Email Marketing is a great tool to use as part of your internet marketing program. Unfortunately, these days most people are inundated with messages in their inbox.
The trick to making an Email Marketing message effective is to make it stand out from the rest so that it gets opened by the recipient – and avoid having it end up in the spam folder. But even if it does get opened, you have to take special steps to encourage the reader to click on the links to your site.
Making sure your email marketing efforts are not wasted is merely a matter of paying attention to the details before you press the send button. Browse through these tips for creating messages that are an effective marketing tool.
Email Message Content
The first order of business is deciding what the email should say. An obvious and overt sales pitch is not going to do the job. Who wants to be inundated with “commercials” all day long?
Understand that it may take several messages to each recipient before they feel compelled to click on your call to action. One of the best ways to encourage reading of each message is by telling a story that is drawn out over several emails.
One way to do this is by relating a story of how a particular client was helped by your company’s products or services. Before you get started, get permission to email whenever possible. You can do this by offering a customer newsletter, tips, or a freebie.
A good way to communicate via email is through a series of messages. You can start with a customer testimonial you’ve received, then contact that client to ask permission to do an interview. You might turn the interview into a three-part email series that shows recipients the timeline from when this client first contacted to the present day, when he or she is now enjoying the benefits of doing business with you.
Another benefit of a story series is that it will establish your IP address as being a stable, and regular sender. Don’t mail all installments in one day, space them out over a period of days or even weeks. Consider adding a preview to the bottom of each message of the following one, so it can build suspense or at least expectation of a future message.
Think about the best way to word your message. For B2B communications, the word “advice” is a good one to include. When you are trying to reach consumers, use words like “new”, “cutting edge”, or “sleek” to appeal to their desires.
Email Design Elements
Next, think carefully about how your Email Marketing message is designed. Spam filters tend to look for such things as graphics, logos, Flash animation images, and a large number of links.
Initially, you will want to make sure that you request the email recipient to add your address to their list of safe senders when they opt-in to your database. This tends to help your message get over the first hurdle to their inbox. You should also give them an option to receive your emails in plain text or HTML format.
The majority of the content in the message should be plain text. Of course, you will want to include a link to the call to action towards the end of the message, but don’t add links to the rest of the content. Spam filters vary, but most tend to block your message when there are three or more links included.
Images look nice but should be limited to your logo and perhaps a button that is linked to a landing page on your website.
It’s a good idea to test your email message by sending it to a friend before you mail it out to your entire database. If it goes through both the ISP and filters on your friend’s computer, chances are it will reach the rest of your list, too.
Email messages are an inexpensive easy form of online marketing, but they are only effective if they don’t end up in the spam folder and then induce someone to take action. Carefully craft useful and helpful messages so that you can build trust with your customers and prospects and your Email Marketing can definitely pay off.
See you at the top of Google!
Sean Rasmussen
SEO Australia Pacific
AussieSEO.com © 2007 - 2010
Another thing to look at is use the option in most systems to send the mesage to yourself so that you can see what it looks like
I do this myself Gee, it’s a great way to ensure people are getting what you think they are getting
Hi Sean,
I get a lot of emails and there is a ton I don’t open. You definitely have to find a way to stand out from the rest. I think the title and the content is the most important thing. And reputation.
If I sign up to receive emails from someone and then all they send me is sales pitches, I don’t even bother to open their emails and I end up unsubscribing. I think you have to genuinely provide something of value consistently before you ask someone to buy from you.
I think you have to get your customers to trust you if you want email marketing to be effective.
.-= Jazz Salinger´s last blog ..Learn and Earn Competition – This is It =-.
The thought of Email Marketing is something that makes me cringe simply because I’ve been inundated with all sorts of crap that has arrived via email; most of which, if it’s not caught by the spam filter, gets assigned to the trash without me opening it. The only thing that may entice me to open it is a catchy subject line – and it certainly won’t be one containing the word Viagra.
.-= Don White´s last blog ..You Cant Throw That Out- =-.
Hi Sean
I will admit that I get too many emails and don’t have time to open them all so I just delete most of them. This inundation of annoying ‘sellmails’ has put me off email marketing. It is like getting trash advertising in your actual letterbox even when you have a sign that says ‘no advertising please’.
I don’t like when people continually bombard me with requests even when I have replied to them and politely refused.
However, I have received some great news and requests via email, usually from people I actually know or know of. The more personal the email the better I like it because I can easily converse with a person rather than something automated from a company. I have signed up to a few courses through people I know sending me invites, so I would have to market myself via email, in a more personal way. That, I will have to figure out.. any tips?
.-= Elly´s last blog .. =-.
Hi Elly,
I delete a lot of emails without looking at them and I’m a little hesitant about starting email marketing for that reason. I think I’m going to try to build relationships with my readers through my blog first; through their comments and on Twitter and Facebook.
I try to answer every comment that’s left on my blog and I try to visit everyone’s blog and share their stuff. I do the same with Twitter. I start following people and re-tweet their blog posts.
I’m trying to build friendships and relationships with people I like. Hopefully that way when they sign up for email marketing with me; I’ll already have a little of their trust and they’ll at least open my email.
Oh, and I’m definitely going to make sure that I actually address the emails to them personally.
.-= Jazz Salinger´s last blog ..Finding Your Passion =-.
Hi Sean,
I recall that you are very good at email marketing. Results are that I’m a member of the YOTA Forum.
I like the idea of email marketing. I think it a good idea to build trust and a relationship with my email list. If I can they will be more compelled to click on links to a landing page or to my blog.
.-= Jill Brown´s last blog ..Couples Marry at Common Law =-.
Hi Jill,
That’s a very good point. I wish I’d known at the time to keep Sean’s emails as a reference on how to do email marketing properly. It was a very effective marketing campaign because it got both of us and probably many more.
.-= Jazz Salinger´s last blog ..Finding Your Passion =-.