If you are serious about online success, you need to get serious about your online marketing strategy. An email marketing campaign can be the best way to start attracting your target market, so you need to know the right things to do. This article lays out effective tips for making your email marketing plan what it needs to be.
To get people to opt-in and give permission for you to send email marketing messages to them, offer an incentive. Offer a discount or a coupon on one of your products or services. Include a whitepaper or newsletter about your niche or market. Give your prospect something in return for access to their inbox.
Try following up an email to your customers with a notice that tells them not to procrastinate. Insert a suggestion that tells them to purchase now onto the reply. The ending could tell them not to miss this incredible opportunity by waiting. Instead, they should act now to reap the full benefits.
Use A/B testing to view the subject line. Take one particular email, split the mailing list into two groups and send each group the same email but use the two different subject lines. This strategy will show which subjects customers open, and which get ignored and sent to trash.
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.
Try engaging the customer using the subject line of the email. Your email must grab your reader’s attention the minute it lands inside of their inbox, otherwise it may go into their trash. If you have a weak or uninteresting subject line, that is exactly what will happen. So try spicing up your subject line with some creativity.
In order to ensure that every single customer on your list has given their permission for you to email them, you should have customers opt-in to your list twice before you send the first email. This probably seems like overkill, but doing so makes you far less likely to receive spam complaints from people on your list.
Use your email marketing to get your customers more involved with other promotion portals. For example, always give readers several ways to learn more about what every email is discussing. End every email with your contact information and web address, encourage them to share special promotions through Facebook “Like” buttons or direct them to a video that shows them how best to use a new product.
You should send your emails as a plain text every once in a while instead of always sending them in HTML format. This gives things a more personal touch and helps the subscriber feel that you are trying to connect. Do not use it too much though because then you may be seen as being too unprofessional.
When developing an email marketing campaign, you must make your material look professional. If it does not look professional, customers will pass over it without paying any attention at all. There are plenty of scams and junk emails going around, and your legitimate marketing campaign must stand out as something they want to look further into.
Ensure that you have a way for customers to unsubscribe from the list, if they want to. Email messages do take time to delete if people don’t want them and they may not appreciate having to do that. If people perceive you as a spammer, it can hurt your business. This may also make people block your email address online,and that’s not good if you’re trying to get your product or service out there.
Balance when you send emails. Sending them too frequently can come across as spam and may cause you to lose readers. Not emailing frequent enough can make the recipients feel like they’ve wasted time signing up for emails that they’re not getting enough of. Remember your goals and audience so you can pick a happy medium for your campaign’s frequency.
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.
Be persistent. Studies show that it takes a minimum of 7 to 8 impressions before your advertisements will take effect on a potential customer, and it could take many more. You need to touch base with your customers at least once every few weeks, and assume they will not buy your product or even click your links for several iterations of messages.
Use auto responding messages to your advantage in your email marketing campaign. These can help you stay in touch with your recipients. They can be effective if your subscribers sign up for emails about various things you offer. You can tailor these to correspond with the information they signed up for. It also allows you an easier way to stay in touch.
Use plain text. Plain text emails will be received as more personable and HTML can be more difficult for some people to read. Some email readers may even prevent the delivery of HTML, depending on user settings. Plain, simple text will always be easy to read and very well received.
Write your message copy with benefits in mind, but not yours. Make sure your messages reflect the benefits that your content, products or services are offering your subscribers and readers. They want to know what is in it for them before they commit to the call to action, which is where your benefit happens.
Apply the tips in this article so you can create a strong, effective email marketing plan. Don’t neglect the other methods of marketing your business, but know that your email campaign can be a strong way to get you where you want to be on the internet, and in your business.
