashtags you use on posts and their performance. With one glance, you’ll notice which ones you use the most of and which ones get the most engagement. These two may not generate the same results, especially if you’re switching up the hashtags for posts. By reviewing your analytics, you might end up finding that your most relied-on hashtags are not actually the ones resonating the most with audiences.

Brands should use hashtags on Instagram

Using hashtags on Instagram has many benefits for brands: increased brand exposure, increased engagement and competitor analysis insight. Before jumping into hashtags, it’s recommended to understand the different types that are out there and some best practices to follow. Ready to get into more #InstagramStrategy? Take a look at how to create an Instagram strategy for your brand.

The post All about Instagram hashtags for brands appeared first on Sprout Social.

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Twitter is giving online shopping another go

Twitter is stepping back into the e-commerce business. The company is testing an online shopping feature that businesses can use to sell their products through an in-app browser. Up front: Twitter’s “Shop Module” lets companies showcase their products at the top of their profiles. Visitors who have the Shop Module enabled can then tap on items they’re interested in. This will open an in-app browser, where the customer can make a purchase without leaving Twitter. The pilot will begin with a “handful of brands” in the US. In a blog post, Twitter said people in the US who use the platform…

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Home is where your brand is: A blueprint to build and maintain your brand

Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room. For a software company, that means when they’re not using your product. But what about all of the people who have a say in the purchasing process but may never even log in?

Those people, often senior leaders at an organization, need to feel confident in your partnership, authority in the industry and understanding of their business needs and goals. In other words, you can’t rely on the “room” that is your product’s efficacy to impress them. You have to build a structure around that room so that your customer, prospect or industry feels at home with your brand—even if they never use your product.

Lay the foundation: Brand positioning

Like any structure, your brand “home” needs a strong foundation to build upon—one clear, easily understood phrase that anyone in your company can use to make sure the decisions they make or the work they execute is “on brand.” But first, you have to figure out what that phrase is.

For Sprout, that meant doing several months of research to understand why prospects choose (or sometimes don’t choose) to do business with our company, what needs or pain points our product addresses and how our company is perceived in our industry.

If you’re anything like we were, you might not have the time or budget for traditional qualitative research with focus groups. But the good news is that you likely have a solid contingent of people within your four walls who can answer many of those questions for you. For us, it was our sales and success teams. We were able to tap into the thousands of conversations they’d collectively had with our prospects and customers to understand what was motivating them to buy Sprout or why they were choosing not to. All of this anecdotal data helped us answer several key questions:

1. What are the functional reasons our customers choose Sprout? How does our product make their jobs easier?
2. What are the emotional benefits to choosing Sprout? How does our product make people feel about themselves?
3. What is different in the above two areas compared to our competitors?

From the answers to those questions, we identified a position in our market that only Sprout could occupy: an intuitive, easy-to-use software product that was powerful enough for most use cases, and a company that was a joy to do business with on a human level.

In just three words, the heart of our brand is ease, efficacy and humanity. Now all we had to do was to translate those three core tenets into one easily understood phrase to solidify our brand positioning. We landed on Elegant solutions to power human connection, and we use it to make sure everything we do lives up to that promise of being easy to use, powerful and with relationships at the center.

Build the walls: Integrate brand into your product story

In some ways, it’s been easy to integrate our brand into the product story itself—we’d already been prioritizing ease of use and a pleasurable, elegant user experience. What we needed to do now was make sure the other core tenets of our brand came through in how we marketed our product.

The biggest challenge for us was the idea of “human connection.” We knew we’d built a wonderful user experience, but were we talking about that user experience on a level that felt human? The honest answer was “not really.”

Like most SaaS companies, we were highlighting functionality and product features without a lot of “greater purpose” beyond efficiency and efficacy. We realized that what made Sprout special was the care we put into maximizing the value of our product for the people who use it, not just the businesses.

So we started asking ourselves what positive outcomes our product provides to the people who use it every day, as well as their colleagues, teams and customers. Instead of focusing our product story on the bells and whistles, we focused it on the value Sprout brings to the everyday experiences of our customers—which then extends to their customers. You can see our solution-minded product story all over our website, where the value Sprout brings to the real people behind the businesses is front and center.

Decorate: Develop your brand personality

One we understood our brand’s core positioning and how to integrate it with our existing product story, it was time to start thinking about our brand’s personality. Brand personality is the personification of your brand and it includes a set of human characteristics and qualities that help inform who you are and how you show up in the world—including the voice, tone and style of your communication.

At Sprout, we chose to characterize our personality through archetypes and personas. Brand archetypes are modeled after the 12 primary character archetypes theorized by the famous Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung. They represent fundamental and recurring human themes and motivations that are easy to recognize and connect to. Brand personas are then the unique, fictional embodiment of your brand archetype.

Much like a real person would, your brand’s personality will change and evolve as your company’s priorities, goals and challenges change (and the industry changes around you). Our primary consideration for evolving our brand personality at Sprout was the way in which our audience had grown.

When we launched in 2010, our audience of decision makers were primarily mid-career social media professionals. To reach and connect with them, we assumed the Sage brand archetype through mentorship and education—which we eventually brought to life in our brand persona, “The Passionate Professor.” The voice of the Passionate Professor (aka Sprout) was smart, confident and compassionate.

But as I said above, brand personas need to change as your goals for your company and the priorities of your industry shift. For us that started to happen in early 2020—we saw our audience maturing even further to be inclusive of senior leaders across multiple departments, from marketing and sales to customer care and analytics. These business leaders didn’t need us to mentor and educate them, they needed us to inspire them to see social as the catalyst for real business progress.

Through that lens of inspiration and innovation, we landed on a new brand personality: The Visionary archetype—characterized by forward-thinking and innovation—made tangible in our brand persona, “The Luminary.” The Luminary’s voice is different from The Passionate Professor’s. Instead of “smart, confident and compassionate” we now aim to sound “bold, inspiring and authentic.”

Add the landscaping: Launch a brand campaign

Once we’d done the work and gleaned the learnings from building a brand positioning, product story and brand personality, we were ready to bring all of those elements together in one cohesive message about what we stood for (outside of what our product does).

Being the research nerds that we are, we went back to our UX team for support in understanding what some of the most pressing pain points were in our industry and how we could affect change. One of the things we heard over and over again was the idea that social media professionals know how powerful the data, insights and conversations happening on social could be for every area of their company, but they were having trouble selling leaders outside of marketing on this big idea.

So we leaned into this insight and applied our well-established brand to address how the impact of social media can extend across all areas of a business. We were particularly interested in how our Luminary persona would inspire leaders to think beyond their assumptions about social media and see how transformative it could be to everything from product development to crisis management.

Whereas the Passionate Professor, might have encouraged our audience to “do more (than marketing) with social,” the Luminary seeks to inspire rather than instruct. We wanted our senior leader audience to see possibility and feel curiosity. In short, we wanted them to think differently about what else social can impact across their entire business. We wanted them to see social differently.

The art of home maintenance

Brand is a powerful differentiator when done right, but the process is neither quick nor easy. And once you build your brand home, you have to maintain it. It takes research, observation, measurement and maintenance to make sure your brand is keeping pace with your company’s growth and your industry’s evolution.

At some point, you might even undergo a major renovation of your brand home. But if you keep your focus on the needs of the audience you strive to serve, and anchor your brand in creating real, tangible value for them, your brand will be one of your most valuable business assets. It is for us, and it can be for you too.

Looking for more insight into brand management? Read more about five ways to bring your brand persona to life on social media.

The post Home is where your brand is: A blueprint to build and maintain your brand appeared first on Sprout Social.

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When is the Best Time to Send Email?

You may have heard it a million times before. But it's true: There's no one best time to send email.

That's because at its core, email is communication. And communication requires two parts: the sender and receiver.

And every email has a unique group of receivers. Every audience is different.

Plus, if the receiver isn’t in the right frame of mind to process your message, you might as well be talking to yourself. Like any form of communication, your emails are going to have more of an impact if you use timing to your advantage.  

In this post, we’ll take a closer look at how email send times can impact your overall email marketing performance, as well as ways to optimize send times for success.

Here’s what we’ll cover in this post:

1. What is the best time to send emails?
2. What is the best day to send emails?
3. How to find the best time to send email?

What is the best time to send email?

The best time to send an email is 5:16 a.m. EST.

Or at least it is if your name is Seth Godin. Seth sends an email nearly every day at that exact time.

But your name isn’t Seth Godin.

Seth has figured out that early morning is the time to reach his audience. However, what works for Seth might not work for everyone. 

And there’s the rub...

The best time to send email is different for every audience

You have to know your audience like the back of your hand:

It’s important to be aware of:

• Who your audience is
• What their behaviors are
• What motivates them
• How you fit into helping them achieve their goals

For instance, if you’re a nutrition coach and you want to optimize when email send times and days to drive more sales of your ebook, you may consider the following:

People starting a new routine may be feeling most motivated in the morning when decision fatigue is less. 

On the flip side, if you offer business consulting services, your optimal send times and days may differ:

Your audience may be working on their side-hustle at night or on the weekends, so considering the times when they are logged on and paying attention could yield better results.

Ultimately, it’s about considering what you’re asking people to do, and when they’re most likely to be in the frame of mind to do it.

We know hearing “it depends” is hard when you’re looking for a quick answer. So take into account the following takeaways from a meta-analysis conducted by Co-Schedule:

• The best time to send email in the morning is 6 a.m. or 10 a.m. This is because many people tend to check email upon first waking up or after they’ve settled into the day mid-morning.
• The best time to send email in the afternoon is 2 p.m. or 8 p.m. This is because people tend to look for a mid-afternoon distraction in their inbox before winding down for the workday. They also check emails before going to bed. 

What is the best day to send email?

Just like finding the optimal send time is highly dependent on your unique audience, the same is true for finding the best day to send email.

Consider the examples of the nutritionist and the business services consultant above:

The nutrition audience may be feeling down about their choices coming off a weekend, so Monday may be a good time to present them with a solution (i.e. your ebook).

Meanwhile, the consulting audience may be swamped with emails on Mondays and may be more likely to respond to an inquiry mid-week.

Different audiences. Different goals. Different optimal days to send email. 

However, if you’re looking for a good place to start, the same meta-analysis from Co-Schedule offers the following:

• Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are the best days to send email, with Tuesday being the far and away best day of the week to send.
• Some studies show that Saturday and Sunday are the worst days of the week to send emails, as people tend to not pay attention to their inboxes during the weekend. However, others show these days yielding the highest click through and open rates.

Optimize your email send times with split testing

If people are going to respond to an email, they’re most likely to do so within two minutes of opening it.

From there, the likelihood of a response starts to dwindle. If someone doesn’t take action within 48 hours, they probably won’t.

That means if you’re not sending emails when people are most ready to respond to your calls to action, you may be missing important opportunities.

With that in mind, let’s talk about how to figure out your optimal send time and day. 

Because the optimal send time is different for everyone, your best bet is to run a few experiments to find out when your audience is most likely to open your emails.

If you know your target audience, you can probably make an assumption about when you think they’ll be most in the mood to engage with your subject matter. But, of course, you want to test your assumptions.

Deliberately schedule your next few emails at a variety of different times, and on different days. Run a few different split tests to see if the same email content yields different results on different days. 

In order to split test email send times, take the following steps:

1. Create 2 versions of the email you want to send. 
2. Set up a split test in your email service provider. It should be a 50/50 split, ensuring that half of your segment receives version A and version B.
3. Schedule your email for the times or days you’re interested in testing.
4. After a few days, analyze your results. This will give you insight on the best time to send your emails.

Keep in mind you’ll probably need to test a few different emails to be fully confident in your results. 

Ready to find your best time to send email? 

With AWeber, you can split test nearly every aspect of your emails — subject lines, send times, copy, templates, buttons, and more! This gives you the power to optimize your email strategy.

Sign up for AWeber Pro to unlock split testing today. 

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How to make sure you’re marketing to Gen Z the right way

For some brands, marketing to Generation Z can seem like a daunting task.

The reality though? Figuring out how to make your marketing click with a younger crowd is easier than you think.

Let’s look at the characteristics of this generational group also known as “digital natives.” Gen Zers are progressive, more racially and ethnically diverse than the generations before them, and on track to be the best educated generation. This generation also avoids labeling themselves, is radically inclusive and takes time to evaluate all of their options before committing to a purchase.

Understanding what makes this younger generation tick is a must if marketers want to take advantage of Gen Z’s massive spending power. And having a pulse on what young consumers want not only opens brands up to new business but also ensures they aren’t missing out on key social media trends.

10 social strategies for marketing to Gen Z

Historically, marketing to younger customers has been tricky.

Demographic data can be difficult to track. Marketing trends come and go.

That said, the outspoken and chronically online nature of Gen Z makes learning their buying behavior much less of a guessing game.

Treating Gen Z like a singular block is a surefire way to come off as out of touch. It’s also key that brands learn to bridge the gap between Gen Z and other generations, including Millennials. For all the similarities the two generations share, connecting with members of Gen Z starts with understanding their distinct online behaviors and social preferences.

With that, let’s dive in!

1. Emphasize eye-catching, visual content

When it comes to social media, 81% of Gen Z say Instagram and YouTube are their preferred social networks of choice. And when asked which networks Gen Z wants to see brands use more of, 56% said Instagram while 38% pointed to YouTube.

Given Gen Z’s appetite for short-form video content, marketers should consider incorporating visual platforms into their strategies and developing bite-sized content like Instagram Stories.

Short-form video that uses overlays, visual effects and music has proven to be marketing gold for influencers and brands alike. Look no further than the recent boom of TikTok as evidence of this phenomenon. With over 680 million users worldwide and 25% of TikTok users in the US between the ages of 10-19, TikTok is a vital component of any brand’s strategy to connect with Gen Z.

 

Video and stylized visual content should be a top priority for catching the eyes of younger customers. In the wake of so many new apps, social features and creative filters, anything that’s considered static or “boring” won’t stand a chance with “Zoomers.”

2. Experiment with interactive content

When it comes to capturing Gen Z’s attention on social, research suggests using a combination of creativity and interactivity.

In other words, younger customers want to do something—tap, swipe, click—when they land on your posts.

Anything you can do to encourage interaction or conversation on social is a plus. For example: consider using interactive features like polls that do double duty of learning about customers and winning their attention, too.

A Twitter poll is a quick and easy way to encourage engagement among your followers and also inspire new ideas for future content.

If you could ask for advice from another social marketer, what would it be about?

— Sprout Social (@SproutSocial) June 29, 2021

Instagram features like polls, stickers and sliders can provide additional interactive pizzaz to your Stories and in-feed posts.

Interactive content is also helpful in encouraging customers to make purchasing decisions. Brands like Topshop, that share a significant Gen Z and Millennial customer base, feature quizzes on their sites to help shoppers identify the styles that speak to their personality. The combination of interactivity and personalization is key when speaking to younger shoppers who want to support brands that value them as individuals.

3. Tap in their FOMO with time-sensitive posts

When marketing to Gen Z, consider how you might tap into your audience’s fear of missing out (FOMO).

Instagram Stories, for example, allow brands to drive time-sensitive engagement and become a constant fixture in their followers’ feeds via notifications. In addition to Stories, Instagram released a new feature called Drops, helping brands create buzz for upcoming launches that are available only for a limited amount of time.

D ✨R ✨O ✨P ✨S ✨

Every week, you can shop new drops right on Instagram. You can also see upcoming ones and sign up for reminders.

Go to your shopping tab and tap "Drops" 🛍

🎶: The Linda Lindas https://t.co/EqeZQNwLfs pic.twitter.com/eT3P9YG26h

— Instagram (@instagram) June 18, 2021

4. Leverage tags for engagement

Tagging also plays an important role in marketing to members of Generation Z. For example:

• Encouraging followers to share user-generated content (e.g. customer photos) coupled with a branded hashtag
• Enabling customers to tag themselves at a brand’s physical location
• Asking customers to tag their friends and family to invite new potential followers to a brand’s social feed

Uniqlo, for example, has a dedicated Instagram Stories highlight that shows off customers who use the hashtag #Uniqlo or #LifeWear.

Brands with a physical location can capitalize on Gen Z’s desire to be seen “in the wild.” This speaks to the importance of not only having a hashtag for followers to promote but something on-site worthy of snapshotting. For example: Disney Springs has a constant flood of customer photos to promote to their followers, thanks to their variety of hashtags.

Even something as simple as asking for a tag is enough to encourage a meaningful response from younger consumers. As part of its promotional strategy, North Coast Festival in Chicago shared a tag-a-friend post giving followers a chance to win a three-day general pass.

[ 🚨 ] Coasties! We’re excited to finally bring y’all some good news! Check the images, and join us for the return of #NorthCoast!

Tickets & on-sale info ➡️ https://t.co/5rTwQ9oUm1

RT this (+ tag & follow) @NorthCoastFest + @CollectivPrsnts for a chance to win a 3 DAY GA PASS! pic.twitter.com/hIQS8JPUwd

— North Coast Festival 🔜 North Coast Festival 🌈☀️ (@northcoastfest) March 25, 2021

5. Showcase your brand’s sense of humor

This might sound like a no-brainer, but the majority of Gen Z want to support brands that they see as “fun” and “cool.”

That could explain why humor and meme-centric social content is so popular among the younger crowd.

 

Tell me I'm wrong. Blank one is for you to do. pic.twitter.com/S0UfM9iCwP

— Pop-Tarts (@PopTartsUS) September 3, 2019

 

The challenge for brands here is keeping up with the speed of the internet. Brands trying to post a months-old meme risk coming off as out of touch. Similarly, not all industries have the benefit of being able to play the role of a comedian.

What matters most is for brands to have a distinct voice, showcasing the human side of their social presence through authentic interactions that don’t sound like something totally suit-and-tie. When interacting with customers, brands should strive to be organic and unpredicted, rather than templated.

Dave’s Double definitely worth more than that https://t.co/phwoucLSNO

— Wendy's (@Wendys) October 23, 2019

6. Respond to followers in a timely manner

Giving Gen Z followers your undivided attention goes hand-in-hand with boosting brand loyalty. And considering 47% of consumers define a best in class brand as one that offers strong customer service, timely responses are an essential part of any brand’s social strategy.

hi there! you should receive an email with a tracking number once the package ships. if you haven't received this, shoot an email to contact(at)jenis(dot)com and they'll help you out 🧡

— Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams (@jenisicecreams) July 14, 2021

A brand’s responsiveness doesn’t just nurture customer loyalty; it also supports financial goals. Sprout research shows that 41% of Gen Z consumers say they would buy from a brand that delivers timely, responsive customer service over a competitor. With tools like social listening, brands can ensure they never miss a keyword mention or meaningful customer interaction online.

7. Amplify your brand’s beliefs and values

Data from our Brands Get Real report shows consumers have high expectations when it comes to brands taking stances on social issues. This is particularly true among Gen Z consumers, who are three times as likely as other generations to say a brand’s purpose is to service communities and society.

From championing diversity to raising awareness for social issues and beyond, brands are increasingly wearing their beliefs and values on their (social) sleeves.

Thank you to everyone that shared their personal stories and experiences about, "why LGBTQ+ visibility in the Outdoors is important?" Head over to the Burton Blog to read more of the responses we received from our LGBTQ+ Community: https://t.co/p2J9gdz2bv pic.twitter.com/9fGnmxRXaI

— Burton Snowboards (@burtonsnowboard) June 28, 2021

Brands taking bold stances is becoming more of an expectation rather than an exception to the rule. This boldness seems to correlate with Gen Z’s desire to be heard and express their beliefs. Of course, brands should always be mindful of how they present their stances on social issues and do so in an appropriate manner.

Mental health is health. 🎾

To support Naomi Osaka’s decision to prioritize her mental health, Calm is donating $15,000 to @LaureusSport in France, an organization doing incredible work in the mental health space to transform the lives of young people through the power of sport. pic.twitter.com/C53ptXsks5

— Calm (@calm) June 2, 2021

8. Embrace customer feedback and reviews

Sometimes the best thing a brand can do to encourage purchasing behaviors is to say nothing at all. According to Sprout’s Digital Natives Report, 82% of Gen Z shoppers will buy from a brand after reading reviews from other customers on social media.

Incorporating customer testimonials into your social strategy can help build your brand’s online reputation, educate potential new customers and strengthen credibility through social proof. Five Guys, for example, often shares user-generated content and reviews from happy customers on their timeline.

The Cajun fries at Five Guys are the best. #NationalFrenchFryDay

— Gearis Herndon (@HerndonGearis) July 13, 2021

To encourage reviews, consider reaching out to customers you already know enjoy your products or creating feedback templates to send after a purchase or experience. Make it as easy as possible for customers to leave feedback and don’t be afraid to respond to a review, whether it’s positive or negative. To simplify the process further, a review management tool like Sprout enables you to manage and monitor reviews across multiple business pages and platforms.

9. Meet your audience where they live

The latest Sprout Social Index™ revealed in the past year alone, 78% of Gen Z consumers have increased their social media usage. With a social commerce strategy, brands can capitalize on impulse buyers and meet young consumers directly on the platforms and apps they already use. Patagonia, for example, uses its Product Pin boards to serve as a product navigation tool for potential buyers, giving customers the option to click through to make a purchase.

Equally impactful is livestream shopping, or the buying and selling of products during a broadcast. While this ecommerce strategy is fairly new to the U.S., brands with a presence on platforms like Facebook, Instagram or TikTok may want to look into how they can leverage their livestreams to support business goals.

10. Give consumers what they really want

Above all, Gen Z shoppers want brands to demonstrate they really understand customers’ wants and needs. Data from the Index shows 50% of Gen Z consumers are more likely to buy from brands that communicate this understanding over a competitor.

For brands, this could be as simple as letting consumers know their voices are heard, or as significant as releasing a new product, experience or piece of content based on consumer feedback.

I love how @MarvelStudios gave the Internet what they wanted. #Zemo dancing on a loop for a whole hour on YouTube. That’s content we love to see! #TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier pic.twitter.com/MGQXIt9PLG

— Devonta White (@FitFlyFellow) April 9, 2021

A social listening tool can help brands more easily discover the trends that captivate Gen Z consumers, eliminating any guesswork and ensuring every post is bound to resonate. With the data and insights gleaned from social, marketers are well positioned to create content that’s guaranteed to keep followers engaged and strengthen customer relationships.

How are you marketing to Generation Z?

Marketing to younger customers might require a bit of finessing, but doing so isn’t reserved only for the “hip” brands on social media.

More visual content? More authenticity? More back-and-forth conversations with customers?

Hey, those all sound good to us.

By taking the time to learn about Gen Z’s preferences and what makes them unique compared to other generations, brands stand to build valuable relationships that benefit all parties involved.

Ready to take your Gen Z marketing strategy to the next level? Download the Digital Natives Report today to learn more about the needs, interests and values of this young, social media savvy audience.

 

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