You’ve probably never heard the term “email marketing” before, but more than likely you have seen it. It’s everywhere! Your favorite companies have more than likely sent you a message telling you about a product. This is email marketing in its purest form. Does this sound like something you would want to use? Granting that it is, then continue reading.
if you run out of ideas for your email marketing campaign, try allowing your customers to assist you. Do things like write down questions that you receive from customers. Then when you go to send the next email, you have a topic. Make sure to include the customer’s name for credit too.
Try out more than one email format. Your email should be like a funnel, with the most important items at the top and the least important items at the bottom. Trying out different layouts will help you find what works the best. Once you determine the format that works for your customers, stick with it. When you do this all of your customers know where they need to look for when searching for information they are interested in reading.
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.
Avoid using exclamation marks as crutches in your emails. If you want to express a sense of urgency or importance, use the structure of your sentence and the words you choose to to make that impact. Overusing this form of punctuation can turn potential customers off and make your message seem insincere.
Look at spam to learn how to avoid looking like it. Sign up for a free email account, post your new address around the web, and watch the spam roll in. No one wants that. Learn from their mistakes and correct any that exist in your own email campaign. Your subscribers will treat you with more respect and pay more attention to you the further apart you stand from typical spammers.
Put real consideration into where you place links in your marketing newsletters. For example, you don’t want to send readers away from your email before you give them their call to action. You also don’t want to put your priority links at the end of an email where they may be overlooked.
Do not rely on pictures in your email to get your point across. Most email clients today, especially web-based ones, will not properly display these images. If your messages heavily rely on images, this could cause them to appear unappealing, or even completely unreadable. Make sure that the most crucial information is readable and that images have alt tags.
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.
Don’t get yourself in trouble by not getting permission. This is spamming and you could be penalized for it as well as having all your mail refused, which could damage your business irrevocably. By getting permission to use email marketing, you will be creating positive relationships with customers who will keep coming back.
Make sure you let your customers know what kind of emails you will be sending them when you are setting up your subscription form. Make them aware of the exact type of emails you will be sending out, and how regularly you will send them. This helps keep new subscribers from being surprised by your email content or quantity.
Send a nice note on your subscribers’ birthdays. Your opt-in can have an optional field for subscribers to give your their birthday information and you can set up automated greetings. You will find that customers respond positively to this approach. The added benefit for you is the opportunity to send a birthday discount or coupon that will attract more business.
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.
After countless times of encountering email marketing, you finally know what it is. Put simply, it’s using the medium of emails to send messages either current customers or future customers for the sole purpose of marketing to them. Now that you know what it is, make use of it in your own emails!
