A big part of running a successful company is learning to get the word out about your business. To do that, you need a strong marketing campaign; one of the best ways to market your company is to use email marketing. Email marketing can be a smart way to reach your target market, and here are some great tips to have success.
To make sure your emails don’t turn people off, always seek permission before sending them out. Include a subscription button on your site, and encourage regular customers to have their friends sign up as well. If you’d like to give people some extra encouragement to subscribe, you could feature subscriber only deals.
When emailing your customers, an excellent suggestion is to follow up with lower prices. For example, you could link a phrase that says, “Grab it,” onto the email. In addition, the end of this email could include a phrase that says, “Become a member in order to have lower prices on our products.”
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.
Do not use dollar signs in either the subject or the body of your emails, unless you are using just one to denote a specific amount of currency. This will strike many recipients as being spam my behavior, and many spam filters will automatically trash emails that include character strings like “$$$.”
You should have people who would like to receive your emails double opt-in. Although that may seem like overkill, it ensures that the individual truly wants your emails and reduces the likelihood that you will get in trouble for sending spam.
Branding is a concept that you must incorporate into even your email marketing messages. Since this is true, you should put time and effort into designing an email template that includes your logo and anything that sets you apart from the crowd. This will enable your customers to quickly recognize the source of the email.
When acquiring e-mail addresses through your website for marketing purposes, make certain that your sign-up form is brief. In general, you can limit the information required to sign up to only a name and an e-mail address. Names are useful for personalizing your e-mails. However, if you feel that even the name might be too much, it is perfectly fine to limit your sign-up form to just an e-mail address.
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.
While there are many strategies to finding the targeted customers, the best option is to let them sign up via your website, growing the campaign as your business and sales grow as well. You could even lists buy an email list, but always remember customers on your site need to be targeted customers.
Solicit feedback in your emails. Ask a thought-provoking question and ask your readers to respond. This will engage those on your list, and they will feel like they are having a more personal experience than they otherwise would. You will also glean valuable feedback that you can use to adjust your emails if needed.
Always keep an eye on your competitors, and make sure to understand their email marketing campaigns. You can do this easily by signing up for their e-mail lists. You should study their techniques and do your best to develop better campaigns. Look for things that they don’t have, and offer them. If they are offering promotions, find ways to offer higher quality promotions.
As you build your email contact list, do so naturally. Never purchase or rent other people’s lists. Build your list by networking, collecting business cards at industry events, and including opt-in forms on your website. Your list will grow with people who are truly interested in your business.
Form a personal relationship with your email service provider, also known as your ESP. Talk to them on the phone, and meet them face to face if possible. Email is their industry, and they know what does and does not work. Let them get to know you and your ambitions, and they can open doors for you.
Think above the fold when designing your messages. In newspapers, anything above the page folds features a lot more prominently than material lower on the page. If someone has to scroll down to see your call to action element, chances are pretty good they will not ever see it, much less click it.
Set a solid schedule for when you will send newsletters out and abide by it. Keep the day you send out your newsletter the same every week. If possible, send them at the exact time of the day as well. Uphold your subscribers’ expectations by sticking to the frequency and timeframe that you promised in the first place; it’s not a good idea to leave your customers waiting.
Make subscribing to your email list as easy as it can possibly be. You should use well placed noticeable forms that ask them to enter their email addresses if they would like to receive information about upcoming specials or coupons. Make it clear that you will not ever sell their personal information.
Email marketing can be a boost to your business, or it can hurt your business. Use the tips laid out here to make sure that your email marketing plan does what you need it to do; apply them to your email marketing, build relationships with your customers, and raise your profits.
