Netwide Marketing

If you?re ready to implement your email marketing campaign, and you?ve already selected some quality email marketing software, you should take time to analyze what factors make for a quality email in an email campaign. Below you will find some great tips for designing a quality email that were derived from various experts in the field of online marketing.

Target your emails to the right recipients

Most failed email marketing campaigns didn’t work because the sender treated every email recipient the same. The person who loved blue wallpaper got the blanket email featuring the green wallpaper. While the people who like green wallpaper were happy, the rest of the email recipients were alienated. Don’t make the same mistake. Gather as much data as you can, from geographic location to customer buying habits. Study that data and divide your list accordingly. If you have a group of people who love one type of service you offer and another group that couldn’t care less, strategize accordingly.

Personalize your emails

Call your customers by name in emails if you can. Send your emails from the same from address every time. The more personal you can get, the easier it is to build trust. You’ll also have a better chance of your emails being opened and read.

Keep your layout simple

Don’t overload your layout with flashy graphics, huge fonts and other in-your-face items. Keep your layout clean and simple. Your layout should look professional and easy to navigate. A overly busy layout will turn your recipients off and send your email campaign or newsletter right into the trash file.

Don’t overload on copy

It’s tempting to use three paragraphs to describe a product you really love and think your customers should love as well. But don’t do it. Use small paragraphs and economy of language to cater to the short time frame your customers have to go through all their emails. If you have something you want to expand upon, link to the rest of the story via a landing page on your site.

Include a call to action

What’s the purpose sending an email touting products if you don’t ask your customers to do something beyond look? Your call to action can do many things: ask customers to click on a link, ask customers to fill out a survey, ask customers to make a purchase. Whatever call to action you choose, just make sure you actually have one in the emails you send.

Create a compelling subject line

Your subject line will make or break whether customers open your email or delete it. Do your due diligence. Come up with an honest, compelling subject line meant to grab the attention of your customers. Avoid hot-button words and phrases like ?make money!? and ?earn cash!?. Go for subject lines that pique the recipient’s curiosity, but tells the truth at the same time.

Keeping these things in mind as you create your campaign won?t guarantee your success, but they?ll dramatically improve your chances to generate sales and improve your ROI.

It?s time to launch your email marketing campaign; what should you know prior to setting your plan into motion? Well, before you do anything, you should first make certain that your sales staff and all sales departments are prepared to make the transactions generated by your email marketing campaign. Once your confident your business can handle a potential influx of sales, you should follow a few regimented steps to insure you?re making the most of your email marketing solutions. The below checklist will help you to determine what to do and when to do it.

Determine what day of the week to send your messages. The theories on this choice are numerous. Many experts suggest targeting individual customers over the weekend but business-to-business hopefuls on a Friday. However, a recent study indicates the best day to issue B2B email marketing messages is Monday or Tuesday. The truth is, there is no hard and fast rule for this factor. Do your own research to determine what day you think is best. Consider testing several days and determining which one gets the best response.

There are two times of day that are historically best for sending a marketing email, mid-morning and right after lunch. At these two times, people tend to be more receptive to what lands in their inbox.

After you?ve determined when and what time you?ll be sending your marketing email, you should prepare to monitor responses. Your monitoring efforts should cover everything from replies to unsubscribes. Monitoring your responses early can help you to eliminate and even avoid certain link and spam problems.

Now it?s time to deliver that email and the final step should be creating and email that is attractive, but not too ?spam like? that customers will take time to read and find easy to navigate. An effective interface will enable you to track the results of your email campaign and move ahead as a result of that tracking.

Below you will find a summarized ?tip list? derived from various email marketing experts. Take some time to review these tips and then be on your way to email marketing success.

Offer something to your customers!

In exchange for their contact info, offer your customers something in return. (i.e. a free newsletter, or seminar, or more information)

Be economical about the info you gather!

When gathering customer contact information, only ask for the information you need.

Make it easy for them to unsubscribe!

Make absolutely certain you provide a way for customers to unsubscribe from your e-mail marketing solutions campaign.

Many companies the world over are in search of ways to build their email marketing lists. Established companies make attempts to obtain the email addresses of existing customers and new companies are struggling to compile an original email list. Let?s explore the things you should know when it comes to building your email marketing list.

Try networking with local businesses. Attend meetings in your local area (i.e. seminars, and city commerce luncheons) to exchange cards and information with other professionals. Exchange business cards and be sure to follow up ? via email of course. However, you should make sure that the people in this network are interested in what you have to offer and the possibility of sharing contacts with you. It?s poor form to contact businesses that wanted nothing to do with you.

Try attending trade shows. Set up a booth or organize a presentation, or simply ?attend? a show and use it as a networking opportunity. Obtain general contact information and offer promotions and ?free? gifts. The people who fill out your information form have automatically ?opted in? to your marketing strategy.

Organize and attend informational seminars geared to both consumers and business contacts alike. Use registration information and other networking techniques to obtain contacts for your email marketing lists.

Retail storefronts are a great place to expand your email marketing lists. You can design a drawing or a contest that requires registration. You?ve probably engaged in this marketing technique before without even knowing it (i.e. registering to win a new car while shopping at the mall). Any storefront opportunities are well-received and are a great way to add to your email marketing lists of contacts.

Get involved in local events. Many people are addicted to openings, parties, musical concerts, and any other event that draws people together. You might even consider sponsoring one of these events yourself or joining with other likeminded business people; to sponsor the event. Doing so can afford you the opportunity to increase your Internet mail address listings and help you get your name out there.

Direct mail marketing techniques, such as sending out postcards, is a great way to grow your email contact lists. You can mass issue postcards with your company name and website and collect contacts as they visit the site or make inquiries. Offering some type of incentive will earn you the best response.

Consider telemarketing. This process can be time consuming but well the efforts if done properly. You can use phone calls to touch base with prior customers and it is a great way to rekindle old business and perhaps make new contacts. Just don’t allow your telemarketing staff to call during lunch and dinntertime hours.

Email marketing is just like any other form of marketing and is designed primarily to open the lines of communication and to make contact with people. You should do your best to translate your everyday interactions with people into business growing leads and contacts. To deploy a successful email marketing lists campaig, you must cultivate your people skills and always adhere to the Golder Rule; treat your customers as you would expect to be treated in a given situation and your business will go far.

Now that you?ve decided to embark on an email campaign, your next task is to build an email marketing list, but where do you get it from? Many people succomb to the pitfall of ?buying? email marketing lists. Don?t make the same mistake.

You?ve very likely seen the ads that offer you millions of email addresses for a relatively low cost, well if you fall for one of these ads, you will end up labled as a ?spammer? almost as quickly as you send the email. Likely the vast majority of the messages you send will end up in ?junk? boxes, and you?ll reap zero benefit from your efforts. A good 70% of the addresses you attempt to purchase are, in fact, bogus or have been duplicated and the remaining 30% have not requested to receive your message.

Some people elect to ?rent? lists from varying submission services, but this can end up costing anywhere from 20 to 30 cents per email. What do you do? Use these next 8 ideas to get the ideas flowing and build your own targeted list. Remember, your primary goal should be to send emails to people who actually want to hear from you.

The big question, ?where do you find these people?? Your best bet is to start with diverse marketing methods and pay attention to your web traffic. Below you will find a list, contributed by an existing email marketing company, of things that will ensure your email marketing list is successful.

1. Your Webpage? request individuals sign up for your guestbook your online electronic magazine your newsletter, your offer for a free report or book and any contest that you have to offer. Be sure and put this opportunity on every page of your web site.

2. Try Direct-Mail Marketing — mail out flyers or postcards to all potential customers.When you design your postcards, be sure to request that people visit your site and sign up to get valued information and relevent messages.

3. Consider Telemarketers — consider using a telemarketing service or telemarketing agent to make contact with your potential clients. Request that your telemarketers require e-mail addresses (it’s a good idea to offer incentives for having clients give out their e-mail address [contest, free trials, etc.]).

4. Consider Using a Broker — request websites that offer brokerage services, with heavy traffic, to link to your service and offer sign up for information. Most brokers will provide this service for an average of $.10 to $.15 per e-mail message.

5. Get out There and Hoof It ? this is a great opportunity for students who are off during the summer. Then students door-to-door, offering information exchange for e-mail addresses.

6. Consider Hosting an Online Contest — open contests are extremely effective way to obtain e-mail addresses. On contest entry forms request e-mail addresses as method of approval for contest entry.

7. Get Physical — if you operate a physical store, be sure and request the customers provide you with their e-mail address at checkout. You may also want to consider sending out surveys via the mail and running additional contests to gain access to consumer contact information.

As you can see there is more than one way to ‘skin a cat’ when you need names for your email marketing campaign. You don’t have to resort too buying email marketing lists.

If you?re new to utilizing email marketing campaign software, you may be a bit confused as to what all those terms mean. Top Ten Reviews Magazine recently published a list of email marketing campaign software definitions that may help you on your way to launching a successful email marketing campaign. Below you will find an excerpt from that list of definitions. This may only be a drop in the bucket compared to what you?ll learn during your email marketing campaign, but they will provide you with a great start:

Feature Set
We ranked the software according to the number of practical features that will help you create and send professional and effective bulk emails.

Installation/Setup
Email marketing software, like any software, should be easy to install and setup, should come with clear installation directions and not cause errors on your computer.

Ease of Use
We considered how easy the software is to navigate and use to perform the basic functions. A computer novice should feel confident in using the program to send marketing emails.

Email Creation
This criterion ranks the software according to how easy it is to create an email.

Reporting
We considered the number of valuable reports like email delivery and unsubscribe lists, that the software produces.

Standard/Regular
The number of emails the standard software will allow you to send at one time.

Professional/Enterprise
The number of emails you can send at one time if you buy the professional/enterprise version of the software (if available).

Direct Send Mode
You can use your Domain Name Server instead of your SMTP server to send your emails.

Multi-Threaded Multi-Processor Engine
A system used to speed up your emails so your SMTP server won’t get bogged down because of the large number of emails you’re trying to send.

Auto. Detect Settings The email marketing program will automatically detect a built-in SMTP server and adjust the settings accordingly, so you can get the software setup with as little hassle as possible.

Email Setup Wizard/Tutorial
The product includes a wizard that will help you setup the program with the SMTP/DNS server.

Supports Unicode Characters
You can use Unicode and international characters in the marketing email.

Message Encoding
You can use message encodings in the marketing email.

Supports Images
You can add images to your email campaigns to create attractive visuals in your message.

Supports Background Images
You can import an image into your email and add text over it to create a stylish and impressive email.

Import HTML Pages
You can import a pre-made webpage or HTML email into the program and send it as an email blast.

View Email in Browser (Before Send)
After you create your HTML email, you can view it in an Internet browser so you can see exactly what the email will look like.

Add Unsubscribe Link
You are able to add an unsubscribe link to your email by adding a quick button or by hard coding the link into your email.

Have you ever wondered what ?opt-in email marketing? is and how it compares to bulk e-mail marketing? Being a ?newbie? to Internet marketing, and likely having limited funds, can leave entrepreneurs feeling lost in terms of marketing and they end up turning to extreme cost saving options like free classifieds and newsgroup sites. Most marketing experts will tell you that these efforts are not only time consuming, they afford very few results.

Internet marketing experts have compiled countless studies as to why Internet marketing works, as well as the techniques that are proven successful. In addition to the techniques that are proven successful. Studies have also revealed techniques that prove unsuccessful. If you’re interested in learning more about e-mail marketing help promote your business consider the following information before you decide on a method of advertisement.

First let’s look at the process of sending unsolicited bulk e-mail:

Unsolicited Bulk E-Mail is the practice of sending out huge quantities of e-mail to a massive list of e-mail addresses that remain unverified or qualified. This practice is considered incredibly controversial and in many cases may be against the law. If you’re considering this marketing tactic for your business; you must be incredibly cautious. Using unverified bulk e-mailing practices to promote your company could put your business and your reputation at risk; not to mention the possibility of huge financial fines and jail.

The appeal of unsolicited email marketing, for many aggressive entrepreneurs, is very dramatic, and it has become incredibly popular because it’s extremely inexpensive. Bulk e-mailing costs much less than standard mailing and is less labor intensive. Postage costs alone can cut into the profits of a growing company quite dramatically. To offset the costs, many companies will resort to the less expensive route, even though the risk is very high.

Unfortunately, massive bulk e-mail to unsolicited clients is considered in poor taste. In most cases, potential customers will simply ignore your incoming e-mail block your website or have you forwarded to a junk mail folder. The worst-case scenario would include your company’s website being reported to an Internet service provider resulting in your website being permanently banned from the World Wide Web. The bottom line is this; bulk e-mailing to unsolicited customers simply doesn’t work. It doesn’t get you leads and the risk is far too great.

Now let’s review the practice of direct opt in e-mail marketing:

Opt in direct e-mail is the practice of sending out company e-mail to recipients that have requested contact with your company. It is possible to hire a company that will specialize in direct e-mail in order to promote your company legally, and without the hassles of bulk e-mail to unsolicited customers. Opt in e-mail marketing services offer you a legitimate way to reach customers who are actually seeking your services.

When it comes down to your bottom line, opt in e-mail marketing is always the way to go. This process may be a bit more time consuming and could potentially be a bit more labor-intensive, but the benefits far outweigh the detriments.

How important to your Internet marketing are autoresponders and shopping cart intergration? I’m hear to tell you if you don’t have one on your website, you’re leaving big money on the table. In fact you may even be dooming your online web marketing site to total failure. Harsh words! Right? But it’s true.

One of the most important things you want to do when a customer hits the buy button, on your site, is to let them know their purchase has gone through and thank them for shopping with you. This can be accomplished with a simple autoresponder e-mail almost faster than you can blink your eyes. However, that’s not the end of your message or at least it shouldn’t be. You have a golden opportunity to reach out to your customers and whisper in their ear about any specials you are running and other items you have in your store.

A very effective way to capitalize on the “thank you” message you send out is to mention related accessory items to the product they just purchased. An example of this would be if your customer purchased a name brand pair of shoes, you would want to offer them a matching hand bag by the same designer. To make the offer even more enticing to your customer be sure and mention a discount off the accessories.

Listen up! Whatever you do don’t include this offer on their e-mail sales receipt. You want your customer to have a “Hallmark” moment with their purchase. They need to feel they are the most important person on your on line store and no one else matters but them. Take the time to have a very special message prepared for your autoresponder and shopping cart integration.

Frankly, if you’re not a good writer, you should hire someone who is a professional writer. Make sure this particular writer is experienced in writing warm and fuzzy messages. Although it is an added expense it is a onetime expense only. Your ROI of the expense will be returned to you every time one of your customers responds to your follow up autoresponder message.

Now for a note of caution! Don’t kill the golden goose that laid your golden egg. In effect don’t overuse your autoresponder to bombard your customers with deal after deal. Remember, you want them to feel warm and fuzzy about you. You want them to feel they are special in your eyes and if your not careful you can wear out your welcome. Two or three messages a month wil keep your name in front of them and an occasional 4th or 5th time when you have a super deal for them.

Properly worded e-mails will work magic for your bottom line. Very simply it will allow you to form a long term relationship with every customer. With just a little customization of your e-mails, the importance of your autoresponder and shopping cart intergration will become apparent every time you look at your bottom line.

Creating a successful email marketing design depends upon a few key points. The first key is to keep it simple. If your email contains a flashy attention-grabbing window of opportunity, but no real content, you?re not going to get the results most businesses desire. People steer clear of the gimmicks, so if your current campaign is ?gimmicky? you may want to consider revamping. If you make the decision to revamp consider the following.

Try a simple email newsletter. The reason for this is a recent report by Nielson Norman Group, the average e-mail user only reviews and Internet newsletter for an average of 50 seconds. Whereas, marketing campaigns boarded by e-mail only hold the reader’s attention for around four seconds. As you can see the newsletter format will hold your average readers attention 10 times more than the normal email. Which in turn brings us to the actual design of the newsletter or the e-mail.

It?s important to create a simple email marketing design that both captures the attention but also keeps the attention. The simple truth is that most consumers and e-mail users only read a fraction of the e-mails they receive. The rest of the e-mails that they actually open are merely scaned for content. Depending upon the individual, different advertising dynamics are found appealing. For this reason, you’re e-mail newsletter or advertisement should appeal to each of these demographics.

Aside from simplicity, an effective email marketing campaign will utilize ASIC principles of design. By promoting contrasting colors to draw the eye and call readers to action over the amplification of certain statements. You may also want to consider the very e-mail inboxes from standard for e-mailing sources. For example Hotmail and AOL both offer varying standards when it comes to opening e-mail. It’s a good idea to use colors and fonts that will be visually appealing in any e-mail genre.

Most e-mail forums have moved on to the concept that design segment should not contain more than 200 to 300 pixels. This means that your e-mail design should not be disproportionate. Try to ensure that you’re marketing design has a smooth flow and is distributed evenly for the entirety of the content.

There have been countless studies on how most Internet users read e-mail and various documents throughout the web. Your desire should be to gain reader attention and you can be sure to do this by using an e-mail marketing design. The most effective design is constructed around a five second view of any page. That means any information put on your page should be readable/scannibal within a five second time constraint.

It’s a good idea to use your knowledge. When it comes to marketing and media, to ensure that your message takes up less real estate than standard e-mail advertisements. If your e-mail add takes up too much space or comes across too spammy, most ISPs will automatically filter it out as junk. The imagery you placed inside your e-mail should convey a rapid message, don’t make the mistake of using photos and logos for mere beautification. To make the most of your marketing campaign ensure that your pictures says something besides “I’m pretty”.

E-mail marketing is a rapid response industry. This means you must be certain to give your potential clients every opportunity to make contact with you. You can be easily contacted via contact information placeed within your messages. Be sure to include links to your site, your address information, your phone numbers, your fax number and any other information that can be used to contact you on a daily basis, in every e-mail that you send to potential clients.

Let’s face it! Without the proper email marketing design your email camapaign may well be predestined to fail. Knowledge is power! Use what you have learned here and from other resources well and your email campaign will stand a much better chance of adding profit to your bottom line.