Getting Better Results from Your Email Marketing
By David C Aaronson
First let’s consider the CAN-SPAM act rules.
You can send an email to anyone once, but you must follow these basic rules: 1) The Subject/Header must be relevant to the content of the email. 2) In the body of the email you must provide a real physical address for the sender. 3) You must provide a way for the recipient to opt out from any further emails from this company. If you follow these rules and are sending emails, then I suggest you also adhere to the following suggestions.
The two most important statistics to follow for all email campaigns are: 1. Number of opens and 2. Number of clicks. If you are not using an email systems that provides these statistics to you, please click here for a free trial.
1) Consider your recipients as if they were you!
We all learn (or should have) that being polite and courteous is the only way we should interact with others. Think of Email marketing as another form of interacting with other people and use the same principle. Sending a courteous welcome email when a consumer subscribes to your newsletter or joins your club, etc. is an overall best practice. On subsequent emails, just think about whether you would want to receive what you are sending.
2) Make it personable!
“Dear John” is the most obvious, but if there is any other personal information you know about the individual, including it in some way will increase opens and clicks. If you can collect any other information aside from an email address, use it. Any information that you know and include is very beneficial. Do you know what they last ordered? Do you know what they click in the last email? Do you know if they forwarded any past emails to others?
3) Everyone likes something free or near free.
Start your email conversation (your first email to this recipient) with an offer, an incentive or coupon. This shows your audience your appreciation and thanks them for giving you permission to contact them on a regular basis. Make sure the offer is a special for those that are subscribers. Make sure they know that subscriber’s will always: Get the best deals; or Be given priority on new products or services; Get discounts for continued loyalty; etc. If they choose to opt out, remind them on the opt our page of all they will be missing if they continue to opt out. Give them a chance to stay.
4) Set the right subscriber expectation:.
Why do subscribers opt-out? They become bombarded with too many emails, and everybody’s time is valuable. Let them choose how often they want to be contacted, daily, weekly or monthly. Set their expectations up front so they know how often they will hear from you before signing up. Make sure they know what kind of information they will be receiving and stick to that.
5) Keep your brand in the forefront.
Branding is extremely valuable, just ask Coke or Disney. All your emails from the very first one should have the same look and feel as your website. This will reiterate your brand to your audience. Clear calls-to-action should always drive readers to your site. It might want to include your brand name in the “from” field and subject line.
6) Viral marketing.
Always include a “Forward to a Friend” link in your email. This is most important whenever you include a bonus offer for doing so. You never know how much you can expand your list. This is a great way to get your name and brand out there. Do not be afraid to allow your subscribers to do some of the work for you.
7) Testing, Testing, Testing:
This is a separate subject but here is a teaser for what we will cover next week.
Have you tested your: Call to action:
From Email Experience Council:
“Two-Click Survey Results: Buttons Vs. Links—The Call-to-Action Hero Is…
Buttons, according to 72% of respondents to the Two-Click Survey on the EEC homepage. Only 28% thought that links performed better as primary calls-to-action. If you’re using links as your primary call-to-action, this bit of community wisdom should spur you to do some testing. “
Survey results being what they are many blogs on this subject have stated: “that buttons perform better for purchase decisions but that links perform better when the call-to-action is to view an article or request more information.” Testing is the answer.
David C Aaronson runs a Marketing business with an emphasis on using the Internet to improve profitability. He is also the local Assistant Director of BNI for West Hollywood and can be reached at: david.aaronson@bni4success.com
Tags: email, email marketing, IM2S, Internet Marketing, Internet Marketing Management Systems, list building, Marketing
