As a business, email marketing is one of the most effective sales conversion tools you can use, but do it wrong and you'll see the number of unsubscribes grow, or worse, they'll hit the dreaded spam button. So how do you market your businesses via email without people hitting the spam button?
DON'T ADD CONTACTS WITHOUT PERMISSION
If you've ever received an e-newsletter from a company you've never done business with, then it can make you take pause. How exactly did they get your information? If it seems suspect, it's because it is. Occasionally marketers will buy or rent lists of leads and load them into their database. This is a surefire way to get yourself blacklisted by the search engines. Focus on building quality leads through signup forms on your website or social media channels, and require a double opt-in for good measure.
IS YOUR SUBJECT LINE FULL OF WIN?
As people sift through their inbox they use the subject line to determine whether your email is worth opening. You've got 65 (or so) characters to impress so make it count. You should be personable and tease the e-mail content in a way that drives click-through. For example, "Don't miss out on our 24-hour flash sale" - Using pronouns like "our," "you," and "we" make it personable, and the limited time offer entices people to click now instead of later. Notice the absence of an exclamation mark in the example. Using those can get you flagged by spam bots so use sparingly. Also don't substitute numbers for letters. If you've obtained first names in your database, then by all means use them in the subject line. Most email marketing service providers have this feature built in and it helps when trying to catch someone's attention.
GET TO THE POINT
Have you ever opened an email and immediately deleted it simply because your mind is boggled by the sheer amount of text? Nobody has time to read an email novella. Keep your content brief with a clear call to action. When designing your email layout, work to find the proper balance of images & text. A good rule of thumb is to ensure recipients can understand the point of your email within 3 seconds.
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