Kristi Smith Consulting | Business Solutions That Make Sense
  • Home

What Is E-marketing Anyway?

9/21/2016

 
Picture
Act! Emarketing has come up here at KSC a lot this year – from this month’s webinar, to featuring it in our newsletter, to discussing the Emarketing enhancements available in the latest version of Act!. But some of you may be wondering “What the heck is e-marketing anyway, and why should I care about it?”

E-marketing is any marketing done online or digitally, but when we talk about Act! Emarketing, we’re specifically referring to e-mail marketing. Do you email your contacts about any of the following?
  • Company news
  • Industry news
  • Promotions, discounts and sales
  • New or improved products and services
  • Insider information (how to’s, FAQ’s, etc.)
  • Birthday, anniversary or holiday greetings
Then you’re already doing e-mail marketing! But if you’re still sending all your e-marketing messages using your regular day-to-day email client, you’re missing out on some great ways to improve your marketing efficiency and success.

Using a program like Act! Emarketing offers a number of benefits over your regular e-mail client when it comes to e-mail marketing:

  • A more professional image
  • Customizable mobile-friendly templates
  • Easily personalized emails
  • Tracking/analytics
  • Reporting
  • A better send process (your emails are less likely to be marked as spam)
  • The ability to create & schedule email campaigns in advance
  • Functions necessary to comply with legal requirements, such as unsubscribe

And, with Act! Emarketing, you can take advantage of powerful Act! capabilities:
  • Easily access Contacts, Lookups, Groups, and Companies right from within Act! to quickly build targeted email lists
  • Upload and host images and documents that can be used to personalize your emails
  • Easily share images and documents in your email campaigns by embedding or linking to your hosted library
  • Easily create simple webforms to capture leads from web pages, newsletters, emails, and more
  • View emarketing results directly on each contact record within Act!
  • View a prioritized list of recipients ranked by level of interaction – allowing you to contact those who are most interested in your message – right within Act!
 
Want to purchase the latest version of Act! and take advantage of all Act! Emarketing has to offer? Already have Act! Emarketing and looking for training in using it efficiently and effectively?
CONTACT US

UPCOMING WEBINAR: Emarketing with Act! -  Learn To Send Your First Message

9/1/2016

 
Picture
Are you ready to get started with e-mail marketing? Act! emarketing is a simple and cost-effective way to grow your business.

​We’ll help you learn to create professional, eye catching campaigns that reach customers and prospects with the right message at the right time.

In this session we will explore:
  • Creating an Act! emarketing account
  • Modifying existing Act! emarketing templates
  • Preparing to send your first Act! emarketing message
Join us for a webinar on September 22nd, 2016 at 11:00 AM CDT. 
$35 fee/per attendee.
REGISTER

Act! Feature of the Month: Act! Emarketing

7/13/2016

 
Picture
Did you know that your purchase of a recent version of Act! Premium (v16 and above) includes a basic Act! Emarketing account at no extra cost? Powerful, easy-to-use emarketing tools help you reach the right customers and prospects with the right message, so you can:
​
  • Grow your business
  • Drive sales success
  • Create customers for life

With Act! Emarketing you can create and send campaigns, analyze results and insights, and view comprehensive contact history – all within Act!

Take Advantage of Powerful Act! Capabilities
  • Easily access Contacts, Lookups, Groups, and Companies right from within Act! to quickly build targeted email lists.
  • View emarketing results directly on each contact record within Act!.
  • Take notes, view complete history, and edit contact details to keep your data up-to-date – no synching, uploading, or downloading needed.

​Grow Your Business with Lead Capture
  • Easily create simple webforms to capture leads from web pages, newsletters, emails, and more.
  • Copy/Paste HTML into your web page, newsletter and more.
  • Or, use a hyperlink to Act!’s hosted form.
  • Extended and Basic forms included.
  • Stay organized using Act! Group functionality.
 
Send Your Email with Confidence
  • Ensure your message gets to the inbox, with our expert advice and handy strategic tips for higher conversions and improved deliverability.
  • Our dedicated deliverability team manages sender reputation to ensure your emails are sent with outstanding delivery rates.
  • Send personalized emails immediately or schedule for future delivery with ease. ​
Picture

​
​Track More Than Just Your Emails
  • Find out exactly what happened after your email was sent, including open rates, clicks, bounces, opt-outs, and more in easy-to-analyze graphs and detailed reports.
  • Use what you learn to continuously hone your messages.
  • These results can also be recorded in Act! history so you can make sure future communications reach the right people.​
Expedite Follow-up with Intelligent Call Lists
  • View a prioritized list of recipients ranked by level of interaction – allowing you to contact those who are most interested in your message – right within Act!.
  • Robust integration within Act! allows you to easily create Histories, Activities, Lookups, and more – right from the contact within the Call List.
Picture
Picture


​Organize Your Leads
  • Enable Call Lists at time of send or anytime thereafter to get dynamic, up-to-date interaction information.
  • View and manage Call Lists for each of your campaigns, or combine the hottest leads from all your campaigns into one.
  • Review all Call List results, or for campaigns over a specified time frame.

​Host & Share Your Media
  • Ensure customers notice your message with personalization options like dynamic data integration and attention-grabbing images.
  • Upload and host images and documents that can be used to personalize your emails.
  • Easily share images and documents in your email campaigns by embedding or linking to your hosted library.

Create Email Templates with Ease
  • With over 100 email templates provided, you’re sure to find one that fits your business need, or easily import your own HTML files for a completely custom campaign.
  • Customizing your email template is simple with our intuitive drag-and-drop template editor.
  • Mobile-friendly templates offer maximum readability on mobile devices.
Picture
New for Act! v18 - Act! emarketing has been greatly improved for Team use. As an administrator, you have greater control over who can send emarketing message with Call List filters and Act! emarketing permissions for send and Smart Tasks.
 
Want to purchase the latest version of Act! and take advantage of all Act! Emarketing has to offer? Already have Act! Emarketing and looking for training in using it efficiently and effectively?
​

CONTACT US

Help Improve Our Newsletter!

3/30/2016

 
​We put out an email newsletter every month hoping that you will find it to be a valuable resource. Now it's your turn to help make the newsletter even better!

​Are there topics you would like to see us cover? Changes you think we should make? Act! features, functions or add-ons you would like to know more about? Take a short survey and let us know!
Take the Survey

Act! Feature of the Month: The Relationship Tab

2/12/2016

 
Picture
Valentine’s Day was first associated with romantic love by poet Geoffrey Chaucer in the late 1300’s, and since that time the February focus on relationships and love has continued to grow. So we figured this is the perfect time to highlight an Act! feature aptly named the Relationship tab.

The Relationship tab allows you to create and document existing influential relationships between contacts in your database based on criteria such as family relationships, contacts belonging to the same professional association, etc. Instead of creating separate groups for small-member associations consider using the Relationship tool to link the members.
 
Creating a New Relationship

1.  From your contact's record, click on the Relationships tab and click Relate Contact in the top left corner of the tab. The Relate Contact dialog box appears. 

Picture
2.  Choose the contact(s) to relate to your current contact, by selecting them from the dropdown in the ‘Relate (contact) to’ box.

3.  Under the Define Relationship section, first choose the relationship of your contact to the contact(s) you are linking them to. Then choose that contact's relationship to your current contact. Note: The relationship-type list contains pre-defined relationship types, but you may change or add to these values by clicking Edit List Values at the bottom of the list. You may also just type the relationship description directly into the field.
​

Picture
4.  You can type in any notes or details regarding this relationship in the Details section.

5.  Click OK when finished.

Managing Relationships

Once you have created a relationship for a contact, you will see a list of related contacts under the Relationships tab for that contact. You can quickly go to any related contacts by clicking on their hyper-linked name. You can also edit a relationship by double-clicking on the line item for that relationship, or highlighting it and clicking Edit Relationship. By right-clicking on a related contact, you will find options to relate, edit, or remove relationships, create lookups and more.

Looking for more information on how or why to utilize the Relationship tab or other Act! features? Contact us today by email at info@kristismith.com or phone at (847) 520-0860.

You Have Clients Who Love You – Are You Reciprocating?

2/11/2016

 
Picture
February is often equated with its most romantic holiday, Valentine’s Day, and in particular, with showering your loved ones with tokens of your affection.  Along these lines, we started wondering how often we, as businesses who work closely with our clients, make it a point to reciprocate the love we get from them. 

​When clients come back to us time and time again, they are letting us know they appreciate what we do.  This month, we want to talk about how to return that kindness.
The first question you should ask yourself is “how can I tell who really likes us?”  Of course, off the top of your head you probably can name quite a few people with whom you do regular business.  But if you can set up Act! to tell you who is interacting with you and when, then you can get a clearer picture of who your best clients are.

Of course, what you consider your “best client” may vary.  Do you want to thank clients who buy a lot in net purchasing?  Or is it the clients who are consistent return customers?  Or do you have clients who always make contact with you around the holidays?  All of these things can be tracked in Act!.
​
Once you decide what your criteria is, you can set up Act! to stratify your clients.  Creating a field called “prospect level” or “client level” gives you a place to track what kind of client you have.  You can then choose a method of tracking them.  You could go with a hierarchical classification, like assigning clients “A” through “D” status, or you can use descriptors, like “frequent customer” or “loyal promoter.”  Once your contacts labelled in this way, it’s easy to run a search for everyone who is an “A level” client or a “frequent customer.”
​
Picture
From there it’s up to you how you thank your customers.  Whether you want to provide them with free, valuable white papers, send them hand-written thank you notes or do something else, making the effort is a guaranteed way to be sure you’re letting the clients who appreciate you know that the feeling is mutual.

Need help setting up client stratification? Contact us via email at info@kristismith.com or phone (847) 520-0860.

Act! Feature: Intelligent Call Lists

2/3/2016

 
​If you use Act! emarketing, have you made use of Intelligent Call Lists? This feature allows you to find out exactly what happened after your Act! emarketing email was sent, including open rates, clicks, bounces, opt-outs etc. in easy-to-analyze graphs and detailed reports. Use what you learn to expedite follow-up, organize your leads and continuously hone your messages.
Picture
  • View a prioritized list of recipients ranked by level of interaction – allowing you to contact those who are most interested in your message – right within Act!.
  • Robust integration within Act! allows you to easily create Histories, Activities, Lookups, and more – right from the contact within the Call List.
  • Enable Call Lists at time of send or anytime thereafter to get dynamic, up-to-date interaction information.
  • View and manage Call Lists for each of your campaigns, or combine the hottest leads from all your campaigns into one.
  • Review all Call List results, or for campaigns over a specified time frame.
Picture
Learn more about the Call List Feature in Act! and how to use it.
 
Looking to get Act! emarketing, add the Call List feature to your Act! Emarketing subscription or need help utilizing your Call Lists?
Contact Us

Get More Out of Your Business This Year

1/28/2016

 
Are you looking to increase sales, improve customer relationships or be more efficient in 2016? Maybe you’re interested in the latest marketing tools or learning proven marketing techniques. Following KSC on social media can lead you to some great resources. Check out a few of our recent posts on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn:
​
  • 5 Must Haves to Revamp Your 2016 Email Strategy 
  • Your ‘revenue roster’ could bring you riches 
  • 10 Small Digital Marketing Strategy Hacks That Move The Needle 
  • What Your 2016 Content Marketing Strategy Should Look Like 
  • Boosting CRM uptake
  • Organizing for productivity: 4 tips for minimizing distractions​ 

Show Your Clients You Care This Holiday Season

11/3/2015

 
Picture

The traditional holiday card is a nice way to say you are thinking of your clients this time of year. With Act!, you can cut down on the prep time and tedious busy work necessary to put holiday cards together. We recommend selecting cards and filling them out by hand for a personal touch. However if you need to save time and energy, there are several great vendors available who will fill them out for you. We recommend using Act! to print out labels or to print addresses directly onto the envelopes. This is a seriously simple process.
1) Create your lookup
First you will want to decide who will be getting cards and how you will organize them. We recommend either creating a group to which you then add all card recipients or selecting recipients by a commonality--all clients, all networking contacts, etc. Once you have the card recipients organized, create a lookup of those contacts. If you have your contacts marked off by ID Status already, you can simply create a lookup based on the relevant ID Status.

2) File>Print>Labels or Envelopes
From your lookup, go to the File dropdown and select Print. From the Print window, you can select either Label or Envelope (label if you will be printing address labels, envelope if you will be printing addresses directly onto your envelopes).

3) Select your stationery
Stationery companies like Avery make it easy to print directly from your computer. Act! has the dimensions of the most popular labels already saved as defaults. Simply select the product number that matches the labels or envelope size you have purchased, and Act! will print your labels so that they fit properly on the labels or envelopes you've selected. We can also help you create templates for envelopes or labels whose templates are not included in Act! if need be.

4) Preview and print
Once you’ve chosen your template, you can then preview your labels, save the document and print later, or print right away. It's that easy.

Do you need help using Act! to create holiday card or gift recipient lists, to create mailing labels or to print envelopes for holiday cards? Please Contact Us today. We’re happy to help!

Make the Most of your Contacts with Act!

10/28/2015

 
Consolidate your contacts, segment your groups, help grow your business!
<<Previous
    Loading

    Picture
    Subscribe To Our Newsletter


    Archives

    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    August 2010
    April 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009


    Categories

    All
    8x8
    ACT! 2011
    ACT! 2013
    ACT! Activities
    ACT! Add On
    ACT! And Outlook Integration
    ACT! Backups
    Act! Connect
    Act! Customization
    Act! Database Maintenance
    ACT! Dynamic Groups
    Act! Emarketing
    Act! Features
    ACT! For Events
    ACT! For Mobile Devices
    Act! For Web
    Act! Personal Info Tab
    Act! Personalization
    Act! Premium
    Act! Premium Cloud
    Act! Promotions
    ACT! Reports
    ACT! Searches
    ACT! Social Media
    Act! Technical Support
    ACT! Tip
    Act! Update
    Act! V16
    Act! V17
    Act! V18
    Automated Marketing
    Automation
    Browser Issues
    Business Ethics
    Business Hours
    Business Humor
    Business Intelligence
    Business Tools
    Call Lists
    Chrome
    Cloud Communications
    Cloud Hosting
    Contact Layout
    Contacts
    Content Marketing
    CRM Integration
    Customer Appreciation
    Customer Relationships
    Customer Retention
    Database Conversion
    Digital Marketing
    DIY
    Drip Marketing
    Duplicate Entries
    Efficiency
    Email
    Email Marketing
    Events
    Export
    Exporting To Excel
    FAQ
    Favorite Contacts
    Favorite Lookup
    Fill The Pipeline
    Filtering
    History List
    Holidays
    How To
    Import
    Integration
    Intuit
    Labor Day
    Leads In ACT!
    LinkedIn
    Microsoft Office
    Mobility
    Newsletter
    Opportunities
    Organization
    Outlook Integration
    Payment Processing
    PayPal
    Payroll
    Productivity
    Prospects
    Queries
    QuickBooks Online
    QuickBooks Payments
    QuickBooks Payroll
    Relationship Building
    Sales Pipeline
    Sales Review
    Slack
    Social Media
    Social Media Marketing
    Spring
    Strategic Planning
    Subscription
    Summer Projects
    Swiftpage
    Sync ACT! To Mobile
    Task List
    Technical Issue
    Technical Support
    Trade Shows
    Training
    Upgrade
    Upgrade ACT!
    Voice Over Ip
    VOIP
    Web API
    Web Browsers
    Webinar
    Web Info Tab
    Windows 10
    WuFoo

Kristi Smith Consulting     |    (847) 520-0860    |    info@kristismith.com


This Web site is owned by Kristi Smith Consulting, LLC. Kristi Smith Consulting, LLC is independent from Swiftpage and is not authorized to make any statement, representation or warranties or grant any license or permission on behalf of Swiftpage regarding any product, service or Web site content. Certain materials made available on or through this Web site are owned by Swiftpage and cannot be used without the prior written permission of Swiftpage; such materials have been released to KSC as a Swiftpage Authorized Business Partner and are used with permission from Swiftpage ACT! LLC. | www.swiftpage.com | All images displayed are the property of Kristi Smith Consulting and may not be copied or used without prior written authorization from a Kristi Smith Consulting administrator.