Even though you know that email marketing is very powerful and highly effective, for the first time email marketer it can seem like a daunting task to undertake. This article will help establish some basic rules for you to follow when starting off your campaigns. Once you get the hang of these few tips, you can have success using email marketing software.
So many people send out holiday emails to keep in touch with clients or contacts. The reason for doing this makes sense: show them how much they matter to you and they will feel like a valued costumer and therefore be loyal to your organization. Before you send out your holiday email marketing program e-cards, keep in mind that the holiday season can be a tricky time to send emails.
Because so many people are sending messages at this time, your contacts will likely be inundated with e-messages and best wishes emails. Also, during the holidays are when people are on vacation or taking a break from their computers for a while. The result of this is that your email, when (or if) it gets looked at, will be after the holidays. This means it’s been sitting in someone’s inbox for a week or so along with EVERY other holiday email.
What would you do if you had an inbox that was over flowing with holiday cards? Most likely you’d pick out the important emails and delete the ones that don’t appeal to you. Or, you might skim the email marketing solutions emails as quickly as possible, paying very little to no attention to the messages. You can imagine that your contacts are doing exactly the same thing.
This is easily cured. Send your email marketing solutions email early or a little later. Sending the email at the beginning of December or in the second week of January will get your email a more unique reading time. This will ensure that the email will get a response.
This leads nicely me to my next point.
A very important thing to remember about email marketing programs is that you need to make sure you know exactly HOW you want your contacts to respond to your email. This will create a concrete focus making your email marketing program more targeted to contacts that are interested. Moreover it will force a better response from your contacts. Also, once they do act on your email you will have a measurable way to gather data on the success of your email.
Here’s an example: “Click the link to receive a 30% discount on your next purchase.”
With this subject line, you can measure two things: 1) if the contacts have clicked on the link in your email. The better email marketing program will provide you with detailed tracking that will record which contacts have clicked on the links in your email. This is GREAT information for preparing a more targeted email, because they have provided you with information on EXACTLY what they interested in. 2) If contacts actually purchase something at the discount price mentioned in your promotion, you’ll know that your marketing campaign has worked. You can create a list of these individuals and target them as preferred customers. I don’t have to tell you that customers that respond to your emails by purchasing something are the BEST kind of customers!
When you are getting ready to create your email marketing program message, start with your subject line (only after you’ve determined what the focus of your email campaign will be). Make sure that in your subject line you indicate the focus of your email and you avoid using dollar signs and words typed in all capital letters.
Using dollar signs and capital letters in your email marketing subject line are meant to attract attention. They do attract attention….from the spam filters. Spam filters determine whether an email should be sent to people’s in box or junk/spam folders. If your email lands in the junk folder it won’t be read.
The same is true for exclamation points. If you want to suggest the urgency of your email, make sure you use words to do so, and not symbols.
Here’s an example: “2 Days Left to get a 50 Percent Discount”.
The message speaks for itself. No need for emphasis. If the customer is interested they will open your email.
When you get to sending out your message, it is always better to address the recipient in the email. This is done by adding a ‘Hello Jill,’ or ‘Dear Jim’.
Your email marketing software can pull this data from the file you uploaded to you your database, provided that you’ve indicated a first name for the recipient in the file. This will give your recipient a more personalized feel and the contact won’t necessarily feel that the email was sent in bulk, but was strictly meant for them.
To find your first bit of email marketing success, use these basic tips to start you off on the right foot. There is always more to learn about email marketing and the task may seem like a mountain to climb. These tips will give you the right foundation to start the process of email marketing advancement.
Rudy Barell is a Senior Business Development Executive with Elite Email, the #1 email marketing solutions software used by businesses around the globe. Experience how easy it is to build your mailing list, create eye-catching emails and track your success using detailed reports with the complete email marketing software. Try it free!