Email is the most useful way of communication. It research reveals that open rates in 2009 were up 18% from 2008. Online marketing effort for it to be really successful it must be well planned with good measuring tools in place and integrated with other marketing efforts.
How do you create an effective email marketing campaign?
1. Use an effective email list; be aware of where the data has come from and
whether you have permission to use the data. Certain legislation exists to give consumers rights and protect them from the misuse of their personal data.
2. Concede your subscribers, don't wait until the next time to you send a
newsletter send new subscribers a welcome email letting them know that they are being acknowledged.
3. Make your emails relevant and above all interesting, if subscribers have
signed up for a specific newsletter or topic don't veer away from it. Similarly if sending a sale email keep it short, sweet and to the point.
4. Include calls to actions within the email directing people to complete a
specific action, be it purchasing something on your website, donating to your cause or visiting your social media profiles.
5. Don’t spam your recipients by sending them multiple emails in a short
space of time. Similarly use a spam checker to ensure that the words you are using are not 'spam' so the email isn’t caught in the persons spam filter.
6. Within your email you must provide the recipient with an option to unsubscribe from your recipients list, it is the law.
7. Avoid telling subscribers to not reply to your email, it makes the email
impersonal and discourages interaction.
8. Measure the success of your email campaign, there are plenty of email
marketing tools out there that will measure open and click through rates, similarly analytics tools can usually measure the number of visitors directed from an email or you choose to hire a professional agency to compose and send your email then they should provide you with a full report on its success.