Statistics show that email traffic has increased by over 75% since November 2008. This means that people's inboxes are filling up very quickly and they are now very quick to unsubscribe if they are unsure about how relevant it is to them.
Too many of us focus on getting our hands on cheap email software, without thinking about the longer term consequences of your email. There are many critical factors to consider which will either make your email marketing a success or a bad smell in the Ethernet.
Using our new Email Marketing Service, you will have access to professional online email marketing software with some of the most advanced opening information and statistics you have ever seen. Nicki Bury from Haybury said "As marketing coaches we work with a wide range of email marketing packages. Some are easy to use but you have no idea what is happening behind the scenes - only that you see an increased amount of enquiries or visits to your website. But what happens if you see no change - How do you learn from that?
The key factors to a successful email marketing strategy are:
1) Define your objectives.
What do you want to happen? How will you know whether the email was a success and how can you measure it?
2) Build your database carefully
SPAM, SPAM and more SPAM. Like junk mail, spam is simply an email that appears in the inbox of someone who doesn’t want it. The issue is not so much the physical action of the email arriving in the inbox, but the damage it does to your reputation in the mind of the person who receives it.
Will the reader be interested in what you have to offer? If not, there is the possibility that you and your brand are now considered a spammer and that your prospects now feel differently about working with your business. This is why statistics are so important. Monitoring the openings and unsubscribe statistics can give you useful clues to understand this.
3) Think about your initial impact
Too many companies just SELL, SELL, SELL in emails. They are complete strangers to us but they think it is OK to just open their bag of wares to us as a street trader would. Remember, just as when you meet someone face to face either at a meeting or at a networking event, you need to build rapport and trust with them first. Email is no different!
4) Think about your message
If you receive an email from a particular company on a regular basis, take a moment to consider your expectations before you open the message (assuming you get that far). Do you expect it to contain a relevant article of interest? Will it be something that you can use immediately? Will you be directed to somewhere useful for you to read someone else’s work?
Now more than ever there is a need to add value to your client/prospect relationship, which helps to build trust. Emails that usually contain useful information which will help readers are more likely to open be opened, along with emails that contain genuine good value-for-money offers on products that the readers need. However, if it is always sell, sell, sell – then your subscribers will quickly switch off and unsubscribe.
5) Think about your calls to action
Another common mistake that email marketers make is to have TOO FEW calls to action or none at all. Don’t give your readers the job of trying to find you and also take into account that many readers now read emails on mobile devices. If you make them scroll to the bottom just to respond, they may well give up before they get there!
6) Stay legal
There are laws covering the use of email marketing and many organisations completely ignore this (including some very surprising ones such as local council communications!) The main laws cover the requirement to display your company or trading name and contact details on the email and always include the option to unsubscribe at any point.
So having given you some interesting information, here is our call to action. If you are considering email marketing or are already emailing prospects and you are not getting the response you were expecting, then call us on 08450 757 756 or email info@hayburymarketing.com.
We’ll happily meet you for a no-obligation coffee, to look at a few ways on how you can achieve the results you are looking for.
P.S. I forgot to mention point number 7 which is two way communication – always ask for feedback – so we’d be delighted to hear your comments to this article.
P.P.S. Isn’t it funny how everyone always reads PS’s…
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