Regardless of how much you might hear about spam emails clogging up the Internet and Nigerian scams draining people’s bank accounts, the truth is that email marketing is a proven money maker. It is even perhaps the most affordable of all marketing mediums in terms of costs versus individuals reached. Read on to learn how you can tap into this tool.
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.
Offer a coupon to customers who sign up for your marketing email list. Put a form on your website where customers can sign up and set the form to email automatically new customers a coupon when they submit the form. This encourages customers to agree to allow you to send them marketing materials so that you won’t be accused of sending out spam.
Before sending out emails to your subscribers, try to let them know what you will be sending them and how often they can expect to hear from you. This way, they know when to expect your email and they can prevent it from getting automatically sent to their spam folder.
Provide subscribers with a way out. Place an “unsubscribe” link in your emails or on your website to allow them to remove themselves from your list. You should also set up your list to cull itself by removing subscribers after a particular number of messages prompt no response or action from the recipient. This prevents your emails from becoming annoying to disinterested subscribers and preserves your image.
Use A/B testing of your subject lines to test effectiveness. Choose an email and use two different subject lines to see what works better. You will learn which subject lines have the best open rates and which ones people ignore.
To get the most of your email marketing, invest in a program that personalizes your emails with every customer’s given name instead of a generic greeting. Ensuring that every email starts with the recipient’s name is key to encouraging your customers to see your newsletters as valuable information and not just more sales spam.
Try engaging the customer using the subject line of the email. Your email must grab your reader’s attention the minute it lands inside of their inbox, otherwise it may go into their trash. If you have a weak or uninteresting subject line, that is exactly what will happen. So try spicing up your subject line with some creativity.
You should have people who would like to receive your emails double opt-in. Although it is an extra step for your customer, you can be more confident that your customer is genuinely interested and it also reduces the risk of trouble with your email provider for spamming.
Utilize the least amount of graphics in your email as you can without making it look bland. Because so many popular email clients block graphics, including ads and logos, your audience probably will not be able to view emails that contain lots of pictures or other graphics. Besides that, spam filters are more apt to sort your emails as junk mail if they contain lots of graphics.
You might want to consider following up to your clients with some type of surprise bonus that you are providing them. Include a link on your email that tells them to click on it. The concluding postscript could inform them that they can get all the details on this by clicking on the provided link.
Encourage your recipients to forward your e-mails to friends that might be interested. A recommendation from a friend is very effective due to the fact that people trust their friends. This is a great way to introduce your business to potential customers that are very likely to have an interest in your products or services.
You might want to send a follow-up email to your clients that includes a caution if your products or services supply is running low. You could include a link that tells them to click here and begin. The ending postscript could tell them to act now before your supply runs out.
Make your email messages tell the reader a story. Storytelling is one of the most powerful advertising techniques. Each installment of your newsletter or mailing should tell the next bit of the advertising message “story”. They need to be connected in some way, for example by having each message end with a tip or a testimonial.
Have an exit strategy for customers that stop responding to your mailings. If a customer is no longer interested in the products you have to sell, they’re going to be irritated and even angered by continued contact. Determine a number of messages or a length of time that you’ll keep sending messages, then if the customer doesn’t respond, remove them from your mailing list.
Require your potential readers to confirm their email when they are subscribing to your list. Many people mistype their email, so this can ensure they input it correctly. When you ask them to enter information twice, it helps you to confirm that what they have input is correct. This will help ensure that your emails get to the individuals who want to receive them.
Be sure it’s easy for your subscribers to update their email address on your list. If a customer changes their address but still wants to receive your mailings, you don’t want to lose them. Provide an easy link within your marketing emails where they can update their email address, and you will retain more customers.
If you decided to read this article, it was because you were thinking about making money through email marketing. Now that you have read this article, you know a few points about approaching it. Apply the insights and advice provided in the previous paragraphs, and you can find success in email marketing.
