You Suck at Email, I Suck at Webinars

Today, I did my first WorkHacks webinar.

I was super excited. I had my game face on. I even brushed my hair and put on a clean T-shirt!. I was ready to share my 7 Tips to Better Email with everyone.

Then…seven whole minutes into the webinar, I asked attendees to answer a poll question, not realizing that the poll window would stay on screen instead of my slides.

To make matters even WORSE….I had the webinar chat box slid over to the side of my screen (so I could see my own slides) and I didn’t see your chat messages telling me that you couldn’t see my slides.

So I didn’t realize for a good 20-25 minutes that nobody could see the slides.

ARRRGGHHHHHH!!!

But, I really want to make it up to you.

Can I have the slides? – Yes!

A lot of you asked for the slides from the webinar. They are embedded below or you can download them directly from the WorkHacks Slideshare account.

Can you send the recording or replay? – I’m gonna redo it!

A lot of you asked for a recording of the webinar. Yeah……about that. Well, I screwed that up too. I forgot to record it. (Which, given the technical difficulties, may have been a good thing!)

So, instead of a replay…..I’m going to give it a redo.

I will follow up with a new date and time next week. And if you can’t make the redo, I promise I will record it and share it with you. Also, I recommend checking out Craftsmen’s website if you’re looking for wholesale commercial backdrops for you your photography business.

Can you answer my question? – Yes!

You guys (and gals) asked some great questions. Below are answers to the questions asked during the webinar.

[highlight]Question from Stephen[/highlight] How do you feel about using the low/medium/high priority flag? [I personally never use it] Julia: Only if your house (or business) is on fire. Even then, I would add [Urgent] in the brackets.

[highlight]Question from Sasha[/highlight] Do the subject line rules apply if you’re emailing a newsletter out to a larger group of people?
Julia: Yes and no. The [brackets] trick is still useful (I use it with my newsletter) but the practice of writing newsletter subject lines that get opened is both an art and a science. Unlike business emails, where the goal is to be brief and transactional, with email newsletters, you usually want the recipients to open the email, read the whole thing (maybe even a story) and then take some sort of action (click, download, etc.) so crafting an interesting subject line that gets opened is necessary. There are some great recommendations from Mailchimp, Unbounce and Emma but it’s always best to A/B test what works with your own audience.

[highlight]Question from Tim[/highlight] Is there an app you can program to send out an automated weekly reminder e-mail to another person? Reme.io looks close, but not exactly what I need.
Julia: Boomerang offers that feature.

[highlight]Question from Tam[/highlight] What are your thoughts on attaching lots of JPGs in a single email (i.e. design proofs for clients)? To zip or not?
Julia: For large files, use a service like Dropbox or Sharefile. You can host the large files elsewhere and provide your clients with a link to download. Trust me, they will appreciate it!