Regardless of how much you might hear about spam emails clogging up the Internet and Nigerian scams draining people’s bank accounts, the truth is that email marketing is a proven money maker. It is even perhaps the most affordable of all marketing mediums in terms of costs versus individuals reached. Read on to learn how you can tap into this tool.
Minimize traditional email marketing activities during the holidays. Customers are preoccupied with family and friends, and are less likely to be paying attention to business email. Your odds of ending up in the spam box are considerably higher, which could have longer term implications for your bottom line. The major exception to this would be a business directly related to the holiday activities. Otherwise, give yourself a break and enjoy some downtime yourself. Business will be back on track in a day or two.
To make sure your emails don’t turn people off, always seek permission before sending them out. Include a subscription button on your site, and encourage regular customers to have their friends sign up as well. If you’d like to give people some extra encouragement to subscribe, you could feature subscriber only deals.
Follow up with contacts you meet at trade shows. Collect people’s phone numbers when they stop by your table and call them within a couple of weeks of meeting them. Use the follow-up call to check in with your contact and ask him if he would like to receive your marketing newsletter by email.
Always get permission before adding someone to your email list. This reduces the chances of your emails being marked as spam.
Continue offering incentives to customers after they sign up for your email list. For example, give customers a 10 percent discount if they remain on your email list for a month. This keeps customers from losing interest in your marketing materials and unsubscribing or deleting your emails after just a couple of newsletters.
If you want your email marketing messages to flow out across the Internet to people’s inboxes, consider where you are sending them from. Sent frequently from known and stable IP addresses is best. Sudden surges from new IP locations can raise suspicions and even result in blocks and blacklists from ISP’s.
You should get in touch with your subscribers at certain intervals and confirm with them that they are still interested in receiving emails from you. Most companies do this every nine months so that they can be sure that they are not being seen as an annoyance. This will also guarantee that the people on your email list have genuine interest and are not just taking up space.
Do not restrict yourself just to email marketing. As you identify your core clientele that trusts you, see if you can get phone numbers and physical addresses. Build on your relationships by expanding your communications with your loyal core base by contacting them through these mediums as well as email.
Do not add email addresses to your mailing list without the explicit permission of the individual who owns it. If you pad your list using subscribers who haven’t specifically requested to receive your emails, you run the risk of alienating the email address owners, as well as your potential customers. You could also cause yourself to be kicked off of the email providers service, because they may think you are a spammer.
Use the email subscription form to alert potential subscribers of the things that you may typically send them. Tell them exactly what kinds of emails they’ll be getting and when they’ll be getting them. This helps keep new subscribers from being surprised by your email content or quantity.
Every email that you send out to your customers as part of your marketing campaign should offer them something of value. If you give them a discount on your products, exclusive access to new offerings, or free shipping, they will be more likely to respond positively to your message and come back to you again.
Check your email messages across different email providers to see how they look. By doing this, you’ll be able to ensure that your emails are standard enough to be compatible with the most popular email readers. Be as thorough as possible when doing this, so that you don’t miss any segment of your customers.
Use email marketing with a select group of valued customers. This way, you can create an elite list of customers who can feel valued that they are receiving special offers and promotions from you. It may even motivate people who are not part of your email club to make more purchases in order to receive these special promotions.
Try getting inspiration from your competitors or other people in your niche. Try signing up for their email campaigns to see what is working for them. This can give you a better idea of what you’re up against and why something may or may not be working for your own campaign.
Use plain text. Plain text emails will be received as more personable and HTML can be more difficult for some people to read. Some email readers may even prevent the delivery of HTML, depending on user settings. Plain, simple text will always be easy to read and very well received.
Program your email messages to include the recipient’s name in the subject line or body of your message. An email message that includes the recipient’s name will feel much more personal. This sense of connection with the marketing will make them inclined to read the email and more likely to follow links within it.
When developing your emails, remember to make the best use of your subject lines. This is what will capture a reader’s attention and give a first impression that will encourage them to read on. Your subject lines should be the most well thought-out part of your email, so investing time in them will never be wasted.
If you decided to read this article, it was because you were thinking about making money through email marketing. Now that you have read this article, you know a few points about approaching it. Apply the insights and advice provided in the previous paragraphs, and you can find success in email marketing.
