Seven Tips for a Successful Email Campaign
Spammers ruin things for everyone. Nothing is more annoying than receiving another Nigerian business opportunity or Lose 200 Pounds in 20 Minutes email. Email is a cheap and effective way to sell your products, so we can expect no end to spam anytime soon. Unfortunately, the CAN-Spam laws designed to protect consumers from spammers often handcuff legitimate marketers. For your email campaign to be effective, you need to differentiate yourself from the spam crowd and deliver items of genuine interest to your audience.
When you start your email campaign, take the time to define exactly what you want to do with your campaign. What are your goals? Are you going to introduce a new product? Are you simply staying in touch with your customer base? In order to communicate with your list, you should share your goal with them. There’s never any need to be coy or deceptive.
There’s no sense wasting your time, and your prospects time, without a clear call to action in your email. Your prospect’s time is as important as yours. Let them know what you are doing, and what you need them to do. Be simple and direct.
The cold call is fast becoming a thing of the past in sales, and it’s downright annoying to the prospect online. The polite name for online cold calling is spam. Make sure your list is interested in what you have to say. It saves your time and theirs. Never send an email without the recipients direct permission.
Get organized as to when you should send your email. Common sense dictates that sending an email at 3 AM in your prospect’s time zone is inappropriate. Most successful online marketers send their emails at midday after the prospect’s morning rush and before the end of the workday when your prospect is thinking of home.
The dependability of your autoresponder system is important. Stick with reputable suppliers like Aweber. Remember that you get what you pay for. Cut-rate services are not always a bargain. Check the reputation of your supplier with people you trust. Sometimes paying a little more can get you a lot more and save headaches down the line.
Don’t get cute with the from line or the title of your email. Be up front. Tell them who you are and make the title of your email a benefit of your product. If they see a benefit from your product, they will open your email. If they do not need the benefit you supply, they’re not customers anyway. Tricking people into opening your email undermines trust and angers customers.
Lastly, give the people on your list the opportunity to opt out with every email you send them. Getting rid of people who do not want to hear from you will absolutely not affect your sales. In fact, it will streamline your list and make it even more responsive.
