Have you ever sent out an email only to get low or no responses? Bad open rates or bad click rates? If you have, it simply means that your campaign has gone wrong somewhere and this has rendered it ineffective.
Have you ever sent out an email only to get low or no responses? Bad open rates or bad click rates? If you have, it simply means that your campaign has gone wrong somewhere and this has rendered it ineffective.
To prevent these types of occurrences from recurring, the following tips should be kept in mind as best practices for email marketing:
Stage I
- Select an Email Service Provider
An email service provider (ESP) is a company that offers email marketing or bulk email services. All ESPs have the same basic features and functionality; however they vary greatly in volumes, policies, and email deliverability, which makes the selection of an appropriate ESP critical to both the success of an email marketing campaign and the cost effectiveness of its implementation. It is therefore essential to thoroughly understand your business objectives before deciding on a service provider. Popular email service providers include: MailChimp, iContact, Benchmark, Pinpointe, GetResponse and Constant Contact.
- Clean up your existing database
Periodically go through your database in order to ensure that all subscriber information is accurate and up-to-date. Incorrect subscriber information might lead to a poorly delivered and received campaign.
- Get people to Opt-in
Email marketing is permission-based marketing so getting people to opt-in means that they have willingly agreed to receive correspondence from you and will be more likely to act on any action the correspondence requires.
- Determine the purpose of your campaign
Clearly outline why you are sending out any campaign. Recognize the target audience that will best receive the campaign and make them your primary target. An easy way to do this is to segment your subscribers into specific lists so that you are able to reach a particular sector/section of your database to whom you feel your campaign is most relevant.
Stage II
Related Post: Email Marketing Platforms
- Don’t overcomplicate things
Now that you have successfully done the above, you can move on to marketing. Here, it is crucial that you keep things simple. Do not let your need to inform your audience allow you bombard them with too much information all at once. Say what you have to say, say it short but say it right.
- Have a relevant yet catchy subject line
There is no set formula for determining what subject line will work for your campaign. Just remember to be creative; make the subject line relatable so that you can easily grab attention. Do not however in a bid to be creative, go completely off topic because your catchy but irrelevant subject line may cause your subscribers to open your mail but it may ultimately cause them to unsubscribe when they realize that the body of your newsletter has nothing to do with your subject line.
- Use a trustworthy and recognizable FROM name
When choosing a FROM name, do not abbreviate. It is also important that you understand your target audience and are able to decipher if they will quickly recognize your brand name or the name of someone who works for you because a good name will create trust and a desire to open.
- Use a friendly “reply- to- you”
This is a great medium of communication as it will allow you receive crucial feedback from customers. Also, ensure that someone is actually monitoring that inbox so that you are in a position to readily provide answers to their questions.
Click here same time next month to read the second part of our write up on Email Marketing: Doing it the Right Way in other to make your email marketing campaign stand out of the crowd.
To get in-depth knowledge on email marketing best practice and how to improve your business online lead generation enrol for the Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing Training
The next Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing Training starts 4th December 2015.
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