Studies have shown recruiters typically scan a resume for only about six seconds before making a decision on whether an applicant is fit for a role.

With only six seconds to demonstrate your qualifications for a position, every detail counts – including the font you use. The question is, what are the best resume fonts to pass the six-second scan?

We asked HubSpot recruiters to reveal the seven best fonts for your resume as well as what they consider in terms of design in general, so your resume can stand out in the pile.

• Best Fonts for Resumes
• Does your resume font even matter?
• Worst Fonts for Resumes
• Ideal Resume Font Sizes

Featured Resource: 12 Free Resume Templates

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With only six seconds to demonstrate your qualifications for a position, every detail counts. To evoke a sense of style, professionalism, and uniqueness, it’s critical you put effort and consideration into your font choice.

When speaking with recruiters, it quickly became clear that classic fonts are still the best options.

“I’m a big fan of the ‘classics’ for resumes – Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, and Cambria. I’m a little old school, but I think they are the cleanest and exude professionalism,” said Johanna Fleming, a former senior recruiter at HubSpot.

Riley Kundtz, former senior MBA campus recruiter at HubSpot, agreed.

“I find the classic formatting and Times font to be helpful when reading a dense resume from an experienced MBA candidate.”

Times New Roman has become a bit controversial lately. It was the go-to font for many years, but lately, some are opting against it.

“For me, it’s all about legibility and cleanliness – I prefer sans-serif fonts like Helvetica over serif fonts like Times New Roman,” said technical recruiter at HubSpot, Glory Montes. “Overall, I would just stay away from a font like Times New Roman, it’s overused and reminds me of long nights writing course papers in college.”

One font that’s similar to Times is Georgia, it’s a bit wider making it easier to read. In fact, it’s the font used by The New York Times.

Paulina Valdez Franco, executive recruiter at HubSpot, agrees with this take.

“My two favorite fonts are Helvetica, if you’re looking for a clean and classic look, and Georgia, if you’re going after a more modern and fun look,” she said. “The latter is also designed to read well on screens.”

Helvetica is widely used in the advertising industry and works equally well for text-heavy pages and documents.

A lesser-known font that’s a great option for your resume is Garamond, recommended by our current team lead of engineering recruiting at HubSpot, Rich Lapham.

“Recruiters have an idea of the skills they are looking for on a resume, so if you try a new style or format, it can be tougher for recruiters to find the information they are looking for,” he said. “Keep it clean and simple.”

Franco added that Arial and Calibri are great choices if you want to play it safe.

Bridget LeMon, global emerging talent and university recruiting manager at HubSpot, echoes this.

“It’s totally acceptable – and becoming more common – for candidates to stray away from the resume norms of Times New Roman and Calibri,” she said. “Avenir Next and Muna are two great options if you are looking to break the status quo.”

Ultimately, you’ll want to consider the position for which you’re applying when you’re choosing a font. To Montes’ point, certain more creative roles might benefit from a more unique font than Times New Roman.

Does your resume font even matter?

Most recruiters I spoke with were hesitant to even offer a font at all. Instead, they focus on the content.

“I typically don’t pay too much attention to font,” said Heta Patel former HubSpot recruiter. “I’m more concerned about whether the resume is formatted in a clean way – submitting a PDF is helpful with this, so your formatting doesn’t shift.”

Sales Recruiting Manager Kelsey Freedman agreed.

“Honestly, I don’t care much about the font of a resume, as long as it’s clear and in PDF format. I typically only review a resume for 20 to 30 seconds, so a traditional font is good. I would advise avoiding script font or bubble font, or something distracting like that.”

Ultimately, and as expected, your content still matters most. However, a clean, clear font will help avoid any irritability you might cause a recruiter with a distracting, messy design.

“What I get most excited about is the content. Depending on the role, I look to see that candidates are sharing direct and compelling snapshots of their work,” said Ashley Hodder, a global recruiting manager at HubSpot. “I look for indicators that show data orientation, autonomy, and thoughtfulness about business impact.”

Worst Resume Fonts

While some recruiters may not have suggestions for the best fonts to use, many can agree on some of the worst ones.

“Anything that is cursive, or too bubbly, is too hard to read. For instance, I’d stay clear of Comic Sans,” says Holly Peterson, team lead for UX recruiting HubSpot.

Another font type to avoid is Script.

With text-heavy documents, Script and any of its derivatives make things hard to read because they’re meant to look like they’re written by hand.

They’re generally used in hand lettering and calligraphy for artistic projects and shouldn’t be present anywhere near your resume.

Ideal Resume Font Size

When asked about which font size is best, Fleming said 12 is ideal. Most recruiters would agree.

Your text should be large enough to read comfortably without straining but small enough that there’s space to include all the key elements, such as an objective, contact information, skills, and experience.

Where you can go larger are for headings for your name and section titles.

If the font you chose is particularly wide, you can scale down to 10.5 – never going below it.

The key takeaway is that make your resume as clear and easy-to-read as possible, which means keeping the font size around 12, sticking to classic fonts with modern twists, and forsaking your favorite script font.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Many of us can recall a time in high school when we were sitting in math class and thinking, “When am I ever going to use this stuff in the real world?” And then we suddenly find ourselves in the real world, only to realize that numbers do play a pivotal role in what we do — especially in digital marketing.

The trouble is, many Excel templates and spreadsheets are riddled with numbers and formulas that aren’t all that inviting. Making them from scratch can be especially intimidating. While we won’t argue with that, we will say that the advantages of leveraging Excel’s functionality to organize information and streamline tasks are unparalleled.

To help those of you looking for a way to sharpen your skills, we’ve put together a detailed list of ways you can start using Excel to simplify your marketing tasks. Complete with templates, these suggestions will have you making strides in no time. Know what’s even better? You can download a kit of Excel templates in one fell swoop.

Microsoft Excel has many capabilities. It stores data and has tools for data analysis. It performs calculations and allows you to use code for automation. And while many recognize it as a tool for calculating numbers and figures, it’s more than that.

There is a learning curve when using Excel, and it takes time to master its many uses. Outside of calculations, the spreadsheet allows you to create social media schedules, editorial calendars, campaign trackers, and more. And instead of subjecting yourself to trial-and-error processes that would certainly waste time, you can use the following marketing templates to expedite your company’s success in marketing, sales, and project management.

Marketing Excel Templates

1. Marketing Budget Template

While marketing budgets vary from business to business, the need for structure and a clear sense of alignment between your goals and your spending is critical across the board. To ensure your preparedness for unanticipated costs, you must allocate your budget thoughtfully and correctly. You will also need to keep tabs on how closely you’re sticking to your projected expenses.

If you want to avoid a mess at the end of the month or quarter, take a look at this collection of 8 marketing budget templates designed to help you better organize your marketing spend. From product marketing and website redesign to content marketing and events, these templates serve as a guide for marketers to visualize and track their expenses to avoid overspending.

The collection also contains a master marketing budget template that will help you generate a high-level visualization of your marketing budget on a month-by-month and quarterly basis.

2. Marketing Dashboard for Excel

There is no shortage of data to monitor when it comes to marketing, and if it feels like you’re getting too far in the weeds or missing essential details when it gets too granular, a marketing tracker like the above dashboard can help.

This particular tool allows you to enter metrics by campaign to auto-populate visual and easy-to-read charts. As a result, you can visualize the effectiveness of spending and activity across multiple initiatives.

3. Monthly Marketing Reporting Template

Is there a feeling sweeter than hitting all of your goals for the month? How about communicating your success to your boss? Excel spreadsheets can prepare comprehensive reports of your marketing metrics to send to your boss. There’s no need to work from scratch. (After all, you’ve already worked so hard this month.)

To simplify your reporting, check out these monthly marketing metrics templates and the corresponding PowerPoint template. Each month, you can update them quickly and easily to reflect your monthly visits, leads, customers, and conversion rates. From there, you’ll have everything you need to track and report on which channels are performing best. Every boss loves to see ROI, so you can’t go wrong with these templates.

4. SMART Goal Matrix

Whether you’re planning for a new year, quarter, or month, defining a clear set of goals is critical for driving the direction of your marketing efforts and priorities.

Sometimes, you might need help not only setting marketing objectives but achieving them. Start with these SMART goal planning templates. Rooted in specificity, measurability, attainability, relevancy, and timeliness, these templates will help you set your team up for success. They will also provide you with a tool for identifying your most prominent marketing needs.

5. On-Page SEO Template

When it comes to SEO, there’s a lot for marketers to remember to see results. In other words, there is a lot for marketers to forget. With search engines evolving and algorithm changes turning your existing strategy on its head, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and push off revamping your SEO strategy. However, SEO should never be an afterthought.

If you’re looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, pull up this handy SEO template created in Excel. Designed to make the process of managing your SEO efforts a whole lot easier, marketers can use this template to guide their strategy step-by-step or pass it off to their webmaster to serve as a helpful guide. It focuses on keywords and SEO best practices, while providing tips and tricks to identify nuances and increase productivity.

6. Google Ads Campaign Tracker

If you’re doing your Google Ads campaigns right, they probably aren’t “walks in the park.” That’s because, to get the most bang for your buck, you set up multiple campaigns with multiple ad groups. You also have variations of your campaigns — all with different content. Not only that, but you’re (hopefully) also keeping track of those campaigns to determine which ones to shut off, add more money to, or tweak.

Sounds like a lot to keep track of, right? But take a deep breath. This Google Ads tracking template is a marketing campaign template that can keep you on top of your Google Ads game. It’ll help you catch mistakes and implement best practices across all the different campaigns and ad groups you’re running — for the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel. It’s a perfect complement to that SEO template you’ve started using.

7. Lead Scoring & Tracking Template

It’s no secret that sales and marketing have a pretty rocky relationship history. Sales might think marketing isn’t generating enough leads, while marketing might think their sales representatives aren’t capitalizing on the leads they’re sending over. When it comes down to it, finger-pointing doesn’t grow a business.

To better align your sales and marketing teams, turn to this template for creating a service-level agreement (SLA). Generally speaking, an SLA is a contract that defines the sales department’s expectations for marketing leads (both quantity and quality), and the expectations marketing has for how sales will act on qualified leads.

With this customizable SLA template in your toolbox, you’ll have the information you need to reduce tension and define a concrete monthly lead generation goal. You’ll also be able to track and measure the success of specific lead generation channels and keep close tabs on your current sales close rates.

8. Leads and Traffic Goal Calculator

You have to set a leads goal, but you don’t know where to start. Once you finally figure that out, you have to determine how much traffic you need to hit that goal, but you’re not sure what approach to take there, either.

It sounds like you could use a hand in calculating your leads and traffic goals. Luckily, there’s an Excel template for that. You won’t have to sort through these numbers on your own. This template will take care of the math and give you a clear picture of what you need to accomplish to achieve your traffic and leads goals. It will also ensure the health of your inbound marketing strategy.

9. Essential KPI Tracker

If you’re a fan of the monthly metrics template (item #3 on this list), you might want to grab a copy of this template as well. The essential KPI tracker, shown above, takes the metrics your marketing team has agreed to track and describes them in more detail.

KPI stands for “key performance indicator.” They’re your most important metrics, each with a unique purpose and place in your marketing strategy. Using this template, you can assign specific employees to each KPI, define the frequency at which you’ll monitor each KPI’s performance, and assign each KPI a color that reflects the quality of that KPI’s performance.

If one of your KPIs is organic traffic, for example, you can set up your template such that 100 page views per month are red (poor performance), 500 page views per month are yellow (stable performance), and 1000 page views per month are green (great performance).

Sales Excel Templates

1. eCommerce Planning Kit

E-commerce stores come with many moving parts. Planning ahead can save you time and heartache later.

This kit includes a marketing plan that guides you through market research, target market, channels and vendors, and more. Once your e-commerce store is live and running, you can use the conversion template to track performance across vendors and platforms where products are listed to give you a holistic view of your efforts.

2. Prospect List Template

In a business, the most important people are your customer or client base. Although your current customers constantly need to be nurtured, focusing on your prospect list is also essential.

A prospect is a person, business, or organization that might be interested in your products or services. It could be someone who has shown interest or someone who could benefit from your company. A prospect list allows you to focus on the potential customers that you should nurture similarly to your current customers.

The information needed to build a prospect list is elementary. Start building this list with the person’s name, title and company, location, and contact information. Additional information could include their industry, employee size, company description, and pain points.

Once you’ve used a template like this one, you’re ready to upgrade to a CRM, which stores the same information in a more user-friendly format.

3. Sales Forecasting Template

Sales forecasting is similar to weather forecasting. Without the proper tools, it’s impossible to get an accurate idea of what’s ahead. While a meteorologist might use Doppler radars and satellite data for their predictions, your business can use the above sales forecasting template.

Sales forecasting helps with business planning, budgeting, and risk management. Overall, it helps strengthen the strategy that you build for your company. Using this template will help you track business sales, accurately predict your sales revenue, and plan for future growth.

Sales forecasting is challenging, but this spreadsheet formula makes the process easier.

3. Sales Metrics Calculator Template

Sales are complex. Once you add sales metrics into the picture, the complications increase. There are many numbers and figures to calculate, track, record, and document. This interactive Excel spreadsheet will help you get the job done.

Not only does this template help you keep track of sales, but it keeps track of your salespeople as well. With the sales metrics calculator template, you can calculate customer retention rate, win rates, product revenue, employee turnover rate, and more.

Project Management Excel Templates

1. Social Media Posting Schedule

You might already use a social media scheduler to manage and publish your posts every week, but you still need a place to draft your social copy and decide which posts will go to which social networks.

And because most social media schedulers allow you to upload social post copy in bulk from a spreadsheet, it’s best if you have an Excel template designed for this purpose. With that in mind, we created the Excel template shown above.

This social media posting schedule allows you to draft each social post — the time it will post, the message you want to publish, and any link you want to accompany your message (blog post, registration page, an ebook landing page, etc).

Once you’ve drafted all of your social posts for the week, month, or quarter, you can sort them by social network and upload your Excel file into your social media platform of choice.

2. Blog Editorial Calendar

Blogging plays a significant role in your ability to attract visitors and leads to your website. But managing a blog is one of those responsibilities that’s easier said than done.

Whether you’re struggling with ideation, consistency, or simply just lacking organization, an editorial calendar can often serve as the solution you need to refocus your blogging efforts and generate even more traffic and leads from your content. Visualizing the blog posts you plan to publish in a given week or month makes it easier to define overarching themes, keep track of ideas, manage contributions, and prioritize strategic distribution.

Use this editorial calendar template as the starting point for keeping track of all of your business’ content. It’ll help you be more mindful of topic selection, buyer personas, keyword inclusions, and CTA alignment.

3. WIP Template

How do you keep track of the day-to-day progress of your company, especially when there are people, tasks, and timelines to monitor? A WIP (work-in-progress) template is essential to keeping track. If you’re not ready to commit to a project management software like HubSpot Projects, you can still manage your projects and processes with a spreadsheet.

This template provides you with a project overview that makes tracking easier than ever. The WIP template from Project Manager tracks tasks, time, costs, and workload. It also allows your team to change the work view (task list, spreadsheet, calendar) based on preference. With this template, you get all the data you need to monitor the life cycle and progress of your projects.

4. Social Media Content Calendar

Since you’re probably generating tons of clicks from your Google Ads campaigns and writing amazing content thanks to your blogging editorial calendar, you’ll need some help figuring out how to spread the love on social media. We’ve got just the thing.

The social media calendar template is the perfect resource for helping you scale and streamline your social media marketing. When you use Excel to break out separate worksheets for each social network you’re using, you’ll be able to keep a repository of content ideas, so you’re never struck by writer’s block and always have something to post.

It’s also worth mentioning that marketing calendar Excel templates come in handy when using Twitter, as it can count your characters to help you write tweets that stay within the 280-character limit.

5. Product Launch Plan

A well-executed product launch can be a key differentiator for successful marketing and early adoption. The right plan can give you clarity and purpose as you move forward and announce the new product’s existence to your customers and prospects.

This product launch plan can help you organize your thoughts around competitive analysis, positioning, and product strategy. It even goes so far as to help you brainstorm pains, proof points, and key messaging for campaigns.

Excel your marketing process.

Data is any marketer’s friend. Even though spreadsheets seem like they’ve been around forever, Microsoft Excel has so many capabilities that still make it an amazing resource for displaying, organizing, analyzing, and parsing data. With a little bit of Excel magic, you can streamline your workflow and arrive at some a-ha moments from data insights.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Have you ever gone to see a movie that got worse as you watched it, but you couldn’t leave because of the money you paid to see it? Or have you ever worked on a project that was clearly not going to solve your problem, but you just continued working on it?

Psychology refers to these examples as escalation of commitment and sunk cost theory, where we continue to do something without value because of the effort or cost we’ve already put into them.

In the marketing world, pulling the plug on a campaign can be extremely difficult, especially when you and your team have put a lot of work into it. But sometimes, it’s for the best. In this post, we explain 10 signs it might be time to pull the plug on your marketing campaign.

10 Signs It’s Time to Stop Your Marketing Campaign

No two campaigns are the same, but these ten signs indicate that it’s time to stop a marketing campaign.

1. If you’re not getting enough value

How do you know whether a marketing campaign is giving you enough value? Well, ask yourself:

• Are you going to break even on the money you’ve spent?
• Does the cost far exceed the value you’ll get?

If the numbers don’t add up, it might be time to stop the campaign.

2. If you’ve given enough time

Marketing campaigns require patience. Sometimes, you might not even see the results from certain campaigns in months.

However, if your marketing campaign takes way longer to generate positive results when compared to other campaigns of its kind, then it’s time to pull the plug.

3. Your optimizations don’t change anything

Suppose, in a bid to save a campaign, you begin to optimize different elements but still don’t notice any improvements; then, you should end the campaign.

You’d be better off spending your time and resources on other campaigns or revenue-generating activities.

4. It’s cheaper to stop now

If you’ll save more time and money by pulling the plug now rather than later, then that’s a sign the campaign needs to end right away!

5. When you’ve tried your best

If you and the team have tried all methods and tricks in the book to no avail, then it might be time to resign and move on with some pride left.

6. If you’re getting negative results

You know it’s time to pull the plug on your campaign if your weekly reports mostly contain red downward arrows instead of the green upward arrows

7. If other campaigns are working

You’re likely running more than one campaign at the same time. If you notice that all of your other campaigns generate the results you want, it’d be smart to drop the underperforming campaigns.

8. When your campaign sends the wrong message

Even the most well-meaning marketing campaign can get a ton of backlash from the public. Whenever a campaign is met with such a negative response, it’s best to unplug the campaign and go back to the drawing board to whip up a new one.

9. You’re getting the wrong clients

You should consider stopping your campaign if you’re engaging the wrong audience and attracting not-so-ideal clients.

For instance, if your goal is to get giant corporations, but you’re inundated with SMEs, then you should have a hard look at your campaign.

10. You’re missing timelines

When creating a campaign, you should tie results to a specific timeline. If you find that you and your team are consistently having difficulties sticking to a campaign’s timeline, then you might need to pull the plug.

What to Expect When Your Marketing Campaign Ends

Here are some things a business should expect when it stops an effective marketing campaign:

• A drop in the number of leads and acquisitions
• Lower impressions on social media
• A decrease in search traffic
• Inability to maintain growth

Therefore, if you have to stop a marketing campaign, you should have a backup plan in place. Have another campaign ready to go as soon as you stop an unsuccessful campaign.

Ready to Pull the Plug?

Although successful marketing campaigns usually take time to mature, it’s essential to know when you’re wasting valuable time and resources.

If the campaign’s cost exceeds its value, attracting the wrong clientele, or downright losing money you’ll never recoup, then it’s time to stop the marketing campaign. With the insights provided in this article, you should be able to determine whether to pull the plug or not.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in June 2011 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Remarkable Human Resources (HR) employees are critical at every company. They handle all employee relations so you can focus on your side of the business.

Before we discuss more reasons why your company needs an impactful HR department and how you can go about building one, let’s talk more about what human resources actually means.

Based on this definition alone, you can see how it would be difficult to run your operation successfully without the assistance HR provides. That’s why even small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have HR departments with employees who oversee all management, engagement, and development between the company and its employees. HR departments exist to support you and your employees so you can continue doing your jobs successfully.

The work and responsibilities of a human resources employee will touch a large portion of your business every day. So what does that mean for you? Let’s review some of the most common responsibilities these employees have so you can better understand the impact HR will have on your company.

Handle employee relations

HR handles the employee-to-employee relationships as well as the employee-to-company relationship. This means they work to develop positive interactions and treatment among all employees within your company so they feel good about coming to work, are committed to their jobs, and are invested in the growth of the business.

Whether it’s a personal matter or a work-related issue, human resources will handle all issues with care and keep the best interest of both your company and employee in mind.

Create an employment structure

Your HR department will handle your entire staffing plan — meaning they’ll identify the gaps in your current employee structure and fill them by acquiring new talent. They’re also in charge of firing any existing talent that isn’t meeting company standards. Your company’s HR team will ensure you have the right people to help you grow your business.

Manage employee job satisfaction

Once your employees have begun work, you’ll want to make sure they’re excited to come to the office every day and add value to your company — their excitement is directly related to their level of job satisfaction. If your employees are happy in their roles, feel as though they can grow at your company, and can change departments down the road if they choose to, they’re more likely to be productive team members. Your HR team ensures your employees really do feel satisfied in their roles and will work with them if they feel unhappy or unsatisfied at any point in time.

Manage employee benefits

Your HR department will handle the amount and type of employee benefits your company offers. Providing good employee benefits is critical to the success of your business because they’re proven to attract and retain talent and increase employee productivity. Benefits keep employees satisfied by giving them a variety of perks and making them feel secure in their roles.

Handle compensation

HR manages all payroll and compensation work, including employee salaries, payment schedules, W2s, and all other tax-related paperwork. If an employee is offered a promotion — or awarded a bonus — HR will handle all changes in their regular payment schedules.

Maintain the company business plan

Your HR department will help you create, distribute, and maintain your company’s business plan — this serves as an overview of your company’s organizational structure. It covers your company’s philosophy and culture code, how you manage your employees, and how you’ll distribute your resources.

Handle new hire training

When an employee is hired, HR will often take them through the necessary training they need before diving into their everyday tasks. Whether one day or six weeks, new hire training is critical to making that person feel comfortable in their new role. It’s also a great way to set expectations early on and get them prepared so they can make an impact as quickly as possible.

Screen job candidates

In the beginning of the hiring process, you may be tasked with screening job candidates. In this initial screening, you have the opportunity to ask candidates about their previous roles, core qualifications, and salary expectations.

Keep in mind that as you evaluate each job candidate, they’re also evaluating you. Presenting yourself — and your company — in a good light is crucial, especially considering that 67% of job seekers have had at least one negative experience in the hiring process, and more than half have declined an offer because of a poor experience.

Create company culture standards

HR is in charge of helping you create and maintain your company culture — this includes your philosophy, mission statement, and work environment. It also includes your company’s ethical standards, values, goals, and expectations. HR may implement programming, activities, check-ins, or events at your office so your employees can learn and develop a better understanding of the culture.

Maintain a healthy work environment

Your HR team will assist you in creating a healthy and safe work environment for all employees. Their role includes setting health and safety standards in the office, communicating these standards to all employees, and upholding them as the business grows. These standards should be written so they can reference them at any point in someone’s time at your company.

Handle necessary administrative work

A lot of your company’s administrative work is handled by HR. This includes paperwork related to federal and state tax laws, job applications, time-keeping and payroll information, and employee contracts.

We’ve put together a list of 10 steps — not listed in any specific order — you should take to build a successful HR department. Whether you begin working through this list with or without your company’s first (or first few) human resources employee(s), all 10 items on this list should be thoughtfully considered.

1. Create a company-wide staffing plan

Create a company-wide staffing plan so you can identify all positions you’ll need to fill with your new hires. This may also include moving current employees into new roles or even removing employees and/ or their roles entirely from the company.

2. Set an HR budget

You’ll need a budget for your human resources department to cover the costs of building the department and hiring your HR team. The budget will also go to company-wide programming, and culture and team building activities HR may organize. 

3. Make a payroll and compensation system

You’ll need to ensure you have payroll and compensation plans in place for all types and levels of employees. Your employees will want to know how, when, and the frequency in which they’re going to be paid the moment they receive their job offer. You’ll also need this information to determine salary ranges for all of your employees.

4. Write job descriptions

Job descriptions posted on your website and job sites such as LinkedIn and Glassdoor are how you’ll attract applicants. You’ll want to create job descriptions for all of the HR roles you need to hire for. Then, as you fill some of these HR openings, those new hires should be able to assist you in creating all other job descriptions for your growing company.

 

5. Lay out a clear benefits plans

A clear and thorough benefits plan is crucial for attracting and retaining talent. You’ll want to lay out all of the benefits you offer to your new hires so they can feel good about their decision to join your team as well as secure and supported in their roles.

6. Create an employee handbook

An employee handbook (whether print or digital) is a great way to set clear expectations from day one about workplace behavior, safety, health, and culture. Your handbook should include answers to all the questions your employees may have about these topics — and any others you see fit — as they go through training and begin work at your company.

7. Set safety procedures

Your employees are most likely in the office for approximately eight hours per day — meaning it needs to be a healthy and safe place for them to spend large amounts of time. If one of your employees ever felt unsafe or at risk of mental or physical harm at the office, it’d be very difficult to expect them to be productive.

To avoid this, you should set workplace health and safety standards, which you can include in your employee handbook. State your safety procedures for different types of personal altercations and procedures for emergencies and other potential unexpected or dangerous situations so everyone can handle them appropriately.

8. Collect administrative records

Although you may have an executive assistant who collects and organizes a lot of your company’s administrative records, plenty of documentation should be collected, organized, and managed separately by your HR department. These items may include job applications, benefit plans, tax documents, and compensation and payroll details.

9. Display necessary employment posters

State and federal laws require companies and their HR teams to hang specific employment posters around their offices so they’re visible to everyone who enters the space. Some of these required posters change over time, so be sure to keep up with the laws and requirements of your state and country.

10. Create performance and feedback processes

Employee success and satisfaction are major components of a prosperous company — without these two things, it’d be challenging to retain your best talent. In fact, companies that implement regular employee feedback have turnover rates that are 14.9% lower than companies who do not.

You’ll want to create company-wide performance and feedback processes to ensure everyone is held to a specific standard that you and your HR team set and maintain.

Employee performance evaluations ensure all employees are working up to their full potential. This time should also be spent making sure your employees are satisfied with their jobs, feel as though they can grow with your company, and enjoy being a member of your team.

What to Look For in an HR Candidate

Now that you have a better understanding of HR’s responsibilities and how you can start building your own department, let’s review some of the things you should identify in potential HR candidates, including education type and work experience.

Human Resources Candidate Education and Background

It’s no secret that many people often “fall” into the human resources field. By this I mean a lot of people who end up in the field don’t necessarily go into their undergraduate education thinking they want a career in HR. If this is the case for some of your HR applicants, there are a few indicators that you’ve found a great candidate despite their educational background.

• HR certifications, such as the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) certification or one of the various others offered by the HR Certification Institute.
  
• Great work ethic, personality, and ability to be strategic. It’s key to find a candidate that will represent your company well and has the adaptability to grow into their role. If you see promise, you might also provide this type of candidate with the opportunity to earn a certification and/or postgraduate education in the field as they begin work at your company.

If you’re considering slightly more experienced candidates for your HR department, here are some indicators to look for:

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management, Business Administration, or a closely related field.
• Master’s degree in Human Resources or Human Resources and Employee Relations (HRER), or a closely related field such as Business Administration.
• Prior HR experience, whether it’s an internship or job(s) at another company.

Roles in Your Human Resources Department

Now that we’ve covered general requirements and characteristics that you should consider looking for in your HR candidates, let’s dive into some of the actual roles you’ll need to fill within the department. 

We’ll start with your HR department structure. Depending on the size of your company, you may or may not need all of these positions and levels in your own HR department. Another important thing to note is that the titles of these roles and the level in which they’re placed also vary based on the company, but this diagram will provide you with a general idea of an HR department structure.

Source

So what do HR employees in these roles actually do? And what are the differences between each position? We’ll cover the answers to these questions below.

Entry-Level Human Resources Roles

Entry-level HR jobs are fit for people in school, have recently graduated, or are entering the field for the first time. Their roles may include assistants and HR interns, specialists, generalists, or recruiters.

HR Assistant/ Intern

HR assistants and HR interns are typically in charge of the administrative work — such as organizing paperwork, completing the employer portions of new hire information, and other work their higher-ups ask of them — that needs to be done so everyone else in the department can remain productive and focus on more complex tasks.

HR Specialist

HR specialists focus on one specific department or discipline within human resources. These specialties include HR development, HR management, and organizational development. Their goal is to become an expert in their chosen specialty. For example, a benefits specialist would be required to know and understand the intimate details of a company’s benefits plan and be able to explain that information to new hires and current employees.

HR Generalist

HR generalists have knowledge that covers multiple different areas of the department and its needs. People in this type of role will work on the more typical tasks you may think of regarding HR, such as compensation, employee relations, and workplace environment.

Recruiter

The sole job of a recruiter is to bring in impressive talent for the company. They find new people to fill the gaps in the company’s staffing plan so the business can continue to grow and remain as productive as possible.

Mid-Level Human Resources Roles

As those in HR work their way up the ranks and acquire more experience, they’ll likely move into a mid-level HR role. Examples of these jobs include advanced specialists, HR managers, and senior recruiters.

Advanced Specialist

An advanced specialist is typically someone who was promoted from an HR specialist role. Their work might include developing job descriptions for specific, technical roles within their specialty and training entry-level specialists  in their chosen discipline. Advanced specialists serve as a company’s high-level experts regarding their specific topic within HR.

HR Manager

An HR manager might oversee a group of entry or even mid-level HR employees. They’ll typically handle more of the complex HR tasks such as creating and managing company-wide policies, values, and culture.

Senior Recruiter

Senior recruiters function as your very own staffing service. They may oversee a team of entry-level recruiters who work to identify ideal candidates for open positions at your company. Senior recruiters may work for your company, or you might hire them as a third-party service depending on your budget and resources.

High-Level Human Resources Roles

If someone ends up staying in the HR field for most of their career, they may move into a high-level position at your company. These roles may include an HR consultant, HR director, recruiting manager, or vice president of HR chief of human resources officer (CHRO).

HR Consultant

An HR consultant typically oversees all HR administrative work and makes sure you’re meeting all company, state, and federal policies and laws. They can be subject matter experts on a particular HR-related policy. People in this role may be hired as third-party help depending on your budget and resources.

HR Director

If an HR manager is promoted, that person might move into an HR Director role. In most SMBs, the HR Director typically oversees all departmental activities and reports directly to the CEO.

Recruiting Manager

Recruiting managers oversee your company’s recruiting teams. They sign off on your staffing plan and ensure all of your role gaps are filled and talent needs are met.

Vice President of HR or Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO)

In a larger company, you may have a vice president of human resources or a chief human resources officer. This person reports directly to the CEO, oversees the entire HR operation, and creates overarching department goals.

Back To You

Having a fantastic human resources team is essential to the success of your business. Your HR department will manage your employee relations, hiring, training, career development, benefits, and company culture. Without HR, your employees simply wouldn’t be able to do their jobs. Start by thinking about the number and type of HR employees you’ll need and start building your department so your company can continue growing.

Whether you’re working for a small agency or a major marketing firm, you’re probably eventually going to need to fill out a Request for Proposal, or RFP.

Your company can’t do everything internally, and when your business needs to purchase a product or service from elsewhere, you might need to shop around. An RFP allows you to collect offers from various vendors and select the vendor that best meets your criteria, both in regards to skill and budget.

Any time you outsource work to a supplier, there’s a potential for issues such as miscommunication around the scope of the work and the compensation. What a good RFP does is eliminate gray areas so that both parties understand what needs to be delivered, when, and for how much.

RFP Template

Here, we’ve provided an RFP template you can follow for initial structure, as well as a sample RFP for further inspiration. But it isn’t one-size-fits-all — you’ll need to tailor your RFP to best articulate your company’s needs.

Download a free, editable RFP template.

Not that you’ve seen the template, how do you actually write an RFP? We’ve got you covered.

1. Define your project, scope, and budget.

Before issuing your RFP, take the time to define the project you’re looking to complete, its scope, and how much you can afford to spend. This information provides the framework for your RFP and helps ensure that it strikes a balance between too general and overly detailed.

2. Provide background and introductory information.

With budget and scope in hand, you can start crafting your RFP. While it’s tempting to dive right into the details, it’s a good idea to provide some background and introductory data about your company. This helps set the stage for potential partners by giving them a sense of your current market, business goals, and current challenges.

3. Describe the services you’re looking for.

Now it’s time to get specific about the services you’re looking for to help achieve your goals. For example, if you’re building a website, you might look for a company with both front-end and back-end development experience. If you’re creating a mobile app, highlight the need for specific skills in that area, such as expertise in responsive design and building applications for multiple mobile platforms.

4. Detail your selection criteria and timelines.

Next up are the selection criteria and the timelines for your project. Here, you can highlight what skills, services, and market expertise are required for consideration. This is the time to get specific: Clear descriptions of selection criteria will help reduce the risk of sorting through multiple RFPs that don’t meet your needs.

It’s also important to be up-front about your timelines. Give potential partners an end date for RFP submission, a date for final selection, and a clear start-to-finish project timeline so companies making a proposal can fine-tune their bid.

5. Proofread your RFP and go live.

Last but never least? Proofread your RFP — then proofread it again. Why? Because even small mistakes could derail project timelines. Consider a zero missing in your budget details, or a miscommunication about the dates that proposals are due and selections are made; both could force a restart of the entire RFP process and waste precious time.

Once you’re satisfied that everything on your RFP is accurate and complete, it’s time to go live. Send out emails and post links on your site to start the process of finding your best-fit provider. To streamline this process, consider proposal software to publish and manage responses to your RFP.

Now that you understand the basics of writing an RFP, you can build your own template and then fill it out so that you can start accepting bids. We’ll use a fictitious company, Caroline’s Websites, Inc., to illustrate exactly how each section should be executed.

RFP Sample

Project Name or Description: Marketing Services

Company Name: Caroline’s Websites, Inc.

Address: 302 Inbound Ave.

City, State, Zip Code: Boston, MA 29814

Procurement Contact Person: Caroline Forsey

Telephone Number of PCP: 227-124-2481

Email Address of PCP: [email protected]

Fax Number: N/A

Next, we’ll go into each of the elements of the RFP with information using the same fictitious company.

1. Write your background and introduction.

In your introductory paragraph, you’ll want to include useful background information about your company — who founded it, what product or service your company offers, what sets you apart from competitors, and where you’re located. If any vendor is serious about working with you, they’ll want this information before moving forward.

Example

Caroline’s Websites, Inc. is a web design firm created by Caroline Forsey in 2010. Caroline’s Websites, Inc. prides itself on a team-oriented, solutions-based approach to web design. We provide our clients with web design services including coding, development, and branding. Our staff is located in two offices in Massachusetts.

2. Define your project goals and scope of services.

Next, you’ll want to outline the project you need completed, and the goals you expect to accomplish from the project. It’s important you get as specific as possible — even outlining individual tasks and criteria involved. You’ll want to include phrases such as “The award will be given to X firm,” with the “X” establishing how you’ll determine the best candidate.

Example

Caroline’s Websites, Inc. is seeking the services of a full-service communications and marketing firm to develop and execute a comprehensive integrated marketing plan that increases our SEO presence; attracts more social media followers; and effectively completes a lead generation campaign. The award will be made to a responsive and responsible firm based on the best value and professional capability.

The selected firm will be responsible for the development and implementation of a comprehensive and cost-effective marketing plan.

Tasks include but may not be limited to the following criteria:

• Lead generation campaign
• Paid media strategy
• Production of creative material including collateral and direct mail
• Online marketing campaign
• Website enhancement
• Search engine optimization
• General account management
• Other communications and/or marketing-related assistance as required

3. Detail your anticipated selection schedule.

It’s crucial you include a detailed schedule so vendors know if they can meet your deadlines. You’ll also need to give vendors a window for when they can ask questions regarding your project.

Example

The Request for Proposal timeline is as follows:

Request for RFP: June 1, 20XX

Deadline for Bidders to Submit Questions: July 5, 20XX

[Company Name] Responds to Bidder Questions: July 20, 20XX

Selection of Top Bidders / Notification to Unsuccessful Bidders: July 31, 20XX

Start of Negotiation: August 5, 20XX

Contract Award / Notification to Unsuccessful Bidders: August 31, 20XX

4. Describe the time and place for the submission of proposals.

Similar to paragraph #3, this is important information you’ll want to clearly present, so vendors know how and where to submit themselves for consideration.

Example

The RFP will be posted on our website, Carolinewebsites.com, and can be downloaded from there directly as of 10 a.m. on June 1, 20XX.

Respondents to this RFP must submit one original and five copies of their proposal. Responses must be received no later than July 25, 20XX. Responses should be clearly marked “RFP-MarketingServices” and mailed or delivered to the contact person listed above.

5. Clearly define your timeline.

By including a time frame in your RFP, you’re able to eliminate any vendor who can’t work within your time constraints. If you’re flexible on your time, you can write something like, “Our company hopes to finish the project within six months, but we’re open to negotiation for the right candidate.”

Example

Caroline’s Websites, Inc. needs the project completed within 8 months.

6. Specify the key elements of a proposal.

If you don’t outline clearly and specifically what you expect bidders to include in their proposal, you can’t necessarily fault them if they don’t include it. It’s critical you outline a checklist so vendors know which elements you’re expecting to receive. It’s also a good test for who’s capable of handling your demands — if a vendor can’t complete all elements of your proposal, you probably can’t trust them to finish your project, either.

Example

A submission must, at a minimum, include the following elements:

• Description of the firm that includes a general overview, names and credentials of creative team, number of full-time employees.
• A one-page narrative outlining the firm’s strengths and distinguishing skills or capabilities as they might relate to Caroline’s Websites, Inc.
• A representative selection of social media ads, direct response material, collateral, and website development created for current and past clients.

7. Make your evaluation criteria clear.

Outlining your expectations will help eliminate vendors who don’t meet them. For this section, you’ll want to do some brainstorming with your team to come up with a mandatory list of items you feel are the best indicators of impressive candidates. Your list could include samples of past work, a proven success record with companies in similar industries, the expertise and technical skills to meet your demands, and a cost of services within your price range.

Example

The successful respondent will have:

• Experience working as a marketing agency for a minimum of 24 months and possess full-service, in-house capabilities for marketing, creative services, production, media planning and placement, direct response, and research.
• The education, experience, knowledge, skills, and qualifications of the firm and the individuals who will be available to provide these services.
• The competitive cost of services.
• The expertise of the firm in working with similar customers.

8. Describe any possible roadblocks.

Here, you’ll want to outline any roadblocks, such as limited resources or a custom website, that might prevent certain vendors from successfully completing the project. This allows you to eliminate unsatisfactory bidders, and it will also help you determine which vendors have the skills and expertise to tackle those challenges.

Example

At this time, Caroline’s Websites, Inc. currently has custom coding on our website, of which bidders should be aware.

9. State your budget for the project.

Any vendor needs to know how much you’re able to pay them for their services before they’ll move forward with their bid.

Example

Caroline’s Websites, Inc.’s budget for the project is $8,750.00.

These elements were written in a way to clarify the scope of the project that Caroline’s Websites, Inc. wants completed so that suppliers know whether or not to make a bid. Defining the project allows the bidder to determine if they’re a good fit and how much they’d likely charge. Being as transparent as possible serves to benefit (and even protect) both parties in the long run.

As the name makes clear, RFIs are about collecting information. They’re used by companies to get a sense of what solutions are on the market and how the companies that offer these solutions could help solve a key problem or complete a key task. RFIs ask companies to submit data about what they do, what they offer, and how they can help achieve specific goals.

RFPs, meanwhile, follow RFIs. Using the information obtained from RFIs, companies build RFPs that detail exactly what they’re looking for, how much they’re planning to spend, and how vendors will be selected. In effect, RFIs help narrow the scope of RFPs to help streamline the selection process.

Worth noting? There’s also another option if you know exactly what product or service you’re looking for: Request for quote (RFQ). Unlike an RFP, which asks potential partners to submit a proposal based on their expertise and experience, an RFQ is about cost: You’re asking a specific vendor what it would cost to deliver “X” service or solution in “Y” timeframe under “Z” conditions.

Realizing Best Results for Your RPF

Your RPF sets the stage for companies to bid on projects that are outside the scope of your internal expertise — but are still critical for your business to succeed.

As a result, it’s worth making sure your RFP is clear, concise, and captures the key details about your needs to help find the best-fit partner for your project. Not sure where to start? Grab a copy of HubSpot’s free RFP template, follow the steps above, and get your projects underway.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in June 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Let’s face it: Executing a successful marketing project requires time, energy, and money.

And with so many different facets of marketing to consider — branding and creative, product marketing, event hosting, and so forth — your marketing project management budget can disappear fast.

Ever found yourself scratching your head with a depleted budget at the end of the month, quarter, or year? Ready to leave behind the days of ambiguous spending and vanishing budgets? We’ve got you covered with a look at the top essential project management budget templates for marketing plans — plus a free download.

What makes a good project management budget template for marketing?

Before we dig into the details, it’s worth taking a minute to talk about how we selected our top choices. With so many marketing budget templates now available, this wasn’t an easy task — and when it comes to what we’ve picked, you may have a favorite that’s not listed.

Given the number of options, this list could be 20, 30, or 50 templates long, but in the interests of getting you the information you need to find a best-fit template ASAP, we’re keeping our list to only the best options out there.

As for criteria, we went with characteristics such as usability, simplicity, and adaptability. It’s our goal to provide a list that gives you multiple options with similar value — all you have to do is pick the one that best suits your marketing needs.

With that out of the way, let’s get started.

1. HubSpot [Excel, Google Sheets]

HubSpot’s set of eight free budget templates offers everything you need to get started, from a master marketing template to more specific spreadsheets for content, products, and paid advertising. Available as both Microsoft Excel files and Google Sheets, HubSpot has you covered no matter how you choose to handle your marketing budget.

What we like: The simple, streamlined, and colorful design makes these templates easy to use without sacrificing the detail you need.

2. Spendesk [Excel]

Spendesk offers marketing budget templates for growing businesses to help manage the complexity that comes with annual marketing, subscriptions, one-off events, and upcoming expenses. The templates are designed to scale with your team, making them a great choice for companies just getting off the ground and more experienced marketers looking to streamline their budgets.

What we like: Spendesk’s free templates do the math for you across both Excel and Google Sheets.

3. Smartsheet [Excel]

Smartsheet offers 12 free marketing budget templates for social media efforts, product marketing, quarterly marketing, and annual marketing. While they’re only available as Excel files, they’re a great starting point if you’re looking to consolidate spending sources and streamline marketing budgets.

What we like: Smartsheet’s templates include itemized categories along with estimated costs for each item, subtotals, and totals paired with an easy-to-read pie chart.

4. Capterra [PDF]

Capterra’s marketing budget template is all about simplicity. The free framework lets you easily map out hard costs, campaign costs, and unexpected expenditures to give you an approximate total that can help inform more specific budgeting efforts. Oh, and ignore the “2019” in the title — the template is still just as applicable in 2022.

What we like: Simple is the name of the game here, making Capterra a great choice for initial budgeting efforts.

5. Smart Insights [Google Sheets]

Smart Insights also offers a template octet with options for spend summaries, acquisition marketing costs, creative spend, and SEO activities that clearly lay out where you’re spending money, how often, and what it costs you over a specified period. While there’s no Excel option, these templates are still a good choice to help simplify budget management.

What we like: The Smart Insights templates make it easy to specify your level of spend thanks to a simple and streamlined design.

6. Monday [Built-In Template]

The Monday template offers a high-level overview of your current marketing budget within Monday’s user interface. Each quarter includes information about the owner of the projects, target goal, level of priority, type of action taken, total budget, and remaining budget. Just like the day of the week, Monday makes it possible to start your quarterly budgeting on solid ground.

What we like: Simple and high–level are the watchwords here. Marketers can get the information they need at-a-glance to drive budget decision-making. If you already use Monday for project management, this is an excellent fit.

7. SwagDrop [Google Sheets]

SwagDrop offers a quartet of budget templates to help balance marketing costs and revenues. They include an investment report, salaries report, revenue report, and monthly balance report. Make no mistake — they’re not the prettiest templates on the market, but they’re free, functional, and offer a solid foundation for marketing budget frameworks.

What we like: The SwagDrop page also includes sample budgets on their template examples to help businesses get their budgets up and running ASAP.

8. ProjectManager [Excel]

This free template is a simple Excel spreadsheet that provides a quick overview of relevant budget data to help marketers see what they’re spending, where they’re spending it, and if budgets are staying on track. While it’s best supported by other, more in-depth options, the straightforward layout is worth a download.

What we like: The template integrates with ProjectManager’s larger suite of paid project management software, which is designed to manage hybrid teams across multiple locations.

9. Demand Metric [Excel]

The Demand Metric marketing budget is all about content. It makes sense: To capture customer interest, companies are well-served by spending on blog posts, video production, and graphic design. This template helps track the cost of these content initiatives over time to see how they stack up against returns.

What we like: Content is king in getting your brand noticed. Demand Metric makes it simple to see what you spend on this critical function.

10. Score [Excel]

The Score annual marketing budget template is designed to help marketers estimate their annual expenses and align them with campaign goals. Easy to modify and simple to use, this template is a great starting point for marketers looking to pinpoint where they can save — and where they need to spend.

What we like: Simple budget estimation is worth the download for this marketing template.

Making the Most of Your Project Management Budget

The better your budget management, the better your marketing outcomes. But as marketing efforts become more complex and far-reaching, it’s easy for spending specifics to get lost in the shuffle.

Don’t get caught with cost overruns — tap one of our top templates to make the most of your marketing budget, and download additional ones below.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2014 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

With only 16% of consumers carrying cash and the popularity of ecommerce, if you don’t have a payment processor for your business, you’re missing out.

In this post, we’ll talk about the software options available for accepting payments online — including some free options, and how payment processing can help streamline your business processes and increase sales.

But first, let’s cover the basics of how payment processing works.

What is payment processing?

A payment processor is a company that facilitates electronic payments (credit card, digital wallets, ACH) between a business and the bank. Essentially payment processors handle all of the backend logistics between merchants, banks, and credit card companies that enable businesses to accept payment.

How does payment processing work?

When you shop at a retailer and pay with a credit card, the payment processor works in the background to authenticate and complete the transaction, moving the money from your account to the business’ account.

Here’s what happens behind the scenes when a customer makes a card payment:

1. A customer gives the merchant their credit or debit card to make a purchase. This is either done using a payment terminal in-person or through an online payment page.
2. The card information goes through a payment gateway or portal which encrypts the customer’s personal data to ensure privacy and sends it to the payment processor.
3. The payment processor then sends a request to the customer’s issuing bank to see if they have enough credit (or cash if using a debit card) to pay for the purchase.
4. The card issuer either approves or denies the purchase.
5. The payment processor sends this “approved” or “denied” info back to the retailer to complete the transaction with the customer.
6. Once complete, the processor tells the customer’s bank to send funds to the retailer’s banking institution.

While this sounds like a lot of steps, it all happens in a matter of seconds and requires no work on your end or the customer’s.

Benefits of Payment Processing

Here’s a look at some of the advantages payment processing software will bring to your business.

1. Convenience

Convenience is one of the main factors that influence conversion rate. The more steps a customer has to take to make a payment, the more likely they are to abandon their purchase and go elsewhere.

2. Speed

Payment processors can transfer most payments between shoppers and sellers instantly. On the other hand, transfers to and from bank accounts can sometimes take 24 hours or more.

3. Trust

Many payment processors are brands that are globally recognized. If a customer already uses payment software, they’re more likely to trust your payment system.

4. Security

Payment processing companies add an extra layer of protection to online transactions. You can set limits, flags for activity on your account, and sometimes even a time frame to recall payments.

5. Record-Keeping

With payment processors, you’ll have access to your account online and can manage your contacts, recurring payments, and other account activity via desktop or mobile.

Costs to Consider When Using Payment Processors

While payment processors offer convenience and security among other perks, they also come at a cost. Each player in the payment chain — banks, credit card companies, and the payment processor takes their cut. Here are some of the transaction fees to look out for.

• Interchange Fee: These are fees paid to the card issuer (Chase, TD Bank, Bank of America, etc.) The card issuer gets paid by getting a percentage of each sale.
• Assessment Fee: These fees are paid to credit card associations (Visa, Mastercard, Amex).
• Acquirer or processor Fee: These are fees paid to the processor (PayPal, Square, Stripe).
• Merchant Fee: This is a fee paid to your merchant bank. The percentage charged will depend on the volume of transactions, the number of sales, and the industry.

The interchange, assessment, and merchant fees are bundled together and quoted as one percentage. The Processor fee is quoted separately. For example, your transaction fees could be 3% total with a $0.20 processor fee per transaction. This will be good to keep in mind when considering what pricing structure to go with, which we’ll explore in the next section.

Payment Processing Pricing Structure

Another factor to consider is pricing structure, which will vary from one processor to another. This structure typically falls within the categories below:

1. Interchange Plus

With Interchange Plus pricing, the retailer pays an additional fee plus the interchange amount. For example, you would be paying a 3% interchange rate plus a $0.25 per transaction.

• Pros: This can be a more cost-effective option than other structures.
• Cons: Because there are hundreds of interchange rates, the costs will vary significantly from one transaction to the next.

2. Flat-Rate

This is a fixed rate percent for all transactions paid in a certain manner regardless of the interchange rate. For example, you could pay 2% plus $0.20 for in-person purchases and 2.5% plus $0.25 for online purchases.

Pros: Your costs are predictable.

Cons: Your costs may be higher than the interchange plus model if you have a high volume of sales.

3. Tiered

Tiered pricing combines aspects of flat-rate and interchange plus. In this model, interchange rates are categorized into buckets or tiers. The processor then assigns a cost to each tier. For example, on a $75 purchase, you could have fees ranging from $2 to $3 depending on which tier it has been classified as.

Pros: Rates are easier to understand since the hundreds of possible interchange fees are bundled into predetermined tiers, making costs more predictable.

Cons: Since the processor sets the tiers, the overall costs can be higher than the other options.

Now that we’ve explained the costs, let’s look at some of the best online payment processors on the market.

Top Online Payment Processing Providers

Once you’ve developed a strategy for accepting payments online, you’ll need to decide which payment processing provider to use. Here are seven of the most popular options:

1. PayPal

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Price: 3.49% plus $0.49 per transaction.

PayPal is one of the most trusted and widely recognized payment processing companies. It’s free to join and they provide all the tools you’ll need to integrate PayPal payments into your website and set up a secure payment gateway for visitors. Additionally, comprehensive coverage makes the platform a good choice for international companies.

2. Stripe

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Price: 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction.

Stripe offers a wide range of options for online businesses such as customizable checkouts as well as subscription management and recurring payment features. Stripe supports all major credit cards, mobile paying apps, wallets, and more.

3. Square

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Price: 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction.

Square entered the payment processing space by introducing a dongle that sellers could insert into a mobile phone to accept credit card transactions.

They’ve since expanded their software to cover all the major payment processing options and have included some useful tools for online businesses as well as high-street stores.

You can even create a basic website for free and integrate all of their point-of-sale (POS) solutions at the same time. They also have paid options for a custom website.

4. Google Pay

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Price: Google Pay doesn’t charge any fees — merchants only pay transaction fees as usual with credit/ debit sales.

Google Pay has a payment tool for businesses, websites, and apps. Google Pay’s APIs work to create a delightful checkout and payment experience for your customers.

If you use Google Pay on your website, you’ll gain secure and easy access to hundreds of millions of cards saved to Google Accounts worldwide so customers can pay for your products safely and at the touch of a button.

5. Apple Pay

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Price: Apple Pay doesn’t charge any fees — merchants only pay transaction fees as usual with credit/ debit sales.

Apple Pay can be used on websites, in stores, by app, and via Business Chat or iMessage. It allows Apple users to quickly and safely input contact, payment, and shipping information during checkout.

Rather than having your ecommerce customers look around for their credit cards, Apple Pay allows them to checkout at the click of a button within apps and websites. On a website, an Apple users will simply click “Apple Pay” as their payment option, confirm the payment with one tap (via their iPhone, Apple Watch, etc.), and they’re good to go.

6. Venmo For Business

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Price: 1.9% plus $0.10 of the payment.

Venmo For Business is a mobile payment software and app owned by PayPal. You can choose to allow users to pay via your mobile app or your website.

You can set up a business profile on Venmo so users can quickly find your profile on the app. And if you add Venmo to your website, it’ll appear as a payment option right next to where it’ll give customers the option to pay with PayPal.

Once a customer selects the Venmo option at checkout, they’ll be directed to their Venmo app to complete the transaction. The Venmo payment option can be added to any of the pages of your ecommerce site that would also show the option to pay with PayPal, including your product pages, shopping cart page, and checkout page.

7. Helcim

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Price: 2.38% plus $0.25.

Helcim is an online payment solution for ecommerce businesses — you can choose to start an online store from scratch or add a payment solution to your current website.

The easy-to-use and secure online payment system integrates into your website, shopping cart, billing system, and/or app, thanks to Helcim’s API. In addition to in-app and via website, Helcim works over the phone, in person, and by invoice, and it integrates with your accounting tools to save you time when it comes to bookkeeping.

Next, let’s cover the steps involved in receiving payments online.

1. Create a secure online payment gateway.

There are a couple of ways you can approach creating a secure online payment gateway. You can hire an outside developer or use your website development team to create a bespoke gateway. Or, you can use third-party software.

Setting up a secure gateway is essential. You’re also putting automated processes in place, which will save time on manual processing, especially as you scale your business and handle more transactions.

The more payment methods you make available within your payment portal, the wider the audience, and the easier it’ll be for your customers to send you money.

2. Facilitate credit and debit card payments.

Although it may change as mobile payments become more prevalent, using debit/ credit cards is still the most popular way people pay for products and services online.

You can easily facilitate accepting card payments through established payment providers such as PayPal or Stripe. These will accept the most-used credit cards worldwide — Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.

3. Set up recurring billing.

If you offer subscription plans or ongoing monthly services, the most efficient and reliable way to invoice and receive payments is via recurring billing.

Most of the major payment processing software also includes recurring billing features. For example, Growth Marketing Pro built an SEO tool that charges subscribers on a monthly basis and they used Stripe to set this up.

Sites like Paysimple also offer a suite of tools to set up custom, automated recurring billing if you already have a payment processing system in place.

Using automation is essential. It removes most human error and the stress of keeping track of invoicing and payments.

Your customers can commit to recurring payments with just a few clicks, and you won’t have to worry about manually managing your customer base.

4. Accept mobile payments.

These days, people are often more likely to have their phones on hand than debit cards — plus, mobile payment apps are more convenient than ever.

For instance, Apple Pay has quickly become one of the most popular mobile payment systems in the United States. With an estimated 43.9 million users, you’d miss out if you didn’t accept Apple Pay.

Google Pay, Venmo, and PayPal also have mobile apps with a decent market share.

5. Use email invoicing.

Email invoicing is a proactive way to request payments. You can share a payment form through email or add a link redirecting the recipient to a payment portal.

However, there are a couple of issues with this method: Email isn’t the most reliable form of communication, and customers can have trust issues making payments via email.

Expect a failure rate, but it’s a vital part of payment processing for a lot of businesses.

6. Accept electronic checks (eChecks).

To accept eChecks for payment, you need a form where the user can input their information, which you can see using payment processing software.

It’s basically a way to pay by check online. It’s a quicker and more reliable way than sending a paper check through the post, so offering this to your customers will make the process run smoother.

7. Accept cryptocurrency payments.

If you’re okay with handling cryptocurrencies, it’s a way you can extend your reach to a broader online audience.

Sites like Bitpay provide all the tools you need to accept crypto payments online, send invoices, request payments, and receive money on the go-through apps.

Because they’re a decentralized exchange, cryptocurrencies offer some unique benefits for businesses. You can accept payments from anywhere in the world without incurring currency exchange fees or bank handling fees. There’s also a reduced risk of fraud.

Start Accepting Payments Online for Free

No matter which payment processing software you choose, the most important part is making it easy for the customer to pay. And the more ways they can pay, the more likely your customers will follow through on a purchase.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in April 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

As a recruiter, your job isn’t limited to simply finding the best candidates. You also have to promote these roles on job boards and convince applicants to join your company. 

In other words, you’re not just a recruiter — you’re also a marketer and a salesperson. But, how do you know which job boards will help you find the most qualified applications for your specific position? Read on to find out. 

Table of Contents: 

• What is the best job search engine?
• Best Job Boards
• Best Job Boards for Hiring College Students
• Best Job Boards for Hiring Freelancers
• Best Job Boards for Hiring Remote and Hybrid Workers

1. Glassdoor

Key Features:

• A large pool of potential candidates (55M+ per month)
• List your jobs and include detailed descriptions of preferred skills and qualifications. 
• Review resumes, send messages to candidates, and schedule interviews to begin recruitment. 
• Create an employer brand profile to help candidates learn more about your business and culture. 
• You can pay to feature jobs for more visibility.

2. LinkedIn Jobs

Price: Contact for pricing.

Key Features:

• A network of over 700 million professionals. 

• Your job listings are matched with the most qualified professionals who have noted in their profiles to be open to work and looking for new roles. 
• A rating system helps you prioritize who you want to interview. 
• Advanced filtering options help you search for candidates with your preferred qualifications, and you can send them a message via InMail.

3. Indeed

Key Features:

• 75.4 million users — a large pool of candidates. 
• Get matched with best-fit candidates that meet your job specifications. 
• Sort candidates to move forward and schedule and conduct interviews within the platform. 
• Manage all your job postings for different roles and locations in one dashboard. 
• Create a custom company page to build brand identity and help candidates learn more about your company culture. 
• Pay for applications that meet your criteria, but you can reject unwanted applications before being charged.

4. Google Job Search

Price: Free

Key Features:

• Aggregates job postings from company websites and career pages to share with millions of job seekers. 
• Millions of job seekers search for open roles on Google every day. 
• Using job post structured data on your career pages ensures your listings are ready to be picked up by Google.

5. ZipRecruiter

Price: Contact for pricing.

Key Features:

• Create and list your jobs that are then sent to 100+ job sites. 
• Matching technology invites the most qualified candidates to apply to your positions. 
• Manage and rate applications by their qualifications. 
• Ten million candidates reached each week.

6. Monster

Price: 4-day trial, then $649/mo

Key Features:

• SearchMonster analyzes your job requirements, finds resumes, and ranks and scores qualified candidates based on your specifications. 
• Instant notifications when a candidate matches your criteria. 
• Jobs are distributed across the monster network, email, and partner sites and reach millions of global visitors per month. 

7. SimplyHired

Price: $4.99 to move forward with a candidate

Key Features:

• Post unlimited jobs for free and only pay when you move forward with a candidate.
• Candidates answer screening questions to help you learn more about them outside of their resumes. 
• Easily review applications, cover letters, and resumes, and obtain contact information from your preferred candidates when you’re ready to move forward. 
• Additional tools for hiring and onboarding. 
• Jobs are distributed across partner sites for visibility. 

8. Nexxt 

Price: $199-400/mo

Key Features:

• Standard job listing option.
• Unique job slot listing model can be continuously updated as your hiring needs change. 
• Search for candidates with intelligent filters to focus your results on those with your preferred skills. 
• Text2Hire helps instantly connect and communicate with candidates via text. 
• Programmatic advertising increases your listings’ exposure in display ads on high-traffic channels like Spotify. 

9. CareerBuilder

Price: $299 – $599/mo

Key Features:

• Keywords from your listings are used to browse resumes and match you with candidates with your target skillsets.
• AI tools send your jobs to targeted candidates, and you can receive up to 25 matches per day, per job. 
• Can conduct resume and profile searches and create custom lists for candidate management. 

10. Dice.com

Price: $495

Key Features:

• Built for sourcing technology professionals.
• Dice Match Score rates candidates based on their relevance and qualifications for the jobs you list.
• Preview resumes and prioritize preferred candidates based on their qualifications. 
• Download and share applications with everyone involved in your hiring process for team-wide involvement.
• Jobs are cross-posted to partner sites for job amplification. 

11. Snagajob

Price: Starts at $89/mo

Key Features:

• Find qualified candidates for hourly jobs and shift work. 
• Listings include relevant filters for location and level of expertise. 
• Track applications, monitor candidates, and schedule interviews within the platform.

12. Craigslist

Price: Varies by location.

Key Features:

• Find local talent and freelancers. 
• Create a listing explaining what you’re searching for and include detailed information to help candidates determine if they’re qualified. 
• Invite candidates to reach out to you on your preferred channel. 
• Job seekers can upload resumes, so you can browse through them and find talent without posting a job.

13. Mashable

Price: $259-399

Key Features:

• Write a detailed job description with skills and qualifications candidates need to possess. 
• Candidates that match your criteria receive email alerts for your jobs. 
• Save candidates to view later, and track the process once someone applies. 
• Jobs are distributed to partner job boards. 

14. Talent.com

Price: Contact for pricing.

Key Features:

• Easily note the expertise and skills you’re looking for. 
• Track applications and preview qualifications before paying. 
• Opted-in candidates that match your qualifications receive email alerts for your jobs. 
• Additional advertising options help you promote your listings. 
• Network of job partners for maximum visibility. 

15. Lensa

Price: Contact for pricing.

Key Features:

• InstaMatch uses your job description skills and qualifications to browse the resumes of job seekers to find matches. 
• Candidates are invited to apply by qualifications, so you’re not searching through hundreds of applications for the right fight. 
• It can automatically pull jobs from your career page. 

16. Ladders

Price: Free – $499/mo, Enterprise pricing available

Key Features:

• Reach candidates in the U.S. and Canada 
• Sort candidates based on specific criteria, like industry, location, experience, and desired salary. 
• Algorithms share your listings with the most qualified professionals. 
• Pre-answered interview questions help you learn more about candidates before conducting an interview. 

17. TheJobNetwork

Price: $249-599, upgrades available.

Key Features:

• Your detailed job descriptions help screen, grade, and rank candidates based on your specifications and resumes. 
• Listings last 30 days and include priority candidate search and management tools. 
• Jobs are distributed to other national, industry, and relevant local sites to put your listings in front of the most candidates. 

18. Find.Jobs 

Price: Free trial, then $149-596/mo

Key Features:

• Searchable candidate database with resumes and CVs to browse and connect with qualified talent. 
• JobBoard.com network for more visibility. 
• Can pay for featured placement or banner ads to gain more exposure. 

19. Behance

Price: Contact for pricing.

Key Features:

• Partnership with Adobe Talent helps you hire within the creative community. 
• Custom candidate recommendations based on your desired qualifications. 
• Save candidates to share with anyone involved in your hiring process. 
• Average public posts receive 150 applications. 

20. The Muse

Price: Contact for pricing.

Key Features:

• Build a unique company profile to help applications learn more about your business, culture, and what it’s like to work for you. 
• Your company story is shared on career pages and relevant recruiting channels for exposure to top talent. 
• National reach of 7M+ monthly users. 

21. Cleverism

Price: Contact for pricing.

Key Features:

• Branded company profile to share information about your business’ culture for candidates to learn more before applying. 
• 400k+ potential reach, and you can use advanced search filters for your preferred skills and requirements to find the best-fit talent. 

22. CareerBliss

Price: Contact for pricing.

Key Features:

• Post and distribute your jobs to 100+ listing sites for exposure. 
• You can invite top talent to apply to your positions.
• Company profile helps interested candidates learn more about what you offer. 
• Application management tools for the entire recruitment process.
• Small business and enterprise solutions. 

23. Getwork

Price: Contact for pricing.

Key Features:

• Custom search features help you filter by location, persona, and behavior. 
• Targeted email campaigns for segmented audiences that meet your preferred criteria. 
• Pay-per-click recruitment campaigns.

Best Job Boards for Hiring College Students

24. Handshake

Price: Contact for pricing.

Key Features:

• Post jobs and pinpoint your best-fit candidates with advanced filtering for factors like location, institution, and skillset. 
• Intelligent messaging to communicate with candidates directly on the platform and schedule interviews. 
• With 9M+ active users and 1,400 educational partners, you have the potential to connect with exactly who you’re looking for. 
• Integrations with Glassdoor help you create a company profile page.

25. CollegeRecruiter

Price: Contact for pricing.

Key Features:

• Reach recent or soon-to-be college graduates. 
• Advanced search filters to find candidates by school, area of study, preferred field, and graduation year. 
• Promote job listings as ads on different channels for maximum visibility, like email, mobile banner ads, and display ads. 

Best Job Boards for Hiring Freelancers

26. Fiverr

Price: You set the price for your gig.

 

Key Features:

• Create a gig and select from 200 different job categories (from voice-over artists to website designers) to share your job with the right freelancers. 
• Ability to browse through listings of qualified freelancers. 
• Fiverr seller badges provide quality assurance. 
• Only pay once you approve the freelancer you want to work with. 

27. Fiverr Business

Key Features:

• Browse a catalog of verified and pre-vetted talent that can help you meet your business needs. 
• Fiverr Business Success managers match you with the best talent for your team’s needs. 

28. Upwork

Price: Contact for pricing.

Key Features:

• Find freelancers across various industries and professions that are pre-qualified to meet your needs. 
• Create detailed job descriptions that dictate the level of expertise you’re looking for. 
• Select whether you want your listings shared with registered Upwork users or general members. 
• Send invites to specific people if you find a standout freelance candidate you like. 

Best Job Boards for Hiring Remote and Hybrid Workers

29. We Work Remotely

Price: $299 – $448/mo, with optional upgrades

Key Features:

• Job listings are live for 30 days and contain the job details, required skills, and location restrictions. 
• Intelligent candidate filtering manually sorts through applications and prioritizes those that match your qualifications. 
• Jobs are posted on popular partner job boards and relevant independent niche sites. 
• Additional upgrades for advertising help increase visibility. 

30. FlexJobs

Price: $399/mo

Key Features:

• The flat rate includes unlimited job posts and resume searches, helping you discover relevant candidates. 
• Import a job from your preferred ATS. 
• Create an employer profile to build your brand and help candidates learn about your culture. 
• Membership upgrades for further job promotions for visibility.

What is the best job search engine?

The best job search engine depends entirely on your business needs and the role you’re hiring for. So, for example, if you’re looking to hire business professionals, you may want to focus on LinkedIn, but LinkedIn won’t make sense if you’re looking to fill a single shift. 

Many of the larger search engines aggregate job listings from other sites, but you can still stand out by optimizing your job descriptions with key skills or paying for featured spots. 

Your final decision is ultimately dependent on what you’re looking for. But, when making your decision make sure to weigh key factors like:

• Price
• The type of job you’re hiring for (i.e, creative position, hourly work, technology professional)
• The features you want your platform to have (like custom candidate sorting). 

Choosing the right job board is crucial for faster and better hiring.

There are hundreds of job boards on the internet, but not all of them are created equal. Fortunately, most job seekers trust and have found rewarding roles on these five popular job boards, giving you a deep pool of talent to recruit and hire from.

You’re sitting around a conference room, trying to figure out how to best engage your leads and customers, sell more products, or just “stay top-of-mind” for your target audience, and someone decides there’s a solution that can solve all of those problems at once: an email newsletter!

Suddenly you’re “volunteered” to do it. And you’ve got to make sure that open and clickthrough rates don’t dip. Oh, and the first one needs to go out tomorrow.

I’ve been in that situation before, and I was terrified. Even though e-newsletters are one of the most common types of emails to send, they are actually some of the hardest to do right. In this post, we’ll teach you how to create an email newsletter your customers will enjoy reading.

Want to ace your new email newsletter project, or rejuvenate an old one? Beloware 10 things you need to make sure to do. And if you’re looking for some inspiration, here are some awesome email newsletter examplesyou can check out.

1. Review successful newsletter examples.

Where do you start? Before you get started creating an email newsletter, look at some examples in (and outside of) your industry. We’ve compiled a list of dozens of our favorite email newsletters into an ultimate lookbook.

Download the Guide for Free

2. Evaluate whether or not you need an email newsletter.

I know it can be kind of scary pushing back on your boss about a project you’ve been handed, but if an email newsletter isn’t right for your marketing, you shouldn’t waste your time working on one.

To figure out what you need to do, first do some research. In your industry, are there successful email newsletters that people like to subscribe to? What’s in them? With the resources you have available to you — budget, time, and internal support — could you be successful?

Then, re-examine your business’ goals. Are they trying to increase the number of leads? Better qualify leads to speak with salespeople? Close more deals? Retain more customers?

If your industry isn’t really interested in email newsletters, or if your goals don’t line up with what a newsletter could accomplish, your time might be better spent creating something else like alead nurturing email workflowor content for your blog.

So gather some data, create a plan-of-action (either for a successful newsletter or another activity), and go chat with your superior. Even if you disagree with his or her vision in doing an email newsletter, your boss will be glad you came prepared with a plan for success.

Okay, let’s say you’ve found that you should do an email newsletter. What next?

3. Figure out what kind of newsletter you want to send.

One of the biggest problems with email newsletters is that they’re often cluttered and unfocused because they’re supporting every aspect of your business. Product news goes right next to PR stories, blog posts go next to a random event week … it’s kind of a mess. Email — whether it’s a newsletter or not — needs one common thread to hold it together.

Oneway to help reduce the randomness of an email newsletter is by keeping it to one very specific topic. So instead of it being about your company in general, maybe it’s dedicated to one vertical.

An example of a great, topic-based email newsletter is BuzzFeed’s “This Week in Cats” newsletter. (Don’t judge … I recently adopted a kitten and I’ve become full-on obsessed with cats.) Though BuzzFeed writes about pretty much everything under the sun, they offer up one specific newsletter for people who love reading about cats.Because the niche is aligned with a specific interest, the articles have an opportunity to get way more engagement than they would in a newsletter featuring content from all over the website.

4. Balance your newsletter content to be 90% educational and 10% promotional.

Chances are, your email newsletter subscribers don’t wantto hear about your products and services 100% of the time. While they may love you and want to hear from you, there’s only so much shillingyou can do before they tune out.

Case in point: I have a thing for shoes, and I especially love this one shoe site. I willingly opted into the company’s email list, but it now sends me emails 2-3 times a day to buy, buy, buy … and when I see its sender name pop up in my inbox, I want to scream. If they sent me educational content — about the latest styles of shoes, or how to pair certain styles with certain outfits — I might be more inclined to buy from them, or at least start opening their emails again.

Don’t be that company. In your email newsletters, get rid of the self-promotion (most of the time) and focus on sending your subscribers educational, relevant, timely information. Unless youactuallyhave an exciting, big piece of news about your product, service, or company, leave out the promotional parts.

5. Set expectations on your “Subscribe” page.

Once you’ve figured out your newsletter’s focus and content balance, make sure you’re properly communicating about them on your subscribe landing page.

Get specific. Tell potential subscribers exactly what will be in the newsletter as well as how often they should expect to hear from you. Take a page out of SmartBrief’s book: On the subscribe landing page, it says what’ll be in the newsletterandgives potential subscribers a preview link. Check it out:

Image Source

As a subscriber, wouldn’t that be awesome? You’d go in with open eyes knowing exactly who you’ll be receiving email from, what they’ll be sending you, and how often they’ll be sending it. As a marketer, having this information up front will help diminish your unsubscribe and spam rates as well.

6. Get creative with email subject lines.

Even if your subscribers sign up for your emails, there’s no guarantee that they will open your emails once they get them in their inbox. Many marketers try increasing familiarity with their subscribers by keeping the subject line the same each day, week, or month that they send it.

But let’s face it, those subject lines get old for subscribers — and fast. Why? Because there’s no incentive from the subject line to click on that specific email right this instant. A better approach would be to try to have a different, creative, engaging subject line for each newsletter you send.

One company that does this really well is Thrillist. Here’s a collection of email newsletters I’ve received recently:

I’ve opened every single one of these because of the company’s subject lines. Even though I know that these emails are coming into my inbox every morning, the subject lines are what entice me to click.

If you need help with your email newsletter subject lines, check out this recipe.

7. Pick one primary call-to-action.

Okay, part of what makes a newsletter a newsletter is that you’re featuring multiple pieces of content with multiple calls-to-action (CTAs). But, that doesn’t mean you should let those CTAs share equal prominence.

Instead, let there be one head honcho CTA — just one main thing that you would like your subscribers to do. The rest of the CTAs should be “in-case-you-have-time” options. Whether it’s simply to click through to see a blog post or just to forward the email to a friend, make it super simple for your subscribers to know what you want them to do.

Check out the Scott’s Cheap Flights email newsletter below, which was promoting their newest travel deals. It’s got a photo to draw you in and chock-full of information … but it’s also pretty obvious what they want you to do: purchase the premium plan for exclusive travel deals. By placing this CTA above all the other pieces of information, Scott’s Cheap Flights increases the chance that their email recipients will click on it.

8. Keep design and copy minimal.

Like we said before, a newsletter can easily feel cluttered because of its nature. The trick for email marketers to look uncluttered revolves around two things: concise copy and enough white space in the design.

Concise copy is key — because you don’t actually want to have your subscribers hang out and read your email all day. You want to send them elsewhere (your website or blog, for instance) to actually consume the whole piece of content. Concise copy gives your subscribers a taste of your content — just enough that they want to click and learn more.

White space is key in email newsletters because it helps visually alleviate the cluttered feel, and on mobile, makes it much easier for people to click the right link.

Look to Schwab’s investing insights newsletter to see how this should be done. The design is clean, with just one thumbnail next to a paragraph of text, a link to read the article, and plenty of white space. The design feels uncluttered and easy to read.

9. Make sure images have alt text.

Given that visual content is incredibly important to the rest of your marketing activities, it’d make sense that you’d want to include them in your emails … right?

Right. But email’s a little bit trickier. Most of the time, people won’t have images enabled, so you’ve got to make sure your images have one essential component: alt text. Alt text is the alternative text that appears when images aren’t loaded in an email. This is especially important if your CTAs are images — you want to make sure people are clicking even without the image enabled.

Each email marketing program is different, but here is one tutorial for adding alt text to email.

10. Make it easy for people to unsubscribe.

This seems kinda counter-intuitive, but it’s key if you want to maintain an active, engaged subscriber list. Don’t use weird language like “Alter your communication with us.” Don’t hide an unsubscribe button behind an image without alt text. Besides keeping your list healthy, having a clear unsubscribe process will help ensure your email isn’t marked SPAM before it hits the rest of your list’s inbox.

Take a look at charity: water’s newsletter below to see how to do this right. The link to unsubscribe is bolded and capitalized, making it really easy for you to take action on it (if you wanted). No footer hunting required to uncover where the heck you can change your email settings.

11. Test, test, test.

I know I just listed out nine things you should do to make sure you’re doing email newsletters right, but you’ve also got to find out what works for your company and your list. Just like different cultures of people prefer different things, different groups of email subscribers prefer different things.

So use these email newsletter best practices as a jumping off point … and then experiment to find your secret sauce. Here are a few things you can try:

Short, Funny Subject Lines

All of your subject lines should be on the short side. (They work better that way.) But have you ever tried infusing a little humor into your copy? It could put a smile on your recipients’ faces — and potentially improve your open and clickthrough rates. Below’s a really funny subject line example from MasterClass:

This clever F-word subject line was used to introduce their new line of fashion-centered classes with Anna Wintour.

CTA Copy & Design

Maybe your readers like loud, bright colors on your CTA — or maybe drab, bland ones are the way to go. Maybe they prefer really fun, excitable, action-oriented copy — or maybe a simple “click here” works. Definitely test out your CTA language and copy to see what resonates.

As a good example to follow, Etsy has multiple CTAs in its email newsletter, but the way that they use color and copy makes them seem very natural and easy-to-read.

No Images

Most of the emails featured in this post have lots of gorgeous, compelling images … but that doesn’t mean you need them in your emails.Try stripping away images in favor of seriously well-written copy.

Mobile Version

More and more people are surfing the web and checking their emails on mobile devices, so you should make sure that whatever design you work with is both visually pleasing and functional. This will ensure that your mobile email is engaging to both desktop and mobile users.

Want to learn more about this? Here’s a detailed guide that walks you through how to optimize your email for mobile devices.

Sender Name

Another way to get a subscriber’s attention is to send an email with a name they recognize — whether it’s their own or a brand leader they’d recognize.

This email from Gartner used the subscriber’s first name in the subject line to grab their attention. If you have a company mascot that’s widely recognized, you could test sending a newsletter from them.

Want to start designing but aren’t sure how? Use a template! Check out our long list of effective email templates that are free or very affordable.

Now that you know how to put together your newsletter, it’s time to brainstorm what content your readers will enjoy. What you choose to offer will depend on your business, industry, and target audience.

If your website already has a blog, consider sending out a content roundup of your best articles and videos. Educational content is also valuable. Sending a how-to guide in your newsletter can help establish your brand as the authority on a given topic and provide readers with content that is most relevant to their interests.

Get your subscriber list engaged with contests or scour your social media channels for user-generated content featuring your brand. Customer promotion adds social proof to your brand, making it more trustworthy.

Email Newsletter Best Practices

Once you’re ready to put together your newsletter, be sure to follow the above steps. Here are some best practices to guide your efforts, regardless of your newsletter’s formatting:

1. Keep things short and sweet.

Don’t overwhelm people with too much text or imagery. Level things out. Even if you choose a photo-less newsletter, keep your message quick and to the point so the email cuts to the chase and grabs attention the whole time.

2. Make your content valuable.

No one wants to open an email with a bunch of advertisements in it. So, include gems of wisdom, tips, and helpful blog posts along the way so the reader feels like they’re actually learning something. This will make the subscription feel much more valuable to them.

3. Always test your emails.

It’s embarrassing when a link doesn’t work or a design aspect looks wonky. So be sure to send test emails to yourself and a colleague who can give you helpful feedback. Check them on both a computer and a smartphone inbox so you can confirm that both the mobile and desktop designs look good.

4. Don’t skip A/B testing.

Aside from testing emails to make sure the design looks as it should and all links work, you’ll want to experiment with A/B testing. Performing A/B tests will help you determine the types of emails your audience prefers. You can also use A/B testing to see what works or doesn’t when it comes to CTA placement and other details.

5. Make it mobile-friendly.

With more users checking their email on mobile devices, it’s imperative that your newsletter is mobile-friendly. Nearly 60% of emails are opened on mobile devices. One way to ensure your emails display properly is by using a responsive email template. HubSpot’s drag and drop email templates are responsive by default and a great option if looking for an easy solution.

6. Monitor email frequency.

Another aspect to pay attention to is how many emails you’re sending and how often. Sending too many emails can cause recipients to unsubscribe.

Send an Email Newsletter Your Subscribers Will Love

Email newsletters are something we’re all familiar with, yet it can be challenging to create a successful one for your own brand. Use the examples above for inspiration and create an email newsletter that delights your subscribers.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in September 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Human Resources professionals have had quite the last few years, huh? Given the circumstances of the past two-plus years, a great deal has changed for and been asked of our Human Resources colleagues, while we, the professionals who aren’t working in HR, looked to them to help us figure out all of the insanity set before as quickly as possible. 

“Are we able to work remotely for the foreseeable future?” 

“What would happen to my employment status if I happened to move to a new state?” 

“How can we onboard more employees virtually?”

As a result HR teams scrambled the world-over to upgrade their existing infrastructure to address a rapidly changing world. What worked for years suddenly seemed irrelevant. Investing in modern HR software solutions became mission critical overnight. 

What Do Human Resources Professionals Need From Their HRIS Software?

HR pros and departments have leaned on human resources software (also known as HRIS [human resources information system]) to streamline their work and empower their colleagues for decades. 

Early HRIS systems automated payroll and incorporated ERP by the end of the 1970s. By the 1990s, HRIS began using cloud technologies, allowing their clients to access their employees’ performance via online accounts on web-based portals. Even pre-pandemic, Human Resources software had made remote work more feasible, providing flexibility for everyone.

Today, HR software enables companies to:

• Provide access to employees and administrators anywhere at anytime
• Manage employee PTO
• Share vital documents for future reference
• Ensure compliance
• Increase other organizational efficiencies

While HRIS software has been cloud-based for nearly thirty years, these platforms have evolved considerably in the past decade alone. The rise in remote work has also placed greater demand on these tools, as the needs for HR software have likely changed considerably. But how have these needs changed and what do Human Resources departments put the most stock in?

Fortunately, this is something that NetLine has greater visibility into. 

The Challenge

• How can Marketers at HR software vendors better understand the needs of their target buyers beyond anecdotal learnings gleaned from their existing customer base?
• What kind of obstacles are HR professionals facing that human resources-specific software vendors can solve or simplify?
• How can Marketing operationally leverage insights into those obstacles to drive more personalized and contextual dialogue with prospects? 

The Goal

• Identify and understand how leading HR decision-makers use or intend to use HR software and whether they intend to increase their investment any further within the next 12 months and beyond.
• Such observations should exclusively be captured via first-party interactions with HR decision-making buyers as they voluntarily registered and consumed related content. 

How This Data Was Captured

By tapping into dramatic scale beyond the limitations of their own content, our customer leveraged NetLine’s Intent Discovery product to secure first-party sourced intent-rich data squarely aimed at accelerating sales outcomes. Empowered by NetLine’s entire universe of content, the client put to good use all 13,000+ assets, billions of data points, and the 35,925,120 different ways of filtering buyers actively performing research.

Unlike traditional intent data, Buyer-Level Intent Data captured via Intent Discovery helps you better understand the challenges, priorities, and purchase timeline of your ideal targets. Nothing is hidden behind obfuscated datasets and/or black box proprietary scores. 

Perhaps most importantly, Intent Discovery acts as an always-on monitor of all B2B content consumption behavior as professionals are actively researching content specific to their challenges. Monitoring activity is then mined on a real-time basis and intercepted once a buyer has met or exceeded each element required to define intent—capturing custom, intent-rich, customer-specific insights directly from the prospect.

The Questions

To answer the questions, we engaged nearly 6,800 senior-level HR decision-makers to assess their desire to invest in HR software and what their priorities are with this technology.

Here’s a sampling of some of the insights we uncovered from their responses.

What are Your Top HR Software Priorities You Are Allocating Resources Towards?

Human Resources departments are charged with a variety of responsibilities. While their colleagues might only look to them for PTO and benefits questions, they’re focused on the professional development of each member of the organization. 

PD is such a focus within the HR world that 34.21% of respondents stated that Performance Management was their top priority in terms of resource allocation, making it the top priority in the field. In fact, these respondents were 1137% more likely to state that Performance Management was their top priority compared to Assessment Tracking Software, the least prioritized feature. Of those who shared that Performance Management was their main focus, HR Professionals in the Advertising/Marketing industry were the most likely to state that Performance Management was their top priority (45.6%), making them 33.3% more likely to make this statement.

Investing in your employees is the sign of an organization that values its people. Considering that the cost of replacing an employee can be as high as 50%-60% (with overall costs ranging anywhere from 90%-200% according to research from SHRM), businesses should be doing everything in their power to retain their people. It should come as no surprise then that Talent Management Systems was the second most popular priority at 21.51%. HR pros within the Automotive industry viewed this as critical with 32.71% of them stating it was their top priority.

Some of the other notable insights include:

• While Video Interview Software was the second least prioritized category, HR pros in the Telecommunications industry were 189.8% more likely to make it a priority over any other industry.
  

• HR professionals in the Corporate Services industry lead the way for two separate priorities: Applicant Tracking Systems (20.46%) and Assessment Tracking Software (4.62%). Given this industry’s need to track and measure their own outputs for their clients, being interested in these two categories makes complete sense.

What’s the Timeframe for Additional Investment for HR Software?

The Human Resources audience is one of the largest we study across the NetLine platform. Because of this, it’s surprising to see how different the results are for this group relative to its peers in other industries. For example, 31.92% of our respondents regarding AI software investment expected to invest within the next 12 months. When it comes to HR software, only 21.98% of respondents said they expect to make any additional investment within the next 12 months. A roughly 1:4 ratio compared to a 3:7 ratio is quite large.

Despite the fact that the majority of respondents aren’t looking to invest in the near future, there are still a number of professionals who are (and as we highlighted in our Challenging the 95-5 Rule blog, understanding and focusing on those who are ready is crucial).

Let’s find out where the market current sits:

• 4.61% of respondents expect to make any additional investment in HR software within the next 3 months. HR professionals in the Advertising/Marketing industry were the most aggressive in their timelines, as these respondents were 212.3% more likely to state that they would look to make any additional investment within the next 3 months. Specifically, HR Systems Administrators in the Advertising/Marketing field were 1201% more likely to state that they would look to make any additional investment within the next 3 months compared to others with the same timeline.

• On the other hand, HR professionals in the Education industry had the most, as they were 7.6% less likely to say that they would look to make any additional investment within the next 3 months.

• Conversely, 92.3% of HR recruiting professionals in the Finance industry stated more likely to make any additional investment within the next year, making them 18.3% more likely to say this compared to others with the same timeline.

One trend that we’ve observed across our buyer-level intent analysis is how aggressive HR professionals in the Media industry are in their investment timelines. While they may not be the most prolific in any one category, it’s quite common to see Media, Telecommunications, and, as we detailed above, Advertising/Marketing professionals (regardless of job area) stating that they’ll be looking to invest sooner than many of their peers in other industries.

The most likely reason for this? Agency professionals Agencies are charged with keeping their clients in the know on everything under the sun, which naturally requires a great deal of learning, attention, and dedicated personnel. HRIS use within these professions makes a great deal of sense as a means of reducing turnover and expediting hiring.

The Results

Despite the fact that nearly 80% of respondents may not be looking to buy within the next year, Human Resources software is a growing market that is poised to become a primary resource for businesses of all sizes. 

For example, through Intent Discovery, we found that:

• 16.5% of respondents said that Hiring People Faster was their top challenge in managing and using HR software.

• CHRO/Chief Human Resource Officers in the Legal field were 319.3% more likely to state that Data Management was their greatest challenge in managing HR software.

• HR professionals in the Healthcare/Medical industry employing 1,000-2,499 employees generating $100 – 499.9 Million were the largest sub-group of respondents.

• HR professionals in the Healthcare/Medical and Financial fields were 25% and 23.3%, respectively, more likely to state that Retaining Talent was their top challenge in managing and using HR software

• HR professionals in the Computers and Technology space working within organizations employing 500 – 999 generating $500 – $999.9 Million are the most eager to expedite their timelines, as they were 1346% more likely to state that they’d make any additional investment within the next 3 months. 

• HR professionals in the Travel/Hospitality/Entertainment field working within organizations employing 1,000 – 2,499 generating $100 – $499.9 Million, on the other hand, weren’t in any hurry to make any additional investment, as they were 23.8% more likely to state that they wouldn’t be looking to invest within the next 12 months.
  

Insights like these are more valuable than gold, as they set the table for more productive and more fruitful interactions, relationships, and, hopefully, sales. But getting there still requires some additional effort.

How to Maximize Buyer-Level Intent Insights

So long as Marketers know how to leverage the actionable, buyer-level data at their disposal, they have significant opportunities in front of them, 

Here are a few ways Marketers can maximize buyer-level intent data to reach the HR decision making professionals they’re after:

Restructure Your Sales and Marketing Outreach

​While possessing intent data isn’t the same as a lead, it should be treated similarly. 

Once you know what your buyers are truly interested in, it’s time to ditch the templated outreach emails. Embrace the ability to truly know who is actively exhibiting intent within the account. 

Coordinate Campaign and Content Messaging

If you knew that a Recruiting professional was struggling with their talent management system, you wouldn’t subject them to an email that focused exclusively on your latest payroll solution updates, right? Of course not.

Once you know your prospect’s needs, consider the additional variables your prospect will need: 

• What type of unique content is needed to move them closer to a buying decision? 
• Who else is involved in the buying committee? 
• Who is the ultimate decision-maker?

Identify Likely-to-Buy Accounts

Buyer-level intent is spectacular. However, just because it’s the new, shiny object doesn’t mean it’ll yield the best possible buyers for you.

To find which accounts are not only actively exhibiting first-party intent but also align with your core buying indicators, matrix your buyer-level intent data against existing internal signals; you’re likely to find a tremendous amount of success here.

How Your Business Can Better Understand the Intent of Your Audience

In today’s hyper-competitive vendor market, it is more important than ever to understand the real-time pain points and in-market tendencies of your future buyers. Buyer-Level Intent Discovery removes the guesswork that comes with every lead and instead provides context to what each prospect needs and what your buying audience craves.

NetLine’s Intent Discovery product helps businesses accelerate sales cycles by capturing first-party intent data by intercepting and engaging the buyer with customized validation questions. With this one-of-a-kind product, B2B Marketers can gain first-party insights for immediate activation and seamless remarketing/sales acceleration.

For more information on how you can move beyond account-level insights and start your buyer-level intent discovery journey, contact us, or visit our website.