In a recent post, we discussed how to build an opt-in e-mail list of customers or website visitors who are interested in hearing more from your company. As your e-mail list grows, it will become a goldmine of permission marketing potential, but as with a real goldmine, you need to know how to take advantage of the precious bits without having the whole thing cave in on you.
The key idea here is ‘permission marketing’. Your audience is more receptive to the e-mails you send because they have given their consent. Now, what you have to do is to make the most of your opportunity to communicate with your prospects by making sure your e-mails contain information of real value to them. That way they will look forward to hearing from you and will keep the communication channel open for more. Here are some tips and tricks to help you achieve that and at the same time generate a profit from your campaign.
Get your e-mails read
This is the most obvious one, but can also prove to be the most difficult at a time when people receive more spam than genuine e-mail. First of all, make sure that it is absolutely clear who is sending the e-mail by making sure your name is in the ‘From’ field. Secondly, use your subject line to offer readers a benefit that will entice them to open your e-mail. Be careful not to go over the top with the subject wording, however, so that your e-mail does not look like spam. If you take a look at the spam in your inbox, you’ll soon see what sort of sensational tricks you should be avoiding.
Address your reader personally
Everyone enjoys being called by their name. Personalise your e-mails with the recipient’s first name to break the ice and let readers realise that you know who they are. In a more formal situation that calls for the use of surnames, make sure to ask for people’s titles (Mr., Mrs., Dr. etc.) when they sign up to your list.
Give your recipients true value and greet them with your best offer
No one wants to be subjected to a sales pitch week after week and month after month. Include interesting articles, helpful tips and useful information as a core part of your e-mails, or at least link to fresh, new content of this type in your website or blog. Also, put your best stuff first and leave the more boring bits for the end. Remember, you don’t have to aim for sales directly from your e-mails - getting people to visit your website again and again is often a more effective way to build their trust and make that sale.
Use your branding in your e-mail
Make your e-mails easy to recognise by using your corporate design and logo in the body. It is a good idea to use a basic template for all your e-mails because this will give them a common look and feel, and at the same time make them quicker to write up and design.
Track and test your links
Your e-mail will of course have links to your website or other pages you want your readers to visit. Track the performance of these links and experiment with different fonts, images, wording and even placement to see what works best. If you have a large enough mailing list, you can even design different versions of the same mailing and test them against each other to see what works best.
Ask for feedback
Your mailings are an excellent opportunity get valuable feedback. Invite your subscribers to write back with their comments, or simply use small surveys or voting buttons to quickly get a general feel for their thoughts. You can also publish the voting results in the next issue for added interest.
Consider using audio to effect
A short audio clip can give your e-mail that extra bit of power and personal touch if used well. Your audio will have to be of high quality and sound professional, however. Also, do not force the audio on your recipients, but rather include a play button for them to click if they want to listen, and of course give them an option to turn it off again.
Make unsubscribing easy
Permission marketing, remember? If a subscriber does not want to receive your mailings any more, it will do you more harm than good to keep on sending them, so make sure to include a clear unsubscribe link at the bottom of your e-mails or in a prominent place on your website. This will also reassure those subscribers who do want to remain that you care about their wishes because you are giving them a choice to leave.
Let your ISP know before you send bulk e-mails
If you begin to send a lot of e-mail to hundreds or thousands of recipients, your Internet service provider might flag you as a spammer and consequently block your account. Warn them before hand and you should have no troubles in that department.
Do not abuse your e-mail list
Put yourself in your recipients’ shoes and think of what it is like for them to receive your e-mails. If all you are doing is pushing your products - or if you are flooding people’s inboxes with e-mail - you’ll easily put off your subscribers.
Treat your opt-in e-mail list with care and do not abuse it. That is the golden rule of enjoying a long, happy and profitable relationship with all those who chose to hear from you.
