1.
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Start by building a permission-based list.
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2.
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In exchange for contact
information, offer your customers something of value: a newsletter, a free
seminar, or more information about your products & services.
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3.
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When gathering contact
information, only ask for the information you really need. Asking
unnecessary questions annoys people and may keep them from signing up.
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4.
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Be sure to include a way for
people to unsubscribe in all your email campaigns. Unsolicited email or
spam can be damaging to your reputation.
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5.
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Manage your contact lists so you
can respond quickly and efficiently to requests for more information or to
unsubscribe.
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6.
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Since email addresses can change
frequently, keep your list current by carefully tracking the number of
bounce-backs or undeliverable emails after every campaign.
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7.
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Be sure you have a clear and
concise privacy policy that details how you will treat your customers’
personal contact information. Include a link to it in every email you send.
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8.
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Respect the terms of your
privacy policy and never breach your customers’ trust.
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Craft your Message
An interesting message that offers value is critical to the success of any
email campaign.
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9.
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See what others are doing. Take
a few minutes and sign up for email newsletters from competitors. Choose a
few on your favorite hobby or a topic you’re interested in too.
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10.
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When you get online newsletters
from other companies, pay attention to what makes you open some and delete
others without reading.
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11.
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Before you create the right
message, develop a marketing strategy that addresses goals and objectives.
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12.
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Use email marketing to
accomplish what email does best: increase revenue, generate leads,
strengthen customer relationships, increase website traffic, and build
brand awareness.
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13.
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Get the length right. A good
rule of thumb is the more frequent your emails, the shorter they should be.
People will open a short "Tip of the Day", but almost no one
wants to get something longer on a daily basis.
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14.
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Keep the message personal and
casual. Think like a customer and write in a conversational tone. People
want to see a little humanity behind the corporate mask.
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15.
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People respond best to messages
written by one particular person at a company who they can get to know over
time. This is part of building relationships.
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16.
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Personalize the ‘From’ part of
your email and be clear who the email is from.
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17.
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Avoid using ‘FREE’ in your
subject line since it has been abused by spam marketers and arouses
suspicion.
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18.
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Be honest in your subject line
and make sure it reflects what’s inside. State a clear benefit that makes
the recipient open your message. Only messages that seem relevant and offer
value will be opened.
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19.
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Choose a subject line that grabs
your reader’s attention. Avoid vague content like "Our September
Newsletter." Instead, use an interesting topic or headline from the
newsletter, such as "Best Practices for Email Marketing" or
"Inside: Exclusive Interview with Tiger Woods!"
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20.
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Encourage forwarding right in
your subject line. The Association for Interactive Marketing (AIM) always
adds "Pls. Forward" to the ends of their newsletter subject lines
and they report it's more than doubled their circulation!
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21.
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Personalize each message and
watch response rates climb. At the very least, always include the
recipient’s name.
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22.
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Write your messages so they
appeal to customer interests and hobbies. Ask your customers what they want
to hear about: special offers, new services, etc.
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Choose the Right Format
Once you have the right message, you need to present it in the right way.
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23.
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HTML and Rich media messages
that include audio, video, and animation generate high response rates, but
it’s still important to always have a text version for people who prefer or
can only receive text.
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24.
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Always include a hyperlinked
table of contents at the top of your message so people can click or scroll
right to the section of their choice. Usability studies show most people
won't look beyond the first screen if there's not something immediately
interesting to them. Give them a reason to scroll down!
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25.
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Use bullet points and lots of
white space for plain text messages.
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26.
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Minimize the use of ALL CAPS and
italics as they are hard to read.
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27.
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To make it easy for readers to
scan your message, keep columns of copy narrow.
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28.
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Test your messages through a
number of email accounts to make sure they look good in all mainstream
email clients.
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29.
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Consider writing your message in
the same format it will appear on your customers’ screens so you can see
what they will see. For text-based emails set your font to 10 point Courier
going 60 characters (five inches) across.
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30.
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Unless your newsletter is
unusually long, recipients will probably read it on their screen. Your job
is to make this as easy as possible. For headlines, use a larger, bold font
that can be scanned the quickly.
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Look for Measurable Results
Being able to measure your email marketing efforts is key. Measuring allows
you to understand what works and what doesn’t so you can improve each and
every campaign.
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31.
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Gathering results through
trackable links and having access to real-time reports will help you
understand what works and what doesn't.
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32.
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Test using different subject
lines, copy, offers, and creative designs, etc. Use real-time results to
see which get the best response rates. Consider sending out an A/B test to
two sub-segments of your email list to see which is more successful.
Refine, and then send the more successful email to your larger email base
for better results.
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33.
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When running a series of email
campaigns, tweak your message as soon as you understand the results of your
first campaign.
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34.
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Above all, take the time to
understand email as a marketing medium. Always analyze results and think of
new ways to provide value to your members and customers.
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