Email Marketing: What Good Does It Do?

Email marketing can be an integral part of your marketing plan and, if done right, can bring in tons of business.

If done wrong it will bring in tons of complaints.

In many cases batch email marketing can be waste of time and money, especially if you are sending emails to people who have not agreed to accept emails from you. In that case it could be considered spam and lead to being booted off your internet service provider. It can also create animosity with your subscribers if they receive a constant flow of emails from you that appear to be advertising only, with no benefit to them.

Consider when signing up for information online that you are agreeing to accept emails from that company as well as third party companies. One day you open your mailbox and have hundreds of emails for items or websites that you have no interest in. You will have to go through each one to stop receiving mail from them and even placing their address in a spam file does not mean that none will get through.

Use email marketing as a target advertising technique, sending email filled with information the subscribers to your email list will be interested in receiving. Even if they do not read each and every piece you send them, your name will be on their mind and if it is of interest to them, your name will not be put in the trashcan list.

If you have different segments to your business, consider a separate email list for each segment. If you offer products and service, there needs to different emails for each one. Sending all information to everyone will only serve to aggravate people who get information in which they have no interest in receiving.

Most people scan the subject before opening an email and, if they do open it, the first 20 to 30 words must be enough to draw them into the rest of the email. If not, they will hit the delete key. The subject has to have an interesting and promising title, and must also pertain to the email. If they get a piece with the subject stating they have won a million dollars and the email tells them about a new mouse trap, they will get upset with you. Keep it honest.

Email marketing will only work if the subject line relates to the message and the information being sent is of interest to the recipient. Sending the same email every week will not garner any support from your list members, but will only make it appear that you have nothing new to discuss and should not be wasting their time. Keep the message simple, keep it honest, and leave it to the discretion of the recipients to remain on your list. Asking them for a reason they want out of their list if they choose that option is OK, but do not continue to press for a reason once they tell you to go away and take your emails with you.