Beating SPAM

Generally speaking, SPAM is any unsolicited ads or newsletter that one gets in his/her email. Most email services today have automated SPAM filters that can prevent the presence of these "junk mail" in their inboxes. On the part of the recipient, this can mean good news. S/he won't have to dig through so much clutter just to find her important emails.

On the part of the business person, however, this means loss of costumers, wasted efforts, and loss of income. How do you get your point across without getting caught on the SPAM net?

What is Optin?

The only solution to this problem is optin email marketing. Compared to SPAM email marketing which blasts ads and newsletters to a random list of email addresses, optin marketing targets specific costumers who have voluntarily chosen to receive messages from your company.

On the surface, it might look like you're reaching out to a more limited set of audience. However, it's actually more effective to communicate with individuals who want to listen to what you have to offer. Because they've typed in their email addresses into your database personally, you can be sure that your email won't end up in the trash bin, like most bulk mails do.

Personalize

A key to effective optin email marketing is to avoid looking like SPAM mail. Some companies would even go through the trouble of double optin marketing, wherein they send out a confirmation email first to make sure that the person applied for the newsletter or catalogue him/her self. If you look at it closely, optin email marketing is pretty similar to traditional email marketing strategies in the past. Only this time, since you're asking for your potential costumer's permission first, it seems more ethical.

Ethical goes a long way, especially if you're bent to promote loyalty among your clients. Everyone wants a company that's service oriented. When you're sending out your emails to your costumers, make sure that you include their full names in the message as well. Avoid using mailto@hotnamehere.com addresses if you can. This looks too much like bulk mail and some email services might reject any mail coming in from this address. Treat your online clients in the same manner that you would treat clients you meet face-to-face. It's always nice to be called by your real name instead of "Costumer 12345".

Meet your costumer's expectations

If your client signed up for a newsletter, you should email them a regular newsletter with high quality content. This means having a good number of useful articles and not just mere sales pitches. There's nothing more annoying that having to read page after page of hype text. Your clients are intelligent people, and they're bound to know junk from quality information. If you don't want to keep them in your mailing list, you need to know how to keep them interested.

Know how to use your subject head

Email services recognize SPAM primarily by the message's subject line. As much as possible, you should lose the hype text, the exclamation marks, and the $$$ in your subject heading. Even if you manage to get past the system, your client might accidentally delete your email as well, mistaking your newsletter for SPAM.

Enroll in an Optin Email Marketing Course today!