Friday, June 19, 2009

How to Successfully Run Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing is one of the many marketing methods that simply get overlooked by many small business owners. I am not sure exactly why, as it is typically not expensive and often has a very good return on your investment. The issue is perhaps that most people simply do not know how to manage their campaign very well. They perhaps tried once and failed at it, so they figured it was a method that simply didn’t work. If this is you, then I would encourage you to give it another shot. If you are someone who is just now getting into email marketing, I hope that you find these tips rewarding and enlightening in your initial efforts of a successful email marketing campaign.

 

Test, Test, and then Test Some More

I wanted to put this tip directly up front. If there is one thing that I want you to get from this article/post it is that you should always revise your campaign. I have never seen anyone with a very successful email marketing campaign that has never tested or changed their formatting. Generally, you will need to. You will find that some products will be more successful than others, that colors matter, and that your subject line may impact how many people read your emails. I would encourage you that even if you fail on your first email, change things and see if it improves the results, eventually, you can continue to alter little things and see how even those impact your readers. In the end, it is all about converting those readers to sales, and testing what works will ensure that you get the max return on your investment of time and money.

 

Expect to invest time and effort into your campaigns

This is one of the biggest problems with the vast majority of failing email marketing campaigns. They feel that simply adding a place for people to subscribe on their website is enough. The best and most successful internet marketers online right now always entice you to sign up in some way. They put a lot of effort into ensuring that you not only do it just because you are a fan of theirs, but because you are legitimately interested in what they might offer in their emails.

 

One of the worst email marketing campaigns I have seen was by a forum that simply pasted about 10 of the latest created threads on the forum. There was nothing insightful being given, nothing new, I could easily go to the website and see what was being put in the newsletter without ever needing it sent to email address. To be honest, there just was not any investment of time and effort being placed there. I can see why people would immediately want to unsubscribe or trash the emails as soon as they reached their inbox. Be prepared when you have an email marketing campaign to put some time into it, or you will not have people that want to read what you are saying.

 

Stick to being professional

The problem many people have with subscribing or giving their email to anyone is that it will not be handled with care. Always be professional with the emails you send out and how you handle peoples email addresses. I have seen whole companies get their name out there as being unprofessional and a nuisance. This is not the reputation you are looking to get when you own a business. Instead, you should limit the amount of emails you receive, as well as always offer an unsubscribe button. There are numerous companies that I have subscribed to their newsletters because I know that they are big enough companies that they will follow the requirement of letting me unsubscribe at any given time. Nor will they ever feel so desperate for money that they will sell my email address. If you do not stick to these ethical rules of business, your email marketing campaign may not be the only thing at risk, but your entire business could be.


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