E-newsletters are one of the most effective ways to communicate with your customers. Through the use of an email newsletter service sending an email blast to say 16,000 people is a snap. These services are cheap and provide all the necessary tools so that customers can easily opt out of your emails if they choice, which keeps you legal and prevents unhappy customers. After all not everyone has the time, so you just want the ones that do. The service I use is Constant Contact. (www.constantcontact.com)
Prices start at just $15 per month and you get a lot of templates and tutorials to get you started.
I recommend sharing expertise and tips in these emails blasts. People will tend to read your emails if you provide something of value, on a regular basis. So many times we are constantly bombarded with offers to give “our money” to some product or service. But how many times are we sent things we can actually use.
For example, sharing tips on cleaning you HVAC filters and ducts might be helpful for a Heating and Air Company. Or tips on balancing your chemicals and cleaning your pool from a pool company. Sharing makes people like you and remember you.
Here are some tips for successful email campaigns.
Make your brand easily identifiable and spell out your subject clearly. People are more apt to open an email if they recognize that it’s from a legitimate company. Put your business in the “from” line, not just your name. Make sure your subject line is clearly specific and to the point. Don’t make your readers guess. Lead the way.
Put your promotional message on top and to the left. People don’t have time to play games with gimmicks and page clutter. Your campaign should include the product or benefit, a promise and a call to action. People usually make these decisions in a matter of seconds so keep things short and sweet. Put the details down the page along with contact info.
Another great advantage to using a e-mail marketing service is that you can send out two versions of the same email. One version can have art, pictures of products and your logo. For people using hand held devices you can send a text only version. So when writing your text ask your self, does this campaign hold up when it’s stripped down to just bare text?
Another good reason to carefully plan your text only versions is that some email programs block images so your text needs to look good and make your point directly. Don’t depend on your images alone.
Don’t make your readers work to get your message. Think about the small Blackberry screens and choose your message wisely. What do you want me to know? What do you want me to click? And why should I? Put your self in the readers shoes. Is this useful?
Now the one mistake I see time and time again is when you do finally click the ready is taken to someone’s home page and left to figure out where and what to do next. Your campaign should take people directly to the place on the site that quickly lets them take advantage of your offer. “Don’t make me think”. Feel free to contact me for tips on your next email campaign.
by Pat Mosca
Internet Marketing
