Email is still one of the most effective marketing tools available. You should still be using it today. Even though email solicitation was an early form of marketing on the Internet, it still is very useful and is far from being exhausted. The infusion of new strategies ensures that email marketing campaigns remain on the cutting edge of technology. Read on for tips on how you can use email marketing to grow your business.
Slowly build your contact list. Start with those who have already appreciated what you offer and then move on to areas where you can engage your prospects. It can take a while to pick whom should be receiving your emails, but it’ll be worth it in the end to build a reliable contact list.
Continue offering incentives to customers after they sign up for your email list. For example, give customers a 10 percent discount if they remain on your email list for a month. This keeps customers from losing interest in your marketing materials and unsubscribing or deleting your emails after just a couple of newsletters.
The easier it is to subscribe to your email newsletter, the more subscribers you will have. If you have a physical store, ask your customers for their email address when they make a purchase. If you sell on a website, ask them for their address when they are ready to check out.
Let your readers choose the layout of your content. Any messages with images, graphics and JavaScript is likely to get eaten by software filters and never seen by human eyes. Send out basic text or rich text format including a link to your website, and the option of an HTML version for those that want it.
Be sure that your landing page lives up to the customer’s expectations. The subscriber is obviously interested in your product if they have clicked on the link in your email. You do not want them to be disappointed by clicking on the link, and finding the page to be other than what they thought it would be.
In order to banish all concerns about spam and ensure that no one on your subscriber list is there by mistake, consider employing a double opt-in strategy. Your first message should require some sort of additional action, like replying or clicking on a link, to make certain that the reader wants to receive further emails.
Find out who your competitors are and sign up to their emails. You will be able to see what content, they are sending to their subscribers and figure out what aspects to use and which to stay away from. Just be sure not to steal their content, as this could constitute plagiarism.
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.
Focus on a single message per email you send out. Don’t try to cram a whole bunch of topics into a single email.Too much information can lead to the recipient not reading over everything carefully and possibly just tossing the message. Have an informative4 subject line and the gist of your topic in the email to get them to read it.
Not only should you provide your subscribers with an easy way to unsubscribe, but also you should ensure that it goes into effect immediately. Receiving emails from you after they have unsubscribed will give recipients a negative impression about you, harming any future relationships with them. Process requests to unsubscribe right away.
Have a strong call to action in your email marketing campaign and position it to be seen. You shouldn’t make it difficult for your email readers to know exactly what you want from them. If it’s too hard to figure out, then your email will most likely be quickly deleted. Instead, offer a clear call to action and deliver it in a way that can’t be missed.
Offer your visitors a free learning course conducted via email. You’ll need to develop a set amount of auto responders, breaking up the lesson into sections. Four to six sections should be an appropriate amount. Make sure the content is both informative and unique. Schedule the sections to be sent out one at a time every 24 hours. This can provide you with a host of benefits, such as enhancing your website, gaining your customers’ confidence, developing your authority, and building your email base.
Do not worry about anti-spam filtering when you compose your marketing emails. You need not avoid any particular phrases or use exotic spelling and punctuation in words like “free.” As long as you are not sending out unsolicited emails, you have already cleared the spam filter hurdle. Write for people instead of machines.
One way to keep your email readers engaged is to ask them questions. These should not be rhetorical questions, either. Provide a feedback channel they can use to send you answers. You could ask for direct replies via email, or send your readers to your social networking pages. However you arrange it, asking for two-way communication is a great way to cultivate loyalty in your subscribers.
Try to keep your email subject lines short. Try keeping them around 60 characters or so. Depending on the nature of your business, you may be able to get away with a longer one as long as you put your most important information first. That said, it’s better for the average consumer to keep it short, sweet, and to the point.
As you now know, email marketing is a strategy that still works. Taking the above into consideration, email marketing can work for you, too. There’s no limit to the success you can achieve by implementing it.