So you know you want to add or continue email campaigns for your 2009 marketing efforts. But you need to consider email relevance as a factor from the start. Not only will this increase your campaign success rates; it also will serve as a preventive measure against your messages being marked as spam.
Where do you begin? The answer is to start with your subscribers, those people to whom you plan to send email messages. Remember, there is a person on the end of each address (at least in most cases).
Some of you may already have a database with existing email addresses, while others may be employing various forms of email capture–via a website, brick-and-mortar locations, etc. Regarding those contacts in your existing database, it\’s important to ensure they still want to receive your emails. If you\’re just starting to send out marketing emails, make sure you send an opt-in message to these addresses. This way you reduce the risk of sending an irrelevant email to a recipient who will very likely hit the spam button.
Next, consider where you are getting your email addresses, and why your subscriber signed up in the first place. Was it for a newsletter to keep updated on information in your industry? For a specific product offering? Or maybe to get updates on new events? Each of these people have completely different motivations for interacting with your company, and will be more responsive to messages that take this into consideration. Each grouping should either have its own list, or else be properly segmented within your database.
Remember, email can be the extra punch in your marketing strategy, but not just in terms of the volumes of leads. Quality email programs allow timely deployment of targeted messaging, which triggers an increase in the quality of leads (and the qualification) and ultimately equals higher revenue for your business.
Tune in next week for more on email relevance…
Shaneli Ramratan, Director of Marketing, mobileStorm