In part two of our guide we show you how to set out and send email marketing messages, and the best way to acquire lists.
How to set out marketing emails
Professional marketing email software allows you to:
- include professional looking graphics, logos and images
- personalise mails with your addressee’s first name
- segment your mailing list into different user groups, such as those within a certain radius of your business
- measure ‘read’ and ‘clickthrough’ rates
- regularly ‘prune’ bad email addresses from the list
- manage unsubscribe requests automatically
- make receiver email addresses invisible automatically.
Most cost an annual subscription fee or charge a small amount per mail you send – and sometimes a combination of both.
Technical details to master when sending marketing email
You’ll need to design your email within common email client parameters in order to get them to download quickly and display well on any device.
Include:
- plain text as well as html versions
- a web link at the top, allowing subscribers to view the mail online
- compressed images − and only where necessary
- easy-to-find unsubscribe links
- a design intended to work in a 600×200 pixel space without images loaded
- font bolding and additional colours to highlight important words
- alt text and title text for images.
How to make sure your marketing email makes a good impression
Effective marketing emails are mobile friendly and look good on any email client. Test beforehand by sending your mail to a ‘seed’ list of email addresses created in Googlemail, Yahoomail, Outlook, etc. to check how they download and that they don’t get automatically relegated to the spam folder.
How to acquire an effective email marketing list
It’s possible to buy or rent email marketing lists – but success rates are not comparable because subscribers are likely to regard what you send as spam. In addition, there’s a danger that you’ll get your IP address blacklisted.
How to build your own email marketing lists
Although it takes some effort, it’s well worth being pro-active about building a well-segmented and clean email list right from the beginning. You can:
- create lead generating offers such as a free sample, download or online tool/resource if the reader will subscribe – and promote via Twitter/Facebook/YouTube/LinkedIn etc.
- add a QR code to printed materials that lets people subscribe.
- set up a competition or give-away that allows you to collect addresses
- collect addresses at offline events such as your own launch night or conferences you attend
- include a ‘subscribe’ link within your author byline when you guest blog.
- add ‘subscribe’ links on all your webpages so people don’t have to look for them
- team up with a compatible company and get them to ‘recommend’ you to their subscribers in their next e-shot. You can either pay them a fee for this or do the same for them.