January 2nd, 2009
Email marketing is one of the most widely used forms of advertising available today. Email marketing can be equally useful for small company as well as multi-national ones.
If you wish to be viable online and realise the benefits of the internet, a company needs a result driven strategy to market itself on he internet. The main advantages of the internet can be realised only if a firm is able to use it beneficially to communicate with its users.
Email promotion is one of the most widely used methods to interact with your clientele, both existing as well as prospective. It is one of the most efficient and extensive communication mediums available today. A firm can start an email list from a variety of sources including its website.
Administering a extensive email marketing campaign will in most cases require a well thought of approach and may involve working with a external email marketing organisation. If your company does not have a large email list to advertise to then a list consisting email id’s of your target audience can be purchased quite easily from a direct marketing firm that deals in email list management. A company website can also be useful medium to collect email addresses from potential customers via a basic email or newsletter registration form on the website.
Following are some easy to use email marketing tips that a organisation can use:
1. Start making an email spread-sheet of users
We all need to start somewhere. If you do not already have an email list you can easily start building one now. Whether you have a small or a large client base, you can commence by first including your existing clients on your mail list which you can build upon with time. Once you have started a list there are many ways to expand. Any new enquiries you receive can be easily included in the list. It is a common way to acquire highly selected email list from a professional email list management proivder.
2. Email form on your website
Offering customers with a option to sign-up via your website is probably one of the easiest technique to build your own email list. If your website does not already offer an email application feature, any web designer will be able to do so with ease. The placement of the email registration feature on your website is important and has an impact t on conversion rates. As far as possible it should be placed on a prominent place on the website. It is a common and effective practice to include it on every page of your website. If your website uses a content management system then most content management systems offer newsletter registration as a built in feature.
3. Provide a Newsletter
Sending newsletters to your users is one of the most successful email marketing methods. You can begin a newsletter on one of the topics related to our industry. The newsletter can be once a week, once a month or even once every quarter. A newsletter is an excellent method to communicate with your clients on regular basis. You can use the newsletter to subsequently advertise your own products or services.
4. Improve awareness of your mailing list
You can use some simple techniques to extend the popularity of your email newsletters and extending your email list. Creating a quality marketing email or newsletter requires time and effort so it is best sent out to as many people as possible.
Following are some simple methods to improve awareness about your business newsletter or email list and encourage people to sign-up:
- Include a hyperlink to apply for emails in all email correspondence.
- Provide information about your email newsletter in invoices, purchase orders and other company communication.
- Include email sign-up link in a visible place on your website and blog.
- Let your team know to inform customers about your email newsletter at every opportunity they get.
Create an reason to subscribe to your email or company newsletter e.g. discount coupons or prize draws.
5. Always respect privacy and adhere to data protection act
It is absolutely important that you respect user’sprivacy and take all steps necessary to prevent to protect the data. You should not share this information with anyone without prior consent form the customer. Similarly sending promotional email is against the law. Your email list should be opt in. When users register heir email address they are agreeing to receive emails form you. You should highlight the fact that you will be sending emails to the email addresses you are collecting. If you buy opt-in email lists form reliable sources if you are using third party services.
Sending unsolicited emails can get you in legal problems and you should familiarise yourself with the basic laws. users should be given the option to opt-out from receiving emails in future should they choose to do so. This is commonly achieved by offering an un-subscribe link in the footer of the email.
6. Send quality emails
Nothing can be worse for your branding than sending out a unprofessional email to clients . You should select the content of your email properly and plan out your campaign before sending it to customers . The content should be well researched and offer value to users. It is Ok to promote your products and company but you should try and offer a variety of information. A well balanced email is more likely to succeed than purely promotional email. If the email you send is full of self promotion and does not offer real value then customers are likely to un-subscribe or opt-out form receiving emails in future. Lay emphasis on quality over numbers.
7. Select right subject for the email
A good subject for the email plays a vital role in deciding how many emails are opened and read by customers. It is beneficial to choose the subject of the email with careful thought and consideration.
8. Design and Layout:
You should plan the structure of the email with care. The Layout should be clutter free and easy to read. The design should be clean and minimalist. Use images carefully. Any images used should be optimised for quick loading time. The design should reflect your brand. You should also Include your logo and contact information.
9. Clean-up your list from time to time:
If you are maintaining your own email list then you should perform basic list maintenance tasks periodically. Any un-subscribed users should be deleted from the list immediately. At the same time all old or not working email addresses should be removed. It is better to group your list in to different categories so you can pan your emails and send specific news to specific groups. At the same time any new usres should be included so they are not left out in the next email you send out.
10. proof-read your campaign before sending out to users
Whether you send out frequent emails or send then less frequently, it is vital that you test your emails dilligently before you send them out. Spell check should also be performed before sending them out. Any links in the email should be validated to see if hey are not broken. You can do so by delivering a copy to yourself first.
11. Measure the performance and Improvise:
Like with any other marketing way, it is important to measure the success or failure of your email marketing campaigns. There are many ways to monitor the performance. The ultimate measure of success is the number of enquiries or leads you receive as a direct result of your emails. However other trends related to your campaign can also provide a useful knowledge. Majoriy of email advertising software will allow you to review deliver rate, response rate, click rate and so on. You can find out how many emails were opened, how many were opened and even how many links in the email were clicked. You can use this information to determine the performance of each email that is sent and to plan and improvise on subsequent campaigns.
12. Call to action
An commercially viable marketing email should excite users to take an action. Offering a call to action feature in your emails can improve the chances of conversion. A call to action can be anything from a lead or a link to buy a product.
