No one wants their email box to be cluttered up with advertising, so it’s your job as an email marketer to send your reader something they actually want. Informative, interesting and even entertaining emails should be your goal, but how do you achieve that? Continue reading to find some excellent tips from experts in the field.
Be predictable in your emails. Send them on a specific schedule. Make sure you send something at least monthly, this will help keep your customers interested. If you can send emails on or two times a week, that is even better. Test out which days give your site the best responses, and then use these days as your normal days to send emails.
You should always have permission before emailing any individual. Customers won’t take you seriously if you spam them or send them anything they didn’t ask for. In some cases, potential customers become disinterested and choose not to work with your company.
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.
To use email marketing to build confidence in your company and products, avoid turning your emails into gimmicks. Don’t tarnish the professionalism of your image by using irritating tactics like writing all in caps or incorporating symbols like dollar signs. Most importantly, never talk down to your customers or make grossly exaggerated promises about your products.
When someone subscribes to your email marketing list, confirm that this is what they really intended to do. Implementing this double opt-in strategy will make it much less likely that your email provider will receive spam complaints about you. Also, you will be assured that the people receiving your emails are actually interested in what you are sending them.
Balance when you send emails. Sending them too frequently can come across as spam and may cause you to lose readers. Not emailing frequent enough can make the recipients feel like they’ve wasted time signing up for emails that they’re not getting enough of. Remember your goals and audience so you can pick a happy medium for your campaign’s frequency.
You can create a targeted mailing list by having customers get their friends to sign up too. The reasoning is that their friends are probably interested in the same things as they are and trust a friend’s recommendation. Include a subscribe for the link in your emails so that customers can forward them to friends, helping your mailing list grow by leaps and bounds.
Make a sales list which is highly targeted. You want your top clients and all their contacts to get your emails. Try to make your email list feel exclusive, as this will help you to really focus in and target individuals who are likely to buy your products. It also gives you the appearance of being an authority in your chosen subject matter.
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.
Once you have the format of your email marketing messages set up, you should check it on multiple email clients. In the same way that different browsers can display web pages differently, a strange email client may show your message in an unexpected fashion. Make use of all of the popular free email clients and ensure that your message is going to appear properly on them.
Covering all bases when it comes to email marketing requires utilizing multi-part messages. These messages have both plain text and HTML content, and that way they can be read regardless of what option the reader has chosen. Subscribers who prefer plain text will opt out of your emails if you do not make the effort to make your messages available in the format they prefer.
Don’t send out your email messages during major sales holidays. While this may seem counter-intuitive, unless you are selling consumer products, your customers just aren’t interested in your product that time of year. In addition, it is likely to get buried in all of the other marketing messages they are receiving.
It is a great idea to require your customers to double-confirm when typing their email address into your newsletter. Many people type in their email address quickly and make a typo without realizing it. This double-confirmation process greatly increases the chance that the email address will be valid, and your messages will get through.
One good tip to developing your emails is to use humor. From the opening line all the way through your content, a little comedy can really attract readers. Everybody loves a good laugh and a funny or amusing email when used appropriately can catch the reader’s attention and make them want to read more.
A wonderful follow up technique is to offer something for free to your customers. Add a statement that urges them to take advantage of this offer, in full. Mention that this offer is limited and that they should act quickly to get their free product or sample.
Someday you too may be an expert in your field, but for now you need to learn as much as you can to hone your skills and provide you with new ideas. This article is a great stepping stone, but don’t stop here – practice what you’ve learned and continue reading and success will be within your reach!
