Email marketing is extremely effective for broadening your customer base, and also as a tool for interacting with your current customers. Email marketing can seem overwhelming because there so many ways in which it can be used. The advice in this article will help you to navigate your way through email marketing, allowing you to understand the advantages for both you and the business you run.
Put information that is useful in your emails and avoid only including information to make a sale. Give your subscribers special articles, things they may not find on your website. Also try including special offers on products and services. Build rapport with your customers by sending holiday emails or birthday emails, not just emails at times you want business.
Make sure you are writing something for people to read, not just to bypass the spam bots. If the message you create is done properly with limited sales talk, you are likely to avoid the spam filters. Certain phrases and methods created simply to avoid using words like ‘free’ will only annoy your readers, and will likely attract the attention of the spam filters.
Never send emails to those who did not elect to receive them. People don’t like spam, and spam is unsolicited email. If you’re sending out email that people don’t want, you risk harming your business. The best way to use email marketing is towards customers who are interested.
When building an email marketing list, build it organically. This means you should not buy a list of email addresses. Build your list by networking, collecting business cards at industry events, and including opt-in forms on your website. This will let you email interested parties and help your business grow.
Provide customers with some incentive in your emails to them. They are more likely to conduct business with you when they have a reason to do so. A good example is letting customers click a link and when they purchase from your site, provide them with free shipping with orders that total over a certain amount.
When people sign up for your newsletter, you probably want them to double-confirm their email address. This makes sure that they actually want the emails and that they haven’t made a typo in providing their email address. Asking subscribers to type it two times makes these mistakes less likely to slip through, and increases the likelihood of your messages being received.
In order for your email marketing campaign to be effective, you must take into consideration the layout of your emails. Spam filters will oftentimes block logos, animation, and pictures, so do not use graphics. Be certain that key facts are included in the written material. Include easy links so that your readers can go right to your website to see the graphics.
Avoid major email promotions around holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. People are normally not at work and are not spending time at their computers, so most likely they will not see your emails. There are obviously exceptions to this rule. Black Friday, for example, is one occasion where a date relevant campaign is warranted.
Utilize email previewers in order to take advantage of your preheader material. A preheader consists of the initial line of text in the email that is highlighted in the email previewer. Many email clients show this text underneath the subject of the email, allowing the reader to get an idea of what the content is.
If you are planning on following up with your prospects, you should consider including an endorsement on a follow-up email. Let your customers know how they can benefit from your products or services. The ending postscript can give them information on how they could submit their order by selecting the links in your website.
You can use a multi-part message to approach several topics in one email. Some readers turn off HTML in their email client. A multi-part email includes plain text along with HTML, so that such readers will still get the message. The extra work it takes will be worth it if you can prevent a plain-text only subscriber from leaving your list.
Ensure that you offer a simple way out for those who wish to unsubscribe or opt out of your mailings. Although less expensive than other forms of communication, email messages have a price tag. Furthermore, the negative publicity and blowback from being seen as an aggressive spammer is not only bad for business, but can result in blocks and black listings online.
Send birthday greetings to subscribers. Add a field to your subscription form for customers to enter their birthday, and use this information to send an automated greeting when their special day rolls around. 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.
Always include brand colors and logos in email marketing messages. Your customers will be familiar with your company’s traditional logos and will associate the colors and designs you use on your website with your business. Matching your emails to your website makes them seem more familiar and reduces the risk that a subscriber will accidentally delete them.
A good way to grab an email recipient’s attention is by making the email personalized. If your emails feel mass produced, customers will often delete the messages and stop reading future offerings. Addressing the customer using his or her first name is a very easy personalization step. The information you collect at the time of signup should include the location from which they signed up, as well as the reason they signed up. Use this information in your message.
To get your customers excited about receiving emails, give away special discounts and offer limited promotions through your newsletters. This type of email marketing provides readers with value for participation, and it provides them with encouragement to refer their friends. In fact, referral programs are great in growing both your customer base and email base.
As we had said before email marketing is one of the best ways you can reach out to your customers and get more customers in the process. The information you have learned from this article will help you harness the power of this technique.