subject: How to Conduct a Successful Email Marketing Campaign [print this page] How to Conduct a Successful Email Marketing Campaign
Regular email marketing campaigns are the lifeblood of many businesses and form a highly important part of the overall marketing strategy. Utilising an existing mailing list to push sales and keeping in touch with prospective or existing customers via timely and relevant email newsletters and bulletins is a cost effective way of making a real difference.
It's vitally important, however, to get it right when it comes to email campaigns. There is much to consider, from legal implications to technical aspects.
Keep it Legal
There are several key points to follow to ensure you keep within the law when communicating by email:
You must identify yourself as the sender and provide a contact telephone number on each piece of communication. You must not mask your send address.
You may only contact individuals if you have their express permission, they have failed to opt out of receiving communications from third parties and you are that third party, or if you have done business with them. Emailing organisations is different to emailing individuals; you just need to make sure you identify yourself clearly and provide an unsubscribe option.
You must include the required legal wording within your communication. If you are unsure as to what this constitutes, ask your copy writer or a business or legal adviser for advice.
Word it well
As well as the obvious advice about ensuring your content is suitable for your audience and free from spelling or grammatical errors so as to look as professional as possible, there are two more important factors to consider when planning your email marketing content.
Firstly, it needs to be an interesting, bouncy read that flows well and compels readers to find out more by clicking through to your website, or by picking up the phone or following a contact link.
Secondly, and the importance of this cannot be stressed enough, you must avoid any words that could be considered spam, especially in your email title. Do some research on the internet and you'll soon find a list of words from which to steer clear. Otherwise, your campaign could be in vain, as it will end up in junk folders never to be read.
Make it look good
It's imperative that your email campaign is visually stimulating and set out in such a way so as to draw attention to important statements, links and calls to action. And that it represents your branding and bears resemblance to your website for consistency. A mention of paying attention to technical detail is called for at this point; make sure any images are sized correctly so that they don't create downloading issues and check your formatting. Don't forget that sometimes a newsletter can look fantastic in your editing programme but when it arrives at its destination, if it hasn't been correctly formatted, images and content could well have moved'.
If you are not 100% certain when it comes to your email marketing, consult a professional for help. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right!
