LITR TALK BACK
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August 2, 2008
10 Ways You Can Enhance Your
Email Campaign!
Yes,
the lowly email, if used correctly, can enhance your marketing efforts. Here at
LITR, due to the volume of emails we send out and
receive, we decided to refine our efforts in the following ways. You are
welcome to incorporate any or all of these into your campaign.
1.
BE CAN-SPAM Compliant:
Don't be deceptive with the subject line, include a full signature line with
address and phone number, include opt-out instructions, etc. Also avoid
frequent use of ALL CAPS, the word FREE, the word DISCOUNT (especially in
subject lines), and the words REMOVE or UNSUBSCRIBE in your opt-out
instructions. Instead add it to your confidentialty
instructions and avoid spamming. Apply this to your ASK campaign, newsletters,
any thing that you plan to email. For more details on CAN-SPAM compliance, go
to: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/canspam.htm
2.
Dedicated Domain:
If your company's main website is www xyz com don't use that domain for your
marketing campaigns, use a dedicated domain just for your marketing campaigns,
such as www xyz-email com This will prevent your
primary domain and company website from being affected by any email complaints.
3.
Response Choices:
Give the recipient of the email the option to reply to the email they have
received, go to your website, or pick up the phone and call you. More
response choices = more responses.
4.
Timing is Everything: Actually PLAN the
times, dates, days of the weeks, and frequency with which the emails are
delivered. There are numerous theories regarding the best email delivery times,
but in general you can be sure that Tuesday through Thursday are your best
opportunity for B2B emails to reach each recipients' inbox during their working
hours. Emails sent outside business hours are more likely to be spam and are
more likely to treated as such. By altering your
delivery schedule and allowing for a slight delay between each email, you can
also improve results. For example, if you have a 5,000 email list
that you want to contact try sending out 1,000 emails a day spread out
over 5 days, as opposed to 5,000 all sent in one day.
5. Personalize: The
more your email looks like one that the recipient would receive from a
co-worker, colleague, or fellow professional/executive, the more likely they
are to open it. Use the persons name, follow-up
with a signature line, and finally have the email actually come from a person
instead of a generic email account.
6.
Follow up, Follow up,
Follow up: When you receive an email there is only one action
that makes sense; FOLLOW UP IMMEDIATELY!. Not a day,
week, or month later; NOW while they are hot! This goes for any interaction
that you might engage your recipient in ranging from a simple response to an
order confirmation. Automated resposes are acceptible for product sales or newsletter sign ups but
everything else should be a personalized response. Don't follow up and you may
as well as hand your email info over to your competition.
7.
HTML or PLAIN TEXT or
RICH TEXT: Format hmmmm, which one
should you choose? Well it depends on your goals. For ease of connectivity,
minimizing your email's complexity, and to avoid another reason a SPAM filter
may flag you use PLAIN TEXT. If you are sending an email with graphics,
pictures, or links you will have to use HTML. Depending upon who you are and
the organization you are contacting and the settings on their email server, you
may be classifed as SPAM and received as Junk mail or
worse yet blocked. RICH TEXT is basically an enhanced version of PLAIN TEXT
that allows you to use bold and different fonts but doesn't allow the use of
graphics or links. You can choose this by going to the top of your email and
selecting your format choice from the message format drop down menu.
8.
WHAT'S YOUR SPAM MAIL
SCORE: Here's a little FREE tool you can use that will allow
you to check the potential SPAM content of your email. There are many
more out there but this site let's you check through the use of their web form
or via email. http://spamcheck.sitesell.com
9.
CUSTOMIZE AND CONQUER:
Use a variety of email content and subject lines when possible. This will make
your emails look less like spam. By customizing you can also target the
message more specifically to particular industries, title types, geographies,
etc. A targeted email with customized content for a specific sub-group makes a
message even more relevant to the recipient and will yield better results.
10.
I CONTACT : I know alot of people use a variety of email programs out there,
but for our money, time, and ability to track the effectiveness of our
campaign we recommend iContact. Not only
will it be span complient it will automate many of
the mundane tasks associated with doing emails. Yes it is a pay service but,
the minimal cost is outweighed by the additional business you'll do and the
time you'll save doing it. To learn more and
sign-up click on the iContact link at the
beginning of this section.
Talk
Back at you later!
Stephan
www.linkedin.com/in/liveinternettalkradio