In e-mail marketing, it is important to use the subject line to get your emails read and acted on.
Email marketing is only one type of direct marketing strategy available to online business entrepreneurs trying to make ends meet in our current economy.
When done properly, E-mail marketing allows a huge amount of prospects to be instantaneously contacted with new offers, new products, or services. It also allows businesses to economically pursue an ongoing relationship with their customers.
When e-mail marketing is done improperly, marketing e-mails can be construed as spam, and deleted by the recipient, or filtered out by anti spam programs, or servers. This can irreparably damage your relationships with customers and potential clients.
So, exactly how can we be assured that our email marketing gets to our clients?
It all begins and ends with the subject line of your e-mail! Use the subject line to get your emails read!
Recently, testing research has shown that informative e-mail subject lines, perform much better than some of the “cutesy”, attention grabbing titles that are often used by email marketers.
Granted, your email may not be deleted as spam with a creative subject line, but the best “open” rates are consistently from informative subject lines, not than those “cutesy creative” subject lines.
You still don’t want a “dull” e-mail subject, however, the whole idea, is to get your e-mail opened and read by the recipient.
The truth is that good performing subject lines, actually do describe the subject of the e-mail!
An e-mail subject line like “Mosquito Lagoon & Indian River Fishing Newsletter: July 10, 2009” will outperform a subject line such as “The Potential of Chinese Trade Relations” by a significant factor.
Not all e-mail readers show the entire e-mail subject line.
For this reason, it is best to keep your e-mail subject under 50 characters. This will allow recipients to read your e-mails regardless of which program is being used.
Some words should not be used in the e-mail subject line, or if used, used sparingly. Free and discount may trigger a spam filter if used to frequently in the e-mail subject and message.
Spam filters score the e-mail according to phrases and words used, message length, origin, images included, exclamation marks, punctuations used, etc.
The e-mail is rejected, and classified as spam, once the particular threshold of the program is reached.
If your are still unsure how to use your subject line to get your e-mails read, you might consider using an expert broadcaster or other such service.
E-mail marketing is a very cost effective method of communicating with your customers, however, there are 3 drawbacks to consider when using this strategy.
1 – Environment.
Since spam arrived on the scene, e-mails have become more difficult to use effectively and can be a poor environment to work with.
The majority of e-mail users use their e-mails for personal and work related contacts. This means when they open their e-mails, they look for specific messages from their friends, relatives, and work associates and tend to disregard the rest of the messages in their in box.
Additionally, servers and anti spam programs, filter unwanted e-mails into the old circular file when certain words trigger the action. It should be noted, that some desired e-mails are also mistakenly filtered out by these programs.
Of the 3 drawbacks to consider in e-mail marketing, this is probably the biggest.
2 – Message Length.
In e-mail marketing you have to be short, sweet, and to the point!
Generally, long sales pitches, lengthy sales copy, and complicated offerings with supporting facts and statements, are not used in e-mail marketing.
This is another e-mail marketing drawback to consider. E-mail marketing messages must be short!
3 – Creativity.
Due to the message length, e-mails can somewhat stifle your creativity.
Plain e-mail message text is pretty much boring to read, and it’s easy to lose your train of concentration.
Since text is essential in e-mail marketing, it’s a real challenge being creative when giving your recipients reports or targeted advertisements. But, don’t be deterred; it can be done with some ingenuity.
Many small businesses erroneously believe that their products or services cannot easily be sold online.
They have not yet discovered the cost effective benefits of information processing and using e-mails for quick, fast, communication, customer service and marketing.
The 3 drawbacks to consider when using e-mail marketing, are nothing compared to the benefits acquired from it’s use by online businesses.
Permission marketing, also known as opt in e-mail marketing, is an excellent cost free way to compile a list of targeted customers for your specific market niche.
Permission marketing, requires the customer’s willing authorization to subscribe to your website, newsletter, free giveaway, or promotional mailing by e-mail.
The more permission marketing e-mails you send to a target audience, the better chance you have of making a sale, and additional follow up sales. However, in order to accomplish this, you must first build a list of willing subscribers.
Here are 4 list building tips to help you with your permission marketing.
1 – Start by putting up a good web form on your website.
A good permission marketing web form, can be as simple as a short statement describing the benefits you provide, how updates to your website can be made available by subscribing to your opt in list, or where to be directed for a free download.
There should be an area below the statement, where the subscribers name and e-mail address can be provided. It need not be super fancy, but it should be simple and functional.
Inputted information is then automatically saved by your auto responder, and as more people take advantage of your web form, your list will grow.
You can debate where to place the web form on your website, however, the two best locations seem to be either in the top left hand corner, or just after the end of your written content.
The top left hand corner is preferred, because it is one of the first places you tend to look, when you enter a website.
2 – Design an impressive homepage.
The first thing a visitor sees when they enter your website, is your homepage. Make your homepage attractive and impressive.
Create attractive graphics that are simple yet sophisticated; don’t over do it.
Keep your homepage small, in terms of megabytes. Remember that many people still use modems for internet access, and will not wait too long for your web page to load.
Your site should be useful and easy to navigate. Provide well written article content and descriptions of your website. Grab your visitor’s attention, and keep it long enough for them to take advantage of your permission marketing, opt in offer.
3 – Have a good product and provide excellent service.
Effective permission marketing requires a good product, and excellent service in order to build a satisfied customer list.
A satisfied customer will always recommend your business, and return customers will also very likely bring additional business to your website. Word of mouth recommendations alone are like gold to your business.
The more list members you have, the more exposure your site and your product will receive. Providing a good product and great service will ensure that the exposure you receive is positive.
4 – Never lose your customers trust.
Permission marketing is done to gain trust with your customers. Your customers expect you to keep their e-mails private. Keep a clean, private list and never, never, never, give out or sell contact information.
A good reputation is hard to come by, and will attract more traffic and subscribers than you can imagine. Don’t do anything to destroy your reputation, or the loyalty and trust of your customers.
We trust that these 4 list building, permission marketing tips will increase your customer subscriptions and improve your online business.
