If you think that email marketing is so 1998, think again. Using emails to solicit a widespread base of people may have been one of the earliest forms of marketing on the Internet, but it is still effectively used today. New techniques and strategies are constantly evolving to keep marketing emails fresh and effective. See how the following tips can help you create successful marketing emails.
Develop a consistent format and schedule for your marketing emails. By doing this, your customers will learn when and what to expect. Find a professional template that suits your business and used it every time. Alert your customers to the most relevant information at the beginning of the email.
One great way to get people to read your direct email marketing messages and newsletters is to include special offers available only to the recipients. Using email marketing in this way will give customers a return on their time for reading your emails and will most likely gain you referrals as well. In fact, a referral program is a great way to grow both your email base and your customer base.
Provide your customers with useful tips or information in each marketing newsletter. Think of the newsletter as an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise in your field. Your customers will trust you more when they see how much you know and will be more likely to buy products or services from you.
Don’t include the use of newsletters in your email marketing campaign. You can send the people on your opt-in list relevant emails about particular topics instead. You will attract more people when they know that they will only be receiving information that they are interested in, and that they will not have to sift through an entire newsletter to get it.
If you have images or graphics, put them on the left side of the email message. Make sure that your call to action element is always on this side. Research has documented that this location produces almost double the number of clicks to your product, service or website than placing these elements anywhere else does.
Go for professional over slick with your emails. Don’t send emails that look like flashy webpages. This comes across as impersonal to the recipient. Also, keep in mind that many email programs will not display HTML images. So, do not focus on images in your emails. Go for concise, professional, and inviting so that everyone can read it.
Keep the graphics to a minimum in your emails. Some email readers block graphics by default and if you are relying on graphics to get your message across, some readers won’t get that message. Also, email programs may send image-heavy emails to your junk mail folder.
Collecting and analyzing statistics is as important to the success of an email marketing campaign as it is to a business website. Invest in software that allows you to track the effectiveness of every email, from what percentage of your emails are actually opened to how many result in unsubscriptions.
Learn the things you should avoid by checking out what people think is spam. Make a new email and start posting it online and you will quickly receive spam. Note what is done wrong in those emails, and avoid making those mistakes in your email campaigns. By not spamming others, you immediately make yourself more credible.
Color is important, even when it comes to email! Your email messages should have a consistent color scheme that is both professional and easy to read. This is especially important once you start designing more advanced, HTML rich messages. If you are unsure about making your own selections, a little Internet research can point you towards excellent color schemes.
Tailor your emails and landing pages for mobile users as well as those using desktops. Keep in mind that smartphones have tiny screens that may not be compatible with the way you have your emails formatted. Trim the width so that your emails can be read by users without them having to re-size them.
Playing with fonts is fun, and you may be tempted to spice up your emails with exotic fonts. Resist that temptation! Fonts may display differently, or even be replaced by defaults, on someone else’s computer. Even if an odd font does display correctly, there is no guarantee that your recipient will appreciate it the same way you do. To avoid any font-based mishaps, stick with fonts that are widespread, easy to read, and understated.
Never add emails to your email list without permission from the subscriber. Adding random emails to your list will not only draw the ire of the owner of those emails, but other customers, as well. You could also cause yourself to be kicked off of the email providers service, because they may think you are a spammer.
When building your email marketing campaign, remember that the most important thing is developing your reputation. Be sure you don’t cut corners, target inappropriate customers, or any other misleading techniques. It’s important to keep in mind that the reputation of your business is at stake. Make business choices while remembering that.
Rather than purchasing or renting a mailing list, build your own from the ground up. You can do this by including opt-in forms on your website, gathering business cards at conventions or other industry events, and encouraging your subscribers to share your emails with others, which can garner even more subscribers.
Make use of pre-headers in your marketing emails. Certain email clients – the more advanced web-based ones in particular – display a short summary for each email in the inbox. This is the pre-header. It is easy to set up. Clients generate pre-headers from the first line of text in the message. Compose your emails accordingly!
Clearly, the marketing email is still quite effective. By taking these ideas to heart and staying current on news methods of email marketing, you can make sure that such campaigns produce solid results well into the future.
