Welcome to the wonderful world of email marketing! Whether you are a beginner who has never written a marketing email in their life, or a seasoned expert with many opt-in lists, the tips in this article will teach you things you probably never thought to ask before. Read on to learn!
Always seek permission before sending marketing emails to potential customers. Sending unsolicited emails will quickly have you labeled a spammer. Getting permission to send your messages doesn’t have to be hard; offer something valuable to your customers in exchange for the ability to email them, such as a discount, coupon, or other sign-up incentive.
If you want your email marketing messages to be successful, make sure you have permission to send them. If you do not have permission from your recipients, the potential consequences can range from being added to spam filters all the way up to getting blacklisted by Internet service providers themselves.
To get the most of your email marketing, invest in a program that personalizes your emails with every customer’s given name instead of a generic greeting. Ensuring that every email starts with the recipient’s name is key to encouraging your customers to see your newsletters as valuable information and not just more sales spam.
Your email marketing campaign will be more effective if you make it easy for customers to unsubscribe. This may seem paradoxical, but people will tend to trust you more if you make them feel as if they are in control. Post the unsubscribe link in an obvious place so they can find it easily.
Get an object lesson in how not to run an email campaign by deliberately burying yourself in spam. Make an email account, display it around the Internet, and look at the spam come in. Learn from the wrong things these emails do and adjust your email campaigns accordingly. Your brand’s credibility will be boosted if you separate yourself from spammers.
To improve your email reading rates, offer subscribers the option of seeing your newsletters in either plain text or HTML. Too many companies send their emails out in only one format, discouraging their less tech-savvy readers or alternately disappointing readers that expect a more dynamic presentation. Offering every newsletter in both formats makes it more accessible.
In your emails, give customers an incentive. Customers who get something out of working with you are more likely to buy from you. You could give them free shipping if they follow the link in the newsletter and buy more than $50 worth of your products.
Your emails should contains calls to action. The people that receive your emails need to know what’s expected of them. If links are included, make it highly visible to them with instructions on what to do next. These should be at the top and the bottom of the messages you send.
Always make sure customers have a clear and concise way to opt out of emails at any time. They signed up with you because they wanted more information, and if at any time they wish to stop receiving that information, they should be able to opt out. It is only fair.
While in the opt-in process, be sure to ask for the names of your customers, especially their first name. That way, you’ll be able to customize your emails so that they individually address each customer to make the experience personal. This will help your emails stand out from those that seem anonymous and cold.
Allow for conversation through your email marketing message campaign. Ask questions of your subscribers, or posit thought provoking queries. The responses will make your readers feel like they are part of a relationship instead of marketing targets. The responses you get will help you know where you are going right, and you might discover useful information about your base.
Do not send out rough drafts of your content. Write out what you want to say, and then cut the word count in half and rewrite to fit within your new limit. This generates messages that get to the point. Readers want to spend no more than three paragraphs of time reading your message, and maybe not even that.
You might want to send a follow-up email to your clients that includes a caution if your products or services supply is running low. You could include a link that tells them to click here and begin. The ending postscript could tell them to act now before your supply runs out.
Make your email messages tell the reader a story. Storytelling is one of the most powerful advertising techniques. Each installment of your newsletter or mailing should tell the next bit of the advertising message “story”. They need to be connected in some way, for example by having each message end with a tip or a testimonial.
To boost your potential customer base, make it easy for your existing subscribers to refer their friends or family members to you. The easier it is for people to share your messages with other people, the more likely it is that they will do so. This means more subscribers and more potential customers.
Offer incentives. People might be hesitant to give their consent to receive e-mails. Try offering some sort of incentive as a bonus for receiving e-mails from you. Offer coupons or exclusive promo codes. Make sure that there is content in these e-mails that they will find both worthwhile and useful.
If you’re creating your very first campaign or just tweaking those which you’re already running, use the strategies listed here to make it effective and successful. Using the expertise of others is a great way to better your own skills, learn new techniques and reach success you never thought possible, so get to work today!
