@myasmine

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Constant Contact, it is one of the leaders in e-mail marketing services. They allow small businesses to create and manage e-mail lists and professional looking newsletters. The site boasts to have serviced over 130,000 customers (Update: As of June 2009, they’ve almost doubled to 250,000 customers). The company went public earlier this month and nearly doubled its offering price on the first day. We use the service ourselves at Team and a Dream and are extremely satisfied with it (Click on the banner above for a free 60-day trail). However, I wondered what other companies offered the same service after I heard about the IPO. After talking to some of our clients and browsing through the web, I’ve compiled a list of seven alternatives to Constant Contact (in no particular order).

1. iContact – In addition to creating, sending and tracking e-mail newsletters, you can also create and send surveys, blogs, and RSS feeds. iContact offers a free trial without requiring a credit card and the next level starts at $9.95 a month. This service charges you on the number of contacts you have – not the number of e-mails sent or a flat fee basis. The platform also works with Macs (not common with other platforms).They’ve also partnered with a third party to improve how many e-mails get through to recipients. Look for the 20% discount if you’re a non-profit. The service recently won the Web 2.0 Award for “Best Marketing Application.” Update: Subscriptions now include auto-responders and surveys.
2. VerticalResponse – This company offers a pay as you go model or a monthly subscription. They seem to be one of the few services to integrate with Salesforce and Intuit. In addition to offering surveys, they also allow you to send postcards from your browser. You can customize your postcards online and VerticalReponse will send them for you – offering a unique and an additional way to get in touch with your prospects or customers. Their rates are comparable – with $10/month for up to 500 emails and $120/month for as many as 16k emails.
3. MailChimp – Offering a pay-per-email or a monthly plan option, MailChimp lets you customize how you want to be billed. The most notable difference is how they allow users to perform A/B testing of your subject lines. Their monthly plan starts at $10 for 500 subscribers and goes up to $240 for up to 50k. Pay-per-you-go pricing starts at three cents per email and decreases accordingly as more credits are purchased. Update: MailChimp has launched a “Forever Free Plan” that allows you to send 3k/emails a month as long as your contact list is less than 500 contacts.
4. Newsberry – Another e-mail campaign service that allows you to create your e-mail, send it to your list, and track the results. The difference is that they offer a pay as you go model based on the number of e-mails – not a monthly subscription like Constant Contact.
5. ReachMail – The company services small businesses in addition to large enterprises. They also offer XML integration to keep your e-mails frequent and streamlined.
6. ennectMail – Also has a pay as you go model, charging five cents per e-mail. A unique feature I noticed here is what they call “HotPlots.” This shows you who your hottest prospects are, how well your e-mails are working, as well as your contacts participation over time.
7. Emma GoDaddy – This company is praised for their customer service as well as their intuitive features. Their service includes custom designs, which are available for a fee. It is the most expensive option out of the seven and is also the only site I’ve seen that charges a one-time setup fee of $250. Update: Emma is offering special startup pricing. Click here for more details.

Bonus: For those looking for an enterprise solution, Infusionsoft combines email marketing, CRM and ecommerce solutions. Their most impressive feature is what they call a “an automatic follow-up engine” which they guarantee will double your sales (has anyone tried these guys?). Offering a 15-day free trial, monthly pricing starts at $199/month for 10k contacts and 25k emails/month. If you’ve encountered or use a service we haven’t mentioned, please share your experiences with us by adding a comment below.

I’ve wanted to set up my own blog for a while now. As you can see, I’ve finally done it I previously blogged at the Cheap Revolution where I mostly shared top 10 lists and marketing related ideas. When i decided to migrate over to WordPress, I thought it was time for a new name as well.

However, nothing else has changed. I plan on to continue blogging about the same topics I’ve written about before, mostly focused on web startups, entrepreneurship and online marketing. I’ll also be sharing my experiences in getting my new company, 123LinkIt.com, started. As a marketer, I’m aware that the best performing blogs have a unified theme. My goal here is to share my startup endeavors – the wins, the failures, what I’ve learned, and everything in between. I hope you’ll find some of my stories useful for your startup.

Here it goes!

-Yasmine

I previously posted an entry that discussed 5 reasons you should market test your startup idea. Some of you asked, “Ok, but how?” Besides the traditional A/B testing approach with Google Adwords (which can be a bit complicated if you’re not familiar with it), here are other tools you can use for market testing or to de-risk an idea:

1. Facebook Advertising – Unlike Google Adwords, Facebook allows you to target your exact audience. Within their advertising platform, you can drill into specifics such as age, gender, location and a lot more. It’s a simple process – you create your ad, choose your audience, price your ad and you’re all set. For more information, check out the Facebook Advertising page. Better yet, try it for free by downloading Visa’s Business Network application and receive $100 worth of free Facebook advertising.

2. SurveyMonkey – Rolling out a new concept? Put together a free 10-question survey and send it to your clients and/or prospects to gain feedback on what they think. The key here is to ask the right questions. For better conversions, offer some kind of incentive (the best are those that allow you to cross-sell your own services).

3. Dneero – This services allows you to “create multi-question conversations” that you can have bloggers post about to gain feedback from your target market. Although I haven’t used this personally, it looks fascinating – drop me a comment if you’ve tried it. You can find more information on their site.

4. Google Insights – This free tool from Google allows you to look at all Google web searches since 2004. How can this help you? You can use the tool to gauge the popularity of a specific search term. Check out this screencast (I apologize in advance for the sound quality) I previously put together that takes you through a fictional scenario to see how you can benefit from using this tool for market testing.

5. Ideablob – A great platform that allows you to submit your idea with the chance to win $10,000 while obtaining feedback from voters. What do you have to lose? You either win $10k you can use for your concept or you gain feedback and advice from others.

Have you used any of these tools? Let us know how they’ve worked for you by adding a comment below.

If you decide to stick with Google Adwords, check out Steve Barsh’s 2-part series on ways you can de-risk your idea using Google Adwords.

Related entries:

• 5 Benefits of Market Testing your Idea
• Build a Landing Page you can be Proud of

Google Insights is a free tool from Google that allows you to look at all Google web searches from 2004. It lets you compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories and time frames. This allows you to gauge the popularity of a specific search term.

How can this help your web business? The screencast below takes you through a fictional scenario where I want to build a site for vegetarians. I’m not sure what features to add or what type of content I should focus on and I use Google Insights to help me figure it out.

Besides market testing, check out the other ways you can use the tool.

Need one more reason to love Google?

They recently announced what they’re calling the Project 10 to the 100th contest where they’re looking for “ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible.” Their reasoning is that helping other people is the one thing (besides material wealth) that increases an individuals happiness over time. As a result, they’re looking for ideas that not only help people – but ideas that will help the most number of people. Not only will you get the benefit of helping others, they’ll also invest $10 million (yes, $10 MILLION) to make it happen themselves.

How does it work?

All you have to do is submit your idea using this 20-question submission form. You can also upload a 30-second YouTube video to their channel explaining your idea in more detail. Google will select the top 100 ideas and ask the public to vote until 20 semi-finalists are left. An advisory board will select up to 5 final ideas and Google will use the $10 million dollar pool to implement it.The winners do not receive any of the prize money – but they will have the satisfaction of making a difference and the accolades to go with it.

Your idea can be submitted in 8 categories total – Community, Opportunity, Energy, Environment, Health, Education, Shelter, and Everything else.

To increase your chance of winning, keep these criteria in mind (as shown on the site):

• Reach: How many people would this idea affect?
• Depth: How deeply are people impacted? How urgent is the need?
• Attainability: Can this idea be implemented within a year or two?
• Efficiency: How simple and cost-effective is your idea?
• Longevity: How long will the idea’s impact last?

The deadline is October 20th and more than one entry is allowed so start brainstorming right away! Check out the current submissions here for inspiration.

How are you going to change the world?

So you’ve learned how to build a successful landing page, now what? How can you make your website more appealing to users and attract more visitors to return to your site?

Let me start off my recommending you check out this great video YouTube by Aza Raskin entitled ‘Don’t make me click’.

It’s about computer interface design, and how, given the limitations of the computer visuals and interactions, you should design an efficient user interface that allows users to do what they want, in the shortest time possible. Why? Because even though users go to your website for content, the amount of time they have to spend navigating through your site to find that content is a huge opportunity cost to them.

To retain visitors to your site or landing page, you need to present your content in the simplest manner possible without getting into the way of your visitors while utilizing the simplest interaction interface. If the interaction required increases, the users’ information density decreases. When this happens, the content in your page decreases and users go away. Now, that’s not what you’d want, especially for an internet web business.

The best interface is having no interface – If your user doesn’t notice the interface that they’re using, that’s the best that can happen! If they do notice the interface, chances are they’re not really noticing your product or service. Read the rest of this entry »

Now that you’ve read the benefits to market testing, you’re ready to build your own landing page…but how do you start?

First, keep in mind that landing pages are different than web pages. A landing page is usually created for a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign with the intent to produce conversions. Upon arriving on the page, it’s designed to encourage visitors to perform a desired action. Whether it’s filling out an e-mail form or purchasing a product, a landing page is optimized for that act.

Before constructing a landing page, perform some demographic research on your target group. Find out what your visitor is looking for and what offers would work for them. Build a profile of your ideal visitor and keep it in mind when creating your landing page. If you’re targeting multiple groups, create separate landing pages for each. The more targeted your message is, the higher probability of increasing conversions.

Now that you know some of the basic fundamentals, read on for ten tips to keep in mind when building your landing page:

1. Include an image. An appealing or relevant picture will draw visitors in and help retain them on the site. Images that can help them self-identify work best.

2. Establish trust and credibility. Include a logo (if available) or the name of the product or service. The branding isn’t as important as the content but the visitor needs to feel like the website is legitimate. Convey trust by including your contact information as well as your phone number and e-mail address. For more on this topic, see “Building Trust with your Online Users.”

3. Include a sub-heading or questions that lead into the content. The goal is to include text that helps them understand what they’re about to read. Questions are a good way of engaging your visitor’s attention.

4. Keep the content short and sweet. While it should still convey the message of your product or service, it should be concise and only have enough information to gauge their interest. Also, keep your most important points at the beginning and make sure most of the content is above the fold. Note: People read will read the beginning and the end before they read middle of your text. In addition, keep the tone and language of your readers in mind. If you’re targeting high school students, your content shouldn’t read at a PhD level.

5. Write in 2^nd person. Using “you” and “your” will help grab your visitors’ attention.

6. Keep the tone and language of the content in mind. The tone should conform to the visitor’s values. In addition, the language should correlate with the market and with the product or service.

7. “Call to actions” are important. At least one call to action should be present on the page. These are specific actions you ultimately want the visitor to take. Examples include “Sign Up Now” or “Download Now.” For optimal results, make sure to include them above the fold. Capture e-mail addresses if possible. If your call to action includes a whitepaper or article, ask for an e-mail address. Keep these in a database somewhere and use them to send marketing collateral when ready.

8. Motivate visitors to act. People respond to fear, greed, guilt, exclusivity, anger, salvation, or flattery. Use no more than one of these elements to get visitors to make a conversion.

9. White space is a good thing. Try not to stick as many elements on the page as possible. White space makes the web page looks clean and simple. The more clutter there is, the more likely it will drive visitors away.

10. Remember to use good SEO keywords. If you’ve done your market testing properly, then you know which keywords generate the most traffic. Make sure you splice them into the text liberally to help your PPC campaign and your search engine rank.

Related Posts:

• 5 Reasons to Market Test Startup Idea

One characteristic entrepreneurs possess is the inherent ability to constantly think of new ideas. I, for one, am always thinking of new ways to use an already existing product, combine multiple products together, or (my favorite) – come up with a new product or service altogether. I usually get really excited and proceed to call up a couple of friends to discuss it with. After some time passes though, I tend to feel completely disheartened and end up back on square one. Why? Let me start with a few examples:

- In the summer of last year, I was reading Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston and found myself highlighting certain sentences and making notes on some of the pages. Suddenly, it hit me – why not combine a bookmark with a highlighter and pen (and/or maybe post-its) that I could use instead of having a separate pen, highlighter, bookmark and/or post-its? I called up my best friend immediately and discussed the idea. Next, I did a Google search and – to my dismay – found a patent on a similar product. (Thanks to print moving online and products like Amazon’s Kindle, you can see it’s also a product that was probably not going to get far).

- Another idea I was also excited about was an online service that allowed obsessed fans to have personal images altered to include their favorite celebrities. I put together a few for my sister (this is when I used to be handy at Photoshop) and she loved them. I also created an eBay listing to see if anyone would be interested in paying for the service. However, I quickly learned about copyright infringement and a lawyer I hired advised me to go in another direction.

- Just this year I put together a business plan for a clothes swapping marketplace and spent months working on a business plan. I entered it into Temple’s Business Plan Competition where I was chosen as a finalist. However, I didn’t place and abandoned the idea a couple of months later when I couldn’t get past a key issue in my plan.

What’s the common thread among these examples? I DIDN’T LAUNCH ANY OF THEM!

What is it? Are the ideas flawed from the start? Are there focus or execution issues?

Read the rest of this entry »

“Jumping into a startup without market testing is like skydiving without a parachute”

Will it work?

After brainstorming an idea for a new product or service, this is the first question an entrepreneur should ask themselves. Referred to as market testing, obtaining proof of concept or de-risking an idea, this step is imperative in formulating a business and should be considered early in the first stages of a startup. Below, I list five important benefits of market testing.

1. Save time and money

2. Identify focus and differentiate from the competition

Some forms of market testing also allow entrepreneurs to determine Long Tail opportunities for their product or service. For example, a client of ours was looking into providing offerings to the general health and wellness space. However, a couple of weeks with some niche market strategies and a Google Adwords campaign specially designed to seek out new opportunities led to a focus on specific medical conditions.  The company is currently one of the most promising startups in Philadelphia.

3. Obtain feedback from your target market

You have an idea and you think it’s going to work. Why not hear it straight from your target market? Validation from your target market is instrumental and an important but often overlooked step by entrepreneurs. Let’s say you’re looking to launch a clothes swapping social network for example (one of my past ideas), wouldn’t you want to hear from potential customers what they think of the service or whether or not they would use it? You can even test out different price-points they’re willing to pay for your service. If you’re looking for investors down the road, this step is especially critical as you will need to explain how you arrived at your conclusions.

4. Ensure there is a need for your service

Related to the previous step, market testing also allows entrepreneurs to de-risk their idea. Hearing feedback from your target market is a great way to gain insight on how likely they would be to use your product or service. If performed correctly, you may also sign up beta users and attain specific areas of interest from your potential consumer. Sometimes entrepreneurs fall in love with their idea only to realize they are not filling a specific or large enough market need – make sure you don’t fall into that trap.

5. Test out different messages

Finally, another great advantage of market testing is finding out which messages are resonating with your market better. We’re currently conducting A/B testing on a service for a client of ours in the Green/environmental space. We formed two messages – one geared towards a specific psychographic highlighting the measurable benefits of the offering and another focused on a psychographic that highlights the impact on the planet and community.  Depending on the results from this kind of test, you can determine which message will convert more users and use it as part of your web copy. This can turn out to be a great way to ratchet up sales.

So now that you know the benefits of market testing, where do you start? Stay tuned for future posts where we’ll explore that topic. In the meantime, check out Steve Barsh’s blog, a guru at one of the DreamIT companies (For more on DreamIT, see our previous blog post “Announcing the DreamIT Series). He recently gave a great presentation titled,“De-Risking your Business Model: A Brief “How-to” Guide with some ideas and helpful insight.

Photo by: Oleksandr Demchenko

Previous Post: Announcing the DreamIt Series

Thanks to DreamIt Ventures, I’ve recently been submerged in the funding world. I’ve met and am working with entrepreneurs getting their product or service in a state where they can approach investors for funding. In addition, I’ve been interacting with entrepreneurs engrossed in the funding circuit who are physically shaking hands with angels and VCs every other day. DreamIt has also allowed me to gain insight into what investors look for. In fact, for our first Tuesday night Speaker Series, we had a great Q&A session with three different investors at once. Of course, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to ask them some questions. Here are some of the highlights:

1. One investor (and a co-founder of DreamIT) admitted he can tell within the first 45 SECONDS whether or not he will invest in a company. 45 SECONDS! When we challenged him on his answer, he admitted he’s gone back on his first instinct but generally has a good idea on whether or not he believes in the team or product/service within that timeframe.

2. Another prominent local Philadelphia investor and entrepreneur gave us a formula he uses when evaluating a company’s pitch. He looks for the 5 M’s:

-  Management: How experienced, open, and smart is the management team? How knowledgeable are they about their product/service and their market?

-  Market: Is there a need in the marketplace? How big is the market?

-  Model: What’s the business model look like? Is it viable?

-  Momentum: What progress have they achieved? What’s their trajectory path?

-  Moat: What are their barriers to entry? How well do they hold up?

3. Out of these five 5 M’s, we asked each of these investors which they perceive as the most important traits. They consensually agreed they were market and management.

4. When dealing with early stage tech and internet startups, all have agreed that they expect your business model to change at least once. For that reason, they look for entrepreneurs who are open, flexible, and can adapt to the market.

5. The biggest irritants for investors:

-  Entrepreneurs who think they know it all or are overconfident

-  Entrepreneurs who do not know their market and/or industry

6. It’s okay to say “I don’t know” during an investor presentation. In fact, the investor(s) you’re pitching to prefer it to a long winded round and about answer. Even better – discuss how the question they brought up would effect your business in another manner. For example, “I wonder how that would impact X…” This shows the investors you’re honest and open-minded.

7. Investors are more willing to listen to you or follow up if they receive an introduction from someone they know. Use LinkedIn or attend networking events to open these doors.

8. First impressions are extremely important to investors. Ask good questions. DON’T approach investors with a half-baked idea. They’ll feel like you wasted their valuable time and will not take your future calls.

Make sure to keep these tidbits in mind as you get ready for funding. How well can you answer the 5 M’s above?