Email marketing is used extensively by small, medium and large businesses. It is one of the most effective ways of reaching the target market. Most people today use email as an important mode of communication for both personal as well as business use, so they access their email boxes regularly. By sending emails to their active email addresses, business can get their attention. So today, email marketing is becoming one of the major marketing strategies for many businesses. However many companies make a number of mistakes while communicating with their customers through email and these mistakes undermine the effectiveness of their email marketing campaigns.
Most companies just presume that their customers like to hear from them if they have information on discounts and offers in their emails. It may not always be the case. Very few customers like to receive such mails and others consider such mails as pure spam. So before you send them your marketing emails double check your list to ensure that they have opted to receive it. Moreover, many consumers opt for certain news letters and alerts when they are actively searching for a product or service and after their need is fulfilled, they do not want such information anymore; they totally forget that they have subscribed to your email newsletter and consider your emails as spam and unsolicited mails. So make sure to include a clear note saying that they are receiving the emails from you because they have opted to receive such communication from you.
The second mistake made by most companies is to make their emails huge with heavy graphics to make it impressive. They do not optimize their messages for emails. No one likes to receive emails with huge attachments that size several megabytes. At times, they may be using limited internet download packages and your emails will cost them dearly for every byte you send them. In such cases, they are not going to like your emails. If they are on slow internet connections, then your huge sized emails will block them from receiving the other mails until your mail is downloaded. All these can frustrate your customers and ruin your brand reputation. You must take these practical problems of your customers into consideration before you send your emails. Not many companies take these factors into consideration while launching their email campaigns. As a result they get very little viewership and click through rate.
Most people set very strict spam filters because they receive loads of spam mails each day. There are many factors that can send your email to their junk mail box. One of the important areas that you should consider is your email subject line. Spam filters look at the email subject lines closely for any spam like nature. Even the slightest hint of spam will throw your email to the junk mail folder.
Secondly, the choice of words that you use in your emails can also trigger the spam mail filter. Today we have very intelligent email filters that learn progressively based on the conditions set by the users and the mails they mark as junk. If you want your emails to get the attention of your customers and get the desired results, you must pay very close attention to the content.
Do not confuse your regular transactional emails with your marketing mails. It is best not to include marketing information or marketing mail as part of your regular transactional emails. This will make your company look very unprofessional. However, you can include your customers in your list after acquiring their permission to receive future emails and communications.
Many companies send their emails before testing them fully and reviewing them for typographical and other errors. Never rush to send your emails; it will take just a few extra minutes to check them fully. Remember, your emails are a direct reflection of your company and your brand name. Therefore, you cannot afford to be unprofessional with your emails and marketing mailers. If required, assign it to a professional proofreader to review your emails. Make use of a professional copywriter to develop your marketing mails. Marketing mails are very different from your regular emails so put in extra effort to achieve the best results.
Every marketing email you send to your customers should have a call for action item. Emails without such a call for action item will not create the desired results. Remember that marketing mails are not just informational emails. So they should prompt your customers to do something. If you are including any links to your website, make sure to check whether those links are working. You must also make sure that the landing pages too are working.
Make sure you introduce your company properly in each email because your customers may not remember you or your brand name even if they have interacted with your company earlier. If you do not introduce yourself properly, then you cannot expect your mails to achieve the desired business goals. A major portion of your customers to whom you are sending the emails would have already forgotten you. So do not take chances by presuming that every one will remember you.
Sometimes we buy email lists from some dubious companies and the lists that we get may not be of good quality. It is not worth spending money, time and effort on bad quality lists. Most of your mails to such lists will bounce and they will not be targeted. Therefore, you must make it a point to buy your lists only from the best companies and from companies that have good reputations.
Pay attention to detail because it is the finer details that draw the line between not so very successful email campaign and successful email campaigns.
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 30 March 2010 08:22.