Email marketing is one of those subjects that makes people cringe when they hear others discussing it. Taking the time to really learn everything you can about email marketing can ensure you take full advantage of what it is capable of.
Make sure your emails are always brief and concise. Few people will bother reading past a couple paragraphs, no matter what your message entails. You don’t want to annoy your potential customers, you want to keep people interested and not waste their time. So when writing your email, make it short and to the point. This way, you will be sure to capture their interest and have them returning to read more in the future.
Use the subscription information that you have to personalize your customer’s shopping time. If a customer uses an email link to visit your site, use their subscription information to pre-fill as much of the purchase form as possible. This eases the sales process and makes them more likely to buy.
Do not forget colors and your brand’s logo in your emails. Your customers will soon recognize your colors and logo and associate them with your brand and products. Consistently making your emails coordinate with your website will make them appear more familiar and make them less probable to be deleted.
Keep customers by sending emails that are personalized. Take advantage of the opportunity to tell them about new discounts or special offers. Let subscribers know when you have new products in which they may be interested based on their purchasing history. There’s an old saying that it takes more time and money to get a new customer than to get a repeat customer, and that holds true for email marketing, as well.
Use multi-part emails to ensure that your reader is able to see the content. The communications you send out should include both plain text and HTML content to properly show up in their email messages. This is worth the little extra effort so that you can avoid losing plain text subscribers who would find little use for an HTML-only list.
Make sure you use both active and passive feedback mechanisms in your email marketing campaign. Readers should be asked to provide suggestions and opinions when offering active feedback. Passive feedback is more subtle and even invisible to the reader. You can get tools and software that can help you to figure out what links have the most clicks.
Your email campaign needs to garner attention. It may take a few tries to get it exactly right. If some aspect of your campaign isn’t working, change it as soon as possible. Continue testing new strategies and mixing things up to keep your readers interested and your emails on the cutting edge.
Take a look at the emails your competitors are sending out. One simple way to study their techniques is to opt-in to receive their mailings. If you have seen their campaign, you can make yours even better. Look for holes in their strategy and take advantage of them by offering what they don’t. It’s okay to mimic some of their efforts, but also try to remain innovative so that your email marketing campaign continues to be the one that consumers love to receive.
Make your subject line attention grabbing. Mentioning an incentive in your subject line increases the probability of the recipient opening up your email message. Use free products, discount or another attention getter to grab their attention and make them consider taking you up on the offer. A good subject line can dramatically improve the response to your email.
When it comes to marketing emails, do not underestimate how important layout can be. Graphics can look great but remember that some spam filters will block any kind of image. Relevant content should be provided in the text only. Consider using invitation links to your site that your customers can see in the form of a graphic.
Try not to overuse urgent language and phrases such as “Hurry!” or “Purchase immediately!” in your email messages. An approach such as this one is often perceived as being “spammy”, meaning your consumers will quickly unsubscribe. They understand you want sales, but build a solid relationship and stay professional. They’ll appreciate this and will most likely buy from you.
As with food, the best email lists are those that are cultivated organically. Don’t waste money buying or renting a list from someone else. Create your list by giving potential and existing customers a place to sign up for receiving your messages. This will ensure that your email list is relevant, and help your business achieve greater success.
It is important to always ask prior to putting an individual on your email list. If you do not, your emails will be viewed as spam. You will quickly lose subscribers and be banished to the junk mail pile. Your email host can even drop your service if enough people complain about your email spam.
It may seem obvious, but it is essential to your email marketing campaign that the email addresses you are sending to are correct. Recording incorrect email addresses will result in much time wasted both collecting and tracking down valid addresses. Don’t waste the time!
Remember to send birthday greetings to your subscribers. Leave an optional box for clients to include their birthday, and then set-up an automatic greeting. This simple step will make customers feel like you are about them, especially if they receive a special birthday coupon or discount along with your birthday greetings.
Before you email a customer, get their permission. Unsolicited emails can create the risk of spam complaints, as well as unread messages. Most people will opt-out from your emails and you may get penalties from being a known spammer.
The above should give you a better understanding of how email marketing works and how you can benefit from it. Take advantage of what you’ve learned from this article, and you’ll be seeing an increase in customers in no time.