Email marketing is directing your messages to specific addresses. These addresses are rented or collected from your subscription list. Don’t worry. This is not spam. The people you message to want your information.
An effective email marketing campaign will help your business…
Target your customers
Build a good relationship with your potential customers
Reduce your ad costs (email marketing is profitable)
Increase return on investment (ROI)
69 percent of US email users have made purchases online after receiving permission-based email marketing, 59 percent have purchased in retail stores, 39 percent have purchased via catalogues, 34 percent through call centers, and 20 percent through the postal mail. And, “78 percent of respondents say they want to receive email from their favorite online merchants.” Source: DoubleClick
24 tips for an effective email marketing campaign…
1. Own a suitable domain name
If you are serious about your business, you should own a suitable domain name that will appear in your resource box in all of your email marketing campaigns. Free domain name like yoursite.xxx.com or [http://www.xxx/yoursite.com] will not be taken seriously. It gives people the impression that your business is a fly-by-night operation.
To build credibility, you must have your own domain name (www.yoursite.com) and professional web hosting.
2. Automatic responses
An autoresponder performs 2 important functions. It stores the names and email addresses of your visitors who opted into your mailing list and automates your follow-up process. You can send a single message to thousands of subscribers on your subscription list automatically.
You can have more than one autoresponder, each sending a different message. Without the effective use of autoresponders, an effective marketing campaign cannot be established. Imagine handling the tasks of a growing business without automation.
3. Offer free short courses
The advantage of automatic replies is that you can send messages at preset intervals. You can use this capability to offer short email courses that last 5-7 days. For example, you could offer a free short course Five Days to Effective Email Marketing with this article. Offering short courses is one way to build your participant list.
When your subscribers gain enough trust in you through email courses, they will be more willing to buy your products. It goes without saying that your products should be related to the courses you offer.
Offering short courses also exposes your subscribers to your products or services.
4. Offer Free Magazines/Newsletters
Ezine is the abbreviated form of electronic magazines. Share useful and quality information with your subscribers through ezines. Update your products and keep your subscribers informed of the latest developments in your business. This is good for building long-term relationships with them.
When you establish your business as a trusted source of information, knowledge, and experience, people will naturally sell to you.
If you have a large subscriber base, say 2,000 to 4,000, you can sell ad space in your ezine.
5. Get personal
Address your subscribers by name. You can write something like, hello [First name] Prayed [Last name], Thank you for your registration. People like to be called by her name. It gives them a sense of importance. This is psychology 101.
Even though your email will be read by thousands of subscribers every day, write as if you were talking to one person at a time. Use singular pronouns like ‘I’, ‘Me’, ‘You’, ‘Your’. This type of approach is more personal.
6. Be formal
Just because you’re writing emails doesn’t mean you take all the formality out of offline letter writing. Keep proper greetings, Hello [First name] of [Last name]and appropriate signatures such as your success, best regards, etc.
7.Fill in the From field correctly
Please fill in your name, not your friends’ names, followed by your full email address so it doesn’t pose as spam. Delete and empty trash.
8.Fill in the Subject field correctly
It should be a clear statement that is relevant to the content. Do not leave your subject field blank.
9. Remind people how they got on your mailing list
This is good practice. Most people won’t remember why, where, and what they signed up for. Remind them at the beginning of your email how they got on your mailing list.
10. Write like you’re talking to your friend.
Writing emails is somewhat different from writing for print. Write as if you were talking to a friend. Don’t sound like a college professor or kindergarten teacher.
11. Be concise and get straight to the point
Your email text should be concise and to the point. People don’t have all day to read their email. A good rule of thumb for effective email marketing copy is 250-300 words. Don’t bombard your email marketing campaign with banner ads everywhere.
12. Use short sentences and paragraphs
Avoid long sentences. Keep your rewards short and simple. Do not group text. Use lots of paragraphs. It’s easier to read the text that way. Paragraphs should not be longer than five lines.
13. Never write your text in all caps
Online this is interpreted as YELL.
14. Check for bad grammar and spelling mistakes
An email with bad grammar and misspellings gives your subscribers the impression that you don’t take them seriously. So don’t expect them to take you seriously too. Proofread and recheck your email copy to correct grammatical and spelling errors.
The opening line is important. Bad grammar and misspelling early on will quickly get your email copy thrown away.
This concludes Part 1 of 24 tips for setting up an effective email campaign. For more tips, read Part 2.
