best practices

Whether it’s for a blog, a social media post, a YouTube video, or a web article, a solid headline can always catch a reader’s attention. Not everyone has the time to dive into the details of every story, which is why it’s important to learn how to write better headlines — the kind that draws readers in.  Data gathered by the American Press Institute found that up to 60% of Americans simply read headlines to get a sense of what’s going on rather than investigate topics further. In the heyday of print newspapers, catchy headlines were essential to spark the imagination of readers. These days, headlines are a critical component of virtually any type of marketing strategy, whether you’re starting a blog, a video channel, or an email list. Why knowing how to write better headlines matters The purpose of a headline is to summarize a piece of content in the

Every marketing campaign centers around a specific goal, like encouraging recipients to make a purchase. And one of the most important email elements to help you reach that goal is the call to action (CTA).  At first glance, a CTA might seem simple, but it takes intentional strategy and email design to ensure that this […] The post How to Create Effective Email CTAs [7 Best Practices + Examples] appeared first on SendGrid.

Here is the scenario. Maybe you’ve just gotten a bounce message that looks like this:Aug 25 11:20:24 s1 postfix/smtp[26906]: 98299221BB: to=, relay=gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[142.250.141.27]:25, delay=1.2, delays=0.04/0.77/0.2/0.21, dsn=5.7.1, status=bounced (host gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com[142.250.141.27] said: 550-5.7.1 [206.125.175.2] Our system has detected that this message is not RFC 550-5.7.1 5322 compliant: duplicate headers. To reduce the amount of spam sent 550-5.7.1 to Gmail, this message has been blocked. Please review 550 5.7.1  RFC 5322 specifications for more information. j6-20020a637a46000000b0042b3a763e76si3563504pgn.127 – gsmtp (in reply to end of DATA command))Or perhaps it looks like this:Aug 25 12:48:59 s1 postfix/smtp[14180]: C90492056B: to=, relay=aspmx.l.google.com[142.250.141.27]:25, delay=0.69, delays=0.08/0/0.39/0.22, dsn=5.7.1, status=bounced (host aspmx.l.google.com[142.250.141.27] said: 550-5.7.1 [206.125.175.2] Our system has detected that this message is not RFC 550-5.7.1 5322 compliant: 550-5.7.1 Multiple ‘From’ headers found. 550-5.7.1 To reduce the amount of spam sent to Gmail, this message has been 550-5.7.1 blocked. Please visit 550-5.7.1  https://support.google.com/mail/?p=RfcMessageNonCompliant 550 5.7.1  and review RFC 5322 specifications for more information.

You’re the architect, but we’ll provide the building blocks you need to grow your email program and make it to the inbox this Black Friday. The post 13 Tips to Prepare Your Email Program for Black Friday Success appeared first on SendGrid.

Ever wondered if there’s such a thing as overtesting? Learn the answer and more from an email deliverability expert at Inbox Monster. The post Ask the Expert: Brad Van der Woerd, Head of Customer Experience, Inbox Monster appeared first on SendGrid.

Did you know that more than 69% of online shopping carts are abandoned before the buyer completes their purchase? Many buyers tend to get cold feet between finding an interest in a product and checking out.  The unwillingness to complete a purchase can be caused by several factors, including technical issues, concerns about costs, or distractions. However, the great thing about these potential customers is that they’ve already shown interest in your products. Many of them just need a gentle nudge to finish their purchase.  Understanding what an abandoned cart email is, combined with using abandoned cart email best practices, can help you re-engage these customers and re-excite them about the products they were looking at. With newfound enthusiasm, many of these leads can be turned into paying customers.  What is an abandoned cart email? Abandoned cart emails are email messages that companies automatically send out whenever a shopper places

Learning how to write a thank-you email is more than just good manners. It’s smart practice for any small business that wants to improve customer loyalty. A little acknowledgment goes a long way to inspire repeat business or donations. When you show partners and patrons just how much you appreciate them, they’re more likely to invest in the relationship. You may have mastered the art of gratitude in your personal life, but the small business thank-you email is slightly different. It can be hard to strike the right balance between personal and professional. Here’s how to do it well. When should a small business send customers a thank-you email? Small businesses depend on the goodwill of the community. You have to show appreciation to get it. Thank-you emails should celebrate new relationships and honor old ones — whether you’re a nonprofit or for-profit business. This means thanking customers after their first

Want to know how to ensure secured embedded links when you send email? Learn how with SSL click tracking for optimal link tracking. The post How to Set Up SSL Click Tracking appeared first on SendGrid.

Your digital marketing strategy is built around getting noticed online. And, just like you wouldn’t try to get everyone’s attention in a crowded stadium by yelling without a microphone, you won’t draw attention to your digital platforms with just one type of content. That’s where curated content comes in. Curated content goes beyond reposting and sharing from other social feeds. It involves strategy and finesse. To get the most out of content curation, it’s not enough to know how to curate content. You need to know the best practices for curating content and how you can use content curation to boost your credibility and enhance your social media presence.  What is curated content?  You’re probably sharing content from other brands and people you follow on social media to offer your followers a richer experience. Curated content takes this idea a step further. Instead of sharing engaging posts you’ve stumbled upon in

Subdomains are “sub entries” under your domain name. Sometimes they’re more accurately called hostnames or FQDNs (“fully qualified domain names”) but for simplicity’s sake, I’m mostly just going to call them subdomains here.You’re reading this on Spam Resource, which has a website address of www.spamresource.com, of which spamresource.com is the domain name. If I were going to create a subdomain for my email newsletter, I might choose email.spamresource.com. In this case, email.spamresource.com is a subdomain of spamresource.com.If you send different types of email messages in any significant volume (at least thousands monthly), you might want to consider having separate subdomains for different from addresses for different types of emails that you send.Let’s say you’re Jeremy Bonto, founder of the famous Bontocorp conglomerate, a company that sells a lot of widgets to people, and also has a lot of employees. It is potentially a good practice for Bontocorp to not send