Make Sure Your Business Has An Email Marketing Plan
Email marketing is a marketing method that uses emails to promote to customers. To some, this can sound a bit difficult, but it really isn't. Using email marketing to reach your customer base isn't as hard as you might think, especially if you pay close attention to the tips in the following article.
When you ask people to opt-in, let them know what to expect. Tell them what you will be sending and how often you will send it. People will be more likely to sign up if they know that you are not going to flood their inboxes with wordy emails that they have no intention of reading.
The easier it is to subscribe to your email newsletter, the more subscribers you will have. If you have a physical store, ask your customers for their email address when they make a purchase. If you sell on a website, ask them for their address when they are ready to check out.
When you are having your customers provide their email address to you during the sign-up process. Make sure that you have the clear disclaimer visible that you will be undertaking email marketing campaigns. Try to give the consumer an indication of how often you intend to make use of their addresses so that they are not unaware.
Maximize the results of your email marketing by encouraging your readers to respond to every email. Always read and reply to these emails immediately. Building a personal relationship with each of your readers is the best way to convert them into loyal customers. This is also a good way to get more specific feedback on the success of your efforts.
While you want to use your email marketing to improve your sales. The only way to get potential customers to read your emails is to convince them that they have value. To do this, your emails should always contain concrete, useful information and relevant links, and not just generic sales fluff.
Go for professional over slick with your emails. Don't send emails that look like flashy webpages. This comes across as impersonal to the recipient. Also, keep in mind that many email programs will not display HTML images. So, do not focus on images in your emails. Go for concise, professional, and inviting so that everyone can read it.
Use your email marketing to get your customers more involved with other promotion portals. For example, always give readers several ways to learn more about what every email is discussing. End every email with your contact information and web address, encourage them to share special promotions through Facebook "Like" buttons or direct them to a video that shows them how best to use a new product.
Color is important, even when it comes to email! Your email messages should have a consistent color scheme that is both professional and easy to read. This is especially important once you start designing more advanced, HTML rich messages. If you are unsure about making your own selections, a little Internet research can point you towards excellent color schemes.
Your emails should be readable sans images. Many email providers disable images by default, and unless the user changes their settings, they will not be able to see any images you include. Because of this, any images you include in the emails that you send should also be followed by comprehensive text.
Design your marketing emails to be easily read on mobile devices, in addition to computers. An increasing number of people check their email messages using their cell phones. If the message is difficult to read on their phone, it is likely to be deleted without the content ever being read.
During the subscription process for your emails, take the time to set a realistic expectation with the subscriber in terms of what they will be receiving. Tell them what kinds of emails they can expect to receive and generally when they will be receiving them. Being up front with this information prevents surprises for your subscribers.
Keep all of your branding in your email consistent with your business. Don't make your email appear as though it belongs to another business. Try to stick with your usual colors, voice, and fonts so that the readers can recognize that the email is from you and so they will read it.
Offer a bonus, such as a coupon, discount code, or other freebie, in exchange for signing up for your email mailing list. People love receiving free things. An email address is low in value to the customer but high in value to you as a business. People will gladly trade their contact information in exchange for a 10% discount off their next purchase.
Your subject lines should be short and sweet. Try to keep your subject line at or below 60 characters. This will help to grab the attention of your consumers, making them want to read the contents of your email. If you absolutely must have a longer subject line, craft it such that the part you absolutely need recipients to see is in the first 60 characters. That way, it's less likely to get cut off by email clients.
Show your subscribers respect by not sending them tons of unwanted emails. Two or three email messages a month should be all that they receive from you. If you are flooding their email boxes, not only it will not be appreciated, but it will be highly unlikely they will buy anything that you are selling.
Try using holidays and important events to your advantage in your email marketing campaigns. For instance, if it's Valentine's Day, try incorporating things like candy, flowers, hearts and other related imagery or designs. Your readers should enjoy the creativity and festiveness of your messages around special times of the year.
Hopefully now that you have read this article, you are a little less intimidated by email marketing. The widely used marketing practice is fairly simple to implement and can be adapted in no time at all. Simply remember all of the tips that you read here and you will be on your way to using emails for marketing.