5 Tips for Utilizing Email Marketing to Drive Sales
by Jennifer Ratliff on October 19th, 2007
Email is a quick and reliable mode of transferring messages and information. It is also a relatively free form of advertising. For new businesses, anything free is worth considering. But there are many regulations that muddy the waters of email marketing, and if you go the wrong way here, you’re likely dealing with hefty fines.
There are some things that can help business owners take full advantage of email marketing, while avoiding potential pitfalls.
1. Focus your attention first on those people who have already expressed an interest in your service or product. Starting and maintaining a short newsletter can attract subscribers who would be more likely to buy from you. Once they subscribe, they provide their email addresses, which provides you with a chance to market.
2. Make sure that you don’t go against the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003: This Act allows for up to an $11,000 fine per spam email sent, but you can use software or the service of a company specializing in spam avoidance to ensure that your marketing does not go against the Act. In general, the Act requires that you: provide a valid physical address for contact, allow a one-click unsubscribe button, and disallow the importing of lists, which may include purchased contacts.
3. Track your email. Tracking who responds to your email and who doesn’t can be a great tool for evaluating how well your marketing efforts are paying off. Unlike written communication, email marketing leaves a permanent trail. Response time and email-to-final-purchase ratio each tell a story about your marketing success. Some people may choose to use more advanced tracking methods, such as coding links within each message that notifies you every time a potential buyer clicks for more information.
4. Personalize. Don’t think that just because you’re sending the equivalent of a “cold-call” through email, that you have to make your message impersonal. In fact, the computer robots that go through and decide which emails to mark as spam and which to mark as legitimate mail depends a lot on how you address their email. Use a real name and a believable subject line, and include your contact information at the bottom of the email. You are, after all, trying to attract people to your product.
5. Embellish. If you have a choice and the capabilities, use html in your emails. Plain text doesn’t attract attention like a slick logo or graphics. This will also show your recipients that you didn’t just slap some sentences together and send the message off blindly, but that you took your product and its future seriously.
You may want to look into the services of an email service provider (ESP). Many have easy to use features that are great for those just getting started with email marketing, such as customizable HTML templates, the ability to personalize your emails, and open and click reporting. Most importantly, ESPs also help you to become CAN-SPAM compliant by reviewing your lists and maintaining relationships with the various internet service providers that your subscribers are using so that your emails get delivered. While some ESPs can be pricey, others (such as Constant Contact )are inexpensive and cater to small businesses with smaller budgets.
Email has more potential to attract customers than any other Internet marketing method. Think of how hard it is to climb the page rankings at Google and Yahoo. Trying to bring customers to your site involves years of work or a lot of money as you struggle to get the Meta Tags and descriptors just right for your site to move up in the rankings. Email marketing is much more skill-dependent. It still involves work and creativity to attract customers this way, but is much more rewarding, as email marketing can bring people into your business who will turn into regular customers.