Are you sick of sending out e-blasts and getting identified as SPAM? Have you purchased several expensive email marketing lists and have little to no ROI to show for it? Do you send your emails in Text or HTML? The answer to these questions could be the reason your campaigns are lacking in email marketing success. Does the term” best practices” sound familiar to you? We are living in the era of online communication and in order to be effective here are a few do’s and don’ts that will make or break your results.

Please Do…

1. Send from a unique IP address—by doing this you have the best shot at not slipping into the “bulk” folder.
2. Allow your recipients to “Opt In”—make sure there is an unsubscribe option at the bottom.
3. Clean and Analyze your list—with email marketing software you can now verify the email addresses on your lists, this also helps to know if your provider is reliable or ripping you off.
4. Segment & Target—less is more with quality leads.
5. Text & HTML Option—send the emails with the option to be read in the format that best suits them, subscribers find this accommodating.
6. Tell the recipients who you are—give your recipients the tools to manage their subscription and contact you, if you are sending the email you should not be hiding your identity.
7. Link each campaign to a CRM—be accountable and follow up on all of your leads.

Definitely Don’t…

1. Use Outlook Express—Outlook is not an email marketing tool, it does not have the functionality and or measurability to produce email open rate reports. And no a read receipt is not a reliable tracking record!
2. Try to trick your recipients with an irrelevant subject line—if you are sending out a mass email or targeting a specific group your subject line should do quite the opposite; capture the attention of the person right when they open their inbox.
3. Offer prizes for sign up’s—it is one thing if you are a research company and need people to join your panel but bribing for subscription is a waste of time and energy, the people who sign up based on prizes alone do not care about your offering and probably sign up for contests as a full time job!
4. Keep your message and offering clear—you can’t be everything to everyone.
5. Flood your leads and or subscribers with too many emails—this is annoying and a sure bet to wind up on the block list and in the SPAM folder.

Whether it be a direct marketing campaign, newsletter, or special offering, each email sent should have creative and copy that communicates a pointed message to the receiver. Henderson Robb can help you develop a specialized campaign with clear targets, engaging creative and compelling copy using best practices to guarantee results! Visit www.hendersonrobb.com/wings and fill out a short questionnaire to receive your free assessment today.