Archive: December 2008

A great survey has a clear invitation

Jim Hitch

by Jim Hitch, Director of Community | December 22nd, 2008 | 2 Comments »

Let’s face it, some folks have gotten greedy when creating a survey. Asking too many questions can overwhelm and frustrate your audience, and that’s just no good for anyone. To get good feedback and keep the the positive vibes flowing, let your customers know in advance that you respect their time and have kept the questions brief. Here’s an example from Levi’s where the time commitment was very clear from the beginning. The email reads…

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PS It only took me one minute to complete the survey. Not bad at all. Nice job, Levi’s.


All things email marketing, Email marketing best practices, Stuff that's stylish, Surveys

Give a compelling reason to take your survey.

Jim Hitch

by Jim Hitch, Director of Community | December 17th, 2008 | No Comments »

Email is one of the easiest ways to invite customers to participate in a survey. Since surveys are a recent addition to Emma’s lineup, we’ll be covering survey strategy and creative examples on the blog. Here’s the first post on the topic to get things started…

When you’re inviting survey responses, be sure to communicate the larger vision to your audience. It’s so important to let people know *why* they should participate. Will the next new product be chosen from the results? Will your pricing structure be based on the feedback you get? Will you open a location near them if the results call for it? If you don’t tell them that their voice matters, and makes a difference in how you run your business, they won’t know. And if they don’t know, they won’t be motivated to give you their time and attention.

This example from LinkedIn isn’t terribly specific, but it is clear that the survey data will be used to shape the direction of the service. Keep your eye out for invitations that clearly communicate a compelling reason for participating. And if you think of it when you see one, send us a screenshot. There’s nothing we like better than bonding over the little-noticed nuances of a marketing strategy. Okay, there are a few things we like better (eggnog, gingerbread cookies, flying reindeer and jelly-of-the-month clubs just to name a few), but you know what I mean.

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All things email marketing, Email marketing best practices, Stuff that's stylish, Surveys

Godiva bought my email address for $2.

Jim Hitch

by Jim Hitch, Director of Community | December 15th, 2008 | No Comments »

Last night I flew from Baltimore to Nashville, and while I waited on the flight I decided to indulge in one of my favorite small luxuries – chocolate. After the total rang up, the clerk offered me 20% off my order for signing up to the email list. I bought about 20% more chocolate than I should have, so it just felt like I was getting the last couple of pieces for free. A great deal, if you ask me.

Do you think it was a good trade? Would you, in essence, pay for subscribers using a strategy like this? If so, why? And would you treat them differently than the rest of your database?

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All things email marketing, Stuff that's stylish

Emma does well (and does good).

by Edwin Acevedo | December 11th, 2008 | No Comments »

The number of businesses, non-profits and organizations that joined the Emma community in 2008 continues to grow. A lot. It’s no secret, either, as this year Emma was named to the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing privately held companies in the America. We’re quite proud of that, thank you very much.

But doing well also helps us do good. One way we do good is through our Emma 25 program, which awards free email marketing setup & service to 25 non-profits doing great work on tiny budgets.

Last year, Emma awarded an account to Abeona House, a child care center in New Orleans formed by parents whose children attended one of nearly 200 centers that did not re-open after Hurricane Katrina.

In August, Hurricane Gustav took aim at New Orleans. Thanks to Emma, Abeona House was able to stay in touch with families and teachers during the disaster.

“Communicating with our families was the one thing that was easy about Gustav, and it was reassuring to be able to see that parents were getting the messages,” said Denise Ross, an Abeona House parent and Deputy Director of the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center. “Emma was the one piece of technology I didn’t have to worry about! THANK YOU!”

This year, we’ve asked for nominations from our customers, and we’ve posted all of ‘em online. Now, it’s up to you to visit the Emma 25 home page, get to know these great organizations and vote for a worthy cause. We’ve also set up a special page for non-profits nominated by our Nashville customers. Vote as often as you like. Same goes for all your friends. The last day to vote is Friday, Dec. 19th.

All you need is Internet access and about 60 seconds or so. And thanks for helping Emma give back to the community. It’s something we’re quite proud of, thank you very much.


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I {heart} New York. I also {heart} trees.

by Edwin Acevedo | December 3rd, 2008 | 4 Comments »

There were 382 new customers who joined in November. Emma plants five trees for each new customer. If you just did the math in your head, and you came up with 1,910 trees, you’re right. And you’re pretty good at math.

Those trees are headed to New York State, thanks to the votes received last month on this blog. Our tree-planting partner, Plant-It 2020, will plant half of November’s trees in the Empire State; the other half will go in an equatorial region of Plant-It 2020′s choice.

When we started this tree-planting thing this year, we hoped to be able to plant 10,000 trees, and we’ve doubled that (20,015) and there’s still a month to go. Plant-It 2020 only lists 12 states where it plants trees, and only four have yet to be chosen by voters on this blog. One of them is getting December’s trees. Tell us where.

Where should July's trees be planted?

  • Ohio (34%, 12 Votes)
  • New York (29%, 10 Votes)
  • Oregon (20%, 7 Votes)
  • Rhode Island (17%, 6 Votes)

Total Voters: 35


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