Some Email Marketing Rules

[katereber]

E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail.
Email marketing (on the Internet) is very popular with companies.. It gives you greater targeting for specific customers.

But email marketing must be done correctly for it to work well, and there are some basic rules governing it. If done incorrectly, or if you ignore the basic rules of email marketing (at your own risk!), then you can actually drive others away from your list, and the “unsubscribe” button will be clicked on all too often. To avoid this, follow these basic rules, and you’ll see your lists expand, and have happier clients for your home business.

Here are some of Email Marketing Rules:

1. Never, Ever, Ever, SPAM – Mostly, you’ve received SPAM or unsolicited email, some point (it seems to start just hours after creating your first email account). You may have even considered sending out a nice and friendly email to some of your customers, to let them know about your latest product or discount, and wondered if this is okay.

2. Collect Addresses in a Responsible Manner- While SPAM doesn’t work, opt-in emails do. Never, ever “harvest” email addresses, which is the opposite of permission mail lists. In addition to being unethical, it just doesn’t work.

3. Provide Contact Information - When people read your emails, they may have questions, concerns, or want to tell you how great your emails are. They may even want to learn more about your products or services. They can’t do this if you don’t provide contact information in the email, since hitting the “reply” button in some cases sends the email back to a list server address.

4. Provide a Link to Your Web Site – in this way, you’re giving potential customers a chance to contact you, and learn more. And encourage them to do this: make your link entice them a bit. Instead of a plain link, why not say, “See our newest products” or “View our discounts available only this week” for your link.

5. Use Good Grammar - If you aren’t a good writer, or are unsure how to create clear, legible email communications, consider hiring a professional to assist you and to learn more by his help.

6. Be Honest In Your Communications - Honesty is the best policy in email communications, including headers. Don’t “trick” customers into opening your emails; instead, get them curious, or state clearly a benefit that your email will provide them with, then deliver it in your email. This creates a “win-win” situation: they’ve received real, honest help, and you’ve maintained positive contact with your customers.

7. Be Polite - Be polite, and offer your customers a real benefit for reading your emails to them. You may even get grateful mail back in return. Thank your customers for asking for more information in your autoresponders. Let them know that you appreciate them, and that providing them with outstanding client service is your top goal. Treat them the way you would like to be treated, and you’ll see increased response rates.

Read more : http://www.internetbasedmoms.com/ezi...ing-rules.html

Thanks..

[bloomtools1]

Nice rules given for email marketing. Those who are involved in Email marketing must read this. Thanks for sharing this rules.

[Linksbuilder]

Thanks for the list, but i also want to add some rules to your list.

23 Email Marketing Rules to Follow

1. Never, under any circumstances, spam others (learn about the CAN-SPAM Act)

2. Give your readers options for unsubscribing

3. Have a plan. Don’t just randomly send email blasts.

4. Focus on creating benefit-driven subject lines

5. Keep subject lines under 50 characters so they aren’t cut off

6. Avoid using spammy words in your subject lines

7. Tailor your message to the preview pane by placing the most important info up top

8. Track your results (delivery rates, open rates, click throughs, conversions, etc.)

9. Don’t try to do too much within a single email

10. Link to highly-targeted landing pages

11. Don’t email too often as it can upset customers and cause them to ignore you

12. Always deliver on the promise of your subject line

13. Let subscribers update their contact info quickly and easily

14. Use clear, powerful calls to action throughout the email copy

15. Test different subject lines, copy length, and calls to action to find the winning formula

16. Make sure your email copy is easy to scan

17. Keep any images small for fast loading

18. Try to build relationships with your subscribers

19. Don’t buy your email list

20. Don’t sell your email list to others

21. Send confirmation messages when someone subscribes to your email list

22. Your success depends on the quality of your email list

23. Never stop building your email list

Which email marketing rules would you add to this list?

[Preston]

Before getting into the details, there are some uncomfortable facts that those new to HTML email should be aware of. Building an email is not like building for the web. While web browsers continue their onward march towards standards, many email clients have stubbornly stayed put. Some have even gone backwards. In 2007, Microsoft switched the Outlook rendering engine from Internet Explorer to Word. Yes, as in the word processor. Add to this the quirks of the major web-based email clients like Gmail and Hotmail, sprinkle in a little Lotus Notes and you’ll soon realize how different the email game is. While it’s not without its challenges, rest assured it can be done. In my experience the key is to focus on three things. First, you should keep it simple. The more complex your email design, the more likely is it to choke on one of the popular clients with poor standards support. Second, you need to take your coding skills back a good decade.

[MaryPablate]

Thanks for helpful tutorial about email marketing.. I don't do email marketing but I'm thinking of starting it too as I have to promote my software, so what I would do first is collect emails so that I would have fresh data to send emails periodically.

[saanvikadam]

Thanks for this thread .