Email marketing is as popular as ever in these economically turbulent times. It’s inexpensive but when done correctly can yield tremendous results. There are some tricky pitfalls such as spam filtering but what better way to directly connect your audience to what you’re trying to say? Here are ten simple tips that will help you understand the world of email marketing and how to hopefully turn out some successful campaigns.
Tip #1 — It’s All in the Timing, Baby
For those who didn’t know, Tuesdays have shown to get the best “open” rates for email campaigns. Tuesday is probably just that perfect time of the week where you can catch your potential clients and customers after they’ve finally got back to speed from the weekend yet still have plenty of time to read your email before the coming weekend. Most report that it usually declines after this point with Wednesday and then Thursday being the next best days to send a email blast out. Keep in mind that everybody’s business is unique, so it may for your individual industry. Some of my friends who are in the bar/restaurant business send out emails with drink/meal specials on the day of so they can tempt their customers all day hopefully ending with them visiting later on.
Tip #2 — Add Me to Your Address Book
Do not ever underestimate the power of the spam filtering that people have. Spam is so annoying and dangerous to individuals and corporations alike that they use varied methods of just keeping the inane and dangerous garbage out of their lives. Believe it or not, adding a little bit of text — “Please add example@website.com to your address book to ensure delivery.” in a prominent area in your sign up area is an incredibly underestimated and often neglected practice that can yield tremendous benefits. I would go as far as adding it to the newsletter/campaign as well somewhere just in case your newsletter has been blocked but has miraculously made it through on rare occasions.
Tip #3 — Don’t Underestimate the Importance of the Subject Line
Not only does the subject line help you make it pass the spam filters and into the mailbox — it is the text that entices the receiver to open the email. Here are some quickie recommendations:
- Keep the messaging short and simple and 50 characters or less
- Read the subject line out loud. Hearing it aloud will allow you to hear the flow of it better. See if your co-workers can comprehend what the email is about just from listening to that
- Never use ALL CAPS
- Never use the words: Free (Can’t resist? Just never first in the sentence and be very careful with punctuation), Help, Percent off, Call Now, Discount and Reminder (or anything sexual or “naughty” if you want to be sure to clear the spam filtering)
- Be very careful with punctuation if you use it. Multiple exclamations is just asking to be filtered
- Localization Helps — Mentioning a city or town name can be effective
- Don’t be afraid to test — tweak length, keywords and tone until you hit the sweet spot
Tip #4 — Have a Consistent Sending Schedule
Generally, bi-weekly or monthly is a good frequency as most people find the time between messages to be just long enough so they are not annoyed. You want the recipient feel that they might miss something if they don’t scan it this month. Most people are curious and if you craft a consistently good newsletter — it can become a part of a recipient’s routine. It’s worth it to the sender as well because from my experience, it can be cumbersome to generate a ton of emails . It all depends on the type of business but for those who care about sending an email that always has genuine value with quality content — it can be tough.
Tip #5 — Build Your Lists as Much as You Can
When you premiere that first newsletter/email campaign… think if it as the start and not the ending. Every chance your business affords you should add names to that list. Trade shows, seminars, sign-up forms, events and even social networking should be a chance for you to get some names for the list. After a client meeting — ask them if they’d be interested in your mailing list which includes your newsletter subscription. If you work at a bar — ask your bartenders to help inquire clients they’ve newly befriended. There are many many way, but just realize it’s a never ending process. Be warned that permission is key as your potential client may not like you so much if you “spam” them (which it is if you don’t ask for permission to send).
Tip #6 — No Video and Flash Allowed
Sorry , my new media maven buddy — that stuff just doesn’t work. However, that shouldn’t stop you from offering that content elsewhere if that is the goal of the email campaign. Just design the email blast so the singular goal is to get them to click the link to view the new media as easy as possible. Don’t deceive them by having a image of a YouTube style graphic and expecting them to play it but entice them with a fetching screen cap (whatever that might be for your purposes). The point is, new media is revolutionizing the internet and how people communicate and you shouldn’t let email browsers prohibit your company from offering that type of content.
Tip #7 — Stop With the Ginormous Image as The HTML Email
Yes it’s simple and allows you to design without knowing any code at all and always displays perfectly — but nobody will see it! This is what spammers do so it will be highly likely it will be damned to spam folder hell! Also, email clients by default don’t display images. So that means it will become yet another hurdle that you’ll have to jump over to get your email message to your clients and customers. My advice is to find a quality email campaign service with lots of templates and choose one that floats your boat. Anything is better than sending simple big image emails.
Tip #8 — Take the Time to Test
Since a lot of businesses are doing email marketing, the propensity for blunders is occurring more frequently. A simple and effective practice is to make a checklist and turn it into a routine that you build in time for. It can be simple like — spell check, correct list, tested all links in the test email and plain-text is set up. When you click that “send” button you want to feel secure that you’ve done your due diligence in making sure your clients see you in the best possible light. Here’s a testing tip: don’t use dummy text. When you send it to the test list, it’s not going to be a accurate delivery because dummy text triggers spam infiltrators preventing it from arriving in the inbox (causing confusion and unnecessary headache).
Tip #9 — Is Your Sign Up Form Perfect?
Rightfully so, most people and businesses will concentrate their best efforts into their website. If it’s built right, it’s the ultimate go-to for impressing your audience and generating results (whatever that might be). Naturally, you’ll want to strike while the iron’s hot and get them to sign up for the newsletter/mailing list to keep the client relationship strong long after they leave the website. It’s a good idea to make sure the sign up is in a logical and relevant place that they will surely not miss during the browsing session. The sign-up form itself should not be cumbersome to fill out — look at your competitor’s website and try to only harvest the info you can’t live without.
Tip #10 — Design Your Layout Width Between 500 to 600 Pixels
You have no idea how people are viewing email, whether online or via a dedicated email client. Even if they have a web mail address they may be forwarding it to a client or using POP and IMAP features. Play it safe, 500 to 600 pixels is not that restrictive — this is the sweet spot for a email preview pane. Furthermore, when you see how people are using the preview panes you should try your best to follow simple user patterns such as logon on the top left and content in proper hierarchy so the viewers can scan. As Steve Krug says — “Don’t Make Me Think”.
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10 simple factors that we shouldn’t take for granted.
Thanks
This is all good stuff, though some subjective stuff here and a few points that could have been a little more comprehensive – although I know you’re trying to keep things simple.
Tuesday hasn’t been shown to be the globally best day for open rates – quite apart from the fact that open rates is a broken metric, the general best day is extremely subjective dependent not only on your industry but also your audience & content. It is best to test it for yourself by splitting your mailing lists into Halves or Thirds and seeing which one was most responsive on which day.
Your point about “Build Your Lists as Much as You Can” scares the crap out of me. Having a huge list of names isn’t great, having a huge list of engaged subscribers who have told you what their interests are, what they want to receive and how often they want to hear from you is. Gather your subscriber’s interests at sign up; you don’t know whether you’re sending out relevant content unless you know what your subscribers want. Quality > Quantity. The bigger the list, the harder you will find making a lifecycle out of it.
Subject Lines, and using supposed “spam buzzwords” isn’t as cut and dry as one might think. In fact, you’re OK to use some of the words you’ve listed as bad. Spam Filters can scan emails for context, as well as looking for good HTML, balance of text, images & links and they can even go as far as to see if the text of a hyperlink matches to where it’s pointing to.
I appreciate my comment is probably long and nit-picking, but ultimately Email Marketing isn’t simple, it isn’t a quick fix solution to economic woes or crappy Marketing Plans.
Other than that, it’s a great blog post – always nice to see people talking and sharing their knowledge and experience in Email Marketing.
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Thanks, Jake – I think you’re right on with some of your comments and I think anybody who reads the article and your comments will be better educated for their efforts.
Also, email marketing may not be simple but we make it simple for our clients. Or at least it can become simpler for anybody in the process if they educate themselves.
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