Introduction to Email Marketing

With the recent increase of postage many businesses are turning to alternatives means of marketing to potential customers and communicating to existing clients. One such way is permission based email marketing. I will be the first to admit that paper printing and direct mail will cease to exist but email marketing provides many different types of advantages:

• Inexpensive - While direct mail costs can easily cost $0.40 per piece due to cost of design, paper, printing, and postage, email marketing can cost $0.05 per piece.
• Fast - An email piece can be created quickly and many of your customers will receive it within 30 seconds of being sent. Likewise, 80% of customers who respond to an email do so within the first 48 hours.
• Personalize Message to a Targeted Audience - Email enables you to send targeted messages to specific segments of your customer base. Research shows that personalize message increase the chances that your customers will read and respond to your message.
• Response Tracking - Unlike direct mail, email marketing provides immediate measurable statistics. With email marketing businesses can measure how many customers open the email, how many emails bounced, how many links were clicked on, and how many customers ultimately responded to your message.

So how does your business build an effective email marketing campaign? We will look at 4 steps in building a successful email marketing campaign.

Step 1 - Prepare Your Email Lists

The biggest challenge your business will face is collecting qualified email addresses. The CAN-SPAM Act states that you cannot send email to an individual unless you meet the following requirements:

• A relationship with your business or organization
• Signed up to receive your emails
• Given you their email address (knowing you will use it)
• Bought something from your business in the past 18 months

Here are some practical ways your business can begin to build your email lists:

• Web site Forms - The single most important method of growing your list is through a simple subscription form on every page of your Web site.
• Shopping Cart Forms - Most ecommerce capture a customer�s email address during the check out process.
• Refer-a-Friend - Utilizing your “Email to a Friend” feature can generate a consistent number of new subscribers.X
• Use Direct Mail and Catalogs - Encourage email subscriptions on all print ads.
• Direct Employees to Include Messages and Links in Email Signature Lines - Add “Subscribe to the Company’s Email Newsletter” to employee email signatures.
• Hand Out Sign-Up Forms at Public Speaking Events - Promote your newsletter in presentations and handouts.

Step 2 - Define Goals for Your Email Campaigns & Determine Customer Base

As with any other marketing effort, your business should define goals for your email campaign. Are you trying to drive customers to your Web site, create brand awareness, increase sales, or improve customer loyalty?

Once you define your goals, you need to decide which segment of your customers do you need to send your message to do reach your desired results. This may be a small portion of your list or it may be the entire list.

Step 3 - Create the Email Message

One of the keys to creating your email message is personalization. As with any marketing piece your goal is to appeal to your intended audiences, and this is even more of a challenge with the onslaught of spam. People are so inundated with spam and junk that they do not want. So when your email arrives in your customer�s inbox, it must stand out from all other email messages. Here are some proven techniques to assist:

1. The “To:“ line of the email should include your customer’s name.
2. The “From” line of the email should clearly indicate your company�s name, or the name of someone associated with your company.
3. The most important line of the email is “Subject.“ It is so important that these few words accurately describe the value of your email and it must grab your customer’s attention.
4. The body of the email should begin by addressing the customer personally.
5. End the body with a call to action. For example if you want to drive traffic to your Web site include both a link and an incentive for clicking on the link.

Step 4 - Measure Your Results

The power of email marketing is the ability to track the response to your message. Here are some of the ways you can measure the responses from your customers:

• Sent - This is the number of emails that were sent.
• Bounced - This is the number of emails that did not make it to your customer due either to a soft or hard bounce. A soft bounce typically indicates a temporary issue, such as full inbox, while a hard bounce typically indicates a series issue.
• Opened - The actual number of emails that were opened by customers.
• Click Through - This number of customers who responded to your call to action.
• Opt-Out - This is the number of customers who have chosen to opt-out of receiving future emails from your business.

Email marketing provides a great flexibility and ease of use for any business. With most email marketing companies your business can be up and running in a less than a week!