Email Marketing Tips

E-mail marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways of finding new clients and building a stronger relationship with current customers, but only if performed well.

Get personal – personally addressed e-mails with, if possible, personalised content is going to have more chance of establishing trust and a relationship. The alternative could unfortunately resemble spam.

Write a meaningful subject line and opening – write a succinct, transparent and descriptive overview of the offering you wish to promote. The reader should be able to work out within a few seconds if it is of interest and whether they wish to learn more. Of course be persuasive and use your copy to entice the prospect but keep in mind the above guidelines.

Copy – a few rules that you should follow:

• Be concise – reading lengthy copy on the screen is hard on the eyes and your prospective clients’ patience
• Use short sentences, paragraphs and bullets points to ease reading
• Use the correct spelling and punctuation
• Avoid the over use of capitals
• Avoid jargon

Be sure to proof the copy – silly little mistakes stick out like a sore thumb and spoil all that effort you invested to make the perfect e-mail campaign. Not only proof yourself; give it to others not working on the campaign so that there is a fresh pair of eyes to read over it.

Test your e-mail before you send it – do a dry run to yourself and a sample group, as it will be infuriating to find a glaring error once you press send on that all-important e-mail shot. Even if there are no mistakes, a test run can still help refine and improve the message.

Be prepared to handle inquires – it sounds obvious doesn’t it? However, many e-mail marketers do not factor this in. All departments that are likely to handle inquiries should be briefed in good time and be able to deal with inquiries efficiently.

Answer all replies with 24 hours – e-mails are a quick and easy channel of communication and interested parties will want quick answers. Do not disappoint on the first and probably only time you will have to make a favourable impression.