|
Essentials for an Effective Email Blast
Email marketing is a powerful
marketing tool that you should be using. Often I will hear
clients say, "I hate getting spam and don't want to send it to
my clients". I agree, you don't want to send spam, but you
do want to send useful information about new products/services,
awards won, new employees, events, special offers, etc.
Here is a list of things you
can do to help ensure what you are sending out is not spam, but
rather emails that people want to receive.
Permission Based List
Don’t purchase email lists, or go to a business expo and collect
as many business cards as you can and add to your list. People must ask to be on your list.
Instead use a signup form on your website, expo booth or at your
register.
Protect Your Sender Reputation
Sending out too many emails through your ISP or generating a
high number of complaints can get your emails blocked or even
blacklisted. You can minimize this from happening by only
sending to opt-in lists and honoring unsubscribe requests.
Using a third party email program, such as iContact, will also
help.
Keep Your Lists Clean
A “dirty” list – one with incorrect, out-of-date or duplicated
addresses – hurts your sender
reputation. If you are managing the list yourself, not through a
third party provider, you will need to manually remove any email
addresses that bounce after each blast is sent. If you
have reports, review them to see who hasn’t opened your emails
in the past six months. These contacts may need a
compelling offer to pique their interest again.
Focus on Quality, Not Size
Yes, you want to grow your list, but you also want to send your
email blasts to the right people, i.e. Your target market.
Using sign-up forms on your website and at your point of sale will help add people who are interested in
what you have to offer.
Test Your Email Blast
Everytime you send out an email blast you should be testing some
component, such as subject line, offer, day sent, and time of
day sent. Your results will provide new ideas and help you
stop using things that don't work.
Set Goals for Success
Don't measure the success of the email blast by the number of
opens alone. Think about your objectives and how to
measure them. For example, when I sent out an email last
fall about a website redesign offer, I set a target of five
redesign projects. I looked at the number of opens, but if
I only had five people open the email and all five wanted a site
redesigned, the campaign was a success.
Virtualtech offers several
email marketing plans to help you to utilize this important
marketing media. Please call Tammy at (800) 474-7001 to discuss or
visit
http://www.virtualtech.com/email.php to learn more and sign
up for a free trial offer.
Become A Fan
|
