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Talk To Your Customers
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Keep in mind . . .
Use a subject line that is compelling. You have about a second to make a case for opening or discarding your email.
Likewise the "top" of the email needs to be compelling. Don't expect visitors to continue down the page to get to the good stuff.
Think "targeted segments" - it is easy with email marketing to customize your approach to specifically target segments of your lists.
Include a desired action: link to site, phone call, etc.
Get your timing right (sending at 4P when your closing for business for a long holiday weekend . . )
Provide both HTML and Text only versions of your email.
Design for images off. Your email should still be effective, even without the images displaying.
Proof and re-proof. Test and re-test.
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December 2007/ January 2008
Email Marketing
Talk to Your Customers
Who wouldn't want the opportunity to talk to their customers more frequently, at less cost, and be able to focus their marketing message more specifically to segments of their audience?
Email Marketing is:
Inexpensive - Relatively speaking, there is little production or materials expense (no trees are sacrificed!) and no postage. The many inexpensive self-service solutions available make the process of putting together a newsletter or promotion quick and simple and at a cost of fractions of a penny per recipient. Customization by list segment is simple and virtually cost free. By comparison, imagine the cost of printing 10 versions of a newsletter.
Effective - Email marketing offers the opportunity to proactively communicate with existing and prospective customers. Emails may be targeted by source, interest, or list. Speak loud and clear to subsets of your customer base.
Immediate - Email marketing generates immediate responses with a clear call to action: "learn more", "buy now", etc. A professional looking email can be put together quickly and delivered in a timely fashion.
Measurable - Results from email campaigns are easily measured. Reports can indicate "opens" - who and how many saw your offer or newsletters; Click Through Rates (CTRs) - who and how many clicked on the links in your email (took the desired action); how many and whose bounced (bad address, etc).
Play by the Rules
Before you start you'll want to make sure you're up to speed on email etiquette and relevant regulations. Yes, although the internet may feel like the wild west, there are both common courtesies as well as regulations that apply. And we're sure that, as a legitimate business, you'll want to be both courteous and compliant.
The CAN-SPAM Act - Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act - sets requirements for commercial email and penalties for spammers and companies who violate the law. The law also explicitly gives consumers the right to ask emailers to stop spamming them.
The main provisions of the law are:
- No misleading header information. An email's "From," "To," and routing information - including the originating domain name and email address - must be accurate and must identify the person who initiated the email.
- No deceptive subject lines. The subject line is required to accurately represent the content of the email.
- You must provide a method for opting-out of future emails. The email must provide a return email address or another Internet-based method that allows a recipient to ask you to remove them from your list and you must honor their request.
- You must identify commercial email as an advertisement and you must include your physical postal address. The email must make it obvious that the message is an advertisement/solicitation and that the recipient can opt out of future commercial emails. A valid physical postal address must be included
- "Harvesting" email addresses is prohibited. You may not use addresses that you "found" on a website. Technically, you are prohibited from using addresses where a notice prohibiting their use is included. This would typically be the case of directories, membership lists, etc.
While it's true that all of the above are consistently violated, the Can-Spam legislation does provide for fines. And although enforcement is tough in the case of off-shore and technologically sophisticated violators, you may not be so lucky. Besides, in the case of a legitimate business, the ill will generated by violating the guidelines hardly seems worth it.
More information about the Can-Spam act can b found at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.shtm
Best Practices
- Your list should be "permission based." In building your email list, only include individuals with whom you have or have had a business relationship or who have directly or indirectly requested receiving information from you.
- The recipient line should include the addressee and only the addressee. Individual salutations tend to be more successful anyway, but exposing your address book to the entire recipient list by including everyone in the "to" or "cc" fields is a big no-no.
- Make sure that your email's intent is clear and that the subject line is not intentionally misleading or deceptive. Is this email a newsletter or an advertisement?
- The from field should be accurate. Your business' physical address should be included in the body of the email.
- Each email should include a method and instructions for opting out of future mailings and you should honor these requests promptly.
- Provide both html and plain text versions of your email. Just because your email client can display graphics, doesn't mean everyone's does.
- Your email should provide a course of action that the reader can take to follow up - click through to a page on your website, telephone, etc.
- Proof read your email and have it proof read by others. Send yourself and several others a test version. Finding a misspelling, inaccurate prices or bad grammar after you hit the send button is too late!
Service Providers
Although it is possible to use your regular email program for marketing purposes, the results are likely to be less than professional and complying with the applicable regulations and common courtesies will be difficult. However, most small to mid-size businesses will use one of the numerous web-based services. These services have solved the technical challenges facilitating the construction of attractive emails which comply with the Can-Spam regulations. They offer easy-to-use database solutions for managing and maintaining your lists and provide methods for measuring your success. Most offer free trials of their services.
A few of the better known email marketing service providers are listed here:
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