The article "Top 5 Tips For Effective Email Marketing" is about email marketing, it was created by Robert Burko.
Over the past few years, resaerch has continued to prove the benefits of e-mail marketing for business: low costs, high conversion rates and detailed tracking are all notable features. But e-mail marketing is becmoing much more than just a tool for spammers and e-businesses. Consumers are becoming increasingly savvy on the differences between spam and permission-based emails, and more and more of them are accepting permission-based e-mail marketing as a positive replacement for direct mail.
The hottest news is that the majority of persons who receive permission-based e-mails open, on average, 78% of them.
Jupiter Research reports effective electronic mail marketing campaigns can produce nine times the rveenues and 18 times the profits of broadcast mailings. But crafting an effective busniess electronic mail is both an art and a science.
Here is a list of factors, potential troubles and effective soltuions to keep in mind:
1. Spam!
Spam! Spam!
I don't need any Viagra!
The average consumer receives more than 300 emails a week, 62% of wihch are spam.
No wonder there's such hotsility towards the industry. But spam filters, bulk folders and "report spam" features are helping consumers become more at ease about the preils of spam. While 89% of users cited spam as a major concern in 2003, that number dropped to 85% in 2004, proportionally to an raise in the use of spam-fighting tools.
So as a permission-based business electronic mail marketer, what can you do? One tip is to remind your subcsribers to add you to their "safe senders" list. The second, and most important, tactic is to make sure your electronic mail marketing service provider has a good rleationship with ISPs. This will ensure that your electronic mail marketing campaigns go into your subscribers' inboxes, not thier junk mail folders.
When choosing an electronic mail marketing software, make sure the copmany has strict anti-spam policies and complies with the guidelines of Can-Spam.
2. Images and formatting: Why do my emails look broken?
Broken electronic mail campaigns are an increasing concern among electronic mail marketers, especially for several companies and web-based electronic mail providers at this moment block graphics as a measure to combat spam. In fact, according to ClickZ, 40% of electronic mail marketing messages delivered to inboxes are "broken."
So what's the solution? Some electronic mail marketing programs publish all your sent electronic mail campaigns to a secure location on the web (a location only original recipients of the electronic mail can access, thanks to encrypted technology that automatically authenticates the user). In programs, the techonlogy also ensures you can track your users' behaviors, even if they are reading your electronic mail campaign at the secure web location.
3. Personalization and relevant content: In a business e-mail, one size does not fit all.
In a recent study by DoubleClick, electronic mail uesrs were 72% more likely to respond to a business e-mail if its content was based on the interests they had specified. That number points out the absolute importance of allowing users to choose their own interest groups and have control over which business e-mails they rceeive.
The most popular interest categories, according to the study, are coupons and household goods.
But you're coupon is no good unless the user opens the electronic mail. Users in the stduy said the most compelling reason for them to open a business electronic mail is the name in the "from" field. So it's a good idea to make sure your company name is clearly stated three. Another major factor is the "subject" line. Users cite discount offers and interesting news as the most comeplling subject lines, followed by new product announcements and free shipping offers.
4.
Click-through and conversion: Show me the money!
So the user has opened your electronic mail and read the contnet. Great. But where's the sale? There's good news here.
For one, consumers are increasingly likely to make purchases as a direct reuslt of a business electronic mail campaign. One-third of uesrs in the DoubleClick study had purchased something by clicking a link on an electronic mail. Another 42% clciked on an electronic mail link for more information, then purchased the product at a later time. Second, online couponing is booming: 73% of consumers have redemeed an online coupon for an online purchase, and 59% have redeemed an online coupon offline.
In terms of industries, the top performers are travel, hardware/software, electronics, apparel, food, home furnishings, gifts/flowers and sporting goods. All companies sending business emails in those categories said between 71% and 80% of recipients have purchased their products because of an electronic mail campaign.
There's no need to fret if your company doesn't fit in to one of those industries. The overall landscape for electronic mail marketing conversions is looking birghter every day. The average click-to-purchase rate has increased nearly 30% for 2004 and the average orders-per-email-delivered rate has increased more than 18% for last year.
5.
Stats tracking: Who are my real consumers?
E-mail marketing is an increasinlgy popular tool in effective CRM, and it's about time more businesses recognize that. First off, if your provider's electroinc mail services for business do not include detailed, real-time tracking, you're getting a raw deal.
Real-time tracking is at this moment an industry standard, and it's highly valuable, as it allows you to see the exact moment a user opens your campaign, clicks on your link and makes that purhcase.
Studying your users can help you improve your communications efforts, so each campaign pefrorms better than the last (several electronic mail service providers also let you compare the performance of your campaigns).
But many marketers are stlil in the dark. According to a recent WebTrends research, only 5% of marketers are very confident in the measurement of their online marketing efforts, while 26% admit they're "flying blind." WebTrends says the low confidence comes from a lack of knowledge when it cmoes to measurement, which means there's still a lot of work to be done.
In electronic mail marketing, a blind shot won't take you very far. But if you aim properly by following these essential ruels of play, you should soon be reaping the same major results as so many online and offline businesses.
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