Email Marketing 101 - 5 Important Rules To Follow
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Email marketing is a powerful technology that can bring in sales and improve
your online presence. Unfortunately, it also leaves lots of room for abuse. In
order to avoid getting marked as a spammer and exiled to the bulk email file,
follow these five important rules when crafting and sending an email marketing
campaign:
Say no to Spam
Spam is any unsolicited commercial email. Sending spam is illegal and the
Federal CAN-SPAM act dictates that if you violate federal laws and send spam,
you may face jail time or heavy fines. If you're not sure if you're sending
spam, ask yourself the following questions. Where did your list come from? If
you bought it, rented it, or simply scraped email addresses off Websites, it is
a spam list. Have your recipients given permission for you to send them emails?
If they haven't you are acting as a spammer.
Collect email addresses in a responsible manner
If you need to build a permission-based email list, build one and grow it on
your own. You can do this by putting a List Builder or sign-up box on your
Website. You can offer people gifts if they sign up for your email or
newsletters. You can solicit emails from customers at trade shows, sales and
other special events. Never buy or rent a list or scrape email addresses of
Websites. If you do, you'll be marked as a spammer before you can even say
CAN-SPAM Act.
Make it easy for customers to contact you
When you send out customer emails, make absolutely certain that their replies
go to an email box you check frequently. Also, at the bottom of every single
email or HTML newsletter you send, make sure to include your contact info as
well as your company's email address. Think of your email or newsletter as the
first contact in your overall sales campaign. If you want customers to open
their wallets and buy your products, make certain they have an easy way to reach
you so you can answer their questions.
Always include a link to your website
Always include a link to your Website in your emails. Some email marketers
forget this very basic concept and end up sending an email marketing campaign
with no link back to their Website. Don't make this mistake. Make it easy for
customers to come back to your site and view your products or services.
Write honest, crisp email copy
Think hard about what you want your email to say and write it accordingly.
Remember that one of the best ways to build customer trust is to tell the truth
in your copy. Don't promise something you can't deliver, just be honest about
what you're selling and offering. Also, make your email marketing copy crisp and
clean. Email marketing copy should be easy and interesting to read. If you throw
together some copy and it's too long or not compelling, customers will open your
email, skim it, and dump it in their online trash can. The key is not only to
get customers to open your email campaigns, but take the time to read what you
have to say and eventually buy something.
About the Author
Gary San is a best practices activist and advocate for Benchmark Email (
http://www.benchmarkemail.com/email-marketing.aspx ), a leading Web and
permission-based
email
marketing service.
Follow us @Scopulus_News
Article Published/Sorted/Amended on Scopulus 2008-02-03 19:18:59 in Marketing Articles
