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1. Avoid sending emails, or using data that doesn't have the recipient's name in it - personalising emails guarantees much higher response rates.
2. Don't send emails without your company details on (luckily miemailer does this for you automatically)
3. Avoid using lots of code - complex tables etc, and images with not enough text as this increases your spam score.
4. Don't attach files - always host the files or information on your site when you can't include it in the body text of the email.
5. Never send an email without sending it to yourself first. This not only ensures that the images and formatting display properly, but also gives you a final chance to proof read it.
6. Avoid "hard-selling" by using aggressively coloured or formatted text - Red capitals are a no-no.
7. Don't use www. for links in your emails; always use http://www.
8. Avoid sending new email templates that you haven't sent to a sample of your colleagues and friends first. This allows you to ensure that the email will display properly in different browsers and email clients and is particularly important for those who use the likes of dreamweaver to create.
9. Never send an email that doesn't have an unsubscribe link (luckily miemailer does this for you and automatically removes the person from your list for you).
10. Avoid words that could increase the spam score of your emails such as: SAVE, ££££, SPECIAL OFFER, DISCOUNT, etc - you can check which words outlook flags as spam here.
contact details:
When sending mails from miemailer you are given the following fields to complete which help to build trust from the recipient:
1. Display Email From: This is the ideal place to put your name or company name (company name is added by default) so that the recipient can easily see who or where the email is from.
2. Email Address From: This is where you would put the address of the person who would deal with enquiries, or a perform a role such as fred@mycompany.biz or sales@mycompany.biz - any replies will go to this address.
3. Email Subject: This is arguably the single most important thing to get right. Get it right and everyone will want to open your email. Get it wrong and recipient's won't be inspired to open your email or use the wrong words and mail clients will mark your message as spam. Keep it short, snappy, and targetted.
personalisation:
By using miemailer's "field codes" feature, you can insert a field code into an email that pulls data for (say: salutation and surname) from your mailing list so you can address your emails: "Dear Mr Smith" by writing text as "Dear ##salutation## ##surname##" and adding the salutation and surname headings to the relevent column in your mailing lists.
layout:
1. The generally approved optimal width for an email is 600pixels
2. Using a 600px wide table to layout your email will help format it uniformly
3. Avoid very complex tables which increase your html-to-text ratio and your spam score
4. If you have enough text to get a low spam score; when it comes to content: less is often more
5. Make sure you have clear calls-to-action that entice people to click and visit your site
6. Remove barriers - try to link to the relevant page on your site, not the home page
7. Don't be afraid to repeat the same link more than once within your email, or use multiple links
8. Create landing pages on your site which are designed to catch and direct traffic from your emails
9. Avoid exaggerated punctuation, capital letters or otherwise "ramming your message home"
10. If your site supports it; append multiple links going to the same page with a ? then a number, word or letter which then allows you to track which buttons get clicked the most etc. eg:
www.mysite.com/products/widget-b.htm?Buttton2
You can then track see which are the most popular buttons and decide if colour, wording, graphics, or the position on the page has the most effect on your click-through rates in your marketing emails.
Let's face it: without advertising and marketing a business is just one big expense. Even word of mouth is a form of marketing. But no company, even a small business, can truly survive on word of mouth alone.
With that said, you have a few options on how to get the word out. Prior to the 21st century, the standard forms of marketing and advertising generally consisted of the following options: radio, television, print and other. Let's look at each of these first, and then consider the advantages and disadvantages of email marketing, versus these other traditional formats.
Radio advertising can be a bit pricey, depending on what kind of schedule you purchase. The time of day, the ratings and number of listeners on the station, and even the time of year can affect the budget you'll need in order to run a successful radio campaign.
While many radio stations will allow you to run short schedules with a very basic message, the likelihood of limited radio advertising being effective in helping your business see significant growth is slim to none. You may be able to generate a response to a single sale on a one-time basis, but a short or limited radio schedule could put you in a position to not break even.
Television advertising is thought to be more effective than radio because of the visual aspect. However, television stations know this and may charge more. You could run into the same problems as you may with radio, budget-wise.
Print advertising generally refers to newspaper ads, but also includes magazines and so on. While print tends to be more affordable, modern trends show that more people are online doing their reading, and less people are reading physical print anymore.
The “other” category of marketing and advertising includes a variety of promotional tools. This can include direct mail, promotional items (such as pens, cups, t-shirts, and hats), etc.
Email marketing has a few advantages you won't find with any of the conventional marketing tools. First of all, the number of impressions you can achieve for the same amount of money exceeds all other forms of advertising. This is because your audience is only limited to your list of email addresses.
The question becomes whether or not people truly respond to email marketing, or if they just regard all advertising via email as junk mail, also known as “spam.” Your gut may tell you that people don't read email advertising, but you'll be surprised at the truth about this.
First of all, while people may disregard a large percentage of the business email they receive, they do not disregard all of it. If the email is from a trusted source and contains information relevant to their lifestyle, they may very well read and respond to the messages.
It becomes important, with that fact in mind, to establish rapport with your potential buyers, and to choose your target demographic carefully. An email marketing specialist can help you determine exactly who your target audience is, based on factors like age, gender, annual household income, location, and other factors.
Now that your email marketing campaign is “targeted,” its success is much more likely. However, only a marketing specialist has the knowledge needed to then create a message that will turn those impressions into a point of sale. Proper marketing is said to be a combination of the ideal medium and an effective message: “the medium and the message” are key!
The verdict is that email marketing has many advantages over other forms of advertising, including budget. However, it is important that email marketing is done appropriately. If you do not consult an email marketing specialist, you could end up blocked by entire internet service providers' servers, or worse, sued!
If you do choose email marketing, be sure to do so through a company that specializes in targeted marketing and advertising, which has aggregated the data needed to create a successful campaign to help grow your business. In fact, this is true with all forms of media marketing.