Enabling Business Through Technology and Teamwork

Email Campaigns that WORK!

Over the years, email campaigns and the use of email to promote, sell and inform potential and existing customers has grown in popularity and use. Recent statistics show that email spending is slated to grow from $885.0 million in 2005 to $1.1 billion in 2010 (Jupiter Research, Feb 3, 2006). U.S. Marketers plan to use Email marketing 72 % more than they did in 2006 (Emarketer Feb 2007). Watch out traditional marketing channels!

Why should you develop an Email Program? Why not?

• It’s much less expensive than traditional forms of marketing, such as direct mail.
• You can reach a potentially huge audience.
• Email has better return on investment than nearly any other form of marketing.
• Emails arrive almost instantaneously, unlike regular mail.
• It’s proactive: it lets you push the message to an eager audience.
• You can test and measure reactions to your message easily.
• It’s interactive: you can send email in response to website visitors’ actions.

Developing an effective email campaign is not hard but it does require a strict discipline and attention to detail. Nothing is worse than to send an email out to your address list and learn later that you had misspelled words and grammatical errors. Yuk!

I suggest you follow these steps in preparing your email campaign:

• What is the purpose of your email campaign? Is it to inform the public of a new product or service? Is it to sell a current service or product? Is it just to keep your new clients informed? Defining the purpose is a critical first step and should be the single action that you spent the most time considering. The purpose sets the stage for writing great “content” and “value“ statements.

• Once you have clearly defined the purpose, you can start to write your “copy”. IMPORTANT: Valuable content is a key factor in developing your email piece.

• Always place a “CALL TO ACTION” component(s) (call this toll free number, click here to order, register here or whatever you are using) or just a simple “click through” on your email. A key tip is to position your call-to-action component as close to the top of your email head and repeat adding the C to A component throughout your email outline.

• Writing a concise statement of what your are offering and using this as your SUBJECT line is very effective in getting the reader to click through and read your email. As an example, if I wanted to introduce a new computer service such as computer security check (checking a customer’s computer to insure that it is secure and has the appropriate software to protect the system and it’s network), I could use the old way of introducing this service by placing in the SUBJECT line “Computer Security Services”. This is very generic and I doubt I would get many people to click through to read my message. But what if I changed the SUBJECT line to read “Are you tired of worrying about the security of your computer?” If I saw this, I would be tempted to see what the writer was stating, because all of us are worried about our computer security and the network that supports it. Also, consider using your company or personal name if the potential reader knows of your company or you (lends creditability).

• Find and use a professional looking email format that “sparkles” and allows you to set your email to be seen as a newsletter or graphical presentation. In a previous article, I suggested several companies that allow you how to design your own email, newsletter, etc. Find one you like and use it. Some of you may ask “What if I don’t want to use this type of format? Which is better…. HTML or Plain Text? ” The answer is that if you are sending your email to the general public, HTML is best, but if your message is going to “technical” readers, use text because they just want to read the facts and move on.

• Remember, the goal of an email is not to sell an item. It is to get a CLICK. Structure every word to get them to click-through to the page that is optimized for conversion. Optimize the email to get the click; optimize the landing page to get the sale.

• Measure the results. It is very important to determine the impact of your email campaign. Some software (email) companies have a built-in tracker that allows you to view the number of click-through’s and other valuable information. Industry standards average for clicks is from 4% to 20%; however, new techniques and technology improvements, especially the use of interactive features, is changing how we view and measure the “click” statistic.

I read the other day in a technology magazine that “Email is the killer application in the current technology age” and I fully agree and that an effective email strategy can and will improve your sales or whatever goal you are seeking to obtain. Remember, it all starts with a PURPOSE and VALUABLE CONTENT.