To be viable online and maximise the benefits of the internet, a company needs a result driven approach to market itself on he internet. The main advantages of the internet can be realised only if a company is able to use it usefully to interact with its customers.

Email marketing is one of the most popular methods to communicate with your clientele, both current as well as prospective. It is one of the most cost effective and wide reaching communication channels available today. A business can build an email list from a variety of sources including its website.

Running a extensive email marketing campaign will in most cases require a well thought of approach and may involve working with a external email marketing business. If you do not have a large email list to promote to then a list containing email addresses of your target market can be obtained quite easily from a direct marketing business that deals in email list management. A company website can also be useful way to collect email addresses from potential clients via a basic email or newsletter registration form on the website.

Included below are some basic email marketing tips that a organisation can use:

1. Start creating an email list of users

We all need to start somewhere. If you do not already have an email database you can easily start creating one now. Whether you have a small or a large customer base, you can begin by first including your existing clients on your mail list which you can build upon with time. Once you have started a list there are many ways to expand. Any new enquiries you receive can be easily included in the list. It is a common way to acquire highly selected email list from a professional email list management company.

2. Email form on your website

Offering customers with a method to sign-up via your website is probably one of the easiest step to build your own email list. If your website does not already offer an email application feature, any web designer will be able to do so with ease. The placement of the email registration feature on your website is important and has an impact t on conversion rates. As far as possible it should be placed on a prominent place on the website. It is a common and effective way to include it on every page of your website. If your website uses a content management system then most content management systems offer newsletter registration as a built in feature.

3. Distribute a Newsletter

Distributing newsletters to your users is one of the most successful email marketing ways. You can commence a newsletter on one of the topics related to our market. The newsletter can be once a week, monthly or even quarterly. A newsletter is an excellent method to communicate with your clients on regular basis. You can use the newsletter to subsequently advertise your own products or services.

4. Improve popularity of your mailing list

You can use some simple techniques to enhance the popularity of your email newsletters and extending your email list. Creating a quality marketing email or newsletter requires time and effort so it is best sent out to as many people as feasible.

Below are some simple methods to improve awareness about your organisation newsletter or email list and encourage people to register:

Include a hyperlink to register for emails in all email communication.

Provide news about your email newsletter in invoices, purchase orders and other company communication.

Include email registration link in a visible place on your website and blog.

Let your colleagues know to inform customers about your email newsletter at every opportunity they get.

Create an award to subscribe to your email or company newsletter e.g. discount coupons or prize draws.

5. Always respect privacy and adhere to data protection act

It is absolutely vital that you respect client'sprivacy and take all steps necessary to prevent to protect the data. You should not share this information with anyone without prior consent form the customer. Similarly sending promotional email is against the law. Your email list should be opt in. When customers register heir email address they are agreeing to receive emails form you. You should highlight the fact that you will be sending emails to the email addresses you are collecting. If you purchase opt-in email lists form reliable sources if you are using third party services.

Sending unsolicited emails can get you in legal problems and you should familiarise yourself with the basic laws. customers should be given the option to opt-out from receiving emails in future should they choose to do so. This is commonly achieved by offering an un-subscribe link in the footer of the email.

6. Send professional emails

Nothing can be worse for your branding than sending out a poorly designed email to clients . You should review the content of your email properly and plan out your campaign before sending it to users . The information should be well researched and offer value to clients. It is Ok to promote your products and firm but you should try and offer a variety of news. A well balanced email is more likely to succeed than purely promotional email. If the email you send is full of self promotion and does not offer real value then customers are likely to un-subscribe or opt-out form receiving emails in future. Concentrate on quality over frequency.

7. Select appropriate subject for the email

A good subject for the email plays a vital role in deciding how many emails are opened and read by customers. It is advantageous to choose the subject of the email with careful thought and consideration.

8. Design and Structure:

You should determine the structure of the email with care. The Layout should be clutter free and easy to read. The design should be clean and minimalist. Use graphics carefully. Any images used should be optimised for fast loading time. The design should reflect your brand. You should also Include your logo and contact information.

9. Check your list from time to time:

If you are managing your own email list then you should perform basic list maintenance tasks periodically. Any un-subscribed customers should be removed from the list immediately. Similarly all old or not working email addresses should be removed. It is better to categorise your list in to different categories so you can pan your emails and send specific content to specific groups. At the same time any new usres should be added so they are not left out in the next email you send out.

10. Test your campaign before sending out to customers

Whether you send out regular emails or send then less quicky, it is vital that you test your emails closely before you send them out. Spell check should also be performed prior to sending them out. Any links in the email should be verified to see if hey are not broken. You can do so by sending a copy to yourself first.

11. Measure the performance and Improvise:

Like with any other marketing technique, it is important to measure the success or failure of your email marketing campaigns. There are many ways to monitor the performance. The ultimate measure of performance is the number of enquiries or leads you receive as a direct result of your emails. However other trends related to your campaign can also provide a useful knowledge. A bulk of email marketing software will allow you to test deliver rate, response rate, click rate and so on. You can find out how many emails were received, how many were opened and even how many links in the email were clicked. You can use this information to determine the success of each email that is sent and to plan and improvise on subsequent campaigns.

12. Call to action

An profitable marketing email should encourage users to take an action. Including a call to action feature in your emails can improve the chances of enquiries. A call to action can be anything from a request or a link to buy a product.

The blog, discusses email marketing techniques and other ways and to market your website.