Email Marketing Basics
The days where companies had to pay significant design, printing and postage fees to reach out to customers are over. Today, any business -- big or small -- can send an e-mail to market a new product, announce a new service or simply stay in touch with a consumer for brand-building purposes. If you're thinking of launching an e-mail marketing strategy, knowing the basics can help ensure a successful start.
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Choose a Database E-mail Management Service
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While you could manually track customer email addresses and names using your company's e-mail service provider, this list can quickly become unwieldy once you have hundreds -- or even thousands -- of subscribers. Instead, use a commercial email marketing service that manages this database for you. These services offer varying levels of management depending on what you plan to do with your e-mail marketing strategy. For example, some simply manage basics like subscribing and unsubscribing. Others offer advanced features like shopping carts -- ideal if you're selling items through your e-mails -- or behavioral statistics that tell you how the reader interacts with your e-mail.
Integrate Sharing
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The power of e-mail marketing isn't just reaching individual customers, but also creating potential for your marketing message to go "viral." This helps your e-mail marketing to spread beyond your core targets. To facilitate this, don't just include buttons that allow readers to instantly forward your e-mail. Also include social networking share buttons that allow your readers to post your e-mail message to their social network profiles.
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Identify the E-mail's Source
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With the rise of spam messages, you want your e-mail to have a clear and consistent source. Many companies choose to have the e-mail sent under the company's name. Other groups, such as nonprofit organizations, may prefer the e-mail to come from the organization's founder or president. Whatever you choose, stay consistent so that readers don't get confused or don't assume your e-mail is junk mail.
Test Subject Lines
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With the wide range of businesses and organizations out there, as well as the variety of e-mail marketing strategies and purposes, it's impossible to say what constitutes the best subject line for marketing purposes. Instead, test what works best for you. Send the same e-mail under two different subject lines to 20 percent of your e-mail marketing list, with each e-mail distributed to 10 percent of your readers. Wait for 60 minutes, then check your click-through rates to see which e-mail got read most. Use the most successful subject line and send it to the rest of your e-mail list.
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