Most people associate the term “email marketing” with spam, and thus aren’t very sympathetic to the idea. It is your job to make your emails so desirable that the customers both look and act on them. Read on to find out some great ways to use email marketing.
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.
Make sure that you get permission from customers or potential customers before sending out your emails. If people do not want to get emails from you, they could mark your emails as spam or even ignore you altogether. There is even a chance that your email service could take you out of their system.
Make your customers anticipate the arrival of your newsletter in their email by using it to offer them exclusive specials and markdowns. This type of email marketing gives the readers value for participating, but it may also encourage them to refer their friends. Indeed, a referral program can be a good method to grow your customer base and subscriber list.
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.
Get an object lesson in how not to run an email campaign by deliberately burying yourself in spam. If you post a new email address to the web, tons of spam will arrive. Take a look at those emails and learn what you don’t want yours to look like. If you see any similarities, adjust your email marketing campaign. Taking measures to stand out from spammers will boost the credibility of your brand.
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.
Design your marketing emails to be easily read on mobile devices, in addition to computers. An increasing number of people check their email messages using their cell phones. If the message is difficult to read on their phone, it is likely to be deleted without the content ever being read.
Everyone knows that email filters are getting more and more strict. Graphics and other things included in emails are blocked out, so a reader might not even see what you are trying to say. Therefore, a good piece of advice is to use plain text with a hyperlink to your site.
The subject is one of the most important parts of your e-mail. If you do not have a subject that immediately grabs the reader’s attention, it is likely that they will not bother to read the e-mail at all. The best written e-mails can be completely worthless without a compelling subject. Make sure that all of your subjects are great!
One way to keep your email readers engaged is to ask them questions. These should not be rhetorical questions, either. Provide a feedback channel they can use to send you answers. You could ask for direct replies via email, or send your readers to your social networking pages. However you arrange it, asking for two-way communication is a great way to cultivate loyalty in your subscribers.
Offer a bonus, such as a coupon, discount code, or other freebie, in exchange for signing up for your email mailing list. People love receiving free things. An email address is low in value to the customer but high in value to you as a business. People will gladly trade their contact information in exchange for a 10% discount off their next purchase.
Have an exit strategy for customers that stop responding to your mailings. If a customer is no longer interested in the products you have to sell, they’re going to be irritated and even angered by continued contact. Determine a number of messages or a length of time that you’ll keep sending messages, then if the customer doesn’t respond, remove them from your mailing list.
Ask the individuals who are part of your email list for permission prior to sending your messages. Most consumers have no interest in receiving anything spontaneously peddled to their personal email accounts. Sending out unannounced email messages can have a negative impact on your brand. Preserve your reputation by sending emails only to those who want them.
You should use feedback to improve your email marketing campaign, indirectly as well as directly. How your subscribers respond – or don’t – is valuable data, too. You can categorize your subscribers based on what links they’ve clicked, what purchases they’ve made, and when and how they’ve communicated with you. Tailor your subsequent emails to fit your different subscriber categories.
Know your audience in order to have a marketing campaign that is successful. What would they like to see? Think about what they would like to read. How can you utilize those insights to increase your sales? The tips you’ve read here should provide you with many of the answers you seek!
