Best Practices for an effective email marketing campaign
Written by admin on August 17th, 2011Article by Charles John
Email marketing is one of the first used Internet marketing methods. Over years the methodology and etiquettes evolved. Here are some best practices used in Email marketing for effective results.
1. Avoid sending emails during holidaysTiming is very important in any marketing campaign irrespective of whether it is Email or Tv or Print ads. People rarely check emails during holidays and when they return there will be a pile of emails messing their inbox. In a rush to clean his/her inbox people tend to delete unimportant messages especially commercial mails. So keep track of your time. Avoid sending promotional messages during holiday seasons.
2. Never use $ $ $ signs in your emailPeople don’t like spam and they will take precautions to avoid spammers bunking there inbox. Spammers often use $ $ $ signs in their spam emails and the filters which detect and block spam messages often looks for repeated trends like use of $ $ $ signs.
3. Always be careful with your call to actionThe best thing with email marketing is quick response. With a great offer and a clear cut call to action, you can expect people to respond to your emails. If call to action is not very effective the response rate will be low. Use a clean and legitimate layout. Create only one call to action button or link. Don’t confuse people with too many links and banners.
4. Make an attractive subject lineSubject line is very important in any marketing campaign, especially email marketing. It determines the click through ratio for your campaign. What if people find your subject line boring or non sense? What if they felt your subject line like a spam? These are issues you have to deal with. So make an attractive subject line. With a clean, clearly defined subject line you can expect people to read your email messages- means it will improve your CTR (Click through rate).
5. HTML or plain text?This is an issue every email marketer should deal with. In which format you should send your campaign HTML or plain text? I will say let your recipient decide. Send in a mixed format. Some email clients doesn’t support HTML messages inside. So send your messages using both plain text and HTML. The key point here is, the core information should be included in plain text so that people understand what your email is all about.
6. Inform your ISP about your email marketing activitiesEven if you are not spamming some people still report you as spam. If the number of complaints keeps rising your ISP may take action against you. So its always a good idea to inform your ISP before getting screwed. This will make your ISP give you a warning signal before taking any action against you.
7. Always provide an option unsubscribe I know you wont like this because no marketer wants any deletion from his list. But as a code of ethic, as a standard of respecting your customer you should give an option to unsubscribe from your newsletter. And respect his decision. Never send him a mail again.
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