Even when you're away from your desktop or laptop, you can use your iPhone, Android or other web enabled phone to check in on how your SDAconnect email campaigns are going. All you have to do is visit your normal login page from your phone, and we'll try to automatically detect that you're on a mobile device and give you a special mobile version to look at.

What's included in the mobile version?

Mobile devices have small screens and limited input options, so we've kept things nice and simple - you get fast and easy access to campaign reports for your own campaigns. The design and layout has been built specifically for mobile browsing, so it's light, fast and easily readable. Here's how it looks on an iPhone:

Can I still use the full version on a mobile device?

Yes, if you ever want to go back to the full version of SDAconnect you can click the 'switch to full version' link on the bottom of the page.

To start using the mobile version on your phone, go to http://email.sdaconnect.net and login with your username and password as normal.

The subject line of your email can make or break your campaign. If you don't have a compelling subject line the chance of your email even getting read is slim. According to a recent MarketingSherpa.com survey, 40% of email marketers said testing changes to just their subject line had a high impact on their return on investment (ROI). 45% said subject line changes accounted for a medium ROI and only 15% said that testing changes to their subject line results in a low ROI. As a general rule, for every email you send you've got room for no more than 50 characters in your subject line to grab their attention and encourage readers to continue to the body of your email.

Here are 10 tips for creating a subject line guaranteed to jump your email to the top of the pile:

1. Test the subject line
Take a look at email campaigns you've sent in the past. Which subject lines worked the best and gave you the highest open and conversion rates? You might find that for a particular topic there's a general trend or subject style that resulted in higher open rates. Use the campaign comparison tool in SDAconnect to see which email and subject lines resulted in the most opens.

2. Make it important
Try and put as much important and relevant information into your subject lines as possible. For example, if you're sending out an email about a special offer make sure the details of the offer appear in the subject line in a clear and concise format such as "Club X - sign up now and get an extra month. Offer ends tomorrow".

3. Personalise the subject line
If you have details about your subscribers then use them in your subject line to get their attention. A subject line containing the subscribers name ALWAYS outperforms one that doesn't.

4. Avoid spam keywords
Most email servers automatically filter out any emails that contain spam keywords in their subject line. Certain words trigger spam detection software so keep them out of your subject lines at all times. Use the spam test in SDAconnect  to see if your subject line is 'spammy'.

5. Trigger curiosity
The best way to improve your open rates is to pique the interest of your subscribers. A compelling headline that entices them to open and read the contents of your email can do wonders for your conversion rate. For example "Hi [First Name] - Does this happen to you...".

6. Make the offer clear
If you're making a special offer to your subscribers then be upfront and include it as part of your subject line. People love bargains and special offers so let them know about it before anything else.

7. Emphasise the benefits
This is a great way to encourage people to read on. For example " Club X - 10 tips to hit your weight loss target".

8. Copy what works elsewhere
If you see or receive something that gets your attention, chances are it will work for your email campaign too. Don't be afraid to 'borrow' good ideas and adapt them to your campaign.

9. Identify yourself
Make sure your subscribers know the email is coming from a trusted and credible source - you. Deceptive subject lines can confuse and annoy, so always try and include your club name where possible. Also, make sure you set the "From" attribute of your email to include your name and your club name, such as "From: John Smith <john@clubx.com>".

10. Avoid exclamations!
Avoid using excessive exclamation at the end of your subject lines. Too much hype is annoying - let your content speak for itself without being 'shouty'.

Hope you find these tips useful for your next campaign and drop me an email if you come up with others or have some good results you want to share in the blog.

8. On Time, Every Time
When sending a regular email to your subscribers, always make sure that it's sent on the same day, at the same time. For example, every Wednesday at 9am. Your subscribers will come to "expect" your email to arrive in their inbox on the same day at the same time every week, meaning that they want to read your content and are generally more receptive to any special offers or promotions you may include.

9. The Half-a-Second Subject Line
When your email arrives in your subscriber’s inbox, you generally have about half a second to catch their attention with the subject line of your email. After this, they will either delete your email or ignore it. In your subject line, try and specify a benefit that the subscriber can expect by reading your email. For example, instead of using 'Our Club Newsletter', use 'Our Club Newsletter: 10 Tips for Fitness Success'.

10. The 'Free' Hook
Free is overused these days, especially in email. However, if you're looking to grow your subscriber list, then come up with something of value to your target audience (such as a guest visit or consultation) and offer it to them for free when they signup for your newsletter.

11. The Preview Pane
Popular email clients such as MS Outlook show a preview of an email when it's selected in your inbox. Always have some interesting content at the very top of your email, as this is the part that will show in the preview window of your subscribers email system. If it's interesting enough, then your subscriber will open your email and continue reading.

12. Graphics Overload
Remember many users have image downloads switched off by default on their email client preview, so if your key message is in an image it won't even be seen. Make sure your key message can be seen prior to downloading any email images.

13. Link-Click Testing
When creating marketing emails, try using different text for both content and links. Also try re-positioning images such as logos and buttons. After sending 2 different emails, compare the click-through stats and see which one worked best. Now, when you need to send marketing emails in the future, you know that you will be sending the right mix of content and images that will attract the most click-through, and ultimately the most sales. Use A/B testing in SDAconnect to send two different versions to a small set of subscribers and then send the winning email to the remaining subscribers on your list.

14. Make your Email Valued
You do what you do because you're an expert in your field - right? Add value to your website, build visitor trust, establish your credibility and collect more subscriptions to your mailing list by providing valuable and relevant content. Fitness tips, success stories and the latest scientific research on fitness and nutrition will be sure to hit the spot.

15. Always Sign Off
Always include a signature or sign-off at the bottom of your email, as it's one of the easiest ways to attract more traffic to your website. This signature should include your personal details, your company details, and an unsubscribe link. You can use your signature to link back to your website, and even to other products.

By implementing the 15 best practices described in this article, you can take your email marketing to a whole new level –- attracting more subscribers, and building both awareness and credibility at the same time, without spending a fortune.

Email has been described as 'the most personal advertising medium in history' and, based on personal experience alone, I'm not one to disagree. I spend many hours either reading, writing or reorganising my ever-expanding inbox - fighting a constant battle to eradicate spam and keep track of items of interest. If you have the same experience, think about how you would want your marketing material to land in their inbox (sometimes it won't even make it that far).

To help your email efforts I've compiled a few generally accepted tips and ideas that, if used wisely and consistently, will result in a better response from your subscribers -- whether it be for more feedback, more interest, or even more business.

1. Avoiding Spam Filters
The majority of large Internet service providers now use rigorous spam protection mechanisms to trap unsolicited email before it gets into their customers inboxes. Spam filters generally "rank" each email by a number of different criteria, and, if that email rates above a certain level (such as 10 spam points), then it is flagged as spam and deleted. To make sure your emails don't get flagged as spam - and deleted before they even get to your subscribers - avoid using words such as '£££', 'Save', 'Discount', etc in both the subject line and the content of your email. When sending your campaigns from SDAconnect you can run a full spam test to see how your email rates (see image below). By doing this prior to sending you can amend the template and keep running the spam test until your rating improves.

2. Maximising Click Through Rates
Both web pages and emails can contain a lot of text and graphics, and this sometimes makes it harder to get your subscribers to perform a certain task, such as clicking on a link to see your special offers. Numerous research papers tell us that the majority of Internet users respond better to a plain, bold, blue text link - such as this - as opposed to a banner or button. So, if you're going to include links in your emails, make sure they are bold, blue and underlined. This will mean that more subscribers click through, meaning more conversions/sales for you.

3. The Power of Personalisation
The power of personalisation can and should be used in your emails. In fact, by simply starting your email with "Hi [subscriber_name]" instead of the boring "Dear Member", you can increase both your reading and click-through rates by up to 650%. Why? Put simply, it's because your subscribers feel like they already have a relationship with you as you've addressed them by their name.

4. Signup Confirmation
Don't get accused of spamming - always aim to use a double opt-in confirmation process. Double opt-in means that after your visitor initially enters their email address to subscribe to your list, you should then send them a "confirmation" email. This email should contain a special link back to your email-marketing system, which will then verify that this visitor did indeed sign up to your mailing list. SDAconnect has options for single or double opt-in, but choosing double opt-in will increase your open rate and provide reassurance to the subscriber that they are dealing with a professional operator.

5. One-Click Unsubscription
If you want to grow your mailing list, then there are 2 things that you absolutely should have: an opt-in process, and a quick way to unsubscribe. In fact, in some countries, it's actually mandatory that every email has an unsubscribe link in it. The unsubscribe link should take the recipient directly to a page where they are then removed - courteously - from your mailing list.

6. Sending Tuesday / Wednesday = Increased Response
Studies conducted by online research analysts have shown that the best days to perform a mail-out to your list are Tuesday and Wednesday, as this is when people are more receptive to communication. This means that they are more likely to read your content and click on links, meaning more sales. Try sending out your campaigns on different days and times and measure the response for next time.

7. Consistency is the Key
If you're running a newsletter or frequent email publication, make sure you keep the look and feel consistent from issue to issue. This will help to maintain and strengthen your brand and your image to your subscribers, which again will make it easier to close sales when you need to. SDAconnect contains a range of standard templates for consistent communications every time. We can also make a unique standard template if you want a personalised design.

That's all for now. Part two coming soon...

When you setup a new campaign in SDAconnect, you can now choose to run a standard campaign, where every recipient receives exactly the same email, or an A/B campaign. This page explains more about what A/B testing is, why you might use it and how it all works.

What is A/B testing?

A/B testing is a way of working out which of two different options will be the most effective. This can help you decide which email will the best one to send to your subscriber list from two different options which are labeled A and B.

The basic idea is that you send Version A to a small number of your subscribers, and Version B to another small group. The results (opens or clicks) are measured, and a winner is chosen. Then that winning version is sent out to all the remaining subscribers.

Why use A/B testing?

A/B testing offers a simple way for you to get the most opens and clicks from your campaign. With A/B testing you could:

• Test two subject lines, to see which one results in the most opens or clicks.
• Test two completely different designs to see which one gets the best results.
• Test a "Trial membership" promotion versus a "1st month free" promotion.
• Test two different "from names" to see which generates the most opens.

For any campaign, there are three different areas you can test. The subject line, the 'from' name and email address and the actual email content itself.

1. Subject line test - Taking a small subset of your recipients, for example 20%, you'll send half of them an email with one subject line, and the other half a different subject line. Then you can watch the results come in for as long or as short a time as you feel comfortable with. Once you know which one performs the best, you send the email, with that winning subject line in place, to the remaining 80% of your subscribers.

2. Email content test - You'll create two different emails to test and send them both to a subset of your recipients. Then (automatically or manually) the winning version is sent to the rest of your recipients. You could have only slight design differences, or something more major, depending on what you want to test.

3. From name and from email test - In this test, the content and the subject are the same for each email, and only the 'from' name and the 'from' address differ. Whichever gains the most opens or clicks (at your choice) wins, and is sent to the rest of the list.

What do A/B test reports look like?

While your A/B test is running (before the time period you set expires, or you manually declare a winner) there is a special A/B test report you will see. It looks like this:

You can easily see which version is performing better according to the measurement you chose, and you can also see the time remaining for the test. Notice the link in the top right to manually choose a winner. You might choose to do that if one version is clearly better, so you don't have to wait for time to run out. That's all there is to it!

Once your winner has been decided, the remaining recipients will receive the winning version and you'll be able to see your normal campaign reports. You can still access the A/B results too, in case you want to revisit them when designing your next campaign.

A/B testing is available for any current SDAconnect user – if you’re not a current user and want to know more or sign up to SDAconnect, go to www.sdaconnect.co.uk or email us at sales@sdasolutions.com.

Product/Module: Sales & Marketing; Membership & Admissions
Product Area(s): Activities

SMS activity confirmation

Users now have the option when creating an activity to send an SMS text message to confirm the appointment or other task. Confirming appointments via SMS should help to increase your show rates and it provides an opportunity to collect accurate mobile phone numbers for future SMS marketing.

Delete Activities

You can now delete activities if you want to remove old activities or have entered them with errors. Remember, once deleted you will not be able to retrieve them. If you are unsure it's safer to deactivate the activity rather than delete it.