Author: Franz Malten Buemann

Shortcuts are efficient, and as the name implies, they get you to where you need to go in a shorter amount of time. But not all shortcuts are good. In fact, some shortcuts are just plain lazy and can result in a heap of trouble.  Take, for instance, your email marketing. You’ve got some great…
The post Why Building is Better than Buying When it Comes to Email Lists appeared first on Benchmark Email.

The biggest shopping craze of the year is coming. See our tips on how to design your Black Friday emails and some great examples to follow!

Hi there, I run the marketing department for a well-funded start-up, and I REALLY want a MA platform. I’m considering two MA platforms, Marketo & Hubspot. Currently, we have a hodge-podge of tools: ActiveCampaign, SEMrush, Google Analytics, Sprout Social, and many, many more. We use Salesforce for our CRM, and right now, our marketing team is very small at 3 people. However, I expect this to increase quite a bit in the next 12 months. My goals with moving to an MA platform:
Consolidate all of our marketing tools into one, to measure return & see trends in analytics in one dashboard Build an ABM approach in tandem with our account-based sales strategy Run ads more effectively (leads move down the ad funnel with traditional awareness/interest/retargeting) Give my sales team kick-butt insights into hot leads and then take credit for my marketing efforts where it’s due!
If pricing isn’t a factor (and it’s genuinely not, by the way), which is the better choice?? It seems to me that these platforms do the exact same thing in terms of actual MA, but Hubspot has a better UI. If that’s the case, though, Marketo sure does think highly of itself! My gut says to go with Hubspot. But if Marketo is so “scalable,” am I only delaying an inevitable transition when my team starts growing rapidly?
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Check out some of the very best holiday email subject lines to inspire your own this holiday season.
It’s shaping up to be a crazy holiday season for, well, just about everyone. But especially for email marketers. Thanks to supply chain woes, consumers are eager to start buying, it only means that the holiday rush is starting earlier and running longer, with the extra workload falling on marketing teams.
What does this mean for you? It means now is the time to start crafting holiday email marketing messages. In fact, email open rates start to spike before Halloween is even over.
We’ve updated this post for 2021, and even included some bonus holiday email marketing campaigns curated just for you.
To provide you some inspiration, here are 75 holiday subject line examples from B2C, B2B, and nonprofits that are perfect for your holiday email campaigns.
Make sure not to miss our new set of holiday email templates! Check them out here.
B2C email subject lines

Rip Curl: 5 reasons you need a SearchGPS this Xmas

Rapha: Black Friday – coming soon

Italic: Last chance for free shipping

Freshbooks: Deliver Some Cheer this Holiday Season

Food & Wine: 27 Recipes for a Holiday Cocktail Bash

Joss & Main: Jingle Belles: Gifts for her, best-selling bedding & more on sale today

Dot & Bo: Ring In The New Year – Plus: 12 Days of Christmas Gifting Starts Now

Kate Spade: Last day! 30% off everything with our Cyber Monday sale

Emergency Essentials: Black Friday Sale! Check Back Tomorrow To View the Deals!

Steve Madden: Cyber Tuesday – 50% Off Clearance!

Sports Authority: Hurry, Only Hours Left for Cyber Monday Savings!

BevMo!: $20 Coupon! Save Big on Cyber Monday.

Seafolly: All she wants for Christmas is S E A F O L L Y

Birchbox: Free Boxes. Ohh Yeah.

Skechers: Get BLACK FRIDAY savings all weekend at Skechers.com!

Steve Madden: If You Open One Email This Black Friday…

Finish Line: Black Friday Doorbusters END TODAY. Snag ’em before it slams shut.

San Diego Chargers: Share the Joy, Bring a Toy To The Chargers Game

J. Crew: It’s OK to have seconds (or thirds) of this sale

Provisions by Food52: Gifting Made Easy: Free Shipping + Discounted Gift Cards + Our Best Picks

Finish Line: Black Friday Doorbusters start now. Put down the drumstick.

Vacationist: Gobble Up These Deals!

Orbitz: Good gravy! 20% off

Food & Wine: 15 Thanksgiving Drinks to Start on While Cooking

Nordstrom: Black Friday Is Here Early

Patagonia: You donate, we’ll match

Lyft: Join #GivingTuesday with Lyft

Instacart: This week’s forecast? Stress-free holiday grocery shopping!

Southwest: Snow Fare Like A Low Fare!

De Beers: There’s still time…

One Kings Lane: Post-Christmas grab bag: pick a present for yourself

Anthropologie: Thanksgiving hosting, toasting & roasting must-haves

Rapha: Last express shipping days for Rapha Gifts

Monoprice: 10% OFF Site-Wide + Shop Our Holiday Gift Guide!

Shutterfly: Just 3 days: get 50% off + NEW Disney Frozen Stockings

Capsule: Christmas Deadline: TODAY – Best stocking stuffer ever!

Lululemon: Best. (Cyber) Monday. Ever.

Musician’s Friend: Perfect last-minute gift–a gift certificate

Papa Murphy’s: Don’t Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle…Let Us Help with Dinner!

Groupon: Groupon’s Most Wanted This Holiday Season

JetBlue: Up to 50% bonus – ’tis better to give AND receive!

KSL Deals: Save 10% with Promo Code: Christmas10

Utah Valley Massage Therapy: Last Minute Stocking Stuffer Ideas

Bass Pro Shops: Final Hours! Stretch your payments for 6 months

KSL Deals: 14 Awesome Gift Ideas

Guitar Center: 12 Deals of Christmas—Updated Daily

Cabela’s: You’ve made your list…

Backcountry.com: For the Person that Has Everything

Musician’s Friend: St. Nick’s here with two ways to save

Audible.com: A Free Holiday Gift Just for Our Members

Ancestry.com: Save big for Cyber Monday – give the gift of family

Target: Pssst! Get the scoop on Black Friday

De Beers: Find the Perfect Gift

Bass Pro Shops: Save up to 25% on Santa’s Toy Shop!

Monoprice: Holiday Gift Guide – Headphones & Earphones Starting Under $10

Homestead Resort: Home for the Holidays at Homestead Resort

Moovly: Create your own Season’s Greetings video in 10 steps

Guitar Center: Alert: Cyber Monday Has Been Extended

BarkBox: Dog people give the best gifts

Waves Audio: Waves’ Black Friday Sale Starts Now – Get a Free New Plugin

ProAudioStar: ProAudioStar Will Beat ANY Black Friday Price PLUS Give You 15% Off Your Next Purchase

Bonus — Magic Spoon Cereal: We never do this

Bonus — hims: keep your holiday candle lit

Bonus — Madewell: New arrivals +gift guide = ?

Bonus — Everlane: No Sale Today. Here’s Why.

Bonus: — Article: This weekend only: please don’t shop

B2B email subject lines

Team Tony Robbins: Your last chance to save in time for the holidays.

Dale Carnegie Training: Be Bold This Holiday Season with Powerful Conversations

Pureleverage.com: Your $1.00 Cyber Monday sale!!

Voices.com: Cyber Monday Deal from Voices.com Coming Soon

3 Key Elements: Stressed Out by the Holidays? Body Language Tools to the Rescue!

Pinterest Partner Team: This week: Create holiday boards and plan Pinteresty events

Nonprofit email subject lines

SF-Marin Food Bank: Today is #GivingTuesday

California Academy of Sciences: Unique Holiday Gifts for Everyone on Your List!

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: #GivingTuesday is today!

Friends of the Sea Otter: Adorable Sea Otter Gifts Available on Giving Tuesday

Monterey Bay Aquarium: Today is #GivingTuesday: Donate now and become part of a new tradition.

The Marine Mammal Center: A Special Gift to Thank You for All You Do

Just Give: Gifts that do good…and feel good

Susan G. Komen: Holiday gift deadline is tomorrow

While these holiday subject lines certainly spark inspiration, you’ll want to put your own creativity and message into your subject lines. Here are some tips to help you create holiday subject lines that will shine.
Get our Ultimate Guide to Holiday Email Marketing and crush your holiday goals. 
Tips for writing your best holiday subject lines
Now that you’ve looked at some amazing holiday subject line examples, have a look at some of these tips and best practices that you can filter your own subject lines through as you’re writing.
1. Use words that increase conversions and top holiday words
It may be tempting to get extra creative when it comes to creating fun subject lines for email marketing messages, but it’s also important to remember that there are specific data-backed words that increase conversions. Here are some of the top words to use in subject lines that can boost your conversions:
• Sale
• Off
• Now
• Thank you
• You
• New
• Exclusive
• Discover
• Be the first
• Instantly
You’ll notice that each of these words evoke either a feeling of connection, persuasion, urgency, or interest—all of which are necessary to help you make holiday sales.
You should also consider using emojis in your subject lines. The playfulness of an emoji is a good complement to festive holiday subject lines and can help your email stand out in inboxes.
2. Pique interest with holiday words
Not only will you want to use proven data-driven words that convert, but you will also want to use some of the top holiday words to remind subscribers you’re offering special deals that are only available during the holidays. As you read through all the fun holiday subject lines above, you’ll notice a few words consistently stand out including the following:
• Holiday
• Christmas
• Black Friday
• Thanksgiving
• Gift/Give
• Shopping
• Last Chance/Minute
• Special
• Deals
• Save
When you can, work both these top converting words and top holiday email marketing words into your subject lines, and you’ll enjoy the benefits that come from writing excellent holiday marketing email copy.
3. Promote your offer in the subject line
Another common theme shared by good holiday email copy is stating the offer in the subject line. Chandon does this in their pre-Thanksgiving email campaign offering free ground shipping — enabling their subscribers to stock up on bubbly for their celebrations. The subject line simply states that ground shipping is included, and the headline reinforces the offer.

4. Offer Solutions
Not only is it important to mention deals and promotions in your subject lines, but it’s also important to solve customers’ holiday shopping problems. For example, some people might not know what to put in their spouse’s stocking, what to serve for Christmas dinner, or how to find the perfect gift for their mother-in-law. Offering solutions to these types of problems as well as a promotion can bring satisfying and unexpected conversions.
This example from Birchbox promises to alleviate holiday stress and links to their holiday shop with gifts broken down by price point.

 
Gift guides are another effective way to help customers. Curating your products by interest or use case also helps direct buyers in the right direction.
Wrap up
As you prepare your holiday email marketing strategy, remember to keep these tips in mind. As inboxes get more and more crowded as the holiday season arrives, your subject lines will be pivotal in making your messages stand out to your email list.
There isn’t much time, but you can still get ready. Make sure to check out our holiday guide for more email marketing tips that will hopefully lead to increased revenue and a very happy holiday season.
The post 75 Holiday Email Subject Lines to Light Up Inboxes This Christmas Season appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

I started managing my company LinkedIn page 3yrs ago. At first, we focused on just growing a reach, and that makes sense. However, lately we figured out that hidden in that reach there lie possible leads to qualify, both in terms of customers and potential hires (which for an agency are almost precious the same). Am I the only one doing this? I guess not. How do you do it, though? All manually?
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Looking for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals on your favorite SaaS tools? In this article, we’ve gathered the best deals of 2021.

These days, a strong social media presence is key for building a reliable brand, standing out, and gaining traction with potential customers. I recently learned that 43% of consumers always search a brick-and-mortar business online before visiting for the first time, that’s a huge number. And while all companies can benefit from being on social media, it’s especially crucial for small businesses who typically don’t have the advantage of being a household name.A strong social media presence, though, requires consistent content creation, which can take a lot of time. If you’re a smaller business or even a company of one, you may be wondering how you can compete alongside companies that have entire teams for social media. It’s never going to be an even playing field but we’ve seen small businesses embrace what makes them unique and they shine on social media as a result, without needing to spend huge amounts on ad dollars or hire a whole social team.
Here are a few ideas that I’ve seen work for individuals and businesses over the years.
1. Learn From Your Customers (and the Data)
A good starting point is paying attention to what your potential customers are talking about. What are their pain points? What questions do they have in relation to your line of work? How do they feel about certain topics? This is all good material for content ideas like quick Q&As on Instagram or more in-depth instructional content on Facebook or LinkedIn.
To get inside your audiences’ heads, you can:

Scroll through the comments section of your social media pages and those of other businesses and brands you admire. (We made a list of these lately, Twitter, Doist, and Ben & Jerry’s were all mentioned.)
Leverage the polls feature that’s available on most platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to ask your audience questions.
Send out a more formal survey via your newsletter, I recommend making it a short one so folks answer.
Use market research tools like AnswerThePublic or Google Trends to see what people are searching for.

You should also regularly assess which of your previous posts have performed best. Which resonated most with your audience? Which have more likes, comments, shares, retweets, and saves? Find the patterns among them, and you’ll quickly be able to tell what’s working. (Note: Using an analytics tool can help surface popular posts more easily.)
After you’ve gathered all of this information spend some time reviewing it. What does the best-performing content have in common? Does your audience prefer videos or memes? Are inspirational posts or actionable instructions more popular? Once you identify some patterns, lean into them and create new content that gives the people what they want.
2. Leverage the News and Your Own Stats
Being in the know about what’s happening in your industry is important for many reasons, not the least of which is that it can provide you with endless content inspiration.
I use Twitter lists to quickly get a handle on the topics the media is currently covering. Create your own lists, full of reporters, experts, news sites, and influencers in your space, and if you’re at a loss for content ideas, scroll along to see what they’re talking about. You can repost their takes on what’s happening or create your own.
You can also be part of the news by collecting your own data and sharing the findings with your community. For example, earlier this year we released our 2021 State of Remote Work, which we created by surveying customers and potential customers. Each data point (such as the fact that 98% of respondents want to continue working remotely) can be its own interesting, engaging social post. We’ve also used the report to create complementary content, like tips for managing remote teams, our favorite remote collaboration tools, and advice for unplugging when you work from home.
Our State of Remote Work report provided endless opportunities for interesting content. Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CLHcaFQLFpn/3. Go Behind the Scenes
Consumers love learning more about how a business works and the people behind the brand. Simply put, showing the humans who are running the show humanizes the business, and that can be a pretty powerful marketing tool.
Plus, showing how you’re developing your products or company (also known as building in public) can add a lot of value in the long run. In this episode of Buffer’s Small Business, Big Lessons podcast, Paynter Jacket Co. shares how their building in public and sharing behind-the-scenes footage has impacted their business for the better, they now have a devoted group of followers and sell out of their jackets within minutes of them becoming available.
Paynter on Instagram. Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CWAZPeBocv0/Video, like Stories, Reels, and IGTV, is a great medium for behind-the-scenes content, and they don’t have to be highly produced to grab someone’s attention. It’s also easier to create since you’re filming elements of your regular operations. Consider sharing:

A day-in-the-life of a teammate
Steps of the manufacturing process of your product
Tours of your workspace (this works even for remote teams!)
AMA sessions with team members
A happy customer using your product

4. Make it Easy for Yourself
Of course, coming up with unique ideas is great, but you can supplement your custom content by reposting things you see around the web. Sharing articles about industry trends, inspiring images that relate to your brand, or even relevant memes can add to your feed without taking valuable time out of your day.
Pro tip: If you stumble upon an article, an image, or another piece of content that you’d like to share, you can do so from right within your browser with the Buffer browser extension. Schedule it right then and there, and then get back to doing the rest of the things on your to-do list.

Putting together a solid social media plan as a small business can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Set aside 30 minutes or so a few times per week to focus on content, pick one or two of the tips above to start with, then keep building from there. The results will speak for themselves and inspire you to keep going.
Do you have any methods for coming up with content that works really well for you? Reach out on Twitter and let us know!

Website forms come in different forms, each great for different reasons. Their commonality, however, is that they’re great at gathering key information on your website visitors and encouraging them to sign up for your email list.  In this blog post, we’ll be talking specifically about two kinds of website forms: online forms and pop-up forms.…
The post Online Forms and Pop-Up Forms: What’s the Difference? appeared first on Benchmark Email.