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Email Marketing:
Tips for Successful Email Marketing Campaigns

  1. Always send your email campaign from the same name and address.

    Maintaining a consistent sender is vital to getting your message past spam and junk email filters. Most white lists are based on the email address contained in the "from" field of an email. Not only will a consistent "from" line keep you away from spam filters but it will also help your recipients recognize their beloved email marketing campaign or email newsletter while pruning other junk out of their crowded inbox.

  2. Make sure your subject line grabs your reader's attention.

    If you can't coax your readers into opening your email there's no chance of any possible sales conversion. Keep in mind that you are competing for your recipient's attention in an increasingly crowded inbox

  3. Keep your email campaign's content on focus and to the point.

    If you are promoting a certain product make sure that you focus on that product and not talk about other products or services that could distract your readers from the current promotion.

  4. Communicate with your readers regularly but don't over do it.

    In some industries it makes sense to send an email on a weekly basis while in others it makes sense to communicate once a month. It is probably never a good idea to communicate only once a quarter. If you are sending email campaigns that infrequently you are not keeping your business at the fore front of your audience's mind. Not communicating with your customers within a 6 month period is a cardinal sin!

  5. Avoid using free email addresses as your from email address.

    Addresses such as 88234kdh@yahoo.com don't carry the same weight as say promotions@mystoredomain.com.

  6. Personally tailor and address your email campaign to your recipients.

    Many email marketing services offer the ability to mail merge as well as segregate your lists based on demographics. You can use these features to personalize and custom tailor your message for maximum effectiveness. This let's your recipients know that you are aware of their specific needs and that you can cater to them.

  7. Use your email marketing to let your hair down a bit.

    Stuffy feeling corporate emails can come across as very cold and are less likely to receive a positive reaction from your readers. Keep your email marketing warm in order to invoke a positive reaction.

  8. Time your email campaign appropriately.

    Keep the timing of your message in mind with the idea that you are in competition with other messages that may be clogging your reader's inbox. If you know your list is loaded with corporate email addresses then you will want to avoid sending email after normal business hours since your email marketing campaign will be one of the last things in your recipients' inbox in the morning. Conversely if you know your list is loaded with personal email addresses you may want to send your email marketing campaign in the early evenings when your recipients' are more likely to be checking their inboxes.

  9. Keep the size of your email small.

    Don't overload your email with graphics or attachments. Most importantly don't forget to optimize the image sizes of the graphics you do use. The more graphics you include in your email the longer it takes the email to load. The longer it takes the email marketing campaign to load the more likely the recipient is no longer willing to sit and read your message.

  10. Experiment with subject lines and content placement.

    Once you find a combination that works best for you don't change it unless you start seeing a drastic change in how your recipients' are responding.

  11. Promptly honor a recipient's request to opt-out.

    Not only is it illegal to not honor that request but it is also very bad manners! Remember, internet users are open to receiving email marketing from companies and brands that they trust so be trustworthy in all respects of your marketing efforts. It is also a good idea to send them a quick email reply letting them know their request has been honored. A little goodwill in your email marketing practices goes a long way.

  12. Subscribing should be pain free.

    If you are using an email marketing service you should find out if they provide an easy web form for you to add to your website to gather email addresses. These types of forms are easy to implement and the email addresses you gather from your website are deposited automatically into your email marketing management system.

  13. Include your physical mailing address.

    Not only is this now a requirement of the recently enacted federal CAN-SPAM law but it has the added benefit of instilling trust in your recipient's that you are a legitimate business contacting them. Some email marketing services, like ResultsMail, handle this for you automatically.

As you continue to market via email you are certain to run across other helpful tid bits. Our advice is that if you are running a successful email marketing campaign and you are thinking of making changes you should make them slowly. That way if you notice serious declines in response rate you can roll back to your previous email campaign format and you should regain that loss in response.



Email Marketing Service Online Resources recommends the email marketing service provided by ResultsMail. Their service meets all of our criteria for successful list management, campaign creation, deliverability, and detailed reporting that allows you to analyze the success of your email marketing efforts.