9 Email Marketing Tips to Take to Heart
Marketing through email is one of the most cost efficient ways to promote your business, engage new customers, and boost your revenues in the process. There is, however, a thin line that separates your email marketing message from those messages that are clicked as spam which end up in the infamous Trash folder. It’s what you must work hard to prevent from happening.
Below are some tips to take to heart in launching an email campaign.
1. Have a Goal
First and most important rule for your email campaign is to be clear on what you want to accomplish. Is it to drive more visitors to your website? Boost earnings? Build company image? Or foster relationships with your clients?
2. Create Your Database of Prospects
Your email campaign will never take off without recipients. Your initial readers can be people you met during trade launches, members of the press, or store visitors, among others. The list of recipients must continuously grow as you work your campaign.
3. Set Proper Expectations
Once your readers are identified, make sure you get your signup page up. This must have all the information on what they can expect from the email. Is it about tips on how to use the products, promotion of new services? How about company updates or a letter from the CEO? Apart from setting these expectations, you must also inform your customers on the actual benefits of subscribing to your email list.
Have a schedule in sending these emails. A monthly email will do. Frequent emailing may annoy your readers who may end up marking you as a spammer. Set these parameters clearly at the beginning of the campaign to help them think whether they will signup with you.
4. Short and Sweet
Your readers are probably busy as you are. Chances are, they will only browse through your email. In roughly 100 words per article, you must be able to deliver the message to your readers. If you are sending a long article, then it may be advisable to write a summary and simply create a link to the target page.
5. Compelling Content
This alone can make or break your email campaign. Your content must be informative, entertaining, and relevant for your readers. You must go the extra mile and learn what is interesting to your readers. As your email campaign progresses, offer various relevant content to keep your subscribers interested.
Apart from offering relevant content, you may also send out seasonal content such as holiday-related emails or birthday greetings to your readers. To foster a lasting relationship with them, write in a casual tone. As much as possible, try to make the email more personalized for your readers, like they are receiving messages from a friend.
6. Wise Use of Images
Pictures must be used sparingly as it takes up a lot of space and not to mention, may take some time to load. Email services sometimes block images from appearing. Important messages must not be conveyed using images. Instead of photos, use HTML for an enhanced look.
7. Proofread, Edit, Revise
This may seem like a no-brainer to you but this is perhaps one of the most overlooked aspects of the email campaign. Your compelling content and dynamic design won’t mean a thing if readers see typographical errors in your mail. It only takes one customer to notice this oversight, post it on social media sites, and affect the credibility of your business. Imagine all that trouble you could have avoided by simply proofreading your email.
8. Test before Sending
Before releasing your email, if you have the time, try it with various email clients including Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, Mac Mail, or Outlook. You may also want to consider having a version for mobile phones. More and more people are accessing their mails on a daily basis through portable devices. According to the Email in Motion study, almost 65% of Americans are likely to delete an email not readable with their mobile handsets. Note also that logos, Flash animation, and graphics are often blocked by filters. Test to check how your messages will appear.
9. Unsubscribe Link
Your message must also have a link for readers who want to unsubscribe. If they do, you can ask them to take a survey. You might not get that many responses, but surveys such as this will give you clues to what your target audience wants.
