More than 65% of marketers say that effective email marketing is vital to their business.
An enormous number of emails are sent every hour, so you have to become skilled in getting your email seen in a crowded inbox.
Effective email marketing is based upon consistent and relevant communication with the people on your database. If someone signs up to your list and hears nothing from you for ages, they’ll forget who you are. The next time you email them, they’ll probably forget that they gave you permission to email them in the first place and they’ll click the spam button. Too many of these and you’ll get branded a spammer and your email account can get banned.
So, you’ve got your autoresponder all set up and your opt-in forms ready and live on your website. Let’s have a look at how to do email marketing once people have to signed up to your list and the email marketing best practices to ensure that you don’t get deleted or reported as spam when your email lands in an inbox.
1. Send an email to say welcome
Effective email marketing starts with sending a warm welcome email when somebody opts into your list. You want to thank the person for signing up. If you promised a free download, make sure they don’t have to jump through hoops to get it and give them the download link right in the first email.
2. Send relevant follow ups
Step-by-step email follow ups are great because it keeps the target audience waiting for the next email. For example, if you promise to teach them how to get their relationship back on track in 7 short steps, send them the emails over 7 days in the correct order. Don’t give them all 7 steps in one email. For effective email marketing, use your autoresponder to its full potential.
3. Do not trick your readers to open the email
One of the important factors for email marketing best practices is ensuring that your message meets the promise of the subject line. Your email must have an engaging subject line to get it opened, but don’t trick people into opening your message by promising something that you won’t be able to deliver. There can be a fine line between being smart and being deceitful. Make sure you don’t cross it.
4. Allow people to unsubscribe
If somebody wants to unsubscribe from your list, let them. If you make it difficult, they may label you as spam. You will not have any success with your email marketing if you worry over someone unsubscribing to your emails. If a recipient has no interest in even getting or reading your emails, it is very unlikely that they will ever become a customer anyway.
5. Create a relationship
Thought provoking messages are always great for creating a successful email campaign as they drive traffic back to your blog and get people to comment on what you just said. Inquisitive email follow ups are those where you’re specifically asking for your reader’s input. Everyone loves to be asked for his or her opinion. You might even poll your audience about an upcoming product or service you have.
6. Constantly provide value
Email marketing best practices are about providing value. Sprinkle your regular follow up emails with some special perk emails. This could be a free report on a relevant subject or access to an exclusive webinar. These are ways you can thank the reader for subscribing and letting you communicate with them on a regular basis via email. Don’t just constantly send out out sales messages.
7. Get to know your audience
It should go without saying that email marketing best practices mean knowing your audience. If you send emails to people who don’t want them, that is spamming. Make sure you spread your follow up emails out in a way that your specific customers will respond best to. Some respond best to daily emails. Some might respond to once every four days, or bi-weekly. You’ll have to gauge your audience and see what works best for you and them.
ACTION STEP: Find out how we can help you get the most out of email marketing
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