Email marketing is one of the most effective ways of promoting products and services. It is not only convenient, but also relatively inexpensive. Here are some tips which will enhance your chances of success in email marketing.
1. Make subscription easy
Have a sign up form on your blog, site, social media profiles and other places where your target audience is likely to be found. Don’t ask for too many details; the name and email address is usually sufficient. A long form with many fields will only put off potential subscribers.
2. Let subscribers know what they are signing up for
It is very vital to inform your subscribers from the onset what they should expect and at what frequency. Whether you intend to send weekly newsletters, monthly industry updates or daily special offers, you need to have this information on your signup form. This will help your readers choose whether to subscribe or not.
3. Send a welcome email
When someone signs up, take time to send them an official welcome email. Remind them of how they will benefit by being on your list. If possible, send them a free giveaway as an appreciation for their loyalty.
4. Match your marketing campaign with your brand
Your email marketing campaign needs to complement your brand in every way. Make sure your official logo and colors appear in the email’s header. This will make your emails more recognizable to your subscribers, thus enhancing loyalty.
5. Make your content scannable
Your emails should be written in a way that enables readers to scan through at a glance. You can make the content easier to read by breaking it up using sub-headings, images and brief paragraphs. It would also be advisable to have a short summary the top of your email explaining what it is all about. In case the email is lengthy, you could add a ‘read more’ link at the end of the summary. Finally, make sure your subject line is intriguing enough to compel subscribers to want to read the rest of the content.
6. Send relevant content
Most email newsletter services allow you to divide your subscribers into various segments and groups. For instance, you might want to group your subscribers according to their zip code. If you are having a special offer, you might find it necessary to send your campaign to people in specific geographical locations and not others. Subscribers could also be segmented based on their age, interests or gender. Sending content which is relevant will capture the attention of your subscribers and enhance their loyalty.
7. Have a publishing schedule
Publishing a regular newsletter takes a lot of time and effort. If subscribers go for weeks without receiving any communication from you, they might start losing interest and even opt out of your list. Therefore, you need to have a schedule for writing and sending your emails on a regular basis.
8. Edit
Editing is a very vital element of your email marketing campaign. Sending out newsletters with careless mistakes leaves subscribers with a poor impression of your business. Therefore, before clicking on the send button, take time to check your email for spelling and grammatical errors. In addition, make sure that the content generally makes sense.
9. Test
Emails display differently on different devices and email services. It is therefore important to test your emails to see how they will appear on the screens of computers, as well as mobile devices. In addition, testing will show you if your email is likely to end up in the spam folder. This will enable you to correct any problems before sending it to subscribers.
10. Understand spam rules
Many people send spam email out of sheer ignorance. To avoid getting caught up in this, you need to get familiar with the CAN-SPAM act. Generally, you only have permission to send bulk email to recipients who have willingly joined your mailing list. Anything else is considered as spam. However, make sure all your emails are accompanied with an unsubscribe link.
11. Make your content shareable
If your content is very interesting and helpful, readers might want to share it with others in their networks. It would therefore be advisable to have Facebook, Twitter and Google+ share buttons on your email. As your posts become popular, more people might be compelled to sign up for your mailing list.
12. Monitor your statistics
Many email services out there provide free reports containing useful statistics. Take time to study this data to find out how you can make your campaign more effective. For instance, if the level of subscription is very low, you could find ways of making the offer more appealing.
About the author: Charles Mburugu is a professional blogger who likes sharing tips for internet marketers and bloggers. Currently, he is writing for freetemplatesonline.com
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