e-ditorials - Issue #11: Email Marketing: Creative Success Secrets

1. Define Your Target Market

There are two approaches to Marketing: 1. Throw everything at the wall and see what sticks or 2. methodically target your audience. While it might be tempting to send "spam," we advise "targeted, permission-based marketing" to get the best results and avoid the negative reputation and legal issues surrounding spam.

What is spam? Spam is Unsolicited Bulk Email ("UBE"). The term "Unsolicited" means the Recipient has not given express permission for the email to be sent and "Bulk" means that the same email is sent to a number of recipients. Unsolicited Email can be the first contact with a person, job or sales inquiries, etc. Bulk Email is email that is sent to multiple recipients such as newsletters, discussion lists, etc. Generally, only the combination of Unsolicited AND Bulk email constitutes Spam.

Why be concerned about spam? There are many proposed government bills aimed at regulating or eliminating spam and, at some point, sending spam may carry a fine. By using permission marketing, not only will you avoid the Spam issue but you will target the people that are most interested in your product/service. This in turn should also garner a higher response rate from those you are marketing to.

2. Build a Mailing List

There are two ways you can obtain an email list: 1. Create your own 2. Buy a list

Creating Your Own List

A well-targeted, accurate permission-based list can be built using your own in-house resources and the Internet. Keys to Building Your In-House Email List

• Utilize your own mailing lists which contain email addresses of your customers and prospective customers
• When networking and exchanging business cards, ask the person if you have permission to send them email. On the back of their card, write the name of the event, date, and whether they gave you permission.
• On your web site, offer a form for people to subscribe to your email list. If you offer an incentive, such as an informative newsletter or coupons, people will be more likely to give you their email address.

Buying a List

Buying a list has changed considerably over the years, as some companies went out of business or were bought, but there are still a few reputable companies who sell email lists. "The email list rental industry has an abundant of service providers; however, not all are providing quality lists." says Stacey Anderson of Marketing wiZe, "To sort through the larger number of providers, I recommend talking with people who have used list rental companies successfully or contacting the Direct Marketing Association (http://www.the-dma.org) for a recommendation. Regardless of how you identify potential email list providers, you should thoroughly research the company fully to understand its business practices."

To avoid spamming, it is critical to understand how the list was collected. Companies who sell email lists of people who signed up to be on their list, and permitted their name to be sold, will be more receptive to your efforts.

3. Create Meaningful Campaigns

Decide what you want your email campaign to achieve and what will most likely attract your audience.

Types of email marketing used by US Marketers, 2002

Newsletters	66%
Promotions	60%
Event notification	52%
Product announcements	48%
Customer service messages	41%
Source: e-Dialog, Inc., April 2002

Newsletters – Why produce a newsletter? It reinforces brand, reminds them of your product/service, creates customer loyalty, and it establishes your authority on a subject. To encourage people to sign up for your Newsletter, it should offer something of real value to the recipient.

Promotions – Send a coupon or special offer that is good at your store(s) or your web site.

Event notification – Let people know of events your business is sponsoring or attending. This type of email encourages attendance, reinforces brand, and may prompt a sale.

Product announcements/customer service messages – Existing customers may be interested in new products or enhancement to products they have bought from you. Announcements reinforce brand, remind a customer of a product/service, and create customer loyalty.

What can you do to get people to respond to your message? The most effective approach is to have a "Special Offer" with an expiration date that prompts a customer to react quickly. By having an expiration date, you will also make it easier to measure your campaign within a given time period. Also, if you have a web site, be sure to include a link to your web site and/or the specific product or service you are offering in your email.

The best way to get people to respond to your email or sign up for your email list is to give a good impression.

4. Get Noticed - Give a Good Impression

Whether you are sending email to a list or using email in your everyday business, always pay attention to email etiquette, visual appearance, and content.

• Proof your email like you would a printed letter.
  
• Keep email personal by taking the time to start an email with the recipient's name and to end it with your own.
  
• Since emails are usually scanned quickly, keep your email brief and to the point. Break up long blocks of text -- 4 to 5 lines per paragraph and use bullet points for emphasis.
• Use a P.S. line at the end of your email -- almost everyone reads the P.S.

Email Guidelines:

• Respect Privacy
  
• Have an opt-in mailing list
  
• Provide easy subscribe and unsubscribe instructions
  
• Be brief - the less you ask, the more you get
  
• Offer something such as discounts or tips
  
• Mail early in the day
  
• Avoid the "sales pitch"
  
• Minimize the amount of email you send
  
• Respond to email within 24 hours - people expect it
  
• Use the Subject Line effectively

Privacy statements are important. When consumers were asked by Jupiter Media Metrix what a Web site could promise in exchange for typing in their personal information, 73% wanted a guarantee that the information would not be misused.

The less you ask, the more you get. NetLine sent out an offer for a free white paper. 1 form requested contact information plus 1 optional question. Another form asked the same core information but asked 3 optional questions. The shorter form received a 74.6% response rate and the longer form gave a 50% response rate.

Mail Early. 76% of business professionals spend their first few minutes at work reading and sending e-mail. This may explain why Travelocity found that it obtains the best results when it sends its messages between 8 a.m. and noon of each recipient's local time.

Use the Subject Line effectively. Use your name and company whenever you correspond by email. Do not mark the email “priority,” and avoid using words like “Free,” “discount,” “offer,” and “viagra” in your subject line. These words may send up a red flag to spam filtering software.

5. Follow Up

After your campaign, don't forget to Follow Up. If you have the phone numbers of the people you are sending email to, follow up with a phone call but do not mention the email when you call. If they bring it up to you, then you know they read the email.

When you send an email for the first time to a customer or potential customer, give them the option of unsubscribing from your list. If they do not unsubscribe, and took no other action to have themselves removed from your list, then it is okay to send another email; but, be prudent in the length of the email and the amount of email you send to them.

For Example: Grazina Crisman, from The Productivity Shop, sent her flagship email newsletter to customers, potential customers and members of organizations she belonged to, such as NJAWBO (New Jersey Association of Women Business Owners). The email was attractive, brief, clearly identified who she was, enabled a recipient to easily unsubscribe, and offered practical business productivity tips. The introduction in the first edition was eloquently done:

WELCOME! to the INAUGURAL ISSUE of the BUSINESS PRODUCTIVITY TIP eNote.

You are receiving this eNote because
(1) our paths have crossed recently and from our conversation I thought you might be interested in an occasional productivity tip (to help you stay ahead of all of the demands of your business day), or
(2) you have already requested to be put on the distribution list.

If you decide you do not wish to receive ongoing issues, just let me know and I will easily remove your name from the distribution. On the other hand, if you think there are friends, co-workers, etc. that might benefit from a productivity tip every now and then, please do not hesitate to pass this on.

This email did not require the recipient to subscribe to the newsletter to continue receiving it, but it did offer the ability to unsubscribe. This method was well-received and effective. Out of the hundreds of people she sent her e-newsletter to, only one person unsubscribed from the list.

If you do receive a response from your email campaign and their contact requires action from you, respond to them within 24 hours. If a recipient has asked to be removed from your list, promptly remove them from your distribution list but keep their information on file as "do not send email." This way you know that they have requested to not receive email from you.

Have an opinion on this article? Please send an email to smiller@setnow.com.

— ©2003, Set Now Solutions, LLC. All rights reserved.