Email Marketing 101: A Beginner’s Guide

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Email is one of the few bulletproof technologies in the digital world. It is the oldest method of digital communication and it remains the most used worldwide. This is a strange feat in the internet realm. Technologies come and go faster than you can blink. Yet email stands strong. That’s why it should still be at the heart of your marketing plan. We know that everyone hates email spam, so today we’ll look at how to make yours stand out and make an impact.

Collect Email Addresses

The first step is actually creating a list of people interested in your service. That means convincing them to give you their carefully guarded email address. Offering a signup box on your website is the easiest way to do this. You’ll have seen many of these before and you can use one too. However, just having one isn’t enough. People don’t part with their email address easily and you’ll have to convince them. Offer them an incentive here. Use your creativity and your specific services to help convince them.

Use a Mass Mail Client

Sending a newsletter or email update to your list isn’t like sending a normal email. It needs to contain imagery, logos and specific content. You also need an efficient way to send thousands of emails and monitor the response. Use a mail client like Mail Chimp or Get Response. They’ll give you a template to create your email and send it to your list. You can also see who opens it and what the most popular content was.

Use Photos and Imager

Results have shown that the most popular emails have lots of photos and imagery. They allow customers to digest the information and it provides an alternative to streams of text. One great way of harnessing imagery is using e-cards. These are greetings cards that can be sent to your subscribers at Christmas or on their birthday. Have a look at eCO2Greetings to see how you can incorporate these into your strategy.

Keep it Relevant

Pople subscribe to your email blasts for a specific reason. It might be because you promised regular pictures of cute kittens. It might be because you are a marketing guru with weekly advice to offer. If that’s what you promised, that’s what you should deliver. If you’re promoting a store, update people with new or limited stock. Don’t start sending your favourite recipes or other unrelated content!

Use Intrigue

An email marketer’s holy grail is a high open rate. That means how many people actually open the email you send. Most people are inundated with mail and ignore much of it. To ensure they open your email, you need an intriguing subject line. Choose something that they can’t not click on. Tease them!

Avoid the Spam Filter

Finally, email clients are clever. They know when you’re full of spam or promotional offers. Avoid spammy words like ‘discount’, ‘offer’ and lots of capital letters. You’ll be routed straight to the spam folder, never to be seen again. Keep it relevant and avoid too much self promotion.

It’s easy when you know how! If you don’t have an email marketing strategy yet, now’s the time to start building one. Follow the advice here and you’ll be well on your way!