Frequent interaction with clients or customers is a vital part of establishing an Internet presence. Email marketing campaigns are one great way to achieve this. Here are some tips on how you can use email marketing in your business.
Always seek permission before sending marketing emails to potential customers. Sending unsolicited emails will quickly have you labeled a spammer. Getting permission to send your messages doesn’t have to be hard; offer something valuable to your customers in exchange for the ability to email them, such as a discount, coupon, or other sign-up incentive.
Follow up with contacts you meet at trade shows. Collect people’s phone numbers when they stop by your table and call them within a couple of weeks of meeting them. Use the follow-up call to check in with your contact and ask him if he would like to receive your marketing newsletter by email.
Make sure that you get permission from customers or potential customers before sending out your emails. If people do not want to get emails from you, they could mark your emails as spam or even ignore you altogether. There is even a chance that your email service could take you out of their system.
Continue learning about email marketing techniques through all the resources available to you. You may find many books online and in libraries. You may also be able to find local seminars or workshops to attend; pay attention to the classifieds and bulletin boards.
When you are having your customers provide their email address to you during the sign-up process. Make sure that you have the clear disclaimer visible that you will be undertaking email marketing campaigns. Try to give the consumer an indication of how often you intend to make use of their addresses so that they are not unaware.
Don’t send out emails without getting the permission of the person you’re sending it to. Customers won’t take you seriously if you spam them or send them anything they didn’t ask for. Most people will not only delete the email, but also resolve to never do business with you in the future.
Marketing emails should contain very few graphics. Graphics can take a long time to load which may discourage some users from viewing the e-mail. Also, your email is likely to end up being sent to junk mail if it contains too many graphics.
Get creative with your email designs to find out what works best. Send out a few emails with content and links that differ in their fonts and text color. Play around with image positioning, including buttons and logos. After you’ve sent the emails, find out which ones had the best click-thru rates. Stick with those for the time being, but change it up on occasion to see if you can find a method that works even better. More click-thru rates equate to more sales.
In order to banish all concerns about spam and ensure that no one on your subscriber list is there by mistake, consider employing a double opt-in strategy. Your first message should require some sort of additional action, like replying or clicking on a link, to make certain that the reader wants to receive further emails.
Tailor your emails and landing pages for mobile users as well as those using desktops. Keep in mind that smartphones have tiny screens that may not be compatible with the way you have your emails formatted. Trim the width so that your emails can be read by users without them having to re-size them.
Consider following up with a rumor that a sale is about to end. Insert a statement that tells your clients to subscribe immediately so that they can take advantage of this sale. The closing of the email could tell them not to miss out on this incredible opportunity and to act now.
Design your marketing emails to be easily read on mobile devices, in addition to computers. An increasing number of people check their email messages using their cell phones. If the message is difficult to read on their phone, it is likely to be deleted without the content ever being read.
Don’t put critical information in images when sending emails. Images are frequently not displayed automatically by many email clients, particularly web-based ones. If a person is reading your email in one of these clients, it can make your message look strange or even render it unreadable. You should always use text for your important information and use alt tags to describe your images.
Place a basic call to action within your emails. Let your email recipients know what they need to do by telling them directly. Include obvious links with instructions on how your readers should proceed once they get to your site. These messages can be repeated at the beginning and the end of your messages.
Don’t add an address to your email subscriber list without their permission. Many people will regard such actions as a betrayal of trust and may cease to be clients. Others who have opted in may also be put off by these actions. If your email provider receives numerous complaints, they may decide to drop you as a client.
Rather than purchasing or renting a mailing list, build your own from the ground up. You can do this by including opt-in forms on your website, gathering business cards at conventions or other industry events, and encouraging your subscribers to share your emails with others, which can garner even more subscribers.
Keep mobile users in mind when choosing the size of your message. You might be composing your emails on a monitor that has four or even five times the available pixels that a smartphone user has. Send your messages small or scalable so that everyone can read them easily and quickly.
Top notch marketing plans are essential for every business owner. Email marketing is an essential part of any website’s marketing strategy. Use what you’ve learned in this article to implement your email marketing campaign, and watch the success that follows.