Colorado Web Solutions

The subject line elevator pitch

Posted on November 30th, 2007 by Colorado Web Solutions - Yahoo Store Developers and Designers

This is an article provided by our partners from Constant Contact. We felt this was a great article and something worth passing on to our clients and visitors.

How important are your subject lines to the overall success of an email campaign? I did a little digging and here are some stats I discovered…
69% said they make the decision to click on the “report spam” or “junk” button using the subject line, according to the ESPC. – Email Sender and Provider Coalition (2007)

35% of email subscribers open messages based on what is in the subject line. – Jupiter Research (2006)
So, we know subject lines are important, but what can we do to write ones that people want to open? A study done by ReturnPath during the December holidays last year sheds light on this question.

What Kinds of Subject Lines Most Attract Your Attention?

* 55.2% – Clearly State the Offer
* 49.6% – Discount or free shipping
* 48.8% – Brand name or sender
* 33.8% – Curious
* 30.3% – Promise immediate answers (download or survey)
* 18.7% – Short
* 15.2% – Promise to solve a specific problem
* 14.1% – Funny
* 11.0% – Has my name in it

Want more ideas on how to improve your subject lines? Earlier this year, Gail Goodman did a two part series on how to improve them. In the first article she covers 5 tips for writing great subject lines, and in the second article gives some different approaches you can take (ask a question, tell it like it is, etc.).

A favorite subject line I received recently was “Do you hate jazz or what?” It was from a local restaurant (that I love). When I opened the email, I found a short survey meant to help the management determine if they would continue to hold live jazz on Wednesday nights or not. I thought this subject line was pretty clever. It got me to open!

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A Rough Day for Yahoo! Store on Cyber Monday

Posted on November 26th, 2007 by Colorado Web Solutions - Yahoo Store Developers and Designers

Many of our Yahoo! Store customers experienced their worst nightmare on the Monday after Thanksgiving; they’ve been gearing up for the media dubbed “Cyber Monday” the entire year, they have full inventories, their stores are in top shape and as the droves of customers came through their virtual doors they find out that their shopping carts and/or checkout pages are not working.

Needless to say, this is a horrifying realization. What good are the stores and the time spent marketing when you can’t make a sale? Some of our more savvy retailers immediately went to the “Yahoo! Merchant Solutions System Status” page to see this message that says essentially “We’re working on it. We’ll keep you posted”.

Great. That’s really helpful. The biggest online shopping day of the year and you’ll “keep us posted”?

Believe me, I personally have been in your shoes six years ago. It was the same day (before it was officially called Cyber Monday) and I felt the same rage and frustration that you are all feeling right now.

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Before I go any further in this article, I do want to mention that there is a temporary FIX to this problem. If you are using the new Checkout Manager, you can go in a disable it and go back to the old checkout. That will in essence solve the problem we’ve seen. Please note though, we do not know what the effects are at this time when you switch back on the custom checkout, so please take this step with caution. CWS does not guarantee that your custom checkout will be restored to its’ full functionality when you switch back. It should, but we’re not 100% positive.

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If any of you are feeling like I felt six years ago, your first reaction is to start exploring new platforms. You feel betrayed by Yahoo! and you think it’s time to see what else is available. I felt this same way and did actively start looking in other directions.

This is where I made my mistake and I urge you all to take my advice into consideration… Don’t make rash decisions. I made a rash decision and in the end, I should have never left Yahoo! Store.

Yes – Yahoo! failed to survive Cyber Monday.
Yes – You pay them for top notch service.
Yes – This should never happen.

BUT – – It does and while Yahoo! is extremely disappointing today, in all, they are a fantastic platform and we still believe in them 100%. And no, they’re not paying me to write this :) I honestly believe that as does our entire staff. In retrospect I wish that I had someone tell me to think three times before switching to a different platform. Our new platform, while different, was a complete nightmare and never compared to the performance we got our of the Yahoo! Store platform.

So my advice to you is think long and hard about any decisions before you even think about taking action. Think about the costs and the time you’ll need to spend to move. Think about the thousands of other merchants that trust Yahoo!. There’s a reason it’s the biggest platform for small businesses, it works (at least most of the time).

We wish you all the best of success during this holiday season and while some of you may have missed out on part of the Cyber Monday hoopla, there are still many more days of online shopping left to reap.

Best Wishes to you all.

Matt Sampson
CEO
Colorado Web Solutions
http://www.ColoradoWebSolutions.com

UDPATE: As of Midnight Mountain Time Last Night the Checkout Seems to be working again. Thanks to Yahoo! for addressing the issue in less than 24 hours.

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Colorado Web Solutions announces Wholesale Hub – Yahoo! Store wholesale module

Posted on November 7th, 2007 by cwsnews

Colorado Web Solutions is pleased to announce another First in Yahoo! Store technologies, Wholesale Hub.

With this Yahoo! Store Wholesale Module, you’ll be able to create a wholesale driven website with protected access to pricing, ordering and some additional content. The best part is that your non-wholesale customers can still view your site, read about your products and contact you; they just can’t order or even see what your wholesale pricing is!

By default, the only way to offer Wholesale Ordering in a Yahoo! Store is to lock the site with a password for the chosen few buyers. This is fine if you don’t want the world to know what you sell, but many manufacturers want to offer their end users the ability to view their products, etc. The only thing they want to lock out is the ability to view wholesale pricing and, of course, the ability to purchase at wholesale prices.

Colorado Web Solutions has developed a new module called Wholesale Hub and it will change the way that Yahoo! Stores handle wholesale pricing. With this new module, wholesalers will have the ability to lock down only the elements that they don’t want available to the general public. Their wholesale customers will have unique user names and passwords that will allow them access to the restricted content and functionality that the public won’t be able to see.

Wholesale Hub is available in three different versions; Lite, Standard and Professional. The versions range from manually driven technology to robust back end systems that allow for automatic (approval driven) registrations and management.

If you are in the market for a Yahoo! Store Wholesale Solution, contact us at Colorado Web Solutions and we can give you a full run down of this new technology and determine how it can help your business.

For more information on Wholesale Hub as well as a working demo, please visit:

http://www.coloradowebsolutions.com/yahoo_store_addons_wholesale_hub.html

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The Development Team at Colorado Web Solutions
www.ColoradoWebSolutions.com

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Don’t forget your Welcome Email

Posted on November 2nd, 2007 by Colorado Web Solutions - Yahoo Store Developers and Designers

This is an article provided by our partners from Constant Contact. We felt this was a great article and something worth passing on to our clients and visitors.

Did you know that your welcome letter may be the most-read email of any you send? According to Ramesh Lakshmi-Ratan, Ph.D., the Direct Marketing Association’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, “… welcome emails have significantly higher open rates than regular emails…” What a great opportunity to connect with your new subscribers!

Earlier this year, we featured an article by our CEO, Gail Goodman, in Hints & Tips about this very subject. The idea to focus on the welcome letter was inspired by a presentation we attended at the 2007 Email Marketing Summit sponsored by Marketing Sherpa.

At the conference, Marketing Sherpa’s president, Anne Holland, told us about a test they conducted prior to the summit. Her staff signed up for the email lists of all the companies who were coming and waited to see if they received a welcome letter. They wanted to see if we (the attendees) were taking advantage of the power of this first email.

Interestingly, they found that within 72 hours they had received welcome emails from only 55% and only 36% had content beyond “welcome.” The obvious point was, wow, what a missed opportunity!

I was so inspired, I came back and made some changes to the Hints & Tips welcome email. If you missed the article, or need a second reminder, here are some tips that can help you make the most of your welcome email. They only take minutes to implement and can make a big difference!

Tell them what to expect – Your sign-up form doesn’t tell subscribers much about what they will receive from you. Sell them on the value of being a member of your list by highlighting the content, from great events to money-saving discounts, your future emails will include.

Reward them instantly – Subscribers are at the height of their interest when they sign up for your list. Validate the wisdom of their decision to subscribe with an “instant reward.” If your emails are educational, provide links to past articles or past issues that you have on your website. If your emails are promotional, offer a discount or an incentive to encourage them to take immediate advantage of what you have to offer.

Lead them back to the website – You’ve worked hard to make your website a great place for visitors to get information. Make sure your welcome email links them back to helpful information on your site that might interest a prospective or new customer.

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