If you are running a successful business, you may have already used many of the marketing techniques out there. But if you haven't used an e-mail marketing campaign, you could be missing out on greater success. Here are some effective ways to market your business through email, so you can leave no stone unturned in your quest for excellence.
Steer clear of renting or purchasing lists to pad your email marketing database. Not only do you not know if the emails you have purchased are truly your target market, but the lists can actually hurt your deliver-ability rates and ultimately your reputation. As much as possible, build your list organically.
Be especially careful when crafting your first three emails to new customers. A new customer should get an introductory email inviting them to join your marketing list. Once they accept your invitation, the next email should tell them about discounts or special offers they can expect to get now that they've signed up. The third email should contain their first newsletter and their special offer.
Send your opt-ins a link that they must click on to confirm their subscription to your email list. This way, you ensure that it is something that they want to do, and it will protect you from getting complaints about spam. Let your opt-ins know in your pitch that they will need to click on a link.
If you have images or graphics, put them on the left side of the email message. Make sure that your call to action element is always on this side. Research has documented that this location produces almost double the number of clicks to your product, service or website than placing these elements anywhere else does.
Use words that are appropriate to the industry you are focusing on in your marketing materials. For example, if you are writing marketing materials for new technological items, use words such as "new," "advanced" or "state-of-the-art" that are commonly used in that industry. Using the right words will help increase your products' appeal to your customers.
Tailor your emails and landing pages for mobile users as well as those using desktops. Keep in mind that smartphones have tiny screens that may not be compatible with the way you have your emails formatted. Trim the width so that your emails can be read by users without them having to re-size them.
Automatically unsubscribe customers who don't respond to your marketing materials after a certain number of emails. If your customers aren't responding to your emails anymore, they most likely have lost interest in your newsletter but aren't annoyed enough by it yet to unsubscribe. By unsubscribing them, you avoid generating bad feelings that could hurt your business.
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.
Choose appropriate but useful fonts for your messages. Try and select a font family that accomplishes two things. It should reflect your niche or industry, as well as the tone of your content. It should also be a universal category of fonts that will work on all computers and email devices.
Use plain text and hyperlinks in your email messages, and save the images and Flash animation for your web page. Many email services now filter out images and animations in the name of consumer safety, meaning that your lists may not even see your carefully-crafted images. Plain text messages are guaranteed to go through intact, and then the images on your website will catch your viewers.
Use your marketing with email campaign to offer customers a personal perspective of your business. Tell a story about how you got started and why you are passionate about your business while giving them a special promotion or offer. It will build trust in your clients and make them more apt to make a purchase from you.
You should utilize Alt tags when your emails have pictures in them. If the image doesn't load, the tag will replace it. Be sure to use information in the tags that the reader will find relevant to what the image is, as well as its purpose. Apply these to your links, as well.
Write your message copy with benefits in mind, but not yours. Make sure your messages reflect the benefits that your content, products or services are offering your subscribers and readers. They want to know what is in it for them before they commit to the call to action, which is where your benefit happens.
When you send emails to your email newsletter list, be sure that relevant logos and branding are apparent. Subscribers to this list are already quite familiar with your site, so they associate certain colors, logos and designs with you. Consistency between your emails and your website will make your emails look familiar to recipients so that they are less likely to delete them.
When following up with prospects, consider sending a follow-up email with a criticism report. Include an order on your email that tells them to check this report out for themselves. The ending postscript could tell them that they can view this criticism report by simply filling in their order information.
You should test your email template in all the popular email providers, like Google and Yahoo. Make certain that the content is easy to open and read in them before you send out your messages. This helps to ensure that recipients can access your content, even if they use a different provider than you.
Being the best means using all the tools and methods available to you to build your company. If you use the tips laid out in this article, you have a good chance of being the best. Make sure to use these to craft an e-mail marketing campaign you can be proud of. Go to email marketing ebook and learn more today.