The majority of businesses are now aware of what email marketing is and the many benefits it can bring to them in terms of increasing their customer base, building their relationships with existing customers and growing their business.
However, like all other marketing techniques, email marketing is a delicate balance and must be properly managed if it is to be successful.
With that in mind, there are a number of golden rules which it is important to follow in order to achieve success.
1. Sign up
Sending an un-authorized email or one which has not been asked for is a social no-no when it comes to email marketing. The term spamming is used to describe sending promotional emails to customers who have not requested nor agreed to having them sent and this is extremely counter-productive.
Asking customers to tick a box to agree to having emails sent is a permission and this is the only time that they should be sent. However, promoting this sign up window is essential when it comes to growing the base for the email marketing campaign and businesses should dedicate some of their time to this task.
2. Set and meet expectations
Customers are only likely to wish to employ the services or buy the products of a business they trust and email marketing can be the key to building up a level of trust. By setting their email marketing to forward emails on a certain day or at a certain time and assuring the quality of the emails which are sent, the company is sending out a message that they are trustworthy and can be relied on. This message is then likely to be carried by the customer throughout their experience.
3. Keep it fresh
Sending the customer old information or the same information time after time is a guaranteed way of losing their attention and their trust. Key to any email marketing campaign is ensuring that the email is received and read, and with that in mind, the information within it should be interesting, current and fresh. If this is not the case then the customer may consider that the company does not care about them and is simply trying to con them.
4. Build a relationship
One of the huge benefits of email marketing is that it gives the business in question the ability to build up a relationship with their customers. because of the low cost of sending emails, businesses can send them often with little associated cost. Because of this fact, the business is able to build up a relationship with their customers which they can then use for future revenue.
5. Analyze Results
A further benefit of marketing by email is that is allows the business to analyze the results. If a business knows that it sent out a certain number of emails and received a good amount of business based on those emails then they can declare their campaign a success. However, if the return was not as positive then it may be that the content, format or time of sending needs to be amended to appeal to more customers.
About author
Daniel Payne is a freelance writer who covers marketing and SEO issues.
