Tips For Running An Effective Email Marketing Campaign

It seems that what emerged as sound email principles and etiquette apply just as well to email marketing. But its not just email marketing… it’s effective email marketing.

Where previously formal letters and faxes used to be the way to communicate with clients and potential customers, the shift to the ‘softcopy’ world of the Web has meant that this same type of communication would have to happen in a format pertinent to this new venue. Email and email marketing asserted itself as the prime method of contact then. From brochures to customer support, everything can now take place through a few types on the keyboard and few clicks of the mouse.

However, there still is a protocol and a proper manner for effective email marketing:

- Be clear

Email is a shortened form of communication. There is no space for flowery and overtly ego-soothing language. Basic courtesy applies, like proper greetings and such, but on the whole, emails should be short and clear. Get to the point as soon as possible. Let your recipient know what is expected of him, what he stands to gain through this communication, and how he can gain it (for example, what he has to do, such as be within the first hundred to visit a site and thus earn a discount)

- Offer value, not information

Provide incentive for the email reader to read and click through. Add value to your communication. Attract and seduce. Don’t be surprised a boring, hum-drum email is deleted as soon as the recipient reads the first few lines. Entice, and do not provide too much information in the content. The website is there for this purpose. The email is for communication.

- Prefer text

Graphics take long to load and often emails with graphics and attachments are deleted immediately or go to a junk mail folder.

- Label your images if you use them.

Some people get only the text in an email in their browser. If you include graphics but fail to label them, the whole message may not make sense or the reader may not be enticed. Providing labels lets him know what stands at such a place in the message.

- Use a hook

You should aim to catch the attention of your reader from the first line itself. A good hook works then. Its message should be relevant and clear so that the customer can then immediately decide to read on or not. Remember that a reader is won through the first few lines itself.

- Support the hook

In the body of your email, use relevant information to support your hook and its message. However, be concise, as this isn’t an opportunity for an info dump. Your information should simply reinforce your hook.

- Be short and concise

Readers won’t read every word that is down in an email. They usually scan the thing in whole. Use the space you have succinctly to maximize the opportunity to grasp the reader.

- Provide the most important information first

Make efficient use of the top space of your email. Many readers read email through a preview pane. The top third of your email will be displayed in this pane, and based on this information, a reader may decide to read the full or delete the message already.

- Use a legible and easy to grasp format
- Arrange your text in a manner that is pleasant to the eye.
- Delineate text and paragraphs using hyphens or lines.
- Use legible font such as Georgia and Verdana in a readable size.
- Use bullets and lists to more clearly define your message so it can be grasped at first glance.

- Use the active voice

The active voice ‘involves’ the reader in the message and pushes him to react.

- Know your audience

And write accordingly with appropriate wording and information.

- Avoid URLs that are too long

Such addresses in emails can be difficult to click as they lose their link when they are ‘broken’ onto 2 or more lines.
Aim to have a URL on its own line. If needed, shrink the text for the link. Or you can offer the address without a hyperlink but as a ‘copy and paste’ option.

- Avoid caps and excessive use of punctuation marks

That’s basic email etiquette, which carries forward into your business communication.

- Offer an option to unsubscribe

Always offer a ‘way out’ for your recipients. An unsubscribe link is expected to be seen at the bottom of the email.
Providing your recipient with the option to continue receiving emails or to terminate the reception shows caring and courtesy to the reader.

Also ensure that an unsubscription is effective immediately.

- Easy to subscribe as well

Make it easy to subscribe as well. Provide links and offer a way to your guest book or how to provide comments and feedback. This shows consideration on your behalf.
It is also a good idea to let your readers know that they are free to forward the email as well.

- Make it easy to change subscription address

This way, if a client or recipient changes his address, he can make sure the email follows as well.

- Make good use of your subject line

The headline of your message should go in the subject box, as this is the first glimpse recipients will have to your email. Use it judiciously to convey information.

- Address your recipients by their name

This shows consideration and a personal touch. You definitely win over more people through a personalized message than through an impersonal mass bundling.

- Avoid in holiday periods

This time is often holiday from emails too, so keep email marketing communications to the minimum too.
You could however send out a message with the holiday’s greetings and best wishes.

- Consistency with corporate design

Having the same kind of layout and formatting as your website and other business communication supports ensures that someone recognizes your email at first glance too.

Once you have found the right template/format, use it every time.

- An email address that says who you are

People are more apt to trust a message with a From line containing information about who you are and where you’re from. This will also prevent your email from being listed as spam and from ending in the junk email folder.

- The landing page should fit the email and the offer

Make sure you are leading your reader to the right destination through the links provided in the message.

People hate wasting their time, and if this happens even once, you stand the risk of losing credibility.

By tailoring your landing page for links, you also make better use of your website to further engage the customer’s interest.

- Motivate newsletter sign up with a freebie or bonus
Offer something in return as an incentive. This could win you a lot of new subscriptions.

- Have good multimedia if you are using it

If you are using audio or video, make sure they are of good quality and can be accessed easily.

- Reply to requests within 24 hours

This is basically common courtesy but it pays to be recalled. Ensuring prompt replies show you care and value your customers.

- Email should be service oriented, not marketing oriented as with paper

Your aim through email marketing is to inform and provide an ‘easy’ access to your company.

- Customize so it doesn’t look like spam

Make sure your message is unique in its content and format so it isn’t brushed off as spam.

- Offer user control if possible

Wherever possible, give your reader the opportunity to tailor your communications to him. People are most apt to listen to the information they have asked for.

- Provide contact information for you

Always provide a way of contacting you. The signature in emails is one of your greatest effective email marketing assets.

By making use of these email marketing tips, you should be able to create a successful and effective email marketing campaign.

Are you new to marketing?  Have you signed up with the big email lists like VirualUrl or ListJoe?  If you have, you probably receive at least 30 emails a day advertising some “great” or “amazing” opportunity.  Most likely, you will never open most of them and just hit delete.  With that being said, many marketing newbies may wonder, does email marketing actually work?  The answer to that question is yes, if done the right way and businesses are setting quite a trend!   In fact, in a survey done by Jupiter Research in 2008, email marketing was expected to grow from $1.2 billion in 2007 to $2.1 billion by 2012.  Another quick statistic for your reading pleasure is that every dollar spent on email marketing, brought in a rate of return of $45.06.

So does this mean you should go out there and spend $197 with VirualUrl or List Joe and start emailing right away?  Not so fast…your rate of return will not be what I quoted above.  When you rent a list, like List Joe, you have no relationship with your reader, and therefore, your reader will not be compelled to open your email.  I am sure that with a catchy subject heading and some compelling ad copy, you will make some sales, but not like you would if your reader requested to be on your list.

Ideally, you need to build your own list.  These are subscribers who feel you have something of value to give to them and have agreed to give you their contact information.  Even some of these people will delete your email, but not at the rate you would see if you randomly sent out emails.

Network Marketing or any type of sales is all about building a relationship.  In an age where people are marketing on the Internet, relationship tends to get lost.  We are all still human, and desire and crave that personal interaction.  When a business owner can effectively connect with their customers, they are able sell more products and keep the customer happy.

Email marketing can be extremely effective and is considered the most cost-efficient way to market products or services.  With that being said, here are a few ways to help your ROI:

1.                  Build your own list.  You can do this in a variety of ways.  We have all seen the little opt-in boxes in capture pages.  Use these in yours, and make it desirable for someone to give their information.  People are extremely cautious about giving out their email address because they do not want 100 spam emails tomorrow.  Building a list takes time, but if done right, those addresses will be like gold, and should be treated that way.

2.                  Customize your greetings.  Pre-packaged systematic email confirmations are a big turn off.  This is the first impression your reader will have when opening your email.  You will want to make it personal and memorable, so they will open up future emails from you.

3.                  Content is king.  Your email content must be excellent.  You have a lot of competition, so don’t get lazy with your messages.  You may want to use your emails like a newsletter.  Many businesses use this strategy, so that over time, when the timing is right, the reader will buy.  Most likely, your reader will not buy from you on the first email you send.

4.                  Earn your readers trust.  There is nothing worse than subscribing to someone’s newsletter, only to be bombarded with a bunch of offers.  If you are promising a subscription for information, give that.  You can make suggestions about your product, with a link within your newsletter, but leave it at that.  Do not harass your reader in the next email you send.  In fact, if you make suggestions, but focus on good content, your reader will value your information, learn to trust your suggestions, and buy your offer.

5.                  Email sparingly.  Do not continuously email your subscribers.  Finding the right balance between keeping in contact with your subscribers is important.  Email too much and they will request to be taken off your list.  Email them too little and they will forget they subscribed to your list and label your email as spam.

Email marketing is a very popular way to advertise, and it is easy to see why.  With automated services which will send your emails out for you, your business can save a lot of time.  However, in order to be truly effective in sales, you must establish a relationship, so plan your emails accordingly.  Don’t rely on the system to take care of everything for you.  Be actively involved with your list.  If people leave your list, don’t just plug in new ones, find out why and adjust your mailings to attract your subscribers.  Your list will determine the success of your business.  Guard it, nurture it and treat it like your best friend.  If you do, you will find your subscribers will faithfully open your emails and look forward to hearing from you.

The golden question: is email marketing still effective? Are droves of prospective customers (both opt-in and solicited) reading your emails at a high rate and at high speeds? Well, this depends on what type of email you send. First, take a look at where email marketing is headed. It is a billion dollar a year industry, with about 65% companies of all types using 5-10% of their budget on email campaigns. Marketing with email is expected to yield more than 7 billion dollars this year. Companies are looking into buying ad space on widely circulated newsletters with tons of subscribers and email list vendors are earning big business. Lets look at the response rate of Marketing with email – the ultimate way to judge effectiveness!

Sadly enough, tons of unsolicited spam emails go unread. Through statistics, we’ve discovered that 5 to 15 percent of all e-mails are answered. Like the click through rates of banner advertisements at popular websites, spam emails are discarded like yesterday’s trash. A quick browse at the subject line ¨Free Viagra¨ and people are quick to press the delete button. Advertising is a very tricky medium – if your email campaign is not specifically targeted or if it does not employ creative and original strategies that lure customers, there will be a dead-end.

That said, unsolicited email (generic and commercial in nature) is usually not received by anyone. The likelihood of a person clicking on unsolicited mail is extremely low. In addition to the fact customers might not be interested in your offers in the first place, the margin for success is small!

If you have a relationship with the customer beforehand, email marketing can exceed boundaries. In order for email campaigns to work effectively, it must be solicited in the form of opt-in lists and permission. Adding a checkbox to your online store that says something along the lines of ¨send me periodic updates about your incoming shipments¨ for a customer to tick off fares better off in the marketing with email game. If you have customer permission to send them updates and newsletters with additional information, it will be well received!

Marketing with email is most effective with two-way communication. Unsolicited spam mail is considered a one-way message because it is chock full of advertisements that ask customers to visit websites and purchase products. It takes up their time without receiving any sort of compensation. Email marketing campaigns through opt-in lists are different – they are tailored towards the customer’s interest and garner higher response rates. Your email list is paramount as well. Back up your campaign by purchasing a list from a list vendor who offers email addresses that are willing to receive your advertisement. Each email address usually costs between 20 and 40 cents.

Newsletters and promotions combined together make for explosive campaigns. A well written, HTML formatted newsletter can boost traffic and generate sales. Promotions can initiate customers to buy a product that they are interested in. You see, the secret to an effective promotionb is the interaction between the customer and the business.

Notice the trend: unsolicited email appearing out of no where flooding your Inbox will not generate the same response as a newsletter an opt-in list member subscribed to. By exercising business/customer relations and gauging your customer’s needs, your email marketing will become more fruitful and lead to the dollars.

How do we determine whether an email marketing campaign is effective?

The bread & butter of a campaign is its’ ability to be opened and read. Unlike print material, email provides tracking tools to gauge visitor statistics and click through rates. A true email campaign will strive to seek as much customer data as possible. Add a response form to your emails or invite newsletter subscribers to join an online message board. Droves of customers registering to your online community can highlight your emails ability to attract. Add links to your newsletter and observe its click through rate with tracking software.

The savvy email marketer will investigate trends and tricks for time tested email campaigns. For instance, HTML format emails are more visually pleasing than plain text emails – run a campaign using both formats and see which gets the most click rates! Will offering discount couples for opt-in list subscribers do the trick? If you own an online store, run a promotion where subscribers can receive a code via email to use for discount purchases on your site! For example, a site selling pheromones, is currently offering 20% off anything on their product list for newsletter readers only. Not only does this encourage customers to purchase off your site, but also you’ll know who your loyal customers are.

Another way to determine whether your email campaign is off the charts or not is to compare what you’ve received from a special campaign with the amount of money you’ve spent. Is your discount sunglasses newsletter generating $100 a month off click throughs and on-the-spot purchases versus spending $12 on paying a freelance writer for article writing and $3 on target email addresses? If so, your email campaign is paying off! Are members of your opt-in list clicking more on Discount Coupons for All Purchases¨ than the title ¨The History of Sunglasses?¨ Discount coupons lead to big purchases, so try to launch promotional opportunities more often! A successful email campaign is measured by its personal interaction with customers. If customers are not responding well to your emails, try other strategies. Read and respond to consumer needs using trial & error and use tracking tools after every mailing to see how well you do.

Over the past few years, research has continued to prove the benefits of e-mail marketing for business: low costs, high conversion rates and detailed tracking are all notable features. But e-mail marketing is becoming much more than just a tool for spammers and e-businesses. Consumers are becoming increasingly savvy on the differences between spam and permission-based emails, and more and more of them are accepting permission-based e-mail marketing as a positive replacement for direct mail.

The best news is that the majority of people who receive permission-based e-mails open, on average, 78% of them.

Jupiter Research reports effective email marketing campaigns can produce nine times the revenues and 18 times the profits of broadcast mailings. But crafting an effective business email is both an art and a science. Here is a list of factors, potential problems and effective solutions to keep in mind:

1. Spam! Spam! Spam! I don’t need any Viagra!

The average consumer receives more than 300 emails a week, 62% of which are spam. No wonder there’s such hostility towards the industry. But spam filters, bulk folders and “report spam” features are helping consumers become more at ease about the perils of spam. While 89% of users cited spam as a major concern in 2003, that number dropped to 85% in 2004, proportionally to an increase in the use of spam-fighting tools.

So as a permission-based business email marketer, what can you do? One tip is to remind your subscribers to add you to their “safe senders” list. The second, and most important, tactic is to make sure your email marketing service provider has a good relationship with ISPs. This will ensure that your email marketing campaigns go into your subscribers’ inboxes, not their junk mail folders. When choosing an email marketing software, make sure the company has strict anti-spam policies and complies with the guidelines of Can-Spam.

2. Images and formatting: Why do my emails look broken?

Broken email campaigns are an increasing concern among email marketers, especially since several companies and web-based email providers now block graphics as a measure to combat spam. In fact, according to ClickZ, 40% of email marketing messages delivered to inboxes are “broken.”

This was actually something that came up during Eliteweb.cc’s beta-testing phases, as we had a client in the Canadian Government whose recipients were mostly using highly secure email programs. The solution we came up has now become one of our key competitive advantages.

What Eliteweb.cc does is it publishes every single email marketing campaign sent to a secure location on the web (a location only original recipients of the email can access, thanks to encrypted technology that automatically authenticates the user). The technology also ensures you can track your users’ behaviors, even if they are reading your email campaign at the secure web location.

3. Personalization and relevant content: In a business e-mail, one size does not fit all.

In a recent study by DoubleClick, email users were 72% more likely to respond to a business e-mail if its content was based on the interests they had specified. That number points out the absolute importance of allowing users to choose their own interest groups and have control over which business e-mails they receive. The most popular interest categories, according to the study, are coupons and household goods.

But your coupon is no good unless the user opens the email. Users in the study said the most compelling reason for them to open a business email is the name in the “from” field. So it’s a good idea to make sure your company name is clearly stated there. Another major factor is the “subject” line. Users cite discount offers and interesting news as the most compelling subject lines, followed by new product announcements and free shipping offers.

4. Click-through and conversion: Show me the money!

So the user has opened your email and read the content. Great. But where’s the sale? There’s good news here. For one, consumers are increasingly likely to make purchases as a direct result of a business email campaign. One-third of users in the DoubleClick study had purchased something by clicking a link on an email. Another 42% clicked on an email link for more information, then purchased the product at a later time. Second, online couponing is booming: 73% of consumers have redeemed an online coupon for an online purchase, and 59% have redeemed an online coupon offline.

In terms of industries, the top performers are travel, hardware/software, electronics, apparel, food, home furnishings, gifts/flowers and sporting goods. All companies sending business emails in those categories said between 71% and 80% of recipients have purchased their products because of an email campaign.

There’s no need to fret if your company doesn’t fit in to one of those industries. The overall landscape for email marketing conversions is looking brighter every day. The average click-to-purchase rate has increased nearly 30% since 2004 and the average orders-per-email-delivered rate has increased more than 18% since last year.

5. Stats tracking: Who are my real consumers?

E-mail marketing is an increasingly popular tool in effective CRM, and it’s about time more businesses recognize that. First off, if your provider’s email services for business do not include detailed, real-time tracking, you’re getting a raw deal. Real-time tracking is now an industry standard, and it’s highly valuable, as it allows you to see the exact moment a user opens your campaign, clicks on your link and makes that purchase. Studying your users can help you improve your communications efforts, so each campaign performs better than the last (several email service providers also let you compare the performance of your campaigns).

But many marketers are still in the dark. According to a recent WebTrends research, only 5% of marketers are very confident in the measurement of their online marketing efforts, while 26% admit they’re “flying blind.” WebTrends says the low confidence comes from a lack of knowledge when it comes to measurement, which means there’s still a lot of work to be done.

In email marketing, a blind shot won’t take you very far. But if you aim properly by following these essential rules of play, you should soon be reaping the same major results as so many online and offline businesses.

Email marketing is becoming extremely popular but this does not mean all business owners know how to run an effective email marketing campaign. However, those who are well versed in the subject of email marketing and have experiencing using popular strategies effectively are likely to gain a huge advantage over their competitors who do not have these skills. This article will provide useful information for business owners who are hoping to improve their sales or website traffic through effective email marketing. There are four strategies we will discuss here:

1. If you do not have a great deal of information about email marketing and do not deeply understand the principles involved one of the best ways to orchestrate a truly effective email marketing campaign is to hire a consulting firm with a proven track record in promoting business through email marketing to assist you in your endeavor. Similarly to traditional marketing using medias such as radio, television and print media, the popular strategies governing email marketing are changing constantly. As a business owner you likely already have enough to deal with trying to stay up to date on business practices that you do not have the time, energy or finances to also stay up to date on the latest changes in email marketing.

2. For this reason it is certainly worthwhile to hire a professional in the email marketing industry who can devote himself full time to keeping up to date with the most effective email marketing strategies and designing an email marketing campaign for our business to help you achieve your business related goals. However, selecting a consultant from the many options available can be downright overwhelming. In general you should look for a consultant who has a great deal of experience, a proven track record, listens to your questions carefully, explains concepts simply and makes your project a priority.

3. Another popular strategy for email marketing is to offer an email correspondence course on a subject closely related to your website or the products or services you offer. These correspondence courses should include a number of short segments, provide useful information, be of interest to your intended audience and should also help to promote your business in some way. The simplest way to promote your business without having your correspondence course deemed to be spam is to use a soft sell approach to subtly urge readers to make a purchase or visit your website for more information.

4. Publishing and distributing period e-newsletters is another example of an email marketing strategy which can be highly effective. An e-newsletter is very similar to a newsletter which is printed and distributed by conventional methods such as mail delivery. The bulk of an e-newsletter should be quality content in the form of featured articles, short articles containing useful tips or product reviews. The e-newsletter may also contain graphical elements. These elements may simply be graphic designs or they may be graphics which also serve as links. The links may direct traffic to your website or to other websites. Finally, your e-newsletters should contain some type of soft sell sales approach. It is important to not make the sales pitch blatant as this may result in the e-newsletter being considered spam. Finally, the e-newsletter should contain a call to action urging the readers to either make a purchase or visit your website for more information.

Regardless of the method of email marketing you opt to utilize, one of the most important strategies is to evaluate the effectiveness of your email marketing on a regular basis. This is critical because elements of your email marketing campaign which are not working should be weeded out. Likewise elements of your marketing campaign which are enjoying a high degree of success should be utilized more often. For example if you notice there is a spike in sales or website traffic each time you issue an e-newsletter, it might be worthwhile to begin issuing e-newsletters more often. This type of evaluation and feedback can turn a moderate success into a huge success.