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Subject
lines, open rates, metrics and measures.
There's so much information and advice about
e-mail marketing that we often feel
overwhelmed. We wanted to shout, "Please just
give me the bottom-line, the best practices,
the big picture."
So after
attending a recent conference on e-mail
marketing, we sorted through all the
information and advice from presenters: from
Quris, Schwab, Aberdeen Group, Lincoln Mercury,
Peppers and Rogers Group , Citigroup, ePrivacy
Group, Yahoo!, Promotions.com, Sony Pictures
Digital Entertainment, BVRP, and Optas to give
you the essentials: The Ten Commanadments of
E-Mail Marketing. 1. Build an entire e-mail
marketing program; the one-off message is
dead. Instead of sending
single messages or offers, make your e-mail to
customers long-term, ongoing, and
valuable. Integrate e-mail marketing
efforts into offline marketing
efforts.
2. Be contagious; your
customer is your best
advocate. With viral
marketing, customers willingly pass on your
message to people they predict will be
interested. What could be better?
Promote viral marketing by inviting customers
to forward your message, rewarding them for
forwarding it ($$$ or sweepstakes entry), or
helping pass on your message via chat, lists,
instant messaging.
3. Stop tweaking your
subject line. IMT
Strategies reports that the #1 reason customers
open a message is that they trust the company
that sent it. Subject lines are important
but the sender’s name (and the relationship the
sender establishes) is MORE
important.
4. Make your e-mail
pretty. Plain text
messages are going the way of the
dinosaurs. E-mail marketers are using
HTML, rich media, and instant messaging to
showcase their brand. Move to the most
compelling e-mail format you can
afford. 5. Don't "spray
and pray." Send your
customers relevant messages when you have
something new to offer or say. E-mail
fatigue hurts everyone.
6. Merge online customer
service and e-mail marketing
functions. Train online call
center representatives to integrate e- mail
marketing with e-mail concern resolution.
7. Metrics means more
than click-through rate.
The only way you’ll know if your e-mail
marketing efforts are succeeding (or failing)
is if you measure how customers respond.
You’ll learn more about what works if you
collect data such as delivery status, number
sent, number delivered, average order
size, error reporting, opens, open rate, viral
pass-alongs, conversion rate, new customer
acquisition, and opt-out
rate.
8. Permission means more
than clicking “yes” in the opt-in
box. To keep customers’
loyalty and trust, be sure your subject lines
aren’t misleading, your return address is
valid, and it’s easy to opt-
out.
9. Personalization means
more than “Dear First
Name.” To authentically
personalize your marketing e-mail, include
geographic or demographic information, custom
content, references to the customer’s purchase
history, or a link to the account review
page.
10. Give customers the
controls. Though the
management issues may get complicated,
customers want to control who in your company
can market to them, what type of marketing
materials you’ll send, and how often they’ll
hear from you. Your current e-mail
marketing system or provider may not be up to
this task, so take the long view. Work
toward an e-mail marketing relationship steered
by your customers.
We’ll close
with the words of Al Ries, marketing mastermind
and co-author of the industry classic
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind.
(And let Al’s words be a warning to all of
us!) “Today, communication itself is the
problem. We have become the world’s first
overcommunicated society. Each year we send
more and receive less.”
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