This month I was interviewed by NETT Magazine for their cover story on 20 ways to grow your business with email. They mapped out the top 20 steps for better email marketing, here are my top 5.
1) Permission - The most important element of your email marketing is ensuring that you have permission. It's too easy to buy a list or spam people, but this won't get the results you're after. Do the hard yards and earn the permission. Start by asking people you meet if you can add them to your mailing list. Then add an opt-in form on your website and start writing great content... which leads me to my next point.
2) Content - Think about your customer, what's in it for them? Make the copy relevant and targeted and ensure the call to action is obvious; what do you want them to do, and what do you want them to do next? Avoid excessive use of images, many email clients block images by default and make sure you include links to a web version.
3) Consistent - Make sure that you're using a consistent email address and preferably a known trusted source in your from name. It's much more likely that the email will be opened if it's from someone the recipient knows. Also, if you're sending an email newsletter or blog updates, make sure you send it at the same time each week.
4) Measure - The beauty of email marketing is it can be measured and tested simply, so there's no excuse not to test, test, test. Measure your open rates, click throughs, popular links, unsubscribes and segment your lists and optimise your campaigns based on the results. Test everything - subject lines, from addresses, email creative, call to actions.
5) Subject Lines - My favorite - don't forget the subject line! There's no point spending hours on creating a fabulous offer with beautiful creative. If the subject line isn't compelling, no one is going to open the email. Plus, keep it short four or five words should be enough.
Keep these tips in mind for your next campaign, or better still map out an entire email marketingemail marketing strategy for the next twelve months... it's really not that scary. Read the full article NETT Magazine-20 Email Marketing Tips here.
