E-mail the Internet's first and biggest 'killer app', has always been and continues to be the best way to make direct contact with your audience with marketers predicted to increasingly take advantage of enhanced e-mail application features and strategic services such as services administered and applied by agencies and self-service technology providers.
83.2% of marketers list email as their most important advertising tactic
55.3% citing email's ability to drive incremental revenue as the main reason for this importance.
On average, companies have spent 20% of their online marketing budget on Email Marketing (second only to website spend).
Email marketing can deliver impressive Returns on Investment
The continued growth in email marketing is based on a very simple economic principle - its strong ROI.
Email ROI figures
Analysts are bullish about email's continuing popularity as a marketing tool in spite of the hype surrounding new Web 2.0 tools, rich media and other marketing channels like text messaging and podcasts,
The continued growth in email marketing is based on a very simple economic principle - its strong ROI.
In the USA email ROI per $1US spent comes in at $51.45 compared to that of print catalogues: $7.20 and non-email Internet marketing at $21.08.
Email is also the least expensive marketing form in terms of cost per order coming in at $7 compared to affiliate programs at $17.47, paid search at $26.75 and banner ads at $71.89.
It is predicted that spending on retention e-mail will more than double and account for over half of total e-mail marketing spending in 2012. Acquisition e-mail marketing will grow more slowly, with most spending in that category going toward sponsorship (for example, ad-supported newsletters).
There is a range of motivations behind the popular use of email as a strategic marketing tool. In addition to the 55.3% of marketers who use email marketing to drive incremental revenue, 19.1% use email marketing to reinforce brand position, 10.6% to improve customer loyalty, 8.5% to reactivate customers and 6.4% cite the desire to drive more frequent purchases as an important reason to use email marketing.
With careful analysis and with creative application Top Page can design your company an opt-in email marketing campaign - an effective communication and marketing option to increase customer loyalty.
Here's a short list containing some of the most important principles we apply in order to successfully manage an email marketing campaign:
Application. We analyse the potential efficacy and nature of campaigns. Is your message, company and audience with an email marketing campaign. If so, how best might it be applied?
Copy. Great copy rules. There's a skill to email copywriting - a know how. We work hard to use the words that deliver results. Give recipients clear reasons to open your emails every time. Drive your content, creative, frequency and segmentation strategies with clearly defined Email Value Proposition (EVP). Recipients have limited time and less patience - we work hard to hit a recipient's "internal inbox" every time.
Creative. Your mail has only moments to impress. You need email designs that load fast and look great. Stay away from large images, hidden content and over ambitious styling. Ensure recipients can navigate email easily and find the information they want through good design and formatting. Test sample messages, to make sure they perform across many email programs and Web services. Create highly relevant personalised messages that boost your value. Top-quality email service partners enable personalisation with email that recognizes each one by name, buying history, content, format, etc.
List Building. Build true opt-in campaigns or even double opt-in through subscription lists created through forms, invitations and incentives. Without trust, recipients are less likely to opt in or open or act on your emails they receive. They are also more likely to unsubscribe or file spam complaints. Collect only necessary information at registration. You can always ask for more later. Only send emails when expected and with appropriate subject-matter. Reputable emailers also provide recipients the tools they need to manage their subscriptions, contact you, forward information to others and get more information.
Test.Test for the most effective combinations of copy and landing pages. Test emails across a range of providers to identify bad links, bad images, copy that triggers spam filters or other problems. Are mails W3C HTML compliant? If not, you run the risk of them being filtered in particular at MSN and Hotmail.
House Keeping. Keep your list clean and useable, monitor opt-outs, remove duplicate and dead addresses. "List hygiene" cleans out unsolicited, incorrect, out-of-date or duplicated addresses and optimises campaign performance. Analyze and clean mailing lists.
Analysis. Track campaigns closely, monitor opened e-mails and used links. Adjust campaigns and modify messages accordingly. Boost performance, understand performance and trends based on demographics and segments. Make your communications more valuable by segmenting lists based on email and Web behaviour. Which links did recipients click? What actions did they take on your website?
Tread with care. It's important that during a campaign the reputation of the mail sender is protected. ISPs will block and blacklist emails if they detect any unethical behaviour or feel you are abusing the system by sending too much email. It is important manage your reputation by honouring unsubscribe requests, avoiding blacklists, monitoring and resolving spam complaints, and unique IP addresses and a double opt-in process. It's not just good business practice to respect recipient's privacy, you will also avoid legal and ethical problems. We include a short, email privacy statement within opt-in forms and link them to the full policy statement on client Web sites.
Remember that unsolicited email damages your brand, your campaign and your reputation. It is not good business practice to collect email addresses by "stealth" for example by using pre-checked boxes on site registration forms. We advocate the use of a two-stage subscription process that requires confirmation before the address goes into the database. Ask older opt-ins if they still want to receive email, and retain all the permission data on each opt-in.
With careful, professional analysis and with creative application we can advise on a powerful opt-in email marketing campaign. Through successfully negotiation of customer expectations, modern technology, government regulations we can help to enhance customer loyalty, strong ROI and effective communication with your customers.
To Avoid being 'Dumped' into the spam folder avoid the following word in Subject Line
Eccommerce
As seen on, Buy, Buy direct, Buying judgments, Clearance, Order, Order status, Orders shipped by, shopper
Personal
Dig up dirt on friends, Meet singles, Score with babes
Jobs or Careers
Additional Income, Be your own boss, Compete for your business, Double your, Earn $, Earn extra cash, Earn per week, Expect to earn, Extra income, Home based, Home employment, Homebased business, Income from home, Make $, Make money, Money making, Online biz opportunity, Online degree, Opportunity , Potential earnings, University diplomas, While you sleep , Work at home, Work from home
Contact us NOW on Tel: +44 (0)1242 227876 for more information on
blog creation, blog curation and blog management as part of your SEO.
Author - Chris Horner
