How to create and set up a mailing list for mail ru. Bulk email distribution

Today I will give you instructions on how to create an email newsletter yourself in just 90 minutes. I tried to make it as simple as possible so that you can understand the main stages of email marketing.

Please note that each of the stages can and should be greatly improved, complicated and brought to perfection.

So, you and I will need:

your own database of email addresses of subscribers (mail address or mail address and subscriber name),
account in the UniSender service with a replenished balance (at the rate of 0.005 USD per 1 subscriber),
desire to learn something new and 90 minutes of time.

Stage 1. Create a subscriber base in Unisender

The first time you enter a new email in this field, Unisender will ask you to confirm it. This is a standard procedure for confirming an address, you will quickly cope with it.

Field " From whom" I recommend filling out the field in the format "name + company name". This will make the letter seem personal and remind you of your company. Try to fit in 20 characters.
Field " Letter subject" As you can see in the screenshot, the topic begins with the construction ((Name|Attention)). It is needed to address the subscriber by name if the “Name” field is filled in (if not filled in, “Attention!” will be written).

The subject line also conveys the main essence of the letter to the reader and contains several numbers that will attract attention.

Try to put the main essence of the letter into 35-50 characters. Please be aware that long topics may be cut off on some devices.

Filling out this field is a separate topic for discussion and experimentation. In the future, we will write instructions with more complete recommendations for working with the subject line.

After filling out three fields and selecting a mailing list, click on “Continue”.

Step 2.2. Design and content

This seems to be the most difficult part of creating a newsletter. However, let's use the special "Block Editor" and quickly create a simple and meaningful letter.

After selecting a completed template in the block editor, all you have to do is:

remove blocks you don't need,
fill in the required blocks with your content,
mark all links to the site with UTM tags according to the instructions.

So, here is an example of quick editing and filling of this template:

Please note that the height and padding of some blocks have been changed, and some blocks have been completely removed. Changed font size and line spacing, added P.S. and a “See all” button.

To understand what you need to write in a letter, at this stage I recommend you do two things:

Look at letters from other companies: what language they are written in, what they focus on, and how they format the content. Surely you can note something useful for yourself.
Read a book " How to write so that people trust you"(K. Rowman, D. Rafaelson). An excellent book, adapted for modern means of communication.

I advise you not to linger on creating the letter. This stage can last for several days, and in some cases for several weeks. Keep your first letter simple. And you will gradually improve the second and subsequent mailings yourself or create a beautiful design and layout using contractors.

After you finish editing the letter, look at how approximately it will look like on computers and smartphones, and don’t forget to send a test letter to your email using a special button:

If some elements have moved out, then you need to edit them: change the indents, height, add empty blocks, etc.

I am sure that if you have done all of the above and read the article up to this point, then it will take you about 10 minutes to master the block editor. J You can do it - there’s just a little time left until your first newsletter!

Step 2.3. Sending letter

If you have already looked at the trial letter and are satisfied with it, then let's proceed to the final stage - sending the letter. Make sure all fields are filled out correctly. Click on “View” to look at your letter again.

All. Now all that remains is to wait for Unisender to send out the newsletter. Usually this does not happen instantly, but once every 10 minutes. However, it doesn't take much time.

Stage 3. Analysis of mailing results

And to evaluate the quality of the headline, email content and the offer itself, use open rate (Open Rate) and click-through rate (CTOR) indicators. In Unisender, you can view these statistics on the “Mailmails > Sent Reports” page by going to the desired mailing list.

If any of the indicators is significantly lower, then the matter is most likely due to one of the following reasons:

Your proposal is too weak. People don't benefit from what you have to offer. Perhaps the benefits need to be made even greater.
Your audience is not interested in this offer. In this case, try to understand how else you can attract your subscribers, or divide your audience into segments so that you send only offers that interest them.
The title is not attractive. As a rule, this happens if it does not reflect the benefit or looks suspicious. Try to completely change the structure of the title.
Poor presentation of content inside the letter: the text is difficult to read, links are not highlighted or absent at all, the essence of the proposal is not clear, there is no call to go to the site.

Try to find weak points in your mailing and eliminate them. Remember that the main task of the headline is to encourage the reader to open the letter, and the task of the letter is to interest and “sell” the transition to the site.

So why 90 minutes? In fact, all the described stages of work take me from 30 to 180 minutes. The total time depends mainly on the complexity of the letter itself. If the content of the letter is not very complex, you can definitely do it in 60 minutes.

If you have any difficulties or have questions about how to organize an email newsletter on your database, then look for answers to them in the Tactics blog or write to me about it in the comments. I'll try to help you. Good luck!

“Subscribe to the newsletter!” - scream pop-ups on information sites. It’s not in vain that they scream, because every subscriber is worth its weight in gold, especially for young projects. Each subscriber is a regular reader who will come to you again and again.

But if you are launching a new project, a problem may arise - letters need to be sent somehow. Don’t sit down and do it yourself!

No, you don't need to bother yourself with such routine work. Because there are special services for mass mailings.

There are a lot of them, and today we will introduce you to the ten most popular ones. Let us first focus on the tariffs of each, but a detailed analysis of the features and advantages is the topic of another article :)

Mad Mimi is a simple service for creating, sending, sharing and tracking emails on the Internet. Founded in 2008.

More than 40 million emails are sent from it every day.

The service offers 4 tariff plans:

Forms, templates, and email themes are available. Mad Mimi uses SSL to protect transmitted information - this is the same technology that banks and large electronic stores use to prevent eavesdropping, falsification or counterfeiting.

Without exaggeration, the most popular service is primarily due to its attractive rates. Operating since 2001, it is trusted by more than 12 million users.

The Russian version of the site is lame, so it is better to come here if you have at least basic knowledge of the language.

If you have 2,000 or fewer subscribers, you can send up to 12,000 emails per month completely free.

Another foreign service for email newsletters, with a convenient and intuitive interface. Uses cloud software technologies.

Streamcontact is reliable: the email will be delivered at the required time without delay.

Using the service, you can plan mailings, create new ones, conduct testing before sending, track targeted mailings, and send messages automatically.

Domestic mailing list service, founded in 2002. Very popular among small and medium-sized businesses on the RuNet.

Tariffs for services are quite reasonable:

Provides a visual editor, detailed statistics, full subscriber management, automatic mailing, surveys and testing, and many other useful features.

Domestic project founded in 2008. UniSender allows you to send both email and SMS mailings, set up letter chains, and embed social media buttons in your mailings.

The service rates are very affordable:

For mailings from 50,000 contacts, conditions are discussed individually.

A unified platform for email campaigns, SMS, push notifications and transactional emails. The service is easy to use and is suitable for solving most standard tasks: sending an email newsletter that can be viewed, including from mobile devices; make a series of letters, create letter templates, conduct testing, and much more.

The first erroneous thought that arises in the head of an inexperienced entrepreneur who decides to develop a business on the Internet. It seems like a working website with information posted on it is enough. It may seem to you that you will be able to communicate, have the opportunity through the site to tell the audience everything you want, but this is not so. Let's figure it out.

Let's say 100 people came to your site. You “greeted” them with your face. They looked around, read something (if you have, for example, a blog), made a purchase (if you have an online store) and left. All. If they want, they will “contact” you - they will visit the site again. If not, then you have lost your audience because your visitors remain strangers to you. You can't contact them, they can. The same pager. Now imagine that these 100 people left you their email addresses.

Email is a direct analogue of a telephone number, a contact through which YOU can contact your visitors. True two-way communication, like a telephone. All that remains is to get an email.

How to get an email

A fundamental problem that marketing gurus have struggled to solve. To answer the question, you need to put yourself in the shoes of a site visitor. They don’t just give away email addresses. Compulsion? Will not work. Deception? Even worse.

The only effective way to get an email is to make the person want to give it to you.

Stay up to date. In many cases, the user, if your site is relevant to his interests, will not mind subscribing to notifications about new events on the site, be it the release of new material, the appearance of a new product, and so on. The same function can be served with the sauce “it’s more convenient.”
All the best. A good suggestion would be to send a selection of the best of what's happening on your site. The best articles, the best products.
Exclusive. A more aggressive, but very effective method that refers to the peculiarities of human psychology. Access to something is provided only to subscribers. It could be anything: unique “most useful” materials, competitions, special conditions and functionality. Think about the list of your offers that could be classified as exclusive, and give only to the “selected”.
Discounts and promotions. This information is objectively useful to your audience. Who wants to miss out on a great deal? This point partly overlaps with the more abstract notification function, but here the motive for the visitor is financial, more specific and attractive.

The reasons listed above for sharing your email address need to be shown to your visitors in a simple and clear way. Place static and pop-up subscription blocks on your website. No tricky long texts. Clear, obvious, accessible, understandable. The effect will not be long in coming, and you will soon have an impressive base of contacts.

What to do with email addresses

Having email addresses allows you to speak to your audience through newsletters. You need to use this opportunity correctly, because inept work with subscribers will not only not help, but will also harm you.

Rules for good email marketing

So, you address the audience. Appeal is speech. Speech must be beautiful and elegant, which means your letters must be attractive with every element.

If the subject of the letter does not interest the recipient, then he will no longer get to the content. The topic should not repeat the previous one, but it should arouse curiosity with the originality of the message.

An address I trust

Tell me which sender name is less doubtful: volodyaspamer1999@gmail.? Your company name is your name and should be in the sender's address. He must be recognized. This is why marketers focus on brand awareness.

Life is too short to read long letters

And in the mobile era, when people view your content from small smartphone screens, size requirements have become even stricter. No more than 50 characters per title is a strict rule. Ideally, key phrases, appeals and talking points should fit into 28–39 characters.

WITHOUT CAPSLOCK

Too much uppercase won't help you capture the reader's interest. Quite the contrary. It is necessary to take into account the specifics of perception. Caps may be perceived as shouting. Nobody likes to be yelled at.

I'm talking to you, friend!

Personalization in communication is the strongest tool for increasing the loyalty and interest of the recipient of the letter. It seems as if the letter came not from a soulless robot, but from a friend who knows your name. What attention! It brings us together, incredibly brings us together. Personalization in the offer is an even more advanced tool that works based on the history of the visitor’s actions.

Teaser letter

Email cannot be considered in isolation from the overall business process. A letter is the first stage in a chain, and therefore must fulfill a strictly defined purpose. For example, going to your website, store, specific page. The content of the letter must lead the recipient to this through a clearly formulated call-to-action (call to action). As a rule, this is an element that stands out in the body of the letter, like a button, and the text acts as a catalyst for attracting people to click on it.

A/B testing

Have you decided to make several versions of the letter because you are not sure which one will be the most effective? There is no need to doubt. Using the right tool, you can send all versions of the letter, distributing them so that, for example, 33% of recipients see the first version, 33% see the second and 34% see the third, and then evaluate the effectiveness of each option.

The wizard always arrives on time

And in the context of email campaigns, “on time” means the best time in terms of recipient response activity. There is no perfect moment at which everyone in the world will suddenly want to read emails and click on links. Everything is very individual, and simple practice and observation of subsequent activity will help you find the best days and hours.

Thanks to these not-so-tricky techniques, you will turn your email newsletter into an effective communication channel through which a loyal audience interested in your offer will come to your website.

However, there is a problem, and you already understand it well. How, for example, can you personalize hundreds and thousands of emails? How to format a letter beautifully? It's the same with A/B tests and analytics in general. In the end, not every entrepreneur ALREADY owns his own website, and therefore his first priority is to find a simple and inexpensive way to get a high-quality, beautiful “digital office” for his business.

With the advent of website builders, the life of small businesses and private entrepreneurs has become much easier. No need to contact programmers and designers. You don't need a system administrator to support the server. It is enough to choose one that does not require specific skills to configure, and independently modify it to suit your needs.

All that remains is to add an email newsletter application to the site. A minute to install, a couple of clicks to create a beautiful letter, convenient selection of recipients, and your newsletter is ready to send.

Email distribution is a fairly effective way to interact with a potential audience. It remains an indispensable tool for online marketing even with the active spread of social networks. But how to send a newsletter by email?

The assertions that you will need a good budget to at least purchase a database of email addresses and pay for services that allow you to automate the process are partly true. But even the longest journey begins with one step. At first, the answer to the question of how to make a mass email campaign is simple - do it yourself. But when the tool begins to bear fruit in the form of an increase in conversion - the ratio of the number of customers who performed the target action (subscribed to the newsletter, bought a product, called, registered) to users who visited the site or read the letter - you can think about automating the work.

What do you need to know to send a newsletter?

How to send an email newsletter yourself? Before you start creating a newsletter and directly sending letters, you should study not only the technical aspects, but also determine the target audience, interests and needs of subscribers. Only knowing your client “in person” can you successfully sell a product more than once. So, the first thing you need to do is to at least superficially familiarize yourself with the basic principles of successful Internet marketing.

Which path to choose: educational, informational content or direct sales

So, technical knowledge of how to send an email newsletter is completely insufficient for the success of using the tool in Internet marketing. The newsletter must be structured correctly. You cannot persistently ask a potential client to buy something in every letter, otherwise the chain of messages will look like spam. Such mailings are blocked by automatic services and added to the blacklist.

The most common three ways to turn an ordinary subscriber into a satisfied customer.

Educational (cognitive) content - information in the form of text, images, videos, infographics, and so on. Letters with this strategy should be useful and informative. An online clothing store, for example, can tell girls how to create their own personal style.

Direct sales. Direct sales are recognized as the most ineffective method of building audience loyalty. These are the types of emails that often end up in spam. At the same time, the conversion part should complement previous strategies with educational and entertaining content.

First step. Determine the scope of work

Preparatory stage: you should determine the target audience and its needs, think over a content plan and sales strategy, and collect a database of email addresses.

Technical points: you need to create a letter template, develop materials for mailing (write texts, find or make pictures, videos), set up sending letters.

9:00-10:00 - suitable for any topic;

15:00-17:00 is a good time to send advertising messages (Monday to Thursday);

17:00-19:00 - it is best to send out newsletters advertising entertainment events;

19:00-22:00 is the most active time for shopping in online stores;

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are the best days for sending out any topic.

Conversion tracking: It is imperative to monitor the statistics and take reactive measures if the conversion is insufficient.

Determining the target audience

How to send emails to unknown subscribers? When starting to create a newsletter, you should determine who the potential client is. The main task is to succinctly describe the characteristics of a person in living language. Next, it is important to understand where you can find the target audience; this will be required to collect the email database. If you need to sell a product that is in seasonal demand (winter tires, swimsuits, sleds, sunscreen), you should actively remind yourself during the period of traditional sales intensification.

How to send an email newsletter to those who feel like a fish out of water when it comes to online marketing? Option for advanced users: start intelligently promoting the product so that by the time the client needs to purchase it, the person would already know where to purchase a certain product. For example, stretch ceilings are sold. The structure is installed at the end of the renovation, so you can start promoting the product at the stage of planning the renovation and its further implementation.

Drawing up a content plan

Required:

a letter confirming your subscription to the newsletter (this is one of the rules of politeness in Internet marketing);
a welcome letter (the first letter after confirming the subscription, it is advisable to inform the user in general terms about when and with what information letters will be sent);
farewell letter (for unsubscribed users);
gratitude for the completed conversion action (registration, making a purchase, etc.);
“resurrection” letter (sent to potential clients who have not been active for a long time: do not read letters, do not follow links).

You should also develop a chain of letters. They can either be interconnected or be separate “tiles” of information.

Formation of a database of email addresses

How to send a newsletter using an email database? First of all, decide on this very database of email addresses. For successful mailing, you only need a high-quality email database. Each user must express their consent to receive emails. It is better to abandon shady methods: buying an email database, collecting addresses fraudulently and other not entirely honest ways to get a potential client.

But how to find your potential clients? You can make a one-page website (stub) with an offer to subscribe to the newsletter, offer the user useful content for subscribing (a small e-book on the topic, an interesting checklist or video manual), collect addresses directly from the feed on social networks, offer a discount for subscribing to the newsletter , use social proof (for example, reviews about the informativeness of the newsletter).

Creating a letter template

You will also need an HTML template for the letter. You can make an email newsletter template “from scratch,” that is, write the html code yourself, or use ready-made solutions. In any case, it is necessary to learn the basics of html. You can get inspiration from great sample letters.

What else you need to consider when creating a template:

take care of how the letter will look in the mobile version of the mail service;

use responsive design - adapt letters, including for widescreen monitors;

pay attention to typography - you should not choose an elaborate font, as well as one that is too small or very large;

highlight a call to action - this could be a button “Order”, “Register” and so on, but the main thing is that the call to action should attract attention;

don’t complicate things—the text should be concise but informative; you shouldn’t overload your emails with images or videos.

Choosing a service for organizing mailings

How to send an email newsletter yourself? It’s worth taking care of automation and turning to email newsletter services. Such tools can be either free or paid. Fixed fee services tend to provide more features. The webmaster has complete statistics at his disposal, differentiation of the database based on any criteria (gender, age, etc.), and other useful things. But it’s better to start with free tools: they are simpler and will help a beginner get used to the difficult task of Internet marketing.

Free (more precisely, shareware) services include the following tools:

SendPulse. You can send 3,000 letters per month for free, the maximum number of subscribers is 200. The service provides a large number of ready-made templates for letters.

Smart Responder. No more than a thousand addresses and 50 thousand letters, 10 MB of disk space is also provided.

UniSender. Up to 1500 messages per month and no more than 100 subscribers.

Cogasystem. Up to one hundred addresses in the database and up to 500 letters per month.

Mailchimp. The English-language service allows you to send up to 12 thousand letters per month to no more than 2 thousand subscribers.

MadMimi. Unlimited number of letters, no more than 100 addresses. Service in English.

Some services are more functional, but all of them contain the minimum required set of tools for email marketing.

Increasing sales is the main goal of marketing. Could email marketing be the secret to successful online sales? Of course. The statistical research portal Statista speaks about this: at the beginning of 2015, 20% of US consumers made their purchases online under the impression of an email newsletter. Users also placed an order by phone or made a purchase in a store after reading the newsletter:

How to get into this percentage with your email campaign and establish a selling email marketing mechanism? Read our article.

Follow these rules when creating a sales email campaign:

The advantages are obvious. State your strengths in an email. When making a purchase, the user compares your offer with offers from other companies. Having a trump card in your hands, know how to use it. Tell us about the materials from which the product is made, about the technologies, about the unique characteristics. The subscriber needs proof that you are better than others.
The benefits are obvious. For a second, imagine yourself in the subscriber's shoes. He is interested in what exactly the product or service offered in the email can help with, how they can solve his problems. Tell us what is the usefulness and relevance of your proposal specifically for him. Discounts and promotions are the first assistants in this.
The call to action is clear. The letter should highlight a clear call to action. Direct the attention of your subscriber, tell him what he needs to do after reading the letter: “Buy”, “Purchase”, “Get a discount” and so on.

Let's see how these three rules apply at the stages of creating a sales letter.

For example, a marketer. This will attract the attention of subscribers and thereby increase the number of opens.

At the same time, indicate all your contacts in the footer: employee’s mobile phone number, Skype login, email, you can add links to social networks, etc.

In order for the content you send to be relevant, you need to divide subscribers into groups according to their gender, geographic location, interests, etc.
To send promotional offers, for example, you can ask the user to choose the promotions and discounts from which brands he wants to receive.

About 205 billion emails are sent every day. This means that 2,400,000 emails are sent every second. There are 74 trillion emails in a year. What can you do to increase your email open rates? Pay attention to the subject of the letter. The Open Rate of the email newsletter depends on how bright and catchy it is. Make sure that the headline is not misleading, but accurately conveys the essence of your email offer and inspires purchase. If you promise a discount, keep your word.

Here are some ideas for sales email subject lines:

Ask questions: “Do you like shopping?” “Color educational program: do you have vermilion or incarnate in your wardrobe?”
Intrigue: “Shh...we have a gift for you!”
Surprise with the news: “It’s finished: the new collection...is already waiting for you”;
Tell us about the benefits using numbers: “7 reasons why you should buy...”;
Indicate the month or year: “Bestsellers of 2016”
Guarantee: “We will refund your money if...”.

What is better NOT to do so as not to turn your sales letter into a complete failure:

A line of exclamation marks looks more like hysteria and will not work in favor of a high open rate of the letter. Use better symbols to attract attention. It could be a heart, an asterisk, a sun, and so on.

Again, you need to understand that your subject runs the risk of being displayed incorrectly in some email services. For example, in Outlook the heart symbol is not displayed at all. Therefore, the subject line of the Carter's sale email is as follows:

Recipients are put off by the following words in the subject: “Confirm”, “Report”, “Join”.
You should not use abbreviations.
What you definitely shouldn’t do in a sales newsletter is upset with the words: “Last chance...”, “Everything is lost...”.

4. We write selling text

Jack Mitchell, author of the book “Hug Your Customers,” says that the most important thing in sales is the relationship with the buyer. “Hug” refers to a sincere desire to make your customer happy. This also applies to sales via email marketing. It is necessary to provide the subscriber with all the conditions to make him feel like he is the only one important so that his user experience is good. The content must convey this attitude. What will help with this?

1. Personalization

There is a prejudice that calling by name alarms subscribers. But still, statistics confirm the opposite: 80% of subscribers want to make purchases from brands that send personalized letters.

2. The tone of the letter should inspire confidence.

Everything you write should not cause rejection or laughter. “People don’t buy from clowns!” - Leo Burnett once said about sales methods. It is important that the text is small but intriguing.

3. Use the well-known AIDA and QUEST selling text formulas:

AIDA: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action

According to this formula, the task of the test is primarily to attract attention; bright and large headlines and first sentences will help with this. Next, we kindle the subscriber’s desire to purchase a product or order a service. Slogans, your advantages, as well as interesting descriptions of what you sell will help with this. This chain is concluded by an action that follows the previous three components. Add a call to action button to make it clear to your subscriber what they need to do next.

QUEST: Understand, Educate, Stimulate, Transition

These components of the formula describe the tasks of the text in the email:

Qualify. That is, conditions are created in which the text falls into the zone of interest of those subscribers who are your target audience. In fact, you can skip the first point of this formula, since this task is performed in email marketing by mailing list segmentation.
Understand. The purpose of the text is to show it to the subscriber. How close are his problems to you? Using this approach, it is important to show your care and empathy.
Educate. At this stage, you show the path to solving the problem.
Stimulate. Stimulate your subscriber to take action, prove that your offer is the best.
Transition (Action). In email, this is expressed in your calls to action.

In the letter in the example below, the principle of writing text according to the QUEST formula is followed.

Lastly, share your thoughts! If you have something to say, say it! Don’t be afraid to share your opinions, advice, or examples from personal experience with your subscribers. This will pleasantly surprise them and create a sense of trust.

5. Pay attention to details (images)

What will help make your email offer unique? After all, it’s not enough just to make a bright call-to-action button or talk about your benefits. The answer is simple: good quality images. Create an immersive experience with vibrant, detailed photos of your product. It’s the details that will help you make a competitive and unique email offer. When you look at such photographs, there is a desire to touch, see in person, possibly try on and, of course, buy.

In the screenshot below, in their email, Burberry pays attention to all the details of the trench coat: buttons on two sides, stitching on the waistband, water-repellent fabric, shoulder straps.

6. Calls to action

Your letter has a specific purpose, which means it should include a clear call to action. For example, “Order”, “Leave a review”, “Use a discount”, “Go to the site”.

8. Adapt email for all devices

Users are increasingly making purchases online. According to Data Insight, orders from mobile devices account for about 15% of all purchases by Russians. Therefore, it is very important to make all letters adaptive and use as little text as possible in email, since not everyone is comfortable reading huge canvases with a lot of characters from a smartphone.

9. Create an email series

Not all subscribers read every email. If a subscriber receives three, four or five letters, he will definitely read one of them and go to the site to make purchases.

Automation is a great help in this case, since you can set up a schedule for sending all letters in a series in advance.

The example below shows an online clothing store sending a series of emails to its subscribers about spring discounts:

The first letter is a bright start with a mention of the SK-house and Miss Sixty brands in the subject line, while the second is a reminder of the promotion. To create interest, additional brand names are used in the email header.

Instead of a conclusion

There is a marketing concept called the 4Ps of successful sales. Sales efficiency will be high if the conditions for four components are harmoniously met: product (product), place (place), price (price), promotion (promotion).

Email marketing is an integral part of promotion. We hope that our tips will help you increase initial and repeat sales. But also do not forget to constantly develop and improve the conditions for the remaining components of the “4P” concept.