February Newsletter Template: Fill & Download for Free

Every year several thousands of applications are published in the both Android and iOS App stores. App submission has witnessed such an overwhelming response that total count of apps has crossed the whopping one million mark. Many mobile app developers are keen to have their apps featured in the app stores. It is important for the app marketers to come up with innovative pre-launch app marketing strategy to stay in the race.1. Identify Your Target Persona First:There’s no question that marketing an app is a lot of work. Make sure you’re directing that energy in the right direction by first identifying your target persona. You would take a very different tactic marketing a hidden jewel game to Millennials than you would marketing a reminders app to working moms, as these demographics would respond differently. Use brainstorming and visioning techniques to articulate who your typical customer or customers might be and what that person or those people would look like (act like, do for a living, etc.).2. Social Media:Social media presence is not a question. In mobile app business you simply need it. Set up a Facebook page and Twitter account for regular information stream to your future customers or players and place Like and Follow buttons on your microsite. Keep posting updates, new screenshots and other information related to your app.Also, set up a YouTube channel where you are going to upload a video trailer or various behind-the-scenes videos. Add your microsite’s URL into your video channel description to increase SEO link juice for your microsite. Be active on Reddit, answer questions on Quora or talk on LinkedIn. But don’t spam!3. App Store Optimization:Whether you are going to publish your mobile application on iOS App Store or Android Google Play, basics are the same. App Store Optimization (ASO) is basically SEO for mobile apps in particular store. Main goal of ASO is to increase your discoverability and install rate in mobile apps universe so your potential customers can find you easily.Whole process is similar to standard SEO. You need to choose proper keywords, tags, description copywriting, language localization and so on. However, allowing your customer to find you is just a first half of this process – you need to persuade him to install your application. So you better prepare really shinning application icon, description and screenshots. App icon is the first thing your future customer sees, tho many developers still underestimate its importance.4. Email Marketing:Now let’s take advantage of your email database full of waiting customers. Prepare an exceptional newsletter template with design similar to your mobile app graphic style. Use service as Campaign Monitor, MailChimp or Aweber to A/B test your emails with different subject lines and choose the one with the best performance. Include native “Available on App Store” and “Android app on Google Play” buttons and be sure to optimize your email template for mobile and tablet devices.Don’t forget to test your email before sending so it won’t end up in spam folders. Coordinate your sending with other communication channels as mobile ads or cross-promotion services to maximize initial burst effect.5. Consider Pricing Carefully:It’s natural to want to price your app so you’ll earn good revenue from each download. However, research indicates that apps receive more downloads when they drop in price, and that free and freemium apps see the highest download count. Consider whether you will offer your app for free, use a freemium model where you earn money through in-app purchases, or offer your app for a one-time fee. Your persona and app type can help you select a pricing model: For example, in-app purchases make sense for a game, but not a reminders app. If you’re on the fence, consider that 72 percent of App Store revenue in February 2013 came from in-app purchases, according to Business Insider.

Canva is a Victoria's Secret model with an Oxycodone addiction.Canva = beautiful UI + absolutely crap UX. Four stars for being beautiful to look at, -5 stars for a brutal user experience.My design skills stopped evolving at about ten so I love any design tools that can help me quickly create images for content marketing projects, client proposals, or new business pitches. Canva is definitely not one of them. It’s a frustrating blend of really slick UI and awful UX. It’s incredibly painful to use.Little simple things like adding a corporate logo to a project template become a pantomime of all things stupid. Add the logo. Logo appears in the middle of the screen. Click on the logo to reposition it. Boom, the logo is now the background. Huh? Move/Bring to front and back/front selections common to other design programs don’t exist or don't work. The workaround is to use your keypad arrows to shift it around. Don’t think you can easily center it on the page, either. As soon as you click on it, it disappears into the background.WYSIWYG is a Wistful DreamThis is the coup de grace. What you see on screen (WYS) and what you download (WYG) are not the same image. Yes, WYSIWYG was apparently missing from the product roadmap. The file I downloaded today arbitrarily added a line break in my headline. Doesn’t exist (appears as a single headline) when looking at my saved file in the app. All manner of tweaking and forensics failed. I could have contacted Mystery Inc. but I'm confident that Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy would have collectively failed, too. Clearly a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma buried in some front-end code.UPDATE: February 2017 (This remains a PITA as you can see from the difference between the in-app file and the downloaded file)Maybe not one of the expected results when the decision was made to develop Canva in HTML 5….Ooooops.Bottom LineThis is gruesome software to use....pain on par with being a NY Jets or Washington Redskins fan. (OR an Atlanta Falcon fan (Super Bowl 51)."Free online graphic design services similar to Canva...." Similar? Who would want that?UPDATE - November 2015Really good customer service. Emailed a note about logo positioning issue and received an explanation about a default grid. Suggested a workaround that worked. Didn't ask about WYSIWIG issue. Doesn't change my opinion about the frustrating UX or that the support resources need improvement (much deeper search fuzzy matching).UPDATE - February 2016I've looked pretty closely at Desygner and its functionality is advancing very quickly. Some very smart people driving that product vision forward so it will be very interesting to see what happens in 2016.UPDATE: September 2016VisageI chanced across Visage.co a couple of weeks ago. Really nice early start on an app. Beautiful UI. The UX is a bit less satisfying but a good start. It also seems to be intended to be a tool to create a range of graphics (presentations, SlideShare decks, etc.) not just motivational quotes to share on Twitter.More on CanvaCanva still has UX issues, but it’s improving. One thing that grates is the fact that you can’t resize anything on the Free plan.Some Weekend ReadingI did use Canva to create all the graphics (logo, social media channels, favicon, website and branding) for a new curated newsletter I launched last month called Some Weekend Reading. I’m happy with the output.StencilI’ve also played with Stencil. Have a Pro account and it’s pretty nice (UI far more than UX). Less functionality than with Canva and seems to be promoted more as a browser plugin to create social media images on the fly. But there are a couple of “Pass me the Jack Daniels” issues arising from “WTF is going on?” moments.I really don’t understand why app developers don’t sit down with first-timers (people who have never opened the app) and watch what they do. What they really should do is have the “tester” talk out loud about what he wants to do, and then give a play-by-play of actions, results, frustrations, etc. I’ve provided this service to several companies, and it’s amazing to hear the “Oh, OK, yes, we see how that’s a problem” responses to my comments.I’m biased but I think having a marketing person test UI enables the marketing department to understand at an early stage some of the issues/challenges/problems, etc. that the marketing program will have to address.The Jack Daniel’s moments with Stencil have to do with selecting backgrounds and the app automatically changing a finished “I’m happy with this” file to something new. Will ping Stencil support to learn more.

Your Valentine’s Day email campaigns can run as long as you want them to, don’t restrict yourself with February, 14. That said, don’t focus on what you want to say in those emails. Think about the things your customers need. Better yet, do some research and apply the knowledge you get about your audience.1. SegmentationThe way you segment your Valentine’s Day email list will depend on the data you have, and the way you use this data. Just for example, you can segment your email list by:Sex/Gender: If feasible, target your male and female customers with different Valentine’s Day emails.Engagement: try to ‘wake up’ inactive subscribers during the festive campaign. Discounts can be a good reactivation tactic.Preferences: in your emails, use different calls to action to lead your customers to the categories they will be interested in. Monitor what links are clicked more often. This will help you segment customers by their preferences and drive results.Age: a couple of 50-year-olds will most probably celebrate this particular day differently from barely-of-age teenagers. Hence, the emails to both groups need to be different too.A good way to avoid annoying your customers is to offer them to opt out of your holiday campaigns without unsubscribing completely. In your emails, add a link like this: “I prefer looking for presents myself and don’t want to receive holiday-themed emails.” This way, you’ll be able to remove the partial unsubscribers from your holiday campaigns mailing list and not bother them with festive emails.2. Scheduling Your Valentine's Day Email CampaignLove is in the air, as spotted by John Paul Young. Valentine’s Day email ideas need to be light and delicate, just like air. To remind your subscribers about the most romantic day of the year, empower your campaign with ideas on how to surprise their partners, find a perfect present. After the big day, don’t forget to ask how it all went.Remind your customers about Valentine’s Day around the beginning of FebruarySend an email to all your subscribers, remind them that Valentine’s Day is close. In your first Valentine Day-themed email, throw in a couple ideas for gifts and activities for February, 14.Add about 3 call to action buttons, each describing a certain idea. Don’t forget to track clicks on each CTA button — this will help you plan your future emails based on each recipient’s CTA clicks in your email. Alternatively, c a survey to find out how users are planning to spend the day, this will help you understand them better.Send emails based on the CTA clicksFor your next emails, segment your customers based on their clicks in the first email. Add a description and a suggestion on how to give the gift. Keep in mind that Valentine’s Day is not just about lovers. Single people also like to celebrate it — with family or friends, for example. Make customer loyalty your first priority and try to make your email campaigns as personal as possible.February 5–6, launch your campaigns all outThe longer one puts off buying a Valentine’s Day present from an online store, the more difficult it will be to find, order, and receive a good gift on time. Give users an incentive to buy from you with discounts, coupons, and bonuses of all sorts. Such as, a free holiday wrapping when they order from your store.February 11–12, keep encouragingOnly send emails to subscribers who have opened at least one email in the last 3 months. If feasible, remind them that the time to buy presents is quickly running out. February 13, the day before It’s probably too late to try and sell anything, let alone deliver the purchase on time. For the subscribers who open your emails but do not buy, offer ideas on how to celebrate the day with their significant other. For those who buy — ideas for how to surprise their partner on the Lovers’ Day. Such content will help you make sure your customers remember you and recommend you to their friends.February 14, here it isOn this day, no one expects your emails. Everybody’s celebrating. Well, there’s a chance to catch a sad single someone... or encounter a troll the likes of Sheldon Cooper who doesn’t recognize this day as a holiday. However, in these cases, you can still be creative and, say, suggest watching I Hate Valentine’s Day :) You may even decide to not bother your subscribers at all.Alternatively, send your subscribers a love letter. This is a good day to tell your customers how much you value them. Send them a Valentine’s Day greeting card or a simple message to show your appreciation. A nice virtual equivalent of a flower bouquet and a bubble bath. Find an original greeting message without any lovey-dovey references.You know your subscribers best so the choice is yours.February 15–17, the afterpartyOn these days, ask your customers to tell you their love stories or how they’ve spent the day, what presents they’ve given to their partners, and whether your offers were useful to them.3. Creating Valentine's Day Email Designs and TemplatesIf you want to make something special for your subscribers, you need to plan it beforehand. See what other businesses do and try to come up with even better ideas. Try looking for Valentine’s newsletter ideas in your own inbox to find inspiration for your own Valentine’s Day email campaigns.Here are a few examples:A trendy Valentine's Day email by Asos with a '50 Shades of Grey' reference:Liberty's minimalist yet playful email design with an original message:A food-themed Valentine's Day email by Ask Italian:4. The Cherry on the Top: Valentine’s Day Email HeadlinesOne of the biggest challenges you can face is making your subscribers want to open your email. Email subject lines are often deal breakers when it comes to email open rates. Here are some examples for Valentine’s Day email subject lines to inspire your marketing campaigns:Cupid’s Countdown Is On! Only 7 days left to Valentine’s. It’s high time to think about presents.Baby’s 1st Valentine’s Day3 Days till Valentine’s. Find your presents today, it might be your last chance to get them in time.Gifts or emotions? What will your significant other like better?10 Ways to Say “I Love You”: Valentine’s Day greeting cards’ ideas514 Gift Ideas for Valentine’s DayYou can come up with your own, even better ideas for your own Valentine’s Day email marketing subject lines. Just give it a try.