Email marketing is a powerful tool in today’s tech oriented, internet-based world. It can be used to interact with a customer base to increase profits, as well as gain new customers. As powerful as the tool is, it can be easily misused. There is a very thin line between email marketing and spam. Luckily, the following article will help you use email marketing without spamming unnecessarily.
Ask your customers for feedback on your emails. Since your customers are the most important part of your campaign, it is important to know if they are pleased with the emails they receive from you. You could ask them to fill out a short survey with a few questions on what they like and what they dislike.
You should generate one crystal-clear message for every email that you send. You don’t want bored customers or ones who are overwhelmed by too much content from your newsletter. Create one simple message that is short and direct to the point. This will attract more readers which will translate to more customers. People like things to be simple.
Be persistent with your email marketing messages. It can take as many as twenty emails to one prospect before you routinely have their attention. Try telling a good story through your messages. Hook them with a few messages and let it unfold over a series. Running contests that span several weeks are good way to do this.
When you are having your customers provide their email address to you during the sign-up process. Make sure that you have the clear disclaimer visible that you will be undertaking email marketing campaigns. Try to give the consumer an indication of how often you intend to make use of their addresses so that they are not unaware.
It is important that your friendly form line is one that your subscribers will recognize. For example, do not have the CEO of your company sending the emails. The reader may not know who it is from and just delete the email. In the subject line, put your business’s name.
Test sending your email marketing on different days of the week and at various times during the day. You’ll find that different times and dates will increase or decrease your open rates to your emails. Note the best time/day of the week mixtures and plan your most important email marketing campaigns to be released during those windows.
Do not take up permanent residence in your readers inboxes. Remember that they email for a number a reasons, from work to family. You are probably sharing that space with other marketers. Send out messages often enough to stay on their mental radar, but more than once a week is probably going to annoy them and backfire.
To avoid complications resulting from being identified as a spammer, notify your ISP of your email marketing intentions in advance. If any unhappy reader ever reports you, this will give your ISP the head’s up that your marketing efforts are legitimate. Your ISP may also be able to suggest an upgraded account that eases your email marketing operations.
When acquiring e-mail addresses through your website for marketing purposes, make certain that your sign-up form is brief. In general, you can limit the information required to sign up to only a name and an e-mail address. Names are useful for personalizing your e-mails. However, if you feel that even the name might be too much, it is perfectly fine to limit your sign-up form to just an e-mail address.
The email addresses on your list must be checked for validity. It can be a waste of time to have to resend emails and hunt down addresses from numerous returned messages when addresses were invalid. It’s a waste of time.
Add a personalized touch to your marketing emails. This would extend beyond including the recipient’s name amidst a form letter. Use every scrap of information that you have on your subscribers. Create smaller mini-groups of people that have common interests, and then customize messages for each small group.
Set up some expectations for your recipients when they sign up for your email campaign. Once they sign up, they should receive an immediate confirmation email that highlights what they can receive from signing up. This can help you build great customers relationships and help you avoid complaints from the recipients not being aware of what they were receiving.
Make sure all of the marketing emails you send are short. You should use direct language that gets right to the point. This will show the reader that you respect how much their time is worth. Readers are more likely to finish your message, if you follow this guideline. This can be vital since you probably end your emails with a link to your site to encourage your reader to find out more.
When designing your opt-in form, do not pre-check boxes by default. Leaving boxes unchecked ensures that customers are actively engaged in the opt-in process, which makes them more likely to sign up only for the content they truly want to receive. This saves your customers from the hassle of unchecking boxes that don’t interest them, and it boosts your trustworthiness.
As stated before, in a world dominated by the internet, email marketing is a powerful tool. Though it can be used for good purposes, such as interacting with potential and current customers, it can be misused as well, taking on the form of spam. When you use email marketing, keep this article in mind and your messages won’t end up in your recipient’s spam folder.
